Please Tell Me How to Remember Love - Chapter 1 Part 2

Chapter 1 Part 2

 

This happened during the summer vacation back when Aoi was still in the third year of grade school. Miyama Aoi found herself in distress.

 

It happened on a mountain in her neighborhood. Aoi wandered along the mountain paths that were covered in thick greenery. The cause of this act was she was trying to find a place to hide, so she went to the path no one would ever come to normally. The problem here was she didn’t take into account that the sun would be setting soon.

 

“…Uu…”

 

And when the sun had finally set, she was stuck in a pitch dark path where barely any light could go through. She had no choice but to wander around aimlessly until she found an abandoned shrine in the middle of the forest. Having nowhere else to go, she hid her body inside the dilapidated shrine and began to weep.

 

However, the reason she started crying wasn’t because of her distress.

 

Was it because of the darkness? The anxiety of not knowing when she could return to her normal life? The fear of the possibility that a mountain beast might come to prey on her? For the young Aoi, all of those were trivial matters, things that were not worth mentioning. As for her, the pain that was eating her heart out overpowered any feelings that the darkness brought her.

 

The pain of her broken heart.

 

“Uu… Haru-kun, you dummy…”

 

Aoi was heartbroken as she had confessed her feelings to the person that she admired, but all she got was a clear rejection.

 

However, the young Aoi didn’t think about the reason why she was rejected in the first place. Instead, she spent her time sulking about the fact that she got rejected by said person. And so, to make herself feel better and to make said person feel bad, Aoi decided to hide herself in a secluded place. She was too young to think about the consequences of such actions.

 

“Hic… It was… My first time confessing… Hic… But you…”

 

Surrounded by the darkness, tears kept pouring from Aoi’s eyes.

 

Her distress was caused by her rash behavior, but she wouldn’t realize it until much later. The young Aoi foolishly believed that she was so pretty that everyone in the world liked her and rejecting her was the same as rejecting herself as a human being.

 

“I hate you… I hate you so much, Haru-kun…”

 

No matter how many tears she shed, no matter how many curses she uttered, the pain in her heart didn’t disappear.

 

After all, no matter how things actually went, it was her first time experiencing love and being heartbroken at the same time. The pain that she felt was akin to being pierced by thousands of needles. No matter how many times she screamed, the pain didn’t disappear, nor did someone come over to comfort her.

 

But, it was her just deserts.

 

In the first place, the reason why she got rejected was because she selfishly imposed her own selfish ideal on the boy she confessed to.

 

And the reason why no one came over to comfort her was because she was the one who went to a deserted place like this.

 

“…Someone, please, save me!”

 

With nothing in sight, in the pitch darkness, Aoi’s heart began to reach its limit.

 

Aside from the pain of her broken heart, she also had to bear with the anxiety over the fact that there was no other person nearby.

 

If left alone, the fear and pain that she felt would eventually eat her heart out and leave a traumatic scar on her mind. That was only if they didn’t end up killing her heart off completely.

 

“Oi~ Is anyone there?~”

 

Those horrible things would definitely happen if a certain boy’s inaudible voice didn’t reach Aoi’s ears.

 

“…Hic. Who is it?”

 

She answered his call with a voice filled with both anxiety and anticipation. The boy’s voice was familiar, but she had a vague idea that this encounter wouldn’t lead to a romantic one.

 

“Jeez, such a troublesome princess. I’m here to pick you up.”

 

Then, a boy came over to her side with a flashlight in hand. He had the same height as her, but his appearance was unruly. Unlike adults, it felt like she couldn’t really depend on him for anything. 

 

At that time, the young Aoi didn’t know. It was this boy who’d eventually save her from her pain. It was this boy who’d eventually become her ‘hero.’

 

This encounter with the young ‘hero’ would turn into the most impactful moment of her life.

 

*   *   *

 

“…*Sighs*. What do I do now?”

 

Aoi was on her way back after parting ways with Tomoe at the restaurant.

 

She was wandering around while looking at the passersby’s faces. Her expression would alternate between hopeful and disappointment as she tried to compare the people’s faces with a particular boy’s face from her memory. This was a bad habit that Aoi always did whenever she was feeling hopeless about something. Driven by her annoyance toward her own weakness, she’d try to look for that person who reached his hand out to her back when she was at her worst.

 

“Why do I keep doing this whenever things don’t go the way I want it to? I really need to stop— Huh?”

 

After scolding herself for being so weak-hearted, Aoi turned her gaze forward, only to see a strange sight.

 

“I-I finally found you! Please, I can’t bear to live without you anymore!”

“Stop! Don’t hug me out in the open like this! Also, stop saying things that could be misunderstood like that!”

 

In the middle of the street, right in front of the station, in the direction Aoi was facing, a man and a woman could be seen. From the look of it, they seemed to be arguing about something.

 

Aoi raised her eyebrows, wondering what it was that made them act like this in broad daylight. But then she realized that one of them was one of her acquaintances.

 

“Ugh…”

 

It was one of her classmates. To be exact, it was Takayuki, the person she had such a bad impression of to the point that she’d grimaced whenever she ran into him like this. That same person was being embraced by an older woman.

 

“Please! Hear me out, please! I really can’t take it anymore! I-I can give you more than usual…”

“Idiot, stop! I told you to watch your words!”

 

The older woman looked to be in her twenties. She was dressed in a suit, implying that she was an OL. Said woman was about to take out a 10,000 yen bill, but Takayuki promptly held her back.

 

The exchange between them was so quick to the point that a normal person wouldn’t be able to see it. But Aoi wasn’t a normal person. She didn’t miss a single moment in their interaction. With her disposition, she would never overlook such actions happening before her eyes.

 

“Fine, I get it! I’ll make an exception for you, but next time, make a proper appointment with me!”

“Yes! I promise to do that next time!”

 

And so, Aoi decided to follow the two people who were about to engage in a dubious act.

 

*   *   *

 

“Now, what to do?”

 

After recalling the events that happened in the span of a few hours, Aoi finally managed to calm herself down.

 

She already took a picture of both of them entering the hotel with her phone, so she had already got the evidence she needed to report Takayuki to the school, where they would punish him accordingly.

 

‘But, is this really enough?’ Pondered Aoi. The situation was quite suspicious and it was hard to misunderstand anything from that exchange. But, there was a possibility that there were some kind circumstances that she wasn’t aware of.

 

Aoi had learned various ways of enacting justice from a lot of dramas that she watched on TV. That was why she tried to learn about the situation properly before actually taking action. She didn’t want to wrongly accuse someone innocent, after all.

 

“Huh?”

 

When she was immersed deeply in her thoughts, the two of them had already left the hotel. However, fifteen minutes barely passed since they entered the hotel.

 

The time was too short for such a deed to be done, yet the woman’s face was that of satisfaction. She thanked Takayuki multiple times before parting ways without looking burdened in the slightest.

 

“Huh? What?”

 

Aoi’s mind was thrown into confusion.

 

Fifteen minutes was too short of a time for them to do anything. Takayuki could claim that they were just going there to borrow the restroom and everyone would believe him. In addition, their clothes still looked tidy and proper. The most they could do in fifteen minutes would be getting a room, undressing and dressing themselves back up and nothing more. But there was no sign of them even doing that. So, what the hell were they doing inside?

 

There were a lot of questions in her mind, but the more time she spent asking those questions to herself, the further Takayuki walked away from her.

 

“…Ah, jeez, whatever!”

 

The situation made Aoi quickly cut her line of thoughts and started running.

 

Yes, one should think twice before taking an action, but the situation demanded her to take an immediate action. It was the kind of situation where doing something would be better than doing nothing. Using that logic as a base of her action, Aoi moved her feet.

 

“Woah, what the hell?!”

 

Fueled by her fear, uneasiness and doubt, Aoi reached Takayuki’s position in a blink of an eye. Without time to catch a breath, she unleashed the pent up feelings in her chest and slammed it down on the boy in front of her.

 

“No sex, no life!” (T/N: This is in English.)

“I understand what you’re trying to say, but that’s a hell of a grammatical error that you made there, Miss Honor Student.”

 

However, she got ahead of herself and the words that meant to serve justice against the other person ended up humiliating her instead.

 

*   *   *

 

“Love counseling? It isn’t prostitution?”

“Of course not. I won’t do something shady like that.”

“…So suspicious. Is there another meaning behind ‘love counseling?’ It’s just a ruse, isn’t it? Otherwise, there’s no way you’d be open about it…”

“Why would I even make such a lame excuse to you? What’s in it for me?”

 

Since it wouldn’t look good if two high school students were to be found quarreling in front of a hotel, they moved to a nearby coffee shop to talk.

 

“Then again, I’m not an actual counselor. All I do is to listen to their complaints.”
“Still, you coming out of a hotel with an older woman like that is more suspicious than anything.”

 

Hearing Aoi pointing that out, Takayuki let out a wry smile.

 

“Guilty until proven innocent, huh? So you’re that kind of person, Miss Honor Student…”

“…”

 

Aoi’s gaze turned into a glare after seeing the other person’s nonchalant attitude.

 

The boy she was talking to was a tall boy with black hair. He had a rather long bang that was partly tied with a bright red hairpin. His gaze bore irreverence while his mouth wore fearlessness. There was an air of maturity coming from him due to the way he was dressed, a shirt and a neat pair of pants. In a glance, he looked pretty harmless, but there seemed to be something fishy about him.

 

To put it mildly, he looked like the kind of guy one needed to be on guard against.

 

“After seeing that, do you think I’d believe you just like that?”

 

After all, Takayuki was known to be a delinquent who got into troubles with a group of second-years as soon as the school started. There were a lot of bad rumors going on about him concerning his middle school days. Compared to Aoi, who was an honor student, he was the exact opposite end of the spectrum.

 

In addition, Aoi disliked the red hairpin that he wore. No, it wasn’t because it didn’t look good on him, but it was because of her personal distaste due to the fact that she remembered her childhood hero wore something similar to it.

 

That was why Aoi had no intention of letting Takayuki off this time.

 

“Well, whatever. What can I do, anyway? You got everyone on your side, so no matter what I say, they’ll definitely listen to you instead of me. I’m just a poor little carp on a cutting board, my fate is sealed, boohoo.”

 

Yet, he didn’t seem perturbed at all even though he was aware of his dire situation.

 

Even in this kind of situation, his irreverence didn’t change. From the way he was sipping his drink, it showed nothing but his graceful movements.

 

“Yes. No matter what random things you say, you can’t deceive me. I’ll let you know that I already took a picture of you as evidence and sent it to a trustworthy person, so don’t even think of doing anything to me here. The moment I smell something suspicious from you, I’ll immediately report it to the school.”

“Oh my, you’ve covered all your bases, huh? It can’t be helped, then I guess I’d have to do this…”

 

He placed his cup on the table before confronting Aoi’s gaze head on.

 

His eyes were still, akin to that of a dead animal. They gave Aoi a sense of dread, but she persisted and stared right back at them. The boy in front of her was like a super-villain that she had to face. Even if there was a fear inside her heart, she must suppress it to be able to thrive over him.

 

With her sense of justice backing her up, she confronted the boy in front of her with a resolute gaze.

 

“…Can you please let this one slide?”

 

The words that came out of his mouth threw Aoi into a state of bewilderment.

 

“…What?”

 

That was a strange thing to say. Aoi couldn’t believe what she was hearing at the moment. She thought that he would try to fight back a little harder at least.

 

“You didn’t catch that? Okay, I’ll repeat it… Can you please let this one slide, Miss Honor Student?”

“Uh? Satou-kun?”

“I get it, I’m in the wrong here, but you know…”

 

Aoi couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

 

“Can you please not report this to the school? Please, I beg you…”

 

The Takayuki who was sitting with composure was gone, replaced by a humble-looking Takayuki, who was sitting with a straight pose while bowing his head down.

 

“S-Satou-kun?”

“Yes?”

“Do you really feel that way?”

“I don’t understand what do you mean by that, but I’m not trying to hurt anyone here. I know that I’m in the wrong, I shouldn’t have acted suspiciously like that.”

“So you do know how to apologize, huh?”

“Of course. Also, I don’t want to be expelled, you know?”

“Hmm… So even someone like you is afraid of being expelled?”

“Of course I am. I’m not the kind of person who’d treat expulsion lightly. If possible I want to avoid it at all costs. That’s why, please let this slide. I’ll get on my knees if I need to, but we’ll need to move to a more appropriate place first.”

“You don’t need to do that… Also, you don’t need to speak politely to me either…”

“Ah, got it…”

 

Aoi couldn’t hide her confusion after witnessing Takayuki acting all-obedient.

 

After all, this was Takayuki, the delinquent who got into troubles with a group of second-years at the start of the school year and the one who got a lot of bad rumors going on around him. But, looking at the situation, it felt like Aoi was the bad guy here.

 

“In any case, I’ll hear you out first. I’ll decide on what to do with you afterwards.”

 

Since he was more obedient than she expected, she decided to lend him an ear. She didn’t let her guard down though.

 

“Firstly, who was that person?”

“A regular of mine… You know, for my love counseling service. I can’t really divulge her personal information and the content of the counseling to protect her identity, but I assure you that we aren’t sexually involved with each other.”

“Hm… So, what is this love counseling thing, anyway?”

“It’s a service where I help people to deal with problems concerning their love lives. I’m specialized in dealing with people who have an unrequited love or people with a broken heart.”

“You said you’re not an actual counselor… So, how did you get clients in the first place? I can understand if your clients are someone from the same school as ours, but I can’t wrap my head around you getting adult clients as well…”

“Ah, they contacted me through my social media, that’s how.”

“Can I see it?”

 

Aoi was able to confirm that Takayuki had an account under the name of ‘Baku’ on his phone. The account had a deformed baku as its profile picture and its follower count was over five thousands. (T/N: Baku is a mythical creature from Japanese folklore. It looks like a tapir and is known as a dream-eater. In the past, people would pray to it to help them get rid of their nightmares. Also, just some information for you who don’t know, baku isn’t classified as yokai/evil spirit, it’s a holy beast.)

 

“My account is mainly about anime and manga stuff, occasionally, I’ll post about love counseling if the concerned party doesn’t mind me posting it. Most of the counseling I performed, I did in DMs. Also, it’s rare for me to get face-to-face counseling like I just did. I only got money through face-to-face counseling though.”

“You seem to be telling me the truth… From what I’ve read, your posts are quite popular too. I remember seeing some of them on the hot topics once in a while.”

“Most of the things that went viral were just my impressions on a certain anime or manga. Well, most of them are romance, but they’re irrelevant to the counseling service, honestly.”

“Hmm… I’m not well-known in this matter, but from your exchanges with your clients, you seem polite and the other parties also seem to be very grateful toward your service…”

“Is something wrong?”

“Nothing. As far as I can see, at least.”

 

It was hard to tell what was on Takayuki’s mind, but at least he answered all Aoi’s questions clearly. She couldn’t feel any sense of guilt that a villain would normally have from him.

 

“And so, why did you choose a hotel for this particular counseling session?”

“Since it’s a private matter, it feels wrong to talk about it at a restaurant or a coffee shop like this. I wanted us to talk in a place where no one is around, you know?”

“I see your point, but you know that going to that kind of place with an adult woman like that is bad, don’t you?”
“I’m sorry, I know that I’m wrong…”

 

There were no lies in his words. But still, Aoi felt that he was still hiding something from her.

 

“But, still… Love counseling, huh? I’ve been looking into it and it seems that you’re doing pretty well with this business of yours, but are you sure that you aren’t offering something like massage or illegal drugs?”
“Putting aside the matter of massage, if you’re really suspecting me of selling drugs, why don’t we just stop this and call the police right now? It’s easier for me to prove my innocence that way.”

“I guess so, huh? I went too far, I’m sorry.”

 

From their exchange, Aoi concluded that whatever it was that he was hiding, it didn’t seem like a crime or anything.

 

If, by chance, her conclusion was wrong and Takayuki was actually doing something horrible, that just meant it was impossible for her to deal with him by herself in the first place.

 

“…Phew, fine, I get it. I’ll let you off for today. But, if I were to see something similar happen again, I’ll report it to the school immediately, okay? Keep it in mind. I’ll be watching you.”

“Yes, thank you, I won’t be repeating the same mistake in the future… Jeez, I thought I’m gonna die for a second there, you know?”

 

Takayuki let out a sigh of relief and smiled. The familiar irreverence in his face had disappeared, replaced by the face of a normal high school boy.

 

Or maybe he had been acting like this since the start. After all, Aoi had been in a bad mood even before she ran into Takayuki. There was a possibility that she was venting her anger toward him unconsciously.

 

“By the way, you got paid from the counseling service, right? You aren’t doing it voluntarily?”

“Uh… Yeah… I charged 3,000 yen for a counseling and if I can’t finish the problem in a day, I’d raise it to 5,000.”

“Huh, that’s a good price. Even if something goes wrong, no one would make a fuss about it.”

“Don’t treat me like a scammer. I do my job properly, okay?”

“You’re still playing in the gray area, do you know that?”

“…Let’s do this, if you need any counseling, I’ll do that for you, free of charge. You can determine whether I’m a scammer or not after seeing the result.”

“Hm..”

 

The matter was pretty much resolved with that. But Aoi was feeling petty after dealing with this kind of misunderstanding, so she decided to harass him a little for the hell out of it. She glanced at the coffee shop’s menu.

 

“…Uh, Miyama?”

“What is it?”

“If you don’t mind, I can buy you a drink or something…”

“Hehe, you’re quick on the uptake. I’ll take you up on that.”

 

Seeing Aoi’s mischievous smile, Takayuki’s shoulders slumped in dejection.

 

From an outsider’s perspective, their exchange was like that of a petty princess and her poor servant, but there was no way that Aoi would realize this.

 

TL: Iyo

ED: Iyo

 

 

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