“NAOKI KUROGAWA!”

<<Huh?>> 

“I HOPE YOU HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN THE PROMISE WE MADE 10 YEARS AGO!” 

<<Promise? 10 years ago? What the hell is she talking about? I just transferred here man.>>

I was dumbfounded at what was happening. An extremely beautiful girl who held herself with such grace and elegance was slowly walking… towards me out of all people!

Her blond silky hair was styled into a ponytail with long side bangs on each side and her emerald eyes slightly slanted upwards in such a manner that made her seem confident.

A total beauty who claimed to know me, and yet I couldn’t say the same. I mean I should have been able to remember someone as striking as her, especially if I had made a promise to her… But nothing came to mind at all.

All around the rooftop people started whispering and gossiping, with both girls and guys alike blushing at her presence.

“Hey isn’t that…”

“No way…”

“Why is she here?...and why is she…”

At the same time, more students poured out from the stairs behind the girl after hearing all the commotion. 

But the girl had also seemed to notice the crowd of people slowly forming and flinched in response, but after seemingly regaining her composure she carried on and faced me once again. I was anxiously preparing myself for what she could possibly say, and she finally continued.

“I…speak…you privately…” she said in a faint whisper that I could barely hear.

“What.”

“I’d like… to…privately…” she said once again, it was like she was yelling in lowercase. 

With one eyebrow raised, I exclaimed “I… can’t understand what you’re saying…” to which she looked at me with irritation.

“I would like to speak with you privately!”

“Oh…what.”

Once again she looked at me with frustration and a nasty glare, but it wasn’t as if I didn’t hear her this time, I was just confused.  

<<If she wanted to speak privately why did she go and announce it to the whole school? Because of her, all eyes are on us now!>>

However, after I closely looked at her face, it was clear she was burning up, her face was bright red and she kept fidgeting around, showing hints of panic and regret. 

<<Why would she announce it if she would feel embarrassed immediately afterwards! Is this girl, maybe a klutz?>>

…………………………..

<<What am I thinking?!?! I know I was the one to call him out, but this is more embarrassing than I thought…and where are all these people coming from! There were like only two groups here before!>>

<<Whatever I can’t back down now, I need to pull myself together, okay, here goes nothing.>>

“Do you rem-”

“Um…do you still want to talk privately?...oh sorry you go first.”

<<Damn it this is extremely embarrassing, he just had to talk over me.>>

“It’s fine, I already made a scene anyways…Naoki do you remember me?”

“...”

<<Why is he just standing there and saying nothing?! No, he couldn’t have possibly forgotten about me right? I mean come on, all the fond memories we shared and made together, the times he visited me! He wouldn’t have forgotten that easily, that’s right i'm sure he's just nervous.>>

“10 years ago, we made a promise!”

“...Sorry, it doesn’t ring a bell…”

<<Huh? No it can’t be. Naoki please remember. After all these years, I still remember the kindness you showed me, so please you have to remember me as well…>>

“We went to elementary together! Your father would bring you over to my house so we could play often…and back then…”

<<Damn it, this is why I wanted to speak privately. This is too embarrassing to say in front of everyone… But if I can’t say it out loud, if I don’t have the resolve to say it! Then it all means nothing!>>

“Back then…on that fateful day… you told me you would marry me!!” 

…………………..

After the mysterious girl blurted out that last line and the jaw of Nakai hit the floor, everyone watching went wild, gasping in shock and awe. Meanwhile, I was having a flood of repressed memories come back to me in an instant.

Images of a large garden filled with flowers of all colors and sizes, while I ran next to a mysterious girl with a white oversized sun hat, who held my hand. The girl would be laughing and grinning with a brightly lit smile, while I…I was fearing for my life.

 

I can still remember the fear her old man instilled in me that day…

“Kid… My daughter seems very fond of you, as a parent I want what’s best for her and to be as happy as she can be, and you little twerp, you can’t mess it up ok?! Break her heart…” he said as he proceeded to clench into a rubber duckie until it popped.

“I don’t have to finish my sentence do I?”

Of course, I was scared out of my mind and agreed with whatever he said.

“So with that being said, if my daughter wills it, you will marry her in the future when she grows up. Don’t worry your father has already approved.”

That stupid old man.

Turns out I did know her.

Kido Tomiko. Only daughter and heir to one of Japan’s most influential companies, Cynax Industries. My father somehow landed a job in the company and got to work closely with the head of the company, and as a result, little ol’ me ended up meeting her as a kid.

Of course, I don’t remember much because as a 6-year-old kid, you tend to repress the memories of being threatened by a grown man with a rubber duckie… 

But still, she said I made a promise to marry her directly…that’s something that I should remember right? Then it clicked. Right after the meeting I had with her father.

As soon as I exited her old man’s office, Kido had been waiting patiently for me right outside.

“Naoki, what did you and daddy talk about?”

I was still rather dazed from the fright her old man gave me and wasn’t really entirely there.

“Naoki?”

“Uhhh we talked about you and me getting married in the future”

Her cheeks immediately turned red, and she looked down to avert her eyes.

“You asked him to marry me…?”

“Uhh…what? Wait n-”

“Oh Naoki you’re so upfront,” she said as she smacked me repeatedly in the back.

“Ouch, hey! Ouch! Quit it! That's not what I mea-”

But her old man would come out of his office after hearing the two of us outside and with his cold and intimidating gaze he would ask “Is there a problem between you and Kido, Naoki?” 

“No Sir!”

And that was how the misunderstanding was formed.

<<AHH SHIT!>>

After remembering such a memory, I was without realizing it, pinching the bridge of my nose and frowning in discomfort.

“Did you remember something Naoki?!?!” Kido frantically asked after seeing my reaction, her face was full of excitement and hopefulness. 

I could feel my stomach begin to feel uneasy,  <<Why is it always on the rooftop?>>

“The truth is…” I said.

“Yeah!?!” she responded eagerly, her glistening eyes looking directly at me with anticipation.

“Sorry, I think you got the wrong person,” I quickly blurted out as I did a 90-degree bow. 

Kido had frozen in place as if she had her interior shattered into a million pieces. 

Taking this chance, I pushed the backs of Nakai and Katsuo through the onslaught of spectators that had formed out of nowhere and headed back down the stairs through the sea of gazes of jealousy, contempt, and envy.

“Uh Naoki? Is it really alright to just leave her up there?” asked Nakai with a worried expression.

To which Katsuo would add, “Yeah Naoki, it was kinda rude to leave her just like that”

“Don’t worry about it. She had the wrong person anyway” 

“I dunno man, she seemed pretty convinced it was you”

“Nakai is right, how do you know Tomiko-san? She’s one of the most popular and famous girl of our school! For someone so elegant and refined as her, this is way outta character.”

“Gawd just keep walking! I’ll tell you both later, for now, let's get outta here!”

Both Katsuo and Nakai looked at each other before turning to me with a smirk formed on their faces.

“So you do know her.”

“Like I said I’ll tell you guys later, let's just go back to the classroom for now.”

The onslaught of questions and teasing from them would not stop on our way there. But their careless and playful nature would result in us bumping into someone exiting the classroom.

“Ouch! Watch where you’re going!” exclaimed a girl with blazing red hair and a fierce glare capable of killing someone.

When I turned over to look at Nakai, he was as pale as a ghost, like he had stepped on a landmine.

“S-sorry Homura-san we weren’t paying attention…”

“Yeah?! Well, maybe you ought to look straight ahead next time!” she said in a loud and ferocious voice that made Nakai retreat into himself like a tortoise, before she continued on her way.

“Who the hell was that?” I asked 

“Trust me, you don’t wanna know” answered Nakai while letting out a breath in relief. 

It seemed she was the delinquent of our classroom.

<<I better steer clear from her, the last thing I need is even more unwanted attention…as if I haven’t caught some already.>>

Sigh

<<Why is it so hard to have a normal uneventful day, and why do these damn Clichés keep happening to me.>>