How I, a Completely Ordinary Guy with No Special Traits, Risked My Life to Save Beautiful Twin Sisters, Only to Make Both of Them, Who Turned Out to Be Yandere, Fall Madly in Love with Me (REMAKE) - 79-80

Chapter 79: Still, I Really Appreciate the Thought

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While I was thinking about all that and waiting with Riona for a while, the line kept moving forward, and before I realized it, it was almost our turn. And yet, there was still no sign of Reona coming back.

“Onee-chan still hasn’t come back.”

“What the heck is going on?”

To check the situation, I took out my phone from my pocket and tried calling her. But then, I heard the ringtone coming from inside Reona’s handbag.

“Come on. Don’t tell me she didn’t take her phone with her.”

“That’s probably why we didn’t hear anything from her.”

We were getting worried, but even when it was finally our turn, Reona didn’t return. And since there was a long line of people waiting behind us, we had no choice but to go ahead and drink the water just the two of us.

“She might’ve gotten caught up in some kind of trouble, so let’s split up and search.”

“Got it. I’ll go this way, so Ryouya, you check over there.”

“I’ll contact you right away if I find her.”

Riona and I split up and started looking for Reona. Since there were three restrooms in Kiyomizu Temple, it was more efficient to divide and search. I headed first to the restroom located right near the Otowa Waterfall, but she wasn’t there. So I made my way to the one closer to the entrance.

On the way there, I spotted Reona—but she wasn’t alone. In front of her stood three foreigners, likely from Europe, blocking her path. All three of them were muscular and looked to be over 190 cm tall, which made the situation feel incredibly intimidating. But of course, I couldn’t just abandon Reona. So I stepped in between them.

“Eh, Ryouya-kun!?”

Reona looked surprised when she saw me. Then, the three foreigners began to speak. Reona replied to them in English, but there was no trace of fear on her face. I thought it was some creepy guys hitting on her and jumped in to help, but maybe that wasn’t actually the case?

I didn’t understand any English, so I had no clue what the four of them were talking about. But they didn’t seem to be arguing at all. While I was thinking that, the three men waved and walked away.

“…Hey, who were those three just now?”

“Oh, they wanted to go to Fushimi Inari after this, and they were asking how to get there, so I was giving them directions. It was a huge hassle trying to explain everything without my phone.”

“I see. So that’s why you didn’t come back.”

“Yeah, I just couldn’t leave them while they were struggling like that.”

Now that I knew she hadn’t been caught up in any trouble, I felt relieved. For now, I messaged Riona to let her know I’d found Reona.

“Ah, wait. Did you think I was getting hit on or something?”

“Anyone would think that after seeing what I saw.”

“I see, so you were trying to help me.”

“Well, it turned out to just be a misunderstanding though.”

Thinking she was being hit on, I’d jumped in all brave to help her, only to be totally misunderstanding the situation. That was kinda embarrassing.

“Still, I really appreciate the thought.”

“Just hearing you say that makes it all worth it.”

“But you absolutely can’t do stuff like that in front of any girls other than us, okay?”

When Reona said that, I could’ve sworn I saw something utterly terrifying behind her for a split second, though I had no idea what it was. After that, we moved to the steps below the Niōmon Gate and waited there for Riona.

“Man, it’s a bummer we didn’t get to drink the sacred water of Otowa Falls in the end.”

“We’d miss the meetup time if we lined up again, so there’s no helping it.”

“Well, but since Riona and I are basically one and the same, it wouldn’t be weird if I still got the blessings, right?”

“I hope so.”

While we were chatting like that, I saw Riona coming into view. She was holding a paper bag, so she must’ve bought something on the way here.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“What you’ve got there—is that a souvenir for Papa and Mama?”

“Nope. I bought it for Onee-chan.”

Saying that, Riona pulled something out of the paper bag. It was a tall, rectangular box labeled “Otowa Holy Water.”

“Ah, could that be…”

“Yup, it’s exactly what you think—water from Otowa Falls.”

“Wow, so they sell the waterfall water too.”

“Thanks, Riona.”

Reona smiled happily and hugged Riona. Just watching them was enough to make anyone feel warm inside. Beautiful girls in a sweet, yuri-esque moment—it was picture perfect. Now I totally understood why guys who got in the middle of that lily valley were so disliked.

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Chapter 80: Make Sure You Protect Me and Riona, Okay?

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After leaving Kiyomizu-dera, we stopped for lunch and then made our way to Arashiyama. After getting off the bus, we headed straight for the Togetsukyo Bridge.

“As expected, when you talk about Arashiyama, it’s gotta be Togetsukyo Bridge, right?”

“Yeah. It’s the symbol of Arashiyama after all.”

“Mm-hmm, and the view is beautiful too.”

Since Arashiyama was mostly free time, our classmates had all scattered to the places they wanted to go. But just like us, a lot of people had come here specifically for Togetsukyo Bridge. To be honest, even someone like me who knew nothing about Arashiyama had at least heard the name Togetsukyo Bridge. It was such a famous spot that, just like Kiyomizu-dera earlier, it was ridiculously crowded.

“Kyah!?”

While taking a photo of the scenery on the bridge, Riona apparently got bumped into by someone and nearly fell from the impact.

“Whoa. I barely caught you in time.”

I instinctively caught Riona in my arms and managed to prevent her from crashing into the ground.

“Thanks, Ryouya.”

“Ryouya-kun, you’re usually mediocre, but every now and then you do something kinda cool, huh.”

“Hey, you two. What’s with the ‘usually mediocre and ‘every now and then’? That’s one comment too many.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

Even though I had just saved Riona, I was still being teased mercilessly. As I was thinking that, the two of them suddenly hooked their arms around mine from either side.

“What’s with the sudden clinginess?”

“If we stick close to you, we won’t fall over even if someone pushes us.”

“Make sure you protect me and Riona, okay?”

“…Alright, alright.”

We were clearly drawing stares from the surrounding tourists and standing out in all the wrong ways, but I had already developed a resistance to that kind of attention. With our arms still linked like that, we finished crossing Togetsukyo Bridge and started discussing where to go next.

“Wanna go to the Bamboo Grove Path next?”

“Agreed. If you’re coming to Arashiyama, you can’t skip the Bamboo Grove Path.”

“What kind of place is that?”

“Just like the name says, it’s a four-hundred-meter-long path lined with bamboo trees. It’s about as popular a tourist spot as Togetsukyo Bridge.”

“This is the place,” Reona said.

“Oh, it’s that place.”

On the screen of Reona’s phone, which she held out to show me, was a photo of towering bamboo trees lining both sides of a path, so tall they looked like they were covering the sky. I’d seen that scene before in Kyoto specials on TV, so I recognized it. If I remembered right, it was also a popular confession spot for extroverted types.

Now that we’d decided on our next destination, we began walking toward the Bamboo Grove Path while looking at a map app on our phones, still arm-in-arm as before. On the way, we passed through a lively shopping street.

“I’m kinda in the mood for something sweet. Want to grab something?”

“Yeah, we didn’t have dessert after lunch, and I’ve been craving something sweet too.”

“In that case, I want to eat something matcha-flavored.”

“Totally. Kyoto and matcha go hand in hand.”

Without hesitation, we bought matcha soft-serve from one of the shops on the street. While Reona was taking pictures—probably for social media—I took a bite of my soft-serve.

“It’s so rich and insanely good.”

“As expected of matcha from the source.”

“Maybe I’ll get some matcha sweets as a souvenir for Mio.”

While Riona and I were chatting like that, Reona was still busy taking photos of her soft-serve. She was probably snapping a bunch to pick the best one later. I didn’t bother pointing out that she’d better eat it before it melted.

“Ryouya, you’ve got cream on your cheek.”

“Huh? Where exactly?”

As I asked and reached into my pocket for a tissue, Riona leaned in—and kissed my cheek.

“There, all clean now.”

“What the heck was that for!? You could’ve just told me where to wipe!”

“It was way faster for me to take care of it directly.”

Riona looked calm and collected like always, but there was a faint hint of embarrassment mixed into her expression.

“Hey! Riona! Don’t get all lovey-dovey with Ryouya-kun without me!”

“Sorry, then next time I’ll make sure to include you, Onee-chan.”

“No, no, there’s not gonna be a next time!”

Even if I was just a Background Character B, I wasn’t so dumb that I’d keep getting soft-serve on my cheeks in my second year of high school.

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