Just One Night (Issei Matsukawa)

First Loves

Looking back at that little visit with his family, you could probably call Issei's sweet words a confession. It would certainly look that way to an outsider. As sweet as he had been though, I wasn't about to start a relationship with him... Not yet, at least.

I wasn't ready to be in a relationship yet... but a few dates here and there couldn't hurt. Things would be taken nice and slow... Baby steps, as they say. The phrase is a bit too ironic for my tastes though.

For the time being, I planned to not do anything... not while Makki was still barely out of a breakup. Of course, that didn't mean that the three of us couldn't all spend time together

Issei's sister had told us about a cute little café that was rather new. It had been a couple of years since it opened, but it was still one of the newest places in the area. Since Makki seemed fond of sweets, it sounded like a great opportunity to take his mind off of his messy love life.

As we sat down at our cozy little table, I felt rather good about choosing to come here. As the girl had said, it was quite cute. It had a charming storybook fairytale feel. It was almost enough to make me feel like a little girl again, dreaming about the day that my charming prince would come and sweep me off my feet.

A young woman approached our table. Her name tag read Nagisa with a cute little heart and a few music notes. She was rather pretty... had a nice figure... couldn't be any older than us. All three of the girls that were working were quite attractive. Maybe that was a requirement for working here or something.

"Matsukawa?" The girl blinked a few times.

Issei looked at the girl, blinked a couple times, and then smiled a little. "Almost didn't recognize you... Seeing you dressed like a girl and not wearing those piercings or that hat... It's almost like looking at a different person."

Nagisa only half smiled. "I... Things have been rough ever since..." As she trailed off, I finally managed to place who she was. She was that girl in the pictures from that book... Toma's book. She was the one that had been close with Toma, Yuuji, and his cousin Ryuji.

Even the most oblivious guy could have seen that she was hurting. Issei may have lost an ex-boyfriend, but she lost her best friend... Two of them, exactly. And it wasn't all that long ago...

"Nagisa," one of her co-workers called, drawing our attention for a moment. "Why don't you go ahead and take your break? I'll cover your tables."

Before we knew it, Nagisa was sitting with us, sharing as much as she could about what had happened in the few years since she'd last seen Issei... right around when the brief relationship he'd had with Toma had ended.

As promised, the other girl covered for her friend. Come to find out, the two were not only friends but also roommates. The other girl working tables was also a roommate of theirs.

As the one girl, Sachi, brought out some things for us, Makki's gaze drifted to the third girl, whose name I had yet to hear. "Sachi, is that...?"

Sachi flashed an apologetic look Issei's way. "Yeah... We've been roommates since I graduated high school. I talked my stepbrother into hiring her. Souji works here too. He sticks to the kitchens."

She didn't seem to want to linger on the topic. Then I remembered that Issei had said she'd been his team manager back when he was in his last year of high school. Transferred in near the start of the year from somewhere in Hyogo prefecture. I mentally cringed as I remembered his terrible attempt at doing a Kansai accent...

Makki's eyes didn't leave the girl. "How's she been? Is-"

"Makki, don't." Issei didn't even let him entertain the thought, cutting him off with a harsh tone. "Leave it alone. You're only going to bring up bad memories..."

Makki went quiet at that, but his gaze hardly left her. As much as I want to side with Issei, I can't forget how it feels.

Yuuji may not have been my first boyfriend... He hadn't been my first kiss... He hadn't been the one to take my virginity... but... Yuuji had been the first man I'd loved... He'd also been the only one to break my heart...

For Makki, that girl had been his first love... his first everything, according to Issei. It's no surprise that he can't forget her. You can never forget someone you loved.

I... I feel for him... Issei will probably never understand. He's doing everything he can to protect his best friend's heart from being broken again, but there was one thing he failed to see...

The more that he tried to pull them apart, the more that it would push them together.