I Can Distinguish the Twin Sister - Chapter 14

“…haha, you care too much.”

I chuckled at Yoshiki’s message.

It’s been a few days since he’s been in bed with a cold, and today is Saturday. He was fine when I went to visit him, but his fever got higher that night, and his mood seemed to be completely down.

He missed the rest of the week, but we had a chance to talk to him face-to-face for a while, so he was worried that we might have caught his cold, and Yoshiki was asking me if I was okay.

“I’m completely fine, don’t worry about it.”

I was not being strong or anything, but my body was really fine.

I heard that he was asking Masashi the same thing, but I am sure that he is also enjoying this holiday with no particular physical problems.

“Hm hm hm♪…”

On such a holiday, I went outside for a walk.

Walking through the crowds of people, humming a tune ―as I do this, I wonder if I’ll run into Rin’ne-san or someone like before, but it seems unlikely that I’ll run into them again and again.

( I don’t know why I expect something…)

Well, please understand this feeling a little.

I’m not complaining that I’m spending my holiday alone, but it’s still a good omen to meet a beautiful girl in the midst of it, isn’t it…?

Unfortunately, I went to the clothing store, the bookstore, and the arcade, but I didn’t see Rin’ne-san or Yomi-san as I had done before.

“Oh, there’s ice cream!”

As I was walking, I found an ice cream vendor parked on the shoulder of the road.

I asked for a chocolate mint flavor ice cream and licked it as I walked through the downtown area and arrived at a park where it was a little quieter.

I sit down on a bench to rest my legs, which had been walking for a long time, and I see children playing happily in the park.

“… That’s nice. I remember a time when I was like that.”

Playing in front of me are boys of elementary school age.

They are running around chasing a soccer ball, which makes me smile, and I laugh at the fact that I’m still in high school, and yet I seem so peaceful watching them like I am an old man.

” …huh? ”

In the middle of the street, a boy and two girls, both about the age of kindergarten, come running toward me.

An old lady was walking behind them, which made me think she must be a relative of one of the three.

They seem to be very close to each other, and they are playing a joke that makes me feel that there is no difference between men and women.

” ……….. ”

I watched their interaction for a while, though I was not thinking anything strange or act suspicious.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of them, even though they were supposed to be….

“Whossshhh～!”

“Wait for me～!”

“Hey～!”

They are really good friends.

The old lady was looking at them smilingly, and although there was a possibility that they might be brother and sister… I had a feeling that it wasn’t so.

While I was looking at them like this, a boy jokingly swung his leg up as high as he could.

His shoes came off his feet and flew to the top of a nearby tree.

” ……ah ”

It was the voice of someone, a voice that echoed mercilessly.

The boy’s shoes were caught in the branches of the tree and did not fall down, and there was an air of awkwardness between them.

There was no long object nearby to knock them off, and I could feel the boy getting weepier and weepier.

“You know, there was a time in the past for me… in elementary school, I threw my school bag over the top and it got stuck.”

As I recall, a boy in high school helped me out as he passed by.

He came to my awkward-looking friend and me, who was crying a lot, and I didn’t know his name anymore…. but he climbed up the tree and took it away immediately.

I’m in high school now, and he’s probably already working… and maybe I’ll never see him again, but that memory makes him a hero.

“Alright”

As I approached the boys and the girls and then the old lady who was puzzling over what to do, all of them turned to look at me.

The boy looked like he was about to start crying… and the tears were already flowing.

I quietly approached, patted the boy on the head, and gave him a thumbs up.

“I’ll take it off, don’t worry.”

“….really? ”

“Yeah.”

The boy, the girl, and the grandmother all stare at me anxiously.

With all four of them staring at me, I approached the tree and began to climb, not caring about getting my hands dirty.

I had done some bouldering for fun with Yoshiki and Masashi before, so I was used to climbing, albeit in a different way.

“…..Good. I got it. ”

I dropped his shoe, which was caught on a branch.

I jumped down as slowly as the boy had just picked up the shoe, and when I landed, the boy’s eyes lit up, and he opened his mouth.

“Thank you, big brother! You’re so cool! ”

“Ha-ha, you’re welcome.”

I patted him on the head again, and he hugged me tightly, and I thought how cute it was that he was hugging me.

One of the girls was staring at my face, and the other was looking at my hands.

“You’re so cool! ”

“Are your hands okay? ”

These girls are very kind-hearted to be concerned about me even though they are still small.

I didn’t pat the girl’s head, I only kept patting the boy’s head, and they were looking at me, so I reached out my hand to them, and they accepted it happily.

“Thank you so much.”

“No, no, I’m glad I could help you.”

I exchanged a few words with the grandmother and left them.

The three of them continued to play with Grandma watching over them, and the boy tried to kick off his shoes again but stopped as soon as he remembered and glanced at me, so I laughed to tell him not to do it.

( …feels terribly, terribly nostalgic )

Looking at the three of them, I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic.

It’s as if… I used to be friends with someone like that, like there was a girl I was good friends with a long, long time ago, even if I don’t know if this feeling is real…

“…Ah.”

Then suddenly, I remembered something.

Like a fog clearing, the memory gradually became clearer and clearer. Of course, I couldn’t remember everything, but there must have been a friend I was close to when I was still here. Yes. ―Those were the kids in that picture.

“I don’t remember their names or anything. But―”

I was about to sink into the sea of memories when someone said.

“Akito.”

“……? ”

The voice was so strong that it washed away all thoughts of what I was thinking.

Standing there was Yomi-san ―I rolled my eyes, wondering why she was there, but soon she came up to me and took my hand.

“Look, you’re bleeding,”

“Handkerchief, you’re gonna get it dirty. ”

“I don’t care.”

I had noticed by the pain in my palm that my other hand, which had stroked the children earlier, was bleeding.

I didn’t show it on my face, and the children didn’t see it either, so we didn’t know, but Yomi-san seemed to know. But why is she here in the first place?

“Why is Yomi-san here? ”

“I was just on my way home from shopping, and I looked this way and saw Akito climbing a tree.”

“Oh, so that’s why…”

Then I’m glad you didn’t see me fall down like that.

I don’t think I would have been able to smile and talk like this if I had…. but I didn’t expect I would be able to meet Yomi-san like this after Rin’ne-san.

I was feeling a little disappointed just a little while ago, so I smiled inwardly, thinking that I was going to be lucky for a while from today on.

“I’ll wash your handkerchief and give it back to you. ”

I said, and she shook her head.

“You showed me a precious moment right in front of me. ”

“Precious? …Well, I’m glad I was able to help him.”

They were running around and playing so much that it made me smile just looking at them… and Yomi-san laughed next to me.

When I looked at her to see what was wrong, she said.

“Aneki told me that you met her during the holidays. I was walking along thinking that maybe I could meet you too…. and then, look and behold, I did.♪ ”

” ……….. ”

Don’t say things like that with a fawning smile on your face!

We were sitting on the bench with one person in between us, and Yomi-san came up to me to close the distance and gave me a shoulder bump like before, so I lightly gave her a shoulder bump as if I was doing the same thing.

“Ara…”

Yomi-san rolled her eyes and looked at me, but she immediately giggled and hit me again with a shoulder bump.

“What are we doing? ”

“I don’t know.”

I really wonder what we’re doing.

Now that I’ve calmed down a bit, I took a quick look at Yomi-san.

While Rin’ne-san, whom I had seen before, was dressed casually, Yomi-san was dressed a little more revealingly ―I guess this is where the difference between sisters comes out.

( Seriously, what is this feeling of being casual like a close friend?)

With these thoughts in mind, I continued to enjoy chatting with Yomi-san.

In the end, Yomi-san left soon after that. I had nothing to do immediately, so I went home too, but I felt that I gradually remembered something inside myself.

TN: PolygamyGod is coming in with 3 additional ch, Thank you! 1/3