Prologue

Prologue: Ichigo

Kugiyama’s First Love and

Heartbreak.

Ichigo Kugiyama has had a crush on someone since he was

a child.

It was his older childhood friend, Sakura.

She always had the scent of lavender flowers, mixed with

citrus fruit.

Her waist-length black hair was so well-groomed that it

almost looked fake, and it always shone beautifully,

reflecting the light from the sun.

Her skin was clear and fair.

She had a well-defined face with a smooth bridge on the

nose.

Her eyes were a little slanted, but when she closed her

eyes, her long eyelashes showed their presence, giving off a

sexy atmosphere that was unchildlike.

The way she lifted the edge of her peach-colored lips and

smiled was so attractive that it looked like a painting, and it

still remains vivid in his memory.

Near Ichigo’s house, Sakura lived in a large house where her

family ran their business. She was a young lady with a

dignified and cultured manner.

However, she was not pretentious nor arrogant. She had a

friendly and easygoing personality, giving off the impression

of an open-minded girl.

“The weather’s beautiful today right, Ichi?”

Ichi – That’s right, she called Ichigo by his nickname.

She was Ichigo’s childhood friend, three years older than

him.

In other words, she was like a big sister to Ichigo. His

feelings were like a brother respecting his sister.

Those feelings, combined with her appearance, words,

actions, and the time they casually spent together,

somehow turned Ichigo’s feelings into love.

He was in love with Sakura.

She had been with him since childhood, and he found

himself attracted to her.

“Sakura, next time, let’s go play at the park outside of town

I told you about before.”

“Sure, let’s go. Should I make and pack a bento for us?”

When was the first time he became aware of his feelings?

Regarding his feelings, he never uttered a word about it, nor

did he ever search for the cause to be sure that his feelings

had started then.Rather, he was avoiding it.

Perhaps it was because Ichigo himself was embarrassed.

Still, he harbored feelings for her.

He wanted to be with her all the time. He wanted to

entertain her, to make her think he was funny. He began to

have a desire to satisfy her.

To his older girl-friend, he wanted to please her.

A special person… He wanted her to think of him that way.

Different from how she viewed him back then.

“Then, I’ll go to Sakura’s house at XX.XX in the morning.”

“Roger that. I’ll be ready and waiting by then.”

The smiling Sakura was like a goddess overflowing with

compassion.

Whenever the younger Ichigo called her names, she never

got angry.

He felt a slight sense of superiority that Sakura had

accepted him calling her by her first name.

However, for Sakura, it was probably as simple as being

called by her close younger brother. 

Still, Ichigo’s thoughts were different.

Unlike her parents, her family, her friends, and all the other

adults she respected and admired… Ichigo wanted to be

Sakura’s lover.

In order to achieve that, Ichigo, who was only an elementary

school student at that time, did a lot of things. He suggested

that they go to various places, giving her handmade gifts,

and so on. Although all his efforts were only based on a

child’s imagination and limited by financial resources, he did

all those things to make her happy. However, there was only

so much that a child could do.

His financial ability, energy, and knowledge were not even

close to her classmates, let alone her.

Sakura was popular.

Because of her looks and charm, it was only natural that

Ichigo was not the only one who was in love with her. He

often saw her talking with boys in her class.

He felt envious of the older boys who were the same age as

her and could treat her as a person of equal status.

Regardless, Ichigo was seen as a younger brother to Sakura.

She always treated Ichigo with the attitude of an older

sister.

–And ultimately that relationship was not changed until the

end.

While Ichigo was rushing headlong into his love for her, she

was having problems of her own. And before Ichigo was

aware of it, it was already steadily progressing like a

disease… Suddenly one day, he was told the result.

When Ichigo was in his first year of junior high school,

Sakura graduated from junior high school and left for abroad

with her fiancé.

The fiancé was much older than Sakura, and was a well-

known businessman in the vegetable world.

When his parents first explained to me what was going on,

he didn’t understand what they were saying or what was

happening.

Sakura was going to disappear from my life.

He didn’t want to see the dangling messy fact in front of

him. Ichigo was dumbfounded for a few days… but

gradually, he was able to drink in the details of the

situation.

At the time, Sakura’s family had failed in their business and

was in a lot of debt.

It was said that the president of the company saved Sakura

by making her his bride.

Ichigo had no idea.

Behind the smile that Sakura always gave to him, she was

facing such harsh reality.

He felt angry at himself for not knowing that.

At the same time, he was disappointed to realize that he

had made her worried unnecessarily and did nothing to help

solve her problem.

After all, Sakura only thought of him to that extent, he

thought.

The thought of him being nothing more than that to Sakura,

accelerated in his mind.

But… In the end, he came to accept that there was nothing

he could’ve done as a child.

No – It was probably a matter of giving up.

Sakura suddenly disappeared from Ichigo’s life without

saying a single word.

Looking back on it now, it was probably just another act of

kindness on her part.

He hasn’t seen Sakura again since then.

Thus, Ichigo’s young and innocent first love ended in

heartbreak.

Even so, time kept passing…

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***