High School Girls On Both Arms.

When fourth period ended, I declined Ishida’s invitation to grab ramen and hopped on a train by myself. I was headed to the Funabashi karaoke box Honoka had specified. After parting with Toko-senpai at lunch, I’d only been able to reply to Honoka, “Fine—I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

I got off at Funabashi Station and went straight into the karaoke place. While I was at the reception, Honoka showed up.

“Oh, you finally made it. Keeping a high school girl waiting… you’re the lowest of the low!”

“I came here right after classes finished. Besides, you called me out without asking if I was free, so you have no right to complain about me being ‘late.’”

As I protested, Honoka poked my chest playfully with her finger.

“Saying stuff like that is why your girlfriend cheated on you. You’re not popular at all, Isshiki-san!”

“…You.”

Seriously—what a girl. She looked like Toko-senpai in stature and features, but her personality and aura were completely different; it was hard to believe they were even sisters.

“This way, this way.”

Honoka grabbed my hand and led me to a room she’d apparently already checked into, then flung the door open.

“He’s finally here! The star of the show!”

Sitting where she pointed was Ishida’s younger sister, Meika.

“Meika-chan?” I blurted, dumbfounded.

“Hello, Yuu-san.” Meika sounded hesitant, though she obviously knew I was coming.

“Come on, sit, sit!” Honoka pushed my back, making me sit beside Meika while she took the other side. I felt sandwiched between them.

“Why is Meika-chan here?”

Honoka answered first. “I told you—Meika’s my best friend; we’ve been close since middle school.”

Meika nodded. “And today En-chan said she’d ‘make time for me to talk to Yuu-san.’”

“En-chan?”

“Oh, it’s my nickname for Honoka. I call her En-chan.”

Honoka added, “Exactly. If you and Meika are going to get closer, we should start by deepening the friendship between the three of us.”

I glared. “Deepening friendship? This feels pretty forced.”

Honoka bristled without hesitation. “It’s not forced at all—I just sent Isshiki-san a message. Whether you came was your own decision.”

The nerve of her.

“Don’t worry about the small stuff. Let’s just have fun. What are you going to sing, Isshiki-san?”

She handed me the remote. I had no choice but to play along; I picked a reasonably popular song and Honoka immediately used the ‘change order’ function to push it to the top.

“Here, sing!” she thrust the microphone at me, so I sang. The scoring function was on—I got an 88.

“Heh~ you’re actually pretty good. You have a boyish voice.”

When Honoka said that, Meika chimed in, “Yuu-san is a good singer. When we went to karaoke before, he got several scores in the 90s.”

“Wait, Meika, you’ve been on a karaoke date with Isshiki-san?”

“No! It was when Meika-chan was in middle school—the three of us went to karaoke with Ishida. That’s all,” I explained.

“That’s right,” Meika added, looking a little lonely.

“Is that so? By the way, Isshiki-san, have you ever been to karaoke with Sis?”

Ugh—I hesitated for a second.

“Not yet. We haven’t been dating that long, and she was in Hawaii with her family over winter break, so there wasn’t time.”

“Hmm, is that so?” Honoka’s eyes narrowed like a cat stalking prey. “No kiss, and not even a karaoke date… you’re less than friends. Can you even call yourselves a couple?”

She stood up, glass in hand. “Meika, you don’t have to hold back! Sis and Isshiki-san barely have any kind of relationship—there’s no problem with you going for it!”

“En-chan! I didn’t mean it like that!”

But Honoka left without listening—probably to get a drink. Once we were alone, Meika sighed.

“I’m sorry. It feels like I’ve caused you trouble, Yuu-san…”

“No, it’s not your fault, Meika-chan.” I could only own up to being the idiot.

“Today En-chan told me that ‘you should talk to Yuu-san first,’” Meika said, then peered at me. “By the way, how do you know En-chan, Yuu-san? Through Toko-senpai?”

I struggled for an answer; I couldn’t exactly say, “I got caught in a honey-trap.”

“Uh, yeah—something like that. Still, I had no idea you were friends with Toko-senpai’s sister. I’d have expected Ishida to mention it,” I said, voicing the doubt I’d felt; Ishida hadn’t said a word about this.

“I don’t really talk to my brother about my social life. Even if I know En-chan’s name, I don’t go out of my way to mention her family. I didn’t realize En-chan was Toko-senpai’s sister until much later, either.”

Honoka returned with her drink. “Oh, look at you two talking properly. Good kids, good kids,” she teased.

“W-we weren’t talking about anything weird!” Meika protested, turning red.

“It’s fine. More importantly, let’s liven things up!” Honoka grabbed the remote and queued her next song.

We stayed at the karaoke for about two hours. I had suggested we leave by eight; I expected Honoka to whine, but she agreed readily—after all, we’re all minors and shouldn’t be out late.

While waiting for the train at Funabashi Station, Honoka suddenly said, “Tomorrow, Meika and Isshiki-san should meet up—just the two of you!”

“What?” Meika and I cried at the same time.

“If you just say bye now, you probably won’t meet for a while again. Then it’s the same as before. We finally got to know each other today—you need to be more proactive about meeting up!”

Seriously—she doesn’t think about other people’s schedules at all…

But if I rejected it outright, wouldn’t that hurt Meika? She was looking at me now, clearly gauging my reaction.

…I can’t just flatly refuse this…

I sighed. “Final exams are coming up—I’ve got to study. I don’t have that kind of time.”

“Right… I thought so,” Meika said sadly. Honoka then turned on me, angry.

“Even if it’s before exams, you’re not studying 24/7, right? You have breaks. You can’t even spare that much time?”

Meika looked surprised. “It’s only Wednesday—you have Saturday and Sunday to study, right? Using exams as an excuse to say you ‘can’t meet’ is playing dirty!”

Meika tried to stop her, “Wait, En-chan!” but Honoka wouldn’t listen.

“I’m not asking for hours. Even one hour after school is fine. You can’t even spare that? That’s exactly why your girlfriend cheated on you!”

“En-chan, stop it!”

A strained silence fell. I felt suffocated.

“Alright. If it’s just an hour for tea after classes, I’ll do it. Is Funabashi okay? I don’t know exactly when my classes end—can I contact you tomorrow about the time?”

Meika looked surprised for a second, then murmured, “O-okay. Sorry… and thank you.” Even bold Honoka looked a little embarrassed for a moment.

Eventually the Sobu Line arrived and the three of us boarded in silence. Two stations later, as I stood to get off at Makuhari Station:

“Thanks,” said Honoka.

“I’m sorry,” said Meika-chan.