Love, Romance, and All That Nonsense

It took place in a provincial city surrounded by mountains on three sides, functioning primarily as a commuter community for the nearby urban areas.

Yuma Kawai had a love-hate relationship with his friend since kindergarten, Kosei Kuramoto.

They rode their bikes around the neighborhood, played kick-the-can in the park, had shoe-tossing competitions, and made mud balls together.

In the forest behind the shrine, they caught bugs and built secret bases. At home, they played video games. They did everything together.

But there was one person who constantly tagged along with Yuma and Kosei, a girl who would occasionally drag them into her schemes.

I heard there are crayfish in the irrigation canal over there! Let's catch some!

Hey, hey, wanna compete to see who can collect these materials in the game the fastest?

I bet there's a tengu in that shrine forest!

She was Kosei's younger sister, Suzuka.

She had grown up right alongside the pair of boys.

They played in all sorts of places, got into mischief, were scolded, sometimes got injured, and occasionally made mistakes.

They knew all of each other's good parts and bad parts, even the embarrassing parts.

Suzuka probably thought of Yuma as another brother figure. For Yuma, Suzuka was irreplaceable.

They had a genuine bond, and back then, Yuma innocently believed their relationship would continue the way it were forever.

The first time he felt a crack in that belief was at Suzuka's middle school entrance ceremony.

It should have gone without saying, but Suzuka was wearing a girl's uniform.

Yet for some reason, Yuma mumbled words of surprise.

Suzuka's wearing a skirt.

Surprising, isn't it, Yuma? Turns out Suzuka is actually a girl after all.

I feel weird about it, too. Can't I wear track pants underneath this?

Just bear with it for the entrance ceremony, at least.

Yeah, I guess so.

Until then, Yuma had never really thought much about Suzuka being a boy or a girl.

Looking back, this was the moment when Yuma first became conscious of Suzuka as someone of the opposite sex.

It was early May, when the trees lining the streets were covered with fresh green leaves.

Even though it was just after Golden Week and the days had become warm enough to work up a sweat, the mornings were still chilly. It was one such day, on the way to school.

Yuma let out a sudden gasp when Kosei showed up at their usual meeting spot.

Kosei, what happened to your hair?

Kosei responded with a slightly embarrassed yet smug look on his face.

Heh, I went to a hair salon that Riko recommended. So, what do you think?

That Riko recommended? You look completely different. I'm shocked!

Really?. . . I don't look weird, do I?

Nah, you look totally cool—look, that is. Just your appearance.

Haha, shut up!

Despite Yuma's seemingly cold response, Kosei wasn't entirely displeased. He started fiddling with his smartphone while grinning.

Yuma recalled their outing just the other day with the usual crowd—Kosei's sister Suzuka, and her friend, Riko. They had gone to check out the World Pudding Exhibition at the Goldfish Mall. Named after the local specialty—goldfish—it was the largest shopping complex in the area, its interior design echoing that theme. Kosei's hair had grown out unchecked during that trip.

Now it was cut short and dyed a lighter color. He was naturally well-built, so with his new hair he had somehow transformed into quite the handsome guy with a fresh look.

For some reason, Kosei had begun to show a strange interest in his appearance lately.

He had started working out diligently and was constantly looking for places that are popular with girls.

All this began after he started working part-time at a family restaurant. He was into a lot of social media games and he needed money to fund the in-app purchases.

At first, he seemed to be working reluctantly just to fund his in-game purchases. But at a certain point, he started going to work excited, fidgety, and cheerful.

Aren't older girls great?

A couple between a college student and a high schooler is normal, right?

A three-year age gap isn't something to worry about that much, right?

These comments made it easy to guess what had happened.

Apparently, he had fallen for a female college student who worked at his part-time job.

Yuma felt second-hand embarrassment from seeing his best friend head over heels in love.

Hah . . .

Yuma gave an awkward sigh.

Then, from behind Kosei, a girl appeared sharing Yuma's expression. She had long black hair with a slight bedhead, aggressively gathered into two braids, which gave off the impression of having valiantly attempted some semblance of neatness but gave up, resigned to their messy fate. Her blazer was haphazardly thrown on her shoulders and her skirt remained at regulation length. She was decidedly unfashionable, a plain-looking girl with no interest in style.

It was Kosei's sister, Suzuka, who—like her brother—had been part of Yuma's life for years. Exasperated, she spoke in an undertone that suggested resigned annoyance.

He's been acting like this since yesterday.

Completely love-struck.

He keeps asking me if it suits him over and over. I'm like, are you a schoolgirl or something?!

Hahaha, to think that Kosei of all people would act like this . . .

Yuma looked over at Kosei, who appeared notably restless. He was probably self-conscious of the stares around him.

Yuma thought he should be holding his head high since he looked so different now, but Kosei seemed unable to muster any confidence. Yuma and Suzuka exchanged glances and exchanged ironic smiles.

Oh, that reminds me!

Suzuka exclaimed, showing Yuma her smartphone screen.

Doesn't this look interesting? It's an extra-large rainbow fresh cream super-sweet honey toast!

Whoa, I'm getting heartburn just looking at this! What's with this "Challengers Wanted" thing?

Come on, we've gotta try this out! Yu, let's go completely demolish this thing and win!

Unlike her brother, who was all caught up in romance, Suzuka preferred the physical over the emotional. With gleaming eyes, she attempted to lure him into what was obviously a sugary death trap.

Suzuka had always been inquisitive and often dragged others into bizarre situations like this.

Yuma closed his eyes, furrowed his brows together, and pressed his fingers against his temple as he answered.

Hey, don't tell me you've already forgotten about that tragedy at the grilled offal restaurant we went to the other day.

Ahaha . . . you mean the honeycomb tripe and omasum tripe, right? They looked so gross, it took some real courage to actually put them in your mouth.

And we didn't know how long to grill them, so we ended up burning some of them black.

But there was something weirdly fascinating about it and it turned out to be surprisingly tasty, so I actually want to try it again! But forget that—honey toast is where it's at! This will be my first challenge as a sixteen-year-old!

Having just celebrated her birthday last week, Suzuka grinned mischievously.

Yuma gave a wry smile, imagining that he would end up going along with her plans anyway, despite everything.

Then, curious about their conversation, Kosei looked up from his smartphone and interjected.

Hey, what are you guys talking about?

Oh, we were just saying how we hope that college girl at your part-time job will think you're cool one day.

Just try not to get so fidgety that you start acting suspicious in front of her, bro.

W-What?! T-That's not . . . she has nothing to do with anything—

Sure, sure.

. . . Sigh.

Hey! Are you even listening to me, Yuma?! You too, Suzuka!

Kosei turned bright red, frantically denying everything.

Watching their friend like this, Yuma and Suzuka furrowed their brows and shrugged with a sigh.