"Hiko, why are you here?" Ai asked.
Hiko immediately guessed she had come because of him, but he didn't dare say it out loud. If he was wrong, it would be far too awkward.
"I ran into a teacher just now. She asked me to help move some things," Ai answered with the lie she had already prepared.
Once she finished speaking, she turned and left. In truth, she wanted to know who had written the letter to Hiko to ask him out. So, after leaving the classroom, she secretly followed him to the rooftop to eavesdrop.
But what she heard there only made her feel unhappy.
Hiko didn't immediately see through her lie. Ai had spoken so calmly, without the slightest panic, that it almost sounded genuine.
But that shouldn't have been the case.
Although he'd mentioned that someone had asked him out this morning, he never told her where. He had avoided it to keep from irritating her.
So how could she have appeared here so coincidentally? And if it really was coincidence, shouldn't she at least feel a little relieved?
Coming here to "move things" and then conveniently running into him, wasn't that too neat?
"Since you haven't started practicing yet, why don't we go back to the classroom and continue studying?" Hiko didn't expose her lie. Instead, he jogged to catch up with her.
"No need, I still have to practice today." Ai rejected him flatly and quickened her pace to leave.
"Wait! You must have misunderstood me somewhere!" Hiko hurried to explain. "I didn't accept Mizuno-san's confession."
"Whether you accepted it or not has nothing to do with me." Ai didn't slow down. "Since you've liked someone for a long time, you should go find her instead of flirting around."
So it really was a misunderstanding... she must have overheard.
No wonder she was standing there when he came down the stairs.
But if she hadn't walked away quietly after hearing, maybe there was still a chance.
"You're wrong," Hiko said after analyzing quickly. "That was just an excuse I used to politely reject Mizuno-san."
"Is that so?" Ai still didn't stop.
Misunderstandings are such a pain.
"Yes," Hiko continued, "didn't I already say it the day we met? From the very beginning, I was already Ai's captive. I would only ever love Ai."
"Liar!" Ai snapped. "We've only known each other for less than a week. We didn't even know each other before."
"So it's love at first sight." Hiko recalled Ai's star-like words and spoke with emotion.
"That's too cunning. To say 'love' and 'like' so easily..." Ai broke into a run, resisting.
She didn't understand what love or liking really was, only what she had seen in movies, TV, and novels. Love at first sight felt even more distant.
Instinctively, she resisted. It all sounded like sweet words, carefully prepared by Hiko to lure her in.
"I don't expect you to accept it now." Hiko ran after her, breathless. "I'll wait for you... take your time, it's okay."
"You say these things, but you don't truly love me!" Ai felt his easy way of speaking such embarrassing words made them false, maybe even lies.
"No... it's the exact opposite of what you're saying." Hiko countered immediately, but as soon as the words left his mouth, doubt crept in.
Why did he like Hoshino Ai? Did he truly like her?
"I like you very much, so much that I can't extricate myself," he said without hesitation.
He quickened his pace, drew closer, and grabbed her hand.
"Let go!" Ai struggled with all her might. "You say these things, but in your words and actions, it's nothing like what you claim! You're clearly wearing a thick mask!"
Her words came out in a rush, unfiltered feelings that formed the conclusion.
"I don't have a mask!" Hiko couldn't help retorting, frustrated that Ai was sinking deeper into misunderstanding. "If it wasn't love at first sight, why would I have helped you so much?"
"Don't fool yourself! Your attitude toward me from the beginning wasn't love! Absolutely not love!"
Seeing his stubborn insistence, Ai lashed out even more sharply. "You're just pitying me, like everyone else! I don't need pity! Go away!"
"Don't let your emotions overwhelm you." Hiko's first instinct was to calm her down.
"I'm perfectly rational right now!" Ai stopped, glaring at the hand he still held. "If you keep saying you like me, you love me, but in truth you approach me with thoughts of pity or salvation, then please, leave me and never come near me again!"
Hiko didn't stop to think, he answered immediately. "You can't deny the people who care about you now because of the past. I know you've never received love before, but that doesn't mean my feelings are pity. If you call them pity, that hurts me!"
He didn't understand why Ai, who just moments ago seemed jealous, had suddenly exploded.
"You're clearly someone who doesn't understand love, just like me." Ai could feel a strange similarity in his presence. "But you insist on pretending! It's infuriating!"
'Is it because I say 'like' and 'love' too easily that she feels disgusted?' Hiko pondered but still replied, "Maybe there's a gap between your understanding of love and mine."
"Love has different understandings? Don't be ridiculous!" Ai was taken aback by the idea.
"Then tell me," Hiko pressed, looking straight into her eyes. "What do you think love is? What's your understanding of it?"
"I don't know..." Ai admitted. She couldn't even imagine what love was supposed to look like. Still, she tried to explain: "Maybe love is wanting to make the person you love happy. Wanting to see him smile, to be with him?"
"Don't you think that sounds hollow?" Hiko asked. "Even your voice is uncertain. You don't even understand what your own love would be made of."
"Yes! I don't understand love! Not at all!" Ai shouted in frustration. "Since I was little, I only lived with my mother. But she beat and scolded me, and once even put glass shards in my rice. And in the end, she abandoned me too! She never gave me affection! And how could I, who grew up in such an environment, possibly know what love is? I never even received the simplest, most natural love, my mother's love!"
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