"Ani~~" a girl was whining playfully.
The students of the class looked to their left, already intensely annoyed. A girl was stumbling along the hallway, laughing much too loudly, draped over the shoulders of a boy about her age.
The boy sighed impatiently and put an arm around her shoulders. "Hirai, you're attracting attention. Calm down, will you?"
He was tall- perhaps just under six feet tall, and his companion was very tall too, although she didn't really look like a girl. She was an inch or two shorter. The boy had messy dirty-blonde hair while the girl's hair was very short, golden brown, and tugged into a small ponytail. Both of them wore pants, a white button-down shirt, and a blue jacket.
'Hirai' giggled again and straightened up, looking for all the world dead drunk. She grabbed 'Ani's' hand, and he quickly retracted it.
"What the heck happened to being nervous?" he snapped.
She spun around and began walking backwards, winking and putting her hands on her hips. "Oh, I'm very nervous. Do you really think that I'm usually this giggly at school?"
"Yes."
"Meaan~" Hirai sighed dramatically. "What room are we in again?"
"Oh, come on! Weren't you supposed to remember this?"
"Yeah, I do, I'm just too lazy to bother digging it out of my head," she said, and promptly stuck out her tongue.
"Whatever, it's-"
"2-B!" Hirai suddenly yelped, just as Ani spoke the words. They looked slyly at each other. "Jinx!"
"You owe me a can of soda," Ani said nonchalantly.
"No, I don't," Hirai replied. "I said it first. You owe me the can of soda."
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"NO!"
"Okay, fine, can we come to a truce?" Hirai finally said.
Ani looked at her quickly, and nodded his head once. "Agreed."
Both took a deep breath. "We called it at the same time." A second passed. "JINX! Oh, come on, not again!"
Hirai smiled and looped her arm through Ani's. She shifted her hard candy over to the other side of her mouth. Ani's breathing was noticeably more even, and he was (kind of) smiling. Mission complete, right?
"You excited?"
"Yeah, it's gonna be fun!"
"First time we were ever in the same class!" Hirai said cheerfully. "But, we should have all the same classes together, because our records are nearly identical. If you think about it, first they go by last name, right? Ours are the same. Then it's grade point average- we're the same there too. Advanced! And then they go by age and other personality factors, so, we'll be together for every class! And then of course, we'll choose three electives together."
"Yup!" Ani slapped his sister a high five. "I'm going for engineering! You're gonna want Psychology-"
"-you know me too well-"
"And the final elective will be art!" they exclaimed together.
Leaning on each other, the twins made their way to class 2-B. Hirai put on her game face and tilted her head down a bit, shifting behind Ani. Ani assumed a cold look.
Both looked at each other, and began laughing.
"We're so ridiculous!"
"And just look at our faces-"
"-we look like we're going to an execution!"
Suddenly serious, Hirai looked up at Ani. "Honestly though, I hope we'll be able to make some really good friends. Of course, they're gonna be all over our twin-ness, but it would be nice to find some decent people."
"I'm sure they're all decent, Hirai."
"Yeah, but you know what I mean!"
Neither twin said what they were both thinking: it would be nice to find some friends who didn't get weirded out by how close they acted or treat them like the same person; or in the opposite case, assume that they were sensitive about the twin thing and try to ignore it.
"Here goes nothing!" Hirai said cheerfully.
"You know, I really thought you were more of a fatalist."
"Fine then, you want my real answer?" she said snappishly. "I'm absolutely certain that we're going to die, but it wouldn't really pay to say that, now would it? I'm trying to be in a good mood here."
"Woah, mood swing much?"
"God." Hirai rolled her eyes, but they both smiled, and she pushed the door opened. Then she stepped to the side and let Ani pass.
That was the way they worked. Hirai was the brave, impulsive, and caring one packed full of character. She was also the unselfish and chattery one, who had an awful temper but could never seem to stay mad at her brother for more than two minutes. Ani, on the other hand, had a quick temper and could hold a grudge for hours, if not days. He was, if she dared to admit it, selfish, but he was innocent, sweet, and genuinely cared about others. Hirai believed he was definitely the better person. She always hid her emotions, making her seem cold, but Ani seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve and was better for it.
As they walked in, Ani pulling Hirai by the hand, the class slowed. They stared at the odd pair. Unbeknownst to Hirai, they had heard quite a bit of the conversation.
Including 'certain we're going to die' bit.
The teacher smiled. "Class, these are our newest students. Ani and Hirai Leroux. They just moved here, and I'm certain we're going to make them feel welcome."
Hirai squirmed. Ani's hand tightened around hers, and they shared a glance.
"Does anyone have anything they would like to ask the new students?"
A girl's hand shot up immediately. She had average features, and seemed to have slathered makeup all over her face in an attempt to beautify herself. She was looked speculatively at Ani.
Hirai took a chance and pointed to her. "Um, yes?"
"Are you guys dating?"
A chorus of agreement struck up throughout the class.
She grabbed Ani's hand protectively and felt herself sinking into a glare. So that's what this is about. Hirai was about to speak when Ani started instead.
"No, we're not,-"
"-we're twins," Hirai snapped rudely.
"Ooh!" more kids smiled and raised their hands. Ani pointed to a boy with messy brown hair. He grinned.
"So, do you guys date? Or do you prefer to spend time with each other?"
God, no. Hirai felt her protective side rising. Ani looked at her. Tears were rising in her eyes. "That's really none of your business," she snapped thickly.
The room quieted for a second before one boy raised his hand brashly. He surveyed her and smiled cockily. Hirai, eyes thick with tears, pointed to him.
"So, what's up with your name? It's foreign."
She almost laughed with relief. Finally, a question I can answer! "Oh, well that's a long story. Our grandfather was American, see, and he came to Japan at a young age, but kept his given name-"
"-and his father was from France."
"That's cool!" a girl exclaimed enthusiastically. "I guess that's where you guys get your blue eyes from, right? Do you speak French or English?"
"I speak French, and I'm starting English-" Hirai said, looking at her brother.
"-and I speak English, and I started French last year. We also both take Latin. So together-"
"-we make a pretty good team."
"Do you always do that? Finish each other's sentences?"
"Oh." Hirai gave a small laugh and touched her head. "Well, yeah, we do that a lot. Mostly its because we know what we're going to say. We just have similar personalities- it's not like, twin telepathy or something."
Ani smirked. "She's lying. It's twin telepathy."
"It is not!" Hirai said, and smacked his arm lightly.
"Are you identical twins?"
"Ahh, nope!" They smiled, and both thought of the 'jinx' war that had taken place in the hallway moments ago.
"That's actually not biologically possible," Hirai said, finally getting into something she could talk about. "Identical twins are born out of a single cell, and since each cell contains its own copy of the genetic code that differentiates between girl and boy, it's impossible for identical twins to be boy and girl-"
"She gets into this stuff. A lot."
"It's eighth grade genetics!" Hirai protested.
The teacher finally intervened, smiling kindly. He pointed to the back. "Well, that's all the time we have today, and homeroom is almost over." He chuckled a bit. "I'm sure we'll have time to get to know each other later. You two, sit behind Kaoru, okay?"
The red-head in the back of the room raised his hand.
They had a momentary scuffle at the front row. Both twins attempted to squeezed in at the same time, and then they stepped back to let the other go in front. Ani took a step and Hirai took a step, and they collided, and then Hirai finally shoved him through the path.
The class giggled. Hirai hoped her face wasn't tomato colored.
They passed one red-head. Hirai looked to her other side. Another red-head.
Wait, what? Oh, she thought, snickering. I guess that's why people didn't freak out about the twin-ness.
Ani and Hirai sat next to each other, each behind a red-head boy. They looked at each other while the rest of the class began chatting.
"That was awkward."
"Really awkward."
"I mean, really! Dating-"
"-can you imagine twins dating?" Ani laughed.
"What do they call that?" Hirai thought aloud. "Is it-"
"Incest?"
"No, there's some sort of word for it. Twincest!"
"How catchy," Ani said, and winked at her. "So what says you, dear sister? Twincest sound appealing?"
"You're such a creep!" Hirai yelped, and giggled.
"I didn't come up with the idea!"
Almost instantly, two identical faces turned to stare at them. "Really?" the one on the left said. "That's an interesting conversation you've got there."
"Kind of insulting, really. You're hurting our feelings."
Ani and Hirai both froze, and pressed their lips together. Ani's eyes were the size of saucers, so Hirai assumed hers must have been too.
"Just kidding around."
"Don't be so touchy-feely."
The IDENTICAL twins stared at her and then turned around. "Whatever you say."
Hirai snuck a glance at Ani. She mouthed, "Oh my god."
"I know."
"What the hell?"
The rest of the day was pretty much average. For the first couple of days, until electives were chosen and sorted out, there was an hour and a half block of free time near the end of the day. Hirai and Ani had gone to apply for their three chosen electives. They were lounging in an empty classroom at the moment while Hirai absentmindedly stared at her schedule.
She glanced up at her brother. "Mist in the wind, that you turned your back on, and left me to drown."
"Not again." Ani sighed and tipped his chair back. "That doesn't even sound like a song."
Hirai pouted and tried again, copying Ani's move with the chair, singing slowly. "Mist in, the wind, you turned, your back on, and left, me here to drown~"
Ani stared begrudgingly at her. "Okay, I admit, it sounds good."
"Don't stop now; wasn't this, where you were going? Don't leave me; you swore that, you loved me!"
"Good, but I don't need to hear more."
Of course, in response, Hirai sang louder. "There is no secret silver lining in this stormy sea, can you see me now? Here beneath the clouds; where you threw me overboard~"
"Shut up!" Ani snapped.
Hurt, Hirai settled back down. She blinked at Ani. "Something wrong?"
"Nothing."
She shrugged. "Okay."
A group of girls opened the door, and Hirai's face instantly darkened. Ani had been followed by gaggles of idiotic girls who seemed to think they were gorgeous all day. Not that Ani was bad looking, but couldn't they find someone else to harass? The twin boys had been every bit as cute as Ani. Maybe everyone thought that they were gay. (She kind of thought so too.)
"Hi Ani!" someone said bravely. "Hi, Hirai!"
"Hi!" she said falsely, and beamed her most sarcastic smile in their direction. Ani gave them a look.
The girls swarmed Hirai.
She knew this sort of thinking. They wanted to get close to her because of Ani. Which really meant they didn't give a damn about her. Hirai frowned. "What do you guys need?"
"We wanted to invite you to come with us!" the girl with the blue eyes who had asked if they were dating earlier said. "To the Host Club!"
"Host Club?" Hirai shared a glance with Ani. Host club?
No clue, Ani's expression said.
"Oh, Ani can come too!" a girl exclaimed. "It might be a bit awkward, but I'm sure Hirai will have lots of fun!"
"Sure," Hirai said slowly.
The girls squealed and stood up, clapping hands. They headed for the door. "COME ON!"
Hirai raised her eyebrows at Ani. "I'm surprised she doesn't have an old Japanese accent. 'I'm sure Hirai will have loads of fun!'"
"Will you have fun?"
"Will you?"
"Probably not."
"Exactly."
They followed the blue-eyed girl and her friends down the hallway and up a floor, to the third Music room. Ani and Hirai both stared at the door.
"Music room?"
"You like music."
"So do you, so maybe-"
"-this won't be so bad."
The doors opened in a flurry of roses. The girls squealed, while Hirai simply coughed and made her best 'what-the-hell?' face. Ani stared, stony-faced.
A tall boy with blonde hair stepped in front of Hirai and grasped her hand. "Welcome, new student! I hope that you-"
Hirai jerked her hand back and stepped to the side. "Uh, yeah, that's okay."
"Why are you hitting on my sister?"
"Ani, shut up."
"Just making a point."
"Stupid point."
"Don't call my point stupid."
"Dude, your point is seriously stupid."
"My point ain't stupid."
"It's so stupid there aren't words to describe how stupid it is."
Ani pouted and crossed his arms, still managing to look very cool. Hirai rolled her eyes and looked back to the blonde boy.
"Who are you again?"
"I'm Tamaki Suoh!" he proclaimed cheerfully, and pressed a hand to his chest. "I'm the Host Club king! For your first time here, who would you like-?"
Hirai's eyes grew to the size of saucers. She looked as if she had just stumbled into the boys' dressing room right after gym class, which wasn't really all too far off. Her voice squeaked. "Um, I'm good! Thanks!"
"Aw, come on!"
"Nooo!" she squeaked, and backed up, grabbing Ani by the arm. "Let's get out of here!"
Ani resisted. "Come on, Hirai. You can't be anti-social all the time. He seems nice."
"Mm-m!" Hirai shook her head. "You're such an idiot, Ani! Don't you realize… what this is?" She lowered her voice. "It's like um, ah… a 'womanizing' club, so to speak."
Ani's eyes widened too.
"You know what? I think Hirai's right… we're gonna… go…"
"No, no!" one of the girls squealed, distraught. She clung to Ani's free arm and looked up at him with imploring eyes. "It's okay! Hirai's just shy, aren't you?"
Hirai shook her head.
"Ladies," Ani said soothingly, and Hirai gave him a look. "I'd love to spend some more times with you, but I'm afraid that my sister comes first."
"Thank you," Hirai huffed, and prepared to walk out.
Someone grabbed her arm. Hirai turned, to be met with a twin who looked surprisingly like a fox. She blanched. "Hey, you're the g- identical twin…! Uh, which one are you?" (Truth be told, she'd been thinking something much different from 'identical.'
He chuckled. "Hikaru."
"No, I'm Hikaru," another twin said, pouting.
Hirai frowned and stared at them. "Really? Resorting to such childish tricks now, are we? Even when we were little and looked really identical, then we… never did that…"
"Yes we did," Ani pointed out.
"Don't tell them that!"
Hikaru and Kaoru frowned at each other and then back at Hirai and Ani. "You can't call us childish. Look who's squealing and running away at the first sight of a cute guy."
"I'm not running away! I just think it's incredibly awkward to be hit upon by a guy the minute I walk in the room!"
"Prove you're not running away," one twin suggested.
Another one said, "Stay for a bit."
"Okay," Hirai snapped. "Just don't try flirting with me, because I can hurt you!"
Nervous stares were aimed in her direction.
She growled and stomped off to an unoccupied corner to watch her brother walk off with Tamaki Suoh, smiling. Something twinged in her heart. Really? Did he have to just go and stomp off with this random kid, leaving his own sister alone? They were best friends, after all.
Okay, okay, she reminded herself. There was no need to go overprotective on him.
A boy- who happened to be way too pretty- approached her, holding a cup of tea. He had soft brown hair that swept into his eyes and a soft smile. Hirai's lips turned down at the corners and she withdrew further into a ball.
"Hello," the boy said softly.
Voice was high too.
Hirai calmly raised her head, arching her eyebrow. "Is something wrong?"
"You looked lonely," the boy said, and shrugged.
In disgust, Hirai's lips turned down at the corners. "Well, I assure you, I don't need your help."
"Ahh!" he said, and put a finger to his lips. "I see. You're shy, aren't you?" He plopped down next to Hirai.
"Shut up!" she said harshly, and scooted away. "You're just a random boy, you don't know anything! And why the hell are you following me!" At this point in time, Hirai had gotten up and was walking around the room.
"What do you mean?"
Hirai sped up.
So did the boy.
She whirled around and glared down at him. "Go find CATS!"
"…What?"
"Cats!" she commanded. "Catastrophic animals. I need some. I'm planning to unleash them on Tokyo and steal the world's chocolate pocky supply."
"…You're just trying to get rid of me, aren't you?"
"You'll never know unless you get the animals," Hirai replied, smirking. In reality, she wished the weird follower-boy would just get lost already.
The boy stared blankly at her before pointing to a corner where the incest-twins were… doing their incest thing. "There's your animals."
Hirai stared, and tried to stop her lips from quirking up. "…I'm not amused." Lie. She was very, very, amused, but she was not going to befriend any of these people.
The guy smirked.
She rolled her eyes and looked away, to where Ani was talking in earnest to the blonde guy. He was smirking slightly, just like he usually did when he and Hirai were getting up to some mischief.
Hirai ran across the room and grabbed Ani in a huge hug, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Anii!"
"Gah!"
Ani struggled to detach his sister from his neck, where she was hanging an inch off the ground. "You're such a weirdo!"
"You know you love mee~"
"No I do not!"
"Liar liar liar!"
"Get offa me!"
"Aww, tu n'est pas très mignonne!"
Ani growled in frustration. He pulled on her arms, but only succeeded in strangling himself further. "A, you know I hate it when you do that, and B, What the hell! You're like a freaking koala bear!"
"Mignonnne!"
"What are you saying?"
"No wonder you're failing French," Hirai said cheerfully, and clambered up her skyscraper of a brother until he wrapped his arms around her legs to hold her up.
"You're failing English."
"No, I'm awesome at English. The only reason you can beat me is cause I just started. And I'm STILL outperforming you in class."
"Geek."
"Math-nerd."
"Math is awesome, man."
"Math's not awesome," Hirai said, sticking out her tongue. She ignored the little audience they seemed to have garnered. "Math is… mathy. It's eviiil. And tries to take over your brain with its shadowy sneaky ways!"
She threw her hands up for dramatic effect, causing both her and Ani to topple over.
"…You'll never beat me in Latin."
"If you were beating me in Latin, then you'd be beating me in French and English too."
"You're bilingual?" one of the boys asked, a tiny boy with huge eyes and messy golden hair. He held out a hand. "You speak four languages?"
Hirai laughed and shrugged it off. "Naw. I'm only fluent in Japanese. I'm close to it in French, and, well, I WOULD be if there was ever an opportunity to practice Latin. English is hard though." She scrunched up her nose. "Mandarin Chinese is really hard too."
Everyone stared at her.
"Shut up Hirai."
She shrugged. "Ani's the best at math though. And he's way more practical and logical than I could ever be, and... he's much less spazzy…"
"Oh?" someone said with disinterest. Hirai looked up and saw a handsome boy with sharp gray eyes and black hair. He wore glasses.
Hirai hoped her face wasn't bright pink. For a moment, she had forgotten she was dealing with strangers- not necessarily boys, but strangers. "…Yeah…"
"So why's your hair so short?" a girl suddenly piped up. "I'm sure you'd have looked wonderful with it long. Not to say you don't look gorgeous now- because you're really pretty."
She felt heat rush to her face and stepped behind Ani. Oh no, not the looks comments. She'd had enough of that. Hirai supposed that she was rather pretty- she had big, pale, oceany colored eyes and light peachy skin. Her nose was straight, she had a strong chin, and her mouth was full. She guessed that her eyes were about the right distance apart, but that didn't mean that everyone needed to comment on it.
"Um, well, it was annoying when it was long, and I didn't really see the point… plus, don't you think that it suits my personality much better short?"
Oh, now that Hirai thought about it… she did look nearly identical to Ani. Maybe that was why the girls seemed to like him so much?
"It does," the boy who had been following her around said. "Sort of mischievous."
"I'm not mischievous. Ani, am I mischievous?"
"You're very mischievous."
"Hypocrite."
Ani smirked. "Ohh, look who's talking, miss I'll-put-about-twenty-wooden-balls-underneath-her-brother's-matress-just-for-a-joke."
"You have to admit, it was really funny to see you stumbling around in the morning."
"I hate you."
"Thank you."
"You don't mess with a man's sleep, Hirai. That's just wrong."
Hirai frowned. "Oh, come on! You're the one who screamed 'MOMM! HIRAI'S BEING SCARY AGAIN!' after you set my alarm clock to go off every ten minutes, brat!"
"Don't act like I'm younger than you!"
"Uh, you are!"
A little gasp of surprise broke the two out of their argument, which seemed to have been drawing the attention of most of the people in the room. The girl with blue eyes said, "Oh! I wanted to ask which twin was the oldest!"
"Oh," Hirai said suddenly. She smirked and leaned on top of her brother's shoulder and head. "That's me. Absolutely."
"We're twins, we were born at the same time."
"I'm still twelve minutes older!"
The guests laughed, and they dispersed back to their tables where they were each sitting with a cute boy. Hirai's smile only grew. She sent a look over to Ani. He sent a look back. The scorned and defeated sort of look.
"So…" the boy with the glasses prompted, leaning his chin on his hand. He smirked at them. "You're Ani and Hirai Leroux, right? Partially foreign?"
Ani gasped in mock surprise. He looked over his clothes, patting himself down. "Well, I sure hope so, otherwise I'd wonder who'd been wearing my clothes for the past sixteen years."
He received a stare.
"He didn't get my joke."
"Laame."
"That sucks."
"Maybe he didn't think you were funny."
"I'm funny. I'm way funnier than all these lamos combined."
"Sure you are."
"I'm awesome."
Hirai rolled her eyes and looked back at the boy. "Yeah, we're the partially foreign kids. What of it? I know that Japan's a homogenous society, but it can't really be that uncommon."
"It's not that," he said calmly. "I know many foreigners. Your mother is a biologist and your father's an accountant."
Suddenly on guard, she glared at him. Ani stepped closer to her.
"How did you get into this school?
"That's none of your business," she replied, equally calmly. "But if you really have to know, Ani and I received a partial scholarship because we scored in the top fifteen in our entrance exam. Our grandfather is paying for the rest."
"Ah, yes." He pushed his glasses up his nose with his finger. Hirai sort of wished she had her glasses now. "The famous architect and designer."
"Mm-hm."
"He's planning to retire in ten years. Many companies are devastated."
She glared at him and pulled Ani away. "Like I said, none of your business."
The twins reached home that day very out of breath. This was probably because they had gotten into a race halfway through walking home, and had sprinted the rest of the way. Hirai won. Ani insisted that he had won, but Hirai had definitely won.
"Momm~" Hirai said cheerfully and walked into the kitchen, dropping her book bag with a loud 'clunk.' "You here?"
"She's got work, Hirai," Ani said, and rolled his eyes.
"Right! Miharuu!"
A little boy came traipsing into the kitchen. He had dark brown hair, gold eyes, and silver glasses. "You guys are late."
"Come on, we ran half the way!"
"Hirai lost the race."
"I DIDN'T F-"
"Miharu!"
"Right."
Hirai grinned sheepishly at their younger brother, who actually looked quite a bit like her, despite the fact that he shared almost nothing in common with Ani. He chuckled at them both and hopped up onto the island in their kitchen, eyes bright. "Caitlin asked me out today."
"Oooh!" Hirai exclaimed. "I like Caitlin! She's such a sweetheart! I remember when I went on my first date…"
"You've never been on a date."
"Shut up, don't spoil the big sister moment. Anyway, Miharu, are you going?"
Miharu shrugged and crossed his legs. "Yeah, I think so. I've liked her for a long time, you know, and she is really nice. I think I want to go to the movies. We're both fourteen, so we could go and see a horror movie or something, or maybe we could see a romantic movie… Or maybe we should go to an amusement park. Do you think that would be fun? Hey, Ani, can you drive us?"
He looked around the kitchen.
Both big siblings were gone.
"Real funny, you guys!"
In the living room, Hirai had slung herself over the couch, and Ani was perched on the arm next to her, muttering 'yes', 'maybe', and 'uh-huh' into the phone. He clicked it off, while Hirai looked at him expectantly.
"Who was that, some random stalker girl? Or a foreign dude who spoke nothing but Chinese?"
Ani looked at her, not finding the joke funny.
"It's Grandpa."
Hirai shot up in her seat, her blue eyes suddenly serious. "Grandpa? What'd the old geezer have to say?"
"He's only fifty-eight, Hirai. I wish you'd quit calling him an old geezer."
She snorted. "So?" When Ani looked away, she slugged him in the arm. "Hey, relax. It's still a year until he picks someone to take his place. And besides, we all know who's gonna win, right?"
"Me," both twins said, and then they stared at each other until Miharu was forced to intervene and explain to Ani that he would win because he'd wanted to be architect since he was seven, and to Hirai, that she would win because she had more natural talent.
Of course, Hirai knew she wouldn't be the one who won. This had been what Ani had dreamed of ever since he first discovered the joys of Legos™ and K'nex at the age of seven. He was practical, straightforward, and much better able to put his mind to a task than Hirai could. Even if she could beat him- and she wasn't convinced that she could- she wouldn't want to. Ani would be the one to win this contest, if she had to sacrifice herself to do it.
But oh, how she hated that man for ripping them apart like this.
