My first crush: Hajime Sakamoto

He was beautiful. He had fair skin that had no blemishes on it. He had plump pink lips. His short brown hair were a beauty to behold. He was the one guy every girl in my class wanted to stare at. 

He was out of my league and I couldn't even ask him out because I was only in third grade at that time and it seemed a bit too early to ask someone out on a date. At the time, I was too young for that. 

"Hey, I'm gonna tell you a secret. And you can't tell anyone else. Okay? Even Akira," I said to my seatmate, Akihito Yoshie. 

He nodded. 

"I didn't like Hajime that much earlier but I think I like him now," I told him. 

Akihito was shocked. 

"What are you saying?! Do you want me to tell the teacher?!," he said. 

I knew I had messed up so I tried to cover it up by lying. 

"I'm just kidding, Akihito. You know I would never like a guy. I'm too good for that," I said as I laughed. 

"You better be kidding because things like that don't sound too good coming from the mouth of an honor student," he said, disgusted. 

I rolled my eyes at him. 

I turned behind. 

"He's such an idiot, Zoe," I said to Zoe Honekawa. 

Zoe was a quiet girl that I had befriended. She was going to move to the US after she was done with third grade. 

"Who, Akihito? Yeah, I know he's an idiot. What happened? You said something weird and he thought it was real?," she said, laughing. 

"Yeah, that's what happened," I said, laughing. 

"But, that's not it! She said something really weird. It didn't feel like it was a joke!," Akihito said, turning around.

"Oh, shut up," I said to him as Zoe and I laughed. 

Some days later, my seat was changed and I missed sitting next to Akihito. I was sitting next to Akira Yoshizumi now on the desk which was right in front of the teacher's table. Akira was Akihito's best friend but he was really different than him. He was stupid and never did his homework on time. 

On the other hand, Ura Sakuma was sitting next to Hajime now and I was jealous of her. Ura was a friend of mine but she wasn't as close to me as Makura was. 

When third grade ended, Zoe left for the US and I was left without any true friends. Makura Kurayama was a good friend of mine but not good enough for me to share all of my secrets with her. Akihito was a guy so I distanced myself from him as my parents were strict but my crush on Hajime continued to grow. 

Fourth grade began and I started going to school a week later. Hajime came to school two weeks after the beginning of the new academic year and it was tiring to wait for him to show up at school. 

I wasn't a senior in elementary school that year but the seniors in fifth grade were dumb mutts so the school decided to make us the prefects instead of our seniors.

Hajime Sakamoto, Arata Hirofumi, Makura Kurayama and I were chosen to become the prefects from our class. Arata was later replaced by Shun Goda because he was showing favoritism to some people.

I was very attracted towards Hajime all the time but I really missed sitting next to Akihito as he was not sitting next to me now. Earlier, he was sitting behind me with Ura but the teacher later made him sit with some other girl who was very stupid.

When middle school began, Akihito and Hajime were in another class. Makura, and Ura were still in my class but I had lost the bonds I had with them once. I had made new friends in middle school. 

Then came the pandemic when I was in my last year of middle school. I had already lost my crush over Hajime and he didn't matter to me at all now. I still thought a lot about Akihito because he was the only guy friend I had ever had in my life. I really missed him. 

One day, I saw Hajime at school. This happened when I was in my first year of high school. Me and my friend Kaoru Jihara were talking to each other after school was over. 

We were just about to leave when Kaoru's eyes caught the sight of Hajime standing with his little brother. Of course she knew about him too because all of us had been together since elementary school. 

"Hey, look. Isn't that Hajime?," she said to me. 

I turned to look at him and I didn't feel anything towards him. He was just a normal person to me now. 

"Yeah, that's him," I said. 

"He's standing outside the principal's office. Something might be wrong again," she said. 

I nodded. 

 When I saw the notice board behind him, then I realized Hajime was standing outside the principal's office with his little brother. He figured out we were looking at him and talking about him because he shot his eyes towards us. 

"He's looking at us!," I said to Kaoru. 

"Yeah, whatever," she said. 

Just then, a woman approached us. It was weird to see someone not from our school in our school. 

"Excuse me, are you Akane?," she asked Kaoru. 

Kaoru shaked her head in disagreement. 

"Then, are you Akane?," the woman asked me.

She got a negative answer from me too. 

Then she left. 

I realized Hajime was looking at us all the time the woman talked to us. Then I realized the woman was Hajime's mother! 

"Kaoru, that woman's Hajime's mom!," I said. 

"Yeah, that's what it looks like to me, too," she said. 

One day, when school was over and I was making my way outside, I felt someone walk past me. The person's body had been really close to me as he walked. I turned to look and I saw Hajime. I blushed. 

Hajime left the school in my second year of high school. Kaoru was the one who gave me the news that he had left the school because as it turned out to be, Kaoru had become really close with Hajime now.