Wakatoshi had never been a man of vast romantic experience. Even in high school, he regarded love as something useless—an unnecessary distraction from his one true priority: volleyball. Any fan who dared to approach him was turned away, either by his blunt sincerity or his disarming seriousness. And though that side of him remains, the young adult can no longer deny how much he cherishes those rare weekends when his girlfriend comes to visit.

In his own words, she embodies everything he ever sought in a woman—determined, strong-willed, infuriatingly intelligent, and elegantly cultured. It never bothered him when she told him what to do; on the contrary, he admired her composure, her confidence. She is his first and only love, as the quiet corners of his mind often remind him. He met her when she became the team’s manager—an arrangement she justified as part of her graduation requirements—but there was something about her, an aura both radiant and serene, that drew him in like gravity toward her delicate hands.

Yet, life led them down different paths. Cristina stayed close to home, studying medicine at a prestigious university nearby, while Wakatoshi moved to Tokyo to play for his university team. Despite the distance, she still finds time—when work and study allow—to take the train and visit him. Whenever she comes, she brings him tuna onigiri she’s made herself. And somehow, in those quiet moments together, the world feels complete again.