I could tell from how Yoshino tossed the curtain aside that she was probably getting bored with the repetitive work. Once she’d finished stretching both arms overhead, I handed her the box of chocolates. “Hasumi-senpai gave us these.”
“Ooh! This is the new kind I’ve been wanting to try!”
“It is? I guess Hasumi-senpai wanted to try it too, but she let us have it.”
“It’s a limited-edition summer flavor. They usually get snatched up right away—they’re hard to find.”
Yoshino, who had a major sweet tooth, opened the box and showed me the individually packaged servings inside. She ripped one open, and we both tried a square of chocolate.
“Oh. It’s mint chocolate,” I remarked with a little hesitation.
“Delicious, isn’t it? I love this flavor!” she exclaimed.
Chiaki hated mint chocolate, so I unconsciously avoided it, but Yoshino’s dreamy smile made me think the refreshing, slightly toothpaste-like taste wasn’t so terrible.
“I feel bad that they just let us have this. We should give them something in return.”
We had our own collection of snacks. Yoshino put some in a small bag and stood up, her cramped body relaxing after sitting in the same position for ages. She’d been around Chiaki long enough to build up some resistance to him, so when I asked her to come with me, she agreed. We knocked on Chiaki’s door.
The master of the room himself opened it. “What’s up, Hazuki?”
“We wanted to give you these in return for the chocolates we got earlier.”
I just planned to hand over the snacks and leave, but my brother’s classmates immediately turned their attention to the new arrivals beyond the door.
“Who’s that?” one asked.
“Is that your little sister?” asked another.
“Whoa. You look just like each other!”
In the blink of an eye, our senpai ushered us into the room and forced us to sit on the floor as they surrounded us. I could practically feel Yoshino trying to pull herself together as she took in the sight of all the boys.
“Are you Chiaki’s sister too?” someone asked Yoshino.
“I’m Yoshino, Hazuki’s friend,” she replied.
“Whoa! You two look so alike, I thought you were twins.”
Yoshino smiled awkwardly as the stares continued. We had the same hairstyle and clothes, so at first glance, we did look like identical twins. On closer inspection, it was easy to see that our faces were completely different, but I guess our senpai hadn’t noticed that.
“What’re the first years doing for the school festival?”
“Our class is making a haunted house.”
“Oh! You must be in the class that’s always working on scenery. It’s incredible—you guys are at it every day!”
It seemed the upperclassmen were keeping an eye on what other classes were up to. As they peppered me with questions, I continued to humor them, looking for Tono-senpai. There wasn’t room for him on the floor, so he was sitting on the bed.
“Hang on,” he said. “Aren’t you the girl I lent my sweatshirt to?”
Yoshino stiffened as he finally picked her out. None of our senpai would be aware of her fear of men. I was going to speak up and cover for her so that no one mistook her silence for rudeness, but she beat me to it.
“Um…” she began hesitantly. “Thanks for lending me your sweatshirt.”
“No problem. I’m glad you didn’t stain your uniform.”
The exchange seemed completely normal, but I knew how much it must’ve taken out of her. She rushed back to my room almost like she was running away. I attempted to follow her, but our senpai refused to let me leave too.
“Let’s talk a bit more about the school festival while you’re here! The first-years are aiming for the top too, right?”
Individual classes—not entire grade levels—received points based on things like whether we cleaned up after ourselves while preparing and whether everyone worked together to pull off the class’s plans. We also got points based on the outcome of games played during the festival and the quality of class presentations. Still, the third-years always won, no matter what. We just didn’t want the first-years to end up in last place.
“What’s your class doing?” I asked.
“Putting on a cross-dressing café,” said one girl, an eye-catching beauty sitting in the middle of the room. “Your brother’s going to dress up like a girl. You should come check it out.”
“Don’t tell her that, Iguchi!”
Despite living together, Chiaki and I hadn’t discussed the school festival much. Now I knew why—he was avoiding the subject on purpose.
“Are all the boys dressing up?” I asked.
“Not me,” said Tono-senpai. “I’m working behind the scenes.”
“You should do it, Riku,” the pretty girl—Iguchi-senpai—said. “You’d look so good dressed as a girl.”
Tono-senpai refused with a resounding, “No thanks!”
He sat next to Hasumi-senpai, whose eyes were practically sparkling. We’d put a few of the chocolates she’d given us in the bag we’d brought over, and apparently, she’d spotted them. “What’s that? It looks yummy.”
Before she could try one of the chocolates, Tono-senpai plucked it from her fingers and popped it in his mouth.
“Come on, Riku!” she protested.
“Sorry, sorry. I just thought it must be good if you were that excited to eat it.” Tono-senpai smiled and wiped cocoa butter from the corner of his mouth, but his expression darkened almost immediately. “Ew! This is mint chocolate. I hate that flavor!”
“Hey, that was the last one left—no, I don’t want something you already bit into!”
They seemed so close that I felt my cheeks warm up just watching them, but everyone else appeared used to these exchanges. Chiaki even took a jab at them. “You guys are totally a couple, right?”
This just seemed to be par for the course in high school, but for some reason it reminded me of that scene Yoshino and I had witnessed at the water fountains.