Chapter 7

I said all that stuff like “we’re so amazing, we’re so strong,” but that’s not even true…

That’s why Yuuta-kun needed to to see his true power for himself.¹

…I was shocked, actually. I knew we were different, but I always figured we were the same type of person when it came down to it.

But he has a kind of power I don’t. I never knew it existed because it comes from inside of him.

Even if it did have to be drawn out with our secret order.

…Your secret order, hm?

I’m sure you know about it by now, but even though I’m the leader, Yuuta-kun was the one who got our secret order.

I keep thinking, if I hadn’t left things to Yuuta-kun, if I’d gotten the order instead… would I have done the same thing?

I still don’t actually know what the secret order was, so everything is just up to my imagination.

Hm? Hinata-kun, Yuuta-kun never told you what your secret order was?

Nope. Of course, now that SS is over we should be able to talk about it freely though, right?

Of course. Well, I was able to tell Adonis-kun my secret order by moving my hands like so…

That’s the power of nonverbal communication. We’ve put in a lot of training to recreate that mystical twin telepathy stuff, too.

But obviously no matter how much training we do, we still can’t actually use telepathy.

I’d say it’s more romantic that there are thoughts and feelings which can only be conveyed with words.

But returning to the topic of Yuuta-kun…

He dodged the question when I asked him about it one time, so I didn’t wanna keep bugging him about it. He doesn’t like persistent men.

Even if what I’m thinking was right, there’s still the matter of whether I could actually pull off the same thing that Yuuta-kun did.

Hinata-kun…

…Crap, sorry. When I start thinking about SDS, I remember all the feelings I had back then too.

So uh, sorry, but can I get five seconds to get this cocoa into my system?

Self-restraint is but poison to the body. Look around: The only ones here are you and me. This is your chance to reveal your thoughts ♪

You once believed you could confide in me. Trust in that feeling, and follow it.

Ghh, it’s like I’ve got two wolves inside me: the one who wants to hold myself back versus the one who’s all torn apart ‘cause Hakaze-senpai already saw through my anxiety, so it’s way too late to be worrying about this…!

Oh~? Then if you were able to show this to Kaoru-kun, then perhaps it isn’t too late, after all ♪

Well, honestly I don’t know how much Hakaze-senpai understood everything…

But I do know that if I didn’t put a stop to things somewhere, I’d never be able to brave this storm. So let’s do this!

Yes! That’s the spirit, Hinata-kun!

I was so nervous back then though, since I could only communicate with Yuuta-kun through video!

I mean, obviously we’re in different rooms in the dorms. But this was still the first time we’ve been separated for so long against our will…!

I couldn’t feel the heat from his body, smell his scent, nothing that I could recognize as distinctly Yuuta-kun. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find a single trace of his feelings anywhere!

……

We’ve always thought of ourselves as two parts of one whole. But we also couldn’t ignore that we were slowly drifting apart.

We even performed rituals to try and minimize the differences only we could see, to try and make us more similar, to try and bring us closer together.

But I guess there’s no point in trying to put things back in place anymore. Even now, Yuuta-kun’s grown his hair out and everything…

The cup your holding… has cocoa in it, correct?

Chocolate’s the best medicine after all. I guess I’m trying to reset myself? I want to be able to look at the future with a clear mind.

It’s time I accepted it: I’m me, and Yuuta-kun is Yuuta-kun.

We’ve gotta peel ourselves off each other and finally become our own unique people. Since I’m the leader of 2wink, I’ll try to look on the bright side.

If we’re only ever “us,” then we’ll only ever be the best twins in the idol industry.

But if it’s just Hinata, or just Yuuta, we have to become the best idols, period, with our true abilities!

Or like. We’ll be able to have a ton more experiences like Twin Peaks or SDS.

So I guess I’ll put as much thought into it as I can…?

…… (reaches out toward Hinata’s head)

Huh? Whatcha doing there~? When you’ve got a beautiful head of hair in front of you, you can’t help but wanna touch it?

You’ve simply worked so, so hard to come up with and answer of your own.

I am both elated and sorrowful to see my beloved child grow up… I wish I could have spoiled you more before you had matured.

Ohoho ☆

If you wanna spoil me so bad, then I’ll let you. Give it all you got, ‘kay~?

Mm?

Oh while we’re talking, can I ask you something, Sakuma-senpai? Can you lend me your ear… and afterwards, maybe even your hand?