Chapter 18
Kokoro glanced at Mika with disbelief painted across his face, his head still resting on her lap. "What... what exactly made you like someone like me?"
Mika smiled softly, her white eyes shimmering with emotion under the warm light of the storage room. "There are too many reasons to count," she said gently, brushing a few strands of hair away from his forehead. "But if I had to pick where it started... it was in our first year of middle school."
---
The bell rang loudly across the middle school campus. Students bustled through the courtyard, full of energy and excitement for the first day of classes. But one seat remained empty in Class 1-3—Kokoro Katsuragi was absent due to a high fever.
That same day, a new student stood out.
"Hey, is that a guy?" one student whispered.
"No, that’s Watanabe Mika... I think. I heard she just moved here."
Short, round, and always stuffing her face with meat buns, Mika had a mop of unruly black hair styled like a boy’s and wore a baggy boy’s uniform. She walked with a swagger and swore like a sailor.
"Tch, this place is too small," Mika muttered as she stomped toward her desk, dropping her backpack with a thud. "Better not be full of lame weirdos."
---
The next day, Kokoro arrived.