We locked up and boarded a bus to Sahoda. Crowded but we got seats.
“I commute by bike normally — bus is fresh. Haven’t been since entrance-exam day.”
“Bike means no waits.”
“No roof though, so awful in rain. Also — polite forms.”
”…Sorry.”
I usually wouldn’t go casual with Kano so I kept slipping.
“Speaking of — you registered as Kujo Kano. If anyone asks, what’s the cover?”
“We married, so same surname.”
“That is not okay — please. It’ll just escalate problems.”
(Also, we’re supposed to be 17-year-olds in this fiction. Married high schoolers don’t exist.)
“Polite forms again.”
”…You’re making it weird.”
“Then twin siblings?”
“That works.”
Kujo + Kujo as siblings is unsuspicious.
“But siblings means Kano-san is weird, right?”
“Calling my sister -san would be off, sure…”
“From now on — just call me Kano.”
She was beaming. Dropping the honorific was a huge hurdle. I scrambled.
“S-same-age cousins? Then -san still works —”
“Hmm. I was giving you the sibling concession from spouses — and you want to wriggle out.”
“It’s the honorific drop that’s the issue, not the rest.”
“No more concessions. Spouses or siblings.”
Of the two — siblings.
”…Siblings.”
“Then you know what to do?”
”…Got it, Kano. Satisfied?”
“Yeah. Disappointed you didn’t pick spouses, but I’ll forgive you.”
(I’d been played. She’d presented spouses as an unacceptable first offer, then dropped to siblings — which baited me into the trade for Kano unadorned. Classic negotiation. I lost.)
“Oh — our stop.”
”…Yeah.”
I was already exhausted and the open campus hadn’t started. We got off at the campus bus stop and walked to reception.
The most popular private in the country — very high turnout.
“That girl’s gorgeous.”
“Yeah, want to be at a school with someone like her.”
“Beautiful — model? Celebrity?”
“Could be, in Tokyo.”
A group of four boys in standing-collar uniforms were discussing Kano. The class-prez look still pulled attention.
We checked in and went to the multi-purpose hall for the school explanation.
“Listening to people around — everyone really is from all over Japan.”
“Right — sometimes during break-time chat I can’t understand a classmate’s dialect.”
“Yeah — if someone hit me with Tsugaru-ben, no chance.”
I heard Kansai, Kyushu, Tohoku dialects all around. Kano and I were both born and raised in Tokyo — pure standard.
(I have low-key dialect envy. Hiroshima or Kyoto dialect would be cool. Practicing would just give me a fake-dialect though.)
The intro started — much of it was familiar from my prep, but hearing it from staff and current students filled in details.