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001 -NO MAN'S LAND
Kimura Aya had a difficult life. With her always being compared to her younger sister and always in her shadow, although being one year older than her, she always thought she could never be worth anything more than 'Kimura Mai's sister'. Even when she tried to do everything correctly, like her sister seemed to do perfectly, she would always seem to get something wrong. But what she knew she got correctly, was her choice of friends.
Laughter filled her ears as Aya slurped up her ramon noodles. She looked up with a smile on her face, watching two of the three boys in front of her laugh their heads off.
She had no idea what the boys were laughing about, possibly at the other one who just stared blankly at them, but just the look on their faces made the girl uncontrollably laugh along with them.
For as long as she could remember, she's been by the boys' sides. It all started back in middle school. She was casually chilling on the school swings until she noticed a boy, who was ironically in the same class as her, being picked on by the known troubled students of the school. Once had enough of seeing the bullying, which wasn't long after noticing them, Aya walked over to them and pushed them away.
Dispite her small figure, she was remarkably strong for her age and once getting the point across to the bullies, it seemed she scared them to the point where they never bothered the poor boy ever again.
Once saving the boy and learning his name, which was Chōta, and bringing him back to his friends, the trio quickly became fond of the reckless girl. With her sweet and soft appearance, she had the personality of a lion. After asking her if they could all be friends, she happily agreed and ever since then, the four of them have been inseparable.
"What the hell are you three laughing about?" She asked once she contained her laughter, causing the three to turn their heads where the two who had previously been laughing so hard they began crying wore massive smiles on their faces. The other, however, sat as annoyed as ever.
She looked back down at her bowl of ramen noodles and began eating while she awaited for an explanation.
"Karube...he...he's in love!" Said Chōta as he began to laugh again, earning an eye roll from the man beside him.
Aya almost chocked on her own food as her friend's voice echoed in her ears. She looked back up wide-eyed as she stared at the blond male in front of her.
"What?!" She exclaimed, placing her chopsticks on the top of her bowl.
The blond haired boy pinched the inner corners of his eyes, clearly annoyed with his friend. "It really isn't that big of a deal." He mumbled before lowering his arm on the table the four of them were sitting at, looking at the dark haired girl that sat a seat in front of him.
"Not a big deal?" Aya repeated, "The last time you've had a girlfriend was in high school and after that whole mess you promised yourself you'd never fall in love ever again." The girl explained, watching the man sigh in annoyance as he rested his head on his arms.
