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To be ninja was to be unseen. To eliminate one’s presence entirely, disappearing even when standing in plain sight.Rimi still couldn’t match Master in that regard. Most of her classmates saw Rimi as a rather strange girl, instead of no one at all. Her words were a little too loud, gestures a little too wild, skirt a little too short…Of course, it was hard to sell rice—or anything else, for that matter—without drawing attention, which put Rimi’s aims a bit at odds with one another. She still strived to be the perfect ninja… but there wasn’t a lot of demand for ninja in this modern era. Fading into the background wouldn’t help one bit, when the rent came due.“Eh? Was the test really that hard?” another loud, attention drawing voice sounded out, from across the cafeteria. “It was all stuff we went over in class… I actually sort of forgot my textbook in my locker the day before, so I didn’t even really study for it, hehe~”Hikawa Hina rubbed the back of her head, ashamed of herself for all the wrong reasons. Attracting attention as easily as she breathed, the girls huddled around her table all in varying degrees of shock.“Y-You didn’t study at all?”“Wait, that meant you had put it off until the very last night to begin with!”“—And you still got a perfect score? That’s way too unfair!”It was only natural for the Student Council President to be a popular girl. Qualifications for the role’s paltry duties came a distant second to simply being likable and convincing during the school elections. Honestly, it wasn’t too dissimilar from actual politics, much to Rimi’s dismay.That it was Hikawa though… Yet another reminder of how far the clans had fallen. Once a name only uttered in hushed whispers, now all the same caught up in the endless contest of popularity and attention of their present era. Hina was about as far from a ninja as a girl could get, and maybe that was for the best.As with all the ninja clans of old, there were rumors about the Hikawa line. To the ignorant, there were wild stories of immortality, teleportation, even being in two places at once. To those in the know however, the rumors were far more grounded, but perhaps even more concerning.For as far back as records were kept, the Hikawa main family always had but a single heir. One child, no siblings, never once falling to hidden blade or illness. Even well into adulthood, the various clan heads throughout the family’s history had an uncanny tendency to survive their own assassinations. Even the seemingly successful ones.Rimi shook her head, ridding herself of such useless thoughts. The Hikawa clan was no more, its last clan head retired, denouncing the old ways, as so many other clans had in recent decades. Stepping back into the light, leaving the past in the past.One day, Rimi feared she would be tempted to do the same. Worrying, perhaps, that she already had. Could a ninja truly call herself a ninja, when no one seemed to have any use for her talents? If it was more profitable to simply sell rice for 20 yen per bowl, while the teachers weren’t watching?Hina gave off an easy laugh, as the girls around her continued their meaningless complaints. Rimi crept a little closer, watching Hina’s hand sink into short teal locks of hair. Carelessly combing her fingers through them, before letting her hand drop down once more.Then, Hina sniffed the air. Once, then twice, then—Rimi screamed as Hina spun around in her seat, turning to stare up at Rimi, face to face.“Ah, Rimi-rin-chan~” Hina sang out, perhaps the only girl besides Master who actually remembered her chosen nickname. “Is that fresh rice I smell, maybe?”If Hina were a more typical member of the Student Council, Rimi might’ve worried a little. She still hadn’t quite gotten approval for her entrepreneurial ventures, and someone more in tune with school policy would have likely called her out on it.Luckily, Rimi had been spotted by Hina, rather than her sister. Or… smelled by Hina, it sounded like?Even if Rimi hadn’t been trying to conceal herself, it was still a little embarrassing to be caught in such a manner. Hina’s scent definitely stood out too, an odd blend of scented candles and incense, covering her body’s natural odors, with a trace of mint floating in between. Hina wasn’t a ninja though, she had no reason to keep her scent in any way subtle. Or anything else about her subtle, for that matter. But right now, Rimi’s pride as a ninja was only a secondary concern.Reaching into a hidden pocket, Rimi pulled out her portable rice container—a white plastic box a little larger than her head, opening from the top—and let it land with a thump just a bit to Hina’s left.Rimi shoved her way in next to Hina, a pink haired girl—whose name she’d never learned—giving off a small scream as Rimi took her place beside Hina.“Looking to buy, Hikawa-senpai?” Rimi asked, clicking free the latch and flipping the lid open, steam rising up from the solid mass of rice within. “A bowl is only—”“Twenty yen, I know, I know~” Hina sang cheerfully, pulling a few stray coins out of her pocket. “Here you go, Rimi-rin.”Dutifully, Rimi accepted the coins from the strange Student Council President, and began to scoop out a bowl of rice for her.The strange feeling didn’t leave Rimi’s head for the rest of the school day. Something was off about Hikawa Hina. No one questioned that much. But the way Rimi had been caught, taken by surprise… Hina couldn’t really be a ninja, could she?Clearly, she could. Ninja lied all the time. To everyone, to each other, to themselves. Though the Hikawa clan had announced their retirement from the business, Rimi should hardly take their word alone on it. It was a ninja’s duty to verify information, especially from suspicious sources.So that afternoon, Rimi found her feet taking her towards the kendo club, towards the other half of the mystery. If Hina had been trained as a ninja, that could only mean one thing for her sister.
Clack. Clack.
“Gah—!”As Rimi opened the door, the sounds of wood against wood, and cries of exertion, grew quite crisp and clear. This soon after school had ended, only a pair of students had found their way here, already facing off for an audience of no one. Rimi let the door close without a sound, slipping back into a corner of the small dojo.Wakamiya Eve picked herself back up, gripping her shinai with both hands, pointing in front of her. A foreign exchange student that Rimi had never had the chance to speak to, and also a former model, if rumor was to be believed. She was certainly pretty enough for it, in a rather exotic way, white hair tied behind her in a single braid running down her back.“Again,” Eve said at last, her piercing sea-blue eyes fixed on her opponent.Hikawa Sayo nodded, taking her own ready stance in turn. Rimi had never been trained in the way of bladework, but there was a stark difference between the two girls. In the confidence with which they held themselves, if not the spacing of their hands or the positioning of their feet. Sayo stood with the absolute certainty that she would stay standing through the end of this. And Rimi believed it.
Clack. Clack.
The bamboo swords met once more, Eve losing ground all too quickly. Rimi found there was a certain beauty in Sayo’s brutal efficiency. But nothing like a ninja would fight, bending whatever rule necessary to win. Instead, Sayo wrapped herself in the ceremony of kendo, garbed in the same hakama as Eve, wielding the rules as a sacred weapon, strongest when unbroken. Relying on her opponent to be just as honorable, confident she could win in a fair fight.“Ah—!”Bamboo slapped against Eve’s wrist, and both girls froze in their actions, pulling away a moment later. It was a game without stakes, yet Rimi found herself fascinated all the same. Sayo had honed her body to near perfection, no doubt more dedicated than even Rimi herself. All this for play-fighting? All for contests and personal growth?Perhaps that only made it more impressive. Sayo’s life didn’t depend on her constant improvement. She had no wider goal that required these skills, beyond the practice of kendo in its own right. This was the sole purpose of all her hard work, all the sweat dripping off of her—its heavy musk layering over the slighter hints of her scent, not unlike Hina’s.The notes weren’t as strong, but as twins the two sisters would live together, their scents naturally similar. The same incense and scented candles would burn for Sayo, even if Hina had lit them. They might even share the same shampoo, a familiar trace of mint, carrying over, as Rimi crept closer behind Sayo.“…Careful, Ushigome-san. Even after a point is scored, it’s still dangerous to cross the boundary line unannounced.”Rimi jumped at Sayo’s voice, despite her best efforts. Twin daggers stabbed through her heart, both from Sayo noticing her, and surprising her in turn.“H-Hikawa-senpai,” Rimi stuttered, taking an unconscious step back outside the line. “I just thought… I was only…”Sayo glanced over her shoulder, shinai held across her chest in one hand. Rimi froze, as their eyes made contact.“You only thought to interrupt our club activities today, Ushigome-san?” Sayo asked pointedly. “Not the first time you’ve done such a thing, I hear, soliciting other students on campus…”If Sayo were any other highschool girl, Rimi might’ve giggled over her choice of words. But there was a stuffy, proper way that Sayo spoke, from a time when soliciting could still be used unironically, without risking immature giggles. Between this, and her serious tone, Rimi hardly gave a moment’s thought to other, less proper meanings. Sayo was way too terrifying for that.Instead, Rimi sprung into action.“I was just leaving, Hikawa-senpai!” Rimi shouted, giving a brief look towards the door, but only to throw Sayo’s attention off of her true objective.Bending low at the knees, Rimi leapt with all her might, crossing the gap between the sidelines of the dojo and the wall. But more importantly, keeping just enough height to grab hold of the conveniently-open window, cracked open for a bit of fresh air.“Ushigome-san, what are you doing? Get down from there!”Waving her shinai impotently, Sayo rushed for Rimi, but it was a moment too late. Rimi had the jump on her—quite literally—and was able to pull herself to safety just before her ankles got within smacking distance of Sayo’s bamboo sword. Forcing the window open wider, Rimi slipped through, climbing on top of the window before slamming it shut with one foot.Still not confident this was enough distance to put between herself and Sayo, Rimi scampered further up the outer wall of the school building, only stopping to let herself breath when she had finally pulled herself up and over the fence lining the roof.She found no one up there.The longer Rimi stood there, forcing her heart rate back down to a steady rhythm, the more certain it seemed. No one was up here. Sayo hadn’t burst through the door of the roof, nor had she revealed herself to be a ninja by climbing up the side of the building after Rimi. It was over, Rimi was fine.So why wouldn’t her heart stop beating so frantically?Rimi wasn’t the greatest ninja. She could accept that. Both of the Hikawa twins had managed to surprise her, simply by noticing her presence. And Rimi already knew her skills paled in comparison to Master, who might’ve very well been in the room for either incident, without anyone ever noticing. But she still felt she usually had more control over her own body than this—she had learned to slow her heart rate back when she was five!There was no more need for panic, adrenaline rushing uselessly through her. The threat was gone, and Rimi only looked more suspicious, standing there frazzled and out of breath. Of course, no one was there to see it, so Rimi should be fine. She just… didn’t feel fine.Something was wrong. There were no unexpected shadows, no kicked up dust, or any other signs of movement. It was empty, clean. A little too perfect, even in the flaws left behind. No one could be watching her, and all the same Rimi felt the eyes piercing into her.Turning her back to the door, Rimi tried to ignore the feeling for a moment. If she messed up so often in staying hidden, could she really trust her instincts here, when by all accounts they made no sense at all? But the longer Rimi waited, the heavier it weighed down on her. No one was watching her. Rimi was sure of it.Without so much as turning around to confirm her target, Rimi leapt up once more, twisting her body midair to flip back onto the smaller island above the door to the roof. She landed on something soft and squirming beneath her. No one cried out in sharp surprise. No one scrambled to climb back down to the roof. No one was trapped, Rimi catching her completely off guard.Though… who exactly had she caught?Rimi’s first hint, before she even opened her eyes, was the subtle scent of mint. The same shampoo she had caught twice before now. Hina, maybe? If Sayo had somehow managed to beat her to the roof, Rimi wasn’t sure she could ever live down the shame, even if she had caught the girl now.It couldn’t be Sayo though, Rimi was certain. No matter how fast she could go, Rimi had sniffed Sayo just minutes earlier, and all that sweat would leave its stain behind. Instead, there was nothing at all. But when Rimi opened her eyes, she wasn’t sure she had caught Hina either. The girl’s face was unmistakably Hikawa, and even though she wore a hood over her head, teal strands of hair poked out from it, after Rimi had tackled her to the ground. That created its own, far more confusing problem though, since Hina’s hair wasn’t nearly so long.Had Hina been hiding how long her hair truly was this whole time? Did Sayo have some way to suppress her own natural scent? No matter the truth, there was only one conclusion Rimi could draw. The girl beneath her was a ninja. A Hikawa. Trained in secret, despite the clan’s supposed retirement.“Give it up, Senpai!” Rimi shouted at the squirming girl, still unsure how to refer to her. “I caught you. I know you were watching me…”The girl stubbornly shut her eyes, shaking her head frantically to deny she was listening to anything Rimi might say, while refraining from speaking a word. Maybe she was afraid her voice would give things away? Hina and Sayo did sound rather different, though for all Rimi knew that might be expected even for identical twins.“Come on, you’re Hina-senpai, right?” Rimi took a stab at voicing her suspicions aloud. “Were you watching Sayo before I came in? Did you somehow know I’d end up on the roof? How do you get your hair to smell so good?”The last question slipped out before Rimi realized what she was saying. She had been bursting with dozens of questions all at once, and it had simply snuck by along with other, more useful lines of inquiry. Yet, it was only this last question which drew any reaction from Rimi’s captive, a small blush hinting at her cheeks, before the girl shook her head all the more frantically. But try as she might, she couldn’t seem to pry herself out from under Rimi.“H-Hey, it’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Rimi said, poking her nose into the small opening between the girl’s hood and neck. Maybe she could’ve ignored it ordinarily, but if this mysterious Hikawa was going to react so adorably, then Rimi needed to smell it again, not trusting her own memory to retain the finer details.It was a matter of what wasn’t there, as much as what was. Sayo and Hina both smelled quite alike, as sisters, but each was as a gemstone, their flaws drawing attention beyond all else. The build up of sweat on Sayo’s hakama, clinging to her skin even after practice. The burnt tinge of Hina’s scent, mixed in with all the candles and incense she made. All of it was gone, or at least reduced to a mere ember.Clean. Fresh. A blank slate. An incredible scent all in its own right, made doubly impressive by the fact that Rimi knew what should’ve been there. Maybe that’s what Rimi had been trying to ask? To be far too generous to herself, any technique that could remove such tricky scents so completely was certainly worth interrogating further. Rimi didn’t think that was quite where her thoughts were at as she was asking the question, but it’d be nice to learn all that same.Beneath her, the girl said nothing. Giving away not a hint if she was Hina or Sayo, or why she had been up here to begin with. Maybe it was time to try a different tactic.“Don’t be shy, talk to me, Senpai~” Rimi insisted, pulling back her earlier accusations and returning to a neutral appellation. “I can make it worth your while, you know.”Fitting her entire rice container into her pockets was a little tricky, even for Rimi. Ninja techniques could only go so far, and Rimi wasn’t the best at them. Still, she always had an emergency bowl ready, for herself if not a customer.If this didn’t count as an ‘emergency’, then Rimi wasn’t sure what would. Pushing her arm against the girl’s chest, Rimi pulled out the bowl, waving it right under her nose.“Here, a fresh bowl of rice, just for you. That’s a whole twenty yen value!” Rimi said, quickly feeling the need to add, “I know you’re good for paying me back later, Hikawa-senpai.”Unfortunately, the offer turned out not to be tempting enough for her captive, the teal haired girl freeing her hand and lighting a stick of incense she had concealed on her person. The smoke stung Rimi’s eyes, and the girl slipped out from under her, Rimi collapsing onto the deserted section of roofing.Rimi let out a few coughs, as the smoke cleared, but the girl was already gone, only a small star-shaped eraser sitting where she had been previously. At least Rimi had confirmation that she really was trained as a ninja, performing a substitution like that even while pinned down. Rimi wasn’t sure if she could’ve managed the same.Still, Rimi was left with far more questions than answers. Who exactly was she? Why had she been up here on the roof? And most importantly of all, did she run off just because Rimi asked to be paid back for the rice… or had she somehow noticed the sedative it had been laced with?Rimi left school that day defeated, made a fool of by the Hikawa twins in their trio of encounters. Worst of all, she didn’t even know which one she was really supposed to be getting even with! It occurred to her that both sisters might have been trained in secret, no less believable than only one of them being chosen. But the meeting on the roof had been the most humiliating, loosening her grapple to try to tempt the girl with food, as if a trained ninja would ever fall for such a ploy.All she knew for certain was that she had to act. Confront Hina, and failing that, confront Sayo. Rimi still suspected Hina a bit more, simply by how little time Sayo would’ve had to get up there. And Rimi wanted to think she wasn’t such a poor ninja—despite all evidence to the contrary—that she would miss Sayo following her out the window and passing her up to the roof. The idea that she might have instead taken the stairs, and still won out, was little comfort either.And so…
Knock. Knock.
“Are you in there, Hina-senpai?” Rimi called out, opening the door to the student council room. “I need to talk to you!”The student council was a fairly small scale operation, with just a handful of students involved in its day to day activities. To that end, Rimi knew that Hina would be easy to corner here, without anywhere to run, or unnecessarily witnesses looking in.Hopefully Hina hadn’t noticed Rimi staking out the room, ensuring she was really alone right now. That would’ve made her entrance a lot more embarrassing.“Ah, Rimi-rin-chan!” Hina said, clapping her hands together and standing from the table she had been seated at, swiftly abandoning her work. “Is this about your permit? The teachers said they wouldn’t let you—”“This isn’t about rice, Hina-senpai!” Rimi cut her off. “This is about something far more important!”With a dramatic pause, Rimi reached into her schoolbag, fishing out the star-shaped eraser she had taken from the rooftop yesterday.“I saw you dropped your eraser on the ground,” Rimi said plainly, holding it out for Hina to see.There wasn’t the barest flash of recognition. Hina looked entirely unconcerned, her body language unschooled but also betraying no hints that she had been on the roof yesterday. Even a trained ninja would be forced to adjust their posture to properly hide the involuntary micro-expressions which gave away so much precious information. But Hina just stood there, not concealing anything. Lacking either the skill or desire to.Rimi wasn’t sure what to make of it, Hina staring down at the eraser in Rimi’s outstretched palm. She wasn’t exactly acting normal, but within Rimi’s expectations for the student council president, prior to ever suspecting Hina to be a ninja. But being weird didn’t make someone a ninja. At least, not all on its own.“Hm… Are you sure, Rimi-rin-chan?” Hina said, putting a hand under her chin. “I don’t remember losing an eraser. Or ever owning a star eraser like that…”“Um, well—”“Maybe you saw Sayo instead!”Wasting no time, Hina snatched the eraser from Rimi’s palm, holding it up to one eye. She hummed to herself, examining it even closer still.“We look a lot alike, don’t we?” Hina asked, puffing her chest out with pride, Rimi spending a bit too long staring as she tried to compare its size to her brief impressions of the ninja on the roof. “Sayo and I go all sorts of places together, since we’re both on the student council and all. You probably saw her drop it, and thought it was mine~”Hina stared back at Rimi earnestly, eyes shining for no discernable reason. Rimi quickly discarded the possibility of it being a ninja technique, too useless and blatant to ever bother learning to begin with. Though Hina had done more than her fair share of questionable things in the past…“Come on, let’s go find her!”Before Rimi could get a word in edgewise, Hina grabbed Rimi by the hand—eraser safely clutched in the other—and sped off towards the door.It occurred to Rimi only after they leapt back down the stairs to the ground floor for a second time that Hina might not have any better idea of where Sayo was than Rimi had herself. Hina looked up and down the hallway, sniffing the air for a moment, before picking a direction seemingly at random, tugging Rimi along for the ride.If this was some secret ninja tracking technique of the Hikawa clan… it didn’t seem to be a very effective one. In fact, Rimi was quite certain they had been down this exact hallway previously. There was a good chance that Hina had absolutely no idea what—“W-Wait, Hina! Slow down!”Rimi caught sight of Sayo just in time, attempting to slow to a stop, only to get blindsided by Hina. Deeming their momentum too great, the crazed girl threw Rimi bodily to one side of her sister, diving herself towards the other, both of them tucking into less-than-graceful rolls as they hit the ground.“Heya Sayo! You’re up early this morning~”Not bothering to pick herself up, Hina lay sideways on the floor of the hallway, her neck bent at a perfectly awkward angle to look up at her sister.“I get here this early every morning, Hina,” Sayo said, though there was little venom in the remark. “Shouldn’t you know that by now? We do live together.”“Hehe, we do, don’t we?” Hina said, giving up the fight against gravity and flopping onto her back. “I guess I never needed to learn your schedule, since my built-in sisdar never fails!”Sayo and Rimi exchanged a quick look, neither really expecting the other to have any explanation for what Hina meant by that, deciding together to ignore it entirely. Then Sayo frowned, tilting her head to one side as she maintained eye contact a moment longer than Rimi was entirely comfortable with.“Is there something Ushigome-san needed from me, Hina?”While Sayo would never dare admit it out loud—out of politeness, rather than respect or fear or anything else—Rimi could tell she was having trouble deciding which girl would be less of a headache to talk to. Rimi could sympathize a little, conversations with Hina often leaving her with a headache as well. But she couldn’t get distracted from her mission!“Y-Yes, Hikawa-senpai,” Rimi said, clutching the star-shaped eraser in hand, hiding it from view. “There’s something I wanted to show you… it’s to do with our meeting yesterday.”Sayo quirked an eyebrow, but betrayed no sign of panic or worry. Either Sayo had no idea of the encounter on the roof, or she could school her expressions with greater discipline than Rimi thought possible. And quite a bit was possible, for a ninja.“I dunno what Rimi-rin-chan’s talking about, but she told me you dropped an eraser yesterday,” Hina explained, her sister appearing only mildly confused. “Did you lose something like that Sayo?”Awkwardly, Rimi pulled out the eraser, expecting nothing at this point. She had underestimated the Hikawa sisters, one or both of them were perfect actors. Perfect liars. Better than Rimi, certainly.“I don’t recognize it,” Sayo said with a frown. Maybe a lie, maybe the truth, not the slightest twitch from her face to give Rimi a hint. “You said you saw me drop it, Ushigome-san? If anything, wouldn’t you have been the one to drop something, leaving in such a hurry yesterday?”The sharper tone cut into Rimi, now feeling very silly for even trying. She blinked once, then twice, refusing to let any tears form. Likely, it wouldn’t matter, if either Sayo or Hina were properly trained ninja, then just the slight shake of her hand—still holding the star-shaped eraser—would more than give away her shattered state. She knew it was one of them! She had been so close, even capturing the mysterious ninja girl… Unless the Hikawa in question had simply allowed Rimi to get that close, knowing that the gap between them was too large for anything to matter.“I-I, I’m—” Rimi’s fist closed around the eraser, turning to run. “I’m sorry Hikawa-senpai, I’m just not good enough!”Neither Hina nor Sayo chased after her. Rimi had no doubt they could’ve caught her, if they thought she was worth the effort.Fire crackled in the dark of the woods, long after sundown. Rimi could’ve started earlier, but ninja didn’t always have the luxury of choosing when they could rest, when they could eat. She needed to function just as well in the dead of night as the light of day.It had been disheartening at first, to have been so thoroughly deceived by the Hikawa sisters, spotting not a single crack in their facade. But Rimi wouldn’t let herself give up, self-improvement was ever the path forward for a ninja. Before she could surpass anyone else, she had to first surpass herself.So here she was, out alone in the wilderness on an unplanned training trip. Starting from the beginning, practicing even the littlest things she might’ve ever neglected. No shortcuts of electronics or modern engineering, just the woods and a few simple essentials she could fit in her backpack.She could make do without a pot if she had to, but Rimi loved freshly cooked rice to subject herself to other alternatives if it could all be helped. She couldn’t see it clearly, from just the small, flickering light of the fire, and the steady roar covered the quieter dripping sound, but on the ground beside her the pot slowly filled with water, filtering down through the length of a thin bandana to clear out the mud of the river. Rimi knew how long it would take to fill all the same, having gone through the same motions on many a previous exercise.Maybe it was all for nothing. Rimi hadn’t been slacking in her training before, and she still felt so useless against the Hikawa sisters. But what else was she to do? Give up? Grovel at their feet and beg to learn their secrets?Rimi carefully untied the top of her bag of rice, fingers working silently in the poor lighting. By memory and touch, more than her eyes, she opened the bag, and tipped it into the pot of water. Rimi felt the weight of the bag slowly decrease, mentally calculating exactly how much rice she needed to cook tonight, pulling the bag away at just the right moment.With a deft motion, Rimi placed the pot right in the middle of the flames, atop a small raised section in the center of the firepit she had dug. She pulled her hand away well before the heat could do more than lick her fingers, covering the top with the pot’s lid, and now left only to wait for it to boil.She shook her head, reminding herself than patience was a virtue, for a ninja most of all. Rimi didn’t need anyone else to help her, such shortcuts would only hurt her growth and pride both. A ninja worked alone, trained alone. No one would help her. And as luck would have it, no one was here.The air grew chill, as Rimi pulled back from the fire. She sucked in a breath, catching the smoke and the forest and yet some other natural scent she didn’t immediately place. The crackling flames were all Rimi could hear, soft as they were. The shifting shadows the fire cast likewise revealed nothing more beyond her campsite. And yet…Mint.No one was here.Rimi froze. She didn’t scream. She fought every instinct to turn around, despite feeling a presence quite keenly behind her. Standing so close that Rimi could feel her breath, hitting the back of her neck. A girl’s breath. Hikawa’s breath.“Hello, Hikawa-senpai.”No one heard her. No one stood in silence. Rimi forced herself to breathe, realizing a moment later she was matching Hikawa’s rhythm. In and out. Taking in the other girl’s scent—barely standing out from the background, just as a ninja should.“You don’t smell like Sayo-senpai or Hina-senpai, do you?” Rimi thought out loud, safe in the knowledge that no one was listening. “Even the mint, it isn’t as strong. But that’s all there is right now… nothing to hint at who you really are. It’s incredible, really.”The silence grew heavier, the quiet rhythm fading out, until Rimi heard nothing behind her at all. No one. If it weren’t for that last trace of mint, Rimi would be certain she had only imagined it. But Rimi trusted her senses, even if some of them were useless right now. The scent was faint, but undeniably present. And even closer now.Rimi turned the slightest bit to her right, following the shifting trail of the scent—and let out a scream.“Waah?” Rimi stared at the cloaked figure sitting on the log beside her, too late to stop herself from reacting. “H-Hikawa-senpai?”The uneven light of the fire danced across the mysterious girl’s face, Rimi unable to make out the color of either her hair or eyes. But she had no doubts. It was her. The one Rimi so desperately wanted to beat.Losing again. The other girl had completely and effortlessly snuck up on her. Rimi never would have ever found her, except that Hikawa had let her. For some reason…?“It’s really just unfair how good you are,” Rimi complained, though the girl did not acknowledge her words in any way. “I knew you were behind me, and I still didn’t catch you sitting down! I’m honestly a little jealous, how flawlessly you can hide yourself. Even now, even so close to you, I still have no idea which sister you are.”Hikawa said nothing. Rimi expected little else from her. She glanced over to the fire, the pot sitting amidst the flames. A watched pot never boiled, but Rimi was in no hurry. She imagined she would wait far longer, on a response from Hikawa.Once again, the girl surprised her.“Don’t be jealous of me.”Rimi stiffened at the soft voice, caught off guard in the strangest way. She resisted the urge to turn to face Hikawa, fearing perhaps a little foolishly that the girl might stop speaking if Rimi did.Silence returned, but Rimi’s thoughts were spinning so very loudly. Sayo didn’t sound like that. Hina didn’t sound like that. No confidence, no pride, no… anything. There was a common thread that Rimi’s ears picked up on, the twins’ voices similar in pitch if less so in demeanor. But just like Hikawa’s scent, it was missing something. Hina’s voice, but less. Sayo’s voice, but less.Something pricked at the back of Rimi’s mind, the voice sounding so wrong, though she couldn’t place why. It just made her instincts scream at her, as if it was Rimi who was missing something, rather than Hikawa.“I always was jealous of my sister growing up,” Sayo said. Rimi forced herself to stare at the not-yet-boiling pot, rather than the girl beside her who suddenly sounded quite different. “Hina was so naturally talented. Gifted in ways I couldn’t match even with twice the effort. And so… I didn’t. I decided to go my own path, and accept my sister for who she was. The world doesn’t need two Hikawa Hina’s, after all.”Sayo’s words physically stung Rimi, trailing off with an odd bitterness. It at once sounded so genuine, and yet, Rimi couldn’t fully believe it. Why would Sayo reveal herself? Why would she care what Rimi felt? Why did her words ring so hollow?“I always thought my sister was the most amazing person in the world,” Hina said, Rimi instantly pulled from her thoughts, but holding back on the million questions flying into her head. “I can’t seem to find anything that can hold my attention for long. Stargazing, debate, track, even student council president—it all gets so boring. But Sayo worked her way up on the kendo team, never once letting her dedication slip. Maybe kendo’s just way more interesting than all those other things… but I don’t think I’ll try to find out. The world doesn’t need two Hikawa Sayo’s, after all.”The pot spat and bubbled, as Hina trailed off. Rimi hardly recognized her voice by the end, tinged with a melancholy so unlike the president she knew. But who was this, really? Hina? Sayo? Neither? …Both?“W-Who…?” Rimi started, unable to voice her question. It was too shameful, demanding another ninja to simply reveal her secrets, after besting Rimi at every turn.No one spoke. Not right away, letting the silence linger once more. Until Rimi could almost forget she wasn’t alone. Then a hand fell over her eyes. Someone leaned against her from behind—moving without notice once more. Rimi took in the scent of fresh mint, able to see nothing, yet feeling the girl with all her other senses.Well, maybe not taste, but—“There was always one Hikawa,” came a whisper. “Invincible. Terrifying. Standing alone.”Rimi tried to nod, knowing at least this much, but Hikawa gripped her too tightly. Perhaps desperately, failing to properly voice her feelings. If Rimi hadn’t heard both Sayo and Hina so clearly before, she might’ve thought the girl could hardly speak at all.“A single clan head, who would beget a single clan heir. Forever in a single line, with no one to step in if they ever slipped up.”It was nothing Rimi hadn’t heard before, Hikawa only confirming the rumors that her grandfather had recalled before he passed. But it didn’t sound the same now. Rimi now knew, especially for a ninja, how easily “no one” could become someone. Anyone.Maybe it was unfair to call it easy. Rimi didn’t think she had it in her. She was hardly sure Hikawa could manage it either, with raw pain the closest thing to emotion slipping into her voice.“Twins… It really was a changing time, when Sayo and Hina were born,” the voice continued, speaking of the sisters almost as strangers, though calling them so familiarly. “The Hikawa clan at last stepped out of the shadows, publicly renouncing the old ways. No one needed to be trained, and so the twins were left to grow into their own selves. Two sisters, with nothing to hide.”Rimi’s head swirled, trying to pierce through to the heart of Hikawa’s confession, wrapped in implication and uncertainty. The smell of mint stung her mind, too sharp, unmuted by incense or sweat or anything else. A half-step away from either sister, and yet so far from them both.“You…” Rimi started, feeling Hikawa’s arms wrapped around her head and shoulders, taking in her scent, listening to her shaky breathing—all undeniable proof that she was real. “You aren’t Sayo. You aren’t Hina.”“I’m no one, Rimi.”The mint grew stronger, as Hikawa’s body shifted behind her. Leaning over, until the scent wasn’t a scent at all. Rimi could taste it, her lips parting at the gentlest touch of—Rimi’s eyes widened uselessly, still blinded by Hikawa’s hand. But even without her sight, it was clear what had happened. Hikawa’s tongue slipped into her mouth, in an awkward, sideways kiss, unwilling to release Rimi to get a better angle.“Don’t look for me again.”With a final whisper, Hikawa let go—and vanished. Only a hint of mint on Rimi’s clothes and tongue still left to prove she was ever there. In her place, a small bowl of rice now sat in Rimi’s lap, her forgotten pot taken off the fire and scraped clean.A flawless substitution, though Rimi had perhaps been a little distracted. She touched her fingers to her lips, refusing to entertain the possibility she had imagined it all. Hikawa was out there. Rimi wouldn’t let her get away again.There were plenty of ways, after all, for a ninja to find someone—or no one—besides just looking for them. But Rimi knew she had to keep working, if she wanted to have any chance of success. And all that hard work required fuel, the fresh rice steaming and inviting.Taking out her chopsticks, Rimi reached down for the bowl of rice—and then stopped, letting out a giggle. Naturally, it was poisoned.