Even Though I Loved You First

Middle School

“The… hell did you say?” The place, the back of the school building, was deserted with almost no presence in sight. That is with the exception of two groups of people.

“Kei, don’t!” The girl tried to pull him away before he did anything reckless.

One of them was a single boy and a girl. The boy was extremely handsome and the girl had a cuteness that stimulated someone’s doting habits. However, the boy’s anger was distorting his charming face.

On the other side, a group of two boys and two girls stood, however, among them was someone Kei knew really well.

“What? I ain’t wrong now, am I?” One of the girls, who seemed to be the leader of the group, taunted the boy who was merely a year younger than her.

“I won’t forgive you! I thought you guys were best friends?! Have you ever considered how she felt?! I trusted you and you spat in my face!” Kei would never forget the day that he heard someone that always greeted him with a smile, someone that made his sister smile, talking trash about them.

He wouldn’t forgive them, he wouldn’t forgive his sister’s best friend and childhood friend for making them cry. 

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Inside a Train

Kei’s POV~

Maybe instead of a physical present I could just give her some memories? Sounds good, for now I’ll go with that!
“Say, Kei.” (Arisa)

“Yes?” As I sat down next to her, fingers intertwined, I heard a sweet whisper from beside me.

“Why are we inside a train?” My girlfriend Arisa Kamihate, asked me with a confused expression.

“I thought we could go somewhere else. I mean, we’ve been to almost all places in our city, right?” (Kei)

“Eh? We did?! Whoa~ “ Arisa seemed amused. It looked like she never realized it.

It’s been a little over half a year since we started hanging out, to be honest it may seem unreal, granted that such a short amount of time ended in both of us dating.

However, in my opinion Arisa and I had great chemistry, and I couldn’t ask it any other way.

↜♡↝

Reaching our destination, I could see Arisa stare in admiration at the enormous facility in front of us. As I saw her eyes twinkle, an excited voice rang through my ears.

“Hey, Kei! Isn’t it bigger than the one in our city?!” The facility itself was a shopping mall, and even though we explored almost all shops, this mall had way more unknown facilities than the one we used to go.

“This place’s about an hour or so ride from our station, so it’s relatively close. It’s also about an hour from Irakawa High. I heard from some classmates that they had many facilities including sweets here, so I thought, why not?” (Kei)

“Alright then! Our goal is to explore the sweet selection!” Arisa said excitedly.

“What about the entertainment facilities?” I asked.

“T-that too…” (Arisa)

↜♡↝

“What did you get?” I asked as I handed over my part of the pay.

“A vanilla ice blend, what about Kei?” She asked back, handing her part of the pay.

“Milk tea.” (Kei)

“Oh? Are you fond of those?” (Arisa)

“Not really, I thought I could try to drink some of it… I mean, I’ve been into trying more new things, you know?” (Kei)

Whenever I ordered something at a cafe, it was either your standard tea or black coffee. However, I’ve been enjoying trying all kinds of different flavors. If anything, back home there’s only a specific place where you could get milk tea… which was regularly clouded.

As Arisa and I continued chatting away, in less than five minutes our drinks were handed to us and we left the shop hand in hand.

“How is it?” (Kei)

“It’s really good~ Want a sip?” Arisa extended the hand her drink was in. Nodding, I placed my lips on the straw and took a little, it tasted sweeter than usual…

“It really is… Want some of this too?” I extended my own drink to her. She smiled and happily took a sip from mine, she then seemed a little lost in thought. After a while, she looked at me with a smile and said,

“It tastes sweeter than I expected.” She giggled.

“Is that so?” If anything, her drink also tasted a little sweeter than what I remember.

Changing topics, Arisa looked around excitedly and asked me, “So~ Where do we start?” (Arisa)

“How about—” (Kei)

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Clothing Store

“So, what do you think?” (Arisa)

“Huge…” My gaze trailed off.

“What was that?” (Arisa)

“Arisa, you look stunningly beautiful that I worry…” I said, trying to cover up my first words.

“I-is that so…?” She shyly said. “I may buy it and wear it on our next date then…” (Arisa)

“Hm? Did you say something?” (Kei)

“Your imagination~” Arisa wore a white skirt alongside some stockings, she also had a blue turtleneck that if I’m being honest… looked like a match made in heaven.

She looked so incredibly beautiful that I worry I won’t be able to walk beside her. Of course, it was just a figure of speech, Arisa loves me and I love her too, that’s what mattered.

“Alright then, let me pick out something for you!” Leaving those words behind, she went back inside the cubicle and changed her clothes.

Reminds me of the time I went through clothes with my sisters… Though in a gentler atmosphere… I couldn’t help but chuckle at myself.

After a while, Arisa came out of the dresser and started looking for something I could wear. It took her a little over ten minutes, but she then proceeded to hand me a set of clothes which I took and entered the dressing room with.

After I finished changing, I opened the curtain which caught Arisa’s attention. She looked at me for a little but and then,

“…” (Arisa)

She averted her gaze?! I screamed inwardly as Arisa looked the other way.

“It doesn’t look good on me, does it?” I said, a little disappointed.

“Eh? No no no, that’s not it… it’s just…” Her voice became smaller as she continued her sentence.

“It’s just…?” (Kei)

“You’re so good looking that I couldn’t look straight at you…” At that moment, I felt my face grow hotter. I’ve been constantly told about my good looks, saying I was extremely handsome and what not, however it felt extremely embarrassing when Arisa was the one pointing it out…

↜♡↝

Arcade

“YES!” If you asked me, I would say that I was a pretty composed person, I wasn’t the type to get carried away. However, today marked a special day… a day filled with joy and a day were all my brothers could—

“Why do you look like a patriot?” Arisa asked annoyingly.

“What? Are you salty just because I was finally able to beat you in a game?” At my teasing remarks, I could see a vein pop on her forehead… or maybe it was my imagination…

“You… It was only once! Don’t get cocky!” (Arisa)

“Oh? Is that really something you should be telling your boyfriend?” I snarked, causing Arisa to look a little annoyed, though she ended up just pouting.

As we sat down on a bench, I slightly patted the almost-crying Arisa on the head soothing her.

“Now now~ You may look cute while pouting but I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention~” (Kei)

“You don’t sound convincing while chuckling to yourself, you know?!” (Arisa)

After Arisa calmed down, we talked about the other places we wanted to go, however, as I checked my phone, I noticed that it was already getting late.

“If we take the next train, we’ll be able to arrive by seven-thirty at most. That’s okay with you?” I asked the pondering Arisa who was walking next to me.

“It’s okay. I feel a little disappointed our date came to an end but well… there’s always a next time.” (Arisa)

I nodded and took her hand, we walked towards the station and rode back home after a long day full of fun.

↜♡↝

Way Back Home

“Today was so much fun!” Arisa said as she adjusted her bag over her shoulder.

“It was, wasn’t it?” (Kei)

“We have to go to that place again!” (Arisa)

“We’ll have enough time on summer vacation.” I answered.

“It’s true~” Our summer vacation was quite long, it went from the second week of June all the way to the second week of August, almost two months in that regard.

So it’s no wonder we’ll have more than enough time to play around.

“You know, Kei. It still feels like a dream… The two of us dating, I mean…” (Arisa)

“Really?” (Kei)

“Yes… it all feels… so unreal… I’ve been way too happy lately that I worry I will just… wake up, you know?” (Arisa)

“Is that so? Does this feel real to you?” After looking around the dark street we were walking down on, I grabbed the perplexed Arisa’s chin and sealed my lips on top of her’s. She didn’t refuse me, if anything she grabbed my clothes and pulled me in a little closer.

“Then, what do you think?” Due to our similarity in height, I could look at her straight in the eyes without much trouble, and the expression she had was… needy, to say the least.

“It feels real now… Honestly, I feel so loved that I should be careful and try to make you feel loved too.” She giggled.

“I don’t really mind…” I whispered.

“I do, you know?” She wryly smiled.

“Hey, Arisa.” (Kei)

“Hm?” (Arisa)

“I love you.” I sweetly whispered to her.

“I love you too.” After hearing those words and probably due to the atmosphere the shining moon granted, I took Arisa’s lips a second time, each time feeling sweeter than the last.