Mari’s Recollections 1 ~Maybe this is the reason why an introvert became an introvert~

I realized that I wasn’t very good at getting along with people when I was about ten years old.

My mother would say things like:

“You’re really not a sociable child.”

“You’re not cute at all.”

“You’re nothing like your sister.”

My sister was popular. She was friendly, cheerful, and could get along with anyone—a daughter exactly to my mother’s liking. She was nothing like me, who preferred to be alone in the school library, reading books.

I wasn’t fond of ‘people.’ I liked the calm, quiet world of stories that felt as if they were made just for me.

This was before the term “introvert” became popular. Back when classmates would whisper about me being “that plain, weird girl who only reads books,” both girls and boys alike.

I liked being alone.

—

Then one day, something happened.

“Hey, what book are you reading?”

A boy, just a bit shorter than me, approached and spoke to me in the library.

My quiet paradise, my world, was disturbed. The first thing I felt was fear—fear of having my solitude invaded.

Little did I know then that this feeling would slowly grow into something more, something like love.