Ch. 0 - Prologue p8 - The Past and Present Love Miss Each Other

In my kitchen, my childhood friend is simmering curry.

I asked her if she wanted to wear an apron, but she snapped and declined. So, she was now wearing her junior high school jersey and a bandana on her head as she heated up the pot. It kind of reminded me of the cooking class in junior high. Yeah, it looks lame.

However, I’ll keep these thoughts in a Pandora’s box exclusively for “Hate on childhood friends”.

Crap, I’m putting a little too much in it.

Because I obviously wasn’t needed in the kitchen, I was uncomfortably sitting at the dining room table in the living room.

I can’t think of a topic to talk about.

I realized firsthand that this was probably what this awkwardness was all about.

This silence went on for a while, until Karen sat down in front of me with a plate of curry rice. Incidentally, she brought my plate as well. I was wondering if she was going to do that.

“T-Thank you…”

“It’s nothing.”

What is this?

What’s with her cold attitude? Could it be that she came to me as a punishment? If that really is the case, I’m going to cry my eyes out.

“Then, let’s eat.”

“Right. Itadakimasu.”

Karen chewed on her curry and rice with a sour look, not once making eye contact with me at all.

There was nothing to talk about, so I silently ate my curry rice. Ahh, the taste makes me feel safe and secure. Yummy.

As I was pouring everything that I couldn’t think of nto this curry rice, I suddenly thought of a topic.

“Why did you decide to have dinner at my house?”

“It’s not anything special… just on a whim.”

“I-I see…”

She has no interest in having a conversation!

I don’t care anymore! I’m going to act like a little junior high student talking to his mother!

As my mind silently raced with these thoughts, Karen, who was still looking at the curry rice, suddenly spoke to me.

“Ritsu, why are you giving up on me?”

“Pfft!”

It’s so straight to the heart of the matter that I can’t help but swoon.

You’re a little dirty! I said angrily, but I still had to avert my gaze in embarrassment, and I was also trying to figure out what the question meant, even though I was sweltering.

“W-What’s with that question all of a sudden?

“Nothing much… it’s just because I’m curious about…”

“W-Well, I guess it’s… normal.”

It’s true that when a guy who has confessed to you ten thousand times suddenly stops doing so, it’s natural to be curious.

But my reason for giving up was quite obvious.

“Well, if I already got rejected 10,000 times, I don’t think I have a chance in the future.”

Well, usually after about three times, it’s already very unlikely, right?

But the reason I went this far is because Karen―

“S-So that’s it… but what happened to our ‘Promise’… which you abandoned? But there’s no way Ritsu would do something like that… I-I don’t understand.”

“…”

W-Which promise? ‘Promise’?

My mind went into turmoil when Karen said something completely incomprehensible to me. My confusion is comparable to that of people running for their lives in an American comedy film. In my mind, an American is shouting, “OH NOOOOOO!!!!!!!”.

Yes, I know it’s hard to understand. And it’s not funny.

But Karen just looked straight at me and said something about a ‘Promise’.

Either way, this promise must’ve been big―

“That… promise is… what?”

“…H-Hah?”

<b>Y</b> <b>K</b> <b>S</b>

Yabai, Kireru, Sanbyoumae.

(TL: Crap, she’s mad, three seconds ago.)

“Did you forget about our ‘Promise’? N-No, but I didn’t think that it was possible…”

“We didn’t make any promises, did we? Wait, is that it? Do you mean the one where I’m never supposed to enter Karen’s room? Then I’m sorry. I might have to tour your home again with Karen’s Okaa-san.”

“That’s not it! I mean, what the hell are you even talking about!”

A slap dances across my cheek.

It hurts. But I feel like I’ve done something wrong. But when Karen wasn’t around, Kaori’s mom decided to introduce them to each other… Because that mom is a little funny. You can call it funny, though.

So it’s not like I intentionally entered Karen’s room… I’m serious. It was a forced entry, right?

“I’m sorry I came into your room. But we didn’t really make any other promises, did we?”

“…Then why did you confess to me ten thousand times?”

“T-There’s the old saying about not having enough love―”

“You’re right, it’s not enough! Our ‘Promise’ is not enough at all!”

“So what do you mean by our promise?!”

It got so heated that we both knocked over our chairs and stood up.

But eventually, we both settled down and sat back in our chairs.

“Are you sure you don’t remember anything?”

Karen said calmly, tears welling up in her eyes.

I had never seen Karen cry at all. That’s why I couldn’t think about the meaning of her  words at all.

“…Yeah. I don’t remember making any important promises…”

Please just tell me about it.

“So that’s how it is… Then it was just me. Even now, it’s just me―”

Karen said and abruptly left the house, leaving behind her half-eaten plate of curry rice.

I didn’t know why, but all I could do was just watch my childhood friend’s back as she left.

(TL: what promise just say it)