Why Not Make Both Twins 'Girlfriends'?-Chapter 12Volume 1 .4 - What If You Turn the Nail Upside Down...?

What If You Turn the Nail Upside Down…? 4

Sakuto headed towards the gate first.

However, as he exited the kindergarten──

“──Ah…! Sakuto…”

Yuzuki called out to him.

“Um… that…”

“…? What’s wrong?”

In front of a hesitating Yuzuki, Sakuto kept his hand in his pocket.

He was contemplating giving her a letter he had been unsure about. Should he give it to her now?

(TN: Maybe it’s the letter he wrote in Chapter 3 part 1.)

It seemed like the only opportunity──

But then Yuzuki spoke up first.

“Um, I──”

“──Yuzuki! ──Hm? Takayashiki?”

Just as Yuzuki was about to say something, Shun arrived.

“What are you two talking about?”

Yuzuki hurriedly lowered her face.

“Nothing…”

“Ah, yeah. Nothing in particular…”

“Anyway, Takayashiki, did you make a high school debut or something?”

“What? Why?”

“You’ve changed a lot. Different from junior high school…”

Facing Shun, who spoke as if something was stuck in his back teeth, Sakuto let out a wry smile.

“If you think so, it’s probably thanks to Yuzuki or Matsukaze, I guess?”

“…Huh?”

“No, it’s nothing… Anyway, this time was quite fun despite everything. Thanks.”

Shun snorted dismissively.

“…Yuzuki, let’s head back soon?”

“Uh, yeah…”

The two started walking towards the station, but Yuzuki stopped.

She turned around, looking earnestly at Sakuto.

“Sakuto, will we meet again…?”

Sakuto smiled warmly.

“…If there’s a chance.”

Along the way, Yuzuki kept looking back at Sakuto, seeming concerned.

Thinking this might be the last time he spoke to her, Sakuto pushed the letter deeper into his pocket.

──Stare (TN: sfx)

Suddenly, he felt a gaze from behind, and Hikari and Chikage were looking at him with a puzzled expression.

“G-good work today…? What? What’s wrong…?”

“Something seems suspicious with you and Yuzuki-chan, huh?”

“Could it be, that Yuzuki-chan is Sakuto-kun’s ex-girlfriend!?”

“No-no, that’s not it… Yuzuki and I are neighbors and childhood friends. Also, what do you mean by ‘ex-girlfriend’…”

Then Hikari and Chikage looked at each other.

“Eh? Childhood friends?”

“Yeah, neighbors. We went to the same elementary and junior high schools, but we first really talked around fourth grade.”

“Hmm. So you weren’t that close?”

“Not really… well, we were close back then… And the person I am now is thanks to Yuzuki.”

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.

” “What do you mean by that?” “

Not wanting any misunderstandings, Sakuto decided to tell them about Yuzuki.

“Let’s talk while walking back──”

So, the three of them walked side by side as usual, taking a slight detour on their way home.

In a park near the station, sitting on a bench, the three of them lined up.

And so, Sakuto began to tell the twin sisters about his life and what had happened to him──

***

──And so.

When Sakuto was in his third year of junior high school.

He had become estranged from Yuzuki, but he was still striving to become a hero.

Of course, he knew that ‘hero’ wasn’t an actual profession.

Instead, he wanted to find something similar——a job where he could help people.

Police officer, firefighter, lawyer, doctor——he thought about pursuing such a career.

Would Yuzuki be happy for him?

Her words from back then had inspired him to change and to strive for that change.

No, it had started even before that——

The day she first reached out to him, he was confused by her smile.

But now, he knew how to respond with an expression.

By the way, Yuzuki’s birthday was coming up soon.

‘What should I give her this year?’

While he was thinking about this, she approached him at school.

It was mid-July, just a week before summer vacation.

“Um… I have something to talk to you about after school, Sakuto…”

She looked awkward, carrying a sense of unease.

Sensing something, Sakuto headed to the back of the school building after class.

Yuzuki was already waiting there, speaking hesitantly with an embarrassed look──

“I’ve liked you for a long time, Sakuto…”

“What…?”

“Would you… go out with me?”

“Why are you asking this all of a sudden?”

At that moment, his heart unexpectedly raced.

Did she really like him? No, that wasn’t it.

He had always known. She had long found a different place for herself, a place unlike his.

So the fluttering in his heart was just a ‘surprise’. It’s not a convenient misunderstanding.

“Um, that is──”

At that moment, Sakuto faintly heard the sound of someone stepping on gravel. It wasn’t Yuzuki or himself; someone else was nearby, stepping on the gravel. Indeed, he rapidly understood.

There had been a word frequently mentioned in his class lately──

“Did someone tell you to confess your feelings?”

“Eh…?”

“So, it’s a penalty game confession… ?”

“…!?”

Yuzuki’s eyes widened in shock, and her body began to tremble.

Sakuto couldn’t understand. What was she afraid of?

Perhaps it was part of a game among friends, done as a light-hearted joke. Or was she coerced?

If that was the case, he needed to warn those who forced her.

He didn’t intend to blame Yuzuki, and he was confident that he could forgive her because it was her.

She was his important childhood friend who had shown him the way.

──But why did his heart feel so heavy?

The face he should show her at a time like this──ah, yes.

When someone feels anxious──he knows what face to make.

The face he couldn’t make on the day Yuzuki first spoke to him.

Just like her, naturally──

For the first time as far as he knew, Sakuto genuinely smiled.

A smile full of empathy, forgiveness, and encouragement; expressing his gratitude for everything until now.

That gentle, carefree smile resonated with Yuzuki.

“──Sakuto, um… I’m really, really sorry…!”

A pale Yuzuki turned and ran away from the spot, and from behind the wall, the voices of several boys and girls could be heard.

Some sounded confused, while others laughed.

Left alone, Sakuto remained smiling, looking at the spot where Yuzuki had just been.

Suddenly, his vision blurred, and drops of water fell onto the tips of Sakuto’s shoes.

Even though he was smiling, tears began to fall.

Why, how could this happen──had the robot broken?

No, that wasn’t it.

(Ah, I see… I understand now… this is──)

Once he realized this, he felt a tremendous sense of relief.

And as he relaxed, his face contorted.

──’I am no longer a robot’, he thought.

This was the ‘normal person’ he had always wanted to become.

Then, there was no longer any reason to aspire to be a hero.

He had finally become what he wanted to be.

A perfectly normal person, someone whose emotions could overflow and bring tears.

He had finally become what he had wanted to be for her──

After Sakuto finished telling his story, the twin sisters looked pained, furrowing their brows.

***