Chapter 3 — Tritanopia [segft]

"…why did you pretend to not recognize me?"

Miku stared expectantly into Fuutaro's eyes. She knew Fuutaro had been pretending. She may not be an actress like Ichika, but her time perfecting her skill of impersonating her sisters had given her a keen eye for signs of lying.

Fuutaro returned her gaze, frowning silently.

As Miku continued waiting for an answer, memories came flooding back. Memories that she had sealed away. Memories that she had decided not to return to, not since Fuutarou had made his choice back then. Being reminded that he was single now made it incredibly difficult to keep up that resolve.

That afternoon when they had run through the school compound—if you could call that running… The conversation they had shared in the igloo on that school trip… When she had tackled him in happiness when he had finally recognized her through her Itsuki disguise… The time she had all but confessed at the Studio Park…

Yet, somehow, something felt wrong.

Those memories played in her head as clearly as if they had happened yesterday, and yet something felt inexplicably off. The more recent ones felt just right, but the earlier ones felt somewhat alien.

Gazing at Fuutaro, her heart skipped a beat as she appreciated how beautiful Fuutaro's bright yellow eyes were. She hadn't seen them in person in quite a long time. She remembered how clear and beautiful they were, ever since the day they did the Sengoku generals shiritori had etched his stunning blue eyes into her memory forever. She remembered she had found herself drawn to the oh so bewitching stubble on his chin, all the way back then…

Turning red, Miku looked away and tried to calm herself. There was no use getting all flustered fantasizing about something like that so long ago.

Wait. Blue eyes?

Were Fuutaro's eyes always yellow? Or were they blue?

She shuffled through her memories once more. Both the ones that felt right, and the ones that didn't.

The Sengoku generals shiritori… Definitely blue.

At the Studio Park… Definitely yellow.

In the igloo… Blue, right?

The tackle… Yeah, definitely yellow.

Wait, what?

"Wait a minute, Fuutaro. What colour are your eyes, again?" She turned back to Fuutaro. Before he could answer, his phone rang.

"Sorry, I have to get this." Fuutaro quickly rushed out the door, bringing the phone to his ear. Before long, however, Fuutarou came back in, nodded at Miku, and quickly walked to his desk. He opened drawer after drawer, searching hurriedly but thoroughly.

She asked curiously, "Did you need something?"

"Yeah, just give me a moment." He turned back only briefly to answer, but that was enough for Miku to notice. Fuutarou's eyes were definitely blue.

What was going on? Weren't they yellow just a moment ago?!

Her thoughts were cut off by a resounding bang as the door flew open. The two of them jumped in shock as Fuutaro sprang in.

"Don't move!"

As Fuutaro barked the order, Miku recoiled as she realized he was holding a pistol, trained directly on Fuutarou.

Before she could react, Fuutarou dove back on the bed and threw an arm around her neck. Cold metal dug into her temple. Fuutarou growled back, "Right back at you. Drop the gun or she gets it."

Miku froze in horror, realizing Fuutarou had a gun to her head. What was going on…? Two guns in one room? In Japan?

In the doorway, Fuutaro narrowed his yellow eyes in annoyance. Silence enveloped the room, and all Miku could hear was her own quickening heartbeat. For what seemed like an eternity, neither Fuutaro nor Fuutarou moved an inch.

What was going on…? Two Fuutarous in one room? In Japan? Wait, that last part wasn't needed this time.

Since when did Fuutarou have a twin?

The Fuutaro-in-the-doorway sighed, "Are you seriously the best they could send? You're nothing but a rookie!"

"Careful, I'm no rookie!"

"Liar! That nervous glance… that scared look in your blue eyes. They're rookie's eyes if I ever saw them. You've never shot a person, am I right?"

"You talk too much."

"You haven't even taken the safety off, rookie."

"What?"

As Fuutarou-on-the-bed shifted uncertainly, Fuutaro-in-the-doorway sprang into action. He punched his left arm out, and his sleeve tore at the forearm to reveal a slinger-like contraption. With a hissing thwop, a claw shot out, yanking Fuutarou-on-the-bed's gun clean out of his hand.

"Shit!" Fuutarou-on-the-bed threw Miku to the side, and leapt straight at Fuutaro-in-the-door. Fuutaro-in-the-doorway stepped out of the way calmly, causing Fuutarou-no-longer-on-the-bed to fall flat on his face. Fuutaro-no-longer-in-the-doorway lowered his arm to aim the slinger at Fuutarou-no-longer-on-the-bed, and with a whoosh, the latter was restrained in a comically large net.

A phone call and fifteen minutes of Miku sitting there in confusion later, the three of them were greeted by a knock on the door.

Fuutaro-formerly-in-the-doorway-but-now-standing-around-inside, or Fuutaro for short, called out, "Come in!"

The door opened to reveal a face Miku hadn't seen in ages either. It was Fuutarou's childhood friend, Takebayashi.

Fuutaro nodded at her, grimacing slightly as he greeted her. "Hello, Handler Takebayashi."

Takebayashi's eyes widened as she took in the two Fuutarous in front of her. "Wow."

The Fuutarou-on-the-floor yelled out, "I'm the real Fuutarou, don't believe him!"

Fuutaro kicked him. "C'mon, don't make things more complicated than it is! Give it up already!"

With a raised eyebrow, Takebayashi ignored the two and turned to Miku instead. "I'm sure you must be confused about what's going on… Nakano-san, correct?"

"Yeah. I'm Nakano Miku. The third one."

"Nice to see you again, Nakano-san. I'm Takebayashi. I'm Fuutarou's handler."

"'Handler'...?"

"Yes. Alright, firstly, I have to let you know; I can't tell you everything, as otherwise all of us here will be charged under Article 24 of Act No. 108 of 2013, the Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets, and…"

"Sorry, the what?"

"In short, I can't tell you everything."

"...okay."

"He's the real Uesugi Fuutarou." Takebayashi gestured towards Fuutaro, who was still arguing with Fuutarou. "The one on the floor over there is an impostor. He's one of the… Let's just say he's an agent of some kind. We've been tracking his movements for some time, and he's been planning to sneak in here to steal 'Something' from this secret base right here."

"Wait, you mean when Fuutaro said 'secret base', he meant THAT kind of secret base? Are you two secret agents or something?"

Takebayashi paused cautiously before continuing, "To your first question, yes. And for all our sakes, let us agree that you never asked that second question, okay?" Takebayashi smiled, but her eyes remained stone cold. Miku could not help but shiver a little as she nodded.

Fuutarou, who was still restrained on the floor, stretched to knock his head against Takebayashi's leg. "Seriously, Takebayashi! I'm the real Fuutarou! My name! My name is Fuutarou with a U, that's the Fuutarou you know, right?"

Fuutaro protested, "Shut up! I just like having my name be Fuutaro once in a while instead! What's wrong with this romanization?! I'm the real Fuutaro!"

Takebayashi froze. Looking between the two Fuutarous, she whispered, "It's true that 'Fuutarou' is the spelling I recognize… Which of you is the real one?!"

Miku knew this was her cue to step in. With surprising strength, she violently grabbed both Fuutarous by their collar and pulled their ears to her face. She hissed, "C'mon, you two! Seriously! Stop talking about your names' spellings! Sure, romanization is a polarizing topic, and there are many valid answers, but we're not writing what we say in romaji—"

Fuutaro interrupted, "Rōmaji, actually."

"—shut up! Like I was saying, it's not like we're using romaji anyway! Stop breaking the fourth wall! Even if you wanted to introduce a plot point where the Fuutaro from the previous chapter was a fake, and made a mistake when introducing himself, if you read back I was the one to first say 'Fuutaro' without a 'u' in the text… Let it GO, dammit." She dropped both Fuutarous to the floor, and stepped away once more.

… Moving swiftly on. 🔪(◉н◉)

Clearing her throat, Takebayashi brought the conversation back on topic. "Right. Fuutarou-on-the-floor does make a good point, though. We do have to figure out which of them is the real one."

"Oh yeah, that reminds me. I was just thinking before all of this happened, Takebayashi-san… Were Fuutarou's eyes blue, or yellow? I could've sworn they were yellow, but I do remember seeing him have blue eyes before…"

"Hmm… I'm pretty sure he had blue eyes when I knew him as a kid. Yellow eyes don't seem so off, either, though…"

"Darn… I thought that if you knew, it would be a good way to tell, considering we have a blue-eyed one and a yellow-eyed one right now…"

Knock, knock.

Another person at the door? Who could it be this time?

The door opened to reveal…

"Hey, y'all. This is awkward, but neither of them are the real one. I'm the real one. I'm the real Futaro."

🎵 ED THEME 🎵

Who's the real one…?

Who…

Me⁉️

Me❗️ Me❗️ Me❗️ Me❗️ Me‼️

Ah～↑↑↑💥💥
The midsummer🌞🌴🏄 Jamboree〜〜‼️‼️
Reggae🇯🇲💃🙌 The Beach🌺 🌴🌞 BIG WAVE!🌊🌊💥💥💥

To be continued

A/N: Gomennasorry. Also, IANAL.