My welcome back party in my parent's house was pretty embarrassing to witness. When I boarded off the train, some of the neighborhood kids greeted me and handed me some flowers.

And as we made our way to my house, in front of it was an entire party. There were stairs, tables, and food all lined up. The neighbors were there drinking and eating, even my parents.

"Wow, thanks so much for waiting, I guess," I whisper with a smile.

Nevertheless, I join in some of the fun. I don't remember the names of my neighbors much, only the ones I talked to a lot as a kid, and boy was that awkward. The kids joined in on us, some of the scampers even took a bottle of alcohol, much to the amusement of the dads.

You could really tell how drunk they are just from their no care attitude. As for me, I only drank about half a cup. I didn't wanna feel like puking on the day of my graduation, I'll do that some other day.

The mothers of the neighborhood all congratulated me. This party wasn't actually dedicated only to me, it was dedicated to other graduates as well so I was the only "star" of the show, as some people say. The others were only celebrating their advance to a new grade though, not for graduating high school, which, to be frank, I'm glad I've finally finished.

I can finally move away from Amiya, I thought. It's weird how she still lingers in my head and just randomly pops up sometimes. I've moved on from her but I still look back on our time together, because the truth is, even if she cheated on me, I'm willing to become friends with her again however weird that is.

But meh, I already told her I'm willing to become friends, I just hope she doesn't misread that as me still being interested in her.

And so, just enjoying the atmosphere, my small village celebrated the moving up and graduation of several students.

Drinks were had and food was, quite frankly, demolished.

"Cheers to Kazuya!" my father announced.

I laugh it off. Looking to my side though, I see a figure watching us from afar. The moment I caught a glimpse of them, they ran off. Having a rough idea of who it is, I get off my seat and begin pursuing this mysterious figure.

Leading me to the nearby river, I see Minami staring at me. Running up, I look at her with a questioning stare. "Were you stalking me?"

"What?! No, no! I was just uh..." she spat out while waving her hands around. "Just waiting for you to finish, to have our moment, you know...?"

I ruffle her hair up. "I was kidding, you know?"

"...I hate you."

"The feeling's mutual."

As awkward silence takes over our conversation, we both take a sit down by the river, the grass helping ease our tenseness. And, as the fresh breeze passes over us, Minami finally breaks the silence.

"Hey, Kazuya, why did you break up with Amiya?"

Turning my head, I look at her. Amiya's been brought up a few times throughout the years by her, mostly her asking how she was doing. I always just replied that I wasn't keeping in contact with her. I still wonder why she asked those, to be honest.

"I guess I never told you, huh? It's actually cause I saw her cheating on me in school."

"...She cheated on you? Then, why'd you feel so sad when you broke up with her?"

I feel like I could have given a cop-out answer but chose to answer truthfully.

"To be honest, after I broke up with her, I realized I still had feelings for her. Which is weird, right? Girlfriend cheats on me, you'd think I could move on so easily, but that's just not how it worked for me. Instead of feeling mad at the person she cheated on me with, I chose to blame myself at first."

And so, I began narrating to her my experience of heartbreak. I didn't really mind now, I cherish the experience, I believe it helped me change for the better in some ways.

"It's weird. There were times where I wanted to forgive Amiya and get back together. Forget all about it and move on, you know? I was willing to. But... I knew I wouldn't be happy like that."

"You wouldn't be happy? How so?"

"Ahaha, well, laugh at me if you want, but when I was a kid, my mom and dad taught me a lot of things. Mom wasn't much of a talker about romance unless you bring it up. Dad was different though, growing up, he told me a lot of things about love. One of them was apparently the quote he lived after meeting mom, 'Love is about trusting the person you want to prove your love to.' is what he would always say."

"Love is about trusting the person you want to prove your love to...? Sounds kinda cheesy," she commented with a giggle.

"I did too when I was a kid. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. If you love someone, you have to be able to trust them. Unconditional trust. I knew that if I got back together with Amiya, I would constantly doubt her...and I didn't want that for either of us."

I tried my best to explain, but I'm not even sure if she gets what I'm saying.

"And how about me, Kazuya?" she asked, lying down on the grass.

Looking over her, "What about you?"

"Do you trust me? Unconditionally?"

Lightly scratching my cheek, I feel a tinge of red appear as I reply, "How... How about we go on a few dates first before I answer?"

And, with a smile from ear to ear, she pulled my body close to her chest as she stated, "I do. I trust you..."