β
Point:
This plot twist is next level. At first the reader's led to believe it's Yumi who died, so Hiromi's personality change when they meet in the first timeline seems to make sense. But actually it's Hiromi who died. Since Yumi loved her sister so much, she decided to live on in Hiromi's place. She even changed her name to Hiromi and forced herself to make the guy Hiromi loved, Amada, happy. That's why "Hiromi" (really Yumi) was willing to do anything for Amada's happiness, even though she knew what she was doing was wrong.
Characters:
MC: Ishii Kazuki
Heroine: Hidaka Mikoto
Heroine: Ushimaki Fuuka
Heroine: Iba Kouki
Heroine: Souda Hiromi
Others:
Heroine: Hitsujitani Miwa
Heroine: Kanie Kokoro
MC's sister: Ishii Yuzuki
MC's friend: Tsukiyama Ouji
Tsukiyama's heroine: Souda Yumi
That fucking bastard: Amada Teruhito
Timeline 1
β
At the start of second semester, after summer break ends, Ishii Kazuki can only watch Amada Teruhito and his crew happily reminiscing about everything they did over the break. They're talking about how fun it was going to Round One, thanks to an invite from Hitsujitani Miwa, a famous VTuber who was collabing with Round One at the time and got free tickets to hand out to Amada and his friends. But one thing feels off to Kazuki. Nobody brings up their trip to Okinawa, even though in Kazuki's memory, they all should've gone there.
β
Not long after, a new transfer student joins Kazuki's class. As unpopular guys, Kazuki and his guy friends are quietly hoping the new student's a girl. They want a chance to get to know a new girl, since pretty much every cute girl at school is always hanging around Amada.
β
Their wish actually comes true. The transfer student's a girl named Souda Hiromi. But right after Hiromi introduces herself in front of the class, Amada jumps up with a shocked look on his face. Seeing that reaction, all the guys can only sigh in resignation. They immediately conclude Hiromi's going to end up as yet another girl tied to Amada.
β
In the first timeline, Hiromi was the heroine he feared the most. When Kazuki got framed by Amada, Hiromi threatened all of Kazuki's guy friends so nobody dared to defend him. As a result, Kazuki got completely shut out by the whole school. Hiromi's devotion to Amada was so extreme she'd do anything for him. Because of that attitude, she even got the nickname Crazy Maid.
Timeline 2
β
Meanwhile, in the second timeline, summer break goes very differently. Kazuki's dad takes the family on a trip to Iwate Prefecture just like in the previous timeline. The difference is, this time Mikoto comes along too. Before heading to Iwate, Kazuki and his friends first plan a five-day, four-night trip to Okinawa. They'll stay at a villa owned by Tsukiyama Ouji's family, with Mikoto, Ushimaki, Iba, Kazuki's little sister Yuzuki, and Ouji. The trip's scheduled from the Friday of the first week of August to the Tuesday of the following week.
β
Before leaving, they go shopping for swimsuits together first. But the guys and girls deliberately split up. There are two reasons. First, nobody's interested in watching Ouji pick out a swimsuit. Second, they already know all too well what Ushimaki's fate is like.
β
For some reason, every time Ushimaki changes clothes, some kind of small accident happens. Kazuki's accidentally walked in on her changing and seen her underwear more than once. Every time it happens, Ushimaki cries from embarrassment. To avoid another incident like that, they decide to shop separately.
β
At the mall, they also run into Kanie Kokoro and her group. One of Kanie's group leaders turns out to be a huge fan of Ouji. But it's not because of romantic feelings, she just really enjoys how close Ouji and Kazuki are as best friends.
β
Taking the chance, Kazuki tries to dig up info on Souda Hiromi. He asks Mikoto, Ushimaki, Iba, Ouji, even Kanie if anyone knows her. Even earlier, when Miwa dropped by the convenience store where Kazuki works part-time, he'd asked her the same thing, since he has almost no info on Hiromi apart from the fact that she puts Amada above everything.
β
But nobody knows the name Souda Hiromi. Still, Kazuki picks up on something weird in Iba's reaction. When Hiromi's name comes up, Iba's expression and body language look different than usual, like he's hiding something. Kazuki doesn't know why yet, but he starts getting suspicious of Iba.
β
After shopping's done and they split from Ouji and the others, Kazuki finally gives Mikoto the gift, a pair of beach sandals. Mikoto's so happy to get a gift from Kazuki.
β
Kazuki warns her that wearing sandals for too long could give her blisters. But Mikoto still refuses to take off the sandals he gave her. Seeing how happy she is, Kazuki's dad and Yuzuki finally give up and let her keep wearing them.
β
On departure day, Ouji's dad drives them to the airport. During the ride, Ouji keeps telling his dad about his friendship with Kazuki. Hearing his son has friends this close, Ouji's dad's really happy.
β
Once they land in Okinawa, they're immediately greeted by beautiful island views. Since the trip was pretty tiring, they head straight to Ouji's family villa by taxi to rest before the rest of the vacation plans.
β
Iba's arranged dinner for the first night. While eating at a local restaurant, Ushimaki, who's great at making friends, quickly gets close with the owner. That's where they hear a local legend. Supposedly, if someone manages to find the flower that blooms on the beach on the night of August 7th, that person will get to stay with the one they love most forever.
β
Even though it sounds romantic, the weather forecast says heavy rain's coming that night. That's why Kazuki and Mikoto quickly warn Ushimaki not to go to the beach just to look for the flower.
β
The next day, they decide to play at the public beach even though they could've used Ouji's family's private beach. They want a livelier vacation vibe. With Mikoto, Ushimaki, Iba, and Yuzuki all being gorgeous, plenty of beachgoers end up noticing their group without even realizing it.
β
In the middle of that, Mikoto asks Kazuki to put sunscreen on her. But before Kazuki can do it, Yuzuki quickly shuts that request down.
β
Not long after, while Kazuki's alone, a girl suddenly walks up to him. The moment he sees her face, his whole body tenses up. That girl's Souda Hiromi.
β
To Kazuki, Hiromi's a trauma from the first timeline. His heart starts pounding just from seeing her.
β
No small talk, Hiromi asks Kazuki to pretend to be her boyfriend. At first Kazuki ignores the request, but Hiromi keeps pushing until Kazuki finally introduces himself and answers her questions. Even so, he still turns down the request. Instead, Kazuki even suggests Ouji, who he thinks is way more perfect as a guy. But Hiromi shoots down that idea, saying Ouji's too perfect.
β
In the middle of their conversation, Mikoto and Iba walk over. Mikoto immediately gives Hiromi a cold stare, while Iba's face suddenly goes pale when he sees her.
β
The situation only calms down when Hiromi's twin sister, Souda Yumi, comes over. At first Yumi misunderstands and thinks Kazuki's hitting on Hiromi. But once she finds out Hiromi was actually the one who started talking to Kazuki, Yumi quickly apologizes for the misunderstanding.
β
Seeing how unnaturally Iba's been acting ever since meeting Hiromi, Kazuki becomes even more sure Iba's hiding something. He plans to get him alone to find out why.
β
But before Kazuki can ask him, it's Iba who suggests they meet in secret in the middle of the night, after everyone at the villa's asleep. That meeting's what ends up revealing the big truth about the first timeline and their connection to Souda Hiromi.
β
That night, after everyone in the villa's asleep, Kazuki meets Iba in the living room like they agreed. Two questions have been nagging at him. First, about Souda Hiromi. Second, his suspicion that Iba also remembers the first timeline like he does.
β
Kazuki's suspicion isn't baseless. Earlier, Iba knew Shohei Ohtani would join the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024, even though it's still 2023 and Ohtani's still playing for the Los Angeles Angels. That knowledge that shouldn't exist yet made Kazuki sure Iba's carrying memories from a previous life too.
β
Realizing he can't hide it anymore, Iba finally tells him everything.
β
He does remember the first timeline. But unlike Kazuki, who got all his memories at once, Iba's came back little by little. It all started after his plan to set Kazuki up in the second timeline failed. As time went on, pieces of his past life's memories started coming back until he finally remembered everything.
β
In the first timeline, Iba had actually started realizing Amada wasn't a normal person. He tried to distance himself from Amada, but it was already too late. After finding out Kazuki chose to end his life because of all the false accusations and suffering he went through, Iba decided to end his own life too. That's why he was able to be reborn in the second timeline carrying memories from his previous life.
β
Full of regret, Iba admits all his past mistakes. He doesn't expect Kazuki to forgive him at all. In fact, if Kazuki asked him to end his life as atonement, he'd do it without hesitation. To him, he'd do whatever Kazuki asks to make up for everything he's done.
β
Hearing that confession, Kazuki can't deny that he used to hate Iba badly. But that feeling disappeared a long time ago. Ever since Iba became his real friend in the second timeline, Kazuki's slowly forgiven all his past mistakes. On top of that, Iba's helped him out many times, including when they dealt with Hitsujitani Miwa not long ago.
β
It's actually Iba who then warns Kazuki not to be too nice to girls, especially someone like him. He admits he falls in love easily, and he once genuinely loved a guy as terrible as Amada. That's why he's worried Kazuki's kindness will just make him sink even deeper into his own feelings.
β
Once things calm down a bit, Kazuki finally asks why Iba looked so pale when he met Hiromi at the beach.
β
Iba's answer leaves Kazuki speechless.
β
From the start, Iba was actually trying to keep Kazuki away from Hiromi during the Okinawa trip. The reason is that Hiromi's the one who caused Kazuki's mom's death in the first timeline.
β
After an accident that killed a girl earlier, Hiromi went to the victim's mother and told her the family responsible for her daughter's death seemed to be living happily without any guilt. Those words set the victim's family off, until they ended up killing Kazuki's mom as revenge.
β
Iba then tells him everything he knows about Hiromi.
β
According to his memories, the biggest change in Hiromi's life happened after her twin sister Yumi died. Before that, Hiromi was a cheerful girl. But after Yumi died, her personality changed drastically. She became a woman who hates men and ended up sacrificing her whole life just for Amada. Unfortunately, Iba himself doesn't know how Yumi actually died in the first timeline.
β
After hearing all that, Kazuki and Iba quickly make a decision. This time they'll try to change fate and prevent Yumi's death.
β
Their first step is trying to get closer to Hiromi. Kazuki wants to find out the real reason why Hiromi's so insistent on getting someone to pretend to be her boyfriend.
β
Turns out the reason's nothing like what they imagined.
β
Hiromi wants to show Yumi she can come out on top too. Ever since she was little, she's always felt like she lived in her twin's shadow. Parents, teachers, even friends at school always praised Yumi, while she was just treated as an add-on.
β
Even when a guy got rejected by Yumi, they'd often switch to confessing to Hiromi just because they looked so alike. That made Hiromi feel even more like people never really saw her as her own person.
β
During that conversation, Kazuki and Iba also learn another fact they never saw coming.
β
Hiromi's actually known Amada since elementary school. And even back then, Hiromi already had feelings for him.
β
That fact really shocks Kazuki and Iba. They'd always assumed Amada first met Hiromi during the Okinawa trip in the first timeline. Turns out their connection started way before that.
POV Amada β Timeline 1
β
When he was little, Amada first met Hiromi at the library.
β
The second he saw that pretty girl, Amada decided to make her one of his heroine candidates. He deliberately carried a huge stack of books, then pretended to fall. He even repeated the act over and over until Hiromi finally felt bad and came over to him.
β
Taking the chance, Amada told her Hiromi has her own strengths too.
β
To Amada, that line was just a compliment with no special meaning. But to Hiromi, who'd always been compared to Yumi, those simple words became a lifeline. For the first time, she felt like someone truly recognized her as herself. From then on, Hiromi started believing Amada was the only guy who truly understood her.
β
When they met again in Okinawa in high school, Amada deliberately pretended not to recognize Hiromi. He wanted to create a reunion that felt like a scene from a romance manga, like it was all fate.