"They don't communicate. They don't signal. They don't even look at each other. They just move. Together. Always together. Like they're sharing the same brain."
"That sounds amazing."
"It makes me think that. . .twins can feel each other's pain."
I tried to picture it.
"Aki is fire. Loud. Aggressive. In your face. He makes you think he's the only threat—makes you focus everything on stopping him." Hiro's hands moved as he spoke. "And while you're dealing with the inferno in front of you, Yuki is smoke. Circling. Patient. Waiting for the opening his brother creates. You won't see him until his blade is already in your back."
"So. . .Yuki is the real danger?"
"They're both blades. They just cut from different angles."
"That's terrifying."
"That's love too. They'd die for each other without hesitation. And they'd kill for each other even faster."
I sat with that for a moment. "What happens if they get separated in a battle?"
Hiro's expression darkened. "They don't.”
“Never?”
“Never. The one time someone tried to split them up in a fight. . .Aki thought Yuki was dead. He burned everything down trying to get to him. Three city blocks. Gone."
"And Yuki?"
"Walked out of the ashes carrying two severed heads." Hiro chuckled. "The men who'd tried to separate them."
My pencil hovered over the page, and then it came to me.
"I know exactly what their drinks need to be." I flipped to a fresh page. "This one's going to be different."
"How so?"
"It has to be two drinks that you enjoy at the same moment. One for each of them. But they have to go together somehow." I tapped my pencil against the paper.
“Interesting.”
"You know, I've always wanted to ask—how did you and the twins even meet?"
Hiro was quiet for a moment, and then he spoke, “There was a fire."
"A fire?"
"When they were eight. I was ten." His jaw tightened. "Their mother had passed out drunk. Lit cigarette fell. Their whole shitty apartment went up."
My chest constricted.
"I heard the screaming from outside. I was just a kid—didn't know what I was doing, didn't think about it. I just ran in." Hiro's hand moved unconsciously to his forearm—to a patch of skin I now realized was slightly darker than the rest.
It looked like a burn scar, old and faded.
Hiro continued, "I found Yuki trapped under a beam. Aki was trying to lift it off him, burning his hands, screaming for help. So, I helped him lift it. Dragged them both out."
"You saved them."
"I pulled them out of a burning building. That's all."
