When she doesn’t feel well, when there’s a test, when she doesn’t want to go to school... I take her place. I’m her replica. I’m not meant for anything else. But that changed when I fell in love. I wear my hair up so the boy I fell for knows it’s me. We skip school and promise to meet again tomorrow, and every day after. I’m her replica. Everything about me is borrowed and empty, but my heart is mine.
Sunao Aikawa has a secret. She has an exact, living replica of herself she sends to school in her stead when she doesn't feel like going. When she's not needed, Nao disappears, only to revive with Sunao's memories, her body adjusted to Sunao's current one. But it doesn't really work the other way round, and eventually their friends discover the truth when Nao falls in love with a boy Sunao has no feelings for. And it could be the boy has a secret too.
This was good, wistful story told from Nao's point of view, but slow and too detailed at times. I don't know why this is vol 1 though, as the story has a good conclusion.
I received a free copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
This was a cute little short story. The romance between the girl replica and the boy she falls in love with is cute and heartwarming although it did progress pretty fast, probably because this was submitted as part of a short story competition and so the author needed to create a hook quickly and without knowing if there would be opportunities to write more later.
There is some drama revolving around the original and the replica as well that I won't go into so as to avoid spoiling it, but it was also resolved pretty fast even though the issues raised were surprisingly heavy and not at all what I was expecting when I started reading.
Still, it's a good story and I'm hoping future installments will touch more on these existential issues and build on the romance.