Sae Taniguchi was an accident.
Sae's parents gave birth to her before they were married. As soon as Sae's mother discovered she was pregnant with her, they were in a shotgun marriage. Three years later, her sister was born and they became a family of four.
Young Sae spent most of her time with her father's parents while she attended pre-school because their house was closer to her pre-school. Her grandparents took care of her and raised her like she was a daughter of their own. She was loved and even for a pre-schooler like her, she knew she was loved.
At the pre-school, she met a boy. That boy had a dumb round face and happened to be a crybaby. She didn't know who that boy was at that time but she believed she was friends with him. However, that boy wasn't important to her at that time. As for the reason...
She found out that her mother and father lived in separate houses.
Her parents divorced when Sae was just five years old.
Despite that, they both continued to support young Sae and her sister financially. However, young Sae believed that her family was still normal and lived her life as a 'normal' pre-schooler. And without knowing she lived in a family of three with her sister and mother, she kept living.
Eventually, young Sae entered elementary school. In school, she learned what love was. She learned that love was about hugging your father and mother and saying 'I love you' to them for no reason at all. She didn't remember ever hugging her father. She didn't remember ever hugging her mother either. She also didn't remember sharing those three words with her mother.
But young Sae believed that she was loved in her family because she learned that parents always loved their children.
Eventually, her mother had found a new love. Young Sae who was still young at that time thought the tall man that was around her was just a man who frequently visited her home. The tall man treated her like a daughter and gave her a sense of familiar love she learned from school.
One day, this tall man invited her family of three to a beautiful resort. Young Sae who was still an elementary school student could only think about the wonderful beach that was laid in front of her eyes. Sae was happy.
During the trip, the tall man approached the young Sae to hold onto a beautiful ring. Young Sae didn't know what it was for but the tall man told her to follow him and pass the ring to her mother. Young Sae who didn't understand what the tall man was aiming to do, did just so. She saw her mother cried with tears of joy when she saw the ring. Her mother then hugged the tall man and said the three magical words she learned in school. Young Sae believed that this was love and that her family was filled with love.
As time passes, the tall man who ended up living in her house brought her and her sister to a cram school. She didn't know what it was for but followed the tall man's instructions. It was at that cram school that she reunited with the dumb round-faced crybaby she met before in pre-school.
At that cram school, she had a lot of fun as she made new friends and also properly befriended the dumb round-faced crybaby she met during pre-school. Not only that, she learned what love was again. She learned about how there is someone out there who she hasn't met before who loved her unconditionally. Young Sae who liked that idea of love began to look for that love. Young Sae wanted to be loved by someone unconditionally.
As young Sae grew up in her 'normal' family life, she also grew up into a middle school student. In middle school, Young Sae learned what love was again. She learned that love can be shared by two individuals who are around the same age. That they would buy materialistic things, share nice words and do what was known as a 'kiss'. Deep down, young Sae didn't believe that was true love and continued searching for the unconditional love she learned about in cram school, The cram school where she reunited with the dumb round-faced crybaby.
However, her view of love was challenged.
One day as she came back from home, young Sae who just learned many forms of love realized that the tall man at her house was scolding her mother. He was threatening her mother because her mother was cheating on him. Young Sae who knew that her mother wasn't the type to cheat, knew almost immediately that the tall man was the one cheating on her. The tall man was only looking for an excuse to leave the house for another woman. He was pinning the blame on her mother just so he could cover himself.
Young Sae who saw her mother break down on the floor realized that her idea of love was being tested. The tall man who scolded her mother was now no longer a person who shared hugs or say the three magical words any longer. The tall man who scolded her mother was no longer a person who loved her unconditionally. The tall man who scolded her mother was no longer a person who buys materialistic things, share nice words and do what was known as a 'kiss'. Young Sae, who learned that the opposite of love was hate...
Knew the tall man was no longer a man filled with love, but a man filled with hatred. He had become her enemy.
Young Sae grabbed a knife from her kitchen and stood in front of her mother. Young Sae who learned she was holding a weapon that caused harm realized that she was being protected by something else other than love. She realized there were other things that were as good as love but also less painful than love.
She raised the knife and pointed at the tall man. She had turned the tides and threatened the tall man to leave her house and to never appear in their lives ever again.
That was the last time Young Sae saw the tall man.
At this point, young Sae finally understood all the things that had happened in her life. She had learned that she lived in a broken family. A family without a father. A family without a man who could teach her how to grow up with one. A family with a broken-hearted mother.
A family without love.
Young Sae who had seen love fail multiple times in her life decided to get rid of love and to never have love in her heart. She saw love as a nuisance and was the reason she had a broken family. Young Sae rejected love.
It was that day, the young Sae Taniguchi who wanted unconditional love died.
Sae had become a high school student. Sae who had closed of the emotion of love changed her appearance as she no longer cared about what people think of her. She would cut her hair very short, be interested in a media that she could relate to and be a girl who would not need a man in her life. She neglected the feeling of love and replaced it with a knife as her motivation.
However, because she neglected the feeling of love, she had also neglected the love she was looking for. She had neglected the search for unconditional love. And because she had neglected the search for unconditional love, she had neglected the one place that thought her true love, the cram school.
Eventually, her love was challenged once again.
Sae was 16 when she had reunited once again with the dumb round-faced crybaby. However, he was no longer the boy she knew in pre-school. The boy became a tall cheerful pervert.
Sae was 17 when she found out a part of her love came to light when she kept in contact with him. Eventually, Sae had developed feelings for the tall cheerful pervert.
Sae was 18 when she also found out a part of her love came to light when she met a gentle friendly nerd in her vocational school. Eventually, Sae had developed feelings for the gentle friendly nerd.
Sae who had feelings for two boys at once decided to tell the boys about her love for them. However, she didn't want to be accepted by any of them as she wanted to be rejected by both of them. She wanted to get rid of this painful emotion once more and go on with her life.
When Sae was about to confess to the gentle friendly nerd, she had found out about the gentle friendly nerd's true nature. Beneath his mask, he was scum. Thanks to that, Sae was able to move on with her life.
However…
When Sae was about to confess to the tall cheerful pervert, she had found out about the tall cheerful pervert's true nature. Beneath his mask…
He was a dumb round-faced crybaby.
Sae learned that she had already seen every side of him. She had seen how much of a crybaby he was in pre-school. She had seen how much of a gentle person he was in cram school. She had heard about how much of a bullied child he was in elementary school. She had heard about how emotional he was in middle school. She had seen how friendly and cheerful he was in high school.
And it didn't end there.
She had seen how much of an idiot he was with his parents. She had seen how much of a nice brother he was with his younger sister. She had seen how much of a gentle person he was with his elders. She had seen how much of a lovable person he was with his friends. She had seen how much of a scumbag he was with his seniors. She had seen how much of a pervert he was with his juniors.
Sae had seen all the sides of the tall cheerful pervert. He was a boy who she believed had no ill intentions, no ulterior motives and no dark sides.
Sae had fallen in love with all of his sides.
Sae had fallen for a boy who brought back her thirst for unconditional love.
Sae knew he wasn't a good looking boy. She knew he wasn't a smart boy either. In fact, he was a boy who screamed about being surrounded by girls like an idiot. But she could feel happiness when talking to him, she could feel sad when he was in pain and she could feel anger when he did something wrong.
The tall cheerful pervert had brought the young Sae Taniguchi back. The young Sae Taniguchi who was looking for unconditional love was resurrected from the dead.
Sae had realized she had fallen too deep for the tall cheerful pervert. He had opened up her shell and let her real emotions see the light ones more. Even though she was very much still in darkness, she decided to not close off her heart anymore and let nature run its course.
Sae believed she loved the tall cheerful pervert for no reason at all.
Or maybe it was because Sae could imagine receiving that true unconditional love she was looking for from that boy.
Regardless, it did not matter to her...
Because he was a boy who saved a girl like her from hell.