Chapter 8.1
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Cere's first world
On a warm day in the summer
The stage becomes set
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Nakano Miku woke up in her bed, staring at the familiar ceiling.
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She turned to her side and passed out next to her was Yotsuba.
Or Ceres. Miku couldn't really tell anymore.
This Yotsuba's hair was short and looked about the same kind of orange-ish shade, so it was definitely not the same look that Ceres had gone with when she first appeared.
Without warning, the Yotsuba's eyes shot open. "Oh, good morning! You're finally awake." She yawned.
"That's not your line."
"I woke up much earlier, but I fell asleep waiting for you to wake up."
"Right...before I say anything else, are you Yotsuba or are you Ceres?"
"I am Yotsuba, but at the same time, I am not."
"Don't use your same line from the last chapter!"
The Yotsuba laughed. "I am Ceres, but I am allowing Yotsuba to be the dominant personality."
"Again, that doesn't make sense."
"Again, this is a fan fiction."
Miku sighed. "Okay so I'll just call you Yotsuba...but if you woke up in my bed, this is just the same alternate reality from before, isn't it?"
Yotsuba shook her head. "Not exactly."
Miku's door burst open and a familiar, short haired girl yawned as she walked towards her.
"Miku, let's sleep together. Just like we used to."
"...Ichika?"
"Ara, don't say my name as if you haven't seen me in a while."
"But I...I really haven't."
"What are you talking about? We're with each other every day." She yawned again and laid down next to Miku, squeezing her towards the center, and pushing Yotsuba towards the wall. Yotsuba's face was squashed.
"Miku, is someone else there? Could it be You-Know-Who?" Ichika asked very cheekily.
"Yeah, it's just Yotsuba."
"Yotsuba?"
There was a long pause of silence before Ichika asked:
"Who's that?"
"She's our sister...?"
"Are you still half asleep? We're twins. It's always been just us two."
Miku looked over at Yotsuba, who was now face to face with her. She whispered. "What is she talking about?! How does she not know you?"
"This is the alternate reality I brought you to, silly! I don't exist here. Oh, and don't worry! She can't see me either."
"Well, she certainly felt you."
Yotsuba embarrassedly scratched her head. "I, uh, guess I'm not strong enough to fully erase my presence." She laughed nervously. "She can't see or hear me, but she'll still be able to touch me. Learn something new every day!"
What a half-assed Goddess.
"Ara ara, Miku. I don't know what you're whispering about over there but please try to get some more sleep. We have our date with Fuutarou-kun later."
"...huh?"
Ichika looked at Miku very strangely. "Fuutarou-kun? Our boyfriend? If he's not here, he's probably sleeping in the room right next to us."
Miku turned back to Yotsuba and whispered, "Oyyy, why did she say OUR boyfriend?!"
Yotsuba grinned again. "In this reality, you and Ichika decided to share Fuutarou instead of me. I thought that'd be obvious."
"Why on Earth would I agree to that?"
"I don't really see how it's any different than having had to share him with me."
Ichika grabbed onto Miku and held her head against her chest. "It's okay Miku. Fall asleep into your big sister's arms."
"I..can't...breathe..!" Miku struggled to say.
Miku made her way into the living room, with Yotsuba following closely behind her.
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Sitting on the couch was Uesugi Fuutarou reading his notes.
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"Oh, Miku, you're up. I thought I saw Ichika go into your room. What happened?"
"She's, uh, she's sleeping."
"That girl...I swear."
"UESUGI-SANNNNN!"
Yotsuba jumped straight into Fuutarou with her arms stretched open, causing him to fall off the couch.
"W-w-what the hell was that? Did something just push me?"
Yotsuba's face was planted on the carpet. She was defeated in a battle that Fuutarou wasn't even fighting.
Miku ran over to her and helped her up while Fuutarou observed the air vents in the apartment. Miku whispered, "What are you doing?!"
"Sorry... my body kinda moved on its own. Yotsuba's instinct is to embrace Fuutarou at any given moment. She still sees him as her boyfriend after all."
"This is so needlessly complicated!"
"It's okay! He thought it was just the wind!"
"Fuutarou is not an idiot."
Fuutarou tilted his head. "I guess it was just the wind..."
WHAT AN IDIOT!
Miku sighed. "Yotsuba, how similar is this reality compared to the one I wished for?"
The orange-haired genki Goddess thought for a few seconds. "Well everything in this reality is pretty much exactly the same, events and timeline-wise. I had only switched a few details around- replaced myself with Ichika."
Miku walked over to the table and picked up her notebook. Her Haikus from yesterday weren't there, but all the other ones that she had written were exactly in their same places.
So does this reality take place before the shopping mall date...?
Miku picked up a pen and started writing:
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New day, new sister
She and I were close before
What could have happened?
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Fuutarou spoke up. "I think I'm gonna shower. We should probably study a bit before we go shopping."
Different reality, same old Fuutarou.
As Fuutarou left, Ichika sleepily walked out. She was holding a towel and was walking towards the bathroom.
"I-Ichika! Fuutarou's about to use the shower!"
"Ara? We'll just shower together. Isn't that fine? We're dating after all."
"Have you two been showering together since we started dating?!"
Ichika laughed. "I'm just kidding! I was going to wait for him to finish."
Miku blushed. "That joke wasn't very funny."
"I'm sorry! I couldn't help it!"
Ichika laughed a little bit more before she became somber. "Miku...I want to show you something."
In the fastest sprint that she had ever seen her, Miku watched as Ichika went to her room and disappeared for a solid 5 minutes.
"Her room is really messy, so she's probably having a hard time looking for whatever she's looking for." Yotsuba finally chimed in.
Ichika ran back out, holding what looked like Miku's hair and a pair of headphones.
"Ichika, why are you showing me your "me" disguise?"
Ichika frowned. "I wanted to confess something to you."
"...go on."
"Remember a little ways back? After I was on TV? Chapter 74?"
"You mean when the kids in our class were pushing each other to talk to you?"
"Yeah that day...see, I was getting stopped by every student and I didn't want to be seen. So I put on my Miku disguise."
"Okay..."
"And...I told Fuutarou-kun that I would support him and Ichika...while pretending to be you."
Miku flew into a rage. She grabbed Ichika by the collar. "Please tell me I didn't hear what I JUST heard."
"Miku, I've wanted to confess this to you for the longest time but I was scared. Ever since that happened, I distanced myself from you. The guilt's been building up inside me and all I've wanted to do was apologize from the bottom of my heart."
Miku loosened her grip. Ichika started crying. "I'm so so sorry, Miku! It was underhanded of me to use that tactic. Please forgive me."
Miku let go. Yotsuba walked towards Miku and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ichika's heart may have been in the wrong, but she never intended to hurt you. She'd been bottling this up for so long."
"I...I don't know what to feel." Miku said.
Yotsuba reached for Miku's hand. "Love can make someone do crazy things. I'm a Goddess, but Yotsuba's love for Uesugi Fuutarou made me almost jump on him, correct?"
"Almost?"
"Okay, so I did jump on him. The point is, Ichika did a bad thing against you, but she's holding herself accountable for it now."
"She tried to ruin my chances with Fuutarou!"
"But think about it- did she succeed?"
"...huh?"
"In this reality, are you not dating Uesugi Fuutarou?"
"I...guess I am."
"Think back to the confession you gave in our reality together. Did Uesugi Fuutarou not say that he loved you?"
"He did..."
"This incident with Ichika was months before that moment. Despite all of that, he still fell in love with you."
"I see..."
Ichika continued to cry but through her tears, she spoke: "Even since then, I never had the courage to confess to him face to face. Getting cast as the lead actress in the school play- it was the perfect opportunity for me to bring it up to him. Do you know what happened?"
Miku listened on.
"Fuutarou-kun rejected me. Because he saw you running away."
Miku clutched onto her chest as Ichika continued.
"He told me he loved me too, but he wouldn't date me if it ended up hurting you."
Ichika laughed. "Isn't he cruel? He fell in love with both of us."
Miku walked over to Ichika and helped wipe some of her tears. "I don't think it's cruel at all. It's not impossible to fall for more than one person."
"Really?"
"Fuutarou was our tutor, so he saw us every day. He didn't have many friends before, so his feelings must have grown towards everyone and anyone who got close to him."
"But I...really needed you. I'll always need you." Ichika said.
Miku felt Ichika's words strike straight to her heart. The older sister continued.
"You were the one who was brave enough to make the proposition. He wouldn't date me if it wasn't for you..."
Miku smiled. "He agreed to date both of us didn't he? He's dating me for me. He's dating you for you. Regardless, he just wants both of us to be happy. Please don't doubt that."
She reached out and held Ichika's hand. "Are you happy, Ichika?"
Ichika wiped the rest of her tears with her free hand.
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Nakano Ichika is not your average female.
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As the eldest sister, she always felt as if she was supposed to set the example for everyone around her, almost never showing her true feelings.
A prolific actress and big sister type, most of her life was spent "acting" to be the best version of herself as she could be.
She hid them all behind a smile until Fuutarou quite literally slapped her in the face with reality.
Can you stop with that fake smile? It really annoys me.
It led to one of the best auditions that she had ever had, for television and film alike.
She may have worn that fake smile most of the time, but she found her real smile once the days had passed and she spent more time with Fuutarou...
But it wasn't just because of him.
For the longest time, to Ichika, romance had been her perceived source of true love.
She yearned for high school romances, juicy gossip, escapades with a partner- every depiction of romantic love from all of the media that she had ever consumed.
However, she was starting to see things slightly different.
She may have loved Fuutarou, but she loved Miku just as much. It may have been in a different way, but it was not any less powerful and it was equally as valid.
Her sister had been the brave one for both of them, always motivating her and convincing her to follow her feelings.
Miku did this all despite Ichika's blatant disregard for her at times. Those past actions may have been selfish, due to years of repressing herself to set a proper example, but she would never abandon that care she had. She was hoping to repent now for the sake of love.
The love she felt, not just for her boyfriend, but also for Miku:
That had to be true love.
She couldn't imagine how her life would be had her sister not existed. She, along with Fuutarou, pushed her to be the person that she became and she was grateful.
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Nakano Ichika clutched onto her head. She was starting to hear three other voices calling out to her.
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She smiled. Ah... so that's how it is.
Yotsuba slowly walked behind Ichika and hugged her, squeezing her tightly. Ichika felt Yotsuba's warmth and let it wash over her, tears once again flowing from her eyes. She gripped onto Miku's hand tighter.
"I'm the happiest I've ever been!"
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Nakano Ichika is everyone's favorite big sister.
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In an instant, the world was engulfed in light. Ichika was left all alone. Huh? Why am I crying?
"Oh, Ichika?"
Ichika turned around to see Fuutarou wrapped up in a towel, but he was dry.
"Fuutarou-kun? What's up?"
"I actually got distracted and studied a bit more in the bathroom. I still haven't showered, so I was checking to see if you were still out here."
"Well...looks like you found me!" Ichika grinned.
Fuutarou smiled. He walked back towards the bathroom. "Are you coming?"
Ichika realized she still had her towel in her hand. She felt like she had been holding something else a second ago. Something...warmer.
She flung the towel over her shoulder and followed Fuutarou into the bathroom.
"Ara ara Fuutarou-kun, you're dirtier than I thought!"
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The winds of change blow
Once started, they cannot stop
They will keep going
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End of Chapter 8.1