For as long as he could remember, high school senior Naoki Irie never hated anyone. He just regarded everyone with apathy. He really couldn't care less. Well, except his family, and his close friends, like Watanabe and Sudou, who was head of the tennis club in the adjoining college. Them, he liked, even loved, but only in the platonic sense.

Then along came bumbling, blubbering, blabbering, clumsy Kotoko and, contrary to popular (more like ONLY) belief for those first few months, he never hated her, he just found her annoying.

But the one person he had hated from the beginning seemed like an unusual person to hate, especially because one person was very likeable, even though he was stupid and loud.

Ikezawa Kinnosuke.

Frankly, he was only aware of this idiotic person's (unworthy) existence since when Kotoko moved in, after the infamous "Kotoko Donation" (1) scene.

First, he hated Kinnosuke because he was just like that annoying girl (Kotoko) but qualities magnified and maxified until it gave Irie a headache just to look at that bigmouthed loser.
Like the time he barged in, without any warning, to their dining room when he and Kotoko were arguing about that letter.

At this time, to summarize, he only hated Kinnosuke because, he was, well, Kinnosuke.

Slowly, though, he found more reasons to hate 'Kin-chan', as he was called by the vast majority of people.

The first reason was his arm.
That seems like an unusual reason, but it was plenty annoying when that arm, right arm to be exact, was slung around Kotoko's shoulder. Irie wished that he could burn that appendage right off that poor idiot's body.

The second reason was his fingers.

Those fingers were what he used to make those (even Irie had to admit) delicious little lunches and snacks for Kotoko. Whenever he saw the contented smile on Kotoko's face when she hummed and enjoyed the carefully-prepared food, and Kinnosuke's happy, in love gaze, all he wanted to do was march in there, toss the whole meal ensemble into the garbage and walk out with a smirk.

He had no idea why he hated Ikezawa Kinnosuke, but that he did.

However, the reason became apparent at 8:45 AM one winter morning.

Irie had gotten up, gotten ready and left without Kotoko. He didn't want her to trail behind him like always.

He expected that she would be hiding beside some bush or the other, 'spy-walking' a few feet away from him. However, he was surprised and maybe very slightly disappointed when no girl-shaped bulge was hiding behind the telephone pole to his right.

He arrived at school, and made his way up the stairs, looking for Watanabe to have a friendly morning chat with. He couldn't find him, however, so he walked across the 'bridge' that joined the two parts of the school building to get to his class. He glanced out the window, on a hunch, and his eyes narrowed immediately.

There, in the falling snow, what seemed like a couple stood, grinning and looking all in love.

The girl had a cute pink winter hat on, and was pressed against the boy, who was certainly handsome, and it seemed like he was good-naturedly teasing her. They laughed together and they looked happy, joyful, even.

Normally, the cold-hearted genius wouldn't care to watch couples in love, as he had never felt that feeling before and therefore, disregarded it.

However, for the first time, sparks erupted deep in his chest. However, mixed among the unfamiliar sensation of love (and mind you, it was a very, very tiny sensation) was a cold fury.

He swept his head away abruptly and kept walking.

The couple was Kotoko and Kinnosuke.

The day got even worse when he heard the two dunderheads who hung out with Kinnosuke whispered about a kiss of some sort. Irie knew that those two idiots were forever alone, so they were talking about Kinnosuke and...Kotoko...

He clenched his fists and prevented himself from making a dent in one of those knucklehead's faces.

His day was marginally better when he remembered the graduation party they were going to have tonight, in a fancy restaurant. He wanted to spend a little more time with his friends before they parted ways for college.

However, once he got there, he found out that the 'idiotic class' had also rented out the remaining half of the space. Coming in, he saw two people in the hallway. Kotoko and Kinnosuke. He froze, unsure of what was happening.

The boy with the mullet and shiny jacket was grinning. "Kotoko, you have some food on your face. Here, let me." He tenderly wiped the food off with his fingers and Kotoko was smiling gently. They looked like they were in their own little world, like a contented boyfriend and girlfriend. They were having an obvious moment, but Naoki (gladly) interrupted it by walking with loud footsteps. Their little bubble immediately burst and they both looked at Irie, with Kotoko murmuring, "Irie-kun..." in a shocked voice.

TO BE CONTINUED IN A PART TWO SOON
(1) This references the scene where Kin-chan asks for donations of love after Kotoko's house gets destroyed in an earthquake.