Chapter 3 ~ Encounter?

"As I thought, Souji-sensei's^[1] BL isn't just sexy, it's downright filthy. It takes a truly skilled artist to balance the two so perfectly in their work."

"Oh yeah? That's great."

"You wanna read it too, Ai?"

I give the explicit book cover Tomoka-chan hands over a sidelong glance. "That's a little too much skin for me..." I answer.

We can safely talk like this since we're the only ones in the literature club room. It's a quiet room on the second floor of the club building, filled with scattered piles of books left behind by our seniors, too many to fit on the shelves.

I can hear distant shouts from the sports clubs, music from the concert band, and the shrill scraping of shoes on the basketball court in the gymnasium. I'm sure Ren's somewhere in that cacophony.

While Ren's giving her all at practice, I'm listening to Tomoka-chan lecture me about BL.

I don't have to prepare dinner on days when Mom's home from work early, so I spend time with Tomoka-chan at club instead. Since we're the only two members, we just read whatever books we like, talk about each other's favorites, or just chat about whatever we want. We're really laid-back.

"Grr, chalk up another loss in my quest to spread the BL gospel to you."

"But Tomoka-chan, you wouldn't read the books I recommend either, would you?"

"Because the books you like don't have guy/guy romance or eroticism... I can't read them without one or the other or else I fall asleep."

"Well, we agree on that."

We say, staring at each other before bursting into laughter.

Then Tomoka-chan suddenly changes her expression with a shout.

"Ahh! Souji-sensei's new book goes on sale today!"

"Huh, okay then. That's rough."

"So, sorry, but can we cut things short today so I can stop by Mate^[2] on the way home? Sure, they have it at the local bookstore, but Mate's bonus is a short story leaflet."

"That's fine. I wanna head home early and help my mom out."

"Thank you! I truly love you with all my heart, Ai!"^[3] Tomoka-chan says, suddenly throwing her arms around me.

"If that's a pun, it's not funny."

"What'd you say to me?!"

With that playful exchange, she breaks the hug. We hurriedly start preparing to leave. While we don't have to change clothes like the sports clubs, we do put the books we're reading in our bags, push our chairs in, and leave after checking the door was locked. We descend the creaking aluminum stairs and exit the club building.

A covered walkway extends from the gymnasium; a water cooler stands idly nearby.

We step into the walkway from the club building just as a group from the gym comes into view, wearing T-shirts, pants, and black practice uniforms, gathering at the water cooler.

"Hey, isn't that your sister?"

Tomoka-chan notices, too.

"Yeah."

I discreetly glance at them. Unfortunately, Ren's aware of us, too, and our eyes meet.

I smile and wave, like I used to. However, with cheeks flushed probably from practice, she turns away, not responding to me. Ren's teammates also notice the exchange and playfully mess with her, patting her head and mussing her hair. She brushes them off with a hand, annoyed.

One of them looks our way, staring fixedly. Do they not know my relation to Ren? I meet the gaze with a smile, and the girl bows slightly before looking away.

"Your sister doesn't take the bait, as usual."

"I'm glad she's having a nice time with her club, though."

"How good a girl can you really be?!"

Tomoka-chan embraces me again. As I resign myself to her, Ren's eyes suddenly widen as she stares us down. I tilt my head, wondering what was wrong, but she instantly drops her gaze and dashes away from the water cooler.

With a question mark over my head, I slip out of Tomoka-chan's hug and pass by the girls' basketball team, toward the shoe lockers.

"Still, your sister is gorgeous, isn't she? She was definitely cute in middle school; she had your hairstyle and seemed so friendly when she enrolled, always coming over at recess to see you. She looks like such a cool, intellectual lady now."

"She sure does. I can't believe I'm related to such a beautiful woman."

"You're cute and cuddly, so it works out. Sisters with pretty faces are the best! Looking at you guys really makes me want to understand sibling BL better."

"It's always back to BL with you...."

We finally reach the shoe lockers, chatting amiably the whole way there. Our lockers are close to each other since my surname is "Kawai" and hers is "Takatsuki".^[4] I stretch a little to touch the steel handle on the top row. The door creaks open and something inside falls out.

Suspicious, I pick up the fallen item: a piece of stationary with a cute design. The text written there bursts into my head, through my vision.

"What's that?" Tomoka-chan asks, looking into my hands, then immediately shouts, "Wait, isn't that a love letter?!"

"Is it?"

I'm a little puzzled.

On the stationary is written, in lovely handwriting:

"Tomorrow, please come behind the gym."