“Thanks for today.”
“Yuito, you saved me by coming along.”
“If our schedules line up, I’ll come along again — just call.”
“Yeah. Yuito’s definitely free whenever, so I’ll be calling again.”
”…I feel like that’s prejudiced.”
We chatted like that as we walked back toward the bike parking. It was nearly six, which a few months ago would have meant total darkness, but in late May the sunset’s gotten significantly later — it was still pretty bright.
We arrived at the parking, and as we were getting ready to go, Kano seemed to have an idea.
“Right — can I borrow your phone for a sec?”
”…What are you planning?”
After the mass-deletion of female contacts earlier, what was she scheming this time?
“You’ll see. It’s fine if it stays locked, just hand it over.”
“All right.”
I gave it to her with some lingering anxiety about what she might do with it, but if the screen stayed locked there were limits to what she could pull. So I handed it over. That decision, I was about to regret.
“There!”
“Hey — what are you doing?!”
“What? I just stuck the purikura we took earlier on the back of Yuito’s phone.”
“I can see that. What I want to know is why you’d do that.”
“Hmm, to keep bad bugs away from you, maybe?”
“Please stop trying to pass off an obvious on-the-spot excuse.”
The sticker on the back of my phone — me with the dumb face from getting hugged out of nowhere — was very eye-catching. Anyone who saw it would absolutely make fun of me.
My brother in particular would have things to say. I’m normally a no-phone-case person, but this called for an exception. I’d use a case to hide it.
“Oh, of course you know — but covering it up with a phone case to hide it from view: not allowed.”
“D-don’t be silly. I wouldn’t do anything like that.”
“Mm-hm. Sweet, kindhearted Yuito wouldn’t do something like that, would he.”
She apparently had me completely figured. With the option officially blocked off, the phone case plan was dead in the water.
“Time to head home.”
“Yes — same as always, please get me home safe.”
“Yep. Leave it to me.”
We left the mall, the bike sped along for a while, and we finally pulled up in front of my house. I climbed down, took off the helmet, and handed it back.
“Drive safe.”
“Thanks. See you, Yuito.”
She turned the bike and took off. I watched until she was out of sight, then went inside and headed for the dining room, where Mom probably was.
“Mom, I’m home.”
“Oh, welcome back, Yuito. Late today.”
“Yeah. Kano-san dragged me around all afternoon.”
While we were talking I heard the front door open. Probably my brother getting back from soccer practice.
“I’m home.”
“Welcome back, Ayato.”
“Welcome home, big bro.”
“Wait — did you just get home too?”
He was standing in front of me, and asked because I was still in my uniform with my school bag on.
“Yeah, just got back myself.”
“He was hanging out with Kano-chan.”
The instant Mom said it, my brother’s face flashed with a moment of frustration — then snapped back to his usual cool expression.
“You weren’t being a hassle to her, were you?”
“Other way around. She put me through a lot, actually.”
“Right. Well — she’s only just started college and that’s a busy period, so try not to bother her too often, yeah?”
He went up to his own room. Getting to see that flash of frustration on his face was honestly a tiny bit satisfying. I went up to my room too.
The reason for that frustrated expression, by the way, is simple. He’s jealous that Kano and I went out together.
My brother has been in love with Kano for years. He’s confessed to her multiple times. And for whatever reason, he gets shot down every single time.
“Kano and my brother would be such a good match, I really don’t get why she keeps turning him down.”
Tall, handsome, smart, athletic — my brother is more than enough to match Kano. And if my brother and Kano got together, Suzuno would be free.
That might give me a shot at Suzuno, which is why I’ve been secretly rooting for him this whole time — but no matter how much time passes there’s no sign of those two actually getting together.
”…I wish my brother and I had been swapped, spec-wise.”
I muttered the wish I’d been carrying around for years. We’re twins and yet the spec gap between us is enormous.
I’m 172 cm — average. He’s 180, comfortably in tall territory. We do have similar features, since we’re brothers, but his are more refined.
Needless to say, schoolwork and athletic ability are also out of my reach. Identical twins probably wouldn’t have a gap this big — sadly, we’re fraternal.
“There’s no point sulking over this stuff endlessly…”
The specs you’re born with can’t be changed, so dwelling on it is just a waste of time. I told myself that and started prepping for tomorrow’s classes.
”…Wait — has my phone always been this slow?”
I was using a dictionary app on my phone to prep for English, and the display speed felt slightly off — a little slower than usual.
“I changed phones not that long ago, so storage shouldn’t be the issue…”
Well, phones are precision devices, this kind of thing happens. I didn’t think much further about it.