16 years ago, Okinawa, JapanThe night's crisp air gives me chills; this is the day, the st day of the summer holiday. I waited for this moment to arrive and will do it now. I got to be upfront with my feelings and ran away from them enough.This day is special to me; I mustered enough courage to confess to the girl I am in love with, Shiori Asano; everything about her gives me butterflies; everything I see, her face, her smile, the way she talks to me and to everyone else makes me like her even more, we are best friends and pretty close, so I hope for the best."Hey, Hikari, you there?" - She snapped me out of my trance; we were both sitting on a park bench in Okinawa near my house."Sorry, I have been thinking about things. A lot of things actually" – She turned away from the stars to look at me."What were you thinking about exactly? And why did you call me out this te? Did something happen?" - She did look tired, but it made her even cuter."I have been wanting to say this for a long time but. I AM…. IN LOVE WITH YOU!" - I blurted out my feelings to her in a second. My palms were sweating, and my heart was beating hundreds of times per second; I was also getting dizzy."What?" - That's the only thing she had said; she gave me no reaction. I waited for her to speak, but I got no answer. Suddenly, I felt like I was suffocating due to the tension; I even forgot to breathe; please, please say yes."Shiori…." – I said to her in a weak voice."We can't be friends anymore, don't talk or interact with me again" – She didn't even look me in the eyes; she just left…………….What do I do?…What did I do wrong? Why doesn't she want to talk with me anymore?From then on, I can't remember what happened after, only that I woke up on the concrete with people looking at me; I woke up when the ambunce arrived. I slept there the whole night. A stranger called the police, and they dispatched an ambunce."What were you doing all alone sleeping on the concrete?" - I got asked by one of the nurses in the ambunce."I was heading home and had a pretty bad fight with a friend and I ended up crying myself to sleep on the bench", – I told a half-truth; I couldn't tell them; they would react just like my parents; they still support me while I am still in highschool, but they don't want anything to do with me when they found out I liked other girls instead of men, they became disgusted by me and avoided me, my brothers, too, even my sister, they moved overseas to Sweden and left me here in Japan, arguing that I should continue school here, now, I have gone alone in their house, I have a legal guardian here, but that's only on paper, he rarely comes to check on me, my uncle isn't a reliable person."It must have been rough for you; I see that you live nearby; can you get there on your own? You will be free to leave after a small examination" – The nurse on the ambunce smiled and began a routine checkup. Nothing interesting; I forgot, today is the first day of school; I guess I can still catch several csses if I am quick enough.The checkup didn't st long; I will skip over it since it's boring medical stuff I don't understand. I walked home, unlocked the front door, and got ready to go to school, but I didn't feel prepared for anything; if I went there, I would have no friends and no one like I used to before meeting Shiori. Still, she doesn't want to talk to me anymore.I couldn't even get my hair done; it was a mess; I skipped breakfast and just took my bike and biked there; the road was empty; there were people, but it felt like so many people around, yet I felt so alone.If I can describe it like that, I am like a zombie, mindlessly biking to my school.I arrived te at school, the opening ceremony was long over, and I didn't get to meet all the new teachers. However, I still got to my css. As expected, the joined desks that we had, one of the seats where Shiori would have seated, was now empty; this css always had an empty seat, and I saw Shiori hanging out with other girls."It's so nice to hang out with us more" – I can overhear their conversation.I just arrived in css and said nothing to the teacher besides a good morning."Welcome, Hikari; what brings you in so te?" - Everything in the cssroom stopped; everyone ser-focused on me. I tried to give Shiori a gnce, but she looked at me once, nodded left to right, and continued talking to her friends."I overslept, sorry" – The teacher looked concerned but didn't ask me any questions; I don't think I even looked like the type of person to be asked questions."Bet she cried all night after getting rejected by Shiori" – Quiet chatter erupted in the cssroom after I took my seat."No way, Shiori? I thought she got rejected by some guy, how miserable you have be to go for your friend, a friend that's not even a pervert like she is""Talk about crazy; something must be wrong with her.""I agree, and to think Shiori took pity on someone like her is disgusting." Took pity? Were all the memories we had a lie? Everything we shared until now, the friendship I thought I had with her, a lie? Why did she lie to me, and who is friends with someone out of pity? I can't, I can't, all these words, they hurt more than a thousand knife wounds.A deafening sound caught my attention, and our teacher pyed an audible recording of a sound to get our attention."No gossip in css! I can hear everything you say. We can say whatever we want, but our actions have consequnces, if you don't want to go to the disciplinary comitte, I suggest that you stop right now!" - The voice of our teacher firm and her eyes sharply scanning the cssroom until her eyes nded on me."Hikari, you can go home for today; I see you are feeling sick; you should have said so, if you need take a day or three to recover" – I didn't even recognize this woman; she must be new, but she is kind, I can't do much in the state I am in right now.