“I still can’t believe I ran into twins and didn’t realize it.” Kichi said after everyone got settled down in class. Thinking about it, he probably should’ve realized that fact solely based on their behavior. If that wasn’t enough, noticing they had different eye colors should’ve been the other flag. One would think he’d notice something like that earlier.

“That is kind of silly.” Airi replied. Meanwhile her sister didn’t respond. Not because she didn’t want to talk to the boy, though that certainly would be a factor. It was due to the fact that girl wasn’t anywhere near them at all in class.

“If you don’t mind me asking. How come you’re not with your sister?” Asked Chuuya.

“She said we shouldn’t be so attached at the hip.” She answered. “Something about developing separate personalities.”

“From the looks of it, I think that’s already happened.” Kichi quipped. Airi was such an angel, but he felt like Aoi was quite the demon. Already, he could sense her sending an icy glare because of his interactions with her sister.

“She told me there was some jerk who knocked her over.” Airi’s explanation did little to convince him that other girl didn’t have it out for him. “I didn’t realize it was you.”

“It wasn’t any different than how we met.” From his point of view, it was just an accident. Even if one wanted to assign blame on him for not looking out more carefully. There was no need to hold a grudge. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter. Especially when there was a benefit to this news after all.

So that nice girl known as Airi did exist and wasn’t some person with two personalities. Good news for him, but what could he do with that information? She was a cute girl, but perhaps he shouldn’t jump right in. That girl didn’t know anyone around, so he didn’t want to turn her off so soon.

During lunch, he was able to get some more information about the twins by virtue of Airi’s talkative nature. He, nor Chuuya, had to ask her any questions. She dominated the conversation and talked about where the twins had come from and why their family moved here in the first place.

“So we’re just here because of dad’s work.” She said. “I think it’s kind of exciting to go to a new school, but Aoi wasn’t very happy about moving.” Hearing her say that, it made sense to Kichi as to why that girl was so cold to him. Hopefully once she got used to this town, she’ll be just like her sister in mood. That would certainly get him to like her more.

Not that he cared if things worked out that way or not. With Airi sitting next to him, he could even ignore that twin. If they weren’t going to be clinging onto each other, then that was no problem for him.

“Okay class, we’re going to have an assignment with partners.” The teacher announced to them as their class session got restarted. They were all to get into pairs of their choosing… At least, that was the idea.

“I guess we’ll just do it again.” Kichi commented to Chuuya. They were partners-in-crime for as long as he could remember. There was no reason to change that up now in his mind. Sure, it would’ve been nice to be partners with Airi, but he figured she’d want to be with her sister as they were still new students here.

“Can’t wait to talk to Aoi again.” Airi was about to get up when the teacher put a stop to her movement.

“I know that you two would like to be partners for today.” She said. “But I’d like to encourage the two of you to try and expand your social net.” It was a good point their teacher made. A lot of students fall into the trap of staying in their comfort zone. This made for a good opportunity to mix things up as it was also safe to be working with a classmate on a project. There was no fear of seriously bad things happening when everyone cared for their grade. “Perhaps Kichi and Chuuya can break up their friendship for a little while.”

“Huh?” They were surprised to see themselves called out specifically by the teacher. It was assumed that the there would be a fair number of students wanting to be one of the twin’s partners. As much as no one would say it out loud, it was hard to resist trying to get to know one of their cute new classmates. “But why us?” Kichi asked.

“I do recall a certain student interrupting class this morning needing to be punished.” Her answer caused him to narrow his eyes in disappointment. He didn’t figure she’d be mad about that outburst and was likely just using it as an excuse to make his life slightly harder.

“Oh well, I guess I’ll go with Airi.” Since their teacher’s word was final. There was no other choice but to accept. However, both Kichi and Chuuya had both uttered the same words in unison, shocking the other.

“I met Airi first.” He made his case first. “You barely know either of them, so it’s not like it matters that much for you.”

“But I’ve only talked to Airi.” Chuuya responded. “So I’d like to be with someone I’m a tiny bit comfortable with than someone I don’t know a thing about.” As they tried to whisper between themselves, the rest of their classmates simply watched over this conversation. Everyone else already knew who their partners were going to be. So this bit was for their entertainment before they had to get to work.

“Fine, you leave me no choice.” Kichi hated having everyone watching them like they had nothing better to do in their lives. He never thought he could be that interesting of a person. The boy produced his lucky coin, an obvious indicator of what was to come. “A coin flip is truly the only objective way to make a choice. You can’t argue against it.”

“He did it. He got out his coin.” Someone said out loud.

“I knew he was going to do it again.” Someone else among his class comment.

“A coin flip?” Without realizing it, both the twins spoke in unison despite not being anywhere near each other.

“Call it.” Kichi commanded his friend as they engaged in a stare down.

“You already know what I’m picking.” Chuuya returned a smirk in response to this challenge. They had done this dozens, if not hundreds of times. And every single time he had went with heads.

“Ha!” Kichi spoke as he flipped the coin into the air. “Last time I did this, it landed heads. And now it’s going to be… Head again…” When it landed back into his hands for the reveal. The boy had no other way of responding but to be disappointed with the result.

“Ha!” His friend rubbed the victory in his face as he displaced the boy from his seat to be next to Airi. “Bye bye now, go ahead and meet you new partner.” Kichi sighed as he hung his head in defeat to be with Aoi now. Just moments ago, he thought about how he’d ignore that girl. Now he was left with no other option but to work with her on some schoolwork.

“Hi, I believe we’ve already met.” He greeted her as he sat down in the open seat next to hers. Compared to where he sat, which was closer to the doorway. Aoi had chosen a spot by the window in her bid to not be next to her sister.

“Don’t look that happy to see me.” She replied in sarcastic fashion. It only served to pile on his disappointment, but he would soon try to forget about the bad news. He couldn’t change the results of the coin flip. It was unforgiving, but also fair. “Now, what’s this assignment all about so we can get it over with?”

“Hmm, looks like we have make a brochure of a location in town.” He read along the paper their teacher handed everyone which explained the requirements. “Think of it like us trying to sell people to go to a cool spot for tourism.”

“Guess you’ll be the one handling where we’re going.” He was the local between them, so that much was obvious. However, what was more highlighted to him right now was how cold she spoke to him. It was clear she was trying to minimize interactions with due to a level of disdain towards the boy. He just couldn’t believe she would be that mad over their accidental collision.

“Yeah, it looks I will be.” He answered, sweating bullets. There were so many places he could go to for them. How could he pick just one?