The Woman Whose Life I Saved Turned out to Be the Mother of the Popular Twin Sisters in My Class

Chapter 4 – Kotobuki Yuzuki Wants to Get Closer

Yuzuki isn’t good at socializing.

To be precise, she isn’t as good at socializing as Hikari.

Hikari and Yuzuki were born into this world as twins, but although they look alike, they are gradually walking different paths.

It’s not that Yuzuki is bad at interacting with people, but rather that Hikari is exceptionally good at making friends.

However, that doesn’t mean that Yuzuki feels inferior to Hikari.

Hikari has things that Yuzuki doesn’t, but Yuzuki also has things that Hikari doesn’t.

“Hmm.”

Monday night.

Kotobuki Yuzuki groaned as she collapsed into her bed in her room.

She had just taken a bath, so she was wrapped in fluffy pajamas. They were the same ones she had received as a birthday present from Hikari a year ago.

Incidentally, the ones Yuzuki gave to Hikari that year were also pajamas, and miraculously, they were just a different color than the ones Yuzuki had received.

Even though they didn’t plan it, sometimes their thoughts seemed to overlap. At those times, they realized once again they were twins, making them laugh.

In bed, Yuzuki was looking at her smartphone.

She was watching a video that had come up on Twitter. It was a recording of the whole incident a few days ago, when a boy had dashed in and helped her mother when she had collapsed in the street.

The boy was wearing the Omaku High School uniform, where Yuzuki attended. That meant they went to the same school, but there was almost no other information about him.

She couldn’t recognize the boy’s face.

If she knew the color of his tie, she would be able to tell what year he was in, but for some reason he wasn’t wearing a tie that day. The question is why was he wearing a uniform on a day off, but that’s not important right now.

Yuzuki wanted to meet him.

Of course, she wanted to thank him and repay him for his kindness, but what’s more, she wanted to know more about him.

She had never seen him before.

She had never spoken to him.

He was only a boy she didn’t know.

But thinking about him made her heart flutter. A big part of the reason for this is probably that he saved her mother when her life was in danger, but Yuzuki still wanted to follow her own feelings.

So today at school, Yuzuki tried asking around among her classmates and friends, but to no avail.

It seems that even Hikari, who has a much wider network of contacts than Yuzuki, wasn’t able to find any information about the boy.

It seems that not only first-year students, but also second and third-year students said they didn’t know anything about the boy.

Strange, Yuzuki frowned.

Could something like that really be possible?

It would not be surprising if they were in a different year. However, even though Hikari had checked with students of all years, not a single person knew anything about the boy.

It was really strange.

Could he be an exceptionally plain student?

Or maybe he’s a dropped out student?

Maybe even a cosplayer?

“…Ah.”

At that moment, Yuzuki realized something.

In the video, there was a girl he was talking to. There was a lot of noise and she couldn’t hear everything they were saying, but at certain points, the girl called the boy “Onii-chan.”

This meant that the boy had a younger sister.

If Yuzuki could get in contact with this younger sister, surely she could get closer to the boy in one fell swoop.

Hikari would surely use her wide network of contacts to find out more about the boy at school tomorrow.

So Yuzuki decided to try if she could reach him through a different route.

Just because she’s not good at socializing doesn’t mean she can’t find someone.

◇

The next day after school.

Yuzuki pretended to be sick and snuck out of school early at the end of the fifth period.

She headed to the front of a certain junior high school to look for the girl who had called the boy “Onii-chan.”

Yuzuki had wondered yesterday how those two had ended up passing by that spot.

If they had continued a little further, there was a shopping mall. In other words, there wasn’t much else of interest around. While there was a commercial district, it was hard to imagine that a girl of that age would be heading there with her brother.

It was not a zero possibility, but she had ruled it out for the time being and decided on the shopping mall as the sibling’s destination.

Assuming the siblings lived far away, it would be strange for them to be there if they had taken the train. That’s because the station is right next to the shopping mall. Therefore, it can be assumed that they walked to that spot.

From the video, it didn’t appear that they were riding a bicycle. While it was possible they had gotten off somewhere else, she considered that possibility slim and excluded it for now.

If they had ridden bikes, they could have gone further, but on foot, the shopping mall would be a more likely destination.

The important thing here was that their home was relatively close to that location.

And considering that the girl appeared to be a middle schooler in the video, Yuzuki thought of visiting middle schools around the area.

“…This is cutting it really close, isn’t it?”

If nobody pointed out that it was more than just cutting it close, she wouldn’t stop. If she had shared this plan with even one person, they might have put a stop to it, but unfortunately, this was Yuzuki’s solo mission.

There was no one to stop her.

Yuzuki, who somehow managed to arrive before the sixth period ended, let out a breath to steady herself.

Even though she was older, speaking to a stranger was nerve-wracking.

Besides, there was no guarantee that the girl would even be at the school. It could end up being a waste of time. In fact, that possibility was more likely.

If she asked a passerby, “Do you know the girl in this video?” and they coldly replied, “I don’t know her,” it could break her heart.

As she shuddered at the thought of such a scene, people started coming out of the school building. It seemed like it was finally after school.

With so many people appearing at once, it was hard to choose who to talk to.

While Yuzuki was pondering, “Um, uh…”, more and more people kept passing by.

Then, Yuzuki made up her mind and called out to a girl who passed in front of her at that moment.

“Um, can I talk to you for a second?”

“Um, ah, yes. With me?”

The girl seemed flustered by the sudden call.

Brown bob cut. She looked a little like Hikari, and Yuzuki felt a sense of familiarity with her.

“Do you recognize the girl in this video?”

Yuzuki regretted leaving out a lot of explanations, but couldn’t take back the words she had already spoken.

“Ah, this video.”

“Do you know it?”

Yuzuki saw a glimmer of hope in the girl’s reaction. She felt her heart beat faster and faster.

“Yes, it was a topic of conversation in my class, too.”

“So, do you know this girl?”

“I know her. We’re in the same class.”

“If you don’t mind, could you let me meet her? I really want to thank her.”

“Thank her?”

The middle school girl tilted her head, wondering what was going on. Perhaps Yuzuki had given more explanation.

“My mother was the one who collapsed, and because of these two in the video, my mother was saved. That’s why I want to thank them.”

After hearing Yuzuki’s explanation, the girl looked convinced and said, “I see!”.

Then, as she seemed to be a very well-behaved girl, the middle school girl said, “I’ll go get her!” and returned to the school building.

Thump.

Yuzuki continued to take deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart.

From an outsider’s perspective, her posture of deep breathing in front of a middle school was surely suspicious enough to get her labeled as a dangerous person.

Five minutes since the girl headed for the school building,

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

She returned.

Next to her was the girl from the video.

“This is Shuka-chan.”

The brown bob cut girl excitedly introduced the girl next to her.

The black bob-haired girl bowed modestly as she was introduced, saying, “Nice to meet you.”

“My name is Kirishima Shuka.”

“…Kirishima?”

◇

T/N: She found Shuka in the first middle school she went to, dem…