The name's Tohru Yonekura, I'm a sophomore in high school. 

I have a childhood friend, Rin Asakura. She has excellent grades, super athletic and quite the artist. She is an all-around generational talent, no doubt about it. 

Knowing her from birth, I know all her skills come from countless hours of hard work and not just innate talent. 

In elementary school, she showed no signs of being a genius or athlete. Her art skills were pretty laughable too. However, once she developed her talents, she truly took off. Her abilities became so overwhelming that she basically became an untouchable goddess. 

I watched her rapid development throughout middle and high school. While my respect for her grew, so did my loneliness. It was clear we were growing apart. 

I would always seclude myself by watching anime and reading web novels, but Rin was no doubt the most popular person at school. 

Her dazzling brilliance, there is no way I can ever compare to her. She really is the definition of perfection... 

Well, at least on the surface level. 

"Why does your face look so sour, like you're drinking Coke or something? It’d be great if you stopped that, it’s rubbing off on me too." 

Well, she has a bit of an attitude. She always had a sharp tongue. Whenever any guy tried to flirt with her, she could instantly cut them down with her words. Because of that, she basically has no male friend and her female friends are few and far between. Well, not like she minds. 

"Haha, sorry, I was just spacing out." 

Rin lets out a massive sigh after I say that. 

“Tohru-kun, you're always pulling all-nighters and mindlessly browsing the web. You should stop doing that." 

"What, because I'll die or something?" 

"Yeah, no way. You'll get hit by a truck and you'll reincarnate into a parallel world and live the life of your dreams." 

"Well, reincarnating and dying would be the same thing anyways, no?" 

I give a strait-laced answer and I notice her tense eyes loosen up a bit, and I see the corners of her mouth curl upwards slightly. 

Despite her innocent smile, I can feel my heart pounding, like it wants to escape my body. Her soft smile really does look well on her, no doubt about it. 

Rin really is an outstanding beauty, not even taking in my own personal opinion. She is the cutest girl in the world, I know that from the bottom of my heart. It's not just my subjective opinion, it truly is that way. 

She has regal features and is gorgeous from head to toe. Her skin is silky white and she has big, evenly shaped breasts. She has long black hair that goes down to her waist that’s half up in a cute red ribbon. She is about average height for a girl, but she's slim in all the right place. She really does have a model-like figure. While it's embarrassing thinking about it, Rin truly does resemble a Yamato Nadeshiko. Definitely the cutest in the world. 

As if she's carrying around a sword and bow, she uses her sharp words to cut down whoever she's talking to, without a care in the world. 

"What are you staring at me for? It's giving the creeps." 

"I'm totally not staring at you." 

I might have been glancing at her a bit, but that's too embarrassing to admit out loud. 

"All criminals say that!" 

"If that's what it takes to be a criminal, every Japanese prison will be filled to the brimmed." 

If she'd tone down her sharp words, I'm sure she would make lots of friends. Well, it's not like I mind her attitude at all. There's a sense of familiarity and security to her personality, sort of like eating my mom's meat and potato stew. I'm not a masochist in any way, I'm just used to it because I've known her for a long time. 

You could say her sharp tongue is what bridges us together, something that we share and understand. Because I've fallen in love with Rin, her harsh words give me a sense of happiness of sorts. 

One thing does worry me though. I sometimes hear rumors at school that Rin and I have a "master and pet" type relationship. I do wish I could change that because I know there is some truth to it. 

But I swear, I'm not a masochist. 

I want to confess to Rin one day. 

My love for her is straight. unyielding path that I've always walked on and will keep walking on forever. However, I've always been bad at expressing my honest feelings. I get so nervous everytime I try to confess to her, I'm sure jumping in front of a truck and reincarnating into another world would be much easier. 

But I truly do want to confess to her... 

There's nothing more I want to do than go out with her. Despite her sharp tongue and attitude, I know deep down that she's a kind, hardworking and lonely girl. I would do anything to make her happy. 

But there's no way I could ever confess. I just want to tell Rin I love her so much. After entering high school, I spent so many days worrying over how to confess to her. 

Someday, I will tell her how I feel. 

____________________

"Tohru-kun." 

"What, Rin?" 

We're in Rin's room and I notice that she has a different smile on her than usual. 

"I... looove... you..." 

With her arms outstretched, she hugs me and pushes me down. I smell something sweet, like nectar, and her body temperature feels as nice as the spring sun. I can feel both of her breasts pushing down on me. Her face stops a short distance from mine and she slowly sits up on top of me. 

She looks down on me with her arms stretched out. Her shadow casts down on me from above and I see a kind and loving smile appear on her face.

 "I'm never letting you go." 

She clings onto to me again and buries her face in my chest as she utters those loving words. With my hand, I softly pat her head as she purrs away. 

I can’t fathom how cute she really is. I reflect back on what happened, since I'm in disbelief. 

How this all happened, it's quite the long story…

"Alright, got that done!" 

It's a normal weekday morning in my living room as I finish typing out the new chapter for my web novel "Living the sweet life with a cool, sharp-tongued beauty" and I can only breathe out a sigh as I upload it. 

"Done writing, Onii?" 

Stuffing her cheeks with French toast, Karen, my younger sister who is in the fifth grade, asks me that. 

"Damn, poured too much syrup again." 

"Again? Pass the syrup Onii." 

"You have no interest in my problems..." 

I pass her the syrup and she gives me an innocent smile. 

"This is for you Onii." 

"Ah, thanks." 

I start eating the egg-and-chive toast that Karen made. Her breakfast is as good as ever. The outer layer is crisp, but once you bite into it, you can feel the fluffiness and sweetness jump into your mouth. You can feel the chives in the back of your throat as you continue eating and the soft boiled egg just spreads all around your mouth as it breaks up. After spending all my energy writing, this toast is the perfect way to recharge. 

"That was delicious, thanks!" 

"That was fast, are you a Dyson!?"

 "Who are you calling a vacuum cleaner?" 

By the way, both our parents are always on business trips, so they are rarely home, which leaves the chores to Karen and I. Karen is a splendid cook, so I have no issues leaving that to her, meanwhile I do everything else. Cleaning the bathroom, taking out the trash, you name it. 

I'd say it's a fair trade-off. Karen's amazing cooking skills aren't that labour intensive, so it's all good. Anyways, as I sip my morning coffee, Karen begins speaking. 

"You're writing a sweet love story, yeah? I read a bit and it's boring." 

"Is that so? Well, if you're interested in the stuff I'm writing, I’d be more concerned." 

Because I've been living such an unfulfilling school life so far, my story is my only retreat from my pain. For elementary students with a bright future ahead of them, my story wouldn't serve them any purpose.

 "Oh, but I recommended it to one of my classmates, Ishikawa-kun, and he cried when he read it!" 

"Is he alright?" 

Ping 

I hear the notification sound coming from my notebook 

"Ah, it came." 

"Some reviews?"

 "Yep." 

"Nira-san?" 

"That's right." 

Nira, which is his username, is one of my loyal followers. No matter when I post a chapter, he'll always post a review within 10 minutes, it's honestly stunning. 

"This chapter was good! I loved how Maika-chan held Ryousuke-kun in a motherly embrace, that scene made me cry! Thanks to the author, you're the best!" 

It's a simple message, but I understand him completely. 

"Ahh, thanks, Nira-san."

 I can feel my heart calming down. 

"This chapter was good!"

 Reading those words, it really makes me feel at ease. It's because of the readers that I have the will to keep writing consistently. I owe Nira-san a lot. 

"Hmm, how to reply... Ahh! Nira-san, I appreciate your comments on each chapter! I also cried when writing that scene, it makes me hap-" 

"Onii, you're acting weird." 

"It's a very heartwarming scene that you wouldn't understand yet." 

Karen gives me a sarcastic smile. Seems like that as she's growing up, she's learning how to torment people. I'm honestly a bit worried about how she'll turn out in the future. 

Ding Dong 

Just as I hit the enter to send the message, I hear the intercom ring. 

"Seems like Rin came, Onii." 

"It's already time to head to school, huh..." 

I close my laptop, put it in my bag and get up. 

"Alright, let's go." 

"Alright!" 

We leave the living room and I open the front door. 

"Good morning Tohru-kun." 

In her neat uniform stands my childhood friend, Rin Asakura, elegant as always. Her long black hair sways to and fray in the breezy March wind and the sun shines on her regal face. She truly does look like a goddess, leading me to the holy land. As she's about to say something to me, I hear her breath, which sounds like the instrument of an angel. 

"I see you're the same as ever, with the rotten face of yours." 

Kind of ruining the mood, as ever. 

"Hey, it's my business face. Have to keep track of the Nikkei Stock Average!"

 "That's your business face?" 

"Sorry, sorry, I will do better next time!" 

Rin glares daggers at me as I give an exaggerated reaction. 

"Come on, we don't have time to idle around and chat, let's get going to school already." 

With that, Rin turns around.

 "Wait a minute, Rin." 

She stops and our faces come close to touching.

"He-" 

She always hides her emotions, so this is the first time I'm seeing her so vulnerable. Her face is a bit red and shaking a little bit, my curiosity gets the better of me so I ask her about it. 

"Aren't your eyes a little red?" 

"Tss..." 

She clicks her tongue.

"Is something wrong?" 

"I was yawning before, that's all." 

She's lying, I can tell that immediately. Whenever she lies, she moves her eyes left and right rapidly. I understand her quirks easily. 

I know because I'm her childhood friend. 

I don't know exactly what is bothering her, but there is something. 

I know because I'm her childhood friend. 

"Why are you staring at me, it's gross." 

"I'm not staring at you."

 She probably read a really moving shoujo manga. She doesn't seem like the type to like those things, but she's a fan of anime and young adult fiction and cries easily. 

I'm her childhood friend, so I should do something to cheer her up. 

"I-if you have anything troubling you, just tell me and I'll help you however I can." 

"Help... me?" 

Rin makes a fist in front of her chest. 

"What?" 

"Nothing, let's go dog." 

"Hey, I thought I told you to stop calling me that." 

I notice Rin's mouth rises up a little bit, but it returns to her normal expression after a second. And so we start walking and I’m lost in my own thoughts. 

Talking with Rin is so much fun. We spent 10 fun years together and we don't need to hold back with each other. I can't have this kind of relationship with any other of my classmates. Goofing off with Rin every morning is the best. 

And so, we continue our walk, keeping a 30cm distance apart. We get to the station, get on the train and get off when we reach the station nearest our school. We continue our banter as we arrive at school. We're in different classes, so once we reach them, it's time to say our goodbyes. 

"See you." 

"Yeah, see you. Do your best today!" 

Our last words to each other are painted with a sense of pain as we are reluctant to part. And yet, we head our separate ways. My chest feels all warm and fuzzy. 

Today was a good day. 

However, that warm feeling would soon change to despair a few hours later.

It's lunch break, which means it's the perfect time for a web novelist like me. I bought a Yakisoba sandwich and headed back to my class, 2-2. I take a seat at my desk and pull out my phone. I head to Syosetu and anxiously check the rating boards for sweet love stories. 

"Fuah...!?" 

My eyes are glued to the screen as I'm seeing the display. 

"I should have known better..." 

My hands are trembling as I'm holding my phone. I don’t think my eyes are deceiving me. To check my eyes, I look at the hand holding my sandwich and I see my bite mark on it. Definitely tastes great. Alright, I've calmed down and I look at my phone again. 

"...” 

It's not a mistake, the rankings for the Top 3 Modern Love stories are: 

"My childhood friend bullied me, but got caught by the Board of Education. She got suspended and now when I go to school, I'm a whole new person." 

"I sued my violent childhood friend for abusing me. With the settlement money, I can now go to the moon!" 

"The Chief Cabinet Secretary's daughter was my childhood friend that I knew for 10 years, but now that my dad is Prime Minister, now she has to pay 500% in Sales tax!" 

The hell? Why are they all Childhood friend revenge stories? 

My work is to help people soothe their soul, like for times when their pet goldfish died or they don't have enough funds for the train ride home. Where is my sweet love story on the rankings? Childhood friend revenge, huh...?

 In general terms, the undesirable heroine is represented by the childhood friend and the protagonist is treated badly. He's the least popular guy at school and that's when the revenge plot begins. 

I then recall that lately, there's a certain writer who concluded his really popular Childhood friend revenge story and it reached the top of the rankings. Then, other authors started imitating that work in order to get up in the rankings. It's all for the views nowadays. 

Yeah, I can see where they are coming from. Wait, do I really? I know why this genre is popular lately, but... 

I'm in love with my childhood friend! I love her so damn much! I imagine in my head shaking Rin and declaring that she has to pay 500% in Sales tax. That's “revenge” alright. 

I then imagine the despair on Rin's face as she starts bawling. She's begging for a reduced tax rate. That's when I stop my imagination. That's all my brain can handle before I reject it completely. I begin to feel queasy. 

Bang 

Before I know it, I hear a banging on my desk. It must be my imagination. 

"Hey, Yonekura-kun, what's wrong?" 

I lift up my head and see the class president, Yuumi Hashimoto, looking at me with a funny expression. 

Childhood friend... revenge... 500% Sales Tax..." 

"Alright, alright, calm down buddy." 

She has short wavy hair and gives off a mysterious vibe. I can't really read her. At the very least, she's kind enough to make an effort to talk to me. Well, she is class president, so she is sort of obliged to, but that's besides the point. Besides Rin, she's the person I talk to the most. 

"What's troubling you, let me help out." 

She gives me a genuine smile as she continues to look down on me. Considering my head is in a mess, I do want to talk to someone, but explaining my issue would be difficult... 

"Childhood friend revenge stories are popular on syosetu and I am thinking about those and Rin at the same time, which is making me feel sick", I wonder what kind of reaction I would get if I say that. 

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine." 

"Are you an esper?" 

"I don't need to be an esper to understand that." 

Hashimoto-san starts chuckling away, seeming all relaxed as usual. 

"If you want to shout your problems into the void out, I'm only a holler away!

Hashimoto-san tightly squeezed her hands in front of her chest. It's like she's a small animal holding sunflower seeds. 

"Hey, Yuumin!" 

With that, Hashimoto-san turns to her voice calling her. 

"Hiyorin is calling, see you."

"Y-yeah, thanks..." 

Hashimoto-san goes to Arimura-san, smile still in tow. 

"Into the void, huh..." 

I whisper to myself. Wait...

"That's it!" 

The best way to talk about my innermost worries is through Twitter. The best part is that I use my account exclusively for my writing identity, so I don't have to worry about my classmates seeing it. 

My real account? Who the hell needs one of those. 

I tap on the blue bird icon and immediately start typing my thoughts as soon as the app opens. And with that, my stream of thoughts shall be unleashed into the void, also known as the online world. 

"The childhood friend revenge genre is so popular right now, don't really like it ngl." 

With that, my tweet has been sent. A few seconds later, I hear the notification sound. 

Nira-san liked your tweet 

"It's Nira-san!" 

Nira-san is such a god, he even followed me on Twitter when I made my account a while back. He liked my tweet the instant I put it out. But I never really exchanged any messages with him, I wonder what he's like. Honestly, I am pretty interested in knowing him better. He always reacts to so quickly what I post, I'm kind of worired about his lifestyle. Does he even have time to eat and sleep? 

I hear another ping 

Nira-san responded to your tweet 

No way!? 

"He commented!?" 

I check the comments and see a single line. 

"Yeah, I agree." 

“Nira-san, you understand my feelings!!!" 

Having Nira-san sympathizes with my thoughts, it feels so good. But seeing his first reply makes me kind of tense. All of a sudden, an image of Rin pops in my head. Even though the image is foggy, she still stares at me with mean eyes. Before I know it, I start typing up a message. 

"Nira-san, thanks for your sympathy! Actually, in real life, I have a childhood friend who I always loved since elementary school. These revenge stories give a bad mental image in my head and it makes me heart hurt. Instead of being mean to childhood friends why not shower them with love! What I'm saying is that we should make childhood friends as happy as possible!” 

Hah... 

I probably shouldn't send that, especially to someone I don't even know. But before I could do anything... 

Your tweet has been sent 

"Ahh..." 

......... 

What the ****!?! I can start to feel myself go pale. I have to delete it immediately. But Nira-san might still see my tweet and notice that I deleted it. As I'm debating in my head about what to do, I realize something. It's been 10 seconds and I haven't got a notification for any likes. That's weird, usually they come pretty instantly. 

Ping

 Nira-san replied to your tweet 

"I see" 

This is it, it's all over. There’s no getting out of this hole. Once again, I find myself falling on my desk. 

____________________

Class 2-1, at the same time. 

I, Yuumi Hashimoto, follow my friend, Hiyori Arimura, to the next door class. We always have someone else we talk to as well, Rin Asakura. 

"You know, Isao-kun was sleeping on my shoulder earlier. His face was so cute." 

"Ehh, is that so? You’ve been spoiling him a lot lately." 

Hiyorin has been talking about her boyfriend a lot lately. Hearing all this sweet talk kind of dampens my mood, but seeing Hiyorin so happy makes me happy too. 

Thud 

Our talk is interrupted by a loud banging. Rin was on her phone, but she suddenly banged her head on her desk. 

"R-rin-chan?" 

"Rin-chan, what's wrong?" 

Both Hiyorin and I ask her at the same time. After not moving for a bit, Rin slowly gets up and starts talking. 

"I-it's nothing."

 "Nothing? It doesn't seem lik-" 

Before I know it, I'm speaking my mind. That's because Rin doesn't usually act like this. Her ears, lips and body are softly shaking. I can see a red spot on her head where she bumped her head, but her entire face is bright red.