The Woman Whose Life I Saved Turned out to Be the Mother of the Popular Twin Sisters in My Class - Chapter 25 - Yuzuki and Hikari’s Determination

Chapter 25 – Yuzuki and Hikari’s Determination

Yuzuki and I were a lot alike.

The aunties in the neighborhood never seemed to be able to tell us apart, and our classmates in elementary school often mixed us up as well.

We looked alike, but our personalities and ways of thinking were surprisingly different, and the subtle changes in elementary school became more apparent when we entered junior high school.

To give one specific example, I joined a sports club and Yuzuki joined a cultural club.

So, it’s not that there were significant changes in our lives.

We got along well as sisters, and our positions at school didn’t change much.

However, I felt that my long hair was a hindrance to my sports activities, so I cut it, and Yuzuki’s eyesight worsened, probably due to reading too many books.

It was with these small changes that our paths as sisters, who had previously walked the same path at the same speed, gradually began to diverge.

And that’s why I started to be more conscious of Yuzuki than before. I think Yuzuki is probably conscious of me too.

I tend to be competitive and have a strong desire not to lose to anyone in anything.

But among all, my desire not to lose to Yuzuki was the strongest in my heart.

◇

There’s a saying that the grass is always greener on the other side, but what it really means is that humans are endlessly greedy.

Humans want everything.

I don’t want to miss a single thing.

Clothes.

Stuffed animals.

My parents’ love.

Victory.

The person I love.

I want to have it all.

I’ll do anything to get that.

When I was in elementary school, I could do anything, even though it may sound like I’m bragging. No matter what was asked of me, I was able to do it without any problems, and that led to a strong sense of confidence.

For me, victory was always within the palm of my hand.

It was at the sports day in fifth grade that I felt something was off. Until then, I had never lost a running race, but for the first time, I had to give up first place.

And it was none other than Hikari who taught me the taste of defeat.

“Yay! I beat Yuzuki for the first time!”

I still remember the sight of Hikari laughing innocently and jumping up and down with joy.

When we entered middle school, Hikari joined the basketball club. Her athletic ability had improved since she started beating me in the race, so it was a natural choice for her.

On the other hand, I chose to join a cultural club because I felt I wasn’t good at sports.

Hikari was good at sports but terrible at studying, and conversely, I wasn’t good at sports but I worked hard at studying.

That’s because we’ve always been by each other’s side.

That’s because we’ll always be by each other’s side.

I didn’t want to lose to Hikari.

Even now that we’re high school students, us sisters get along well. I’d even say we’re closer than ever.

But still, that feeling lay quietly dormant inside me.

Even though our areas of expertise, favorite foods, hobbies, and tastes are quite different, for some reason, we seem to have the same taste in men.

In this world of love, there is always only one winner.

It was frustrating to lose a running race.

But having the person you love taken away by someone else is more than just frustrating.

That’s why…

I absolutely don’t intend to lose this match.

◇

“…I’m exhausted.”

After finishing my meeting at the Kotobuki house, I walked to the station.

While the Kirishima and Kotobuki houses were close enough to reach by bicycle, walking was a bit of a struggle, so I decided to take the train back. It was two stations away, and walking that distance could be a bit of a hassle.

Yuzuki and Hikari offered to give me a ride home, but I wanted to think about some things and felt it would be rude to accept their offer, so I declined.

“Come again anytime. The Kotobuki family welcomes you.”

That’s what Genma-san said at the end. I’m grateful for the welcome, but it’s tiring, so I’d rather avoid it if possible.

Still, I’m happy about the sentiment itself. It might not be a bad idea to visit again if I get the chance.

I head home with a paper bag containing a box of sweets in my hand. Apparently he had originally intended to give them to me. He said it was baumkuchen. Judging from the packaging, I think it’s probably sweets from a nice place. I don’t know, though.

It was really thoughtful of them to prepare this and still want to do something more.

“……”

I took my smartphone out of my pocket and called Shuka. She’s quite busy, so she often doesn’t answer the phone.

[Hello?]

With her angelic soprano voice, Shuka answered on the first ring.

She only does this when she’s lounging in her room, killing time surfing the internet or watching YouTube.

“Are you free right now?”

I checked to make sure.

[Hmm. I was just watching YouTube in my room. It’s rare for Onii-chan to call me. Are you buying me ice cream and you wanted anything from me?]

“No.”

When I replied immediately, Shuka said, “Aww, really?” but there were no feelings of disappointment or sadness in her voice.

[Then what is it?]

“Ah, well…”

What can I say?

All I told Shuka today was that I was going to meet up with Yuzuki. I want to tell her that I received a thank you from her parents, without revealing the details about Yuzuki and Hikari.

“You remember I mentioned I was going to meet a girl today?”

[Yeah. Calling your sister in the middle of a date, what a siscon brother you are.]

“No, actually it wasn’t a date, I was actually invited to the girl’s house. I was too embarrassed to tell you in the morning.”

[Eh, were you proposing?!]

“You’re jumping the gun!”

When I retorted, Shuka burst out laughing on the other end of the phone. She doesn’t seem to think anything about me not telling her in the morning.

[And then?]

After laughing for a while, Shuka regained her breath and returned to the original topic.

“They invited me because they wanted to thank me for helping that day.”

[You’re talking about your girlfriend’s mother, right?]

“Yeah.”

It’s too much trouble to correct her and say she’s not my girlfriend yet, but I just let it slide. Shuka probably isn’t serious anyway.

She’s not serious, is she…

[That’s so nice of them, they’re very polite.]

“Well, I guess that just means they’re really grateful. I told them it wasn’t necessary, but they insisted, so I ended up receiving a box of sweets today.”

[Oh, I see.]

“You like Baumkuchen, right?”

[I love it! I absolutely, absolutely love it. There aren’t many people who like Baumkuchen as much as I do. It’s a well-known fact.]

The way she says it with such excitement suggests that she really does like Baumkuchen.

“I didn’t know, though?”

“You don’t know much about me, Onii-chan.”

I didn’t intend to come off that way.

“That’s why I’ll bring back some Baumkuchen.”

“Okay. I’ll have the milk ready and wait for you, Onii-chan♪”

Shuka ended the call in a good mood.

Dad has had a big influence on me wanting to help others. In other words, Shuka has been taught the same things as me.

Since Shuka loved Dad so much, she might feel even more strongly than I do about wanting to do something for someone else.

We’ve never helped someone together, and she never mentions if she’s helped anyone on her own, so I don’t really know how much she’s done.

However, the fact that she immediately said it wasn’t necessary when we were talking about gratitude suggests that she shares a similar mindset to mine.

I sighed and looked up at the sky.

It was still early afternoon, so the sky was bright and there were people around. There were many cars on the road, and I could hear the happy voices of children from the park I passed by.

As I walked to the station, I organized my thoughts a bit.

Yuzuki and Hikari are fond of me. I don’t know how serious they are, but I can’t think that they’re just messing with me.

I still don’t have a definite answer, so I’ve left it vague, but when the answer becomes clear, I think I will have to choose one of them.

However…

Genma-san told me I was being too serious. Hibino had said something similar.

Instead of choosing one or the other, they showed me the path to choose both. In other words, not choosing just one.

They said all sorts of things in showing me that path. Some of it made sense, and some that just didn’t make sense to me.

But just knowing that there was another way to think about it made me feel a little better, and it made me want to change the way I interacted with the two of them a little more.

On the other hand, I still couldn’t help but wonder if that answer was really okay, and in the end, nothing had progressed.

Perhaps my visit to the Kotobuki household had been worth it, even if it just meant that my options had increased.

Bzz, bzz.

My phone vibrated.

Judging from the type of vibration, I could guess that it was a message.

It’s usually a notification from Shuka or an APP, but if it’s the former, I’ll get into trouble if I take too long to reply, so it’s best to quickly check it.

“Huh?”

The message wasn’t from Shuka, and it wasn’t an APP. 

If so, then who was it? I couldn’t help but smile at the profile picture I had recently started seeing.

It was a girl happily smiling with two friends. The message was from the brown-haired girl in the middle of the three.

It was Kotobuki Hikari.

[Thank you for coming to our house today! Dad was happy too (^^) I was happy too!]

It was just a message, but it seemed to exude energy.

I gave a brief reply to it.

The message was read the moment I sent it, and I received another message back right away.

[Please come again next time.]

I could even feel the feelings she put into that short message.

I’ve decided to get to know them better from now on, so of course I said yes.

As I arrived at the station, passed through the ticket gates and reached the platform, my smartphone vibrated again.

I’ve been getting a lot of messages today.

[Thank you for today. As I promised, I’ll listen to anything you say, Ao-kun, so think about it carefully. I’m willing to accept any request.]

It was Yuzuki.

Come to think of it, I think she said something like that before.

It wasn’t like I visited her house expecting anything, so there was no need for her to go out of her way to fulfill that.

As I was thinking about what to say in reply, another message came from Yuzuki.

[Please think about it by the next time we meet. I’m looking forward to it!]

My hand stopped typing. Or maybe it would be better to say it stopped. I didn’t know how to respond to that.

So, with a somewhat reckless mindset, I typed a short message and sent it to her.

[Got it.]

I’m sure that by that time, she’ll have forgotten about this conversation.

◇

[Got it.]

Seeing Ao-kun’s reply, I swallowed my saliva.

Was it from nervousness, excitement, or something else?

“I wonder what he’s going to ask me to do.”

Thinking about what Ao-kun might ask made my heart race uncontrollably.

For now, I need to calm my excitement.

With that in mind, I tightly squeezed my smartphone along with the happiness I was feeling at that moment and collapsed onto my bed.