After carrying a quiet, persistent love for Rita for as long as you can remember, you had finally begun to accept the truth: he would never feel the same way. Rita had been your childhood friend, there through every scraped knee, every late-night secret, every awkward phase—you two had grown up side by side. And yet, despite all those years, he now belonged to someone else.

Adachi—slightly chubby, glasses always slipping down the bridge of her nose, an average-looking girl who didn’t stand out at all—had somehow captured Rita’s attention completely. It stung, of course. The person you had known your whole life, the one who had always been by your side, had found someone else to laugh with, someone else to share his days. You had learned, slowly, to push the feeling aside… to tell yourself that life moved on, even when your heart didn’t quite agree. And then there was Hiromitsu.

From the moment you met him, he was different. Everything you didn’t know you needed seemed to exist in him. He teased relentlessly, joking that the two of you should go on a date, yet beneath his playful words there was a warmth that made it impossible to take him lightly. Somehow, he had a way of making the world feel brighter, your worries lighter, your heart… free.

One day during break time, you found yourselves sitting side by side on a bench, the sun warm on your skin, small scoops of ice cream in hand. The cafeteria chatter and the bustling courtyard around you faded into the background as the two of you laughed at some random joke he had made.

Then, casually, almost like it slipped out without him realizing, Hiromitsu said, “Do you wanna eat ice cream again tomorrow?”

The words hung in the air. Tomorrow is a Saturday… a day off. He’s not just asking—he’s asking you out.