1.
Sana Kurata had an easy and enviable life.
She was a pretty girl, tall and thin. Her auburn hair, definitely out of the ordinary, greatly illuminated her small, oval face, helping to accentuate the redness of her lips. She often wore them loose on her shoulders or, from time to time, tied in a soft braid that she liked to move to one side of her shoulder.
At the tender age of five, her parents separated, but that was not trauma to her at all. She had always been loved by her mother as well as by her father in equal measure. Even if the three shortly no longer lived under the same roof, she did not lack the attention and affection of her father.
At the age of ten, she was a cheerful and full-of-life child. She attended the fifth grade and was surrounded by friends who loved her.
Aya was the quietest child in the class. She became friends with Sana on the second day of fourth grade. Her mother, forgetting to leave her a snack, had unknowingly allowed her little girl to be alone and silent during her mid-morning break. When Sana saw Aya sitting all alone, she decided that her slice of apple pie was definitely too big for her. With the strength of her small hands, she divided it more or less in half, giving the other part to the little Aya, who had finally stopped to be sad.
From that moment on, Aya and Sana often met in the afternoon, usually in the latter's large villa. She had so many games available that Aya was only looking forward to that moment. There was also the affection, of course. But, at the age of ten, having the chance to play with the trendiest toys is often the most important thing.
The meeting with Hisae was a bit stormier. The two children spoke for the first time in the middle of the fifth grade due to an accident that occurred during the physical education class. They had never paid attention to each other before, despite attending the same class that year. Sana had always thought, innocently, that Hisae was a tomboy and that she wore a skirt only because the school regulations, along with her mother, required it to be. Therefore, she was not surprised when the girl had won in a penalty match against Gomi, another classmate.
However, Hisae did not like Sana's innocent jokes because she misunderstood her complacency at seeing her win against a male and she just threw the ball straight at her nose.
Aya was the one who explained the misunderstanding to Hisae and prompted her to apologize to Sana, who went straight to the infirmary.
From that moment on, the three friends became inseparable.
At eleven, Sana, Aya, and Hisae enrolled in the same middle school, and, luckily for them, they all ended up in the same class. It was on the first day of middle school that Sana met Fuka Matsui. She was a cheerful and lively girl, with facial features very similar to hers, who had just moved to Tokyo from Osaka.
There was no strange background behind the birth of that new friendship, simply the English teacher had assigned a task to do in couple, and Sana happened to be with Fuka by chance.
During those afternoons of study, she had the opportunity to experience what her mother called a feeling between two people. She had often heard her say it when she talked about her father. Often her mother added that by now, the famous feeling with her father had simply vanished. When Sana naively asked her mother what that feeling stands for and how she could recognize it, Mrs. Kurata limited herself to say: it is a something that you feel when you are in someone else's company. You are not uncomfortable… you are yourself as if you have known him all your life.
Sana immediately thought that there was a feeling between her and Fuka, so the little girl with the strange Kensai accent joined that group, which saw so many things in the following years: from Hisae's enrolment in the Jimbo school tennis club, which allowed her to win numerous competitions as captain of the women's team, to Aya's falling in love with Tsuyoshi, a bespectacled and quiet kid from the second A.
Sana liked Tsuyoshi so much, and she knew that Tsuyoshi was made for Aya just as Aya was made for Tsuyoshi.
Hisae and Fuka, on the other hand, seemed to be very amused by the funny appearance of Aya's new boyfriend that apologized with a bow for everything that happened. They ignored the fact that, soon, their relationship would be consolidated over time and that Tsuyoshi would officially join the group that now had a new, weird member.
After Aya, it was Hisae who experience the sweet sensations of the first love. It happened in eighth grade when she met a boy who was already attending her first high school. She was a tennis ace, and that detail made Hisae realize the feeling existing between her and Toshio. At least according to Sana, Aya, and Fuka.
After few months, he invited her to have the best chocolate milkshake in Tokyo, she accepted under the pressure of her friends, receiving her first kiss that same day.
Once they reached high school, the group was made up of five permanent people, plus a few sporadic elements who, from time to time, joined the cheerful group of friends.
Sana and Fuka were convinced that they would soon find someone to love too, just like Aya and Hisae with Tsuyoshi and Toshio. Meanwhile, courting and floral tributes were not uncommon for both girls. Some guys even said the two were equally cute, given the incredible similarity. But, for some reason, Fuka was the one who attracted the attention of the opposite sex the most.
Sana seemed to be still immature and inexperienced in certain things. Fuka knew she had a certain charm on boys, and she knew as well how to use it just to get a mountain of gifts.
On the eve of their graduation day, the group of friends sat at a fast-food table. They had gotten into the habit of going there after class. According to Sana, it was the place where they made the best ice cream in town and, since she knew a lot about sweets, they had listened to her, quickly confirming his finding.
«Guys, I'm so sad. From tomorrow, we will no longer be in class altogether.»
Aya hated changes. She could not bear that her life could change by something, and being all separated to attend different universities sent her definitely in crisis.
«That is true, but we will start a new adventure, we will meet new people, we will go to new places. I am so excited instead. I cannot wait to start the lessons.»
Hisae, on the other hand, was pragmatic and fearless. She had always faced the challenges of life with her head held high. In that, she was very similar to Fuka that expressed her thoughts in accord with Hisae's.
«And then we don't have to be in class together to see each other, right? In my opinion, nothing will change, Aya.»
Sana was intent to pull up with her lips from a green plastic straw the thick liquid contained in the long glass cup in front of her nose. It had been a couple of weeks now that she had decided to prefer the chocolate milkshake instead of the usual hazelnut ice cream with whipped cream.
«Yes, Fuka, you are right. You Sana, what do you think?»
The girl was almost taken aback.
«Well, of course, I am sorry that we will not see each other every day at school, but I am convinced that the university will be fantastic and we will have a great time.»
«Hey… university is not a summer colony. You will have to seriously commit yourself to study. It is not like school ». Fuka said with a scandalized expression.
«Oh my… how boring. Then you will not be there either. Oh, I feel like crying.» She said in response, shortly abandoning her milkshake to bring her hands to her face, completely desperate.
Tsuyoshi and Toshio instead had witnessed the conversation between the girls as mere non-participating spectators. Then they burst out laughing at the theatricality of Sana, who seemed about to faint.
Then, Toshio spoke first, addressing Aya and Hisae: «Girls, we should go anyway.»
«Oh yeah, right. The cinema!» Hisae exclaimed, patting her forehead.
«All right, and then see you tomorrow at the graduation ceremony. You, Sana, do not be late.» she finally added, smiling at their red-haired friend.
«She will not be late, because the young lady here will come to sleep with me,» Fuka said, in her well-organized way of acting.
«Friends, thank goodness you are there to look after me. What would I be without?»
«Surely a laggard who would be repeating the first high for the third time.» Fuka teased, amused, causing a laugh in everyone present, except for Sana.
«How bad you are.» she moaned, catching the straw again with his lips.
When their friends were left alone, Fuka proposed a tour to the nearest Mall, and when Sana saw a vinyl store, she exploded with joy, dragging her friend in exploring that new place.
While she flipped through the 1960s European Rock Pop section, a hand came between her and the large cellophane-wrapped boxes. The hand-pulled outright the vinyl she was thinking of buying, a beautiful reissue of Simon and Garfunkel's "Wednesday Morning, 3AM" record.
However, the other hand was faster.
«I am sorry, but if I had not hurried, you would have surely blown it from under my nose.»
The hand turned out to be a boy whose warm voice made Sana blush embarrassed as she found her face at a very small distance.
«I saw, you know, how you looked at it.»
«How did I look at it?» she replied, almost mesmerized by that smiling face. Sana immediately noticed that the guy who had just stolen the vinyl had large dark eyes, which gave him an intense and captivating look. Perhaps it was the eyebrows too, she later thought, and their V-shape. The hair was as dark as his eyes and fell to his V-shaped brows, which Sana liked right away.
«Well, yes, you have been staring at it for almost five minutes.» He commented with a smile.
«It is the cover that ...»
«Excuse me, but if you understood that she was about to take it, why did you steal it from her?»
Fuka intervened out of nowhere, breaking that game of glances that Sana was completely at the mercy of. The boy raised his V-eyebrows and turned his gaze to the girl who came out of nowhere.
«Well, I thought she would not buy it in the end, and it is a very rare piece.»
«You are wrong. Right, Sana?»
The boy's dark eyes returned to Sana.
«Sana? Are you Sana Kurata?»
She pointed to herself with the index finger of one hand.
«Yes, she is Sana Kurata. Who are you?» Fuka went on.
Fuka's habits, sometimes invasive, had never bothered Sana too much. It was their way of saving each other when someone too insistent got in the way of their afternoons of shopping.
However, this time, Fuka had not paid too much attention to Sana's absent-minded gaze.
«Oh, I said that you reminded me of someone. You have not changed at all, you know.» He said to her, not caring about Fuka, who was perplexed and began to no longer understand the situation.
«It's Gomi, Gomi Shinichi. We were in the same class in elementary school.» he revealed, with a huge smile on his face.
Sana blushed suddenly, partly because she had not recognized her old classmate and partly because she instinctively thought that he had become cute over the years.
For the rest of the day spent with Fuka, the girl thinks about that meeting that took place in the record store. In the end, she had decided to give up to his old classmate that vinyl whose cover had so attracted her attention, thinking that, after all, she could easily do without it.
The evenings at Fuka's house always took place in the same way: dinner ordered as usual take away, consumed strictly in her room to be able to talk in peace, without indiscreet eyes and ears, a romantic film to which they never paid attention because they were too busy gossiping about the poor unfortunate person on duty, and a sleepless night. This time, however, Sana was strangely distracted and, although they never really watched the romantic film, on that occasion, Fuka had to get her attention more than once.
Then, when her cell phone rang, Fuka noticed her friend leaping several hundred centimeters off the ground.
«I cannot believe it.» Sana announced while her face was buried in the mobile phone screen. She turned abruptly to her friend, handing her the object in question.
«Please, read it.» she said, her voice trembling and her cheeks flushed.
«I asked Tsuyoshi Sasaki for your number. You know he is the only one with whom I have been in touch. It was great talking to you today, and I'd love to see you again. Shinichi.»
Fuka read that message aloud, and she reflected on those words, noticing her friend hiding awkwardly under the thick quilt that covered her big French bed.
«Sana, but what are you doing?»
«Help me, Fuka.» she heard her say from the blankets.
«Of course I'll help you, stupid. But... just tell me, what do you want me to do?»
«I don't know, that is why I need your help.»
Fuka's patience, which was known to last for a very short time, ended sooner than expected, and the girl grabbed a piece of quilt, violently pulling it away from the bed. What she saw was Sana curled up on herself and her face hidden in her hands.
«Sana, please be a little more serious and get out of there.» Fuka scolded her.
She timidly raised her face and looked at her friend with a languid look.
«Do you want to see him again?» she asked her. But Sana did not answer.
Fuka snorted: «Okay, let's start with the simple questions. Do you like this Gomi?»
Sana looked down at the floor as if she was searching for the answer to that question. Then, she looked shyly at Fuka, giving her an embarrassed smile: «Maybe yes.»
Sana Kurata had had an easy and enviable life.
When she started dating Gomi Shinichi, she found that she really liked that disc, the subject of contention and not just because it was his favorite. Gomi was interested in so many things that Sana did not like, at all. One above all, football and whiskey. At the same time, Gomi found interesting the things Sana liked, but not always enough to share with her. One above all, the romantic movies and evenings at the bowling alley. However, there was one thing they both like. It was walking hand in hand through the crowded streets of Tokyo and eating ice cream from the same cup so that he could give her the last bite, and she would understand how much his gaze was deep when he saw her smile.
Gomi turned out to be the heir of a prestigious law firm. That was the reason why he was admitted to the law school without problems, putting aside his passion for music.
Sana was admitted to the psychology faculty with the great surprise of all her friends.
Hisae and Fuka ended up studying architecture, while Aya and Tsuyoshi joined Toshio at the faculty of literature, both determined to become teachers of literature.
The first year of university ended with the introduction of Gomi as the new official member of that group, thanks to his relationship with Sana Kurata. The latter, who still used to go out, together with her best friends, became a company not too suitable for Fuka. Indeed, she was in constant search of someone who could make her live her splendid but concrete love story.
The beginning of the second year marked the consolidation of the story between Sana and Gomi, who officially introduced himself to his girlfriend's family, who welcomed him as the son they never had.
On the second day of classes, Sana started to attend the general sociology lessons. She arrived on her first day with a tremendous delay, discovering that it was crammed with students she had never seen during the entire previous year of the course. She was lucky enough to found a seat next to a girl she barely knew, in the back row where there were still empty chairs.
After a moment of deathly silence, the attention was immediately captured by the door opening again. A student even later than Sana made his appearance in front of all. But conversely to Sana, the student seemed to be quiet and calm, even if his delay. He was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses that he did not bother to take off even when he received the professor's frown. The unbuttoned leather jacket revealed his lean physique. The blond hair was slightly disheveled and fell on his forehead. He held a black helmet in one hand, made everyone understand that he had come on a motorbike.
He walked towards the only seats still available, in the last row. That walking generated a buzz of voices, especially by women, who accompanied him to the end of his journey.
Sana looked at him intently, wondering why no one told him that not only he was late, but also that he had not even said hello to the professor.
He positioned himself right next to Sana, standing and nodded at the half-open bag that occupied an empty spot next to hers.
Sana raised an eyebrow, wondering if that guy really meant to sit there, with all the seats available. When he gave her a strange smile, she thought her assumptions were founded.
«If you don't get your junk out of there, how do you think people can sit down?»
«Look there, see? There are many free places. Why don't you sit elsewhere?»
He accentuated his smile.
«I like this.» and so saying, he took her bag with her fingertips and deposited it on the floor, letting spread out Sana's things on the floor.
In a while, her mouth dropped open, unable to believe his eyes.
«Are you crazy?»
He did not even answer her because he put his sunglasses on his forehead dragging a few locks of hair that uncovered his face entirely.
«Look what you did, you kind of rude.»
«Shut up, or the professor will drop us a note.» he said in a low voice and mocking tone.
«It is your fault, now you pick my things up on the floor.»
«Shh, he will hear you.»
«I don't care, fix this mess.»
«What is going on back there?» the voice of their professor cut her off abruptly. Sana blushed, feeling the gaze of the whole classroom on her.
«Nothing, excuse me, professor.»
The blond boy next to her giggled satisfied: «I told you.»
Until she was twenty, Sana Kurata had had an easy and enviable life.