I'm Haruka Tenoh. Normally, I live a happy life with my beautiful Michiru Kaioh, but chaos ensues when Mamoru calls me. He tells me the most insane thing. That Michiru, my Michiru, arrived at his apartment and tried to seduce him, to kiss him! She called him "her darling!" Yet I know Mamoru wouldn't lie to me, but Michiru would never behave like that. Thus I wait for her with bated breath. When she doesn't come home, I get into my sports car and set off in search of her.
I find my better half sitting by a decorative fountain, but something is wrong. Michiru is reading a Bible. She wears a rosary around her neck. She's wearing black clothes from a different era. I get out of my car and walk towards her. When she sees me, she continues reading her bible as if I weren't there.
"Hey, Michiru."
She doesn't answer me.
"Sweetie, what's going on? Mamoru told me that—"
Hearing my words, Michiru closes her bible and shouts absurdities at me.
"I'm not your sweetie, you pig, sinner!"
"Now wait a sec! I'm a woman. You know that."
"Even worse! You're a slut, a dirty sinner!"
"What?! What is this nonsense? I'm your Haruka, your soul mate!"
"Rubbish! I'm not a dyke. I love men, like any good Christian woman, and I'm married!"
I was going to yell at her, but our conversation attracts curious people so I keep quiet. One thing is clear: this woman isn’t my Michiru. My Michiru would never be homophobic and a religious extremist. This Other Michiru, I don't know what else to call her, glares at me as if she expects me to say something.
"Well, you're married, so why don't you go to your husband?" I say mockingly. "I'm sure he needs his wife in the kitchen!"
"Shut up!" The Other Michiru retorts. "I'm much more than a housewife!"
"You're not going to prove it to me by acting like an arse! What does it get you, being homopho—?"
"You're all disgusting woman, that's what!"
"ENOUGH! I've had it with you. I'm going back home and hope to find MY Michiru."
I return to my sports car. The sky is darkening and it's starting to rain like crazy. I'm getting in and planning to go home when the Other Michiru steps in front of the car.
"Get out of the way, you idiot!" I yell at her.
"Please, I can't go home. My husband doesn't recognize me. He kicked me out!"
"That's so sad. I don't care. Move!"
"I don't understand. Why doesn't my Mamoru recognize me? He kept talking to me about a dyke, a Haruka."
"FUCK, MOVE, DAMN IT!"
"Is this you, Haruka?"
The Other Michiru began to cry. Her tears mix with the rain, which wets her all over. Although she's a homophobic idiot, she's my Michiru's twin and I can't abandon her.
"Okay, get in," I said as I opened the passenger door, "but stop saying anti-lesbian words!"
"Deal!" Said the Other Michiru.
The Other Michiru gets into my sports car and I drive her back to my place.
"Well," I said to her after we'd gone in, "you can take any clothes you like from our room."
"‘Our’ room?"
"My Michiru and I. It's this way."
I show her the room. As she looks at the jewelry on the dresser and the many dresses of my Michiru in our shared wardrobe, the Other Michiru starts screaming.
"What? What is it?"
"This writing..." She said, handing me a handwritten message from a dress pocket. "It's mine! But I'd never write something like that! ‘To my sweet Haruka, I think of you during the long summer days.’ So... is it true? You have a Michiru? A Michiru who... loves you?"
"Yes."
"That would explain why Mamoru was behaving like that, but then where am I? In another world?"
"It would seem so and my Michiru must be in yours."
"So how do I get back home?"
"I don't know. Maybe we should wait?"
So I offer to eat with the Other Michiru. I take her to the dining room. She's very hesitant. She tells me something about temptation, the devil and sin.
"Come on! You're not going to become a lesbian by eating with me! Who put this nonsense in your head?"
She was about to shout at me, then whispered about her parents. It seems that this Michiru was adopted and raised by an extremist religious mother and father. As she tells me about her family, I understand that she grew up in a kind of cult. Everyone she knows thinks gays and lesbians are monsters, disgusting beings, sinners, and they shouldn't exist.
"You can see that this is crazy." I said to the Other Michiru. "Do you really think I shouldn't exist?"
"I... I don't know. I don't understand anymore. I— I'm scared!"
Suddenly, her body seems to become transparent. The Other Michiru screams. She disappears. In her place is a woman identical to her.
"Michiru? My Michiru?" I asked.
"Oh, my sweet Haruka!" She said. "Yes, it's me. I'm so happy to have you back! I was in some kind of other world and it was hell!"
"I know. The Other Michiru was with me. I hope she can change and open her heart."
I take my lover's hands in mine. I kiss them. My Michiru blushes.
"Well, I've got to phone Mamoru and tell him you have returned. I'll be back soon."
I'll leave and call Mamoru. Meanwhile, Michiru smiles.