Childhood sweethearts are the tender first encounters of childhood—the joy of gradually becoming the best playmates.
Childhood sweethearts are two people sharing a picture book, sneaking out of the house together during summer vacation, running through fields, crying when accidentally injured, and smiling through tears while eating popsicles…
Yakishio Lemon sat on the swing, her eyes extraordinarily calm and luminous.
"Mitsuki."
She gently rocked the swing, her clear voice seeming to travel through time and space, back to that carefree night.
"Before this… you were already dating Chihaya Asagumo, right?"
Ayano Mitsuki sat absentmindedly on the other swing, trying to pump his legs the way he did when he was a child—but back then he was introverted and insecure, afraid to swing too high, facing everything with careful caution. The girl's words made his hands suddenly clench, a faint, unnatural blush rising to his cheeks.
"You… you saw through it."
He scratched his face shyly, more or less guessing why his childhood playmate had come to find him.
"Yes. Actually, I've always wanted to find a chance to tell you…"
At the same time, two people outside the school were also listening intently—but the next moment, a gentle voice sounded softly by their ears, making them both jump.
"Um, can I call you… Kiyono?"
Kiyono and Yanami turned around in surprise and suspicion. The first thing they saw was a forehead as bright as moonlight.
The newcomer took off her mask, revealing a classic, gentle face.
"Chihaya Asagumo-san?" Yanami's expression was puzzled.
"Shh—please keep it down. Don't let them hear us, Yanami-san." Chihaya Asagumo held a finger to her lips. "Sorry. I was really a little worried, so I ran over…"
Yanami fell silent for a moment. (How did you even know?! At least Lemon told Kiyono herself—did Ayano-san also tell you?)
"Mitsuki just said that we were dating, right…"
Chihaya naturally joined their little "peeping team," standing in the same spot as the two of them.
She tilted her head and looked toward Kiyono—she knew Lemon's great change was because of this boy. Because of him, she'd been forced to go all in. Even so, her eyes remained gentle.
"Actually, I was the one who confessed first."
"A while ago, Chihaya took the initiative and confessed to me…"
After a brief silence, Ayano Mitsuki finally spoke.
He didn't look at the girl beside him. He swung harder, as if to hide his shyness.
"Ah, but I didn't say yes just because she confessed. On the contrary, I regretted it very much—because at that moment I finally understood my own feelings. This kind of thing should be done by a boy, right?"
He spoke softly—his tone as complicated as his heart: joy, shame, happiness, and an unspeakable melancholy.
"I didn't understand what it meant to like someone before, but after I was with Chihaya, I finally understood. Ah—so this is how it feels."
Their words paused, as if both were exploring their hearts, weaving their emotions into language.
"Mitsuki…"
At some point, Lemon had stopped her swing. She looked at him with eyes balanced between tenderness and emotion, as if the boy she knew had suddenly grown up.
"Mitsuki, who always keeps his head down in books and isn't good at talking to others… has found a girlfriend."
"Hey, Mitsuki, do you still remember the old days?" she asked.
Of course.
Whether in elementary or junior high, the time they spent together was a precious memory.
In a trance, he seemed to return to childhood.
In the spring when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, he met a little girl who had hurt her leg. She was very popular in class and was known as a tomboy. At first he was scared, but later he gradually understood that she was actually a gentle girl, and so they read picture books together…
Spring, summer, autumn, winter.
They read one book after another.
Yakishio Lemon gazed quietly, earnestly, into her childhood sweetheart's eyes, as if seeing their past reflected there.
She had undoubtedly liked him.
Fragments of nostalgic memory floated up. She still remembered the feeling when she first heard this boy finish reading a picture book. She could no longer recall the title—only that it was a beautiful story. The two of them shared each other's joys and sorrows.
From that time on, their hearts seemed to connect, letting two people who otherwise might never have intersected walk the same path—and because they met, they changed each other's lives.
Then came junior high.
"Back then, in second year, I suddenly said I wanted to take the entrance exam for this high school with the very high deviation score, right? And Mitsuki, you said you wanted to take the exam for the same school too. Can you tell me the reason now?"
She had already guessed the answer, but she still wanted to confirm everything carefully—as if saying a proper goodbye, turning the words in her heart into language.
"Because…"
Words tangled on his lips and tongue. Ayano Mitsuki took a light breath. "Because I wanted to go to the same school as you. Back then, I…"
"I probably liked Lemon."
Feelings that had gone unspoken for years were finally conveyed by chance.
Unexpectedly, Lemon's mood was calmer than she had imagined.
Though she still held some feelings for her childhood sweetheart, she had thought that, upon hearing this, she would feel more shyness, joy, sadness, and lament. But now, only warm nostalgia and relief echoed in her heart.
That must be because of someone's influence.
Yakishio Lemon slowly closed her eyes and smiled.
With her vision blocked, her heart's lake seemed to split into a clear mirror. On one side, the younger her read beside her childhood sweetheart; on the other, she and Kiyono, that day, drenched in sweat and hot blood, looked at each other across the mirror. With a crisp snap, all images shattered like glass—
There is no need to cling to the past.
Let's say goodbye properly.
Now, she could say everything.
She was here because Kiyono had brought back her passion.
Yakishio Lemon opened her eyes, stood, and walked toward her childhood sweetheart.
At that moment, the dark clouds drifting across the night sky parted, revealing the bright original moon. The girl stood with the moon at her back, eyes sparkling.
"Me too."
"Back then, I also liked you."
She bloomed into a full smile.
"However, that's all in the past. Now, I already have a goal I want to pursue with all my strength—and Mitsuki, you already have a girlfriend. Let's say goodbye to the past together."
Yakishio Lemon drew a deep breath, looking at her childhood sweetheart with quiet dignity.
That youthful, ignorant emotion that lasted through a small portion of their youth finally came to an end in this moment.
They had become adults.
She wanted to run straight and passionately toward her dream.
How amazing, Lemon…
Ayano Mitsuki stared blankly at her, a complex light flickering in his eyes. Lemon was always like this: passionate, dazzling, straightforward, fearless. He had always admired that about her.
"Yeah."
He was silent for a moment, then nodded with a smile.
Under the bright moon, Lemon lifted her head to the night sky.
A strange thought drifted into her heart.
If—
If this were a romantic comedy, how would the plot develop? She might read books with her childhood sweetheart, attend the same school, work hard to enter the same university, inadvertently learn each other's feelings, perhaps quarrel—yet in the end they would surely make up, as beautiful as a fairy tale.
But she preferred the story now.
When she hurt, there was an idiot who would find a way to make her smile. When she was stuck in place, there was an idiot who would grab her hand. When she was timid, there was an idiot who would scold her and give her the courage to move forward.
He was the one who ignited the flame in her heart.
She wanted to move forward with Kiyono.
Not just here, but also in another real world—
"It's over…"
Outside the iron gate, Kiyono and Yanami sighed at the same time. They had once been in love, then missed each other with regret. The youth and feelings of that time could no longer be reproduced.
And the other female lead…
"As expected, Mitsuki likes Lemon-san, right?" Chihaya Asagumo lowered her head to stare at her toes, her heart in a mess.
In fact, she had realized this before. She knew Lemon liked Mitsuki, and she knew, to some extent, that Mitsuki held special feelings for his childhood sweetheart. It was precisely because of this that she'd been a little anxious to confess—afraid that if she didn't act, the relationship would go nowhere.
But although she had "won," watching two people who originally liked each other miss their chance, a strong sense of guilt surged up, spreading through her blood like heat. She even felt that it might have been better if she hadn't interfered.
She had used all her scheming to successfully date Mitsuki. She was a despicable bad girl. Compared to herself, did Mitsuki like Lemon-san more? Such negative thoughts kept swirling.
Chihaya clenched the hem of her clothes.
Yanami noticed something was off. After a moment's thought, she understood the girl's tangled heart. She still had a good impression of this literary girl. Her voice was gentle and soft, a proper Yamato Nadeshiko. As for Chihaya's hidden selfishness… it wasn't wrong to pursue her own happiness.
She supported Lemon, but she couldn't tell Chihaya to give up.
She kept hinting with her eyes, signaling Kiyono to comfort the girl with a few words. Seeing that he was dense and unresponsive, she gently patted his back.
Kiyono was speechless. He understood Yanami's hint—but what was he supposed to say? He wasn't even familiar with her!
After a moment of silence, he cleared his throat.
"Don't dwell on the past. They've said goodbye to it too… so why not cherish the person in front of you."
Cherish the person in front of you…
Chihaya seemed to like that last line very much. She whispered it under her breath twice. Her heart felt much lighter, and a soft brilliance returned to her eyes.
"Kiyono is so right."
She turned her head. Those watery eyes—glimmering faintly—settled on Kiyono. She suddenly felt he was the perfect person to talk to about her inner troubles. The fact that he could get along with Yanami and Lemon showed he was careful and gentle. The way he encouraged Lemon showed he treated his friends sincerely. He was definitely a very good person.
She had always wanted to find someone to discuss her worries with.
"Kiyono… can I come to that restaurant to find you in a few days? I want to be friends with you… Ah, don't worry, I'll order properly and won't delay your work."
A hopeful smile rose at the corners of the literary girl's mouth.
At this moment, Yanami's expression froze. The girl seemed to notice something. She slowly turned her head to look at the two of them, the corner of her mouth twitching.
She had thought Chihaya would be fine—after all, they weren't familiar yet, and Asagumo already had a boyfriend—but… what was this development! Why did it feel like every girl had a wonderful tacit understanding with this guy!
By the moonlight, Yanami suddenly noticed the English on Kiyono's clothes. He was wearing a pure-black long sleeve today, and on his chest, the [COUNTRY] icon glinted.
The rainy season wasn't over yet.
Business at the shop rose and fell with the weather. On another gloomy day, Kiyono curled up comfortably in a corner of the lounge, using a chat app to give pointers to the editor. Today, Yanami had also taken leave because exams were approaching.
However, her snacks were still with him—so it roughly counted as her being here too.
The door pushed open, and a big sister poked her head in, smiling ambiguously. "Kiyono, Yanami just called—she's looking for you."
Yanami?
Kiyono raised his eyebrows, stood up, and walked to the restaurant phone.
"Did she forget her snacks?" His first sentence cut straight to the point.