Volume 3 - CH 19

Patrick and I parted ways, and I returned to my room alone.

This time, the thoughts about my parallel world counterparts filled my mind.

Although she is particularly hostile towards me, I can’t help but feel hatred towards her. We have the same face, and I don’t like how she talks to me, but it’s not the same as a deep-seated hatred.

The long hair that hides one of her eyes is probably because she doesn’t have anyone to cut it for her. And that frilly gothic lolita dress… is just a matter of personal preferences.

Her clothes are ridiculous. I doubt her sanity to wear such fairy-tale clothes with an air of indifference. It’s even unfathomable to wear a gothic lolita dress to destroy the world.

Thanks to the clothes in the example, however, we are distinguishable from each other, so I guess I should be grateful. Can anybody tell us apart if we have the same haircut and clothes?

If we change how we talk, it would be impossible to identify even those close to us.

The idea of an enhanced version of twin-swapping came to me in surprise. It’s interesting. I want to do it.

“Yosh, let’s do it.”

I begin to act immediately.

Luckily, I’m all alone now. The reason I said I wanted to be left alone was not to think but to carry out a surprise. Yup, it had to be.

I stormed out of my room and ran down the stairs. I don’t want anyone to notice me. It had become a habit for me to walk with silent footsteps.

I arrived at the mansion’s bath. #2 must be taking a bath right now. Isn’t she too careless to take off her clothes in enemy territory?

I slipped quietly into the changing room. Opening the door one more time, I found myself in the bathroom. I can hear the sound of hot water running.

Now, where is that dress? When I started searching for it, I heard a sharp voice.

“There! Who’s there?”

#2’s ability to sense the presence is amazing.

But don’t worry. I have prepared a plan to deal with situations like this. I raised my voice slightly and said,

“……I have brought you some clothes.”

“The servants should at least share information with each other. I told you before, didn’t I? I have no intention of wearing anything but those clothes.”

“I apologize, please excuse our discourtesy.”

Oh, she wears that dress to bed, too? That’s not good. At least wear normal pajamas.

If I didn’t leave right away, I would look suspicious, but I had already found the clothes in question. Picking it up gently, I left the changing room.

Of course, a replacement change of clothes was left. They were my regular pajamas.

Once I got #2’s gothic lolita dress, I quickly changed into it and headed to Patrick’s.

Would he notice? Oh, these pranks are the funniest.

But changing into unfamiliar and complicated clothes took a lot of time. There are buttons in strange places and it’s definitely not something I would wear by myself.

Time is ticking until #2 gets out of the bath and gets angry. I had to hurry.

Frustrated by the unaccustomed frills, I skulked down the hallway and bumped into Eleanora.

#2 must have been unfriendly to her the whole time. But Eleanora didn’t let that stop her from smiling at me.

“Oh! Umm… Yumiela-san… is that okay?”

“Just call me whatever you want. If it gets confusing, you can call me #2 like she does.”

“#2 is not a pretty name. Yumiela-san is so careless about such things… Ah! Now Yumiela-san is the usual Yumiela-san, the one who—”

“I get it! Yumiela, Yumiela, shut up!”

Oh! Eleanora thinks I’m #2. It’s amazing how effective these clothes are.

I also think my acting skills are up to snuff. The voice is exactly the same as mine, as long as I imitate her tone.

The only thing I haven’t been able to recreate is the hairstyle. Then, she pointed out this point.

“Huh? Your long hair……”

“It was getting in my way, so I cut it off. Is that bad?”

“……Are you Yumiela-san?”

“Ha? I’ve told you many times, my name is Yumiela.”

Oh, no. She felt something was wrong with my hair. Eleanora twisted her head and gave me a suspicious look.

“Hmm?”

“What? If there is nothing else, I’m leaving.”

“Okay… good night?”

Sensing that I was about to be noticed, I broke off the conversation and walked past Eleanora.

Although she hadn’t been able to pinpoint it, she seemed to sense something. Eleanora strangely has good intuition.

Leaving the scene quickly, I headed for Patrick’s room. He doesn’t have any wild intuition, he probably wouldn’t know.

I knocked on his door.

“Who’s there?”

“It’s me.”

“Yumiela?”

“Huh? Can’t you even recognize your girlfriend’s voice?”

After opening the door, the first thing I did was say something hateful. 100 points for perfectly mimicking #2. This will fool Patrick, for sure.

He was sitting at his desk scribbling something and only glanced at me before focusing on his task.

He was surprisingly unresponsive. I was expecting him to get defensive when #2 came into his room.

Focusing his task on hand, Patrick said,

“You looked unusually distressed… why are you dressing like that?”

“I’ve been wearing this from the start. What? Are you confusing me with that girl? My hair was in the way so I cut it off.”

“No, you’re Yumiela, right?”

Our conversations don’t seem to be going well. Patrick is acting strange, he’s caught off guard by my disguise as #2.

No, I can’t look concerned. Right now I’m Yumiela #2. I mustn’t act as if I care about him.

“I’m Yumiela… So what? I don’t get what you’re trying to say.”

“I’m sorry for confusing you, but—”

Patrick raised his gaze from his hand, looked me in the eyes, and continued.

“I don’t really like the way you said Yumiela #1… you’re my Yumiela, right?”

“Oh, you talk about people like they’re your property….”

“You’re my own Yumiela, right?”

“…Yes.”

No, I’m not Patrick’s property but Patrick’s Yumiela.

Ah, he knew all along. No wonder the conversation didn’t go well.

“How did you know? Except for my hair, I think I was a perfect #2.”

“Hmm… the atmosphere or the vibe… somehow feels like Yumiela.”

“What the?”

There’s no logical explanation, then? Does it mean that he somehow recognized me as me based on his own intuition and sensitivity? Do you… love me that much?

Patrick looks at my outfit from top to bottom and says,

“You look good in that dress.”

“Oh, this dress is for disguising myself to look like #2. I’ll never wear it again.”

Wow. As soon as I realized that he recognized me, suddenly I felt embarrassed.

There I am, in front of Patrick, wearing a gothic lolita dress that I had told him I would never wear. What seemed like a fun surprise project had turned into an embarrassing experience.

Thinking about leaving quickly, Patrick opens his mouth.

“Still, that was surprising.”

“But it’s not! It wasn’t like I secretly wanted to try on this dress or anything!”

“It was surprising that she lent you her clothes.”

“Mhm, I think I’m going to have to return it.”

I would like to believe that Yumiela #2 is the type of person who takes long baths.

By the way, I’m the opposite. I don’t think they’re short but Rita often wonders if I’ve taken a proper bath. If it’s too short, she’ll ask me to come join and wash with her. I’ve recently increased my tally from one hundred to two hundred….

When I was thinking about it, I heard a commotion from downstairs. Ah, it’s too late now.

Not wanting to get into trouble where it doesn’t belong, I poked my head out into the hallway and said,

“Here! Go upstairs!”

A thumping sound of running was heard.

Yumiela #2 appeared soon after, wearing only a towel wrapped around her.

“What are you wearing?”

“I knew it was you! This is ridiculous!”

It’s what she’s wearing that’s ridiculous. Patrick is watching.

A half-naked woman barges into the room. Oh, she’s wearing a shower cap. She didn’t like my polka dot pajamas, did she?

“Sorry, I’m really sorry.”

“Rather than apologize, give me my clothes back quickly. Take them off.”

Still in her towel, she grabs me, trying to get my clothes off.

At this rate, there will be two almost naked Yumiela. Who will benefit from this? Patrick might. That would be normal for him to want to see his favorite girl naked, since he’s a boy, too.

Well, should I just leave it at that? One day I’ll give him my chastity anyway. Think of it as just anticipating a future event. It will be in the not-too-distant future. Quicker than the whole human race wearing mysterious full-body tights learning to fly and flying automobiles.

“All right, all right, I’ll take it off.”

“You are going to say that and run away?! You can’t fool my eyes!”

Yumiela #2 clung to me with her wet hair in a mess, showing an unusual obsession with gothic lolita dresses. The towel is about to slip off at any minute.

…Hmm? Isn’t this making #2 more sensual than me?

With this scene burned into his brain, Patrick began to seek out #2 over me… oh, no.

Having had a vision of the worst possible future, I interrupted the event that was about to be R-rated.

I grabbed #2’s hands and held them down while I thought about ways to stop her. But, isn’t she embarrassed? How can you wear a towel in front of a man, even if he’s a stranger? Could it be that she’s too wound up in her mind to notice Patrick’s presence? She’s not calm enough.

“Are you aware? You know Patrick’s in there, right?”

“…That guy left right away.”

“Eh?”

I was unable to find him as I looked around the room. He seemed to have left the room quite early. Was it me who was lacking in composure?

When I was stunned, #2 rushed me.

“Hurry up and take it off.”

“I’ll take it off.”

In the end, I was at the mercy of #2, who made me take off my clothes. She didn’t need to do that, I would have taken it off myself.

Before long, #2 was back in her gothic lolita dress. And I was like… what am I going to wear?

“Hey, where are my clothes?”

“I don’t know.”

Another crisis has hit me. I don’t have any clothes to wear.

I had hoped we could exchange clothes, but she had come all this way wearing only a towel.

It can’t be helped. Guess I’ll have to ask #2 to get it for me. When I was about to ask her for help, she opened the door, looking at me with a faint smile.

“Well, you’re on your own.”

“Hey, wait, my—”

My voice was drowned out by the harsh sound of the door being slammed shut.

She knew! She knew and she left me! She’s trying to get back at me. She was pretty angry, wasn’t she?

But what should I do? This is Patrick’s private quarters. When I looked around the room for something to wear, I found a shirt hanging messily on a chair.

It was rare for him to leave his clothes unattended. Luckily he did leave his clothes.

I decided that this would do for now and put on his shirt. The shirt was quite large for my body but it was just right because it covered my lower half. It’s like a dress.

Now that I’ve gotten some clothes nearby, I’m ready to go to bed.

Before that, I need to find Patrick and have a word with him. I leave his room and walk around the mansion looking for him.

Eventually, I’ll pass someone and I will ask them where he is.

While walking down the upstairs hallway, I saw Patrick from the other side. Just my luck.

“Patrick, I’m sorry for making a scene in your room. It was mostly #2’s fault.”

“Yumiela?! Your outfit is….”

I checked myself to see if something was wrong. Ooh, I was only wearing Patrick’s shirt right now. I should thank him for letting me borrow his clothes.

“I’ll borrow it for a bit. #2 didn’t bring my clothes, and she took the clothes I was wearing.”

“Ooh… I didn’t know that.”

Patrick says, his gaze wandering.

I would also like to thank you for leaving so quickly after #2 barged in.

“I appreciate you giving me some space. It was kind of embarrassing, even though she was a different person.”

“I guess so. She might worry about it later.”

Did he also worry about #2, who was only wearing a towel?

Patrick is too saintly. If I came across him half-naked, I’d be glancing at him for one reason or another.

However, even if he acts like a gentleman, he wants to embrace me deep down. …That’s ridiculous, isn’t it? Or maybe not.

“You’re free to fantasize about it.”

“Yumiela, hurry up and put on some clothes. It would be bad if anyone saw you.”

“Eh? I’m wearing clothes, aren’t I? I mean I’m only wearing underwear underneath, but this counts as a dress, right?”

“No way! Don’t go out dressed like that.”

Patrick has been acting strange since a while ago. He wouldn’t maintain eye contact with me for a while.

Huh? He keeps mentioning my clothes, but I’m wearing one of his shirts. And unlike #2, I’m shy, so I don’t go out in public dressed suggestively.

Then, what’s the problem? Do you hate it when people borrow your clothes? If so, I’ve done something wrong.

“Aah, sorry. I’ll give it right back.”

“No! Don’t take them off!”

“I’m not taking my clothes off here!”

Don’t start acting so weird all of a sudden! I would never take off my clothes in public. We’ve known each other for a long time and you know that.

“Get back to your room and get dressed, quick.”

“Uh-huh.”

Unsure of what was going on, I was walked and shoved into my room.

I have no idea what Patrick’s attitude was. All I could figure out was the theory that he was not attracted to me.