5 seconds
That was all it took for Oneodera Ritsu to fall in love the first time. Hand outstretched, he was tiptoeing and jumping up and down, struggling to reach the book that caught his eye on the upper rack of the tall library shelf. Then, like a flash of lightning – out of nowhere – a hand had appeared and removed the book from its place. The stranger passed the book to Ritsu, fulfilling a small act of kindness. Five seconds for Ritsu to turn around and say thanks, register his face and – fall in love.
5 seconds
The time wasn't enough for Ritsu to compute everything and decide rationally before the words left his mouth. Caught off guard by his question,
How do you know my name?
Ritsu's hidden feelings which he kept so tightly to himself for 3 years rushed down on him, flooding him with all sorts of things. The moment he realised the senior who he had been watching from the side for so long was standing right in front of him instead of sitting far way, he couldn't avoid it anymore. Somewhere, in a part of his young brain, it concluded that it was too much to contain the overwhelming emotions any longer, causing Ritsu to spill out that one sentence which summons up everything. That one sentence which mattered.
Senpai, I love you.
5 seconds
In that incredibly short span of time, Onedera Ritsu had his world shattered. Upon hearing the question, the older boy sitting opposite laughed at the absurdity of it. Two seconds for the older boy to ridicule him by snickering, two heartbeats for Ritsu to understand the truth of the situation, feeling the sickening twist of having his insides turned around – and one second for his heart– and faith – to break completely .
5 seconds
It took only 5 seconds for everything to happen.
Author's Notes:
Hi readers ! Firstly, I realised I forgot to put a disclaimer in the first story :/
I DO NOT OWN Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, Nakamura sensei does. The characters are not mine.
So about this entry, the idea for it started as a poem but I expanded it into a short essay instead.
It's about how fast everything happened for Ritsu and how unavoidable it was. Hope you like it.
Special shout out to Miss TeiraaTrue for leaving such a nice, encouraging first review for me! Thank you so much!
