{Momoko POV}
I am a normal high school girl. But I am beautiful. Since my early childhood, I have been beautiful.
Everyone is practically smitten with me. They all flatter me. They all say how beautiful and how perfect I am.
I am not boasting. But maybe I have become conceited. Everyone tells me that I am beautiful.
So maybe, I became arrogant. I still remember that day. The day when someone told me for the first time in my life that I am normal.
I, who am always complimented by others for being beautiful, was told that I am normal.
I was frustrated at first. I was angry with him.
The boy who told me that I am normal. I wanted teach him a lesson. I wanted to make him suffer.
It was in my 4th grade of elementary school when I did it.
I destroyed the school garden and blamed the whole issue on him.
I already told my friends to take my side. So everyone also pressed on that.
In the end he was not punished but was given the task of fixing it by himself.
I was proud that I made him suffer. But what I saw was something I didn't expect.
I thought that he would cry and grovel at my feet. Then I would help him and turn him into my slave.
But I saw him smiling. He even said to the teacher,
"I am too bored anyways. Maybe this'll help passing my time."
He said that. Everyone was shocked at this.
What a fool! He thinks that it's easy to maintain the garden.
I was thinking that he was just keeping his act up.
But the next day, I saw him taking care of the garden.
He took care of the garden for the rest of the year. Until he graduated from elementary, he looked after the garden.
I wanted to make him suffer. But I gave him a fun hobby.
I even tried to sabotage it. But he would always find a way out of it.
He knew that I did that. But he would still talk to me like a friend.
I thought what a weird kid he is.
"Hey, let's be friends." One day he said that to me.
Till then all the people would only flatter me and tell me that I am better.
He was the first one who didn't do that.
When I made a mistake, he reprimanded me. He didn't ignore my faults and changed me.
In a sense he saved me from becoming a trash.
I was too conceited of my beauty. But he showed me that it's nothing.
If I am not a good person then I have no place in the society.
So I consider him my real friend.
We gladly became friends and went on to middle school.
But something changed. He was not himself anymore. He wouldn't talk to me or anyone else for that matter.
But he would always help someone who asked for his help.
But our distance increased. We drifted far away from each other.
Then we graduated from middle school. He used slack off during exams and only got average number.
But he was attending the same high school as me.
He actually got into the high school of my choice. Maybe he wasn't serious enough.
We ended up in the same high school as well.
But then he totally changed. He didn't talk to anyone. Always hid himself from others and more importantly, didn't even look at me.
"What is wrong with him?" I used to say.
I don't know but at some point I fell in love with him.
I don't know when but I did. I fell in love. But he hasn't realized it.
He is quite sharp and quick to catch on. But when it comes to feelings, he is dull.
He had never understood my feelings.
And our relationship only worsened from then.
And the final strike happened that day.
Akatsuki like his name was very bright. A bright dawn which lit up everything.
But he became dim and dim day by day.
In our final year of high school, I was being asked out in our classroom.
A teacher was asking me out. I turned him down.
I only loved Akatsuki and always waited for him.
But the teacher didn't let up. He tried to force himself onto me.
I tried to resist but failed. Suddenly someone came.
The teacher was staring at the person who had come and I opened my eyes to look.
It was Akatsuki. He came in and told the teacher to stop.
But he didn't. He tried to tear my clothes. Then Akatsuki grabbed him and threw him out of the window.
The window was open and we were on the second floor.
The teacher fell on the ground and became unconscious.
I was terrified at that. He didn't try to comfort me. He just gave me his shirt and left.
Just like that, a rumor circulated that Akatsuki tried to rape me and injured the teacher who was stopping him.
I was furious when I heard that. I even tried to protect him. But for some reason, Akatsuki didn't say anything.
He just took all the blame and stayed quiet.
I didn't understand what was happening but I didn't help him.
A few months later I wanted to talk to him.
So I called him out. He looked fine to me. He didn't say anything about that and was avoiding me.
I gave him a piece of my mind. But he didn't say a thing.
So I left. What he wanted to do is unknown to me.
And yesterday I saw him sitting at the park. He was by himself and was thinking something.
I sat beside him. He tried to speak to me. But I ignored him. So he gave up.
What kind of a man are you? He doesn't even try to catch up to me and apologize.
I became annoyed and left him alone.
But saw his sister staring at me. She is Mizuki. A beautiful girl who is his 3 years younger sister.
I went home and was very mad at him.
The summer break is coming and now I have nothing to do.
And it was summer break. I went out on 9th of August with my friends.
We went to Shibuya and spent the whole day.
On my way home, I was walking to the station.
There I saw something unusual.
Mizuki was standing right outside of a door and trying to listen.
I went up the stairs and asked him,
"What are you doing?"
"Shhhhh… They will hear you." She hushed me.
I became curious too. So even I tried to listen in.
I heard two voices. Both men.
One is surprisingly Akatsuki and the other, I don't recognize that.
"Hey is that your brother talking?" I asked her.
"Yes. This is his house. He moved here." Mizuki said.
So he was moving that's why he was thinking back then.
So I and Mizuki are now eavesdropping.