Living in the Heart of Tokyo

"Come to think of it, this might be the first time I've seen Yotsuba in her school uniform. She suddenly looks so much more grown-up,"

Kyousuke commented as he watched from the school building's entrance hall.

Three little girls dressed in their black and white uniforms were charging toward him like a cavalry brigade.

"Girls mature at a scary pace once they enter middle school.

Kyousuke, you should be well aware of that by now, shouldn't you?" Mitsuha replied with a smile, waving to her little sister and her friends.

"Yeah... Compared to that, boys in middle school are still complete idiots,"

Kyousuke chuckled, recalling how back then his head was filled with dreams of world domination like Kisaki Tetta.

He also remembered his past self who, when confessed to by a girl, thought, 'Why bother dating? That just takes time away from playing games!'

Wait, hold on... If Kisaki's original dream was to rule the world just to win girls' hearts, didn't he actually succeed far too well?

His methods were questionable, but the intention was pure—just like Onizuka and his gang.

Well, that made sense.

Like Kisaki once said: "I am the sun. Under the sun, even if a construction worker moves a single brick, that effort belongs to me too."

So if their subordinates were so competent, it was clearly thanks to him and Mitsuha.

As Yotsuba and her friends continued charging over from a distance, Kyousuke hurriedly shared this train of thought with Mitsuha.

"So that's why Kisaki still doesn't have a girlfriend, huh?" Mitsuha instantly pointed out the real issue with laser precision.

Kyousuke paused.

Come to think of it, hadn't Kisaki mentioned last week that he was scouting for girls in the Red Team's fashion department?

Said there were a ton of cute girls over there.

But still…

"You don't know—Kisaki's changed. He's resolved to put love aside and focus everything on building his career." Kyousuke replied confidently.

Yeah, that must be it.

Despite all his talk about wanting a girlfriend, Kisaki's enthusiasm for work hadn't dipped one bit.

"Eh? Seriously? But even Onizuka managed to get a girlfriend! Kisaki's way smarter than him—no way he should still be single!" Mitsuha exclaimed.

She had been genuinely relieved when she first heard Onizuka finally got himself a girlfriend through their group chat—it felt like all her teaching hadn't gone to waste.

But Kisaki, the one who'd taken the most lessons from both her and Kyousuke... was somehow still trailing behind.

"Besides... his 'career' is just being your secretary, right?" She frowned slightly.

"Exactly. Which means as his boss, I know his mental state better than anyone. Think about it—if he really wanted to date, no way would he be more eager to work weekend overtime than I am." Kyousuke said firmly.

Like tomorrow's awards ceremony, he didn't need Kisaki to guide him; he could just call Amemiya-san from Kinokuniya and she'd happily escort him the whole way.

But considering the rest of tomorrow's entourage—three middle-aged men as guards—it was probably better to stick with Kisaki's plan.

Kisaki had already mapped out the entire route and even booked an izakaya for post-ceremony drinks.

Convenient... but worrying.

As a good, responsible boss, Kyousuke couldn't help but feel anxious watching him work like this.

"Hmm…"

Mitsuha tilted her head, remembering how she used to struggle through her final classes of the day—forget staying late to take notes; just the thought of seeing Kyousuke after school made her heart race too much to focus.

"I get it now... Kisaki's found his path in life," She nodded firmly, offering her blessing.

"Big sis~ Hojou-nii~ I've been standing here forever, you know!"

Yotsuba's indignant voice called out again.

Kyousuke snapped out of his thoughts and looked down.

Yotsuba, freshly entered into middle school, had the average height for a Japanese girl—just barely over 150cm.

Maybe a tiny bit more, but not by much.

Ochanomizu University's affiliated schools were old-fashioned in more ways than one.

Their uniforms—while modern compared to sailor suits and delinquent getups—still felt stiff and conservative.

The skirts weren't as absurdly short as Soubu High's, but they weren't long either.

Standing before Kyousuke were three girls.

White blouses, navy blue ribbon ties at their collars—an old-fashioned design rarely seen outside of conservative public girls' schools.

And the wide, flashy belts at their waists?

More for showing off the enormous golden school emblem than actually holding their skirts up.

From a distance they might've looked trendy... until you realized they were just glorified school crests.

"Ugly, right?"

Yotsuba pouted when she caught Kyousuke eyeing her belt.

Her hair, tied in familiar pigtails like back in Itomori, had grown longer—more like twin ponytails now.

Beside her stood two other girls—one with neat bobbed hair, the other with flowing long locks.

Both stared unblinking at Kyousuke like he was some rare creature.

"Yeah... it's like a fashion disaster spanning centuries," Kyousuke agreed seriously.

Thanks to these awful uniforms, Shouko and Naoka had never gone out with him in uniform during middle school.

Yep, they were graduates of this very school too.

This wasn't his first time seeing these disaster uniforms.

Even Naoka, who could make anything look good, couldn't save these.

"Knew it. Hojou-nii thinks they're ugly too! Sis said they're 'stylishly Tokyo,' but I knew better." Yotsuba sighed dramatically.

"Country bumpkins like her just have no sense of style... No amount of fashion magazines can save her taste."

She shook her head like a weary elder, much like when she'd scolded her foolish sister in Itomori for chasing her 'Tokyo handsome boy' dream.

Nearby, Mitsuha's pretty face twitched—her teeth clenched silently as she glared at her little sister.

Just as the sisterly brawl was about to ignite, a low murmur caught everyone's attention.

"It's him. The real deal."

One of Yotsuba's friends, the bob-haired girl, spoke with utter seriousness.

"Yeah... totally real. Alive!" The long-haired girl nodded, eyes wide.

"Even his clothes are identical to the news photos!"

"Right! No plastic surgery could make someone look that perfectly alike—not with today's technology!"

"Which means... Yotsuba's brother-in-law really is the Hojou Kyousuke!"

"Wait—don't be careless, Kouki! He could still be an alien! All they have to do is shine that light, and poof—they look just like anyone!"

"Good point... Thanks for reminding me, Kaede! Shape-shifting aliens... totally possible."

"Totally! If Yotsuba's some kind of number witch alien, then of course shape-shifting ones could exist too..."

The two girls huddled together, whispering fiercely while sneaking glances at Kyousuke.

It wasn't hard to guess who they were talking about.

'Bang! Bang!'

"Idiot! How many times have I told you not to act like fools in front of Hojou-nii?!"

Yotsuba, far angrier than her sister, leapt up and cracked both of her friends on the head without mercy.

"Ouch, that hurts!" x2

The two girls clutched their heads, crying out in pain for a moment before bowing deeply in unison.

"Sorry, Hojou-nii, Mitsuha-nee! We accidentally saw through your true identities, but don't worry—we've known about aliens since we were little! We'd never discriminate against you!"

The girl with the short, student-like haircut—if the encrypted messages were right—should be called Koyuki.

"That's right! No one else at school knows that Yotsuba is a Numerology Starian, just the two of us. Our lips are sealed tight like a vault!" The other girl nodded eagerly—this one was Kaede.

Are these... the infamous "wavelength" girls?

Kyousuke exchanged a glance with Mitsuha, who simply watched her little sister scolding her friends with a curved smile and said nothing.

"Sounds pretty reliable, I guess," Kyousuke said with a chuckle.

"Of course it is!" Koyuki beamed with pride.

"What's with that smug look? You're in middle school now—stop fantasizing that everyone around you is secretly an alien!" Yotsuba roared.

"Yotsuba, you can drop the act already. Aside from Mitsuha-nee, who's clearly the same as you, there's no way Hojou-nii is human either," Kaede said seriously, grabbing Yotsuba's arm as if to gently persuade her.

"I am not pretending!" Yotsuba snapped.

"But you told us on the first day of school—"

"Stop! Don't you dare say another word, you idiot, Koyuki!" Yotsuba frantically slapped a hand over Koyuki's mouth.

But the two "mature aliens" beside her clearly found this little secret very interesting.

Mitsuha reached out casually, grabbed Yotsuba by the waistband, and effortlessly hoisted her into the air.

Yotsuba struggled, only to realize that her feet couldn't touch the ground.

"Uwahhh!!!"

Koyuki and Kaede gaped in awe at Mitsuha, their faces full of reverence for the power of the Numerology Starian.

Embarrassed by their stares, Mitsuha gave a bashful smile before gently handing her squirming sister over to the man beside her—as if she were passing him a bundle of discounted vegetables.

Kyousuke accepted Yotsuba with an amused smile and gave Koyuki a little nod to continue.

"R-Right..." Koyuki furrowed her brows, struggling to regain her train of thought—but her gaze kept drifting to the dangling Yotsuba.

Yotsuba squirmed at first but soon gave up, knowing that flailing would only make her look more ridiculous if she fell.

"Yotsuba, you're the one who told us you had spiritual powers and even brought a bunch of evidence to prove it, remember?" Kaede chimed in, dead serious, as she began digging through her little pouch for something.

"Spiritual powers?"

"A shrine maiden?"

Kyousuke and Mitsuha exchanged glances and peered down at Yotsuba.

"W-What of it?! I am a daughter of the Miyamizu family! Isn't it normal to awaken powers in middle school? At least I don't have cameras growing out of my face or anything!"

At first, Yotsuba sounded unsure under their gaze—but with her two friends cheering her on, she puffed up with confidence.

"That's not normal! And stop making it sound like the Miyamizu name is some cursed bloodline!"

"What the heck is a Numerology Star anyway? Are you fortune-telling for your classmates? And try to cheat on the exams?!" Mitsuha fired off complaints so quickly she couldn't even keep up with herself.

"Wait... Yotsuba, your powers could help with test cheating?!" Koyuki's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Uhh..." Yotsuba hesitated.

She hadn't immediately denied it—her mind wandered to how her sister's grades had shot up once she hit middle school.

Maybe... the divine powers they inherited weren't just for saving the world.

Could they be used for everyday things like this?

It made sense.

She prayed to the gods every day, every year—wasn't she more devout than her sister?

There was no reason her powers should be any weaker.

"Don't even think about it. You have no powers," Mitsuha mercilessly crushed her sister's fantasy.

"One day I'll awaken them... I'm a Miyamizu too..." Yotsuba mumbled.

"Maybe your real power is that genius brain of yours?" Kyousuke chuckled.

Just as he was about to pass her back to Mitsuha—until he noticed the sparkling eyes of the two girls and quickly put Yotsuba down.

Mitsuha also hurried to straighten her sister's clothes.

Finally feeling the ground under her feet, Yotsuba glanced at her two friends, then remembered her sister's success in middle school.

Her eyes lit up with determination.

"...That's possible!"

She was smart—even smarter than her sister, who always bragged about being the big sis! That had to count for something!

Mitsuha saw that familiar glint in her sister's eyes and sighed, gently massaging her scalp as if to loosen her delusions.

Kyousuke couldn't help but laugh.

This was why middle-school delusions didn't seem so weird—when you were surrounded by like-minded weirdos, everything felt normal.

Back in Itomori, Mitsuha's shrine maiden role got her teased at school—but Yotsuba used the exact same thing to make friends.

"Alright, time to head back." Kyousuke patted Yotsuba's head.

"Yup! I want strawberry shaved ice today!" Yotsuba instantly cheered.

"Hey! What about us?!"

"Oh right, I nearly forgot you two—see you tomorrow, Koyuki, Kaede!" Yotsuba waved before naturally grabbing Kyousuke's hand with one hand and Mitsuha's with the other, heading toward the school gate.

Mitsuha smiled at the two strange but adorable girls, turning to follow her sister.

"What do we do, Koyuki? Looks like Yotsuba forgot everything she was talking about earlier..." Kaede whispered.

"Probably the serial number suppression. Starian numerologists lose control when facing someone with a higher serial rank," Koyuki said seriously, recalling how Yotsuba was toyed with like a doll by two mature aliens earlier.

"I see... then we'll have to plan for the long term," Kaede sighed.

The two of them bantered like a comedy duo, which made a tick mark pop on Yotsuba's forehead.

"What do you mean I lost control?! I just wanted to teach you two a lesson!"

They'd agreed to act normal in front of Mitsuha and Kyousuke—but the moment they showed up, her two idiot friends blew their cover. Worst of all, they threw her under the bus!

"But seriously... I never thought your real Hojou Kyousuke would actually be the real deal..." Koyuki muttered.

"The real deal!" Kaede nodded firmly.

"You two... sigh. Whatever, just take out the books you want signed," Yotsuba said, waving a hand in defeat. There was no handling these two.

For the record—she didn't hang out with these weirdos because she couldn't make normal friends!

They were dumb sometimes... but being around them was fun.

Like how they immediately believed her when she bragged about her sister... or when they volunteered to help build her online shrine—despite knowing nothing about computers.

Still, when she started selling shrine maiden outfits, she'd definitely make them honorary Miyamizu Shrine maidens.

"The real deal... the real deal... it's the real thing~"

Humming a happy tune, Koyuki and Kaede eagerly rummaged through their bags.

"Hojou-nii, these two really like your manga. Ever since I told them you were Mitsuha-nee's boyfriend, they wouldn't shut up about meeting you," Yotsuba explained, glancing back.

"Wait, they're manga fans?"

Mitsuha blinked, then smiled knowingly. Of course—they were eccentric girls who believed in aliens.

Loving manga was only natural.

If they were any younger, they'd probably think they were adopted by aliens fattening them up to eat later.

"You should've told me sooner. I could've brought some of the gifts from the publisher," Kyousuke said.

"Well..." Yotsuba fidgeted, her gaze drifting toward a tall oak tree nearby.

"Actually, I was supposed to go shopping with Koyuki and Kaede tonight... but then I remembered I'd promised to see you, Hojou-nii."

"Liar! You told us from the start we'd be visiting the real Hojou Kyousuke—your future brother-in-law's house today!" Koyuki shouted.

"That's right!" Kaede nodded eagerly.

"...Huh?" Mitsuha's eyes widened slightly. When had they made this plan? Why was she only hearing about it now?!

Kyousuke watched Yotsuba's flustered face with an amused smile.

Girls liked to brag to their friends—he knew that better than anyone.

From little Sakura to middle-school Shouko and Naoka... and in high school, Eriri was still the same.

Even Mitsuha in college hadn't changed—he could still remember the way she'd tried (and failed) to hide her proud little grin when they ran into Masaki Kaori while out shopping.

It was something he'd never get tired of seeing.

———————————————————————

Daily Uploads!

Unlock bonus chapters by reaching specific milestones with [Power Stone] votes!

Go to p-atreon.com/InsomniaTL to access more than 50 advanced chapters.