Excerpt: Tangle!

Mori Kayu was sixteen years old and in the spring of her youth. She was sure of it. Sure she was rather average in appearance, with mousy brown hair tied back in pigtails and glasses framing her eyes, but none of that made a difference. All because she was- for the first time in her life- in love. And she was pretty sure that the object of her affections returned her feelings. After all, if he didn't why would he act the way that he did?

Tachibana Kuuta was always there for her. He had been since they were ten years old, when Kayu's parents had moved into the house next door to him with Kayu and her twin brother Hisa. All it took was one meeting, and the three of them were inseparable. They still were till this day- walking to school together, sneaking out in the middle of the night to watch the stars and talk with each other, going on outings together on the weekend. Hisa was always tagging along too, of course, but it wasn't the kind of stuff you'd do with a girl if you didn't like her, right? So it was all up to Kayu to confess her feelings in order to cement their relationship. At least that's what Kayu's friends had told her.

Hisa had agreed with them too, and told Kayu to go for it and confess. After all, who couldn't like his kind, thoughtful sister? Of course Kayu knew that he was more than a little biased- since Hisa was little he'd always been kind of sickly and had to rely on Kayu for a lot of things. Because of that her brother had an unusually strong attachment to her, and seemed to think that she had no flaws. So of course Hisa would think that Kuuta must like her as well...

But he did, right? He must. It was like Megumi-chan and Hazuki-chan had said- a boy wouldn't spend so much time with a girl that he didn't like. Even if it was a childhood friend.

“Are you okay, Kayu-chan? You seem kind of distracted...” Kuuta mused from where he sat across from Kayu in the booth at McDonalds. Not the most romantic place for a confession, sure, but it would work. “I get it. Are you worried about Hisa? You can go home if you want to check on him. I won't be offended.”

“N-no, I'm fine.” Kayu replied, forcing a smile on her face in order to hide how nervous she was. Hisa had come up with this idea to let Kayu have some time alone with Kuuta to confess- he had pretended to not feel well and left early, leaving the two of them alone together. But now that Kayu thought about it it did seem rather out of character for her to just sit back and smile while Hisa wasn't feeling well. It was no wonder that Kuuta could see right through her.

She had to stop being so nervous. Kuuta liked her too. She was sure of it.

“If you're sure. I know that you worry about him a lot. I do to.” Kuuta replied with a shrug, taking a drink of his soda. Kayu blushed a little. Kuuta was really a good person, to worry about Hisa as much as she did when he wasn't feeling well. Too many people just tended to ignore Hisa because of how frail he was. But not Kuuta. Kuuta looked out for him no matter what, even when Kayu wasn't able to be much of a help.

“...Actually, Hisa's not really sick. I just wanted some time alone with you today...” Kayu confessed, swallowing back her nerves the best she could. Kuuta just looked at her, questioning brown orbs staring at her from behind the fringe of bleach-blond bangs. “The truth is... I love you, Kuuta!”

The silence that followed was deafening. Kuuta seemed... totally surprised, even going so far to choke on the soda he had been sipping on a moment before. That wasn't a good sign, was it? And now he was holding his head in his hand. Like he had a headache. Was he that shocked? He really hadn't had any idea that Kayu harbored feelings for him? Kayu swallowed, pushing back all the bad thoughts that were filling her head. She couldn't go jumping to conclusions. She had to let Kuuta respond.

“You... love me? Like... love love? Not sisterly love?” Kuuta finally choked out, staring at Kayu like he expected her to clear up some kind of massive misunderstanding. Kayu bit her lip and forced herself to take a couple of breaths before she replied.

“Well... yeah. You've always been here for me and Hisa, and you're very kind. And... and I thought maybe you might feel the same...” Kayu confessed, hanging her head. She had been wrong, Kuuta only thought of her as a sister. How could she have misunderstood the situation so much?

It was that face. That happy, easygoing face that Kuuta wore whenever he was spending time with her and Hisa. Like he was content with the world, just because they were there. She'd thought that was love. How had she been so wrong?

“Sorry, Kayu... It's just, I've always thought of you as just a friend. Almost a sister, even.” Kuuta began, looking more than a little troubled. He even glanced around, as if to be sure that nobody was listening in on his conversation with Kayu. “I wish I could say that maybe someday my feelings would change, but... That's not going to happen, I'm sorry. The truth is... I'm not into girls. I'm-”

Well that was a shock. Kayu just stared at Kuuta, eyes as big as saucers. Not into girls? Did that mean... did that mean he was into GUYS? Tachibana Kuuta, her childhood friend, the only person that she was as close to as Hisa... he was... he was...

“-I'm gay.” Kuuta finished, letting out a deep breath. The confession must have been just as stressful on him as it had been on Kayu to tell Kuuta how she felt to begin with. “And the truth is... I already have someone that I like, too.”

“Someone that you like?” Kayu asked, although she really didn't want to know. Or maybe she already knew, from the way Kuuta looked so happy when the three of them were together. From how he worried about that person, when he wasn't feeling well. As much as Kayu worried about him- but he wasn't his twin. He was just a guy. A gay guy, who would develop feelings for other men. That's how it worked, right? “You mean...”

“Yeah.” Kuuta replied, not meeting Kayu's eyes. Instead he seemed to be intently studying the beads of sweat that were building up on his soda cup. “I like Hisa.”

And with that, at sixteen years old, Mori Kayu's entire world came crashing down.