Late-night supper was Japanese-style tonkotsu instant noodles—
so classic it almost hurt.
But Miyazawa Maki had been kicked out of her house for most of the day.
A single bowl of instant noodles probably wasn't enough to satisfy her, so Sawamura Haruno grit his teeth and, with great reluctance, pulled out a bag of potato chips as well.
"How is this supposed to fill me up?" Maki immediately protested upon seeing the "hospitality" laid out before her.
She really had zero self-awareness as someone who was currently homeless.
At a time like this, having food and a place to stay should already warrant gratitude.
"This is all there is," Haruno said flatly.
"If you're not satisfied, take the money and go find something better yourself."
He paused, then added with some exasperation,
"Didn't you just swindle a hundred thousand yen from me?"
"That hundred thousand," Maki sneered, "Mana will definitely pay you back."
She shifted her tone, smiling faintly.
"Who knows—maybe she'll even use a different method to repay it."
Then she chuckled.
"Of course, that's her business. As for me, since I'm the one receiving your kindness, I'll repay you too. Doesn't it feel exciting? Twin sisters repaying a debt in completely different ways."
"Stop making me sound like some kind of pervert."
Haruno sighed softly.
He suddenly felt that Maki hadn't really grown up yet.
The three of them were the same age, but in this regard, Maki still felt like a child who hadn't fully matured.
Maybe it had something to do with her dropping out and no longer going to school.
It really was true—only after entering a place like university, a miniature version of society, did people truly begin to grow rapidly.
"Putting on airs—so disgusting."
Haruno's attitude seemed to irritate Maki. She snorted coldly.
"So that's what Mana likes about you, huh? Figures. We really are different."
"Why are you so fixated on being different from Mana?" Haruno asked.
His eyes shifted slightly.
The timing was perfect—this was exactly what the system wanted.
Feigning ignorance, he casually added,
"Logically speaking, shouldn't twin sisters be really close?"
"Have you seen any twins other than Mana and me?" Maki shot back.
"…Honestly? No."
"Then there you go." She scoffed.
"How can you be so sure all twins in the world must get along?"
She didn't even wait for the noodles to finish soaking.
Tearing open the plastic lid, she said indifferently,
"No matter how close people are, they can never truly understand each other. I just happen to be the type who doesn't like twins."
"…."
Haruno didn't say anything more.
What she said wasn't unreasonable.
He'd simply been assuming—wishfully—that twins were always close.
Human hearts were fragile.
Sometimes, just a tiny difference was enough to send people down completely different paths.
Especially here—in this country—
where people lived under heavier pressure and carried far more sensitive hearts.
And then there was Maki, who from childhood had been constantly compared to her sister.
The more outstanding Mana became, the harder Maki had tried to catch up.
Because if she didn't, the only thing waiting for her would be:
"You're twins—so why can't you do what Mana can?"
Seen from that angle, being a twin could indeed be a curse.
Problems like this could only be resolved when the person involved figured things out for themselves.
But the issue was—
the current Maki was far too immature.
"Whatever. It's not really my problem anyway," Haruno thought.
"I've already broken up with her sister."
Still—
He'd already gone this far.
Why hadn't the system task completed yet?
He glanced at his phone.
The screen remained dark—no notification of money being transferred.
Did he really have to uncover the "truth he deliberately ignored" for the task to count as complete?
"…Do you hate Mana?" Haruno asked.
After some thought, he decided to ask a bit more.
Maybe he could both complete the task and figure out how to send her home tomorrow.
"I noticed this a long time ago," he continued.
"You never call her 'older sister.' You always call her Mana."
"So what?" Maki muttered around a mouthful of noodles, clearly reluctant to answer.
She didn't know whether the noodles were too hot to eat quickly,
or whether Haruno's relentless questions were wearing her down.
Why was this guy so obsessed with her and Mana anyway?
Maybe he was trying to understand why Mana had wanted to break up—
using her as a reference.
Unfortunately for him, she didn't know the exact reason.
Or rather—
she had deliberately chosen not to know.
Back then, Mana had clearly wanted to confide in her as her twin sister.
But she had chosen to avoid it.
"I just don't want to call her that," Maki said casually.
"It's not like I hate her."
"No matter what, we're family. Of course I don't hate her."
"What I hate is how people look at me, and then look at her. That's all."
"…Aren't you pretty clear about your own problem, then?"
"Knowing it and being able to fix it are two different things," Maki shot him an annoyed glare.
"Kids all know they should work hard to get into Tokyo University. But why do so many fail? Is it because they don't want to?"
"I got in," Haruno replied calmly.
"…You?!"
Maki instantly choked.
So this bastard really was the same type as Mana.
Right—she'd known it back when they were in the same school.
Sawamura Haruno was absurdly good at studying.
In fact, he might've been even better than Mana.
"Just pretend I never said that. Eat your noodles."
Haruno smiled faintly.
He was a special case.
With memories and lessons from a past life, of course he'd push himself harder this time.
For some reason, watching Maki shovel noodles into her mouth made his mood improve a little.
Maybe she wasn't completely beyond saving.
She understood her own problems perfectly well—
she just cared far too much about other people's gazes.
In that sense, she really was different from Mana.
But considering she'd been raised as the younger twin, constantly indulged by family,
that initial "immaturity" had been tolerated—
until it eventually hardened into a knot she couldn't untie herself.
In short—
she needed time to think things through on her own.
Outsiders didn't need to interfere too much.
Well… that wasn't entirely true.
The one thing that did require intervention
was making sure she didn't do anything stupid during this "immature phase"—
like running away from home in the middle of the night.
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