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VIDEO: Watanagashi-hen | TIP 6: It Hasn't Been a While
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"...Stop saying 'it's been a while'! We've seen each other every day up until yesterday, haven't we?"
"...Whatever. If you say so, we'll go with that."
Someone from Shion's house came to get me in a station wagon.
I had initially refused, but Shion insisted, and so both my bicycle and I ended up stuffed in the car.
For goodness sake... Shion was at Mion's level at least, or maybe an even better actor—either way, no matter what questions I pressed her with, she'd slip out of them like an eel.
"Still... you two look so alike. If you tied your hair back like Mion does, would you look exactly like her?"
"Who knows? That's probably what would happen. We're identical twins, through and through. In the past, we could just change our clothes and no one would be the wiser. I remember we'd swap places at every opportunity and fooled a whole lot of people. Ahahaha!"
"What's wrong, Kasai? That was a pretty deep sigh."
"Excuse me. ...I was just thinking that you haven't changed."
You could see many years of hardship on the man's face through the rear-view mirror.
"Anyway, Kei-chan, your house was around here, right? Kasai doesn't know much about Hinamizawa aside from the road that goes to the Sonozaki main house. If you leave it to him, he'll take you all the way to Yagouchi."
"I-I don't want that! ...Excuse me, could you stop at the narrow road at the next right? I'll walk from there."
The driver, Kasai-san, got my bike out of the trunk for me.
"Ah... Sorry about that. Thank you very much for showing me home today..."
"Eh? Ah, yes."
"...You must be having various difficulties, but I believe she will grow tired soon, so please endure things until then."
He gave me a deep, deep look of sympathy.
...This guy has definitely been dealing with the Sonozaki sisters ever since they were little kids.
"However, like Mion-san, she's a kind person at heart."
"...So that means she'll be as much of a bother as Mion, right?"
The man's face froze in a smile, his reply lost. ...Hey, back me up here.
"Don't you dare. If you transferred in, I'll transfer out to a school in Okinomiya."
"Wow, that was really mean, Kei-chan...!"
A short beep of the horn. The man gave a little wave to me from the driver's seat.
Then, the car withdrew into the dark night roads, leaving dust in its wake...
.........Man... this entire day made no sense.
...I ran into Mion while I was with Shion, and the former's expression, like a pigeon shot with a pellet gun, had finally begun to make a strong impression on me.