High School Girls On Both Arms.

“Hey, what’s wrong? You seem to be in a dark mood.”

Toko-senpai asked, concern in her eyes.

“Oh—uh, no, it’s nothing,” I said, snapping out of it.

“Is the lunch not good?” Toko-senpai’s expression shifted from concern to anxiety.

We were in the student cafeteria at lunchtime. Today Toko-senpai had made me a bento: rice with spicy cod roe and whitebait, ginger-soy grilled fish cakes, tamagoyaki, shumai, and boiled broccoli.

“No, it’s not that at all. It’s delicious.” I meant it. Her cooking had improved remarkably; by now I actually looked forward to her weekly bento.

“Then what is it? You’ve had a gloomy face all day.”

“Have I?” Even to my own ears, my voice sounded listless.

“Are you still worried about the slander online?”

That was an issue too, I realized. But the thing actually tormenting me was different: Honoka Sakurajima, the white gyaru I’d met yesterday.

She was Toko-senpai’s younger sister. Using a honey-trap, she’d ordered me to “break up with Toko and date Meika Ishida,” my best friend’s sister — and threatened to show Toko a disastrous photo if I disobeyed.

Shouldn’t I tell Toko-senpai myself before Honoka made a move? If I explained properly, Senpai should understand…

That’s what my head told me, but I didn’t have the courage. I was honestly scared.

We’d only been dating a short time; I didn’t know what might make her angry, and Honoka’s brazen confidence didn’t look like a bluff.

Sis will believe me—she’s always had a soft spot for me… But if my dad found out, it’d be a disaster; it might even turn into a police matter. Remembering that made my resolve to tell her wither.

“Yuu-kun, Yuu-kun.”

Toko-senpai’s voice snapped me back to the present.

“What is really going on? You’ve been spacing out for a while now.”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing. I just didn’t sleep well last night,” I said, averting my eyes.

At this rate I’m at a disadvantage. I need information on Honoka—I made up my mind.

“Um, Toko-senpai. You mentioned before that you have a younger sister, right?”

Toko-senpai blinked, chopsticks pausing near her mouth.

“Yeah, I do. Why?”

“What kind of person is she?”

Though puzzled, Toko-senpai answered.

“Hmm…in a word, I’d say ‘free-spirited.’ She isn’t tied down by anything—she doesn’t worry about the small stuff.”

“Free-spirited, huh…”

I didn’t think that quite covered her level.

“While I tend to overthink things, she acts on intuition—boom, boom, boom. I do try to caution her about that, though.”

“Intuition… I see.”

If I’m being forced to break up with Toko-senpai based on “intuition,” I can’t stand for that.

“She’s also very proactive. When she sets her mind on something, she does it right away, even though she’s usually quite lazy.”

It was that very proactiveness that was causing me so much grief.

“Since she’s the youngest and a girl, my dad is soft on her. My mom gets worried, but she ends up spoiling her too.” As she spoke, Toko-senpai gave a little shrug and a giggle.

“Even though I say all that, I’m a bit soft on Honoka too. I end up doing her homework or reports for her when she asks. She’s my sister, so I worry about her, and she’s cute, after all.”

Th-this… isn’t this an overwhelming disadvantage for me?

“If I plead my case, Isshiki-san, you’ll be an enemy of the Sakurajima family…” Honoka’s words came back to haunt me. Then I remembered the contradictory things she’d said about Toko-senpai yesterday.

She’d worried about her sister, saying “I’m not in her league,” yet she’d also said “I hated seeing her smile” and boasted that she “beat her” by kissing me first. What was their relationship, really?

“Do you get along well with your sister, Toko-senpai?”

Her response was immediate.

“We do. Even though she acts like a brat toward our parents, she listens to me fairly well. We often go shopping together or go out for good food.”

In that case, was Honoka’s behavior driven by a sense of crisis, like “He’s taking my sister away!”?

No—that didn’t fit. She’d said “Kamokura would be fine.” She specifically disliked the relationship between me and Toko-senpai.

Normally, it’s unthinkable that a “cheating man” would be better… but maybe from a high school girl’s perspective a “cheating handsome guy” beats a plain, uncool one?

“But why the sudden interest? Asking about my sister all of a sudden,” Toko-senpai asked.

“Oh, no reason. It’s just that I’m an only child, so I was wondering what it’s like to have siblings. Especially sisters—I can’t even imagine it.”

At that moment, my phone vibrated.

“Oh, excuse me a second.”

I checked my phone and opened an incoming email. It was from the person at the center of the storm: Honoka.

SUBJECT: Funabashi Karaoke tonight at 5:30

BODY:

Make sure you’re at the karaoke place ‘Provence’ in Funabashi at 5:30 today!

I’m going ahead to wait for you!

Wh-what is with this girl? Out of nowhere… I immediately typed a reply.

SUBJECT: Re: Funabashi Karaoke tonight at 5:30

BODY:

I’m busy, so I can’t go.

Almost instantly another email arrived. There was no text, just a JPEG attachment that opened automatically. The image showed yesterday’s scene: Honoka with a distressed look, her blouse slipped past her shoulders, and me behind her with my hands reaching out. To top it off, she’d added a message in paint: “Guess who?”

That brat… I gasped at the audacity. She wasn’t bluffing—she’d taken a photo of yesterday’s incident and intended to use it as blackmail.

“Did something happen? You have a scary look on your face,” Toko-senpai asked worriedly. I shoved the phone back into my pocket.

“No, nothing! I’m fine, totally! It seems one of my reports needs to be resubmitted… I just panicked a bit!”

“Really? If it’s difficult, do you want me to take a look? I had nearly all S-grades last year. Which report is it?”

At our university, S is Excellent, A is Good, B is Fair, and C is a Fail.

“No, I’m fine. I can handle this much myself! It’s not worth troubling you over, Toko-senpai!”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. Also, I have to get ready for my next class, so I’d better get going.”

“Oh? Can we head home together today then?”

“Uh, I’m not sure yet… I’ll contact you later!”

Toko-senpai looked a little lonely.

“I’m sorry, really. I’ll definitely get in touch later!”

“Okay, I understand. But if you don’t understand something about the report, really do tell me. I want to go on a library date with you, Yuu-kun,” Toko-senpai said with a smile.

A wave of guilt washed over me, like I was betraying her.