A Story About a Girl Who Took Life for Granted and Fell in Love With a Kind and Introverted Boy - Chapter 1.1

“…Hey! Please! Don’t go!”

Saying this, I grabbed Kenji’s left arm.

He had his back turned to me, staring down silently without saying a word.

“Kenji! I…um, I’m ‘serious now’!”

“…………….”

“I really, really like you, Kenji…! Well, I know it might have been different at first, but…”

“…………….”

“Hey, no! Please don’t go! Don’t say we’re breaking up!”

My scream echoed like a cry in the classroom at dusk.

My long blonde hair swayed in the wind coming through the window.

I felt my eyes getting teary. My breath was ragged, and my lips were trembling.

Am I…about to cry?

“W-What? That Kana…?”

“That Kana could end up like this…”

My friends Mayu and Arisa behind me were flustered.

Yeah, that’s right…Everyone has probably never seen me cry before.

“…Tashiro-san.”

Kenji called my name from behind, and I couldn’t help but feel a jolt. That jolt was…not a happy one, but a scary one, like when watching a horror movie.

Because…he always calls me “Kana-san”…but now, he calls me by my last name…

It felt as if I was meeting him for the first time…like all our memories had vanished.

“I…really liked you, Tashiro-san.”

“…‘Liked’…?”

“When you confessed, I was really, really happy…I was so excited. Even after getting home, I kept thinking about your words…”

“…Kenji.”

“It’s fine, Tashiro-san. Don’t worry about it. It was a short month, but…I had a good dream. So, thank you.”

“No! No, no, no! I had fun too! This past month…it was so much fun…! Uuuh…!”

“It’s okay now, Tashiro-san. You don’t have to pretend to like me anymore. You’re a kind person, so you’re trying not to hurt me…but you don’t need to do that anymore.”

“No! That’s not it! It’s not like that! I…I’m really a terrible person…! I hurt you, Kenji!”

“…………….”

“Please! Kenji, please! I’ll apologize! I’m truly sorry! So…let’s go see the fireworks again! Let’s go to the library or the museum together! Okay, Kenji!”

“…………….”

“I never cared about the library at all, and I thought I’d never go to a museum in my life…! But thanks to you, I learned to love them! I want to go again with you! Hey! Kenji! Stay with me, Kenji!”

“…………….”

Kenji slowly turned around without saying anything.

“────!”

I will never forget the look on Kenji’s face at that moment.

He was really crying, shockingly so.

Tears flowed from his eyes, soaking his cheeks…

The moment he looked at me with those tear-filled eyes, I felt his heartache buzz through me.

It felt like my heart was being squeezed tightly. Even though Kenji didn’t say anything, his sadness reached me directly.

He didn’t glare at me with resentment or lash out in anger. He simply looked at me with sadness.

That was Kenji’s gentle kindness…and it made it even harder.

“…………….”

I instinctively let go of Kenji’s arm. He then turned his back again…and left the classroom.

Mayu and Arisa, who had been behind me, hurriedly packed their things and left the classroom, leaving me standing there in a daze.

Left alone, I took out my phone from my bag.

I looked through a lot of photos on it.

There were so many pictures of me and Kenji together. Scrolling with my finger, I went back from the newest ones to the oldest.

And then, the very first picture of Kenji and me appeared.

It was a two-shot taken on the school rooftop. I was wearing a clumsy smile while Kenji’s face was red from embarrassment.

“…………….”

A drop of water fell onto the phone screen.

It was my tear.

“…Uuuh, uuuh…”

I became too exhausted to stand and crouched down.

My hand holding the phone shook uncontrollably. My vision started to blur.

…This photo was taken a month ago.

The day I first talked to Kenji…and when we became a couple.

“Ahhh! This is so annoying!”

On July 24th, during lunch break, Mayu, Arisa, and I were playing UNO in the classroom.

The result was a huge loss for me. I was bombarded with cards and lost badly.

“Ha ha ha! Well, Kana, I’m going to give you your punishment game as promised!”

Mayu’s happy face was so annoying. Even her Kansai dialect started to irritate me.

“Hey, are you really going to do it, Mayu?”

“What’s wrong? A ‘girl’ shouldn’t go back on her word, right? I treated you two to sushi before, so I can’t treat Kana like she’s special!”

“Ehh? But…pretending to be ‘couple for a month’ is tougher than treating you to sushi, don’t you think?”

“Stop whining and make up your mind! So, who shall we choose?”

Mayu looked around the classroom with a grin.

Then Arisa said, “Hey, Mayu,” and pointed to the blackboard.

“Isn’t today the 24th? Deciding based on attendance numbers might be interesting!”

At Arisa’s suggestion, Mayu said, “That’s a good idea!” She stood up, went to the teacher’s desk to get the attendance list, and returned to her seat.

“Um, number 24 is…‘Saito Kenji’.”

At that moment, I didn’t know his name, so I asked the two of them, “Who’s that?”

They also seemed unsure and tilted their heads.

“Well, whatever. For now, I’ll call this Saito guy to the rooftop! Kana, just do your best alone with him! ♡”

“Ugh! This is so annoying!”

When I said that, the two of them burst into laughter.