Even Though I Loved You First

~February Fourteenth

“T-these are for y-you! Please take them!”

“Thank you, I appreciate it.” (Kei)

“U-unn.”

With a gentle smile that spread across my face, I received the chocolates that were handed to me by one of my classmates. Afterwards, she turned her heel and left.

“Say… Kei…” (Riku)

“Yes…” (Kei)

“How many does that make?” (Riku)

“About thirty-nine… I think…” (Kei)

“I feel bad for you…” (Sachi)

“Hahaha…” (Kei)

Riku and Sachi who walked up to me, looked over at my desk which as of now was filled to the brim with sweets (mostly chocolates). People could say that receiving chocolates on Valentine’s day is a blessing, but when you receive so much that you don’t know what to do with them, it’s honestly no fun.

At that moment, we heard the classroom’s door open.

“It’s been a while!” (Shizuka)

“It’s still way too early… you could’ve waited, you know?” (Hayato)

My childhood friend Shizuka Sakurajima and her boyfriend Hayato Hayasaka, entered the classroom. And once they both stood in front of us, they took a glance at my desk and Hayato’s face froze.

“I-I’ve never seen such an amount of chocolates for one person before…” (Hayato)

“Uwah… L-looks bad for you… Well, cheer up… they are lesser than last year’s…” Shizuka said in a tone of voice that showed she was used to this, but at the same time, she looked somewhat nervous.

“Well anyway… I came here looking for you two, Riku, Kei.” She continued. “Here, some chocolates. I know that we haven’t spent much time together as a group, so I thought it was a good time for me to come by and say hi. I bought them from the station’s bakery.” (Shizuka)

What was handed to me, was a small white box. I opened it and found a slice of cheesecake inside.

“Thank you, Shizuka.” (Kei)

“Thanks, Shizuka. But, how much does one slice cost?” (Riku)

“Around 26$ per slice, I think?” (Shizuka)

“That’s surprisingly cheap, huh…” (Riku)

“Though what surprised me the most, was that Shizuka was dead set on buying them…” (Hayato)

Hayato, who was standing next to Shizuka, said with a dumbfounded expression as his green eyes widened.

“Why?” (Kei)

Contrary to what I expected, Shizuka didn’t answer my question and quickly diverted the topic.

“Speaking of which, Sachi. Are you giving chocolates to anyone~?” (Shizuka)

“Eh?” (Sachi)

“!” (Riku)

In an instant, Riku’s face tensed up, showing how nervous he was for her answer.

“I-I mean… I do… but—” (Sachi)

Shizuka instantly cutted her off.

“Heh~ I’m glad, I’m glad~ I still remember how distant you were when we first met.” She continued as she turned towards the doorway, “Anyway, we’ll be going now, see ya~ It was nice talking with you guys again…” (Shizuka)

“Bye everyone.” (Hayato)

“Huh? Oh… See you, Shizuka.” (Sachi)

“Later?” (Riku)

“Take care, Shizuka.  Don’t play around too much.” (Kei)

“Don’t worry.” A distant smile appeared on her face. “ We’ve been working hard. Wait for the next text results and see.” (Shizuka)

Afterwards, they both closed the door to the classroom, and only Riku, Sachi and me were left.

“Anyways, help me out with this… I don’t know what to do…” (Kei)

I called out to the both of them, as I turned towards my desk full of sweets.

“I have paper bags with me, let me give you one.” (Riku)

“Why do you carry paper bags?” (Sachi)

“Dunno, just in case~” (Riku)

“You’re weird…” (Sachi)

“Took you long enough to realize that.” (Kei)

“What does that mean?!” (Riku)

~♡~

~Somewhere Near The School Gym

Third Person POV~

“Thanks…” (Shizuka)

“Sure. So, are you okay?” (Hayato)

“Yes, I am…” (Shizuka)

Sitting on a bench at the side of a vending machine located near their school gym,  a girl with a small face, short hair and cerulean eyes accompanied by a brown-haired boy with green eyes, sat side by side. As the boy, Hayato Hayasaka, grabbed the girl’s (also her girlfriend’s), Shizuka Sakurajima, small hand with his own.

“You look down though…” (Kei)

“It’s just that… I can no longer speak with Kei how I used to… Not only Kei, but also Riku and Sachi seem harder to approach than before…” (Shizuka)

According to Shizuka, it has been months since the last time she and Kei holded a proper conversation. And even though they live close to each other, everytime she tries to approach him on her way to school. She can’t do it because he’s always with his sisters who she has known since childhood. Sometimes, along with (occasionally) a beautiful brown-haired girl she just dismissed as a friend of those two.

“Why don’t you take it slow? You haven’t spent much time with them as of late. So why don’t we start there? Let’s hang out with them more often!” (Hayato)

“Are you sure? Won’t our time together diminish considerably?” (Shizuka)

“It may, but I hate seeing you like this… No matter how you look at it, neither of us are bounded to each other. I don’t want you to just distance yourself from others just for me… I can’t deny I’m happy to be around you… But I’ll feel guilty if you were to neglect others…” (Hayato)

“I see… Then… I’ll tell them about it… ‘The more the merrier’ was Kei’s motto back then.” She giggled, looking a bit better than before. Then, “Thank you, Hayato. I love you.” (Shizuka)

She expressed her heartfelt sentiments to him, which she followed with a kiss, taking advantage of the desolated place they were in.

Savoring the current moment, and the warmth caused by his dear girlfriend. Hayato Hayasaka still had one thought that he never dared to say.

One reason was because if he said it, he might hurt Shizuka’s feelings, and make her question her decision to some extent. The other reason, was simple,—

—it was the raw truth.

He wished he could say it’s not but, sadly he can’t. He has already witnessed the aftermath the first time he met Kei and he knew that the day when she finds out about it, will eventually come.

No matter how positive a person can be.

From an outsider’s point of view, and from some of their friends’ points of view. The fact that the relationship between Kei and Shizuka became strained and that it could only be labeled as a bond that was bound to be broken, was undoubtedly—

—mostly Shizuka’s fault.

~♡~

~Lunch

“I should deal with this quickly…” (Kei)

A sigh escaped my mouth as I clutched the letter that was holding tightly with my both hands. In short—

—what I had on my hands was a love letter.

As I left the classroom towards the meeting spot, I encountered someone unexpected.

“There you …yawn… are…” (Hiyori)

“Hiyori?” (Kei)

One of Arisa’s friends (and also my sisters’) Hiyori Tsugumi, walked up to me with her usual tired expression.

“Do you need anything?” (Kei)

“Yup. Here, one’s from me and one’s from Kokoro. Of course, both are store bought.” (Hiyori)

She handed me a paper bag, which contained two small boxes.

“You don’t have to tell me that… Completely unnecessary.” (Kei)

For me, it wasn’t a surprise. Hiyori, who isn’t interested in romance and Kokoro, who has a boyfriend, only gifted me chocolates on Valentine’s due to both being Karane and Kotone’s friends. Due to this, they gave me sweets for courtesy.

“By the way, has she given you anything yet?” (Hiyori)

She yawned after she said that. Still, I knew that by ‘she’, she referred to Arisa.

“No, she hasn’t.” (Kei)

“Don’t feel disappointed, kid. I doubt she won’t give you something. So wiped off that sad look from your face.” (Hiyori)

“W-what do you mean by that…?” (Kei)

“No use hiding it. You have it all written on your face. You like Arisa, don’t you?” (Hiyori)

“Even though you usually just sleep… You’re somehow sharp…” (Kei)

I was amazed at how keen Hiyori could be.

“Thank your sisters for that. Anyways, I hate being awake for too long. So I’ll be going now.” (Hiyori)

“See you around.” Were her last words after parting ways. And as I was left alone in the hallway, I remembered.

“Crap, I gotta go! I don’t want to keep her waiting.” (Kei)

No matter how many times I do it, it’ll still pain me everytime.

It was time to confront the sender of that love letter.