When You Wish For a Love to End

Hey, Aoi~

You should talk with the other girls
instead of just with me all the time.
It's fine. I'm bad with crowds,
and they have more fun without me anyway.

All I need
is you by my side, Yuuri.

I love Aoi.

There's no
special meaning behind it, mind you.

Entrance Ceremony

We're front-and-back neighbors, huh!
I'll be in your care~

I first met Aoi during our first year of high school.

Any girls from your middle school here?
She gave off a "don't talk to me" kinda aura,
Joining any clubs?

That girl at the front is missing out on life! Back when she gave her self-introduction~
That's gotta be it!
but she eventually warmed up to me too.
Uh... yeah...

Let's eat~
I'm starving~

Sorry about this...
About what?

...About how you got stuck eating lunch with me.
Everyone's already formed groups and all.
You probably...
wanna make friends with the more cheerful kids, Yuuri...

Y'know, Aoi~
I thought you were cold at first,
but once I got talking to you, that was proved wrong.
You thought I was cold and yet you still spoke to me...?
You're something else...

It's way better to be thought of as unsociable
than to be thought of as a loner! That's just pathetic!
You're such a pain!

...Back when I was kid,
I made friends just fine.

But gradually, they started focusing on the opposite sex,
talking about who's cool or who they want to date.
I couldn't click with that...
Because I avoided such discussions, I've been isolated... ever since middle school.

It's not like I wanted things to turn out this way.
I don't want people to think that I don't have any friends.
But it takes everything I have just to talk to someone.
I don't even know what to do when someone talks to me either.

To be honest,
you're the only one who's kind to me, Yuuri.
...All I need

is you by my side...
The heck~?
Ahaha

That's what I said,
but it made me happy.

Aoi and I weren't very alike,
but we pretty much spent every moment together.

Are you two dating?

Eh!?
Well, y'know... you've been close since the first year.
I'm not interrupting you two, am I?

We're not dating~!
You're not interrupting anything!
Eh~ But y'know,

you're pretty much always together.
I'm kinda jealous.

About earlier,
when she asked if we were dating.
Ah~ That, huh!
Man~ That surprised me...

It made me happy.

...I mean, yeah, it was just a misunderstanding,
but I've never had anyone I've been so close with
that someone would even think that way...

Thank you so much.

All I need...
is you by my side, Yuuri.

That surprised me~!
What was that all about~!?
You don't have to take it seriously...
It still surprised me!
The truth is, at that moment,

I thought my heart was gonna stop.

But that was simply
from feeling happy that Aoi acknowledged me
as her best friend.
There's no special meaning behind it...

Are you dating?

Ever since I was little,
I've had lots of friends.
I grew up with caring people all around me.
But...

p10

All I need is you by my side, Yuuri.

I've never been told that before,
so it made me happy.

All I need is you by my side, Yuuri.
Even after she graduated high school
and became an adult, Aoi kept saying the same thing.
All I need is you by my side, Yuuri.

p11

There you go again~
I mean it.

Hearing Aoi say that
makes me happy.

But
So like~...
I'm just happy because she still says that even after we became adults.
There's no special meaning behind it.

That's right.
No special meaning...

p12

Aoi
The truth is, I've been dating a girl since last year.

Eh?

Huh? Is it me...

or am I...
feeling...
shocked by this...?

p13

Of course you're shocked.

Eh? Where am I...?
This a dream?

It's me from high school...
I've never had a dream this dream-like before.

Wait! Why are you crying?
You okay...?

p14

What are you playing dumb for?

You understand fully well, don't you?
Your feelings

for Aoi are really...

p15

That was a weird dream...

Aoi
The truth is, I've been dating a girl since last year.
Today
For real!? What's she like?
I guess it took a lot of courage to say that, huh~ Thanks :)

Why'd you reply like that!?

O-Of course I'd reply.
Why is that so bad?

I hate it...

p16

I don't wanna think about
Aoi having a girlfriend...
I don't want to know what she's like...

I...

If she asks me to meet her girlfriend,
I'll meet her!
I was surprised at first... but I wanna support her...

You're that unwilling to accept it?

...
I-
I...

p17

don't think it's love...

Aoi... said stuff
that nobody else had told me before,
so I guess that made my heart pound somehow?
And well... you can't deny that Aoi was pretty tomboyish back in those days.

I've always liked boys
and I don't think I'm bi either.
Then... how about Saturday?
Let's go somewhere...

But I guess it's not impossible.
It happens a lot with puberty...
so it can't be helped if I misunderstood somethings.

p18

...Forget it.
Just keep on being foolish...

Keep on acting like you don't already understand.

Aoi
Well then, I'd like you to meet her.
When are you free?

Ah.
Aoi...

p19

Yuuri.

Um...
This is the one I told you about...
Ah.
Nice to meet you...

Thank you for always...
looking after Aoi.
The heck is that...?

p20

Aah...
I need to smile like I'm having fun.
But
this is reality, huh...

She really does have a girlfriend...

Man, but y'know~

that was all Aoi's fault!
No, it wasn't! It was you who...
Ahahaha

I'm gonna go use the bathroom real quick...
Sure.

p21

I need to talk about something.
C-
Cute girlfriend, huh!

I'm the one who confessed.

Unthinkable, isn't it...? Me of all people confessing, I mean.

I seriously had no friends,
so I didn't even have the time to consider anyone romantically.

But it's because you were with me that I changed, Yuuri.
The reason I'm here now

p22

is because you were by my side.

...

Geez~ You're exaggerating, Aoi!
Ahahaha
Hey, listen properly...

p23

Eh!?
Shiori-chan! You're crying!?
Or rather, when did you get back?
Sorry... It was such a touching story...

Geez~ Don't scare me like that.
Ahaha

Catch you later~

p24

Hah Hah

p25

Truth be told,

telling Yuuri that I've been dating the same sex
was really scary.

I was a scaredy cat back in high school
Morning~
and always clung onto her,
so I thought she might've gotten the wrong idea...
But I'm glad~ Yuuri's the same as ever.

The wrong idea?
Like you having a one-sided crush on Yuuri-san or something?
Exactly!

p26

Eh~! You really weren't in love with Yuuri-san?
She's such a cutie...
Really! I'm serious!
Well, some people said we were a little too close, but.

You're the one I love, Shiori-chan.

Yuuri is my friend.

I've really never thought of her as anything else.

p27

...What do you want?

p28

Here to laugh at me?

Ahaha.
It's just... like you told me.
I've been a fool this whole time...

Aoi... Aoi...
r-
rejected me...

p29

I'm here to cry with you.

I'm you, after all.

I know how hard you've been trying...

p30

I'm sorry for saying such mean things...
I-I kept saying
"it happens a lot" and "it's a misunderstanding",
just a bunch of things plucked out from the corners of the internet...

I... tried to be okay with a lot of things.
I tried to be a cheerful person.

But...
when I realised that I liked the same sex... that I liked Aoi...
for some reason...

p31

it felt like something huge that I had to keep a secret...
and it scared me...

"It's just puberty." "I like boys".
I just
kept on repeating those things in my head
like some kind of magic charm.

...Do you remember
what happened before graduation?

It's cold.
I wonder if it's gonna snow~

p32

Almost graduation, huh~
Well~ We can still hang out~
We're going to a local college, after all.

...
Aoi?

...I'm
gonna try my best... to make friends.

I hear that when you get to college, you can't make friends without putting in some effort yourself...

I've been relying on you all through high school, Yuuri.
It's thanks to you that I wasn't alone.

p33

I'll try it,
so that even if you're not around...

She did say that, huh.
Yeah.
I don't... really remember.
Yeah...

I-
I mean... even after she said that...

we still hung out together lots and lots...

Aoi.

p34

Don't say something like that.
Don't say you'll be okay without me.

Don't say you'll get a girlfriend.

I never thought something like this would happen...

I should've...
just told Aoi...

p35

All I need is you by my side, Yuuri.
Everytime... Aoi said that,
I'd always... poke fun at her, saying "what's up with you?" or something.

I should've just told her it made me happy...
I should've just said that!!
Even if there was no hope in saying it!

I should've told her...
that I felt happy from her saying I was all she needed...

p36

Admit that it was love.
Yeah.

I was in love
with Aoi...

By the time I had stopped crying,
the high school version of me had disappeared.

p37

Afterwards, I met up with Aoi and her girlfriend many times.

I did well enough to hide my feelings
Line up so I can take a photo!
and eventually came to support the two of them.

I'll probably keep these feelings for Aoi hidden forever.
Say cheese~!

But I think I alone
will accept these feelings as love
and keep them in my heart.

p38

At the very least,
I'll keep them to myself.

Warning