First Confession : Rejection
The autumn wind, already harsh enough to resemble the breath of winter, blew fiercely across the grounds, forcing leaves whose branches could no longer hold them to finally surrender and fall. One by one, they were carried down to the earth, destined to become part of autumn’s quiet ornamentation, leaves that would later crackle softly beneath passing footsteps, marking the season with their fragile presence.
Kaoru Hakaze, a young man whose eyes reflected the very hues of autumn itself, walked forward with a restless heart, his expression so tangled it was impossible to name. Those around him could not help but steal glances filled with curiosity—what could possibly trouble the school’s so-called prince? His thoughts were so scattered that he nearly collided with someone, barely registering the world in front of him.
“Hey, watch where you’re going,” the other person snapped sharply, irritation dripping from his voice.
“Ah, Sena-kun… sorry, I didn’t see you,” Kaoru replied absentmindedly.
“Are you trying to tick me off?!” Izumi snapped back, his annoyance flaring, perhaps because Kaoru’s tone sounded as though he were implying Izumi was too small to notice, or perhaps simply because Izumi himself was unusually sensitive that day.
“Sorry, sorry. I’ll buy you juice later,” Kaoru said quickly, not bothering to engage further before walking away. There was something far more important waiting for him, and that urgency only made Izumi more annoyed.
“Tch—hey,” Izumi muttered, clicking his tongue in frustration as he watched Kaoru leave.
Kaoru’s strides grew longer, faster, his heartbeat pounding harder with every step as though it were racing ahead of him, urging him onward. When he reached the rooftop, he slammed the door open without hesitation, not caring if anyone inside was startled by the sudden noise.
“Shii-chan,” he called out.
“E–eh? Y-yes? Hakaze-senpai, what is it?” Shii replied, still pressing a hand to her chest as she tried to calm her racing heart, now forced to face Kaoru standing before her with a look that was both nervous and unbearably serious.
“Sorry for making you wait,” Kaoru said as he stepped closer. His pace slowed, yet his heart only beat louder, heavier.
“I just got here too. What’s wrong? You suddenly said it was urgent. If you’re asking me to be a temporary substitute producer, you should probably get Morisawa-senpai’s permission first, Ryuseitai has events coming up too,” Shii said, trying to stay calm, half complaining out of habit
“That’s not what I wanted to talk about,” Kaoru said quietly, swallowing hard as dryness filled his throat. He placed a hand over his chest, as if trying to steady the storm raging inside him.
“Shii-chan....I”
“Shiina... I like you” At last, the words escaped him, the words he had been holding back since yesterday, the words that had lodged themselves in his chest like a painful knot, suffocating him with every breath. Shii froze, her words caught between her lips as she stared at him.
“Hakaze-senpai.” She searched his eyes for the familiar playful glint, the teasing sparkle he always wore when joking with her, but it was nowhere to be found. What she saw instead was sincerity.
“I…” Shii clenched her fists. It wasn’t that she felt nothing, on the contrary, that was precisely the problem. She couldn’t yet identify the emotions stirring inside her, couldn’t tell whether what she felt truly mirrored what Kaoru had confessed. Fear gripped her as countless thoughts rushed through her mind. She had only just broken free from her father’s control, still searching for solid ground beneath her feet, still new to the complexities of real social connections, still drifting without certainty.
She didn’t want to accept Kaoru’s feelings halfheartedly, so she straightened her posture and met his gaze head-on.
“Hakaze-senpai, I appreciate your feelings, but I don’t think I can accept them right now,” she said carefully.
“I still can’t distinguish the emotions I’m experiencing for the first time, and I’m afraid that if I accept you now, it might only turn into regret later. Because I respect you, I don’t want to accept your feelings when I don’t even understand my own.”
At her words, Kaoru’s shoulders visibly slumped. This was not the answer he had hoped for, not the ending he had imagined the night before. The dreams he had built so vividly felt as though they had crumbled in an instant. And yet, even as disappointment washed over him, he understood, this was the most honest answer she could give, and perhaps the best one.
“Let me sort out my feelings first,” Shii continued, offering him a gentle smile she rarely showed him. “After that… maybe time will have the answer.”
“May I wait for you, until you’re ready?” Kaoru asked softly, his voice barely carrying over the wind.
“Don’t wait for something uncertain, Hakaze-senpai,” Shii replied, patting his shoulder lightly.
“I can’t promise anything.” She smiled faintly before adding, “You should practice harder and stop skipping class. Make yourself suitable for something more useful than me.” With that, she turned and walked away, leaving Kaoru alone beneath the relentless wind.
“Haah… that really startled me,” Shii muttered once she was inside, clutching her chest as her heart refused to slow down.
“Tch, can’t you calm down?” She clicked her tongue at herself, annoyed at how little control she had over her own body.
Meanwhile, Kaoru remained on the rooftop, gazing up at the sky as it slowly turned orange. His confession had been rejected, and for a moment, he felt like laughing, laughing at his own fate. He, who was always thought to effortlessly capture hearts, now had to swallow the bitterness of rejection.
“So… I got rejected, huh,” he murmured.
His first rejection, delivered by Shii. A rejection that would lead to a different story altogether, a rejection that was not the end of their tale, because the red thread between them was still there, quietly connected, merely waiting for the right time to finally pull them together.