*TAKIYO'S POV*

In my first year of high school, I met...no, I happened upon a girl.

She was obviously in a hurry. She was stuffing her bag with papers while running towards the exit. I was returning some notebooks to the staffroom, and we happened to share the same route.

In her hurry, she didn't notice me and accidentally bumped into me, knocking all of the notebooks out of my hands. She was short, with short blonde hair and dark grey eyes. She had on a school-issued, oversized cardigan.

"Sorry!" she yelled, turning back and zipping her bag shut. I ignored her and bent to pick up the notebooks. Then, to my surprise, the girl hurriedly helped me pick up the notebooks, and handed them to me. She clapped her hands together, apologised again, and ran off.

I stared after her, and saw her stop at the exit. Her bag slid off her shoulder and she seemed to be staring at something. She looked so...lonely. After nearly a minute, she picked up her bag, turned, and walked away from the exit quickly.

Ever since then, I had been noticing her around more often.

Turns out, she wasn't lonely and friendless. Whenever I saw her in the company of someone, it would always be the same tall, orange-haired boy. Sometimes, she would be seen with a girl who had a long ponytail that was dyed blonde.

But I had noticed that whenever the boy, who I assumed to be her best friend, was in the company of his other friends, she would stay away and watch silently from the corner, or walk away, or talk with the Ponytail Girl instead, unless she was also talking to her other friends. Those were the moments when I saw the loneliness I had seen back then.

Often after school, she would go and watch the basketball club practice. I noticed that she was always staring at the same boy, Saburo Anzai, who I knew by name because my childhood friend's boyfriend was also in the basketball club. He was in the year above me. He would often notice her and come by and talk to her.

Maybe she liked him? I don't know.

Whenever she smiled, there always seemed to be a hint of sadness in it. That disturbed me. Whenever she went around, people would sometimes whisper about her. That also disturbed me.

But, no matter what happened, like one time when she skinned her knee during P.E., and had tears in her eyes, she would always become happy when the Orange Head came to her. During the knee incident, she started smiling genuinely and laughing when that boy came to her. Though her eyes still had tears, she was obviously very happy.

Maybe she liked him? No. Their relationship wasn't like that.

Lucky b*tch, I had thought that time, watching the scene from the fire escape as the Orange Head and the Ponytail Girl came to her.

Now, you may be thinking, Wow, you're watching her real closely. Was it love at first sight?

No. I just found her mysterious and interesting. The one I like is, and always will be, my childhood friend, Michi Iseri. She had been my best and only friend and neighbour since I was 4, and still is to this day. Unfortunately, that love is unrequited. As I mentioned before, she has a boyfriend, and a real sh*tty one at that. Yoichi Ishida. The guy only acted nice in front of her. Heck, he only was nice when he was with her. Otherwise, he would threaten me, jealous of my relationship with Michi.

Or, what used to be our relationship.

Michi fell head over heels in love. She fell so hard, it hurt just as bad. And not her. Me. Even the tiniest inkling that she had feelings for that Ishida destroyed me. Once they started going out, Michi forgot all about me.

It wasn't as if she was doing it on purpose. Michi was blinded by love. She didn't look at me, because she had better things to look at. I just faded into the background, only required to complete a group, or assist in daily chores.

It was at that moment that I realised I was now alone. I had paid the price for the loner I was. For thinking that since I had Michi, I didn't need anyone else. I hadn't thought about what would happen if I lost her. I thought I would always have her.

Then, I had thought, My fate is sealed. I'm destined to be alone forever.

And so I entered my second year of high school, alone. Michi and Ishida were in my class again. But there were three other people I had bothered to remember, who weren't in my class last year.

The Orange Head, Ponytail Girl, and that girl. Weird Lonely Girl.

And she was the one who decided she would change my fate.