Chapter 1: Behind the Gym

—She had finally gone and done it.

After classes had ended, Mao stood alone behind the gymnasium after school, her heartbeat racing.
Now a third-year middle school student, she had fallen in love with one of her classmates.

That girl—Haruka—was so picture-perfect that Mao found herself thinking she might have stepped right out of a magazine.

A slender figure, long, glossy black hair.
—The complete opposite of Mao herself.

Mao remembered thinking that clearly.

And yet, just as today’s lunch break was coming to an end, they ended up alone together at an unexpected moment, and without any plan at all, Mao went and called her out.

Mao wanted to tell Haruka how she felt— and at the same time, she wished Haruka wouldn’t come.

“I’m here—”

Before Mao could mentally prepare herself, Haruka called out to her, and Mao thought her heart might leap out of her chest, but even more than that, what embarrassed Mao was the fact that she had ended up screaming, “Meowww!”

She turned toward Haruka, but she couldn’t look at her face and ended up lowering her gaze.
Haruka laughed teasingly and said, “That ‘meooow’—you sounded like a cat.”

When Mao finally lifted her face, Haruka was there, wearing a gentle smile.
Her features were perfectly shaped, and when their eyes met, Mao felt a pain as if her chest had been pierced.

Mao had to say it— but no words would come out.

Just three words—“I like you.”

That was all.
And yet, she’d already embarrassed herself with that scream earlier.
After going through that, at the very least, she wanted to say how she felt.

“I like you!”

Overwhelmed by embarrassment and nerves, she couldn’t control her volume at all and ended up shouting.

Startled by how loud it was, Haruka leaned back slightly, but then she quickly leaned in again, smiling teasingly as she asked, “So, who is it that you like?”

That completely unexpected question sent Mao into a panic.
The more she thought she had to say it, the less her voice would come out.
Her mouth moved like a fish opening and closing, searching for food.

“It’s Nezu-kun—from the same class.”

“I—what?”
She thought she heard surprise in Haruka’s voice, but the one most surprised was herself.

“And then—why did you call me out?”
The smile Haruka had just moments ago was gone; her face was completely serious.

“Um… it was too embarrassing to talk about it even with my friends… and I thought I might be able to trust you, Haruka-san…”
Lowering her gaze, Mao came up with an excuse that she knew herself was painful.

“I see. So you called me out because you trust me.
Well… I guess that works for now…”
Haruka crossed her arms, looking as if she had reached some kind of understanding, but then she stepped straight up to Mao, grabbed both of Mao’s shoulders, and pressed her back against the gym wall.

Unable to resist at all, Mao felt a flicker of anxiety—had she made Haruka angry?—but then her chin was gently lifted, forcing her to look straight into Haruka’s eyes.

The expression Mao saw was nothing like what she had imagined: far too close, and far too gentle a smile.

“I like you.”

Mao tried desperately to understand what was happening, but no matter how many times she thought it through, she could only arrive at the same answer.

“…Me too…”

Still staring into Haruka’s eyes, she replied without any real sense of reality.

“This is how you do it—so do your best, okay?”

Haruka gently embraced Mao and whispered in her ear.
As she pulled away, she softly patted Mao’s head and then left.

Mao tried to call out to stop her, but no voice came, and left behind, she kept reaching out even after Haruka had disappeared from sight.

The school bell, and even the cries of crows, never reached Mao in that moment.