Near Equal

Tsubaki is her school’s top student: polite, capable, and increasingly celebrated as its queen. She secretly dislikes the role, knowing that her perfect-student persona is a carefully crafted act meant to make her more likable. Yet she still struggles to interact naturally with her classmates, leaving her unhappy with the distance between them. After reading a magazine that promises lasting happiness to anyone who meets their doppelganger, Tsubaki follows its instructions and opens a door to find hers. The person on the other side is not what she expected: strangely identical to Tsubaki in some ways, but essentially different.