My Parallel-World Self Shares My Kinks, and One Even Gets Cultivated

The red of sunset bled into the thin-clouded blue sky. Seen from the high ground, the town of Himurogioka still lay under a hazy evening sun.

Tsukino stood with the sky and town at her back, both turning a pale crimson. Almond eyes lifted skyward, she held down her black hair as it danced in the wind, streaming like ink dropped into the sunset. Her blazer uniform caught the color of the sky, making for an unreasonably picturesque scene.

At the same time, that cold beauty of hers, set against a sky that would soon deepen to darker red and then to black, carried a whiff of something ominous, too.

Her eyes, gazing at the town, were dark, and her well-shaped, thin lips looked as if painted with blood. The sunset flickered on the black-and-silver rose adorning her hair and the understated silver accessory on her wrist.

A girl who knows the beginning of the tragedy. From here, the curtain rises on the bad end.

"A harbinger of despair and terror… that kind of scene, isn't it."

Without warning, Tsukino turned to face me and grinned.

"Were you thinking the same thing, Asahi? I was tacking on the line, 'The boy knows. That this town is about to perish.'"

"I was. Something like 'heralding the start of the tragedy.' But unlike you, Tsukino, I don't fit into a bad-end picture, do I."

I'm a scrawny high-schooler whose only notable feature is a slightly mean look.

"I wouldn't say that."

Tsukino pointed her phone at me. The camera app's shutter sound went off.

"I'm bad with photos, though."

I snapped one of Tsukino back.

"I'm bad with them too. My eyes look mean, after all."

She was on guard, half-hiding her face behind her phone.

"I think it's cool, personally."

"I'm thinking the same thing. Cool and sharp."

Tsukino turned her eyes to the town once more. I looked down at the familiar town the same way.

Honestly, it was to hide my embarrassment, and Tsukino was probably embarrassed too… surely.

Anyway, after leaving the literature club, Tsukino and I had come to the lookout park on the north side of town.

It's a green space at the highest point on the north side of Himurogioka. Apparently it uses the terrain of what was originally a wooded hill pretty much as-is. Alongside Green Mall, it's where the people of Himurogioka come to unwind.

Where Tsukino and I stood was the observation deck at its very top. There's no tower or big facility to speak of; it's a simple setup, just a safety railing, a coin-operated telescope, and benches at a spot that juts out slightly toward the town.

"Looking at the town, notice any differences from your world, Tsukino?"

"I wonder…"

She narrowed her eyes and gazed out at the sunset-dyed town.

"I feel like it's almost the same. Green Mall and Himurogioka High are the same. But if you asked whether the little details differ, I'd say they might."

"So no conspicuous landmarks added or missing, then."

"If it were that obvious, I'd be able to say something felt off."

We went down the gentle steps and left the observation deck behind.

Even on a weekday evening, plenty of people visit the leafy lookout park. All sorts pass by: students like us stopping off on the way home from school, people who've brought their pets, even elderly folks on their daily walk.

"We've still got time. Want to head to the next place?"

"Sure. If I did wander into this world, there might be some hint among the places I went yesterday. …Or there might not be."

"Since we know nothing except that this seems to be a parallel world, all we can do is look for clues."

To that end, we'd started with the farthest spot, the lookout park. Yesterday, Tsukino had headed from here toward Green Mall by the station and, apparently, met me at the movie theater attached to it.

"But, Asahi. Don't you need to prep for the novel battle? Isn't tomorrow cutting it pretty close?"

"No, it's mostly finished. There are a few spots that snag me; fix those and it's done."

It had turned into a novel battle just from how things flowed, but even without any of that I'd have submitted it to the regular critique session. Then again, those often become battles on their own anyway.

"Besides, obviously what I should prioritize is you, Tsukino. It'd be bad if the flow of time in your world and mine were the same."

"That part… yeah. It's a little worrying."

Tsukino fiddled with her phone, but it seemed she still couldn't connect to her own world. She could exchange messages with me, though.

We started walking, heading out of the lookout park. Tsukino, out in front, had the lighter step. Or rather, I was the one out of breath, legs heavy.

"Oh, sorry. We should've taken a break."

Tsukino, who'd noticed and doubled back, showed no sign of tiring, of course.

To put it plainly, coming straight here right out of school had been pretty rough. Once you pass through the residential area around the school, the way to the lookout park becomes a long, fairly steep climb. Most people who don't live nearby come by car or bus.

Just keeping up with Tsukino's surprisingly brisk pace had worn me out considerably.

"Tsukino, you've got a lot of stamina. Sure you're actually the same existence as me?"

"If we're going by that, our blood types and genders are different, you know."

At her prompting, I sat down on a nearby bench. I'd probably be sore tomorrow.

"Asahi, watch."

Tsukino set her bag on the bench and walked off a little ways.

Then she turned back to face me. The sunset sky and townscape spread out behind her.

Her gaze sharpened. A stance with her loafer-clad feet turned slightly inward.

She thrust her clenched left fist forward and drew her right fist back to around her armpit.

An instant later, her right fist shot out along with a sharp exhale. In the same beat, her stepping foot landed with a heavy sound.

She stepped in once more, and her left fist tore through the air. The sound of it striking empty air was unmistakable.

Tsukino didn't stop.

She turned side-on, shoulder toward me. Her feet crossed for an instant, and then she unleashed a kick at a speed my eyes couldn't follow.

Her checked skirt flared, and a white leg swung up. A motion like a blade slicing through the air. The leg stopped dead in midair, then came smoothly back down.

It was over in an instant.

Straight punches and kicks I could never manage, nothing like an amateur's. The sheer beauty of the motion left me unable to breathe.

"That's all. That was karate."

Tsukino's expression flipped, breaking into a smile. Her almond eyes curved into arcs.

"Wh-what's the meaning of this?"

"Meaning you don't do karate, do you, Asahi."

"Never once in my life have I thought about doing it."

"I get that."

For someone who'd just shown off such incredible moves, she burst out laughing.

"If I hadn't had a reason to start, I don't think I'd be doing it either."

Tsukino threw out an elbow strike with a natural, oddly refined motion.

"There was a period when a lot was going on. Back then, in a fit of self-abandonment, I took up karate on a whim. Something like… a feeling of wanting to hurt myself, maybe?"

"That's way too extreme a way to relieve stress."

"I think so too."

She swept a knife-hand through the air, sharp enough that whatever it hit wouldn't have come out unscathed.

"The stretch where I really threw myself into it was short, but it seems I had some weird talent for it. My instructor said as much. I could feel it myself, too; I'd put my aptitude for it at about three times what I have for writing novels."

"Don't tell me I've got that hidden talent too."

"If we're the same existence, you should."

She flowed through a sequence of techniques, straight punch into kick, but her breathing never wavered in the slightest.

"I'm not that interested in it, so I've dialed back to a normal pace now. So there you have it: I've got more stamina, and I'm stronger at karate."

"So the reason you look so strikingly beautiful just standing there is that you're trained, with a strong core?"

"Really? So I look good just standing there."

She straightened her back once more. Slender and long-limbed as she was, her good posture stood out.

Before I knew it, Tsukino had wiped the smile from her face and was looking at me. She gazed intently and tilted her head a little. The childlike gesture, at odds with her grown-up features, was honestly cute.

"Asahi, you were watching that karate pretty closely just now, weren't you."

"That's, well… I was watching, but."

"Could it be… this kind of thing is your kink?"

"Gh." The groan of a man with no comeback slipped out. For a second I thought about playing it off, but my same existence was clearly already sure of it. She'd caught me looking with that kind of eye. No, what does "that kind of eye" even mean?

"A kink."

I spat it out, plain and honest.

"A girl looking cool is a kink of mine. Swords and guns are a sure thing, but hand-to-hand really is the best. Ahh! Strike! You're exactly right!"

"I-I see… Having it said to my face is a little…"

Tsukino turned her face away. She'd egged me on, then gotten embarrassed all on her own.

"…Actually, people with cool moves are a kink of mine too. So I figured you might be the same, Asahi."

"That's me for you. You get it."

"In 'Infinity Heaven,' too, that flying kick the protagonist does across an absurd distance was so good. And I like the persistent ground-grappling scene."

"For me, the great part was when the heroine gained a parallel world's power and started fighting with an axe and a sword."

"We talked all this to death yesterday, but now it's been outed as a kink."

"Honestly, I pretty much figured as much."

For the moment we did our usual fist-bump. We ended up going More Bad, More Hell.

"Oh, right."

Tsukino looked at me intently again. Hand at her mouth, she was lost in thought. Somehow I got the feeling I was being seen through.

After pondering a while, she bent toward me. I was sitting on the bench, so Tsukino's face came right up close. Close, like, about Jun's host-club distance.

"About that period earlier when a lot was going on."

She put a finger to her lips.

"In a fit of self-abandonment, I also had my wisdom teeth pulled."

She opened her mouth wide.

A shiver ran down my spine.

My heart pounded hard, and I felt as if the blood were rushing back up from my body to my head.

For the first time I realized that the faint, healthy red of her lips was a color she'd applied. Her teeth were white and well-aligned, her canines a little long and pointed. Her back teeth were unexpectedly large, glistening slickly in the slanting evening sun. The inside of her mouth was a gentle peach color, writhing with a jewel-like luster. With each breath, a tongue longer than I'd expected pulsed like a separate creature.

"Could you see?"

Tsukino drew back, and I finally came to my senses. My fingertips were trembling from the aftershock.

"Wh-what are we talking about?"

"The spot where I had my wisdom teeth pulled, I said."

Now that she mentioned it, there had been a mark, the flesh dented, even deeper in than her back right teeth. No, that one's seared into my eyes too.

"I saw it. Yeah, I saw it."

I meant to feign nonchalance, but my voice cracked.

When I looked up, Tsukino had put a hand to her lips once more, showing me inside her mouth. She was farther away than before, but my eyes followed anyway.

"I figured maybe this is a kink too. Fufu. It really was a kink."

"No, I don't know it. I don't know any such kink."

"Is that so? Even though your face is bright red."

"It's that red?!"

My ears were certainly hot, my vision was swimming, and my heart was going like I'd just run long-distance. I put a hand to my face, but it told me nothing.

"What made you think it's a kink?"

"Because I… There are sometimes scenes like this in manga and anime, right?"

She mimed spreading her lips wide.

"And close-ups in eating scenes, or when someone bites down, or brushing teeth…"

Her voice grew smaller as she went.

"…That kind of thing is pretty much a kink for me. So, since we share kinks beyond bad ends, and you shared my kink for action-y characters, Asahi, I figured you might be the same. But thinking about it, showing the inside of my mouth is kind of unladylike, or…"

She turned away and hid her face in both hands. My ears were apparently red, but Tsukino's ears were quite something too. And not just from the evening sun.

"Up until this moment, I had no such kink. But."

Tsukino with her mouth open wide, her pointed canines, the mark from her wisdom teeth, all of it wouldn't leave my head. Exhilaration welled up, like the moment you realize the novel you're reading is heading for a bad end.

"A new kink of mine has been cultivated. What are you going to do about it. This is for life."

"I've been told to take responsibility."

I was being egged on. Embarrassed as she obviously was, she gave a little "hmph" of a laugh through her nose.

I stood up without thinking.

"Then I'll stimulate a kink of yours too."

"Ohh. And how will you do that?"

"Teach me that karate from earlier. If we share a kink for action, then my karate should rattle you."

"I follow the logic, but you're asking me to teach you in the middle of all this? I don't mind, though."

Tsukino drew close.

"Then, from the straight punch. You hold your stance like this—"

When I tried to copy the stance Tsukino had taken earlier, the corrections came one after another: "Hold your stance like this," "Feet a little more inward," "Put your strength here."

Tsukino's hands grabbed my arm, patted my thigh, pushed my hips, adjusting my stance. In the middle of it, her black hair brushed my cheek, and a faint breath passed by my ear. My mean-looking face was reflected in her eyes.

"That's good now. How's it feel?"

"Strangely, it feels right. Because I've got the talent?"

"That's a 'that's me for you,' then."

The same stance as Tsukino earlier: left fist thrust out, right fist drawn to the armpit.

"Drawing the left back, fire out the right."

As told, I threw a straight punch. My fist struck the air more smoothly than even I expected. After a moment of satisfaction, a dull ache set in from muscles I don't usually use.

"Is this good?"

Tsukino didn't answer. As if that strong core had been a lie, she staggered and backed away.

"…My legs might give out."

"That much?"

"Hold on a sec. Wait, I need to calm down."

Picturing Tsukino from before, I tried throwing a knife-hand. Maybe because it was the second time, the motion came out oddly practiced, if I do say so myself.

"…!"

Tsukino gave a shudder.

"Why'd you do it again?! My heart has its limits too!"

"I didn't think I'd get scolded."

She stared hard at me, then came closer.

"…Never mind. I want to watch a little more. I'll drill karate into you now."

"Don't drill me without asking. Get my consent."

Without a word, she grabbed my arm and tried to bring me into a straight-punch stance once more.

Partway through, Tsukino stopped moving.

She seemed to be staring at my hand, gripped in both of hers, but her black hair hid her expression and gaze.

"Tsukino?"

"I've been cultivated."

She murmured. Her upturned eyes looked somehow a little moist.

Tsukino's finger touched the vein swelling at the base of my thumb, on the clenched fist of my still-extended left arm. The feel of her nail was ticklish.

"…I think I like veins."

"Seriously? That kink, at least, has to be different…"

I fell silent. Ever so naturally, my eyes were drawn.

Her white nape, glimpsed through disheveled black hair. The life-carrying swell in the gap between her blouse collar and her hair. I couldn't take my eyes off the vein in her neck.

Tsukino's cultivating had made me aware of something I'd never once noticed before.

"I prefer the one on the nape."

"Ehh. Isn't that a bit too advanced? Really?"

Tsukino tugged my collar down. Then she brought her face close to check. The black-and-silver rose glimmered before my eyes, and Tsukino blended into the spring air.

She stared intently at my nape, just like that. With my collar pulled open, I couldn't move. Couldn't resist. Had no will to resist.

A few minutes later, Tsukino gently drew back.

"I get it."

She murmured.

"To think that for me, for us, there was such a possibility. That a New FrontierFrontier remained."

"We've ended up somewhere there's no coming back from, and yet you put it so nicely."

The number of Tsukino's body parts I was conscious of had grown. "Body parts," really.

"Hey, Asahi. While we're at it…"

She rubbed her fingers together restlessly. When she twisted her body, her skirt swayed softly.

"Can I look inside your mouth?"

"You say the wildest things."

"I showed you my embarrassing part first, didn't I?"

"You say the most outrageous things."

That said, being the only one who didn't show was, well, hardly fair. Though I did worry whether any bits of food were stuck in there.

Using my phone's front camera, I checked inside my own mouth. Nothing obviously gross.

"Then, just a little."

Like Tsukino earlier, I pulled my lips open with my fingers and opened my mouth as wide as I could. I was getting nervous.

"Pardon me."

I'd never heard a greeting for peering into someone's mouth before. She leaned in toward me, which made me even more nervous.

"Ahh. Wisdom teeth still going strong. Be careful, you might get a cavity."

I wanted to shoot back, "Don't go saying stuff like that," but unluckily my mouth was still open.

From where I sat, I couldn't see Tsukino's expression as she peered in.

After that bit of teasing, she went quiet, holding her breath and staying still.

An indescribable ticklishness crawled up my spine in shiver after shiver.

Hearing footsteps and voices approaching, we reflexively drew apart.

Two Himurogioka High students from another year, a boy and girl who looked like a couple, came walking along, chatting. Neither of them paid Tsukino or me any mind.

But their presence was enough to bring us back to our senses.

"I've rested plenty now."

"Then let's get going to the next place."

My head was still a little hot. Evening was drawing near and I should have felt the chill, but my body was flushed from deep within.

The two of us headed down the slope.

Both Tsukino and I had grown short on words. Exchanging only the bare minimum, we made our way to the next spot.

My preferences beyond bad ends, my kinks too, were quite similar to Tsukino's. Even kinks I hadn't been aware of were the same.

It felt like our kinks had pushed the proof that we're the same existence another step forward. But right now, what I felt in her was unmistakably something beyond just "the same as me." I'd found her my type from the start, and thought her beautiful.

I stole a glance, and it met Tsukino's gaze once more.