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"Soga! On-chan! What a surprise, come on in!"
Soga and On kicked off their shoes as they entered their friend's apartment.
Those sneakers are mine, the loafers are On-chan's, the other sneakers must be Hotaka's… but then what about those sandals?
Hotaka led his friends to the couch, and they started chatting like the old friends they were.
"So this is what your apartment looks like, Sempai," On remarked. "It's cleaner than I would have thought a 'bachelor pad' would be. Nothing like his. " Soga winced under his girlfriend's withering glare. Hotaka laughed.
"Yeah, I'm scared to imagine what Soga's place must look like."
Soga was about to respond, when his foot hit something hard. He lifted his leg to reveal… a flower hair clip? That doesn't seem like something Hotaka would own…
"Umm, Soga?" On snapped her fingers in front of her boyfriend's face, and he blinked.
"Sorry, guess I just got lost in thought for a second." He rubbed his forehead sheepishly.
"No problem," said Hotaka. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," Soga replied, standing up, "I just need a minute. This is the bathroom, right?"
"Yeah," Hotaka said. Then his eyes widened. "Wait, no, you can't go in there right now!" Soga froze, his hands on the knob. He turned back to face Hotaka and On, and his eyes darted around the apartment, taking in all the little details. Those sandals, that hair clip… a pretty painting on the wall that is definitely not something he'd buy for himself… a bag by the table that's way too girly-looking… Soga spotted several other incriminating objects lying around.
But the kicker was the bookshelf. There were several shelves filled with manga. Not so unusual for the former president of their high school manga club, but Soga had been a member of that club, too. He could recognize a lot of the titles, and he also knew what Hotaka tended to like.
Sports manga, friendship stories, suspense stories, seinen… But Hotaka's never been into fantasy or romance stories. So who on earth could be reading those?
"Hotaka, you live here by yourself, right?"
"Um, yeah," said Hotaka, clearly confused by the sudden change of subject.
"But you have someone over right now, who's in this bathroom at the moment," Soga continued. "Someone who comes over often, and, guessing by all the stuff lying around, probably sleeps over a lot. A female someone." Soga may have quit his playboy ways when he started dating On-chan, but he hadn't lost his quick grasp on women's habits, and they all knew it. On gasped.
"Sempai," she said excitedly, "do you have a girlfriend?" Hotaka's face blanched.
"No, no, it's not like that," he said, waving his hands and shaking his head furiously. "It's just-"
"Nii-san," came a voice behind Soga as the bathroom door clicked open, "I heard voices. Anyone I know- oh. Him. "
No. Freakin'. Way. Soga slowly turned around. He couldn't quite make out a face, as the woman was rubbing her wet hair down with a towel, but he'd recognize that golden hair anywhere.
"You!" He pointed at her and stumbled backwards.
"No way," said On, as she saw who it was. "Is that you, Nikki-sempai?"
Awaya Nikki. Soga had never gotten along with the fair-haired beauty, even before she'd broken Hotaka's heart. Why on Earth was she here? As far as Soga knew, Awaya-san and Hotaka hadn't anything to do with each other since they broke up. So why was she hanging out at his apartment, showering and leaving her stuff around like she owned the place? Wait a minute…
"Sempai, Nikki-sempai… did you two get back together?" On-chan verbalized the same question Soga had on his mind.
Hotaka laughed.
"Umm, no, gross," Nikki said, wrinkling her nose in disgust, "And we were barely together in the first place. Geez, you go on one date in high school and no one ever lets you forget it."
"To be fair, it was a pretty good date," Hotaka said in a teasing tone.
"Yes, because every girl dreams of her first date ending with vomiting into the bushes," she replied, scowling at him. "I was so traumatized I couldn't bring myself to go on another date for years." From their easy banter, this seemed like an argument they'd had several times in the past.
Soga and On's eyes met, and with the silent language of facial expressions and gestures that couples who've known each other for years tend to develop, they tried to figure out what was happening.
Do you know what's going on? On's confused expression said.
Nope. Soga shook his head and shrugged. I didn't even know they'd kept in touch.
Are you going to ask?
Not me. You ask.
Fine. You owe me.
"Um… Sempai-" On-chan's quiet voice didn't even register with the other two, who were still bickering.
"Seriously, Nii-san, you're driving me nuts," Nikki said, hands on her hips, "I know you have some crazy idea that Dad wanted you to look after me, but sometimes I think you're the one who needs looking after."
Wait, Dad? Soga wasn't sure, but he had some vague idea that Awaya-san's father died when she was little, long before she and Hotaka had met. So how could her father have asked Hotaka anything? And why is she calling him "big brother?"
"Are you seriously bringing Dad into this?" Hotaka said, clearly exasperated, "That's a low blow. You know very well that he-"
"Sempai!" On-chan's yell startled the two out of their bickering. "Would you please stop arguing with Nikki-sempai long enough to explain to me and Soga the exact nature of your relationship?"
"Relationship?" Soga said, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Me and Nikki? I don't--"
"Don't be obtuse, Nii-san," Nikki said, elbowing Hotaka. "You're still friends with them after all this time and you really never bothered to tell them? I know we agreed not to broadcast it to the whole school, but I figured you'd at least tell these two eventually."
"It's not exactly something you bring up in casual conversation, " he replied. "What was I supposed to say? 'Hey On-chan, Soga, remember Awaya Nikki? Yes, the girl you're mad at because you think she broke my heart for no good reason? Well, it turns out there was a very good reason-- she and I are actually long lost siblings!' I'm sure that would've gone over real well!"
"Wait, what?!"
"Siblings!?"
Hotaka turned to his friends, scratching his neck awkwardly, as if he'd just remembered that they were there. Awaya-san, his sister, sighed.
"Half-siblings, technically," she said. "Same father, different mothers. We didn't figure it out until after we started dating. Hence the whole running-away-to-throw-up-in-a-bush thing." On-chan leaned over to close her boyfriend's gaping jaw.
It wasn't until much later, when they were all sitting around the table enjoying Nikki's delicious cooking, that Hotaka turned to Soga and asked why he'd stopped by to begin with.
"I know On-chan lives here in the city, but I didn't even realize you were in town," he said. "And you didn't call ahead, either."
"That was the point," Soga said, sighing.
"We wanted to surprise you," On-chan explained.
"Didn't think we'd end up being the ones surprised," Soga continued. "Your announcement was way more surprising than ours."
"Which is…?" Awaya-san asked, gesturing in the air in a way that said get to the point. Soga glared at her. I still don't like you.
"If you must know," he said, in a way that implied that it wasn't really any of her business, "On-chan and I are getting married."
"Oh, that's nice," Hotaka said absentmindedly, taking another bite. Then he froze. "Wait, married?"