The situation Narumi Tōru found himself in was, to put it mildly, rather delicate.
On one side was Yukinoshita Haruno, his ex-girlfriend from the future simulation—someone with whom he shared all the memories of their time together.
On the other side was Yukinoshita Yukino, Haruno's younger sister—the girl who, near the end of the simulation, he had chosen to save by trading away his own life so she could continue living.
Even though this was a reality completely different from the simulation, those memories hadn't simply been erased. And because of that, when he found himself crossing paths with the two of them again, strange emotions inevitably stirred within him.
"An ex-girlfriend and an ex-girlfriend's little sister? What an absolutely brutal shuraba."
A blue-haired girl with bangs partly covering her right eye lifted her chin with interest. Despite her expressionless face, her fingers energetically plucked out the opening riff of a song.
"This is 'Shuraba' by Tokyo Jihen, the song with the same name—dedicated to you, Koumi—"
"I'll politely pass."
Leaning on the counter at the front desk, propping his cheek up with his palm as he chatted with her, the curly-haired boy clicked his tongue. Business was slow today, so he finally had a moment to breathe.
Narumi Tōru had met Yamada Ryō at a small, niche band's livehouse show. Unlike the typical boy-meets-girl moment where teenagers lock eyes beneath the stage lights, their first encounter had actually been… fairly confrontational.
Making eye contact during the performance would've been one thing—but after the show, they were unfortunately squeezed together by the crowd. Ryō accidentally stepped on Narumi's shoe, leaving a deep footprint on the pristine white surface.
"Ah, sorry," she'd said reflexively, though not a hint of apology could be found on her calm face.
"It's fine, it's fine," the curly-haired boy replied with a friendly, easygoing smile.
"Still, they're brand new shoes, so buy me another pair—or you can lick them clean, either works."
It was an outrageous response, rude enough to border on scandalous.
At that exact moment, Yamada Ryō's 'weirdo radar' activated.
As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together—or rather, all kinds of sludge flow into the same sewer. Ryō, who was often labeled an incomprehensible eccentric herself, was always excited to discover new weirdos.
To her, "weird" was just the word ordinary people used when they couldn't understand geniuses—and it happened to be her favorite kind of compliment. She evaluated everyone around her by that same standard, searching for potential fellow oddities.
Narumi Tōru: An ordinary male high school student she met at a livehouse.
Appears polite but effortlessly throws out passive-aggressive remarks — Weirdness +5
Keeps running into her at niche band shows — Taste +10
Insists on paying only for his own meal even though Ryō eats fast and a lot, completely missing her pitiful puppy-eye hints — Weirdness +5
Has some exposure to rock and pop music but essentially zero music theory and is completely tone-deaf — Weirdness +10
Despite being tone-deaf, boldly brings a bass to the guitar club and plays "Smoke on the Water", causing the teachers upstairs agony; walks straight into a trap Ryō dug for him knowing full well it was a trap — Taste +5, Weirdness +50
Heh. An interesting man.
"Can I call you Tōru?"
"Sure. Five hundred yen per use." (Weirdness +10)
"Then I'll call you Naru-Naru. Sounds friendly."
"Terrible nicknames just need financial backing—five hundred yen for two uses." (Weirdness +10)
"Then I'll call you Koumi."
"Five hundred yen for three uses. Cash first, nickname later." (Weirdness +20)
"Got it, Koumi. I understand, Koumi. But Koumi, I'm a bit broke right now—can you lend me those five hundred yen?"
Naturally, even after the nickname had become completely habitual, Yamada Ryō still hadn't paid him the five hundred yen.
Like two antennae lining up, two slightly unhinged little oddballs had found each other.
Narumi Tōru had successfully caught Ryō's attention. What started as mutual incompatibility somehow turned into a friendship where they could kill time chatting together. Even his part-time job helping out at Ijichi's livehouse had been something Ryō kindly introduced him to.
"Besides, watching Koumi stand around helplessly while we rehearse or perform on stage is kind of fun."
Yes—inside Yamada Ryō's wonderfully warped imagination, fun always came first.
That was how the two of them gradually went from strangers to friends.
But right now, the curly-haired boy was rubbing his temples, exhausted, as he talked about something that genuinely troubled him.
"An ex-girlfriend and her younger sister in a shuraba… a sinful man trapped in that situation… it could be good inspiration for song lyrics."
Ryō plucked at her bass strings with exaggerated seriousness—until Narumi reached out and pressed down on her restless hand.
"I just said it was a hypothetical setup. I never said it was happening to me."
Strictly speaking, he had absolutely no relationship with the Yukinoshita sisters in real life.
Whatever sins simulation-Narumi Tōru committed had nothing to do with real-life Narumi Tōru, right? (tactical lean-back)
"I get it. You have a friend,"
Ryō snapped her fingers, generously giving him a way out—though her wording sounded more like she was calling his bluff.
"I said it was just a hypothetical. Can't I use it in a novel?"
"Sure, sure, go ahead. But I want to hear the rest. Please continue, oh novelist with the wild imagination."
"The rest is…"
The curly-haired boy let out a long, tired sigh, his thoughts drifting back to the moment he'd been caught between the Yukinoshita sisters.
Haruno had originally just leaned out of the car window to greet Yukino. But the moment her eyes landed on the curly-haired boy standing behind her sister, her expression slowly froze.
Narumi wasn't some emotionally dense idiot. Of course he noticed the subtle shift in her attitude—this definitely wasn't how someone looked at a stranger they'd just met.
No way. Don't tell me you both still have memories from the simulation?
No matter what, deciding to play dumb for now, Narumi simply raised his hand politely and gave Haruno a small nod.
"Hello there, senpai."
"...…"
Standing in front of him, Yukino tilted her head slightly, casting him a meaningful look.
"What is it, Yukinoshita-san? Is my handsome face just so captivating that you can't look away—"
"Hello, hello~ And you are…?"
Haruno examined Narumi's Sōbu High uniform, a bright but utterly warmthless smile returning to her face.
"But how did you know I'm your senpai? We should be meeting for the first time, shouldn't we?"
In a perfectly casual tone, Yukinoshita Haruno pinpointed the core of the problem.
And Narumi Tōru immediately understood why Yukino had turned to look at him just moments before.
Crap—did my cover just blow this fast?!