#14: Triple Passion / ep.2
Yokohama, outside-the-shop game, best of three.
Having lost the first round, Mikoto found herself dragged along by Shandy on a Chinatown food crawl. Shandy — who wouldn’t even touch the minced vegetables tucked into a pork bun’s filling — stuck strictly to braised-pork buns and sesame dango as her main course, washing down the grease with Tsingtao beer, then dashing off toward skewers and Peking duck the moment she spotted them. Vegetables, naturally, excluded.
Some “ancient mental age,” that fortune teller called it, Mikoto grumbled inwardly. Watching Shandy buy up a qipao for next month’s Cosplay Day and some bizarre panda toy, she looked exactly like a kid who’d just found her favorite thing in the world.
Having thoroughly enjoyed her fill of wandering around, Shandy turned to Mikoto with a dazzlingly bright smile.
“Now then, Mikoto-san. Care to tell me what round two involves?”
Without even knowing the terms of the match yet, her amber eyes already gleamed with total confidence in victory.
Naturally, Mikoto had a plan of her own. The reinforcement she’d called in to secure home-field advantage should be arriving right about now.
“Before that — there’s someone I’d like to introduce you to, Shandy-san. Is that all right?”
“Ha, are you planning to have me greet your parents next?”
Answering Shandy’s soft laugh with “something close to that,” Mikoto kept her eyes fixed on her phone screen. The moment her sent message showed as read, her reinforcement appeared at her side.
“Oh my?”
Shandy’s eyes went round, studying the sudden new arrival.
Mikoto revealed the newcomer’s identity.
“Let me introduce you. My little sister, Kotone. Seventeen, second year of high school.”
Mikoto’s younger sister, Kotone. Today she’d committed fully to an all-black outfit — hoodie down to culottes, thigh-highs down to pumps, every piece of it black.
“I’m always grateful for how well your big sister takes care of me. I’m Shandy.”
“…‘sup.”
Kotone tugged down the black mask covering her mouth just enough to exchange a look with Mikoto. Behind black colored contacts, her eyes carried the unmistakable spirit of someone fully committed to whatever role she’d been handed.
Kurosu Kotone.
The Kurosu family’s second daughter was no high schooler. Twenty-three years old, a rising young actress climbing toward stardom on the strength of never shying away from any role.
Today, she was clearly staying faithful to whatever part she was set to play in her upcoming film — a high school girl who murders her romantic rival out of jealous entanglement — radiating a fierce don’t touch me aura the whole time. The kind of performance that would read as difficult and standoffish to anyone watching.
“Round two: whoever gives Kotone a gift that makes her happier wins. Kotone herself will be the judge.”
“You really have stopped holding back on tactics, haven’t you, Mikoto-san…”
Shandy let out a sigh, as if genuinely exasperated.
“I’ll admit this one puts you at a serious disadvantage. So, Shandy-san, feel free to go shopping with Kotone directly. Budget capped at five thousand yen.”
“Oh my, is that so.”
“…Tch.”
Kotone clicked her tongue and started walking. Shandy, meanwhile, kept her smile perfectly intact, saying nothing at all beside Mikoto.
With Kotone added, the three of them headed for the decisive battlefield: a large shopping mall not far from Chinatown. Mikoto, however, already knew perfectly well that whatever Kotone actually wanted couldn’t be found here.
Because she’d already checked in advance—
“What do you want for your birthday?”
“Help me with role prep for my next movie.”
“I’ll introduce you to a friend, then — see if you can fool her completely.”
“Sure, sounds fun.”
—which meant this whole game was fixed from the start.
The outcome had been decided before it even began.
“We’ll meet back here in two hours, then.”
“Ha, understood. Shall we go, Kotone-chan?”
Ignoring Shandy entirely, Kotone vanished into the mall. True professional, thoroughly committed to the role.
Watching the two of them disappear, Mikoto didn’t even bother pretending to look for a present — she settled straight into a nearby Starbucks instead. Curling her lips into a smile as she pictured Shandy’s frustrated face, she quietly sipped her caramel macchiato.
In the game of love, there were no rules. All that mattered was winning.
＊
Honestly, what an impossible game to be handed. Choosing a gift to make a little sister happy — under normal circumstances, there’d be no winning that at all. The two of them are blood sisters, bound by a connection someone like me could never step into.
Though that’s only true “under normal circumstances.”
Personally, I wouldn’t feel the slightest sting from losing this one. But if that person’s resorting to roping in family for a rigged match, that’s a different matter entirely. If she absolutely refuses to stop putting on airs, this seems like the perfect chance to teach her a lesson. Besides — underhanded tricks and dirty tactics are practically my specialty. They’d never suit someone as honest, as incapable of lying, as her.
Ha.
“Now then, Kotone-chan. What do you usually get up to?”
“……………..”
My sister-in-arms here doesn’t seem interested in chatting with me. Just glancing sidelong at the shop windows as we walk past.
Fair enough, I suppose. Someone of unknown origins like me deserves a bit of wariness. Or perhaps she’s been told to keep quiet. Or perhaps—
—well, nine times out of ten, she probably just doesn’t like me. Understandable, honestly. Even I don’t much care for women like myself.
“Sounds like a handful, your sister. Has she always been like this?”
“……………..”
“Not in the mood to talk?”
“Kinda annoying, ngl.”
Well, I gave the direct approach a shot. No luck there. Time to try my own specialty instead — a little shake-up.
Not exactly what I’d prefer, but I’m about to make a small move on your sister, Mikoto-san. And that, too, is entirely your own fault. Don’t think too badly of me for it.
“Actually, I have something I’d like to confide in you, Kotone-chan, if you don’t mind listening. Ah — no, it’s probably going to be annoying, so feel free to just let it wash over you. I’ll talk regardless.”
“……………..”
If this girl’s personality really matches her appearance, there’s no way she’d have shown up so obediently just because her own sister asked. That black outfit is really armor, meant to sever herself from the whole tangle of worldly relationships. A misanthropic girl who wants to be the black sheep, refusing to run with the herd — there’s no way she’d appear before someone as unconnected to her as me, unless she had to.
Which means this seventeen-year-old girl has some real reason she absolutely needed to meet me. And I’d guess it’s roughly this—
“Truth is, your sister and I have already embraced each other.”
“…Huh?”
—caught.
Of course, I’m not lying. A hug is a perfectly legitimate form of “embrace,” after all.
“Sorry, I never properly introduced myself — I’m a bartender, actually. Your sister comes by nearly every night, whispering sweet nothings at me. Staring deep into my eyes, pushing for kisses, and then—”
“…Wait, are you seriously saying this.”
“Quite seriously.”
Sisters, after all — blood tells. Even hidden beneath that black armor, that’s the same voice-crack her sister gets whenever she’s flustered.
“Ha. My apologies. It seems I’ve become your romantic rival, Kotone-chan. Now, what shall we do about that?”
“Hmph.”
Her mouth may play it cool, but her unease is obvious enough.
And behind those silent eyes, I can read something fiercer stirring.
The same unmistakable hostility I’ve been on the receiving end of, more times than I can count, over the course of my life.
“You get flustered exactly like your sister. Adorable.”
“…Think you’ve got your sights on me or something?”
“Yes. On your heart, specifically.”
Well then — I suppose it’s my turn to make a real move.
“A question, if I may. The obstacle standing in the way of your love has finally shown herself. If you were me, what would you do?”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I’d warn them to stay away for good, or at worst…”
Giving my head a light shake, I glance around — conveniently, a kitchenware shop sits right nearby.
So let’s go with the perfectly obvious, direct approach here.
“…Oh, right. I actually use the knives from that shop myself, you know. Wonderfully sharp — cuts clean through meat, straight down to the bone.”
“Sounds fun. Want me to do the honors?”
Ah. So it is like that, after all. You too, feel the same about her—
“Please, go right ahead. My apologies in advance if I end up accidentally stabbed.”
“…Sorry, quick check. Is that part of the role?”
“…Excuse me?”
Rather more forthcoming than her older sister, this one told me everything.
The Kotone I’d been on the verge of stabbing wasn’t the real Kotone at all. She’s an actress, playing a part for a role — and a bizarrely fitting one at that: “a high school girl who murders her romantic rival out of jealous entanglement.”
Frankly, I’d been thoroughly had. I have to concede defeat to her, of all people.
Because I really had, exactly as intended, been fooled. A little frustrating, admittedly.
“You should’ve seen your face, ha! That was a way-too-convincing performance.”
“I hadn’t actually meant it as a performance, funnily enough.”
“Ahaha. Is that how you always keep my sister scared witless?”
“Yes.”
With the misunderstanding — and the acting — cleared up, Kotone-san and I settled into a café inside the mall to talk properly.
The real Kotone-san is the exact opposite of her sister — not the least bit endearing. Beautiful, of course, resembling Mikoto-san in looks, but her eyes betray nothing beyond whatever emotion she’s chosen to show. Dead-eyed, almost, or maybe just distant. Someone with total command over her own emotional expression, leaving nothing exploitable to grab onto.
“I get it, though. Teasing my sister’s fun. Watching her fight to keep up her big-sister dignity, I do wonder if it ever tires her out.”
“You really do know her well, don’t you, Mikoto-san.”
“Twenty-three years together’ll do that. Bet I could play her perfectly if I tried.”
“Ha, care to give it a go? I’d love to see if you can pull it off.”
“No thanks. You’re kind of terrifying. Actually, doesn’t it wear you out?”
A dangerous line of conversation. Kotone-san’s trying to see straight through me.
“That thing you’re doing — that’s an act too, isn’t it?”
I smile. Careful not to let anything slip.
“…You’re good at that. How do you do it? That smile that shuts people up. I kind of want to steal it.”
“Trade secret, I’m afraid.”
“Guess I’m not there yet, then.”
Kotone-san let out a peal of laughter, then fixed me with a triumphant sort of stare.
The exact same trick with the eyes that I use myself.
“My sister goes weak whenever you look at her like this, doesn’t she?”
Ah, that makes sense now. This is probably exactly why Mikoto-san keeps stretching herself thin trying to seem tough — twenty-three years of standing firm as the older sister under the pressure of Kotone-san’s stare. Being looked at the same way by me, she probably falls right back into that same instinct to hold her ground.
What a genuinely adorable truth to uncover.
“Ha. Yes, precisely that.”
“Ahaha, poor sis. Getting targeted by such a rotten woman.”
“Oh my? Here I thought I was freeing her from twenty-three years under a rotten little sister’s thumb.”
A wry laugh slips out of me despite myself. And, naturally, out of Kotone-san too.
After talking a while longer, it becomes clear: Kotone-san and I are, fundamentally, cut from the same cloth. Which means I can already guess exactly what she’s about to say next.
“So, wanna team up on this?”
“Ha, is that an invitation to bed?”
“Don’t need to ask, obviously not. Not interested in stealing my sister’s girl, and I’m not exactly a fan of difficult women like you either, professionally speaking.”
“Understood, and the feeling’s mutual — I’d rather pass on you too. In that case, shall we give her a proper lesson?”
One hour left until the game’s deadline. More than enough time. We leave the café and head back to continue “shopping.”
The outcome of this round is already decided. What’s left now is just how far we can push her. As her educator, I owe her a proper punishment for resorting to such uncharacteristic underhanded tactics. Fortunately, I happen to have some powerful reinforcement of my own now.
“Seriously good smile, though? C’mon, how do you do it? Also trade secret?”
“This one’s genuine, actually.”
“Ahaha. Nasty woman.”
“Right back at you.”
＊
“Wha— huh?”
At the agreed meeting time, Mikoto’s eyes went wide at the sight of the two of them returning.
Kotone — all-black from head to toe before — had been given a complete makeover. Sweet, wholesome clothing, along with makeup that had shifted entirely away from her earlier dark-goth look. She looked every bit the fashionable, trend-conscious college girl now.
“This is my gift to her. What do you think? Suits her, doesn’t it?”
“Could totally sell this as the wholesome girl-next-door image, right?”
“Wh— wait, Kotone…? Why are you playing along with the setti—”
“Oh my? Whatever do you mean, ‘setting’?”
Kotone, of all people, was laughing right along with Shandy.
Oh no. She’s switched sides. In barely two hours, no less.
“Ah, no, I meant the budget — the set spending limit for this round! There’s no way that whole outfit fits under five thousand yen, that’s a rule violation, Shandy-san!”
“I wonder who’s really breaking the rules here — dragging a third party into our private game, and then having her play along with a rigged match, no less.”
“Ah, sorry sis, I told her everything. This Shandy person’s honestly amazing, huh? I get why you’re so into her.”
“I—I am not into her at all!”
Only now did Mikoto grasp just how thoroughly cornered she’d become. But it was already far too late.
“Oh my? So you’re going on a date outside the shop with someone you don’t even like? That does sting a little.”
“No, that’s — I only said that because you said it, Shandy-san…!”
“Wow, sis, that’s cold. I didn’t raise you to go toying with people’s hearts like that.”
“Y-you didn’t raise me at all!”
“Never mind. Go on and enjoy things with the Peach Lady, why don’t you. Isn’t that right, Kotone-sama?”
“Yeah, totally. Might just steal my sister’s special someone away, actually.”
“Wha—?!”
Even Mikoto could tell the two of them were teaming up to drag her true feelings out by force. This was all an act — a genuinely nasty little prank, expertly executed. And yet, knowing that perfectly well, Mikoto couldn’t hold her composure together.
With both her rotten little sister and Shandy now against her, there was no path left to victory.
“Doesn’t really matter, right? You already threw sis away, after all.”
“Yes, please, do love me instead. Let’s swap all of Mikoto-san’s little secrets between us.”
“There’s no secrets to swap!”
“…You don’t think we know about that thing you’ve got hidden behind the bookshelf at home?”
Every drop of blood in Mikoto’s body rushed to a single point. Under the mall’s bright fluorescent lighting, there was no hiding anything at all. All she could do was let her face flush a spectacular, undeniable red.
And of course, sharp-eared Shandy wasn’t about to let that slip past.
“Oh my, and what would that be?”
“So get this — sis has actually had a thing since way back in school for—”
“Please, stop, I was wrong! I was wrong about all of it!”
Mikoto had no choice left but to concede defeat outright.
Having even her own sister hold a secret over her was bad enough — but having Shandy, an outsider, find out too was more than she could bear. Embarrassing enough that she wanted to slit herself open and die on the spot.
“Well then, care to correct yourself?”
“Correct what, exactly…?”
“Just admit it already, sis. You’re totally into her, aren’t you?”
She didn’t want to answer. She didn’t want to answer at all — but there’d be no ending this otherwise. And besides — even knowing full well this was just a prank — the thought of Shandy actually walking away from her was unbearable.
Half out of pure desperation, Mikoto shouted it out.
“Fine, yes, I’m into her, obviously I am, why else would I show up every single night?! So what?! Is it a crime to like her?! But I absolutely refuse to admit I like her! I refuse, I refuse!”
“Which is it?”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up! Fine, I lost, obviously I lost! But next time I’ll win! And when I win, I’m going to make Shandy-san—!”
“Ha. Make me what, exactly? Winning against me by breaking the rules — what exactly were you planning to make me do?”
“P-please, stop, I’m sorry, I give up…!”
—Round two of the Yokohama outside-the-shop game: Mikoto’s defeat.
The schemer, well and truly drowned by her own scheme.
“Flipping out and then apologizing the second it backfires — you’re such a kid, sis.”
“That’s exactly what makes her so lovable, you know.”
“Seriously, what an awful woman.”