Why Don't You Make the Twins Your "Girlfriend" Together? Volume 1 Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Chikage Usami’s Other Face…?
The situation took a sharp turn two days after I’d spoken with Usami, on the afternoon of Friday, May 27th.
I had caught sight of her from a distance a few times since then, but never found an opportunity to talk. As much as I wanted to find some point of connection, I didn’t want to approach her carelessly and give her the wrong idea.
Was that whole incident just a dream?
As I walked toward the station, lost in thought, I emerged onto a wide, tree-lined avenue. Sakurano-cho, the district in Yuuki City where Arisuyama Academy is located, is a bustling urban center filled with office buildings and commercial complexes. It’s convenient, there’s plenty of entertainment, and you can find just about anything you want.
The only downside was the morning and evening rush hour, which was an absolute pain.
Most of the students in the go-home club, like me, made a point to finish their assignments after school and leave early, partly to avoid that very congestion. But I always rushed home for a different reason: my manga and games were waiting for me. That’s also why my eyes always looked so sleepy; I’d been staying up late more and more since starting high school, a fact I kept secret from my mother, who lived separately.
Come to think of it, Mitsumi-san said she’d be late today…
I was currently living with my aunt, Mitsumi Kisezaki—my mother’s younger sister. I tried to help with chores, but Mitsumi would always tell me, “A student’s job is to be a student.” She insisted that studying and having fun were my real responsibilities, and whenever she was home, she’d refuse my help with the housework.
Still, Mitsumi was incredibly busy with her job. Even as a high-earning lawyer, she worked long hours and had all but given up on marriage, mentioning it was a dream within a dream. Knowing her situation, it only felt natural for me, as someone staying in her home, to pull my weight. In fact, doing nothing at all left me feeling guilty.
I wasn’t much of a cook, but I decided I’d make dinner tonight.
What should I make? What do we have in the fridge──
Lost in these thoughts, I found myself near the station.
──And that’s when I saw her.
My eyes were drawn to a lone girl entering the arcade in front of the station.
Is that… Usami-san? No, but…
A profound sense of dissonance made me stop dead in my tracks. Two women walking toward me saw the wild look in my eyes, gave me a frightened glance, and scurried past.
That was… that was definitely Usami-san, right…?
I tried to reconcile the image with my memory. The Chikage Usami I knew was a dignified figure who wore her uniform according to regulations, her only adornment a ribbon tying back the hair on her left side. She was anything but flashy.
Yet the girl I just saw──Chikage Usami──wore her uniform sloppily, her hair was down, and though I couldn’t tell from this distance if she was wearing makeup, she had a pair of headphones slung around her neck.
And she had just walked into an arcade—a place school rules strictly forbade students from visiting after school.
I had to be mistaken.
It was hard to believe that the diligent, serious Usami would ever break the rules to go to an arcade. I just couldn’t imagine she had that side to her.
But could I really have mistaken her for someone else? Besides, the uniform was definitely from Arisuyama Academy──
“But, you know… doesn’t she seem like the type to have a hidden side?”
“Actually, I heard a pretty interesting rumor…──”
The words of four girls I’d overheard in the cafeteria flashed through my mind. Whether Usami had a secret life or not was none of my business, but if that really was her──
Curiosity spurred my feet forward.
＊ ＊ ＊
Arisuyama Academy’s rules prohibited students from entering entertainment facilities like karaoke bars or arcades on the way home. Of course, once you were off school grounds, they had no legal authority. It wasn’t like there was a law against it.
Yet, no one ever broke the rules.
This was partly because the students who enrolled were naturally serious, and partly because everyone knew it would be a huge hassle if a patrolling teacher caught you. The shared understanding among Arisuyama students was that it was best to avoid trouble, so everyone simply followed the rules.
Shattering that unspoken agreement, I stepped into the arcade.
The place was already swarming with high school students from other schools. The first floor and basement were overwhelmingly packed with girls, likely because of the purikura photo booths. I scanned the crowd, but I didn’t see any other Arisuyama Academy uniforms.
Did she go downstairs?
As I looked around, a pair of flashy-looking high school girls approached me. One of them, a tall, slender girl with wavy, smoky-gray highlighted hair, stepped closer. She smelled of musk.
“Whoa, how rare~”
She looked me up and down, not mockingly, but with genuine curiosity. “Sorry, sorry. We just don’t see many ‘Arigaku’ kids in here.”
“I guess not,” I replied with a wry smile, glancing at her friend. The other girl had a wolf cut with vivid pink inner coloring. She was shorter but had sharp, cute features.
“We’re second-years. What about you?” the smoky-gray one asked.
“…First-year.”
“Whoa, don’t get all formal on us! You can talk casually, y’know~” she said, her tone friendly and open.
“…Alright, if you say so.”
“Can we take a pic together for Insta? Like, a commemorative thing… Oh, but first, what’s your name──”
“Ah, I’d rather not,” I cut her off with a strained smile before she could finish. “My school’s pretty strict about, well, everything.”
The last thing I needed was a picture of me in uniform at an arcade with girls from another school spreading around.
The smoky-gray-haired girl pouted. “Then at least let’s exchange Insta?”
“Sorry, I don’t use it.”
“Ehh? What about LIME?”
“Um… before that, can I ask you something?” I interjected. “I’m looking for someone… Have you seen a girl in my school’s uniform?”
The girl with the pink inner color raised her hand. “Oh, yeah! I might know her! I haven’t seen her today, but she comes here sometimes. The girl with the headphones, right?”
“Ah, yeah…”
So, whether it was Usami or not, a girl from Arisuyama with headphones was a regular here.
“Any idea where she might be?”
“Probably the second floor, don’t you think? She always heads up there.”
As soon as I had my answer, the smoky-gray-haired girl spoke up, sounding less than pleased. “Wait, is she your girlfriend or something?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“Hmm… You seem pretty desperate for someone who isn’t.”
“I don’t think so…” I said with a weak smile, already turning my back to them. “Anyway, thanks. I’m going to check out the second floor──”
“Hey, wait! What about exchanging LIME contacts!?”
“Sorry, maybe next time!” I called back, practically fleeing up the stairs.
＊ ＊ ＊
The second floor was dedicated to classic arcade games—puzzle games, fighting games, mahjong—and the male-to-female ratio was completely flipped.
But is Usami really here?
As I scanned the area, I noticed a large crowd gathered around a row of cabinets in the center.
“Dammit…! Lost again───!”
A guy in a knit cap, probably a college student, shot up violently from his seat. The machine he’d been playing was End of the Samurai 3—or Ensamu 3 for short. Pretty refined taste.
The Ensamu series was a fighting game set in the Bakumatsu period of Japan. The character roster was centered on the Shinsengumi, but also featured figures like Sakamoto Ryōma and Okada Izō, along with a few other niche swordsmen. Thanks to the influence of esports, the game had recently seen a resurgence in popularity. You could even play it online on consoles against players from around the world.
But hardcore arcade fans still preferred to battle it out on the cabinets. Having spent a good amount of time with Ensamu 3 myself, I could understand their sentiment. If I had the time and wasn’t in my school uniform, I’d be tempted to jump in for a match.
“Dude, you suck, losing like that.”
“Shut up! Then why don’t you play!?” the guy in the knit cap shot back, irritated. His friend, a guy with long hair, made a show of rolling up his sleeves as he sat down and dropped a coin in.
“Alright, guess I’m next──”
Looks like a dead end, I thought, letting out a sigh. I was about to turn back when──
“Still, that high school girl who uses Koto-kyun is insane…”
A single comment from the crowd made me freeze.
Koto-kyun was the nickname for Nakazawa Koto, a female character in the Ensamu series. She was popular for her speed and tricky movements. She was based on a real-life female swordswoman who joined the Shinchōgumi and disguised herself as a man to fight.
A high school girl who uses Koto-kyun… No way…
I moved around to the other side of the cabinet where the long-haired guy was playing. A semi-circle of spectators was gathered, their eyes all fixed on one spot. I pushed my way through the gap to get a look.
And there she was.
The girl I was looking for, her hands moving over the controls with practiced ease.
“Usami-san…!?”
The name escaped my lips as I saw her profile.
But she didn’t even glance my way. Her hands moved silently, her eyes fixed on the screen, unblinking──but I saw her lips move slightly.
“…? Sorry, but I’m in the middle of a match…”
“Sorry, but more importantly──”
“If you want to play, get in line on the other side. If not, don’t talk to me.”
Her words felt like a clear dismissal. The onlookers shot me glares, and I clamped my mouth shut. But a mountain of questions was already forming in my mind. This casual attire, the expert way she handled the controls, the obvious familiarity she had with the arcade… what was going on? Even her tone was completely different from her usual self.
I wanted to ask her about everything, but it didn’t look like her game was ending anytime soon.
“If you want to play…”
Huh? I see.
I let out a breath. “…Alright. Then if I play you and win, will you talk to me for a bit?”
“Is that your way of hitting on me?”
“No, that’s not my intention. I just have some things I want to ask──”
Just then, a flashy effect erupted on the screen. The character Usami was controlling, Nakazawa Koto, had just unleashed her Super Special Move.
“Hmm… Fine,” she said, a smile seeming to touch her lips, though it was hidden by her hair. “Sounds interesting. If you can beat me, that is.”
＊ ＊ ＊
The long-haired guy was defeated in an instant, and my turn came.
I sat down at the cabinet, inserted a coin, and went straight to the character selection screen. Based on matchups, the logical choice against Nakazawa Koto would be a character with a parry, or maybe Okita Sōji, who was similarly tricky. But I deliberately chose the slow, heavy-hitting power character, Kondō Isami.
“Heh… what’s with this guy, is he a noob…? That’s the opposite of what you should do. What’s he thinking, picking a power type?”
I heard a mocking voice from behind me. In Ensamu, speed-type characters were weakest against balanced types, which had a good mix of speed and power. Against Usami’s Nakazawa Koto, my power-type Kondō Isami was at a massive disadvantage──but I ignored the comment and focused on the screen.
The match began.
As expected, Kondō Isami was completely overwhelmed by Nakazawa Koto’s tricky movements. I was stuck on the defensive, managing to block her attacks, but Koto was clearly dominating the round.
The turning point came in an instant.
I was pushed to the corner of the screen, holding a standing guard. For a split second, Koto crouched. I tried to match her with a crouch of my own, but I was a few frames too late──and that single moment was everything.
Whoa… This feeling… Usami-san is a seriously seasoned player…
Resigned, I took my hands off the controls. Once that first hit landed, it was already over.
Nakazawa Koto’s low kick connected, and from there, she launched into a relentless string of attacks. Finally, she unleashed her Super Special Move, Type Two: Hundred Flowers in Profusion, and a flashy cinematic sent Kondō Isami flying into the air.
It was a textbook combo.
Not a single input was dropped, and it wiped out sixty percent of my health bar.
But just as Kondō Isami began to fall back to the ground──
──Alright, here we go.
＊ ＊ ＊
My eyes snapped open, and my hands flew back to the controls.
I started inputting commands at high speed. Kondō Isami, who should have crashed to the ground, instead bounced once and shot back to his feet.
“What!? The ‘Kondō Hopper’…!?”
By the time someone in the crowd shouted, Kondō Isami was already behind Nakazawa Koto.
A standing heavy punch led into another combo, launching Koto into the air at the edge of the screen. Before she could land, Kondō followed up with a heavy tackle. Koto was knocked back into the air, took another heavy tackle──flew up again──another tackle──up again──there was no end in sight.
A stir went through the crowd behind me.
“The ‘Kondō Hopper’ into the ‘Infinite Tackle’!?”
“Seriously…!? This is the first time I’ve ever seen it in a real match!”
“This guy’s no noob…!”
The truth was, I had laid the groundwork from the start. I had let myself be backed into the corner, pretending to be on the defensive while taking minimal chip damage.
That combo? I had taken it on purpose, all to make my opponent let her guard down.
What they called the “Kondō Hopper” was a special type of recovery, also known as a down-avoid. Unlike other characters, Kondō Isami could perform it even after being hit by a Super Special Move. Some considered it a cheap bug, and it had been patched out of the home console versions long ago. It was a technique that only existed on these stand-alone arcade cabinets.
On top of that, Kondō had this inescapable corner combo, the “Infinite Tackle.” Once you were caught, it was over. Unless the player messed up the inputs, it wouldn’t stop until your health bar was at zero.
…Sorry, but I have my own reasons for needing to win this…
The words “K.O.” flashed across the screen.
The first round went to my Kondō Isami. The second round ended with my victory as well, and a cheer erupted from the crowd behind me.
＊ ＊ ＊
“I lost. You’re really strong. I never thought I’d lose to a Kondō.”
Usami walked over to where I was still sitting. Despite her loss, she was beaming as she held out her right hand. I started to reach out and take it──
──Hey? Wanna play together?
A sudden memory from elementary school flashed in my mind, and I instinctively pulled my hand back.
“…? What’s wrong? You don’t like shaking hands?”
“Ah…──No, it’s nothing…”
I offered a relaxed smile to the puzzled Usami. She blushed and withdrew her outstretched hand. Turning away slightly, she fidgeted with her bangs, peeking at me with one eye.
“Sooo… what did you want to ask me?”
I’d been so focused on the game that I hadn’t thought about it at all. Where should I even start? Before anything else, there was one thing I absolutely had to confirm.
“You seem totally different from how you are at school… Is this the ‘real’ you, Usami-san?”
Usami blinked. “Oh, right! Ahem…! Uh… this isn’t my real self (noda)!”
“…‘Noda’? What’s with that speech pattern…?”
My skeptical look seemed to fluster her. “Oh, was that wrong? Then… Esteemed sir, what business do you have with ’me’ (desu ka na)?”
“Umm… are you messing with me?”
“No, I have no such intentions (koto yo)?”
“Ah, yup. You’re messing with me.”
“Ahem, ahem…! Wow, this is harder to calibrate than I thought… Ahem! How do I usually talk…? Oh, right… Ahem, ahem!” she muttered to herself, clearing her throat repeatedly.
She was coughing so much I started to worry about the arcade’s ventilation. Maybe the bad air quality was affecting her brain and speech.
“…So, what was it you wanted to ask ‘me’?” she finally asked, her voice back to normal.
“Okay, first… why are you at an arcade? You looked like you’re here all the time…”
“Hmm… Theory and practice, I guess?”
“…Of what?”
“Theory and practice… by which I mean stress relief.”
“Ah, so it’s just stress relief, then…” I said, feeling a bit let down.
“What about the headphones? I’ve never seen you with them before…”
“Oh, these are the ‘KAN-01V,’ an early model from the KANON series. Not only do they have noise-canceling, but they’re structured so they don’t hurt your ears──”
“Sorry, my bad… I didn’t mean the model or its features. I meant, do you always carry them around?”
“Well… sometimes? I guess, well… to an extent?”
“…Why are you asking me? They’re your headphones, right?”
I was completely dumbfounded, but Usami just kept smiling, seeming to enjoy our conversation. Something about her was different, though. It wasn’t just the way she talked──
“Your smile is really cute…”
“Ah, about that~… Fweh!? Wh-what did you just say!?”
“Ah, nothing…”
It had just slipped out. But she smiled so much more like this. And it was cute. I even found myself wishing she would smile like this at school.
“I don’t hate lip service, but hearing it so directly is still kind of embarrassing.”
“Sorry, forget I said it… So, it’s just stress relief, you seem pretty serious about this.”
“Well, yeah… Does it turn you off?”
“No, I like people who give their all to something.”
“Nahahaha… haha… L-like…?”
Ignoring the beet-red Usami, I placed a hand on my chin and thought about my next question. “Alright, my next question is──”
Suddenly, her face was right next to mine.
“Hey! What are you──”
“Shhh… Look behind you, slowly…” she whispered, her voice a breath against my ear.
Her warm breath on my skin made my heart jump, but I did as she said and slowly glanced over my shoulder.
There, I saw a beautiful, stern-looking woman in a familiar pantsuit, scanning the area.
“Crap! Tachibana-sensei…!?”
“Hehe… too bad. Looks like our date is over for today…” Usami whispered, and I snapped my head back forward.
Her face was still there.
Her soft hair brushed against my cheek, and a sweet scent tickled my nose. It was the same scent from two days ago, when I had caught her──but it felt just a little bit different.
Usami took my right hand. She brought it to the side of her face, pressing it gently against her cheek. Her soft hair tickled the back of my hand, and a mix of ticklishness and embarrassment sent a fresh wave of heat through me.
“──Yeah. You’re a really good one…”
“Wh-what are you doing…?”
“Marking my territory. I thought I’d put my scent on you,” she said, rubbing her cheek against my hand. My fingertips brushed against her small ear.
“Ehehe, my earlobe is soft, isn’t it?”
“W-well…”
She deliberately let me touch it. I gave it a little pinch, and it was indeed soft.
“Did that help you remember the feeling? …You can touch it whenever you want, you know?”
“What is all this, anyway…?”
“Fufu, a little magic spell so you don’t mistake me for someone else──Now, for a goodbye… hug!”
“Wha──!?”
For a moment, she squeezed me tight, and then she pulled back just as quickly. With one last bright smile and a tiny wave, she started backing away toward the emergency exit. I could only watch, stunned, as she disappeared.
My heart was pounding. My whole body felt hot, as if I had a fever.
This feeling… it might not be what I think it is──
“You there! You’re an Arisuyama Academy student, aren’t you!? Name and class! Now!”
“Eek!? Tachibana-sensei…!?”
──It was the terror of being caught.
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