After a 15 minute ride from Tachibana station, we disembarked at Hanagaki station for Izumino School.
We mixed into a crowd of boys and girls all wearing the same uniform, and I even saw a few high school boys wearing the cla.s.sic j.a.panese Gakuran-style uniform. There must be another high school in the neighborhood.
“Mako-chan, where do you think the Faculty room is?”
“I don’t know. Let’s ask some people around here.”
I was at a loss for words looking upon the castle-sized campus of Izumino School. Mitsuki was nervous and clung to the hem of my uniform. Looking at me with upturned eyes, Mitsuki was indeed the heroine, she was so cute it was amazing. The epitome of femininity.
Woman though I may have been, I couldn’t help but want to protect Mitsuki…were the kinds of brotherly thoughts I had. I was shocked at myself.
I cleared my throat, and Mitsuki turned to look at me, bewildered. Facing her, I said,
“I’ll ask someone, so Mitsuki, just stay here and-”
“Excuse me. Could you tell me where the Faculty room is?”
Before I could even finish, Mitsuki grabbed a male student and asked for the whereabouts of the Faculty room.
As expected of an Otome game heroine, she’s not adverse to taking action. I’d forgotten the heroine of Subaru’s Otome game was such a go-getter. If the heroine was too shy, the story would never get anywhere.
“Mako-chan, he said it’s over there!”
Unable to notice my internal monologue, Mitsuki returned smiling as if nothing had happened.
“Ah, over there. Then, let’s go.”
Mitsuki led the way in high spirits, and I followed her from behind to the Faculty room.
It had only been 30 minutes since the shock of being dumped into Subaru’s game “Heartthrob Love Revolution”, and I was surprised at how much I had already adapted. I believed from the bottom of my heart that this could still very well just be a dream.
When we went into the Faculty room, a male teacher waved at us by the window on the other side of the room.
Mitsuki and I approached the man waving to us. He seemed to be a brand new teacher, and looked more like a salaryman with his nicely cut black hair and gentle expression.
Seeing the laugh lines around his mouth, this teacher was likely the type that laughed a lot. He looked like an earnest teacher, yet something about him exuded a certain s.e.x appeal.
Maybe it was because of his big, round, and young looking eyes, but he was almost kind of cute. And yet that s.e.x appeal was still strangely there.
Our teacher had a printout of our transcripts, and was putting a face to the names written there.
“So you’re Makoto Sakurai-kun, and you must be Mitsuki-san?”
“Ah, yes! I’m Mitsuki Sakurai, and this is Makoto.”
“I’ll be your homeroom teacher then. I’m Tamaki Yurino, your biology teacher.”
Tamaki Yurino. I felt like I’d heard that name before, too. I was certain that in Hearthrob Love Revolution, or LoveRevo for short, that this was some sort of special character introduction.
The homeroom teacher was almost always a love interest in school-based Otome games. I mean come on, he was super handsome. If he was just some background character, then the hotness level of the real love interests would be ridiculous.
“You two are twins, right? Who’s older?”
“Ah, that would be me.”
At least I was pretty sure I was older. My knowledge of the game was still a bit vague, so I was worried I spoke out of turn, but Mitsuki didn’t say anything so I must have been right.
Yurino-sensei was checking me out. Even though we were twins, Mitsuki and I didn’t look anything alike, and I’m sure that’s why he looked at me like that. Well, that or he found fraternal twins to be fascinating.
Still, his staring was getting to the point of being uncomfortable.
“Makoto-kun?”
“Yes. I know it sounds like a girl’s name, so maybe that makes me a girl…”
“Haha, my name also sounds pretty girly, so I can sympathize. On the contrary, my little sister has a rather masculine name…er, I suppose that’s not really important. Ah, right right, you two are being transferred into second year cla.s.s A.”
Even if I accidently called myself a girl, I suppose I was at a level where I wouldn’t be easily mistaken for one. It was a little shocking.
Yurino-sensei stood from his seat, and standing next to him, I found he had half a head of height on me.
“Well then, let’s be on our way. Are you ready to meet your new cla.s.smates?”
I’d gone through so much stress and shock in just the last half hour that this was hardly enough to phase me.
But I could see Mitsuki was really nervous. Her face was stiff and her fingers were trembling. This from the girl who just a few minutes ago walked up to a total stranger to ask for directions. That she was just nowgetting nervous made me laugh.
“It’s all right, Mitsuki. I’m here with you.”
I held onto Mitsuki’s hand to calm her down. I had no idea how close Mitsuki and Makoto were supposed to be, but with Mitsuki always sticking close to me and calling me “Mako-chan, Mako-chan”, I was certain holding her hand would be fine.
Sure enough, Mitsuki relaxed and smiled. She was still a little stiff, but the expression on her face had softened. She should be fine.
“Mako-chan is dependable as always. You were a little weird this morning, but now you’re back to the normal Mako-chan.”
Mitsuki smiled, completely relieved.
Mitsuki’s sudden praise made my heart skip a beat. I knew I was being a fool, but it made me realize I wasn’t her real “Mako-chan”.
My heart clenched. I wondered what Mitsuki would do if she found out I wasn’t her real brother. I may have been Makoto Sakurai in body, but I wasn’t really Mitsuki’s brother.
I walked along with Yurino-sensei and Mitsuki, the distress growing within me. Mitsuki still hadn’t let go of my hand. Siblings though we may be, what must others think seeing us walk around the school hand in hand?
Even so, her grip was stronger than I thought, she wouldn’t let go.
“We’re here, go right on in.”
Mitsuki finally released my hand.
Following behind Yurino-sensei, we entered the cla.s.sroom for 2-A. It was a small cla.s.s of barely 30 students, and about evenly split between boys and girls. …There may have been a few more boys though.
All the students were watching us, curiosity sparkling in their eyes. I apologized inwardly to the girls of the cla.s.s who were probably expecting a really handsome transfer student; Sorry for having such an average face.
“Okay, let me introduce the transfer students. We’ll start with the older brother.”
“Ah, right. …Umm, I’m Makoto Sakurai. Pleased to meet you.”
“And I’m Mitsuki Sakurai. I’m looking forward to cla.s.s with everyone, my older twin, Makoto, included.”
Mitsuki quickly bowed her head, her face fully red. I followed suit and bowed as well.
It may have been a rather brash introduction, but I didn’t get the sense that anyone was bothered by it. Rather, she was really cute. All the guys must be really happy that such a cute girl transferred into their cla.s.s.
“Then, Mitsuki-san, you’ll be sitting next to Fujisaki-kun. Fujisaki-kun, please raise your handー”
“Ah, yes. Your seat is over here, younger Sakurai.”
The student named Fujisaki looked like a normal guy that followed the school regulations, with the exception of his shockingly blonde hair and red hairclips. His lethargic looks and nice way of talking were at odds sharp eyes and snaggletooth.
Mitsuki sat in the seat next to Fujisaki, and seemed to be having a rather fun conversation with him. It made me feel a bit lonely. I wondered if this was how a father felt when they gave away their daughter’s hand in marriage?
“Makoto-kun, you’ll be next to Tsubaki-kun. Tsubaki-kun, please raise your hand.”
I let my eyes drift over the students trying to locate the guy named Tsubaki. He was furthest in the back, two rows from the window. Wait a minute, wasn’t he the male student I’d met in the restroom not even half an hour ago? That young man with the friendly smile.
And speaking of which, that smile was still plastered on his face as he waved his hand to me. It really was that guy.
Yurino-sensei gave me a small push in Tsubaki’s direction, and I sat at my desk in the back seat by the window.
The teacher went through the morning announcements, then left the cla.s.sroom. The second he did, Tsubaki tapped me on the shoulder.
“Hey, you’re the guy I met before, right?”
“I was right, you’re the guy from the restroom at the station.”
“Yep, that’s me. I had no idea you were transferring to my school. Ah, my name’s Soutarou Tsubaki.”
My first impression of him didn’t change. He was like a big friendly dog.
“Well then Tsubaki, nice to meet you.”
“Souta, you’re already getting friendly with the transfer student?”
The blondey from before came over to our seats and struck up a conversation with Tsubaki. He suddenly turned his gaze upon me, and he gave a little smile and nod.
Even though he had delinquent-blonde hair, he seemed like a pretty cool guy. Back when I was in high school, anyone with hair that yellow would have been someone to avoid. But maybe it’s because of…that. In Otome games, characters needed to have a distinctive look. Since it wasn’t easy to tell the characters apart just by their face, their hair was used as their identifiable trait.
“Ah, Kana. Yeah, I had already met Mako-chan at Tachibana station.”
“Right, we happened to meet when I was having an existential crisis in the restroom.”
“Restroom? Crisis?”
The blonde guy named Kana looked at me blanky for a moment after repeating my words, then broke out into a laugh.
It wasn’t that funny, was it?
Not only that, Tsubaki just casually called me Mako-chan. I guess I didn’t really mind. I’ll just call him Soutarou then.
“What, did you get so nervous about transferring that you got the runs?”
“No, my bowel movements are quite normal, thank you very much.”
“I can’t believe you just said ‘bowel movements’ with such a serious face…Mako-chan, you’re great, so funny!”
Did I really say something that funny? To me, Kana’s range for being amused was way more entertaining.
Seeing me looking at him with such a dubious expression just made him laugh that much more.
“Soutarou, make this guy stop laughing.”
“What? Me…?
Soutarou looked at me with surprise at suddenly using his first name.
“My instincts tell me that Soutarou is the only one that can get Kana to stop laughing.”
“Yes indeed, right you are.”
I didn’t skip a beat, and while I was again shocked at my adaptability, I’d come to the conclusion that this wasn’t a dream. Somehow or other I’d have to make my way through all this.
Still, if at all possible, come save meー Subaruー!