“Hey, Towa!”
Right now, I am looking at an unbelievable sight.
My boyfriend, Towa Hayami, is arm-in-arm with a blonde girl in front of a love hotel.
To explain how I ended up seeing this sight, let’s rewind time a little bit.
✶
I was shopping at a building in front of the station with my friend Mayuko.
We were right in the middle of entrance exam studies, but I had come out shopping to take a break.
“Hey, Mayuko. Isn’t this outfit cute?”
“It’s so cute! Are you going to buy that, Yumi?”
“Umm, what should I do?”
“If Hayami saw you in that, he’d definitely say it’s cute! You want Hayami to say that to you, right, Yumi?”
“…Yeah.”
My best friend Mayuko is in the same class as me. We’ve been in the same class since our second year of high school, and we’re in the same class again this year.
It’s lonely that I got separated from Towa, but…
“Come to think of it, was it okay that you weren’t with Hayami today?”
Mayuko asked me.
“Yeah. Towa said beforehand that he had some business to take care of today.”
I actually wanted to go on a date with Towa. But lately, Towa has been so busy that days where we couldn’t meet kept continuing.
“Hmm.”
“Still, he asked an awful lot about today.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well. Usually, he just tells me to go and have fun, but today he asked in detail like, who are you going with and where are you going?”
Towa really was acting strange yesterday. He pushed me and asked with way too much detail. I thought I was being suspected, so I answered properly, but… thinking about it carefully, something is weird.
“…No way.”
“Yumi?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Anyway, I shouldn’t think about it too much.
Just as I was thinking that, an unbelievable message arrived on my smartphone.
“Eh?”
It was a shocking content. Why would a message like this come from Towa to me? Eh? Didn’t he say he had business today?
“What’s wrong, Yumi? You’re freezing up looking at your phone.”
“Mayuko… a weird message came from Towa.”
“Eh? What? Let me see!”
I showed that message to Mayuko.
“Huh? What is this!?”
The content was terrible.
『Let’s meet up at our usual love hotel near the station. I’m heading over now too.』
For a second, I thought it was some kind of mistake. But the sender was Towa.
I have never once met up with Towa at a place like this. Or rather, I’ve never been to a place like this with Towa even once.
Yet it was written as if we had been here several times…
“Yumi! Don’t just stand there daydreaming, contact Hayami right away!”
I came back to my senses at Mayuko’s words and immediately tried to contact Towa on my smartphone.
I sent a message, but it shows as unread.
Then I’ll call…
“No… it won’t connect.”
There’s nothing I can do, no way to handle this.
Then Mayuko said to me:
“Yumi! Anyway, let’s go check in front of that love hotel!”
“Eh? But the location…”
“If it’s a love hotel near the station, there’s probably only one place like that.”
Mayuko spoke as if she knew where it was.
“Mayuko, have you ever been there?”
When I asked Mayuko:
“Eh… ah, well, you know.”
Mayuko had already experienced that kind of thing.
I felt a little envious of Mayuko. Because Towa and I had only experienced as much as kissing so far.
“Anyway, let’s hurry!”
“Yeah!”
We hurried toward that love hotel.
And that brings us to the present.
✶
“Yumi, why are you here?”
Towa looked at me and said in a panic.
Towa was standing there frozen, arm-in-arm with a girl.
“Towa! Why… why are you in a place like this with another girl!?”
When I said that to Towa:
“No, you’ve got it wrong, Yumi. This is…”
Towa’s excuse was pathetic. After accidentally sending a message like that to me, what is he…
“What is that? What’s wrong about it!? In a place like this… with a girl clinging to your arm… and sending a message like that to me by mistake… Are you making a fool of me?”
I felt like I was being completely made a fool of. Seeing a situation like this right in front of my eyes makes you feel that way.
” peony… sorry, Yumi.”
Towa just said “sorry” to me, and that was it.
“Hey, Hayami! What is the meaning of this? Why on earth can you cheat when you have a girlfriend named Yumi!?”
Mayuko spoke up to Towa in my place.
“Hey!? Even if you’re looking down, don’t you understand…”
Towa wouldn’t say anything. No excuses, nothing.
When I happened to look at the girl, I recognized her. No, I often see this blonde girl.
“That girl over there… isn’t she the one sitting next to Towa in class? ”
This girl is a gal in the same class as Towa who sits next to him. I think it’s Iori Toyama. She has a gal-like appearance, but in our first year she was a beauty and the boys made a fuss about her at first. But she’s boyish and has a rough tone, and the boys who talked to her were thoroughly rejected, or rather apparently, they weren’t even given the time of day.
Even though Towa said at first he talked to her because she sat next to him, but she ignored him so he stopped talking to her.
“Towa, why did you cheat with a girl like that!?”
I cannot believe that Towa cheated with this girl.
Even though he said he had nothing more to talk to her about.
“…Sorry.”
“Just saying sorry doesn’t explain anything!? Give me a reason! Is it my fault? Is it because I’m not attractive? Is that girl more attractive than me? Hey, answer me!?”
Why… why does Towa choose a girl like this over me… Am I really that unappealing? Does Towa prefer a girl like this over me? Because she’s pretty? Because she’s prettier than me? I really want you to tell me…
“My bad… I somehow came to find her attractive. So I lied to her, and told her I broke up with you. And then we kept meeting up little by little…”
No way… that you broke up with me. Why would you tell a lie like that? After all, until the day before summer vacation, we were meeting normally every day. Yet to think you were meeting behind my back.
“That’s awful.”
Hot tears spilled over from my eyes. What should I do to think it would turn out like this?
“Hey, Hayami seemed to have said you two broke up, but didn’t you actually know you two hadn’t broken up yet!?”
Mayuko spoke to that girl in my place. That’s right, surely it’s wrong, it wasn’t from Towa, but this girl…
“I’m…”
“My bad, Iori. Actually, I hadn’t broken up with Yumi yet.”
Eh? That way of phrasing it… is it really from Towa’s side?
“Yeah, I knew. I knew Towa was still going out with that person. I went out with him knowing that. But Towa chose me over you. So, you already understand, right?”
This girl, she really knew and I can’t believe Towa chose this girl over me. Then what was everything until now?
I turned down Eguchi-kun because I said I loved Towa, you know!?
Because Towa told me he loved me that’s why I went out with him.
To treat me like this…
“What on earth was Towa to me… Even though I was so happy when he told me he loved me… That’s why I went out with Towa… If it was going to turn out like this, I shouldn’t have gone out with him from the very beginning.
I should have gone out with Eguchi-kun who confessed to me back then!”
I didn’t want to stay in this place anymore. I wanted to run away. I can’t accept a reality like this.
I wanted to get away as fast as possible.
That is why I left this place.
(Towa, you idiot! I wanted you to deny it more, and I wanted you to choose me. Why didn’t you come over to my side right away in that situation? Why wouldn’t you throw away that girl immediately?)
I ran with all my might. I heard Mayuko’s voice from behind. Mayuko chased after me, worried about me.
But why? Shouldn’t Towa be the one coming first?
Why? Why can’t you do that?
Do you really choose that girl over me?
“Ha… hahaha.”
I am a complete clown. I was just a toy to Towa.
I stopped in my tracks, and looking up at the sky while shedding tears.
I can’t think about anything anymore…
“Yumi, are you okay?”
Mayuko caught up to me. Mayuko shed tears for me. I cried into Mayuko’s shoulder.
“Ugh… Mayuko—! I… I…”
Mayuko stroked my head and spoke to me gently.
“It’s okay, Yumi. It’s alright now… you don’t have to think about it anymore. I’ll stay with you.”
I was saved by Mayuko’s kindness. I couldn’t think about anything at that time.
“You’d better forget a guy like that already. But since that’s something for you to decide, calm down properly and think about it. Since it’s for you to decide, make sure you don’t regret it…”
“Mayuko, thank you.”
Thanks to Mayuko comforting me, my feelings felt a little easier.
Even so, reality doesn’t change.
✴︎
That night, I thought about it on top of my bed. Every time I think, memories of Towa come back to life. But at the same time, today’s events come back to life.
If I keep dating Towa like this, I’ll probably remember this over and over again.
My heart will probably get worn down to nothing. I probably won’t be able to trust Towa anymore.
Having made up my mind, I sent just a single message to Towa.
『Goodbye』…
Those are the words that marked the end of my love.
The hot summer won’t end yet.
Amidst that, my first love came to an end.