Having gotten the answer she wanted, Sakurajima Mai looked quite pleased with herself, though she tried her best to keep a calm expression.
"Anyway, I absolutely forbid you from laying even a finger on Kazuka's body."
Toyohama Kazuka blinked in surprise. That sounded… a little strange.
Ryuichi gave a faintly bewildered look. "Eh?"
"So you'll restrain yourself for a lifetime, right?"
Mai grinned mischievously—the same expression she used to wear whenever she teased him.
Ryuichi sighed, then straightened up with a serious face.
"Looks like I'll have to find a proper solution to this troublesome problem."
After all, this was a matter directly tied to his future—his future happiness.
Mai smiled in satisfaction. Seeing him take things seriously was enough to ease her mind.
"Kazuka, it's getting late. We should start getting ready for school."
She turned to the girl, who still seemed rattled after everything that had happened so early in the morning.
"O-okay."
"Wait," Ryuichi said, his gaze shifting to Mai. "Let's grab some breakfast first. Want to go out together?"
Mai saw the way he looked at her and quickly caught on, nodding with mild amusement.
"Sure. Kazuka, give us a few minutes."
The two stepped out and walked down to the small breakfast shop near the apartment. While waiting for their food, Ryuichi spoke up.
"To be honest, I feel like something's going to go wrong on Kazuka's side."
"Probably," Mai admitted quietly. "But there's not much we can do right now."
"Ryuichi, I have a request."
She lifted her head slightly to look up at him. Because she currently had Kazuka's body—shorter by quite a bit than her usual height—her usual aura felt subtly different.
Mai's real height was about 165 centimeters, and normally when she looked at Ryuichi, she only had to glance up slightly—she radiated strength and balance. But in Toyohama Kazuka's body, which was barely 158 centimeters, she had to look up more noticeably.
Her presence was still powerful, but somehow… the tone of it had changed.
"It's rare to see you ask me for something," Ryuichi said with a small smirk. "Though I wish it were the real Mai doing the asking."
"It's still Sakurajima Mai, idiot."
"Yeah, fair point."
"It's about Kazuka. I want you to take this seriously and talk to her—find out exactly what happened."
"Given her situation… she probably ran away from home and came to her sister's place after a fight with her parents."
Ryuichi filtered through what he knew of Toyohama Kazuka, trying to organize his thoughts. The only clear clue was indeed that she'd run away from home.
Mai hesitated for a moment before saying,
"…I thought of that too, but I think the real issue lies with me."
"You mean having such a famous, successful older sister put too much pressure on her? With someone like you to compare to, that's bound to hurt."
He hit the mark immediately. Mai's lips pressed together. Everything he'd said was true.
"In short," she said softly, "it's probably our mother. As a woman, keeping her pride became Kazuka's burden."
"How so?"
"I didn't tell you? She and I are half-sisters. My mother had me start acting as a child star just to spite her ex-husband—the man who left her for another woman."
Ryuichi blinked, then chuckled quietly. "Women's revenge can be terrifying."
Mai shot him a glare. Even if her relationship with her mother wasn't perfect, hearing someone joke about her still rubbed her the wrong way.
"That girl… Kazuka… she joined a theater troupe too, you know. Back when we were little, we even met there once."
Ryuichi rubbed his forehead in sympathy. He could already imagine how awkward that must have been.
No doubt both mothers had been competing in their own way too—consciously or not.
He understood what Mai meant now. When Sakurajima Mai became a major TV star, it must've been unbearable for her estranged father—probably the perfect revenge for Mai's mother.
But naturally, that entire messy dynamic had rippled over to Kazuka's mother as well, who perhaps enrolled her daughter in idol training out of pride or defiance. That was how they'd ended up meeting again in the first place.
Poor Mai and Kazuka—two daughters dragged into the emotional crossfire of their parents' feud.
"So that's what you think is at the heart of today's problem?" Ryuichi asked.
"If it's you, I'm sure you can handle it," Mai said evenly.
"You've got a lot of faith in me."
"Well, you're amazing."
Ryuichi sighed. "Funny. I don't remember being that amazing myself."
"Still," he continued with a sigh, "since it's your request, I'll think it through carefully. And don't forget—I'm under contract with her anyway. You don't have to worry; I'll make sure to help."
"Oh, right. I totally forgot you two made a contract."
Mai smiled, visibly more relaxed now that Ryuichi was taking charge of things.
"Then all that's left is for us to play our switched roles properly."
Expressionless, Ryuichi answered in a flat, mock-monotone, "Please—do—your—best."
The three of them had breakfast together, and then Ryuichi escorted the "sisters" to the station.
He could have flown them there via teleportation, but he couldn't exactly do that every day—and who knew how long this situation would even last?
He figured it was best to help them get used to their swapped lives naturally.
It wasn't exactly what he'd planned. Kuoh Academy was undergoing renovations, so he finally had a rare three-day break. He'd wanted to spend the time relaxing with his girlfriend—but after just one blissful day of their little "honeymoon," it was already over.
Only one day.
They'd just spent a night together in perfect harmony… and now all this trouble landed on him out of nowhere.
Ryuichi pressed his lips together, resigned. Still, he'd gotten another contracted partner out of it—guess he could count this as overtime pay.
The three of them reached the train station right in the middle of the morning rush. The platform was crowded to the point of being suffocating.
Ryuichi shielded the two girls as they squeezed through the throng, but since they were heading for different lines, they eventually had to part ways.
"You'll be all right on your own?" he asked Mai as they separated.
"I can handle it," she replied with that same steady, confident air he knew so well.
Ryuichi nodded. "If anything happens, call me right away. I'll be there in an instant."
Mai smiled brightly. "Having a boyfriend who's always on call like that is really comforting."
"So, care to reward me for it?"
"Not happening. Not while I look like Kazuka."
"…I don't mind."
"Well, Kazuka and I mind."
She tugged playfully on his cheek before heading toward her train.
Ryuichi watched her board, then turned back toward Kazuka—who, in Mai's glamorous body, was already drawing plenty of attention from the crowd.
…