“…Done. All done.”
“Ryouya, Nee-chan — good work.”
“Now I can relax.”
“Yeah, that sense of accomplishment is real.”
For nearly a week after returning from Okayama, we’d spent every day at my room grinding through summer homework, and as of today, we had finished it. All of it.
“On my own I’d still be less than halfway. Genuinely saved me.”
“Riona is a saint. Always have a smart little sister. Lesson learned.”
“You can stop praising me. Nothing comes out of it.”
Riona said it cooly, but she looked pleased. The process had been brutal, but now that it was done there was a strange whiff of melancholy. Of course, I would not welcome additional homework being assigned.
“Since we’re free agents now, let’s go play somewhere — let’s combine it with lunch.”
“Yeah, full play mode.”
“Karaoke.”
“Oh, nice.”
That was their conversation. Being friendless, I’d never been to karaoke with anyone but family. There was a tiny reservation in me about it, but with Reona and Riona it’d be fine.
While I was getting ready, Mio came home — she’d been out with friends in the morning, looking healthy.
“Oh, Onii-chan, you’re going out with Reona-san and Riona-san?”
“Yeah, Riona suggested karaoke.”
Mio looked envious. Right — Mio likes singing. As I was thinking that, Reona and Riona piped up.
“Mio-chan should come too.”
“Four people is more fun.”
“Wait, really?”
“Yeah, Mio-chan’s going to be Riona and my little sister eventually anyway.”
“Stop stealing my sister. Mio is my sister.”
The two of them were still trying to draft Mio into their fold. Given Mio is implausibly cute considering she’s my sister, I understood the impulse, but I was not handing her over.
“Ryouya — surprisingly a sister-con.”
“Onii-chan’s always been this way.”
“I get the love of little sisters impulse, fwiw.”
Mio and Riona looked exasperated; Reona was nodding in solidarity. The four of us left the house and headed for the karaoke place by the station.
It was the middle of August, and the heat outside was vicious — just walking left us drenched in sweat. Stepping into the air-conditioned karaoke lobby made all four of us visibly relax. Needless to say.
“How long should we book?”
“Two hours? If we want more later, we can extend.”
“Seconded.”
“I’m with Reona-san.”
We sorted the time at the front desk. The room they led us to was on the small side — four of us were going to be sitting close.
“Okay, what to sing first?”
“The opening selection is always the hardest.”
“Yeah, even just choosing eats time.”
“It’s hard.”
We started scrolling through songs on phones and the room tablet. What goes over well in mixed company is genuinely opaque to me.
I would’ve enjoyed singing anime songs, full-otaku, but unfamiliar songs to Reona and Riona would just make for awkward reactions.
Reona picked a song first, mic in hand, and stood up from the seat. She started singing the latest popular love song — and within ten seconds the rest of us were experiencing despair.
“Oh — oh no…”
Reona was, frankly — desperately, brutally — bad at singing.
Her pitch was nowhere near anchored, her rhythm was — let’s say — improvisational. Mio was wearing an expression that suggested she was running through the same realization.
“Nee-chan’s been like this since childhood.”
“Ah.”
”…That was unexpected.”
According to Riona, Reona has always been tone-deaf. Reona, having finished, looked refreshed and triumphant. While she was singing, Mio and I had reserved follow-up songs.
“Karaoke really is the best.”
“R-right.”
“Y-you looked like you had fun, Reona-san.”
We could not say Reona, you cannot sing to her face, so we lightly affirmed.
“My turn.”
“Riona, fight.”
Riona took the mic but planned to sit while singing. Bracing for Reona-tier vocals, I got the opposite — Riona was staggeringly good.
“Riona-san is incredible…”
“That is too good.”
“I’ve always been told I sing well. For some reason, no one ever says anything to me.”
Apparently the gap was that wide despite being identical twins. And again — Reona was genuinely unaware that she was tone-deaf.
———
Announcement: I’m pleased to share that this work has been picked up for both light-novel and manga adaptation.
The offer came from a publisher who’d read the old version on Shōsetsuka ni Narō, but the commercial release will be based on this new Kakuyomu version.
So the web version will post through the equivalent of light-novel volume 1, then pause while I finalize the publication work. It will resume when things calm down.
For the web version: even if three or more LN volumes happen, I’m planning to wrap the web version at roughly 200k characters total.
Continued support appreciated.
Follows and stars, as ever, are deeply appreciated.