Leave a comment

While checking the pictures, at times being embarrassed, at times making sharp quips, and at times even being a little physical, it turned out to be a pretty rowdy night. Looking at the time, the date has already changed, but none of us are looking tired at all.

“Can I ask something important?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Just how many pictures are there!?”

The amount of photos taken for every one outfit is clearly insane. And more than everything, the pictures with Kotori at the focus are way too many. In second place for the most numerous are photos of mine, probably because it’s Kotori’s request. The Shimotsuki sisters have a lot fewer, but there are still too many pictures in total.

“The servants were weirdly enthusiastic.”
“Ms. Kotori’s mascot-ification knows no limits.”

I can tell that Kotori’s being pampered and adored even here. After all, as long as she doesn’t go berserk, she’s adorable. Currently, Kotori is playing with the Kotone plushie from earlier. I intentionally averted my eyes from it, meanwhile the Shimotsuki sisters were weirded out.

“It would have been so fun if Kotone also went wild.”
“That already happened yesterday.”
“Yeah, but you’re a bit too passive for my taste today.”
“Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. And I’m just not good with these kinds of things.”
“All Sister Kotone did was change into the clothes, after all.”

If it was just normal clothes, I wouldn’t have been as embarrassed. The outfits Rin chose were just normally fashionable, so I had no problem with it. Meanwhile, Kotori kept on trying to make me cute and that absolutely exhausted me.

“Aya is the root of all evil here.”
“I shared your pain and wore the same things as you did, you know?”
“Then feel some shame!”

How can she be so nonchalant when wearing such embarrassing clothes? Why was there even a swimsuit back there? And how did they get my three sizes? That one planted fear in me.

“Kotone, no need to think too much about it,”
“Sister Kotone, there are times when knowing less is for the best.”
“I’m too scared to ask now.”
“Of what?”

I don’t remember ever being naked in front of Kotori in the past. There are people that can guess your three sizes with their special abilities. Even if they did hire someone like that, the next problem is when the guessing happened.

“Still, I think you should be more adventurous, Kotone.”
“Sister Kotone’s choices were so inoffensive and boring.”
“I can’t help it, Kaori always criticises me when I try showing creativity.”

“The colour balance is terrible,” “It doesn’t fit the current trend,” “I don’t get how you even thought of pairing this top with that,” and so on, she really tore me to pieces. Thanks to that, most of my clothes are practically hand picked by Kaori. I generally wear the same thing, though.

“So fashion is Kotone’s weak point, huh.”
“Was that terrible make-up actually unintentional?”
“Yeah. I still suck at using make-up.”

In situations like this, my lack of femininity becomes an issue. The fact that I always need to ask for Misaki’s help for make-up makes me feel pathetic, but I really can’t see any improvement at all. While I gave up on it before, I’m challenging it again since I believe it will be a necessary skill to learn as a proper working adult.

“I’m really curious about the old Kotone’s make-up now.”
“It’s not something you’d want to show to people.”
“You took the initiative to show it off in the past, though.”

Ever since I became Kotone’s consciousness, I can tell how bad it was now. It’s seriously an embarrassment. I’m still at the same level as the previous Kotone, but I can’t use me formerly being a man as an excuse. I’ve come to learn that recently.

“My image change succeeded. The problem now is how to act from here on.”
“So you actually do properly think about the future.”

We won’t stay as students forever. If you want to get a proper job, then you have to learn the necessary skills and knowledge for it. Right now, I’m still learning what skills I need as a woman. I can only consult with a few people for this, and not even all of them would take me seriously.

“Before that, have you decided on your career path Kotone?”
“It’s a bit too late to think about it now, though.”
“Eh, you’re not going to be a singer?”
“I don’t know yet.”

So Kotori thought I was going to be a singer? Maybe the people who know Unknown’s true identity think that it’s the natural path for me to take. Still, that’s not my answer. What other people think is the right answer, isn’t the one for me.

“I will be the one to decide my own future.”

Even if it’s what Kotone’s father wants, I won’t accept a future that I’m not satisfied with. Even if the family won’t understand this, I’m not going to back down on this. It’s exactly the reason why I ran from home back then. The conviction I have at the root of it all will never change.

“Definitely in character for you. Still, at least have a solid vision for the future. Otherwise, your advisor will have a hard time.”
“I understand that.”

It isn’t only the student’s parents who are concerned about their future, earnest advisors are too. Will you proceed to college, or do you want to work? Which college do you want to study at, what profession do you want to work in? It’s the advisor’s job to help guide you through your decisions.

“I’ll play safe and say I’ll advance to graduate school for now.”
“With Kotone’s grades, that should be alright.”
“Though who knows how far-reaching the effects of your first year shenanigans will be.”

That’s the one thing that could be a problem. My current behaviour shouldn’t be an issue. However, this doesn’t erase the things the previous Kotone has done. It’s very possible that this will affect my student records. And even if I invoke the twelve family’s name, people will likely have their guard up and consider me a problem individual.

“I guess that’s the bottleneck, huh.”
“Still, your internal records should be good these days. You also joined the student council, so that should help counterbalance your previous behaviour.”
“I hope so. All that’s left is to spend the rest of the year without anything happening.”
“”Not possible.””
“I know, right?”

I agree with the Shimotsuki sisters. Kotori doesn’t seem to understand, but I’m pretty sure after the Minadzuki incident that some problem is going to spring up. Also, there’s a chance that the current student council people might come crying at me for help. When that happens, I’ll drag Kozue into it as well.

“I really hope Kiyose is the only problem child among the new enrollees.”
“Your younger twin siblings are enrolling too, aren’t they?”
“I’ve already given up on that regard,”

As their sister, I’ll deal with their issues. And I’ll help educate the twins while doing that, too. It’s a family matter, so I’ll likely be occupied with it like Rin is with hers. So if a problem ever happens and I get dragged into it, the twins could get entangled in it too. Yup, that’s going to turn into chaos.

“I already identified approximately two people that the twins could possibly get into spats with.”
“That’s pretty quick. Are they people I know?”
“Mn.”

Saying that, I point towards two people. One is Rin who calls me Sister Kotone and the other is the young looking but extremely touchy Kotori. I can already tell that the twins will see them as rivals. I really don’t want these four to interact much.

“They must really love their sister, huh.”
“We don’t look too similar, though.”

Kotone has a mix of her father and mother’s facial features, with a body type similar to her mother’s. The twins mostly inherited our mother’s facial features and would likely become handsome and beautiful in the future, but right now they’re more on the adorable side.

“It would be interesting if we got more people like Kotone, though.”
“That’ll be just hell for me, so I’d rather it not happen.”

It seems like having a split opinion is pretty common for the Shimotsuki sisters. I share Rin’s sentiments, though. I’m aware that I can go wild and do stupid things. And I’d rather not have more people that would act the same way.

“So many Kotones.”
“Stop imagining weird things.”

Kotori’s imagination has gone to the day after tomorrow, so I put a stop to it. I tried imagining it myself, but I can only see terrible results. The first Kotone, the second Kotone, and then me at one place. It’s a disaster in the making.

“That’s a terrible scene.”
“What are you even imagining, Kotone?”
“A small part of the truth.”
“Is the drowsiness getting to your head?”

Hearing Aya’s remark, I checked the time and saw that it’s already past 3:00 am. The picture checking, random topics, and the talk about the future made me forget about the time. Considering tomorrow -or rather today’s matters, I want to avoid staying up all night.

“I’m sleeping. I can’t afford not to.”
“Just stay up for the night. You can sleep in the morning and all that.”
“I’m dealing with Hadzuki later today, you know? He’s not someone you can be half-asleep with.”
“Ah, then that’s understandable. It’s Hadzuki, after all.”

Also, I want to be at full working capacity just to be sure. There’s a high chance that things will go down today. But first, I need to deal with the threat right in front of me.

“Kotone will stay in my room.”
“You prepared a separate room for me, right? Kotori?”
“You can stay at-”
“You prepared it, right?”
“Yes, I did.”

With a glare and a non-negotiable tone, I shut Kotori down. She looks really frustrated, but this is something I’m not going to compromise with. She’ll definitely take the chance to hug and embrace me while pretending to be asleep. The risk of things going even further than that would make me unable to sleep.

“As expected, even Kotone isn’t that clueless.”

That’s obvious. I’ve gotten my first kiss as Kotone stolen, so I’m not going to risk losing any other “first times” as a woman. I’m going to feel really bad for it, after all.