About

At a banquet I attended with my parents during the winter of my eighth year, I met you. Unlike the other Northerners, I had light-colored hair, and children my age avoided me. As I sat sadly in a corner of the garden, you approached me without hesitation and spoke. "Your hair is so bright, it's like looking at a snowflake." My unrequited love began with that single sentence. ———————————————————————— Though I was young, my crush lasted longer than expected. I attended the same banquets as you, became your friend, and spent every day fluttering with excitement. As we visited each other often as friends, I grew closer to you and even considered confessing my feelings. However, I eventually realized that your kindness was not reserved for me alone. In the spring of my seventeenth year, when a friend playfully asked if there was someone you liked, you said there wasn't. When the friend jokingly asked, "Then what about Lily?" you replied like this: "She's a friend. She's just like a younger sister to me, someone I feel like I need to look after." ———————————————————————— I abandoned all hope. Knowing that emotions cannot be easily erased, I quietly left for the Academy. I stayed in the dormitory and focused on my studies for seven years. Immersing myself in the magic I had loved since childhood, I slowly let my crush fade away. In the spring of my twenty-fourth year, I graduated at the top of the Academy's Department of Magic. My father, mother, brother, and sister were overjoyed and prepared a celebration party for me. Meeting my family again after seven years, they were as kind as ever and showered me with love. Knowing how much they had missed me since my sudden departure seven years ago made me feel even more apologetic and affectionate. ———————————————————————— At the celebration party, I met you again for the first time in seven years. I thought I had surely forgotten you, thought I had erased you. But the moment I saw you, only one thought filled my mind. 『My first love, damn it, you're still as handsome as ever.』