About a week after Tokyo Aqualand, I was on the Shinkansen with Reona and Riona. We were on our way to Okayama City University’s open campus.
I had been gently shutting down Reona and Riona’s attempts to come along on the basis that it was an overnight trip — but they had somehow obtained permission directly from my dad and mom. My parents are, apparently, trivially manipulated. So I’d run out of arguments and ended up traveling as a three-pack. We were currently playing the card game Daifugou.
“Oh — Ryouya-kun, Riona, look out the window. Mt. Fuji.”
“Oh, yeah. So we’re already in the Chubu region.”
“Nee-chan, calm down.”
“It’s Mount Fuji. Try not to get excited about Mount Fuji.”
The board said next stop was Nagoya, so we still had a while before Okayama Station.
“By the way — have either of you been to Okayama before?”
“Of the Chugoku-Shikoku region, we’ve been to Hiroshima and Takamatsu. But not Okayama.”
“So me and Nee-chan are kind of looking forward to it.”
“Yeah, you don’t usually have a reason to go pinpoint.”
After the open campus, the plan was to head over to Kurashiki, walk the Bikan Historical Quarter, and the next day play around at the Okayama Milano Park theme park before heading back to Tokyo. As I was running through that mentally, Riona played a pair of jacks.
“Whoa, seriously? Pass.”
“You’re hitting Eleven-Back now? …I pass too.”
Reona and I groaned in unison. Eleven-Back temporarily inverts card strength, and our hands were now useless. From there it was Riona’s solo turn — we couldn’t do anything.
“That’s my win.”
“Lost again — she’s just too strong.”
“Riona’s always been a monster at this.”
“This kind of game is my territory.”
We’d played a bunch of rounds since boarding, and neither Reona nor I had managed to beat her once. Riona’s pokerface is perfect, and on top of that she’s mechanically smart — terrifying.
Reona, in contrast, telegraphs everything, so — needless to say — she was weak. Identical twins notwithstanding, that wiring was different.
“Other games?”
”…The future I can see is one where Riona wins everything regardless of game.”
“Yeah, since childhood, Riona’s been undefeated at cards, Othello, anything in that genre.”
Reona had given up before we even started. She’d probably gotten flattened by Riona repeatedly as a kid. We dropped cards in favor of personality-test stuff and travel chatter, and eventually we pulled into Okayama Station.
“Finally here. Sitting that long was tougher than expected.”
“Three and a half hours is a lot.”
“Good work, you two.”
Off the train, Reona and Riona stretched in place. It must have actually been rough.
“There are special shuttle buses from the west exit. Should get us there in about five.”
“Right next to the station, huh?”
“Insanely convenient.”
“Right? People commute from eastern Hiroshima and Kagawa for that reason.”
We headed for the ticket gates. The Shinkansen platform was playing the opening theme of an old galactic-train anime as the departure melody, which was distinctly nostalgic.
Of course, that anime aired before I was born. We passed through the gates and headed for the bus terminal on the west side. The station was busy, but it being a regional city, nowhere near Tokyo-busy.
“Okayama Milano Park, where we’re going tomorrow — it’s near the station too, right? Which side?”
“Milano Park is on the east side, opposite. Roughly five minutes’ walk from the east exit, if I remember right.”
“Lots of attractions, I’m excited.”
We boarded the shuttle bus and headed for Okayama City University. The bus had other high schoolers heading to the same open campus, and the boys among them were staring at Reona and Riona.
The two of them attract attention wherever they go. As expected, the jealous looks were redirected at me. I’d already gotten used to it; it didn’t bother me anymore.
“Hey, have you two been to an open campus before?”
“Mm-hmm. Riona and I went to a few with friends last year.”
“Oh nice. First time for me — good to have experienced company.”
So they were veterans. That helped a lot.