Translated and Edited by: ynlucca.

Common Honorifics:
-san: A polite suffix, but not excessively formal.
-kun: A common suffix among friends and younger people.
-chan: A common suffix among people you're close with, mostly used for feminine nicknames and girls, since it's cutesy and childlike.
-senpai: A common suffix and noun used to address or refer to one's older or more senior colleagues in a school, workplace, dojo, or sports club.

“—I love you.”

A girl said these words as we stood on the rooftop after school. The evening sun shone crimson, and the day was reaching its end. She had shoulder-length chestnut hair, and her eyes were round and adorable. Rather petite, she kinda reminded me of a puppy.

If you asked ten people, every single one of them would say she's a beautiful girl. And I've known her for a long, long time… she was my childhood friend.

Her cheeks were flushed red, surely not only due to the red sun above.

I remember when we were small. I believe we had just started elementary school. In a park with the setting sun like today's, I once had a girl confess her love to me. Her expression was the exact same.

But the rest of that memory is fuzzy. I think I answered that I like her too, or something along those lines… But now, I…

“I can't reciprocate your feelings…”

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With these words, I rejected her confession.

“… Okay,” she nodded with a fainting voice, yet didn't ask me the reason why. I guess she had expected this outcome from the start.

Her face oozed sadness and regret, and I could almost see tears rolling down her eyes. She was at her limit, almost bursting into tears.

Frankly, it was a sight I didn't want to see. In every memory I had with her, she was always smiling so brightly. I don't want her to blame herself and feel depressed. This is my own problem after all, because I…

“… I don't even know what love is anymore.”

Looking back, all the people I've ever loved have left me. My father, who swore to protect our family, my mother, who always said she loved me, my sister, who always hugged me tight… And the girl standing before me, who said she loved me.

If you're gonna disappear, don't tell me these feelings. It's okay not to know.

“That's why…”

That's why I can't love you.