Even Though I Loved You First

~11:34 a.m. [Lunch Break]

Third Person POV~

“Kei~ Hey!” (Sachi)

“…” (Kei)

“Oi~!” (Sachi)

“…” (Kei)

Not receiving any type of response from her friend, Sachi couldn’t help but pout after being ignored by him. For some reason, Kei remained still scrolling through his phone.

Sachi tried to call out to him for some time now, however, it was futile. Kei just kept to himself in his phone. Having enough, Sachi ripped a piece of paper from a spare notebook, she folded it and then with a little bit of adhesive tape, joined the bottom of the folded paper.

At the same time, Riku entered the classroom.

bam

“Ouch?!” (Kei)

“Sachi?! What did Kei do to you?!” (Riku)

“What was that for?!” (Kei)

After hitting Kei with her newly made paper fan, the former returned to his senses and glanced at Sachi while holding his head in his hands, clearly hurt.

♡

Kei’s POV~

“I’ve been calling you for about three minutes now, you know?” (Sachi)

“I-is that so? Sorry… I was lost in thought…” (Kei)

“Yeah, I can see that.” She remarked.

I glanced at Riku while holding my head, and I could see he was thinking for a moment as he had his hand on his chin. Then, after a while, he said, looking at me.

“Arisa?” (Riku)

“…well… something like that…” (Kei)

Then, the door opened again.

“Good morning!” Shizuka said, as she and Hayato entered the classroom.

“You three seem lively, did something happen…?” (Hayato)

After patching things up, Shizuka and Hayato will both occasionally join us for lunch and the five of us will hang out after school.

It seems that our classmates also noticed this change, and most of them told me that they were glad I got over my heartbreak and that I ended things on good terms with her.

Needless to say, since my classmates aren’t aware of the relationship between me and Arisa (a senior), the confessions I received skyrocketed for a while…

Glancing back at them, I saw Riku and Sachi with huge grins on their faces… Riku, especially… And I somehow knew what was coming…

Oh, sh*t… here we go again…

“I wonder~” (Riku)

“?” (Shizuka)

“Why don’t we have Kei tell us?” (Sachi)

“…Kei?” (Hayato)

This damn couple…! I haven’t told them about my decision yet. Granted that it was a Friday when Shizuka and I talked… Back when I pulled an all-nighter after a long while with her, I ended up telling her a simplified version about what happened after, and about how I was able to get over her denseness because of Arisa.

As for Hayato, he somehow knows. However, only Riku and Sachi had met her up until now.

“Anyhow… Why don’t we go to the rooftop for starters?” I helplessly smiled.

After we arrived at the rooftop and sat down, on top of a blanket Sachi usually carried, I told them everything. As for their reactions…

♡

“Sachi… our Kei is now a grown man…” Riku was almost in tears.

“I’m proud… He’s leaving the nest…” Sachi said, touched.

“…what’s wrong with you two…?” (Kei)

They’re acting like a couple with a child as if it is nothing… I thought. As for Shizuka and Hayato.

“Such character development… interesting.” (Hayato)

Hayato, what the h*ll?

“Way to go, Kei! Go on the offensive! There’s no girl out there that won’t fall for a handsome man’s charm!” Shizuka gave a thumbs up.

“““……”””

“…w-what…?” (Shizuka)

“You say that but you were the only one who wasn’t moved by my so-called ‘charm’… Honestly, I began to question if all those people that called me handsome were lying…” (Kei)

“I saw that first hand!” Riku raised his hand and Sachi, who sat next to him, nodded.

“‘…am I really that unattractive?’ He said.” (Sachi)

“~” I could feel my face heat for embarrassment.

“In my defense… I was going through a tough time okay?” (Kei)

“The culprit’s right here. C’mon, it’s your chance to keep your pride as a man.” Hayato tossed his arm over Shizuka’s shoulder.

“Hayato?!” (Shizuka)

“Using his girlfriend as a sacrifice… Hayato is ruthless…” (Sachi)

♡

After things calmed down, I went onto the main topic. Something I’ve wanted to know ever since I made up my mind.

I’m a simple man… or rather, a man with pride. My mother used to tell me that there was no harm in asking for help. My sisters also remind me most of the time. That’s why, in the search for the truth of what humans call ‘romance’, I asked for a little bit of advice…

“What are the places  people go on the ‘ideal’ date?” I asked Shizuka and Hayato.

““We can’t help you… sorry.”” (Hayato & Shizuka)

…only to be met with instant disappointment.

“…” I hung my head…

“My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined…” (Kei)

“He’s down in the dumps…” (Sachi)

“You sound like a food critic…” (Shizuka)

Hah~ When was the last time I was so desperate about something?

I sat back down and opened my water bottle, as the contents went down my throat, I felt myself calming down. I turned once again, this time, to Sachi and Riku.

“You two, any ideas?” I said, “Oh, but. I don’t want your wedding venue as a recommendation, okay?” (Kei)

“No ideas.” (Sachi)

“I’ve never had a girlfriend. So, I’ve never been on a date. Last time it was at the shopping mall for the Christmas tree.” He gave a subtle glance at Sachi.

“I see…” (Kei)

“By the way, do you at least have any locations in mind?” (Shizuka)

“Let’s see…” I began counting with my hands, “The aquarium, a movie theatre, the zoo… uhh… the arcade and a park… for now…” (Kei)

I kept mulling about some places I could take her earlier today, using the standard date plan. Of course, it’s not the first time that Arisa and I went out, granted this should’ve been another one of many.

‘Should’ve been’, if it wasn’t for the fact that this time I’ll be explicitly calling it a date. Not to mention, once she accepts, there’s no turning back. Granted that at the end of the date, I plan to confess.

“Evaluation?” (Hayato)

“Most won’t do…” I said dejectedly.

“Why?” (Sachi)

“Because Arisa isn’t the corny type. If anything, she’s like Riku if he didn’t have a gambling addiction.” (Kei)

“I don’t have a gambling addiction though?!” Riku protested.

“Then, which might work?” (Shizuka)

“The arcade, a planetarium might also do the trick,” If I’m not mistaken, Arisa’s in the Astrology Club, isn’t she? “I went to a cat cafe with her once, so one of them might actually be a good idea.” (Kei)

They were all places I had fond memories of, excluding the planetarium, they holded special memories. Arisa and I went to the cat cafe a few days after I realized my feelings for her.

Arisa took me to an arcade during my healing process, and as I could also add the park… granted that it was the place where she reached out to me.

Now that I remember, Arisa also called me to a park once when I was still in middle school, right?

“You do know her, huh? Why not ask someone with more experience on dates?” (Hayato)

“Aren’t you and Shizuka dating?! You should’ve gone on dates before!” (Riku)

“It was like that at first but…” (Shizuka)

“Now we usually spend time inside… usually reading books or playing video games…” (Hayato)

““Somehow I can see that…”” My voice overlapped with Sachi’s.

Still… someone with actual experience on dates, huh? The first person I can think of is my middle school classmate Aurora, who was dating this girl from his friend group, but as far as I recall they broke up already on graduation…

Maybe a classmate? Though I don’t have many acquaintances with partners…

Ah… wait…

Then, someone came to mind. He was declared a ‘doting husband’ by the joint votes from his class. And he’s in the same class as Arisa!

“Bingo!” I said, standing up abruptly.

“Kei?” Sachi glanced up at me as I stood up.

“I have to send a message, so I’ll be heading back to the classroom now. There’s about five minutes left for lunch. Don’t be late to your classrooms, okay?” (Kei)

“Unn.” (Sachi)

“Okay~” (Shizuka)

Riku and Hayato also nodded. I took out my phone as I went down the stairs and sent a message to a certain boyfriend of a stupid couple.

♡

Third Person POV~

As Kei left, Shizuka turned to her best friend Sachi.

“By the way.” (Shizuka)

“Hmm?” (Sachi)

“I’ve only heard about her, but… I’ve never seen this ‘Arisa’ in person… maybe I already saw her around big sis Karane or big sis Kotone, but… I don’t now.” She said,

“Here.” Sachi extended her phone, which had a photo of her and Arisa last time they hung out. With Kei’s introduction, both Arisa and Sachi got to know each other and as they talked, they got to know they had a lot of things in common.

Their conversations were so lively that Kei could barely believe that a few years ago, these two were extremely shy and bad around people.

“She’s so beautiful!” Shizuka excitedly said, Sachi could notice a faint glimmer in her eyes.

“Want to meet her? I can invite you the next time we agree to go out.

“I would love to but…” Something was clearly bothering her.

“Since she comforted Kei… maybe she knows about me and… well… what if she doesn’t like me because of, you know…?” (Shizuka)

Even though they patched things up, Shizuka still felt guilty about what she had done to Kei, and she still couldn’t interact normally around him.

Sensing this, Sachi tried to reassure her.

“Don’t worry, she’s a nice person. Also, it’s not like you intended to hurt him, right?” (Sachi)

“Sachi!” (Shizuka)

“?!” (Sachi)

Shizuka immediately jumps into Sachi’s arms, with the latter barely being able to catch her.

This is quite the scenery, huh? Both Riku and Hayato thought.

Sachi first knew Arisa as one of her friend’s best friends. However, for Shizuka, she’ll meet Arisa as her childhood friend’s—