Ch. 0 - Prologue p2 - Farewell to a childhood friend, Moving onto a new love

The morning sun greeted me curtly through the curtains. Konnichiwa.

Seeing the sunrise made me want to kill myself, but that’s a no-go so I crawled out of my bed.

“Fuaa….”

I couldn’t sleep a wink last night.

I had no choice but to give up after Karen’s immediate reply yesterday. Although it takes more strength than expected to say goodbye to the love that has accumulated over 10,000 confessions. I felt like I was fighting the boss’s final form after the boss had evolved twice. It’s a really difficult analogy to understand.

But, I have decided to start finding a new love.

I went down to the living room and had my breakfast: store-bought bread and instant coffee.

I’m an only child and my parents are working overseas. Due to this, I was taken care of at my neighbor, Karen’s house…. But I may not be able to stay there anymore.

Before, I’ve always eaten breakfast at Karen’s house. But I’ve told her parents that I’ll be taking care of it myself from now on.

Whenever Karen woke me up, I would say “Good morning,” with a nonchalant expression and she would get angry and say “Why are you eating breakfast at my house?” All of that comes to an end today.

“I’m the one who’s not ready!　I’m moving out of here!”

I sandwiched my cheeks between both of my hands to get my spirit up.

I poured myself a cup of coffee, got a loaf of bread, and prepared for school. Brushed my teeth, fixed my sleeping habits, and…

“I’m off.”

The usual annoyed response from the childhood friend who glares at me is now gone.

I feel like crying…

I ran off to leave my indecisiveness behind.

***

The high school I go to is about a 20 minute walk from my house.

I used to think that twenty minutes went by in an instant, but today it felt like it dragged on for 2 weeks. Yeah.

At first, not many people were seen wearing the school uniform, but as I approached the school, the number of people wearing it increased.

“Ah, Senpai!”

A boisterous voice can be heard from behind me.

The person who called out to me then threw herself onto my back.

“Oof!! Oi, Lala! Watch out!”

“Ehehe, it’s just some light skinship in the morning.”

That’s what Komukai Lala said with a smirk on her face. She’s one year younger than me and a freshman in high school.

She has a petite frame which makes her look like a small animal. Plus, she is THE kouhai who annoys me. She’s also a beautiful girl who is popular with the upperclassmen so I really don’t know what’s going on in the world.

“Huh? Senpai, is Karen-chan not here?”

“Urk…”

Well, of course she’d ask that.

We used to go to school together every morning. There was no doubt that this was unnatural.

“No, well…”

When I tried to play it off, she smiled devilishly, as if she knew what I was talking about.

“Huh? Could it be that senpai got rejected again?”

“Stop it! Don’t ask me that!”

“I knew it. But, don’t you always get rejected?”

“Yeah, well?”

“Normally, you’d be looking at Karen and smiling as if nothing had happened~”

“I was smiling? That’s so creepy! Forget about it!”

My heart was gouged by her teasing, but I managed to apply first aid on it.

I better watch out… I’m about to die of blood loss.

“But why are you so depressed this time?”

“I’ve given up…”

“Huh?”

Lala made a dumb face as if she couldn’t process my response.

I suppose it is weird, I’m a persistent man after all.

I’ll just get straight to the point and tell Lala that I gave up.

“Yesterday was the 10,000th time I confessed. “

“Eh, 10,000th time?”

“Yes. And as much as I hate to admit it, I have been rejected… 10,000 times.”

“Eh, 10,000 times…”

That’s what I’m talking about.

It’s unthinkable for a normal person to confess 10,000 times as it would be shameful, but perhaps it could become a title if one managed to pull it off. It’d be too shameful though.

“So I decided that the 10,000th would be my last time confessing. But I got rejected.”

“…”

“But I don’t care! I’ll try to find a new love!”

That’s what I tell her and that’s what I tell myself.

“Well, if that’s the case… I’ll support your love.”

“Oh, thank you!”

Lala is annoying, but she is a good person.

I’m sure there are other good people around besides Karen.

I’m going to start exploring the unknown parts of the world that I haven’t seen before.

Thanks to this conversation with Lala, I felt like I had let go of my love just a little more.

TL Note: *prostrates self* I’m really sorry! I had exams these weeks and also my editor was refusing to edit this chapter, for various more important reasons (SoulWorker). I will be continuing this, and expect more updates on this and OsaImo. Oh, and for this series, I’m going to have MPK edit for me. That’s all, cya guys.

EDN: Hi, I’m a new editor here. Nice to meet you. This is my first work as an editor so do forgive me for any mistakes. I hope you enjoy the series.