Exentio here, sorry for the interjection. Due to *sigh* limitations from Tapas, the story is split into parts. It's annoying, I only have 15,000 characters. You can read it in one piece on Yozakura by clicking on the banner, on the image at the end, or by writing this URL: https://yozakura.me/projects/exentio/dreamer/it-is-what-it-is

Back to the story.

“And you just woke up like this?”
“I did.”
“And the theory you came up with is…?”
“Right, so, remember that teddy bear we had when we were kids, the one with the cute ears that I used to nibble on?”
“Oh, the one with the green papillon?”
“That one! And do you remember that one day one of the ears came off, and I somehow swallowed it?”
“Yup, we didn’t even tell mom. Thinking about it, that was a really bad idea.”
“So, my theory is: maybe I finally digested it.”
“Didn’t that happen at least twelve years ago?”
“Maybe it was made of one of those plastic fibers, they don’t look easy to digest at all!”
“Alright Ari, listen, here’s how it works: either that stuff blocks your stomach or bowels, if you manage not to choke on it, or you shit it out. You don’t just keep it inside your belly for twelve years.”
“But what else could it be then?!”
“Hmm… I don’t think there’s any reasonable explanation for waking up with a pair of bear ears.”

Yup, that’s what happened. Just a bunch of minutes ago, right after the alarm, my twin brother and I met up in front of the bathroom while I was getting out, and the first thing I saw when he greeted me was that he had a pair of weird ears growing over his head. Try to explain that.

“Do you think I should tell mom? Maybe she can remove them.”
Well, mom is a surgeon. “I don’t think she studied how to remove bear ears in medical school. Let me see them from behind. Actually, can I touch them?”
“Yeah, sure, go on. Ah, that tickles! You know, I feel your touch as if they were mine. I guess they are mine after all. I wonder if they will disappear. Maybe they will just fall off. You know, I might actually like this- what the fuck are you doing.”
The instinct was too strong. “Sorry, I nibbled on them.”
“Wait, YOU were the one that swallowed that ear, not me!”
“Oh, you might be right. So that rules out your theory.”
“Hmm, I guess it does. What will people say? What if the secret services quarantine me or some shit like that?”
“You live in a country where the vast majority of people have wolf ears, you’ll survive. Can I keep nibbling on them?”
“No! Well, I guess it’ll be okay. Weren’t those ears given by Shigure? Do we have a bear divinity too?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. Shigure, Ventus, and Mieke are the only ones who really show themselves around, and not even that often if it’s not for government stuff. I’ll check later.”
“Alright. Anyway, gotta pee.”
Our sister starts shouting from downstairs. “KOLTEN, ARI, GET MOVING BECAUSE I AIN’T DRIVING YOU TO SCHOOL AGAIN!”
“SHUT UP FUCKBAG, IT’S NOT EVEN LATE!” - we had a fight recently.
“You two still didn’t make up?”
“Not until she apologizes- what the fuck dude, close the door when you piss! We got two women in the house!”
“It’s not like they have never seen my dick.”
“Yeah, as a baby! Why are you like this?!”
“You close it then, gotta poop too.”
More often than not I find myself wondering whether we really are identical twins. They must’ve gotten it wrong and we look the same as a coincidence.

While he does his thing I grab my bag and get downstairs to have breakfast. She’s still here, whining to mom. “Did you hear that? I deserve some respect as the older sister!”
Mom looks exhausted. “Honey, you messed up and won’t apologize, you don’t get to complain.”
Thankfully, mom is on my side. Well, everyone is, considering what she did. “Yeah, fuck you, asshole.”
“Language.”
“Spark you, jerk.”
She’s still throwing a tantrum like a kid. “He wasted my hair dye!”
Mom lets out a loud sigh. “You put it in the jar of his hair mask, hun.”
“Yeah, and? It was an empty one he threw away!”
She’s still trying to make it look like she didn’t do anything wrong. “You went and put it in the same place as it was, because you’re so incredibly stupid and disrespectful!”
Her tone gets even more annoying. “Why do you even need that stuff, that hair doesn’t even look good on you!”
“Bullshit. He looks great and you know it” - didn’t she just tell me to mind my language?
“Thanks mom. You’re just jealous that I got dad’s light hair!”
“Pff, pink you mean!”
I crack my knuckles, “that’s it, she’s dead.”
“Stay put or you’ll both see me at the hospital. Hun, you’re gonna be late.”
She walks to the door. “Alright, bye mom.”
“Hope you get fired.”
“Hope you get bullied.”
“Unlike you, people actually like me.”
She leaves sticking her tongue out, I reply with a middle finger. She’s always like this. Annoying, irresponsible, plays unfunny pranks on people, and thinks she’s better than everyone. She’s just too immature for a 25 years old hag. I have no idea where she took that from since both mom and dad are kind and responsible. Although I gotta say that sometimes I feel like mom has some kind of dark past.

Mom hands me my bowl. “Where’s Ari?”
Right, I guess she needs to know. “About Ari… well, I guess it’s better if you see it with your eyes.”
“What, he cut himself while trying to shave again?”
I giggle at the memory. “Seems like he accepted that he won’t grow a beard. There, he’s coming.”
Mom looks towards the stairs. “Good morn- what the hell did you put on your head?”
He’s wearing his usual smile, bright, loud even. “Morning mom! Remember that teddy bear we had as kids?”
“We already excluded that.”
“Oh, right. Well, I woke up like this!”
Mom is flabbergasted. “They’re real?”
He’s so proud of them, as if he worked hard to get them. “Yup, touch them!”
Mom starts feeling them. “Holy shit, they really are bear ears. Will you be ok? Wanna skip school for today?”
He shakes his head, “it’s ok, I’ll go and see how it ends.”
She’s definitely worried about his dumbest son. “Kolten, protect your brother from himself.”
That’s heavy, but necessary. “I’ll do my best.”

Ari decided to wear a beanie on the bus to avoid questions, which could be the smartest idea he had in a long time. My pink hair would still be visible and hiding it feels somehow worse, so I didn’t bother. Thankfully it’s not a permanent dye, and after almost a week it’s starting to fade and look normal again.

We get to the classroom and we group with our friends by one of the radiators under the windows, as we do every day. Everyone in the class is already here.
“Pff, you still didn’t fix your hair?”
“I can’t just fix hair dye, dumbass. Thankfully it’s almost gone.”
Ari takes off his beanie, maybe on purpose, maybe because he forgot, revealing the ears. The boys drop their jaws. “Dude, what are those?!”
He smiles proudly, “I woke up like this!”
The classroom goes silent as everyone starts looking at him. Then I hear someone from the back say “classic Ari”, and everyone laughs for a while before going back to talking as if nothing happened. “See? Nothing to worry about.”
One of our friends gets closer to his head, “they definitely look real though, they twitch too!”
While we talk about the situation, Mina enters the classroom. She’s my best friend, a bit of a loner that doesn’t talk much, but when she does, she doesn’t mince words. “Morning, everyone. Ari… did something stupid again, alright”, then she gets beside me by the radiator as usual. We bump our fingertips and hold our hands for a tiny bit. We’re trying to hide from everyone that we’re dating, it’d be such a pain to hear their jokes.

The teacher arrives, and we all get to our desks. She ruffs my hair while I walk close to her, and Mina seems to get very annoyed by the gesture so she does the same.
The teacher finally notices it. “Ari, can you get those things off? You’re at school.”
He gives her his usual loud smile. “I can’t! They’re attached to my head!”
“I see… alright, whatever, forget I asked” - then she looks at me and shakes her head. Thank you for the sympathy, although this time it’s probably not his fault.

The holy bell finally rings. “Can’t believe those were only two hours.”
The teacher hears me and smirks, “suck it up, we have two more hours tomorrow instead of the day after: me and teach Mariano swapped our hours due to exam simulations for the fifth-years.”
“Thank you teach, I love math.”
“Ohh? And you also like me as a teacher, right?”
She’s a good teacher, actually, so it’s true that I like having her as our math teacher. “Maybe, but I like math more.”
She giggles a bit. “Good answer. See you tomorrow, everyone!”
Mina is the first to come to my desk. “You love math, huh?”
After we started dating, I learned that she has this somewhat clingy side, she likes to cuddle my arm like a cat when nobody’s looking, and loves when I pat her head and massage her wolf ears. When we were just friends she wouldn’t even hug me, even though she told me she’s been restraining herself for a while. I look her in her jealous eyes and whisper to her, “of course I love you more-“
“Ain’t you two kind of too close lately?” - our friends had to interrupt our five seconds of intimacy. Well, we’re still in class, after all.
“Can’t believe that childhood friends are this close, right?”
My friends are talking about the lesson (or the things they did instead of paying attention), but Ari is still at his desk, covering his head and the ears. I stand up and go to his desk to ask. “You ok? Did someone do something to you? Mina will make them cry.”
He looks at me, his whole face red. “No, it’s nothing, I’m coming” - I don’t think he’s ok.
We go back to my desk from across the room, and I start massaging his ears (the extra ones) while we talk, he enjoys it a lot. After a bit, his face and mood turn back to normality.
“Anyway, did you guys hear about the failed terrorist attack the other day? My father saw the cops arrest a dude that was shouting some stuff about God and the Church, and almost passed out when he found out that he was a terrorist.”
“Holy shit, I did! I think I’ll stay home for a while, to be sure.”
“Why, do you even go outside normally?”
“Rude! Of course I do! I come to school and take the trash out!”
I wonder if I should consider staying home for a bit too, if not for school, maybe there are more terrorists around. I keep massaging Ari’s ears and making fun of the dude, while in turn they all make fun of me for my hair. I asked for it.

The bell rings again, and everyone goes back to their desks. Mina stays behind and waits for the others to leave so she could talk to me alone. “Should we call this evening off?”
“It’s your call. We can always have a home date, you’re not a stranger after all.”
She pouts, “I want to spend some time just two of us alone, though, all lovey-dovey.”
Me too… well, it’s gonna be ok, I don’t think they’re gonna try again right away. “We’ll go, then. It’ll be safe for today!”
I smile at her, and she smiles back. I was looking forward to our date too.
The italian teacher is here, and I get ready for three more hours of boredom. “Good morning, everyone. Ari, do you hate my guts that much?”
I turn my head and see him covering his head again, but as soon as he gets called out he sits properly, still with a flushed face, and exposing his ears. “Sorry teach!”
“What’s on your head? Take ‘em off.”

“Yeah, I told mom I was gonna be out for the day, didn’t she tell you? Maybe she forgot, she’s been so busy in the last couple of days, Mina just reminded me to give you a call to make sure. Next time I’ll tell you myself, sorry. Hmm, yes, we know about the attack. We’re gonna be safe, don’t worry, I don’t think they’re gonna try again right away. Oh, do you know about Ari? He’s fine, but he’s been acting weird for some other reason, maybe he’ll tell you when he comes back home. Yes, I’ll be back for dinner. Thanks, bye dad.”

Ari heard me talk on the phone, “you guys didn’t invite me!”
Well, mom is one of the two persons we told about our secret, the other being her mother. I can’t tell him the truth because he’s utterly unable to keep a secret. “Best friends stuff, Mina needs some help with some things. We’ll invite you next time, sorry bud.”
“No hard feelings, it’s something between Kolten and me.”
Ari looks frustrated, “you two are hiding something!”
I don’t think he’s onto us, but that got us anxious anyway. I don’t know what to tell him, but Mina does. “I need Kolten, just Kolten, for this one. Sorry.”
He’s angry now. “Is that it? Then you know what, I think I’m gonna spend the day out too!” - he grabs one of our friends who was just walking by - “hey Ron, wanna have fun together today?”
He gets rid of Ari’s hold, “not a chance, I didn’t have time to watch any of this week’s anime.”
He looks around for our other friends, but they’re all already gone. He’s desperate, but even if I don’t like making him feel like this, I won’t let him ruin our date. I feel like Ari gets lonely easily, and it might be the reason why he’s always been so close to me. He’s a very good person and an excellent brother and accomplice, even if he doesn’t seem too smart, although his behavior is quite deceptive: he has the best grades in our class.
“Fine then, I’ll go to the mall alone! I crave some fast food and I need a hat for wolf ears because mine hurt under a normal one!”
Why did he pick the mall? Did he guess that we’re going there too? “You could wake up without them as soon as tomorrow, don’t waste your money.”
“But maybe they won’t, I’ll pick something simple so I can give it to Mina when I don’t need it anymore!”
We both sigh, we lost this battle, but we won’t lose the war. “Fine, but you’ll leave us alone when we get there. Promise or I’ll push you out of the bus as the doors close.”
“Promise!”

Licensed under Yozakura BY-NC-SA-NoAI 1.0