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“Aren’t you besotted with Shirasagi-san?” Sayo sighed, looking at her sister with put-on contempt. She played with her paper and felt the pressure of Hina’s begging eyes. Ever since growing closer to her twin sister she had grown softer to her sister’s begging. “Why do you want me to write a love poem for Maruyama-san?”
Hina smiled without a care, or so it seemed without a care. She looked like she was thinking for a while, before opening her mouth. “Well, hm, maybe I like them both!” She paused. “So… are you going to write the poem for me? I’ll pay you just like everyone else!”
“I don’t understand why you would require me to…” Sayo knew that reluctantly, she would end up doing it anyways, but still, she didn’t understand why her sister would suddenly ask her to do so. She thought of Aya. Her heart suddenly ached. Why did Hina have to like her as well? Why did Sayo have to like Aya?
It would deeply disconcert and hurt to see herself help Hina out in charming the girl whom she had begun to grow a fondness for. But perhaps it was Hina, who talked to her and was close to her who deserved to get a chance to be with Aya. She always smiled so sweetly when she was with Hina. When she saw them perform on stage (the few times she had done so) Aya and Hina looked so comfortable together.
“Hehe, you know how bad I am at poetry!” Her younger sister said, moving her pointer finger from side to side. “I heard that your poems are really boppin’ and all that, so I’m gonna commission you! I have a lot of money saved up so you can go for any price you want, Onee-chan!”
Sayo sighed. She knew Hina wasn’t good at poetry, of all the things in the world, while Sayo was quite naturally skilled at it. The situation was almost ironic… A sharp thought that entered her made her dazed brain sharp. She was actually doing this. If it was any consolation, at least she supposed it wouldn’t be hard to write about how beautiful the object of affection was. Or maybe it was just worse. “Just give me five dollars, Hina.”
“Just that?” Hina asked, opening her “cute” as she had called it wallet out and taking out a five dollar bill. Hina had a lot of spare money from PasuPare that she never used. There wasn’t much she wanted at a high price, Sayo guessed.
The taller of the two took the money, feeling as it was dirty even as she took it. Why did Sayo ever start writing love poems for people, anyways?
She didn’t like thinking about it, but she knew exactly why, despite herself. It was Kokoro Tsurumaki trying to romance Misaki Okusawa and noticing Sayo writing a poem. It seemed that this time would be even more troublesome than even her first.
“Just that.”
“Sayo-chan, how are you doing today?” Chisato said politely as they ran into each other in the hallways. She looked down to see someone she knew well enough. Ever since she had gotten closer to Hina, whatever that meant, it seemed that the blonde girl made an effort to befriend Sayo, due to her importance to Hina. Sayo appreciated it somewhat.
“I’m doing quite well. It’s nice to see you once more, Shirasagi-san.” She replied in a monotone voice, unwilling to open up to a conversation at the moment. Ever since the commission that had come in, she had been at unease.
Yet, Chisato continued on. She looked uncomfortable as she looked to the side as if Hina was next to her, and then back at Sayo with an uneasy smile. “I heard that Hina-chan’s asked you to write a love poem for Aya-chan. You know that you could just turn her down if you wanted, right?”
Of course she knew as well. Sayo’s face darkened a tinge, but she kept her composure as she spoke. “I am… aware. However, I don’t see the problem with writing a love poem for Maruyama-san if Hina asks me to. I’m treating her like anyone else asking me this.”
Chisato’s expression remained unchanged. She looked at Sayo, a bit concerned, before her natural, polite smile returned. “If so, then good luck, Sayo-chan,” a chuckle. “Perhaps I should pay you to write a poem for me as well, one of these days.”
“Thank you for the encouragement.” Sayo said with a curt nod, feeling a little better from the short interaction. She still didn’t want to write the poem, despite her reluctant decision to do so, but she felt a bit lighter. She kept walking.
She was going to go class to see Aya, and, well, throw her feelings away into a short poem.
“...Sayo-chan, did I do something wrong?” Aya asked, a bit unsettled by how Sayo was staring at her, it seemed. She started again, to clarify. “I saw you looking at me and I wondered if I broke a school rule or something? If that’s it then I’ll change whatever I’m doing wrong immediately—“
“You haven’t broken any rules.” Her voice came off as needlessly firm, as if she had truly broken a rule. She tried to soften her expression. “I apologize for unsettling you. I was simply distracted, and I looked over to your side. You’re always doing well, Maruyama-san.”
The poem had written itself. It was usually much more time to figure out the beauty of a girl and how to phrase it in a poem, but with Aya, it was as if her pen was controlling her with the ease her ink flowed. It was her sweet smile, bubblegum sweet hardworking nature, and her imperfect perfections. It had been her best poem as of then.
“Oh, alright, I get it!” Then she giggled a little, and the way her eyes brightened and her face went rounder with a slight blush dusting her cheeks was mesmerizing. “Today’s a good day, I got praise from Sayo-chan!”
If she knew Aya would beam like that from a single compliment before, she would’ve done so before. Sayo played with the tip of her paper. She wasn’t supposed to be doing this at that time. There were so many reasons to try her best to move on, instead of what her mouth opened to say. Her voice quivered. “M-Maruyama-san, I think that your new clip today is very fitting on you.”
A blush overtook both of their faces once the words were over. Aya’s flustered expression was nevertheless happy. Maybe Sayo had a chance after all. But she wouldn’t, soon. She looked down at her covered paper, with the love poem she had written right underneath. Her expression immediately fell.
Aya didn’t notice. “Thank you, Sayo-chan. You’re very—“
“We should leave the classroom. There’s no use in loitering around in here. We’ve come to school in order to study, not make small talk, after all.” Sayo said firmly, and she felt oddly mean. She had been the one to compliment Aya first, after all, and she hadn’t been that strict as of late, either. Ever since Roselia and patching things up with her sister, she had taken more things with a passive, fond smile.
A pause.
“Ah- yeah, you’re right about that. I guess I’ll be going, then.” Aya said, forcing a smile but looking sad as she picked up her belongings and took it with her. Sayo looked at her longingly, as if telling her not to go, but Aya didn’t look behind her as she left. It was right. It was better.
Once she was alone, she took out her covered, finished poem, and clenched her jaw as she reread it. It didn’t matter if she fancied being with Aya, anyways.
Hina smiled, running out to the doorway as she saw Sayo come home from school. How her sister had managed to get back so quickly, she really didn’t know. The weight of a single piece of paper in her backpack felt so weighty when she looked at her younger sister’s smiling face. Why did she even agree? Probably the guilt of how she acted from before they had reconciled. Or not. Who knew?
A sigh.
“Onee-chan! You came home earlier than usual today.” Hina said cheerfully, watching as she took off her shoes and stepped into the house. The younger sibling, she really seemed to be, in how she came to greet Sayo when she came home, despite having been born on the same day.
Sayo was silent for a moment. She heard Hina begin talking about something, and then, she decided that she would die early if she had to die. It was an extreme choice of thoughts, but it was per etc. Her eyes closed, and she said in a resigned tone, “Hina. I finished the poem.”
“Wow!” Hina said, clapping her hands together. Then, with an easygoing expression, as always, “That was really quick. You must be really good at poetry, Onee-chan!”
“Speed doesn’t mean…” Sayo cut herself off. Hina wouldn’t really understand, anyhow. Instead of replying, she took her backpack down, and quickly took the neatly folded small square of paper out. “...Here. I made it lead into asking to Maruyama-san to date.”
“That’s perfect,” Hina said, looking at Sayo almost reassuringly, and taking the paper out of Sayo’s hands, not even reading it before placing it into her pocket, as if she had no intention of reading the poem she was going to be giving someone.
“I wish you luck with Maruyama-san, Hina.” She said before leaving. Her throat hurt. Saying the words she did made her feel like a lie was burning on her tongue.
“Hina…?” Sayo could only feel confusion when she saw Hina at school early, at her school early, which she didn’t attend. She couldn’t mean to give the letter to Aya first thing in the morning, did she? How would she get to Haneoka in time to make it before the bell?
She discreetly followed Hina as she walked around the grounds, looking for Aya. After getting distracted once (running into Chisato, who just smiled fondly at Hina and murmured something Sayo couldn’t hear) she found Aya, who was confused to see Hina there.
Hina took the still folded poem out of her pocket and handed it to Aya. She looked excited, and Aya looked immediately flustered and bashful once she opened the poem and saw it. Then Hina spoke with her hands behind her head, then Aya, confused, then Hina again. They exchanged looks.
And then Aya left in a rush.
Hina was still smiling, as if she hadn’t just been left behind by the person she had given a love poem to. What did that mean, what did that even mean? Sayo felt the question enter her mind no matter how much she tried to get herself to stop thinking about it.
Sayo began to walk away from the area, feeling dizzy just from watching what had happened. Was Hina rejected? Would Aya come back? She didn’t really want to know. Sayo just wanted to forget about it, and try to forget about her feelings for Aya as well. It seemed so easy to just let her feelings fly away with the wind.
She began to walk away, with Hina disappearing from a distance she could make out her expression, and Aya, who knows where. Sayo felt sick. Then, as she was about to go into the school building, under the tree outside of their school, someone tapped her on the shoulder.
“Sayo-chan!”
Aya was holding the small paper with the poem written on it in her hand as she shouted Sayo’s name. She looked dazed, probably from looking for someone. Was it her? Why would it be her? Why wasn’t she with Hina? Did she know Sayo had written it?
“Maruyama-san…?”
Aya smiled a little and grabbed Sayo’s hand, despite Sayo trying to pull away with a gentle tug. “Hina-chan told me you wrote this poem for me. I was a little surprised for a moment, and then a bit flustered.” She laughed a little, in that bashful soft way that made Sayo’s heart skip a beat. What was happening? It seemed that Hina had said something.
“Hina told you that I wrote the poem?” Sayo asked confusedly, feeling as if she was in a daze. Was she even in the real world?
Aya nodded.
“You’re really good at writing poetry, and I never knew that—“ Aya cut herself off cutely, looking over Sayo nervously. “You always seemed a bit closed-off so I tried to forget about it, but, yeah! I like you too.” She blushed and played with a strand of her hair. “I’ll go on a date with you, Sayo-chan.”
The world seemed to shift. Oh. It made sense, now. But it also didn’t make sense, because Maruyama Aya liked her back. Her, of all people. The voices of self-doubt danced in her head as she looked at Aya, but it was definite. There was no way it could be unreal.
“Y-you like me as well?”
“How could I not, hehe… You’re really pretty and cool and—“ Aya trailed off when Sayo twitched. “Sayo-chan?”
“I’ll be right back, Maruyama-san. I just need to go ask something to Hina.” Sayo said, reluctant to leave but needing to go before Hina left. “Do you know where she is?”
“Oh, she’s probably with Chisato-chan…”
“Onee-chan? Why are you here?” Hina asked innocently, standing next to Chisato, who looked at Sayo curiously. “Aren’t you supposed to be with Aya-chan right now?”
“What happened? Tell me the truth. Maruyama-san just told me that...”
“Well,” She said, holding the word for a few seconds. “I heard that you were writing poems for other students from Aya-chan and Chisato-chan, and then I talked to Kokoro-chan about it too! I decided that since you like Aya-chan but aren’t saying it, that I should get you and Aya-chan together this way!” Hina smiled, leaning onto Chisato’s shoulder on the bench they sat on.
Chisato gave Sayo an apologetic look. “Hina-chan told me about her plan and I tried to talk her out of it but she was insistent on helping you out.”
A pause.
“So you don’t like Maruyama-san?” Sayo asked as her second pressing question. She knew the answer, she really could figure it out, but still, she found herself with the need to ask.
“Yeah, not really. Aya-chan’s interesting but she’s more of a friend to me. I’m open to polyamory if—“ she pointed to Chisato. “wants to, and we find someone interesting, but I’m not really romantically interested in anyone other than Chisato-chan right now!” Hina said with pep as she laced hands with Chisato and kissed her on the cheek.
The blonde looked bashful at her being intimate in public for a second, and then it turned to exasperatingly annoyed as she mumbled to her something about the time and going to her own school. Sayo stood frozen. Then Chisato turned her gaze to Sayo. “I believe you should be going back to Aya-chan and explaining your feelings rather than conversing with us. You can talk to Hina-chan later today.”
Sayo knew Chisato was right. Her heartbeat was still beating fast as she thought about it. It was the morning and she was already going through a lot. But also, as she left, she felt the urge to— “Hina. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Onee-chan! Now go get Aya-chan!”
Hina winked.
Sayo found Aya standing under a tree, some tree, and she began to run back to Aya. She shouldn’t have just left her standing somewhere. It was an exceedingly idiotic move on her part. She could’ve went to Hina after having talked to Aya. Aya’s eyes brightened when Sayo came. Her confusion washed away with happiness.
She was beautiful. It was empowering to her, just seeing her.
Sayo found the courage to finally say it. She was going to swallow her feelings down, she always planned to, but at that moment, she couldn’t. Why had she even tried? “Maruyama-san… I like you.”
Leaves flew around them as the school bell rang.
Aya blushed softly, with a smile, and mirrored the confession back. “I like you too, Sayo-chan.”