It was embarrassing to have been caught by Aoi, but it wasn’t as if there was anything wrong about what they had done. After all, she knew they were going out together. So this was a potential thing to expect from her point of view.

“I got your drinks.” She said, handing Airi a can of some cool sweet tea to go along with the hot weather. She then gave Kichi a can of his favorite drink, Dr. Salt. It was nice and ice cold too, so he knew he was in for some good refreshment. “Enjoy.” She sat down alongside them to open up her own can and take a sip.

“Huh, I never told you what I wanted.” He commented as he opened up with can with a loud snap. “You nailed it, but I don’t remember telling you this is my favorite.” When he thought about it. He was certainly neither side knew enough about the smaller details about the other in terms of taste. Kichi knew he had no clue the girls would’ve wanted sweet tea to combat the heat.

“I’ve seen you drink it all the time when we’re over at your place.” She answered. Aoi also saw a pack of them in the fridge once and figured out pretty easily those were meant for him.

“Wow, I can’t believe you pay so much attention to him.” Said Airi. “I never notice those kind of things. You must really like him.”

“It’s no big deal.” This praise got her feeling self conscious as she kept her head down and focused onto her drink to avoid looking at either of them. It was a bit much to admit she had been paying close attention to his actions because she liked looking at him. “I’m not a stalker or anything.”

“I don’t think anyone was accusing you of that.” He said, looking at her strangely, now wondering what would be the truth to that assessment. “But I appreciate it. It’s kind of cool to notice things about each other.” It seemed this was part of what dating was all about. The things that were left unsaid because they didn’t need to be told. Just things that they noticed about one another.

Though when he considered it, Kichi couldn’t tell if he had caught up to that phase yet. He did have to be told the girls were into skateboarding, which he should’ve likely learned by now from his times spent at their house. It only served to make him realize how little he understood these girls sitting beside him on both sides.

Speaking of said girls, they got awfully close to him with their pincer attack. It left him little space to have any breathing room for himself.

“It looks like it’s good for you on the kissing front.” Said Aoi. The words were a compliment, but she had a subtle jealousy about it. Even though they were all dating him, so there was nothing wrong with him being romantic with any one of them at any time. And even though she was the one who got to kiss him first. She somehow felt herself being a bit riled up despite all the factors pointing that this should be okay.

“It was pretty nice.” Airi responded with a smug smile. After having to be tortured by Kougi about lip locking, she was glad she wasn’t the only so-called pure girl left among them. Not that she was pure in any sense with Kichi after what happened at the arcade. “I’m sure you want one too, but like you both told me. It doesn’t make any sense to just do it for the sake of being fair.”

“Did you just… Hold a grudge?” Kichi couldn’t say he would’ve expected her to bring it up in mocking fashion like that. She never appeared to hold a vendetta against anyone for anything so he didn’t think she would care that much.

“Hmpf.” Aoi pouted, taking both her arms and wrapping them around his body. “At least I can hold him like this.” She then pulled him away from her sister in petty revenge.

“I don’t think there’s any reason to fight right now.” He tried to calm down the situation. It was odd, since there didn’t appear to be a catalyst for them holding ill will towards the other. Just a little bit ago, Aoi was fearing for her sister’s life. Was this the power of jealousy? No wonder most people feared having more than one partner in a relationship.

“Oh yeah? I can hold him too.” Airi ignored his pleas and grab hold of him as well. The twins stared each other down as he was trapped in the middle of things. “See things are even now.”

“Just because they’re even doesn’t mean they’re fair.” Aoi countered. “I’m not mad at you for kissing him or anything though. I just want a little bit of time with him too.”

“Oh yeah, well I’m not mad at you either, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to back down.”

“You two don’t make any sense sometimes.” He finally had enough of them neglecting to give him any personal space. So he made some by gentling pushing them both off him and putting some space between them as well before another fight broke out. “What’s up with you?”

“Well how would you like to see one of us kissing another boy?” Aoi asked him a hypothetical to give him an idea of what she felt. While he would surely get angry at them for kissing another boy. It would be because they would be cheating on him. In this situation, he was not cheating anyone and they all knew this going into the relationship. “At least I didn’t rub it in Airi’s face like she’s doing right now.”

“Sorry.” The other girl apologized. “I was only doing it because Kougi did it to me earlier.”

“Do I look like Kougi to you?” She responded, irritated at being a target for no good reason. “Wait a second, you kissed your sister?”

“Don’t say it like that!” He covered her mouth and immediately darted his eyes all around the beach to see if anyone might’ve had the misfortune of hearing. “Come on, does no one care that I like to keep some secrets around here?”

“Sorry, that was a mistake.” She said once he finally let go of her mouth. “We don’t mind that much if it makes you feel any better.”

“Only a little.” He replied. “But anyway, I see that seeing things gets you all a bit riled up.” It was only natural. Most people were used to dating someone who only had eyes for them. So the feeling when seeing a person they loved sharing close feelings with another must be hard to get used to. “But if you were going to act like this, then why go through with the sharing in the first place?” While he was the one who decided it should go in that direction. The girls still had to accept if they wished to stick along for the ride.

So why would someone who didn’t like to see him kissing someone else be willing to do it?

“You said so yourself. Isn’t it better to have some of you, then watch you go off with someone else?” Airi responded.

“But that doesn’t mean you were going to be guaranteed to lose out.” If they didn’t do all this sharing business. Then he would’ve eventually settled on someone. So one of them could’ve taken the chance to try and claim him all for themselves. “I never said who I liked more at the time.”

“That’s easy for you to say.” Aoi replied. “But let’s be real, I know I had no chance over girls like Airi.” To her, she was the girl who would be the least amount of fun. Why someone like him would bother if he had better options were beyond her.

“You really thought that?” However, Airi didn’t agree with that assessment. “I actually thought he would go with you if he had to pick.” To her, it seemed that Aoi had much more meaningful with the boy. Sure, she enjoyed playing with Kichi, but she worried on if that would make her girlfriend material in his eyes, rather than simply friend material.

“You really think so?” Aoi was almost moved into tears hearing such praise by her sister in thinking she actually had an edge. “B-because you’re totally way cooler than me.”

“B-but you’re smarter than me.” Somehow in a rather quick instant. The twins went from being adversaries to heaping love on the other. It was strange for him to see, but also a good ending to his concerns. Though there was another matter he wanted to bring up while they were in this conversation.

“It’s great you two thought the other were pretty good with me.” He said, breaking up their little crying fest. “But you both realize Kougi was a part of that conversation too, right?” Since neither of them considered her as a threat, it made him wonder about their true feelings on the matter. “I mean, you don’t have to pretend to me like you’re all cool with her being my sister and us loving together.”