Chapter 15: Takato Mizuho

Takato Mizuho

I arrived at the family restaurant earlier than our evening appointment.

Spotting an open seat in the back, I took it and ordered only the drink bar in advance.

I sent a message to Kisaragi-kun, also known as YOUKNOW, letting him know I had arrived.

If he were alone, he might have come early to match my timing, but his companion likely didn’t allow it. The two of them arrived just as the setting sun cast its glow inside the restaurant.

“Hello, Takato-senpai?”

“Yes, hello, Kisaragi-kun.”

“This is our first time meeting, isn’t it? Tendouji-san.”

The woman accompanying Kisaragi-kun addressed me by my real surname.

“Oh wow, you figured that out? Impressive. Kisaragi-kun’s new girlfriend is quite sharp.”

“I’m not his girlfriend.” “She’s not my girlfriend.”

The two of them denied it in perfect unison.

“This is my older sister, Saijo Mizuki (西條美月).”

“Hmm, different surnames despite being siblings… and, to be honest, you don’t really look alike either. Seems like you two have your own circumstances as well.”

I voiced my thoughts as they came. There was no need to hold back at this point.

“Yes, just like you, we have our own circumstances too.”

From her words, I sensed she hadn’t correctly grasped the relationship between Mizuki-chan (瑞希) and me.

“So, how much did you find out? I heard you were asking Kumi a lot of questions.”

Since my fellow model Kumi had been unusually curious about me, I pressed her for answers, and she spilled easily.

“Honestly, not that much. All I know is that you deliberately impersonated someone who had committed s🬀🬀cide to get close to Yuki—something far from normal.”

As expected, she hadn’t dug deep enough to discover that Mizuki-chan and I were cousins.

But now that Mizuki-chan’s existence was exposed, there was no need to keep hiding it. To gain their trust, I decided to tell the truth.

“Well, two or three days isn’t much time to investigate. I’m more impressed that you were suspicious enough to dig this deep. Since I’ve been found out, I might as well confess what I was hiding.”

“Yeah, it might add depth to the song. Besides, we can’t move forward without hearing it first.”

Just as his sister led the conversation, Kisaragi-kun chimed in with keen interest.

“No helping it, then. Let’s hear about your circumstances.”

“Alright, first of all, my real name is Tendouji Yukari (天童寺紫), and I am Mizuki-chan’s cousin.”

“Oh? You two look quite alike for cousins.”

“Yes, because I altered myself to resemble Mizuki-chan.”

I hadn’t originally looked that much like her, so becoming her doppelgänger took a lot of effort. Honestly, I should be praised for managing to come this close.

“…What drove you to do all that? Did you really love Mizuki that much?”

“Yes. Mizuki-chan, who was a year older than me, was my idol. She had a natural beauty without effort, was sociable, and was loved by everyone.”

Up until that moment, she had undoubtedly been my aspiration.

“So, you wanted to become Mizuki?”

But the Mizuki-chan I admired was no longer here.

“No, no, I wouldn’t want to be like that. I only made myself resemble her because he likes this look.”

For some reason, Kisaragi-kun’s sister’s expression momentarily wavered at my words.

“By ‘he,’ you mean…”

“Fufu, of course, I mean Yuito-san.”

His sister looked slightly surprised at my words, but Kisaragi-kun remained unfazed.

“Could it be… you had already noticed, Kisaragi-kun?”

“Rather than noticing, something felt off while composing the song. The lyrics, where the subject longs desperately for someone, didn’t align with the lyrics about regret and missed chances—there was a disconnect I couldn’t ignore.”

“…Impressive, Kisaragi-kun. That’s exactly right. The lyrics as a whole come from Mizuki-chan’s diary, but the parts expressing feelings for Yuito-san were added by me.”

“I see. That makes sense now. Then, the events you talked about before…”

“Those were Mizuki-chan’s stories. At that time, I was acting as Mizuki-chan. How was it? Did I do a good job? I even took lessons from a famous director because I wanted to stand beside that man.”

“I can’t judge your acting, but without Tendouji-san’s lyrics, the song wouldn’t have been complete.”

Back then, I had put on different performances to capture Kisaragi-kun’s attention, but considering his artistic sensibility, perhaps revealing my true self would have interested him more.

“Ugh, don’t go bonding with a dangerous person.”

His sister cut in abruptly, throwing in a jab.

“Calling me dangerous is quite rude. I’m simply devoted. Even though Mizuki-chan’s downfall dragged me down as well, my love remains unwavering… Aren’t you the same?”

I deliberately left it unsaid, knowing that someone who looked at her brother the same way I did would understand without words.

“Don’t lump me together with you. I’ll do whatever it takes to stop this before it happens. I won’t make the same mistake as I did with Yuna-chan.”

“Ahaha, I think I’m starting to like you. Can I call you Mizuki-san?”

“No way. That’s disgusting. I haven’t acknowledged you, and your obsession is beyond abnormal.”

Unfortunately, she rejected me outright.

But eventually, Mizuki-san would come to realize it too.

That she belonged on our side. All I had to do was wait.

“That was a compliment. People are fickle creatures. Even couples who have been together for decades can break up in an instant. If you want to love just one person forever, you can’t stay ordinary.”

As I had told Kisaragi-kun from the beginning, only someone abnormal could love a single person so devotedly from childhood.

Eternal love is nothing more than an illusion.

And to maintain that illusion, you have to sacrifice reality—otherwise, it will shatter in an instant.

Just like Mizuki-chan…

“…Well, whatever. That’s not the issue right now. What I really want to know is your true objective.”

“Ah, that? It’s simple. I just want to convey my feelings.”

I was genuinely a little surprised that Kisaragi-kun had picked up on my intentions.

“Sigh… You did all this just for that?”

“To her, it’s not ‘just’ that.”

Somehow, a strange dynamic had formed—Kisaragi-kun, the one I was supposed to be using, was now the one explaining my motives to Mizuki-san instead.

Suddenly, it all felt ridiculous.

Maybe I didn’t need to go to such lengths. Someone as different as him might have turned my feelings into a song without any extra effort on my part.

So I made up my mind. I would reveal my true self—to create a song even more deeply infused with emotion. I would tell him everything… all the things I had done, the things no one else should ever hear, just how much I had sacrificed for him all this time.

If he knew, surely an even better song would be born. And then, he would understand—just how deeply I had loved him all along.

“Um… Would you mind if we changed locations? There are some things I’d rather not have overheard.”

At my suggestion, the two of them exchanged glances.

“I’ll agree, as long as I can sit in on the conversation.”

“Of course. I want you to hear it too, Mizuki-san.”

Without her permission, the conversation couldn’t move forward.

But more than that, I believed there was something in this that she, too, would come to understand.

tl: Takato Mizuho (高遠瑞穂) is a fictional character created by Tendouji Yukari (天童寺紫). Tendouji Yukari is the cousin of Tendouji Mizuki (天童瑞希), the ex-girlfriend of NTR guy/Yuito (唯斗), who has passed away. I was confused with the name—this kanji (瑞希/Mizuki) belongs to Yukari’s cousin, while this kanji (美月/Mizuki) belongs to Yuki’s older sister, Saijo Mizuki (西條美月).