Why Not Make Both Twins 'Girlfriends'?-Chapter 2Volume .1 - Usami Hikari and the Newspaper Club...?

Usami Hikari and the Newspaper Club…? 1

“——So, what’s going on? Why were you being chased and pretending to be Chikage?”

“Hii-chan, I won’t get mad, so can you tell us? …I’ll get mad if you don’t.”

After school at the Western-style Dining Canon.

Hikari sat across from Sakuto and Chikage, offering a sheepish grin as they pressed her for answers.

While Sakuto remained relatively calm, Chikage’s frustration seemed to grow with each passing moment, her patience wearing thin as Hikari hesitated to speak.

“You’re pretending to be me again! Didn’t you learn your lesson after what happened with Sakuto-kun!?”

Hikari groaned with a “ugh” and hung her head like a scolded child.

“Th-that’s because… I’m sorry…”

Although Chikage’s anger was understandable, Sakuto was more curious about the reason behind Hikari’s actions.

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If she was in trouble, he was even more eager to help her.

“Chikage, let’s stay calm… If we question her like this, Hikari might not tell us the truth, you know?”

Sakuto’s soothing words seemed to throw Hikari a lifeline, and her eyes sparkled with gratitude as she looked at him.

“You shouldn’t spoil her! Honestly Sakuto-kun, I think you’re too soft on Hii-chan!”

“No, I think I’m pretty lenient with Chikage too. I’m reflecting on that as well.”

“W-well, it’s true that Sakuto-kun is very good at spoiling others…”

Chikage’s moment of affection was short-lived.

“Don’t try to change the subject!”

Her voice rose in volume, torn between anger and affection.

“But, you know, I thought maybe we should ask her more gently…”

“That’s not good for Hii-chan! We need to be stricter!”

“Is that so… Well, if you say so, I’ll leave it to Chikage…”

As Sakuto and Chikage exchanged words, Hikari watched them closely and then suddenly smiled.

“Don’t you think you two sound like a couple arguing over parenting strategies?”

“Hey, Hii-chan! I’m angry, so don’t make light of it! Right, Papa?”

“That’s right, Hikari… Wait? ——Chikage, did you just call me ‘Papa’…?”

Sakuto looked at Chikage in disbelief, but she just glared at Hikari, still upset.

“For now… Hikari, please stop pushing Chikage’s weird buttons…”

Despite feeling a bit conflicted, Sakuto wanted to move the conversation forward.

“Anyway, Hikari, why were you pretending to be Chikage and running away? And who was that girl?”

Hikari furrowed her brows in distress.

“The girl chasing me is Higashino Wakana-chan. She’s a classmate. In April, Wakana-chan from the Newspaper Club asked me to join…”

“Don’t tell me you said ‘okay’?”

Sakuto asked, anticipating her response, and Hikari nodded with a troubled “yeah.”

“The Newspaper Club was short on members, and Wakana-chan was the only first-year… I told her it didn’t have to be me, but she really wanted me to join, and I couldn’t refuse…”

“So you reluctantly agreed?”

Hikari nodded again.

“I just want to join in-name only… Do I look that free to you?”

” “Yes.” “

“Both of you are terrible…!? I’m using my brain a lot, I’m not free!”

It might sound like an excuse when someone who looks free claims they’re busy thinking, but maybe that’s not the case with her.

Hikari is what people would call a genius.

She has self-taught herself in various fields such as physics, chemistry, biology, ergonomics, and psychology, and by the time she was in junior high, she had already made significant achievements in various disciplines.

Though she might appear idle, her thoughts are likely always whirling rapidly.

However, even such a genius has her weaknesses.

Take the girl named Wakana, for instance. Persistently pressed by Wakana’s insistence, Hikari probably found herself unable to refuse her request.

(Was it just to make up the numbers? Or is there another reason…?)

Sakuto was particularly curious about why Wakana was so insistent on having Hikari.

“I wonder why now? What’s the reason that Hikari has suddenly become necessary?”

“Hmm… I don’t know the details, but Wakana-chan has been very persistent lately…”

“What about the Newspaper Club’s circumstances? Haven’t you asked?”

“I did, but I got responses like, ‘You’re a member, so please help,’ or ‘We need Hikari right now…’ “

It wasn’t just the reason for wanting Hikari that bothered him, but the phrase “right now” seemed particularly troubling.

There had to be a reason why they were dragging Hikari, who hadn’t been to school for a while, into club activities.

If they explained the situation properly, he thought Hikari would consider it——

“Since when have you been chased around?”

“I guess it’s been like this since the beginning of the month? Sorry for not telling you…”

After a moment of silence, Chikage spoke up.

“It’s probably because there’s the first term club activity audit this month. Having ghost members could lead to negative points during the audit.”

“Negative points? What’s this audit about?”

“Arisuyama Academy has 24 clubs and 12 clubs of sports and culture. An audit is conducted twice a year to distribute the club activity budget fairly among them. The first term audit takes place in July, and the audit committee reviews the activity reports—”

—And so on.

Chikage’s explanation went back about ten years.

Initially, the distribution of the club activity funds at Arisuyama Academy was entrusted to the student council executive committee, which allocated funds to each club with the approval of the club advisors’ council.

Although there had been no cases of embezzlement, there was a dispute between clubs over the allocation of activity funds ten years ago.

As a result, the student council executive committee and the club advisors’ council mediated the dispute, and after lengthy discussions, it was decided that the student council executive committee would conduct fair audits of each club.

By entrusting the activity reports to a third party, they aimed to maintain fairness based on objective facts.

However, there was a shortage of personnel to conduct the audits.

With limited time to conduct proper audits, the student council executive committee alone was insufficient in numbers.

Thus, the “Club Activity Audit Committee” was established.

The Club Activity Audit Committee is an independent organization from the student council executive committee, composed of individuals who use the student guidance department as their banner of honor.

In other words, if anything goes wrong, they use the threat, “If you have a problem with us, we will call the teacher!” to force them to make a fair and cold-blooded decision.

These ruthless auditors, who seemed to lack both blood and tears, were sometimes referred to by some students as the “dogs of the student guidance department.”