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“Ouch!” Ryoga whines.
“Well if you would hold still,” Rio says, her voice muffled around the handle of the brush.
“You’re pulling my head!”
“I’m nearly done…there! Jesus we could have been finished ages ago if you weren’t such a baby.”
Ryoga touches the back of his head. “You need to learn to be gentle.”
“You pull my hair too,” Rio says defensively. “Now let’s go, we’re going to be late.”
The twins grab their bags and rush out the door, foregoing breakfast in their haste. It took them a while to get ready this morning.
Kotori wrings her hands, pacing back and forth in front of Rio’s locker. If she knew the combination, she’d open it herself, but she doesn’t know the combination and Rio is running late. Finally, Kotori spots her and she rushes to Rio’s side.
“Help!” Kotori hisses, clinging to Rio’s arm. “I have a code red situation and Cathy doesn’t have anything I can use!”
Rio looks briefly confused, then pats Kotori’s hand and reaches into her bag, covertly slipping a pad into Kotori’s hand.
“You’re the best,” Kotori says, relieved. She kisses Rio’s cheek and rushes off, shouting “I owe you one!” over her shoulder. It doesn’t hit her until later that Rio didn’t say anything during the exchange, which is odd for her.
Alit is waiting at Ryoga’s locker. “Hey dude,” he says as Ryoga approaches. He holds out a bag with Ryoga’s gym shoes in it. “Thanks for lending them to me the other day.”
Ryoga nods and takes the bag.
“Vector’s in a mood today, just so you know,” Alit says, “Also the student council prez asked me to tell you that he still wants you to run next year.” He rolls his eyes. “Just give the dude a straight answer, will ya? You’re driving him nuts. And why does it have to be a big secret that he wants you to run?”
Ryoga shrugs.
Alit stares at him. “Cat got your tongue?”
Ryoga points to his throat.
“Okay there, Ariel,” he laughs. “Whatever. Did you eat?”
Ryoga shakes his head.
“Wanna grab breakfast?” Alit asks, “There’s decent looking fruit this morning.”
Ryoga nods and they leave the locker room. Alit veers to the bathroom, confused when Ryoga doesn’t follow. “Aren’t you coming to wash up?”
Ryoga eyes the men’s room door and digs around in his bag, holding up hand sanitizer.
“Oh,” Alit says. “Hey, can I have some, too?”
Ryoga nods, and the two of them head straight for the cafeteria.
In the classroom before the lesson starts, Durbe comments on their silence. “You two are awfully quiet this morning.”
In tandem, the twins reach into their binders and pull out identical doctor’s notes, which read that they have laryngitis.
“Jeez,” Vector laughs, “You two share everything, don’t you?”
Ryoga makes a face at him and Rio rolls her eyes.
“Good thing your history presentation was yesterday,” Tetsuo says to Rio. She nods and smiles.
“Will you be okay for gym?” Cathy asks. “I know it’s just your throat, but if you’re breathing heavily…”
Rio waves her hand and writes in her notebook, ‘I’ll be just fine, promise.’
“You have such nice handwriting,” Tetsuo sighs, starry eyed. “Unlike Ryoga.”
Ryoga opens his notebook and scrawls, ‘Shut your face.’
“Barely legible,” Vector says, shaking his head.
Kotori comes into the classroom and pats Rio’s shoulder as she passes.
“See Yuma yet?” Vector asks her.
“Late as usual,” Kotori says. “I’d be surprised if he shows up at all.” She says, “By the way Rio, you didn’t—”
“She has laryngitis,” Cathy says. “They both do.”
“Ouch,” Kotori says. She digs through her backpack and pulls out a few cough drops, giving them to Rio and Ryoga. The twins both give her grateful smiles and pocket the cough drops.
“By the way,” Kotori says, “How come you did your hair the same way today? You don’t usually.”
Rio writes, ‘It just happened to work out that way.’
Further questions are forgotten as their teacher walks in, and Yuma comes careening in through the back door, his uniform askew and rice stuck on his cheek.
“You’re a mess,” Alit says, pointing at his own cheek where Yuma has the rice stuck.
Yuma wipes his face and takes his seat on Ryoga’s side. “You two are quiet this morning,” he says, rummaging through his bag for his homework.
“Laryngitis,” the group of friends choruses.
Yuma looks at the twins. “Oh,” he says, “Alright then.”
The group splits up after homeroom, with Cathy, Rio, Tetsuo, and Alit headed to math and the rest of the group to History.
For math, the class is ordered to pair up to work on a word problem sheet. Cathy grabs Rio, much to Tetsuo’s disappointment, and the pair quickly finish the work given to them.
“This is why I like working with you,” Cathy says as they sit back to relax for the rest of the period, “You’re so smart.”
Rio grins. ‘And take no nonsense?’ She writes.
Cathy giggles and glances at Kotori and Alit. Alit is trying to balance his pencil on his nose, and Kotori looks ready to strangle him. Tetsuo got stuck working with a boy who’s more interested in texting under the desk than doing the work.
“We shouldn’t tease them,” Cathy says, trying to be serious. Then she cracks up. “But it’s hilarious,” she giggles.
Rio nods, smiling widely.
“By the way,” Cathy says, “I’ve been meaning to ask you for some time, but would you tutor me in science? I’m really struggling with this Chemistry unit.”
Rio nods. ‘Sure thing,’ she writes.
“You’re the best,” Cathy says. “Are you sure you’ve got time? And patience, for that matter, I’m pretty thick headed about it.”
Rio looks shocked. ‘You shouldn’t talk that way about yourself,’ she writes. ‘You’re plenty smart.’
Cathy snorts. “Yeah, I know a lot about cats and I can recite romance novels,” she says, rolling her eyes. “That’ll take me really far in the real world.”
Rio writes, ‘Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. That saying’s been around since the 1800’s, and it’s still true.’
Cathy stares at the page, feeling tears come to her eyes. “That’s a nice thing to say.”
Rio hands her a tissue and pats her back.
Vector elbows Ryoga. “Psst, hey, why were the early days of history called the dark ages?”
Ryoga’s jaw tenses.
“Because there were so many knights!” Vector giggles.
Ryoga cracks his knuckles.
“Aw, lighten up,” Vector says, “Your face is going to freeze that way.”
Ryoga remains stony faced, taking notes without paying any mind to Vector.
“Why bother?” Vector asks, leaning over Ryoga’s shoulder, “Can you even read your own handwriting?”
Ryoga pauses and scrawls at the top of the page, ‘I’ll tell you what I did read—your horoscope, and it says beware of a beating heading your way.’
“That’s not even funny,” Vector complains. “Honestly, your sister finds me the most annoying person on the face of the earth but even she’ll admit when I’m funny.”
‘Is that right?’ Ryoga writes.
“Totally,” Vector says. “And don’t say she’s laughing at me and not with me, because I already asked her that and she said herself, I can be funny when I want to be.”
Ryoga gives a long-suffering sigh and puts his head in his hands.
Durbe pats Ryoga’s shoulder. “Cheer up, it could be worse.”
‘How?’ Ryoga writes on Durbe’s paper.
“You could be Rio,” Vector says, “Having a sore throat and having to do hurdles in gym today.”
Ryoga covers his face, shoulders shaking.
“Are you laughing?!” Vector cries. “Holy crap, I made Ryoga laugh!”
Vector ends up with a detention slip, but he says it was worth it.
Alit stares at Rio, hand on his chin. She’s acting normal—twirling a piece of her hair around her finger, humoring Tetsuo, she lead the stretches at the start of the class like she normally does—but he feels like something is off about her today, he just can’t put his finger on it.
“Why are you staring?” Tetsuo asks.
“Jesus!” Alit cries, hands over his chest, “You gave me a heart attack!”
Tetsuo glares. “You sound guilty.”
“She’s not your girlfriend, you know,” Alit says, “And she’s not my type besides.”
“But you were staring.”
“Because something is off about her,” Alit insists, “I’m just trying to figure out what it is.”
Tetsuo waves his hand. “It’s probably just the fact that she hasn’t told off Vector today because, you know, she can’t talk.”
Alit watches Rio as she seizes up the hurdles. That could be it, but he feels like there’s more to it than that. Then again, the sun is in his eyes and the grass is tickling his nose, so maybe he’s the one that’s off today.
“Watch her clear those hurdles,” Tetsuo says. “I bet she sets a record.”
“You’re a little too enthusiastic there, buddy,” Alit says.
“This coming from the guy who knew Kotori for twenty seconds before he started coming up with ways to woo her.”
Before Alit can tell him off, coach blows her whistle and yells, “Get in position, ladies!”
The girls tackle the hurdles first. Tetsuo stands and cheers, “Go Rio!” Rio is the only girl from their group of friends who has this gym period, Cathy and Kotori have a different class, so it’s not like Alit has anyone else to cheer for. He claps for Rio as well, and she smiles at the pair of them, and then coach blows her whistle again.
Rio is like a woman possessed. She runs faster than Alit has ever seen, and she clears all the hurdles with no problems at all. Just as Tetsuo predicted, she sets a new school record.
“Woohoo!” Tetsuo screams. “Way to go, Rio!”
Rio waves at them from the opposite end of the track field.
“What happened?” Yuma pants, jogging up from behind them.
“Didn’t you see?” Alit asks. Yuma had been playing volleyball with some of the other boys while they waited, but he figured the commotion would have caught his attention. “Rio just set a school record for the hurdles!”
“She was amazing!” Tetsuo says, practically crying. “But of course, it’s to be expected for Rio, she’s the best at everything!”
Yuma grins at his friend. “Huh? Oh yeah, I guess she is.”
Alit stares at Yuma. Now he’s acting funny, just what was up with his tone just then?
Now that Alit thinks about it, something is definitely off about Rio and Ryoga. He can’t put his finger on what it is, but it’s definitely there. Is it because they aren’t talking and he’s not used to silence from the pair of them? Possibly. But he feels like there’s more to it, and every time he thinks he’s on to something, he loses his train of thought. But maybe Yuma knows.
“Hey, Yuma!” Alit calls as the class files into the locker rooms, “Have you noticed anything strange about Rio and Ryoga?”
Yuma looks confused. “Strange? Um…Rio ties her shoelaces with a dominant left hand even though she’s right handed, and Ryoga’s always got one sock higher than the other, and—”
“I was referring to something more general,” Alit says, a little weirded out. “And more recent.”
“Oh!” Yuma says, looking embarrassed. “Well, no.”
And if Yuma hasn’t noticed it, then Alit is probably imagining things.
“Another school day behind us,” Vector says as he leads the way out of school.
“I thought you had detention,” Durbe says.
“Tomorrow morning,” Vector says, waving his hand. “For now it’s time for me to go home and take a nap, I am bushed.”
“Rio’s the one who deserves to be tired,” Tetsuo says, “She—”
“Set another school record,” the group finishes collectively.
“You only said so ten times,” Kotori says.
As soon as the group is out of sight of the school, Rio cries, “Finally, Jesus! I thought I was going to die!”
The group turns to her, and they do a double take. Rio’s serene expression has dropped, and she’s scowling. “You were going to die? I thought I was going to lose my mind!” It’s Ryoga’s voice that’s coming from Rio’s mouth. Rio reaches up to the back of her head and takes out her ponytail, shaking her hair out. “If I ever let you do my hair again…” Ryoga’s voice says.
Because it is Ryoga’s voice. It’s Ryoga.
The group looks between the twins as they shake out their hair, kick off and exchange their shoes, and swap backpacks.
Alit gapes, pointing between the two of them. “I knew something was off about you two!”
Kotori points at Ryoga—the real one, the one she thought was Rio all day. “You…but you…” she blushes bright red.
“Sorry,” Ryoga says to her, “But honestly, it’s nothing I haven’t heard a million times already, living with this one,” He jerks his thumb at his sister. “Oh, by the way…” he reaches into the pocket of his skirt and hands Kotori her cough drops back. “We didn’t actually have laryngitis.”
“Yeah,” Rio says, also giving Kotori cough drops. “But thanks, it was super sweet of you.”
“You switched places?!” Vector screeches. “Why??”
Rio holds her hand over her stomach. “Because I’m feeling kind of crampy today and didn’t want to do the hurdles, but I also didn’t want to make up a missed gym period.”
“And it’s been forever since we did this,” Ryoga says, “We thought we’d see if we still could pull it off.” He smirks at the group. “I can’t believe you guys didn’t notice it!”
“So wait,” Tetsuo says, pointing at Ryoga, “That was you, in gym?!”
“Yup,” Ryoga says. “So actually, I broke the school record.”
Rio waves her hand. “I’ll get it for real next time.” She swings her arm over her brother’s shoulders, grinning. “Speaking of unbelievable things, I had no idea that the student council president wanted you to replace him!”
Ryoga glares at Alit. “Really, dude?”
“I thought she was you!” Alit says. “Honest!”
“And nobody noticed,” Kotori says, incredulously.
“Yeah, really,” Vector says. “You guys pretended to be the opposite sex all day.” He points at Rio, “You imitated Ryoga’s handwriting perfectly!”
“And it almost killed me,” Rio says.
“You!” Ryoga says, “My hand is going to hurt for a week, why do you write so neatly? And why do you smile so much? My face hurts.”
“You could do with a smile now and then,” Rio says.
“Aw, so I didn’t make Ryoga laugh,” Vector pouts.
“You thought you did?” Ryoga asks. He looks at Rio. “What did he say?”
Rio shrugs. “I can’t remember.”
Vector falls to his knees, clutching his chest and moaning about the cruel world. He is ignored.
Alit turns to Yuma. “I can’t believe you didn’t notice! You pick up on weird stuff but not this?”
Yuma looks confused. “What? But I knew all along.”
Now it’s him everyone is staring at.
“I asked you if something was weird about them,” Alit says, “You said no.”
“Cuz it’s hardly weird,” Yuma says, as if talking to a child.
“Yeah, Yuma knew,” Rio says. “Didn’t you notice how sarcastic he was when calling me ‘he’ and Ryoga ‘she’?”
“I thought you were going to blow our cover,” Ryoga says, flicking Yuma’s arm.
Yuma shrugs, “I honestly thought everyone else knew. It explains why your acting was all so good, though, you weren’t acting!”
Vector gets to his feet and brushes off his pants. “Well, we learned something today,” he grumbles, “Trust no one, especially not Yuma, he’s probably an evil genius.”