Futago Matomete "Kanojo" ni shinai? Vol 02 - Hikari in the newspaper club?!

Volume 2 of Futago Matomete "Kanojo" ni shinai? (双子まとめて『カノジョ』にしない？) continues from where we left off, with Sakuto and the twins now in a relationship but still hiding it from the public for obvious reasons. However, things are escalating because the girls aren't very good at hiding their feelings, and their desire for attention seems to have caught the interest of many people at school.

While Sakuto tries to handle that, Tachibana, the teacher, starts meddling with the group again by putting Chikage in charge of inspecting the Newspaper Club, where Hikari is technically a member. In this school, each club's budget is decided by the student council, which uses agents to investigate the status of the clubs. Chikage has essentially become the school's "hound" and is technically an enemy of the Newspaper Club. She is quite a cute dog, too, as seen in the attached screenshot.

The Newspaper Club, led by Uehara Ayaka, has problems of its own. Between the fact that there are only four members and one is a "ghost member" in Hikari, the other three are desperate to find information that will guarantee the survival of their club at any cost. In fact, Wakana Higashino and Matori Kougika both try to manufacture a scandal involving Sakuto by stripping in front of him and taking photos of him hugging them.

Sakuto manages to fend off their advances and delete the data, but the fact that they are so desperate puts him in a bind, as they could start stalking him and eventually reveal his relationship with the twins. This forces him to collaborate with Chikage and Hikari to help the club out, which is exactly what Tachibana planned from the start.

The idea is to create a high-quality newspaper with interesting articles, making it a significant achievement that justifies the club's survival. Sakuto asks his aunt, Kisezaki Mitsumi, who is a lawyer, to help by providing an interview for the newspaper. Chikage and Hikari are thrilled to meet Sakuto's de facto guardian, since they live together, and ask to conduct the interview themselves.

The interview goes well, but both Mitsumi and Sakuto realize that Hikari shows a completely different persona in front of people other than Sakuto or Chikage. This was the issue Tachibana was really trying to fix by having them help the Newspaper Club. She wants Hikari to find another "place where she belongs" because while it is good that Sakuto is around now, relying on only one person is too problematic in the long term.

In the end, both the Newspaper Club girls and the group of Sakuto and Chikage manage to reach Hikari, and she properly joins the club while feeling more at ease around them. The volume ends with Chikage and Hikari planning a trip away from home with Sakuto, which will be the focus of the next volume.

Just as I had hoped in my previous article, the author introduced a slew of new characters, and it has worked well to keep the story interesting and fresh. The three girls from the Newspaper Club becoming close friends with Hikari works well because it creates new opportunities for scenes that don't necessarily require all three main characters to be together.

Since Sakuto has his childhood friend, Kusanagi Yuzuki, as a recurring supporting character, we just need Chikage to find her own group of friends. This would create three different social circles that, with some mixing and matching, could greatly expand the possible developments in future volumes.

I also really liked the small story segments the novel dedicated to the moments Chikage and Hikari spend talking alone together. The two make a great pair, and the jokes flow naturally. At first glance, Hikari seems to be the "adult" one, but Chikage definitely has some pervy thoughts at times.

I took a peek at the artwork for the next volume, and it seems like it won't be a relaxing trip for the twins. Both Yuzuki and Matori will be at the sea resort where they are staying, working part-time at the beach restaurant. I will be reading it over the next few weeks and hopefully posting a new article soon.