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

“…Kana-san.”

Saito spoke to me in an unusually serious voice.

“If you don’t mind…can we meet now?”

“…Sniff, now?”

“Yeah.”

“…Where?”

“How about near your place? I’m not asking to go inside or anything, but I’d like to meet near your house.”

“……………………”

“But, but if you don’t want to share where you live yet, that’s totally fine, really…”

“I’ll send it…”

“Huh?”

“I’ll send the address on Lime.”

“!”

“Come when it feels like a good time.”

“…Okay! I’m heading there right now! I’ll call you when I arrive!”

“Mm.”

With that, the call with Saito ended.

“……………………”

I buried my face into the pillow and lay there for a while.

Strangely enough, my mind went completely blank. I didn’t think about this or that; I just lay there, doing nothing until Saito arrived.

Rrring, rrring

I got a call on my phone. I immediately sat up in bed and answered. As expected, it was Saito.

“Sorry for being late! I’m in front of your house now.”

Hearing him apologize for being late, I checked the time.

7:25 p.m….We ended the call around 6:30, so it took him about an hour. I must have spaced out longer than I thought because I didn’t realize so much time had passed.

“…Hey, Saito. If you stay in front of my house, my mom might say something, so let’s meet somewhere else.”

“Uh, okay…where should I go?”

“Do you know the park nearby?”

“Oh, yeah! I think I saw a small park on the way. It only has a swing and a bar, right?”

“Yep, that’s the one. Wait for me there.”

“O-okay.”

I hung up and left my room.

I headed downstairs and to the front door. Luckily, my mom was in the kitchen making dinner, so I slipped out of the house easily.

It’s summer, but past 7 p.m., it starts getting dark. The sky looked like the sun was setting, and night was finally arriving.

“……………………”

Saito was at the park, just like I said. He was sitting on one of the two swings, staring at his feet.

I sat down on the other swing beside him. The metal chains creaked as it swayed.

Hearing that, Saito realized I had arrived and glanced over at me.

“Kana-san…”

“……………………”

“Um, are you okay? Did something happen?”

“Happen? What do you mean?”

“Well, over the phone earlier…you were crying, weren’t you?”

“I told you, I wasn’t crying.”

“……………………”

“So? Is that why you came? Because you thought I might’ve been crying?”

“…Yeah.”

“…Hmm.”

I averted my gaze from Saito and stared blankly at the pull-up bar in the park.

“Kana-san…I know I might not be the most dependable boyfriend to you…but if there’s anything I can do, please don’t hesitate to tell me.”

“…Something you can do?”

“Yeah.”

“……………………”

“Well then…”

“Hm?”

“Cheer me up.”

“Cheer you up?”

“Yeah.”

“Um…did something bad happen?”

“……………………”

“If it’s okay with you, I’ll listen to whatever it is?”

“It’s fine. I don’t want to talk about it now. Just…cheer me up.”

“H-how should I do that?”

“…I don’t know.”

“Huh?”

“Just, whatever works for you. Do it your own way.”

“M-my own way…uh…”

“……………………”

Even I knew I was asking for the impossible. But right now, I just wanted to mess with Saito a little.

I wanted to see how he’d react to me messing with him.

“Kana-san…”

“Yeah?”

“If you don’t like it, please tell me, okay?”

“Huh?”

Just as I was about to ask what he meant…Saito hugged me from behind.

It was awkward—his body trembled, and his arms hovered slightly above my body, making the hug feel less than perfect.

On top of that, he freaked out and asked, “I-is this okay? I’m not touching your chest, right?”

He could’ve just held me tightly without saying anything, but instead, in typical Saito fashion, he made it awkwardly uncool.

Geez, this shy guy is trying his hardest.

…What an idiot.

“Hey, Saito.”

“Y-yeah?”

“Hug me tighter.”

“Huh?”

“Hug me tighter. Squeeze me.”

“Uh, but…what if I accidentally touch somewhere weird…”

“It’s fine. I don’t care.”

“O-okay…”

Just as I told him, he firmly placed his arms around my collarbone and hugged me tightly.

It was warm…I could feel Saito’s body heat seeping into mine.

“…Hey, Saito.”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you…hug me? For cheering me up?”

“Ah, um…it’s, well, in a manga.”

“Manga?”

“In the manga, it said that encouraging someone like this is cool, so…”

“Hehe, what’s that?”

“D-Did you hate it?”

“…No, I didn’t hate it.”

“…”

“You know, I…”

“Yeah?”

“I have never been good at studying since I was little. My mom and dad were always exasperated with me.”

“…”

“Look, my little sister, Miyuki…she does much better, and my parents always favor her.”

“I see, they favor Miyuki.”

“There was a time when I really tried hard too, you know? I studied a lot because I wanted to be praised by my mom and dad, and I really pushed myself.”

“…”

“Then, around when I was in the second year of junior high, I got 30th place in my grade. There were about 160 students in total, and for me, who usually ranked below 120th, that was an incredible achievement.”

“Yeah.”

“And I was so happy that I wanted to show my report card to my mom and dad right away. I was so excited coming home when…I forget why, but I lost my report card somewhere.”

“You lost it?”

“Yeah, I thought I had it in my bag, but I must have dropped it somewhere. When I got home feeling sad, my mom asked, ‘Where’s your report card?’”

“Yeah.”

“Of course, since I had lost it, I said, ‘I’m sorry, I lost it,’ and I got yelled at so much. ‘Get it out quickly! You probably still have it!’ she said. ‘You probably did badly again and are trying to hide it! Stop lying!’”

“…”

“And then…something in me snapped. I shouted, ‘I threw the report card away!’ and I went to my room and cried alone.”

“…”

“From then on, I just thought, ‘Whatever, I don’t care anymore.’ It felt like it was too troublesome to try, and nothing changed…”

“…Kana.”

“Hmm?”

Saito held me tighter and said,

“I like you, Kana.”

“…”

“I really like you, Kana.”

“…Why?”

“Just because.”

“…”

I couldn’t hold back anymore.

Before I knew it, tears were pouring from my eyes. I felt my cheeks getting soaked.

My shoulders trembled slightly, and my heart raced.

“…Saito.”

“Yeah?”

“Say it more. Tell me you like me.”

“…I like you, Kana.”

“More, more.”

“Yeah, I like you.”

“More, more, more. Say it a lot…”

“…I love you, Kana.”

“…”

I couldn’t talk for a while after that. I shut my mouth tightly, overwhelmed by the emotions that spilled out with my tears.

Saito kept holding me the whole time. There were no comforting words or cool lines, but it felt very Saito-like. It felt nice just having him beside me.

I didn’t know how much time passed, but when I finally stopped crying, it was already dark outside.

“…Sorry, Saito. It’s okay now.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine now.”

Then Saito slowly let go of me. At that moment, even though I said it was okay for him to let go, I felt really lonely…and I was hit with a strange feeling.

“…Sorry for making you come all the way here today.”

“No, no, if I could help you, I’d be happy too.”

“…Um, about that…”

“Yeah?”

“Can I call you ‘Kenji’ from now on?”

“Kenji…oh, you mean my first name?”

“Since you call me ‘Kana,’ I thought it would be strange if I only used your last name.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Thanks…Kenji.”

When I called him that, I felt a bit embarrassed, and my face got warm.

Kenji seemed a little shy too, smiling and blushing.

“Well…I guess I should head home soon, right?”