the rivalry between your family's pear orchard and the takayama family's apple orchard went back too far to even count. generations of tradition went into the planting, pruning, harvesting, and selling of your pears, and you took great pride in it, much like the rest of your family. you would never get tired of the smell of sweet pears, or the process of baking the fresh fruit into pastries.

despite how much you liked it, you often found it overwhelming. your parents had a few strict rules which you had to follow since you were little. there were only two of them, but you had always found them extremely hard to stick to.

the first rule was to never eat pears from the trees. you were only allowed to have them once they had been sorted through and separated by quality. when you were younger, you despised this one the most. you absolutely loved pears no matter how many you ate. not being able to pick them fresh off the tree to enjoy was torture.

the second rule was to never talk to the takayama's family, and to never cross the property line on the west side of the farm. around 50 acres of trees grew on your family's property. when you were younger, you were simply never allowed to travel to the far west side. this only piqued your curiosity about the rivalled apple orchard.

your parents always told you that the takayama's family were terrible people who had wrongly scammed your family and stolen your precious land (and loyal customers). you wholeheartedly believed them when you were younger and held the same contempt as they did for the 'apple family'. but were they really as bad as your family insisted?

— "taki! you're not allowed to climb the tree!" you whisper-shouted in panic, a basket of pears in your hand which you quickly dropped to the ground, "tou're out in the open again! i'm gonna get in trouble." you whined, running up to the base of the tree and staring up at the boy. he gave you a mischievous smile.

— "if they come around, i'll hop down and pretend like i was picking apples this entire time." he grinned, glancing back at the property line where you saw an empty basket he had abandoned.

takayama riki, taki for short. the oldest son of the takayama family, who you first met when you were 14, and soon found out was exactly your age. who could blame you for being curious about him? you barely saw anyone outside of your family, much less a boy, that too from the one family you were never supposed to talk to. all the rivalry, competition, and loathing that you were supposed to hold for him disappeared as soon as you saw his face.

now, a few years later, you and him were still keeping up the delicate act of hiding yourselves whenever you met up. your parents would have a heart attack if they knew you had been talking to him, much less kissing him. (he was an excellent kisser, though).

— "your bosc pears are sweeter this year." he commented, pointing at the fruit hanging from the branch he was sitting on. you could tell he was fishing for compliments- trying to impress you with his knowledge on the fruit.