Eiko...
LONG CATS OF THE WORLD
Eiko?
NAGOMI
SUGOMI
Good morning.
Time to switch to summer uniforms!
Yeah!
KAMURI'S FLUFFY
Ice cream in the morning...
Because we're wearing summer uniforms!
Do you want some ice cream, too, Hana?
Here, have a lick!
Two licks! No, three licks!
Don't be shy!
What does ice cream have to do with summer uniforms?
Even you, Eiko!
Well, when you switch from winter to summer uniforms,
you feel so much lighter that it makes you nervous, right?
Oh, I know!
Feeling like something's missing!
That's right!
Morning, Kamu.
Morning, Kamu!
Good morning!
Is something wrong?
Are you hungry?
I'm not hungry. Lick.
Listen...
I forgot to put on the skirt.
What?
Whaaat?
Wh-Wh-What should we do?
What should we do? Wh-Wh-What should we do?
Oh, boy.
We switched to summer uniforms, but that's taking off too much.
I thought the cool feeling on my legs was from not wearing tights.
I see!
Then I'll be able to see your bare legs every day from now on, huh, Kamu?
A sight for sore eyes!
Guys!
How can you be so calm about it?
Because you're stressed out enough for all of us, Hana!
Maybe?
A-A-After all...
Under that shirt are her...
p-p-pan...
...ties!
Yes!
Huh? But if you say that...
We're just wearing panties, too...
under here.
Then it's okay not to wear a skirt?
Or it's okay not to wear panties?
Hana, panties are not included in the snack category!
Well, think of it this way...
It's not like she forgot to wear panties.
I remembered.
U-Um...
But still, it's not good, is it? Isn't it a problem?
For the rest of the day? And going home?
Here, Kamu. My gym uniform.
Strap.
H-Huh? Is that all there is to it?
This solves it?
That solves everything!
Huh?
Really?
You were overthinking it, Hana.
You should take things easier.
Eiko...
Yeah.
Still,
how did you forget to put on a skirt?
Actually...
What is it?
You were preoccupied with thoughts of a lightly-dressed Eiko!
I can see that!
I don't think so.
Well, Eiko, students were selling photos of you in middle school!
What?
Here's a pic from back then!
Why did you buy that?
The graduation memorial price.
It was on sale for 80% off, and I couldn't help it!
My photos were selling at cheap prices, and I didn't even know.
But it was just an impulse buy.
I don't really need it.
So you can have it, Kamu!
Th-Thank you, Tama.
She smiled! She smiled at me!
My heart skipped a beat!
Kamu, what are you gonna do with that?
My parents will be happy if I show it to them.
They'll probably frame it and hang it on a wall.
What does your family think of me?
What's wrong?
Eiko, is this you?
Yeah, that's me.
That's definitely Eiko.
So you didn't wear hairpins in middle school, Eiko.
Oh, you probably didn't recognize her without the hairpins.
Is that such an important part of my appearance?
Hairpins...
Hairpins are a part of your body, Eiko.
Part of my body?
Then ribbons are part of your body, right, Tama?
Oh, welcome home, Ms. Hannen.
Yes.
I'm back.
Were you out shopping again today?
Yes! I got tired of going to the same convenience store all the time!
So I mastered all of the convenience stores in this area!
I'm able to go to any convenience store within five kilometers of here!
Congratulations!
But it seems like
you're getting further away from the meaning of "convenience."
Definition: Something conducive. Favorable. Useful.
CONDUCIVE. FAVORABLE.
Oh...
I'm glad they refilled the flavors that were sold out before.
Yep.
U-Um, Kamuri...
What are you so lost in thought about?
That photo...
It's different from the Eiko I saw last year.
I walked by her in the shopping district.
A girl with long hair and who looked exactly like Eiko...
But the Eiko in the photo has short hair.
It's not her.
Now that you mention it,
I also walked by a girl
who looked a lot like Eiko in the bookstore downtown.
I realized it wasn't her,
but maybe she has a double?
I don't know. But...
I was able to meet her then...
Huh?
No...
Nothing.
Teacher!
What?
Huh?
Why are you wearing sweatpants?
Since this is the uniform-switching day,
I thought I'd play along,
but I was told off by the head teacher.
Oh, so that's what happened.
I see.
Now you've got me totally curious about your blunder.
I bet it's not even close to what you have in mind.
What I have in mind...
Don't tell me you wet your...
Not another word.
Well, you two better be careful also.
The rules inspection is coming up.
Right.
I heard some schools check your panties during the rules inspection!
Be glad you don't go there.
I'm sure Eiko would be in trouble for that.
What?
What, are your panties that flashy?
No, not especially—
Let's see.
I think you'd be fine with those.
Oh...
Really?
Of course, right?
Ms. Enami!
Yeah, what is it?
Wh-What's the matter,
Eiko?
Before you two got here,
a super-lethal move was played,
making Eiko's mental gauge take a nosedive!
Pet-pet-pet-pet-pet.
Her mental gauge is making a comeback!
What's a gauge?
There. There.
There. There. There.
Huh? What?
Wanna stop at a convenience store on the way home?
I hear they've got a new kind of ice cream!
What? Didn't you have ice cream this morning?
No, no.
School ice cream and outside ice cream are two totally different things.
SUNDIAL AND CLOCK
It's like the difference between a sundial and a clock!
SUN CLOCK
S-Sundial and clock?
Hana...
Kamuri...
I forgot to return the gym uniform.
That's because Eiko was in a hurry today, so she left before us.
Did she have something to do?
I have to return them.
But if you return them here,
you'll just be wearing panties, Kamu—
I got here fine, so it's no problem.
No!
Eiko said something about going to the shopping district.
Should we track her down?
Kamuri, the shopping district...
I see, I see!
Eiko's double, huh?
Yeah.
Kamu and I both saw her.
Maybe that's her doppelganger!
"Doped-up gangbanger"?
"Doppelganger"!
You know...
like the fairies in Tohoku!
Fairies?
They look just like you.
Yeah!
In other words, like a body double!
Like military leaders used to use!
Another me is going to appear?
That's bad news.
This town isn't big enough for two supreme rulers!
Like that?
Supreme ruler?
If the real Eiko meets her doppelganger...
I-If they meet?
...one of them will die.
Die?
What?
There's no escape!
I finally found you, my fake self.
That's the law of the village!
The village?
You can't defy the law of the village.
E-Eiko's going to be killed
by a fairy, a military body double, a supreme ruler and the law of the village?
Hana, you can treat that with some skepticism.
It's a lie?
It's a little bit true.
Well, it's like an urban legend.
That aside, I have to return these.
Eiko!
Oh no! That's where I saw her doppler-ganger!
Doppelganger.
Eiko!
I'll save you!
There she is!
Kamuri?
Eiko?
Yes. I'm Eiko.
- Whaaat? - Whaaat?
What are you guys doing here?
Eiko and h-her pom-peri-danger!
Wh-Wh-What should we do?
Th-This time for sure, we need to use our magical girl combo power!
Get away...
...from her!
Get away...
...from her!
Get away...
...from her!
- Get away from her! - Get away from her!
I don't know what you're doing, but I'll introduce you.
This is my little sister, Miki.
- Get a— - Get a—
Come on, there are no doppelgangers!
I've been looking for a reference book recently.
Today I asked my sister for advice.
So that's why I saw you at the bookstore before...
The look-alike was Sis-sauce!
I totally forgot you had a sister.
Yep.
That was a while back, the last time I mentioned Mickey.
It's Miki.
I see. Mickey, huh?
Miki.
Why did you say you were Eiko before?
Well, that's because...
I thought maybe that was the right answer for the situation.
No, I think that was the wrong answer.
I see. You learn something new everyday.
Kamu, do we look so similar that you can't tell us apart?
No. She looks like you when you were in elementary school, Eiko.
Maybe the hairstyle?
Come to think of it, Sister,
you had long hair back in elementary school.
Also,
I spotted Eiko on the street this time last year.
E-Eiko...
Hello?
Eiko...
That's right.
U-Um...
Yes. Hoshio Girls' High School.
Yes, that school.
Hoshio...
Girls'...
I thought it was the middle school Eiko at the time.
So it was Mickey...
It's Miki.
But you looked different in that photo, so...
I see.
That's why you had the strange reaction when you saw the photo, huh?
Yep.
But then, when you first saw me after high school started,
didn't you have a feeling that something was off?
I thought you were just making your high school debut.
But you hadn't changed a bit since elementary school, Kamu.
That's what surprised me.
You told me that before.
You were that surprised?
Yeah.
I'd missed you so much
that I thought maybe you were just a hallucination.
Ow, that hurts!
Tell me, Kamu...
Did you take Hoshio's high school entrance exam
because you thought I might be going there?
Jeez.
Just because that's the school I'm interested in doesn't mean I'd go there.
What were you intending to do if it turned out I wasn't going there?
A shy girl like you...
I-I would've gotten by somehow.
I wonder.
I have gotten...
by...
Eiko...
Um...
I was thinking about you this morning
and that's why I forgot my skirt.
You were thinking about me?
All that time...
I missed you!
I'm so happy...
that I got to see you again!
Me, too.
That I really got to see you.
Me, too.
Kamu, thank you.
"Thank you" is my line.
Huh? You mean my line.
No, mine.
No, it's mine.
- No, mine. - No, mine.
No, mine!
- No, mine! - No, mine!
It's so moving!
Yes, I've learned something.
Learned what?
Sneeze!
You're together now because your little sister said our school's name!
It's like the gears of fate are entangled.
I'm not sure the gears would work if they were entangled.
But Kamu, the school you were in before would've gotten you
into their affiliated high school without a test, right?
Yep.
I'm surprised your parents let you take the entrance exam for an outside school.
When I told them Eiko might be going there,
they agreed right away.
They wished me good luck.
So again, how does your family handle me, Kamu?
I'm going to take the entrance exam next year.
I'll do my best.
Entrance exam?
If someone who's going to take the entrance exam is around me,
it might be bad luck for them!
What if breathing the same air causes her to be cursed by the gap year?
Hana...
Why are you holding your breath?
The air...
I see.
When you become a high school student,
the expression "not breathing a word" becomes more than just an idiom.
You embody it.
I'm learning.
H-Hana!
I see. I'm learning.
I-I don't think you are.
Kamuri, good morning!
Good morning.
Cat!
How cute!
Come here!
Eiko is like a cat whisperer.
Oh, really?
Eiko is amazing!
Yep.
Not only cats.
I'd say Eiko is a "Kamuri whisperer," too!
U-Um, s-sorry...
I didn't mean...
What?
I forgot my skirt again.
Whaaat?