For a sad devil like me, the illusion of a "girlfriend" had been practically imaginary for several years of my life.
...
No, wait. That's a bad introduction, it makes me look like an antisocial person incapable of making friends and much worse, having a girlfriend. But I have a good explanation for it.
First of all, my name is Tatsuda Manabu.
And before you get the idea that I'm completely antisocial, let me correct you.
I have friends, lots of friends. Both guys and girls.
Only my assertion at the beginning, I said it because I haven't dared to cross the line of "more than friends" with the odd girl. Among all the things I have experienced as a person with a high sociable ability, love is not one of them.
YES, I can be attracted to a woman.
It's not like I have restrictions or complex family situations. I am just the son of a man who became a widower a very short time after marriage and out of respect for his late wife has not dared to look for another partner.
My father is a bit conservative, but he wants my prosperous happiness. I have a younger sister and two older brothers as well, the family is a bit big, but in itself, we love each other very much.
I am not an overly complex man, after all, I like the life I have had so far.
In my life there are a lot of characteristic supportive characters, a childhood friend who appreciates me unconditionally, a popular best friend, a group of guys I can talk dirty with, I also have an attractive teacher who often asks me for favors, I even have a club president with me who slightly catches my eye.
Now that I've said that.
Surely you've noticed, right?
Of "what it takes" in my life.
Being the son of a man who is conservative with his family, someone who protects his four children as the most important belonging in his life, I naturally learned some of his tendencies.
A saying that has stuck in ma Tatsuda family is:
"Keep your life on your own rails, make twists and turns, but don't stop being who you are."
There are three statements within that same sentence.
The first is that I must follow the path I want to choose.
The second is that I can choose when to change.
The third is about maintaining my values and beliefs regardless of the changes around me.
This is how I, Tatsuda Manabu, have maintained a quiet life without having to be bothered by romantic interests.
Of course...
If someone had told me back then, that the fourth time love would come into my life, without a doubt, it made me doubt the words, "Third time's the victory."
I thought it was a simple joke of destiny.
Meeting each other was chance.
Talking to each other was fortune.
Getting involved with each other was a miracle.
On a May evening, during sunset, my life took an inexplicable turn that I never thought would happen.
─Manabu-kun, I like you.
Words that made me finally realize that I was not as bad a person as I thought I was.