Glasses.
I have these old-fashioned, frameless glasses that I wear every day. The kind you might see a librarian wear, if you put a chain on the ends and hang it around your neck.
I've had them as long as I can remember. I always took great care of them, and my prescription never changed... Not to mention, I never grew much, so there wasn't any need.
I've had this same pair for over a decade. Back when I was just a girl, all alone in the world… I didn't have many friends growing up. Sure, there was Satonaka-chan, but I never saw her much. Even then, when she was fresh out of high school, she was working for Grandpa.
No… I was a quiet child. When I was young, I didn't cry much. I remember I wet the bed once when I was five, and when my voice had actually managed to reach my parents through the wall, I was really proud of myself.
Of course, Grandpa refers to that story as 'The Time Ruri-Pii Wet the Bed'. My 'unapologetic face' in the photos don't exactly help my story either.
I remember my family went on a business trip once. It was to this town I can't remember the name of (I was really small), and my parents told me to go outside. Play with the other kids, while the grown-ups do their work. So I took my picture book, and went out into the open air.
It was a simpler time. No grades to worry about. No future to think of. No glasses to take care of.
There are all kinds of misconceptions about glasses. "Hey, can you see me if I take these away?" "How many fingers am I holding up?" "What's it say over on the board?" "Whoa, how can you see anything wearing these!?" Trust me, I've heard it all.
There are some people who are just born with bad eyes. Call it poor genetics, or just plain bad luck, there are some people who have to put up with that spiel their entire lives. Because trust me, from grade school, to middle school, to high school, there's going to be that one idiot who yanks them off your face and thinks you're blind as a bat.
You can actually see a lot more clearly with glasses than you can without, and in more ways than one. For example, whenever you meet someone, if their first reaction is something akin to "Damn, these lenses are thick!" or any of the ones I listed earlier, you get a pretty good grasp on who they are as a person.
Of course, there are those that say nothing. They might be shy, unwilling to say anything. Perhaps they're sympathetic; they know you've heard it all before. Or maybe they've had glasses themselves at some point, and know what you've had to put up with?
But when someone falls under none of those categories, you know you've met someone truly special.
"Wow! Ruri-chan, you look so pretty without your glasses!"
Onodera Kosaki. My best friend of four years and counting. She's a little clumsy… scratch that, a lot clumsy. She's constantly misplacing things, and I have to remind her about long-term homework assignments more often than not. Her cooking might look beautiful, but trust me, it's a disaster. And she actually met her first love when she tripped in the cafeteria and spilled scalding hot Chinese food all over his head.
...That went over well.
On top of that, there's this whole promise business. She has a key, and memories of some kind of promise eleven years ago, but past that? Nothing. God, it's a scenario straight out of a drama.
Regardless, she's a great friend. I've stuck with her this long, after all… Not to mention that without me, she wouldn't have made what little progress she's had with Ichijou.
Speaking of…
"You're real pretty without your glasses, and with your hair down like that. Why don't you always dress this way?"
Ichijou Raku… The scumbag. I understand he and Kosaki aren't an item… But he's certainly the worst crush I've ever seen.
He talks to other girls. Which is fine, of course. The problem is, every girl he seems to talk to falls in love with the jerk! I just don't get it!
And that's… fine too, I guess. It's not really his fault; he doesn't know what he's doing. He's dense as a brick on top of it all. It's been four years since Kosaki fell for this guy, and he still doesn't realize and sometimes it's really frustrating sometimes because—
...Ahem.
Anyway, he's dense, she's indecisive, and there are other girls that aren't quite hesitant. And being the 'nice guy' he is, he ends up flirting with every girl he sees…
Speaking of a guy who flirts with every girl he sees.
"Wait! We CAN'T search for Ruri's glasses!"
He threw a thumbs-up, eyes sparkling.
"Ruri-chan, you're even lovelier without them!"
Maiko Shuu. A complete and utter sleazebag, in every sense of the word. He'll hit on anything with a pair of boobs, come hell or high water. Not only that, but he'll try and peek on you in the hot spring, or watch you sleeping. He even sells weird pictures of girls to the boys in our class! He's a total creep!
...Which makes him one of the most confusing human beings on the planet.
Loathe as I am to admit… sometimes he can be a pretty decent guy. At times, maybe even a little more than that. He's like me in a way: he sees things more clearly than those around him, definitely. He just goes about it differently; more of an observer, only interfering when necessary, rather than my constant support for Kosaki.
He stopped me from throwing away all Kosaki's efforts by telling Ichijou that she liked him… He kept his feelings for Kyoko-sensei under wraps, because he didn't want to cause trouble… He helped Ichijou make friends when the kids were scared of him back in kindergarten… And when he turned down Asada, my underclassman from the swim team, he let her down easy. He knew exactly what to say, like he knew how fragile her heart was.
...Or something like that.
He was actually concerned for me when I hurt my leg at the swim meet a few months back…Unnecessary, but thoughtful, I guess. And he makes sure to call Kosaki 'Onodera-san' and Chitoge 'Kirisaki-san' for Ichijou's sake…
I glanced over at the lone picture frame on my desk.
And his strange hobbies can be useful sometimes too.
"Ruri-chan! Your glasses are so cute!"
Chitoge Kirisaki. She's a total rich girl, without an arrogant bone in her body. True, I might've started interacting with her because she was my friend's crush's girlfriend, but either way, we were good friends now.
She also has a key… and a diary. A diary from eleven years ago. But of course, the Chitoge from eleven years ago is just as descriptive in her writing as current Chitoge. So it doesn't exactly help much.
"Miyamoto-san, I'd say those glasses suit you."
Marika Tachibana. I guess you'd call her a friend. There's something to be admired in that one-track mind of hers. She's formal, and ladylike, and quite offputting if you're around her too long. Like she knows something you don't.
Either way, she has a key too. And her love for Ichijou is unquestioned.
"Miyamoto-sama! You look well today! Your glasses make you look especially sharp!"
Seishirou Tsugumi. Chitoge's bodyguard. Very innocent, and a bit naive, despite her profession, but lovable all the same. Her love for Ichijou isn't very well hidden, but she tries her best. It's for her Mistress after all.
"Miyamoto-kun! Your glasses look so much like mine! Wanna' swap?"
Yui Kanakura. A mystery in and of herself. So many things we don't know about her… A bit of a Deus Ex Machina in terms of our group, dropping out of the blue like she did. She holds the final key.
"Ruri-san! Can I try your glasses on? Pretty please?"
Haru-chan. She was always a little eccentric, and I feel her being in an all-girl junior high only furthered that. She might act like she hates Ichijou, or that she's just trying to help her sister, but in the words of Maiko: "Classic Tsundere."
It's quite the phenomenon. Love, that is. The paramount emotion. One day, you're fine with whatever school you can get into. The next, you're cramming until the sun rises to get into Harvard Law, because that's where your crush is going.
And of course, the next, your heart is broken. Something goes wrong, and suddenly your whole world crumbles around you.
Love… Love is a double-edged sword. And as you could probably tell, our group is already incredibly stimulated as is. So if things continue as they are, someone's going to get hurt… especially with something so huge hanging over our heads.
That's right. The promise. The promise from ten years ago. Four girls were revealed to have keys. Chitoge, Kosaki, Tachibana, and Kanakura-Sensei.
And only one keyhole. Ichijou's pendant… What does it hold inside? Just another mystery on the pile.
…
…
...I don't think I can do it justice. The weight that this promise has. It's been there, floating above, staring down at as for the past two years...
Whoever's key opens the pendant is the Promised Girl. Regardless of what their feelings are now, at one point, they promised to marry Raku Ichijou… and chances are, no matter how small they've dwindled, those feelings are still there.
There are four girls after Raku's heart. Five if you count Tsugumi, and six if you count Haru. Can you imagine how devastated they'd be if they found out about even just each other's feelings? Can you imagine how betrayed they might feel, that someone so close to them were in love with the same man?
(*K-CHK*)
(*K-TNK*)
I took off my glasses, and slid open the drawer of my desk, ignoring the papers that lay within. They were frayed at the edges, as if they'd been torn out of a notebook.
I reached forward and grabbed the first thing my hand took hold of. It was heavy, smooth, and cold, but I knew exactly what it was.
It had a rounded, cross-shaped bow, and an outline of a star at the end of its long blade. It sparkled an electric blue, the color still sharp after an entire decade.
I stared at the key in my hand with a sigh.
'What to do…?'