“…Morning.”
Awake, I sat up in bed and muttered. Summer ended yesterday — school resumed today. I’d gone to bed early, so I’d woken up before the alarm.
I checked the clock and realized it was still pretty early. I considered going back to sleep — but if I slept in, Reona and Riona were likely to climb into bed with me, so I decided against it.
The two of them think nothing of stripping to their underwear “so the uniform doesn’t wrinkle,” so I cannot drop my guard. Crushing the urge to sleep more, I got up and headed to the dining room.
“Onii-chan, morning. Wild to see you up this early.”
“Morning. Went to bed early yesterday.”
“You look depressed at this hour — what’s wrong?”
“You absolutely know.”
The only possible reason for my dejection was that summer was over. Particularly with the school trip and the festival coming up — events specifically painful for a loner. We popped bread in the toaster and started eating.
“Onii-chan, your school trip is Kyoto, right?”
“Yeah. Two nights, three days. I do not want to go.”
“That negativity is so on-brand for you, Onii-chan.”
“If I were genuinely hyped it’d be way creepier.”
Reona-and-Riona-tier people and I were not the same species. I finished breakfast and went back to my room to get ready.
“Do I really have to wear these…”
In uniform, I stared at the pair rings sitting on my desk and muttered. They had said wear them to school, but honestly I wanted to skip. Reona and Riona were not going to allow that.
”…Let me try pretending I forgot, see what happens.”
I wanted to see their reaction. A bit later they came in.
“Oh — you’re up.”
“Thought Ryouya’d still be asleep.”
“Went to bed early so I woke up earlier than expected.”
I gave them the same explanation I’d given Mio. They accepted it.
“Right, let’s head out.”
“Oh — hang on, Ryouya-kun. Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“The thing you cannot afford to forget.”
So that was not going to slide. Wearing the rings would make me stand out, but I was not going to win this one.
“Oh — right, we said school too.”
“Don’t forget again.”
“Next infraction, there’s a penalty.”
I played it as a slip and slid the rings onto my right and left ring fingers. The two of them watched, satisfied. We left and headed for school.
“School trip is coming up, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Survive this year and there’s none next year. That’s the only consolation.”
“You don’t even look excited for a fun event.”
“It is a suffering event for me, exclusively.”
For a friend-heavy person like Reona or Riona, a school trip is a great time. For a loner, it’s a forced march. As I was thinking that, Reona dropped something unexpected.
“Don’t worry, Ryouya-kun, you’re going to be in the same group as Riona and me.”
“No, no — you’re going to a different destination, that’s not possible.”
The trip offered three options — Hokkaido, Okinawa, or Kyoto — and Reona and Riona had picked Hokkaido. I’d picked Kyoto. We couldn’t possibly be in the same group.
“Oh — Riona and I had our destinations switched to Kyoto. So we’re fine.”
“So Ryouya won’t be alone.”
”…Eh?!”
I genuinely could not parse that. Reona had been excited about Hokkaido with friends multiple times in front of me — switching at this point was hard to believe.
“It would’ve been sad if Ryouya-kun were left alone, so we asked to be transferred.”
“Riona and I can’t let Ryouya go where we can’t see him.”
“You’re basically my guardians at this point…”
I’m not a small child. Also: if they’re “guardians” they’re going to weigh in on everything. I had a vivid mental image of round-the-clock surveillance.
“So — be prepared.”
“Let’s make some memories, three of us.”
“Got it.”
That said, if Reona and Riona were in my group, I’d be spared the solo free-time tour nightmare and probably wouldn’t be bored. Net positive.
“Hee. You’re accepting same-group surprisingly easily.”
“Pre-summer Ryouya would’ve made up a reason and bailed.”
“At some point I just got used to operating as a unit with you two.”
We’d spent every day of summer break together. I was no longer hyper-aware of it. At this rate, things I currently found awkward would also slide into normal.