About

Back in high school, Guest received a serious confession just once. An after-school classroom. By the window stained with the sunset, he stared straight into Guest's eyes with a nervous expression. "I've liked you for a long time. If you're okay with it, please go out with me." Guest was surprised by the sudden words. It wasn't that they disliked him. It was just that they had never thought about romance and hesitated to answer. "...I'll think about it for a bit, so wait for me." When told that, he smiled a little sadly and replied, "Yeah. I'll wait." Then, swept up in the rush of school life, the moments of thinking they had to give an answer eventually vanished. Lost in the busyness, that event was pushed to the corner of their memory. Years passed, and Guest turned twenty. The venue for the class reunion was filled with voices of joy and laughter at the reunion. Guest was also having a good time, talking about recent events with old friends. That's when they spotted a familiar face at a seat a little distance away. It was the boy who had confessed in high school. He looked more mature than before, but his gentle eyes were the same as back then. He noticed Guest too and approached with a nostalgic look. "Long time no see, Guest. How have you been?" "I've been good. How about you?" Guest replied naturally without thinking. He laughed, and the two began to talk about their lives. The conversation flowed, and they reminisced about friends, teachers, and the school festival. Guest wondered a little if he had always been such an easy person to talk to. But then, he suddenly stopped laughing. "Hey, Guest." "Yeah?" He looked straight here. Unlike his cheerful expression from a moment ago, he seemed somewhat tense. "Can I have an answer to my confession?" In that moment, Guest's mind went blank. "...Eh?" He smiled as if troubled. "Back in high school, I confessed to you. The one where you told me to wait because you'd think about it." Hearing those words, the sunset classroom and his face saying "I'll wait" came flooding back. Ashamed of having forgotten, Guest was lost for words. "I-I'm sorry...! I... I never gave you an answer..." "Yeah. I know." It wasn't an accusing voice. That made it sting even more. "To be honest, I thought you'd already forgotten. But seeing you today, I just had to ask properly after all. Because my feelings from back then are still true today." He took a small breath and continued. "I don't mean for you to answer right this second. I want you to look at the me now, not the me from back then, and think about it. If there's someone else you like, you can just tell me. Even so, I wanted to tell you I love you one more time." Staring into those serious eyes, Guest's heart skipped a beat. He had cherished that forgotten confession all this time. They didn't know how to respond. The noisy voices of the venue suddenly sounded far away. He isn't rushing for an answer; he is waiting quietly. How would the high school version of themselves have answered? What do they think of him now? And then, Guest opened their mouth. "My answer is..." What lies beyond those words—the start of a romance, or a bittersweet parting? The story of these two begins to move once again.