Chapter 13: My First Love

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Translator: Soafp

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[Aoi PoV]

I was a timid child, though I don't know who I took after.

Whenever I stood in front of people, I would get nervous and couldn't even speak.

When I reached the age to attend kindergarten, I enrolled, but I couldn't talk to the energetic children around me and ended up isolated. Eventually, I stayed at home most of the time.

My gentle mother always treated me with a smile… but even as a child, I was aware that I was worrying her.

Then one day—

“My name's Yamato Makino. Nice to meet you.”

Suddenly, he appeared in front of me.

Even though it was our first meeting, he stood confidently, with a gentle expression and kind eyes.

When facing someone I didn't know, my body trembled.

But… why was it?

“M-my name is… Aoi…”

Somehow, I felt like this boy was different from the other children at kindergarten.

That was the first time I met Yamato Makino.

---

When Yamato came to my house, I realized he was very knowledgeable.

He knew all sorts of things, and my mother looked so happy listening to him talk.

“Aoi, why don't you come over here too?”

At my mother's call, I approached him a little, though strangers still scared me. But I was curious about the big book he was holding…

“What… is that…?”

“It's an animal encyclopedia. Here, you can look at it.”

He answered calmly to my question.

I was fascinated by the adorable animals in the book.

“There are so many puppies! Hey, is this one also a puppy!?”

“That's called a wolf.”

When he sat down next to me while I was absorbed in the encyclopedia, fear made my body tremble.

“Look, Aoi. Here are the cats.”

My mother sat between us, helping me to communicate with him.

“Um… Ya… Yama…”

“It's Yamato-kun.”

Even though he was scary because it was our first meeting…

“Ya… Yamato-kun. What is this animal…?”

“Ah, that one is─────”

He was very kind.

I think he understood I was frightened, so he was careful not to invade my personal space.

“Do you like this anime?”

“Y-yeah… I always watch it…”

After looking through the encyclopedia, we watched an anime on TV together.

It was the one I was always engrossed in—a classic magical girl story where the heroine transforms and helps people in trouble.

“This girl… I like her. She's so cool…”

Gathering my courage, I told him I liked one of the characters.

“I see. I like this one. She's cute.”

“R-really!? I like her a lot too!”

The conversation with him flowed so easily.

For someone like me, who had never interacted much with others, this was the first time I'd ever felt this way.

But back then, I was too young to notice…

That he was deliberately making it easy for me to talk.

Even though we were the same age, he seemed a little more mature, and I thought he was so cool. My heart raced.

“Thank you for having me.”

Time passed quickly, and soon it was time for him to go home.

“Um… this…”

I hugged the encyclopedia he had brought, holding back my feelings of regret.

“You can borrow it.”

“R-really…?”

“Yeah.”

It wasn't the book itself that made me feel so lonely.

It was that I wanted to spend more time with him.

“W-will you… come again…?”

I wanted to play again.

I wanted to talk more.

I wanted him to teach me new things.

“Yeah, let's play again! …Ah, Aoi.”

When he called my name and answered, my heart lit up brightly.

“It is a promise, Yamato-kun!”

A smile came naturally to my face as I called his name.

And that's how we became childhood friends.

Playing with a friend… was so much fun.

At the time, that was all I thought.

But it wouldn't be until later that I realized Yamato-kun was someone special to me.

---

Yamato-kun came over to play almost every day.

For someone like me, who had been so shy, being able to become this close to him made me happy.

“Aoi, soon you'll be starting elementary school…”

My mother murmured one day.

“Elementary school… will Yamato-kun… go there too?”

“Yamato-kun will go to the local public elementary school. But you'll be going to a private one…”

“Wh-why!? I want to go to public school too! I want to be with Yamato-kun!”

My mother smiled a little awkwardly at my words.

Even though I was shy and couldn't even attend kindergarten regularly… I wanted to be with him.

With Yamato-kun.

So I pleaded with all my heart.

“Let's talk to your father about it.”

“Ah… o-okay…”

I was afraid of my father.

He was quiet, always working, and I had no memory of ever really speaking to him.

“U-um… Father…”

“What is it?”

I timidly went to his study, but my nerves choked my voice.

“Dear, Aoi says she wants to go to the same school as Yamato-kun.”

Mother, who was with me, spoke on my behalf.

“Yamato-kun, huh…”

After thinking for a while, Father spoke.

“Alright. Aoi, study hard, okay?”

“Y-yes!”

It felt like it was the first time my father really looked at me, and I was happy.

And I could go to school with Yamato-kun.

That fact filled me with happiness.

But that happiness didn't last long.

Not long after the elementary school entrance ceremony… Mother fell ill and was hospitalized.

“I'm okay, Aoi.”

Lying in her hospital bed, she smiled gently, looking the same as always.

But looking back now… she must have been forcing herself not to make me worry.

“How are you feeling, Akane-san?”

“Yes, somehow…”

This was Nurse Saito, who worked at the hospital.

I remember she was very kind and always cared about my mother.

“Aoi-chan, here to visit again? You're such a good girl.”

Nurse Saito often patted my head.

She would give me candies or buy me juice. She was truly a kind person.

---

“O-oi! You… what's your name!?”

“Ah… Aoi…”

It was while I was sitting alone on the sofa in front of the hospital room, waiting because Father was talking with the doctor.

“I'm… Toru Murase. Um… nice to meet you.”

A boy about the same age as me often came up and talked to me.

Back then, since I was still shy, I felt uncomfortable with how persistently he stuck around.

“Hey, guess what! I got a perfect score on the last test!”

“O-oh…”

Why was this boy being so insistent on talking to me?

He was the son of Dr. Murase, the doctor in charge of Mother's care, so Father told me I should get along with him…

“I'm gonna be a doctor like my dad someday! That's why I study hard every day!”

His father and grandfather were both doctors, and he seemed very proud of that.

“Aoi, are you good at studying?”

“I'm… not really that good, I think.”

At that time, I wasn't very good at studying, but Yamato kindly taught me whenever I didn't understand something. That's why I liked studying itself.

“If you don't understand your homework, I'll teach you!”

“No… it's fine. Yamato-kun teaches me…”

“Yamato… who's that?”

“My… important friend.”

An important friend…

When I described Yamato that way, I suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

“Wh-what!? Who's that guy! I'm way better than him! Don't let someone like that teach you!”

Murase suddenly raised his voice.

Normally, I would've been scared and shrunk back, but…

“Why would you say that!? Yamato-kun is way kinder, smarter, and cooler than you!”

Murase looked dumbfounded, as if he never expected me to talk back.

I don't think I had ever felt so angry before.

Ignoring him as he kept pestering me, I returned to Mother's hospital room and voiced my complaints.

“Murase-kun said that to me! But Yamato-kun is way kinder!”

“Toru-kun just wants to be friends with you, Aoi.”

“That's not it! Murase-kun just met me and already calls me by my name without honorifics!”

“But Yamato-kun calls you by your name too, right?”

“Th-that's… that's different! It's fine if it's Yamato-kun!”

Yes… it's fine if it's Yamato-kun!

Because Yamato-kun is my… important friend…

“Calling someone by their name like that… it probably means they want to be close to you.”

Mother, when she said that, had a faraway look in her eyes.

“Aoi, here, buy yourself a drink.”

“Ah, okay. Thanks.”

After finishing his talk with Dr. Murase, Father returned to the room and gave me some pocket money.

“Aoi, don't run, okay? There are other patients here.”

“Okaay.”

As I was leaving the room to head to the convenience store inside the hospital…

“Akane, let's try increasing the dosage of the chemotherapy────”

“If this goes on… maybe I─────”

I caught a bit of the conversation between Mother and Father.

“It's okay… Aoi and I are here with you…”

“Yeah… thank you… Daisuke.”

I didn't really understand what they were talking about, but it was the first time I heard them call each other by name.

---

Mother really did her best.

She endured the painful treatments, and there were even times when she was able to come home temporarily.

I thought… maybe she could stay home forever and we could all be together again…

That's what I hoped.

“Hey, Aoi, do you like Yamato-kun?”

“Eh, wha!? Wh-why!?”

“I don’t know, I just thought… maybe you do.”

By the time I was in 4th grade, I understood at least a little… that Mother's condition was very serious.

But that day, she had an appetite, and even though recently she often couldn't even talk because of the pain, she spoke with me fluently.

“I-I don't know… like him…? I don't…”

“I see… Yamato-kun is a really good boy.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“So, if you really do like him, you shouldn't let him slip away.”

“Y-Yamato-kun is… just a friend!”

My face was burning.

Just thinking about Yamato-kun made my heart pound.

“You really are… so much alike…”

Alike…?

Mother murmured that with a gentle smile.

“Aoi, how's school lately? Is it fun?”

“Y-yeah. I don't really talk to anyone except Yamato-kun though…”

That day, I talked a lot with Mother.

It had been a long time since we spoke so much.

Now that I think about it… that must have been our last rally.

The next day, Mother passed away.