‘Wait, what happened to the ceremony?! Why did you skip through it?! Wasn’t it the climax of this whole thing?!’

I know what you’re thinking, don’t forget about my ability! I know you had this in mind!

Anyways, I’ll be honest with you here: No one really paid attention to the ceremony itself.

Everyone —with no exceptions whatsoever— was being dazzled by a certain person as soon as she had the stage entirely for herself; that was Ichijou Maria, the freshman representative that had aced all of her entrance tests. And when I say ‘aced’, I don’t mean that she just came first in the rankings; she made it through all of them without a single mistake, resulting in triple digits in every one of her sheets.

To top it off, she is a natural beauty, as not only every male student, but also every female student too was looking at her perfect appearance like she was a goddess that descended on Earth. Her long, red hair mirrored her passionate and committed, yet composed and serious attitude. Even teachers and parents were too distracted by her innate charm, in the end; not just by her appearance, but also the way her feelings seemed to be placed with a great deal of care into her words.

Ultimately, all the looks were on her the entire time she was on-stage.

Sure, she was the star of this ceremony, but that doesn’t mean that she was the only person that got up there.

Before Ichijou Maria set her foot on stage, she was preceeded by Akiya Yukino, the senior representative. After Ichijou-san's turn, 4 students representing the school’s Student Council took her place. These were Makabe Koutaro and Higashiguchi Jin for the 2nd years, and Kamiya Yuu and Akiya Yukino for the 3rd years.

Karasuma did call them ‘acquaintances of hers’, but that still begs the question: Does she know all of them thanks to her sister?

Moments after being lost in that thought, the Student Council apologized formally for the absence of the Council President, whose role was taken over by Kamiya Yuu.

However, the president's name was not revealed.

The principal was the last to step on stage, saying the same things students and staff alike have probably gotten sick of hearing every year —I know I have, at least—, but it is formal and a tradition on top of that, so there is no excuse to skip something like this.

And as always, a principal’s speeches are soooooooooooooooooo unnecessarily extended and boring…

Now that the ceremony is over, we are to head over to our classes in the main building to meet our new classmates and our homeroom teacher, who will tell us what to expect in this year that will be full of new experiences. This will also be a great chance to start mapping the building in our heads.

I suppose that it goes without saying that Karasuma has chosen to stick with me.

Although she recommended that I go ahead without her —as she said she was going to talk with the seniors for a bit while they were cleaning up the gym—, I decided to wait for her at the gym’s entrance. After all, knowing her personality’s special traits like they're my own (Thank you, Saki!), she would have hated going alone to class.

The delight on her face from seeing me at the entrance was indescribably relieving to just look at. I think I can’t be blamed for mistaking her for Saki at that time. She even attempted to hug me in her joy to thank me, but I kindly pushed her off, and her response was a mere and short lived pout. ‘Don’t ruin the moment, Taichi-san!’ she said.

Honestly, she is just a pure child at heart, and her actions are the only proof you need.

Fukuda-san, on the flip side, said she was going to head to class on her own.

Well, as long as she doesn’t get herself in trouble again, there’s nothing to worry about...

The school grounds are once again deserted. Well, kind of.

Most students and teachers have already entered the main building, while every parent and other guests have all left the school, leaving just a small number of students wandering there before homeroom and classes begin. Me and Karasuma are part of this ‘small number’.

Um… Right right, I need to bring up something to talk with her a bit. Just walking to class without exchanging a single word is actually awkward…

‘

I ACTUALLY REGRET THINKING THAT WE SHOULD TALK.

Like, what is this ‘Yandere Mum’ thing even supposed to be?!

Come to think of it, we didn’t get to see her, did we?

"Karasuma, where was your sister after all?"

"Oh, her…" she sighs in a somewhat ironic manner. "She had a fever and almost collapsed, so they sent her to the infirmary…"

"She had a WHAT?"

"I called my mum right after I heard that. My sis did seem a bit sick this morning, but she just couldn’t stop her from getting here… That’s what you get for pushing yourself to your limits…"

After all that trouble she went through to help with the ceremony preparations…

Well, I suppose it’s not a shockingly unusual thing. If you push yourself too much, your body will try to stop you no matter what. And in Eru-senpai’s case, it was this fever.

"Did she stay up late?"

"Yeah, she was busy all day with schoolwork."

So seniors do schoolwork before the year starts?! Sucks to be them…

Wait…

"Taichi-san, you look kind of pale."

I’M GOING TO BE IN THEIR SHOES 2 YEARS FROM NOW AND I’M GETTING DEPRESSED ABOUT IT 2 YEARS IN ADVANCE!

WHY DO I FEEL THESE 2 YEARS ARE SUDDENLY SO CLOSE?!

"It’s nothing, don’t worry…"

YEAH, TOTALLY NOTHING.

Karasuma decides to resume our previous topic of discussion: "Anyway, at least it wasn’t anything too serious."

"If a light fever is all she has to go through, then she’ll be alright in no time. I’m sure about it."

"Well, aren’t you confident in her!" she laughs, but then changes her expression to a huge smirk: ‘‘But that means I’ll have her doing nothing all day at home, huehehe!

What the hell are you planning to do to her?!

Entering the school building, we see the usual scenery anyone would expect to see in every Japanese school’s ground floor; shoe lockers wherever you look, to the point that the thought of this scenery being something right out of an anime or a manga isn’t actually crazy.

Oddly enough, I find myself getting excited just because of this sight, even though I’ve been seeing it almost every day since kindergarten. If I were to describe it in one sentence: It just never fails to absorb me.

"I’m going to check on my sister after we’re done from here. Want to tag along?"

"No way I can do that…! I shouldn’t be bothering her in her state…"

"You’re just bashful, aren’t you, Taichi-san!" she giggles as she pats my back.

What she said was not really far from the truth, actually, but I can’t even find the right words to respond to it because of how awkward this feels…

After changing into our school shoes, we walk towards the staircase to the 1st floor, where the class divisions for the freshmen are pinned on a pinboard.

I mean, she immediately spurted upstairs...

Guess I have to catch up a bit, don’t I? Of course, I’ll walk at a normal speed.

"Imagine if we end up in the same class, Taichi-san, hehe!"

"No matter where we end up, that doesn’t separate us on our way from and to this place, does it?"

Karasuma is stunned by my words. I can’t see her expression to be 100% accurate about it, but it is quite obvious that this happened, because her loud skips had stopped for a couple of seconds before I could hear her reach the floor.

"No...it doesn’t!"

She won’t let anything get in the way of her happiness, it seems.

Just like Saki.

As soon as I get up the stairs and try to go to the pinboard, Karasuma runs past me at crazy speeds —not to mention that there’s a ‘Do not run in the hallways!’ sign on the wall next to the stairs…

"Karasuma, where—?"

"1-F!"

And before I could even finish that question, she had disappeared into thin air.

The hallway is completely silent and empty. Take a single step and it will be heard to the ends of it.

I imagine that most classrooms on this floor are probably full of students by now, yet no sounds can be heard from any of them. Maybe the rooms are soundproof?

I reach the pinboard, which is right next to 1-C.

"1-B, huh…"

Yep, my class is 1-B.

Ah, I see now, 1-F is Karasuma’s class. Still, mine is almost on the exact opposite side.

Taking a second look at the pinboard, I can actually conclude a couple of things I wanted to know.

I had my suspicions about this —which are now confirmed to be true—, but each year has indeed its own floor in the building; the 1st one for the 1st years, the 2nd one for the 2nd years and the 3rd one for the 3rd years.

Apparently, the 1st years are divided into 6 classes of 30 students each, meaning there are 180 students that enrolled this year. The staircases are the only thing separating them. To put things into perspective, the classes A, B and C are to your right as you get up the stairs, and D, E and F are to your left, on the other side.

This doesn’t go to say that these are the only classrooms on this floor; apparently, there are some deeper in the hallway, probably used for club activities or something like that.

Well, I should at least be in the class before the teacher gets in.

As I take my first step towards 1-B, a shiver suddenly runs down my spine.

"Do you…believe in apparitions?"

This voice has a mysterious and ominous feel to it, despite sounding kind and harmless —which is why I can’t tell if it’s a male or a female one yet.

Despite my previous statement to head to the classroom, I couldn’t move a single inch; I can’t even turn my head to look at whoever said that.

Fear is my only thought right now.

Someone’s getting closer.

I can hear footsteps getting louder and louder, coming from the 2nd floor and descending slowly to the 1st.

I’m trembling.

Moments later, the person who said the above finally shows himself. It’s a male student wearing the Sakudai uniform. His expression is the one you’d see in the face of a kind-sounding villain in any hero shows; a light smirk that would seem innocent enough to trick you, if given no context whatsoever.

"Or don’t you?"

Ready to answer that I don’t, I realize that I have lost my voice due to my being scared to the core.

"He has to. After all, he’s witnessing two of them right now."

This is probably the strangest thing that has happened to me today— no, in my entire life.

Even though the voice that uttered this last quote is identical to the previous one, it’s a completely different person speaking, who’s also wearing the males’ Sakudai uniform. This time though, that person is coming from the ground floor instead of the 2nd one, unlike his look-alike.

I can’t believe in my very own eyes for the first time in my life.

"So,'' says the one that came from upstairs, with the other one completing his sentence, ''what is your answer?"

The exact same face…

"Doppelgängers are a mystery no one can solve, you know."

The exact same hairstyle…

"Doppelgängers follow the simplest logic: the genetics behind their appearance are the same, like they were copied bit by bit."

The exact same voice…

"But no two people are exactly the same in any way."

The exact same appearance…

"And human cloning hasn’t been achieved yet."

I still can’t comprehend the situation I’m in.

On top of creating a terror-inducing mood with taking turns speaking, as they get closer to me with the same slow pace in their footsteps, they simultaneously ask me: "How can you explain us then?"

‘This can’t be a mere coincidence.’

This is everything I can think of right now.

"What kind of joke is this…?"

As if my body trembling wasn’t already enough, my voice is quivering as well. Seeing them slowly approach me makes me all the more scared.

"Oho, so you think—"

"—that apparitions are a joke?"

I can’t help but feel helpless right now.

"Alright, I believe you! Apparitions are real!" I scream with as much strength as I can gather to talk.

My response made both of them crack a laugh so loud that they almost fell down the stairs.

"H-He fell for it!"

…um, what?

"Shige, that’s enough!" says the other one.

WHAT THE HELL DID I FALL FOR?! WHAT IS GOING ON?!

"Give it a rest already, you two," a quiet but slightly annoyed voice resounds in the hallway, scolding the doppelgänger duo.

As soon as I attempt to turn around to see who that is, a girl approaches from the classroom with the 1-B label. She has long, red hair and an exquisite and dazzling posture, and is getting closer while maintaining a calm pace in her walking, only to stand next to me.

There’s no mistaking it; this is none other than Ichijou Maria herself. This basically means that I’m in the same class as Ichijou Maria, the girl who stole people’s impressions during the ceremony with her perfection.

"Eeeh, why, Maria-chan?"

"We just wanted to have some fun!"

Wait, is it just me or do they sound a bit different now? Like, one-has-a-more-high-pitched-voice-than-the-other kind of different?

Her expression implies that she’s anything but happy about the prank these 2 pulled right now, made obvious by her foot tapping and crossed arms. "Precisely, have some fun, not traumatize him."

…I’m not traumatized, really.

"I swear, you Irisu twins will never learn the difference."

Twins?

Oh.

OH!

THEY'RE TWINS!

WHY DIDN’T THIS CROSS MY MIND BEFORE?! THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING!

"You must be confused, freshman," says the one with the deeper voice.

Aren’t you a freshman as well?!

"I’ll take things slowly. I’m Irisu Shigenobu, and the look alike is my twin, Irisu Midori."

"Yo!" she greets me, and I respond the same way, only less enthusiastically.

"For your information, Midori is a girl."

"What else could I be?!"

"From his point of view, you hardly have as much as hair as I do."

"Come to think of it, it seems like that."

Both of them have straight and short hair —or at least that’s what it looks like to me, as they said.

What strikes me as odd about this is that Ichijou Maria hasn’t uttered a single word after scolding them, even if she has kept the same disapproving look on her face.

"Just give me a sec," says Irisu Midori and puts her hand at the back of her head, untying her hair tie to let it flow.

"Much better, right?"

"I-I guess so…"

Now that she has let her hair down, although it barely reaches her neck and is not nearly as long as Fukuda-san, Karasuma, or Ichijou Maria’s, it’s still long enough to tell her apart from her brother.

The fact that they look so absurdly much like each other that goes over my head, to be honest... I've never seen fraternal twins look so identical before in my entire life...

‘Not to mention that the fact that she’s flat made this work out perfectly!’ thinks her brother.

APOLOGIZE TO YOUR SISTER! DO IT NOW!

"But...'' I begin to ask: ''Why do you both have a males’ uniform? One of you is bound to have gotten it wrong."

"Are you implying I should wear a skirt, freshman?!"

"I-It was obvious that I was referring to your sister, you know…"

His sister couldn’t resist laughing to this.

"I borrowed one of Shige’s trousers so we could pull this off. Man was it a huge success!"

This is even beyond the boundaries of absurd planning!

Ichijou Maria still hasn’t uttered anything after all this time as well, which piques my curiosity right now.

"Freshman, if you’re wondering why Maria-chan has her eyes closed…she’s just sleeping!"

"She doesn’t even seem to be breathing!"

Just how many talents does this girl have?!

"Sorry for the trouble these two caused you,’ she startles me.

…When did she wake up?

"I’m Ichijou Maria, by the way. Nice to meet you, Yanagisawa-kun. I wish we get along."

"L-Likewise, Ichijou-san, I wish the same too."

"You don’t need to be so formal. We’re classmates after all," she says after putting on a faint smile.

"O-Okay. But…how do you know my name? I didn’t even mention—"

"She knows everything, no use denying it."

"I don’t know everything, Shigenobu-kun. I just happened to notice that he was the only one who was absent from class."

YOU'RE NOT MAKING ME FEEL ANY BETTER ABOUT THIS, ICHIJOU-SAN!

"Oh, before I forget, Midori-chan," Ichijou-san gives her a red shopping bag.

I didn’t even notice it before, but was she carrying a bag like that all along?

What is going on here?!

"I almost forgot about it! Thanks, Maria-chan!"

As she opens that bag, she gets an grey colored skirt out of it —the same color as the Sakudai females’ uniform’s skirt.

Slowly, she attempts to take off her trousers, but I stop her right before the damage is done.

"W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"I need to put my skirt on, the teachers could yell at me if they saw me like this," she replies innocently.

"I DON’T MEAN THAT! No, I mean...you should, but not here! Y-Y-Y-You’re technically getting undressed in front of a—!"

"Don’t get worked up over something this minor, Yanagisawa-kun~~''

It's actually anything but minor, you know!

''I wore spats today just for this!"

"SPATS WON’T SOLVE THIS WORLD’S PROBLEMS!"

"I believe in spats more than I believe in my brother!"

WHAT IS THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS?!

"You say something! She’s your sister!" I turn to her oh-so-I-don’t-mind-at-all brother.

"It’s useless. Once she sets her mind, there’s nothing stopping her!"

DON’T SOUND SO HAPPY ABOUT HER LACK OF TRUST TOWARDS YOU!

"Don’t worry, Yanagisawa-kun, I was going to the girls’ restroom anyway, it’s just a few meters up ahead. I only wanted to see your reaction!" she laughs. "You’re just really fun to talk to, so I wanted to tease you a bit!"

This is the third time I’m hearing that today; from her, from Karasuma and from Fukuda-san. And like before, I can’t even get a single response out of my mouth.

"You three go ahead, I’ll be back in a minute."

She said three, but…Ichijou-san is nowhere to be seen.

"She went already inside, huh…" Shigenobu-kun mutters to himself.

That was too fast!

I get the twins being a…combo of weirdos, but Ichijou-san too…?

"She tends to do that sometimes, freshman. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it!"

"I have a name, it’s Yanagisawa Taichi…"

Following his sister’s suggestion, we head to the classroom and get in too.

I start walking to the teacher’s desk where the seating plan is placed and look for the seat assigned to me; it’s a seat in the row beside the one to the window, 3rd seat from the front. Not a bad place actually. The desks are placed in 5 rows of 6, by the way.

While looking at the plan, my eyes fall upon Ichijou-san’s name, who sits at the 5th seat from the front by the window.

The window next to her seat is open and she is staring outside. Given that there’s been a slight breeze going on since about an hour ago, her bright, red hair sways slowly as a result.

I don’t want to start anything weird by merely looking at her, so I head over to my seat quickly.

"Ohoho, so you’re between us, Yanagisawa?"

"Between you?"

"Yeah, you’re sitting behind me and in front of Midori."

Indeed, I’m between Shigenobu-kun and his sister.

"I-Is that so…"

SHOULDN’T I BE WORRYING ABOUT MY POSITION HERE?!

‘I need to make sure he passes all the paper scraps from her during class.'

One seat is all that separates you two, there are plenty of ways to do that without involving this poor outsider!

In order to distract myself, I take out my cell phone from my pocket to check the time —although there’s already a clock hanged above the chalkboard, what a bad habit…

The time now is almost 9:40.

If I’m not mistaken, Saki must already be at school.

And look at this, she just sent me a photo message; definitely speak of the devil.

I wonder what it is.

Or I probably shouldn’t…

As expected, she just wants to brag about the breakfast leftovers she got to school…

But she seems genuinely happy in this photo, and so do her classmates.

That adorable little devil planned that all along, didn’t she?

At that moment, the classroom’s front door opens once again.

This time, it’s a fairly young man that’s getting in the room, and with a strict voice —but not austere enough to scare students off— he declares: "Everyone, take your seats," and the students all do just that. While writing his name on the chalkboard, he continues: "I’ll be your homeroom teacher this year. My name is—" he leaves the chalk down: "—Nashimoto Souichiro. I don’t mind how you will choose to call me, so let that be the starting line of a hopefully good ye—"

The reason he cut his sentence, you ask? A ringing sound. The sound of a cell phone ringing.

And the owner of it was none other than the teacher himself.

You thought that would be my phone, but you were terribly wrong! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Silent mode is the way to go!

"I-If you’ll excuse me for a moment," he picks the phone up, whispering: "I’m in the middle of class, can you make it quick?"

Even if he tries to whisper, the whole class can hear him...

I wonder who could be calling him though…

To call at a random time, it definitely cannot be someone that knows him well. Most likely, I’d say it’s a new girlfriend or something.

"W-What?!" he continues whispering. "Okay okay, I get it, we’ll meet up later to tell me that in person. Later then," he hangs up, letting out a huge sigh afterwards.

‘Just how many times will I get dumped, for God's sake… It’s the 3rd time this month!'

Wow, I can’t even help but feel sorry for this man.

"Hey hey, Yanagisawa-kun, what did I miss?" Irisu Midori pokes me from behind, almost giving me a heart attack.

"WHEN DID YOU COME HERE?!"

"Just now, I sneaked in. You didn’t notice me, did you?"

"I didn’t, to be honest…"

"Teehee!"

Being tardy is nothing to be proud of! Take that grin off your face!

One student dared to ask the teacher what happened that made him sigh like that.

"I-It’s nothing," he replies calmly with a gentle smile. "It’s just that…I’m in despair!"

WAY TOO PULL OFF A 180!

In case you didn’t understand already who it was that asked, it was Ichijou-san.

After he managed to settle down a bit, he told us what to have in mind throughout this school year as newcomers to this high-school environment.

His tone was anything but supporting and encouraging though… If anything, it seemed like he screamed ‘DESPAAAAAAAAAAIR!’ after every sentence of his ended...

And with a depressed aura around him, our homeroom teacher left the class looking just downwards.

Current time: 4:40 PM

Nothing in particular that would be worth elaborating on happened after homeroom; the first day was merely for introductions with some teachers and our classmates, to receive instructions, a timetable and the books we need for the year.

Although it’s the first day and one would normally think of heading out with friends, there are some…circumstances for me…

Karasuma —who would probably ask me to go somewhere with her— left in a hurry to go see her sister at the school infirmary. Fukuda-san vanished into thin air once more, while Ichijou-san and the twins have left for Shimoda.

And here I am, getting off the bus to go home.

With that, my first day of my high school life came to an end.

Come to think of it, calling this day ‘bizarre’ wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

I met Karasuma who is a jokester like Saki, Fukuda Eva who is a ruthless risktaker, this deadly combo of twins named Irisu Shigenobu and Midori, and finally, Ichijou Maria, the girl who was on everyone’s mouths from the moment she got into this school.

I knew Saki jinxed my day! I called dibs!

Though, I would be lying though if I said I didn’t enjoy every single moment of it.

A lot of things happened today that I would never wish to call normal, but living something different isn’t that bad sometimes. If anything, I have been longing for a day like this.

Is this ‘jinxing’ of hers really bad after all? I think the answer to that is more than obvious.

This is a different stop than the one I went this morning, but the view from here is the same as always, facing the vast blue ocean, where the noon sun reflected on it makes its light glitter, which is enough to catch my eye.

I feel something boiling up in my chest seeing this. It’s like there’s something I really want to say at the top of the lungs, with utmost excitement accompanying it.

It's as if this wonderful sight is pushing me to say it.

"Sakudai High! This is just the beginning!"

Oh.

I actually said that out loud.

Good thing that no one is around at this time.

Better head home quick then.

Observation #4: These 3 years…they are going to be anything but an ordinary and mundane experience!