"Chihiro, actually I…"

I knew this is coming eventually.

"…. Katsuragi and I are…"

Weak like leaveless twigs; vulnerable like a helpless tree in a middle of a violent gale are the impressions that cross my mind when I saw the girl in front of me shivering from head down her toes. It's the first time I saw my best friend looks like about to be blown to pieces. My easy-going comrade who's always been cheerful no matter what situation she's in, my classmate who always lend me a hand when I need her, my band mate who always listens to my problems, my childhood friend who's always been by my side in happiness and sorrow...

My eternal best friend, Takahara Ayumi, is finally going to tell me the answer of my hazy question about her relationship with Katsuragi.

... Is this... the end of our friendship?

The Memory of My First Love

A fiction story by Takagi based on TWGOK

Day 10: "Conclusion"

The clock hit 5 and the room suddenly echoed by my phone's alarm that is in my hand. I reacted instantly to dismiss it to prevent everyone from waking up. The sky was cloudy, and the air is cold with a hint of humidity, easy to tell that it's going to rain sooner or later. Never thought that there's going to be a wet day on our field trip. In films or animes, rain always somehow avoids field trip days. Well, reality is not forever sweet after all.

Today we are supposed to visit the museum. I have no idea about what kind of activity we gonna do there. I don't even know that this village has a museum. What do they have in store? Nothing came up to my mind. I have zero knowledge about the history of Mizuki village. I only went here once when I was a kid to rest for a day with my family.

I assume I don't have to bother about going anyway. I'm not feeling well. I didn't sleep at last night. Well, not the whole night... But still, it gives me severe migrain. The walls are spinning and the right side of my head is aching like it's about to fall off.

This is Ayumi's fault. Had she didn't surprise me with something unexpected last night; I'd have a good sleep.

Yesterday after dusk, Ayumi and I were having a really important conversation that might affect our friendship. We were the only one who's in the room because the others, Miyako and Elly, went out for drinks although they came back with something more special than pocaris later. They said the vending machine was out-of-order, but the inn made up for it by serving us fruit beverages. That was very nice of them, right?

Anyways, hundreds of thoughts flashed in my mind after Ayumi suddenly confronted me last night. What is their relationship, actually? Lovers? Best friends? Close friends? Or Engaged?

"Katsuragi and I are…"

The memory of last night's conversation between us slowly descended to my mind again as the breezy wind sweeping every shape of my face. The retention is getting clearer as I continued sipping a cup of tea at one of two sofas by the window.

"WHAT?"

She took a deep breath and her fidgeting worn out after she let out her breath."Katsuragi and I are husband and wife" Ayumi repeated her words to confirm that I heard it right.

"Married? Ahaha, what are you talking about, Ayumi? Are you alright?"

"I'm totally fine, Chihiro." She focused her eyes solely on mine, showing no sign of hesitation. She didn't sweat nor strayed her sight out of me, which means she's totally serious at the moment, but really… a marriage?

"Who…" I blurted out. "Who'd buy that? You two are still high-school students!"

"Well…"

Another thought came up to my mind. "Don't tell me! By 'married', are you telling me that you have done 'this and that' with him?"

Her face blushed instantly, "A—are you stupid? There's no way I'd do that with him!" She gaped, "… But if it is about my feeling for him, then yes."

"Ayumi…"

I knew I was right all along so it was not really surprising, but I still didn't understand something. "But you always play the role of the cupid! You even pushed Katsuragi to date me back there at class!"

"That… was because I insisted to help them."

"'Them'? Who?"

"Katsuragi and…" she closed her eyes for a moment. "… Mercury."

"Me—mercury?"

I was shocked that I almost lost my energy to stand. Until that time, I never thought that Ayumi also holding the same secret as me.

"Could she be, a goddess?"

"Yes. She's your goddess', Demeter's, cousin."

I didn't know how she found out about Demeter, but Demeter did tell me about her having cousins. "You know about Demeter?"

"Mer said she's her long-lost cousin," she answered. "I wanted to help finding her."

She walked slowly towards me while explaining. "I incidentally found out that Katsuragi also has a same objective, but never he told me about Demeter and I never told him about her either."

"Until…" she stopped right under my nose and said, "… Tuesday last week when I discovered that Katsuragi finally found out that Demeter is in your body, Chihiro."

"Tuesday last week?"

"Yes. I saw you stalking Katsuragi near the biology lab."

I reacted by scratching the back of my head, "Is that so. Well, that's embarassing…"

"No need to. I also stalk him a lot," she smiled softly.

"You what?"

"T-That's not important! Anyways, after you and Elly left the scene, I bumped into him and the girl with dirty lab coat at the stair. I was about to interrogate him who that little girl was but she spoke first, 'So this is Goddess Mercury'. I thought Katsuragi would never told anyone about the goddesses. It should be our secret, or so I thought. Then I asked who she is and she put her hands into her lab coat's pocket when she answered, 'No worries, I am your ally, Takahara Ayumi. I can help you finding her cousin. In fact, I already been told by Katsuragi who the host is.'"

A grain of sweat trickled down my temple after I learned that the girl with dirty knitted hat also knows about Demeter.

She continued talking, "I was surprised. I turned at Katsuragi and asked whom the host is. He was against it at first; he even scolded the girl for telling me the truth. 'My pride as a gamer won't let me receive a help from a girl!' or so he said. I pushed him to the wall, intended to make him spilled the name out from his mouth. I told him that I really want to help Mercury finding her cousin and it would be very helpful if he could tell me, but he still reject it. 'Let me do it in your stead,' he said. I was glad he wanted to help, but I was still curious who the host is. So I stalk him again and eventually found out that… You are that host, Chihiro."

I sip my tea again. The sky is getting darker than before and the drizzle starts falling from the heaven. I hope we can just rest for the day. I'm sure no one will object!

"Are you alright, Chihiro? You looked terrible…" Demeter suddenly appeared at the tea's surface.

"Don't worry. I'm alright!"

"No, you don't like you're fine at all! You must drink medicine, Chihiro! Quick! What if your condition gets worsened?"

"If that happens, I will just skip the trip to museum~"

Though I said all of that, this headache is actually killing me. It keeps making me reminisce about last night with Ayumi.

"… I see… So that's the truth?" I asked her.

"Yes. I knew I should just force myself to back off and let Katsuragi do his own business, but my feelings fail me. I volunteered to be a matchmaker so I can watch you and him… I'm sorry, Chihiro."

This whole new things about Ayumi having a goddess and looked after me had made me unable to make a comeback to her words. By watching her expression and from her explanation, I could tell how deep her love for him is, maybe much deeper from mine. She even stood still, holding back her pain from watching her beloved walking with another girl. She's always that strong, that Ayumi.

I took a deep breath and sighed it out. I gathered my courage to ask, "Now that you're actually 'married' to Katsuragi and have found Mercury's cousin, what do you want me to do, Ayumi?"

"That's what I want to ask you, Chihiro."

"And that is?"

She averted her eyes down the floor, "When I found that you are a host to the goddess, I knew that the time will come when I must choose between my love or friendship. My heart was unable to bear the pain when I came to that conclusion, but I already made my choice."

"Chihiro, I want you to-"

Suddenly, the room's door was slid open to let our roommates stepped in with an unexpected guest.

"Yo, guys!"

Wearing her yukata-like nightgown and letting her unraveled hair flowing freely on her back, Yui, our eccentric drummer appeared last night. She's now still sleeping peacefully with my original roommates.

"Yui~ Are you going to sleep here?"

"Totally! Look, I brought snacks!" she lifted her hands to show us two bags of snacks.

"I'm sorry, Chihiro. The vending machine was broken."

"But no worries, Chihiro-san, Ayumi-san! Look! They gave us this oolong tea!"

From there, we were having a party. We played cards, we played truth or dare, we ate snacks, we chatted, and we did a pillow war until we were totally out of energy. That was one of my favorite nights in 17 years of living. That's how high-school girls should spend their field trip night properly! I'm glad they are my band mates too. They are really good friends!

Suddenly, someone pokes my shoulder and greets me from behind, bringing me back to my consciousness from my reverie of last night.

She's still wearing her tank top she wore last night. "Good morning, Chihiro."

"Ayumi. Hey."

"May I join?" she asked. She also is holding on a cup of tea.

"Why, of course. By any means." I answer.

"Excuse me then~" She makes her way to the sofa in front of me.

We looked at each other's eyes then sip our tea and exhaled together after we gulped it down. "Aah~ that was good!" She expressed.

Good thing we are still in a good term even after what happened last night before we slept.

"By the way, your really mean it? The thing we discussed last night?"

"Yes. Obviously," she put her tongue out while I could only let out a sigh.

Two hours later, the rain has stopped along with my headache and the sun has slowly reappeared behind the moving dark cloud, creating an optical illusion of ribbons of light. If I'm not mistaken, they call this occurence as The Tyndall Effect or something like that where the cloud works as a colloid or particles in a fine suspension and scatter the sun's light. Hmm, yeah… I kinda proud for remembering the lesson at a time like this.

Enough about the science, we are now waiting for the teacher at the parking lot again, just like yesterday. Really, what are the teachers doing actually? They make us wait again! It's tiring to just standing here!

"They really take their time, don't they?" Ayumi uttered.

"Yeah, I think they were wasted from alcohol last night…"

"Wow, Miyako. Quite a wild guess there!" I patted her shoulder. "There's no way the teachers are allowed to drink liquor in the middle of a field trip! What if something happened to the student and they aren't there to help them? Teachers should become students' role model!"

"Ummm… Chihiro-san! Miyako-san! Don't talk like that! You must have faith in your teacher!"

"No. Elly, I was just playing with Chihiro…"

"Really?"

I nodded and grinned, "Of course Elly, Pelly, Belly! Miyako plays the boke and I'm the tsukkomist!"

"You guys are good! I enjoyed watching you two," Yui placed her hand on her chest and put a smile when she commented.

"Well, we've been doing this since only god knows when. So of course we're as good as the pros!"

After minutes of chatting with my band mates, that guy finally appeared, all by himself as always, calm as always, expressionless as always. He looks so miserable, socially. It's sad to see my saviour in such state. My heart is telling me to walk towards him but when I was about to answer to my heart, Ayumi suddenly stopped me with a glare.

Her glare brought me back again to last night before we sleep. I was unable to sleep when her face popped out in front of my face.

"Chihiro, you awake?"

"Yeah. Like I can sleep when you haven't told me what you want me to do."

"Then follow me outside…"

I got up from my futon and did as Ayumi asked me to. She slowly slid the door open to prevent from waking the others who was still sleeping tight. We managed to get out of our room without waking anyone. After that, we sat down the corridor's floor and continued our last chat at the corridor, of course in soft quiet voice.

She went to the point right away, "Chihiro, how much do you like him?"

"… I love him…"

"Me too. So much that I even made him to propose to me."

"So the whole marriage thing was true?"

"Yes," she reacted. "My parents scolded me but I didn't care."

"So what do you want me to do? Asking me to stop? Just so you know, I won't. He already helped me big time and…"

"Chihiro, I've told you that I must choose between our friendship and my love to Katsuragi," she impatiently cut in.

"… I see… Then, which one do you choose?"

"I…"

Ayumi shut her eyes tightly. She was trying to hold back her tears, but they're still escaped from her lids. "I can't…! Both of them are the most valuable things in my life… Ughhh…" She sobbed.

I hugged Ayumi gently. She also replied me by clinging her arms around me. "Why does it have to be you, Chihiro? This is unfair! God is unfair!"

"I know, I know… I also never wish for this…"

Likewise, Ayumi and Katsuragi are both the most important people in my life. Ayumi is my best friend and Katsuragi is my savior, my first love. I don't want to end my friendship with Ayumi or forget about Katsuragi again after all I've been through. It's impossible to sacrifice one of them! It's impossible to choose one of them!

I don't know if Katsuragi only needs our goddesses, I don't want to think about that. I still love him, and so is Ayumi. None of us want to let him go and I think it's futile to ask that guy to pick one of us.

"What's with the fuss, guys?"

I turned my head towards the direction of where the familiar voice echoed, "Y—Yui! Did we wake you up? I'm so-"

"Nawh. I was waiting for you guys to walk out the room to eavesdrop you two."

"Y—you heard the whole thing?" I gaped. "Ayumi, what should we do?"

"No worries. Yui is also like us," she said.

Ayumi already knows about Yui. That Katsuragi is really a deuce, right? I'm sure they're suffering. It must be hard to undergo such relationship. Their wills are really formidable...

"Yui, you are fine about sharing your love with Ayumi?" I asked.

"… To be frank, I was against it at first." She spoke softly. "But then I questioned myself. How strong is my love for him? How solid is my friendship with Ayumi? Which one is more important to me? And like you guys, I came up with the same answer: BOTH. Ayumi is a 2-B Pencil's member, who is very special to me. We can't play any song if she's not around and my life without music is nothing. And Keima-kun is my hero and my very first love! My romance life and my friendship are both important to me."

"I decided to choose both and sacrifice nothing. I never seen him together with Ayumi anyway, so it's fine by me."

"W—We did meet each other after my club activity!"

"Yes. But he never shows up together. I'm fine with that."

"Wait, wait! This is starting to stray away from our original topic!" I remarked. "First off, why does he bother about dating all three of us?"

"Err… that," Ayumi looked at Yui and vice-versa. "We don't know."

There was a silent gap between us.

Yui placed her hand on her chin, "Now that you pointed that out, I never think about that before."

"Me neither…" Ayumi joined.

"Let's ask the goddess."

Katsuragi-kun is extremely furious at me after he found out that I'm telling you about the love power. You are such a meanie, Chihiro…

Well, what's in the past let it in the past. It doesn't matter anymore, Demeter.

After learning about the truth, we decided to ask that guy directly.

The three of us strolled down the corridor, heading to Katsuragi's room - I didn't know where. There were teachers patrolling around the inn at the students' sleeping hour, so we had to be extra careful back there. If we didn't fight them, they'd send us back to our room and scolded us.

We knew we ought to work together to avoid the teachers. We had Ayumi with her speed and agility, Yui with her wisdom and information about the teachers' position she learned when she walked with Elly and Miyako, then there was me with my ability to... err… Nah. Anyways, we finally arrived in front of Katsuragi's room. He told me at the garden that he was by himself at his room because no one wanted to group up with him.

Soon as we broke into his room, we found him right away. He was sitting at the similar sofa we have back at our room.

"What do you lot want?" he asked. "W—what? What are you doing? Stay away from me! Especially you!" he pointed at Yui.

"Come on, Keima-kun~ Just relax!"

"GYAA!"

We quickly stormed him and tied him on the sofa.

I glared at him, "We already found out what are you scheming, Katsurragi. Why you'd date the three of us and the thing about replenishing the goddess power!"

"Kuh…"

"Well, I actually don't have any problem about sharing, Keima-kun. But these two are pretty selfish!" Said Yui while elevating his chin with her finger.

"U—uwah! Stay away, you!"

"Y-yeah! Don't get too close with him, Yui!" Ayumi agreed with Katsuragi.

"Ugh. Just tell me what you want!" he struggled.

"You see, Katsuragi. We've had a discussion and we've agreed that…"

We looked at each other and smiled before we said, "We are fine about sharing a same love."

Although we told him such thing, he didn't react at all. He was calm and collected as usual. He didn't lose his pride or his composure.

"Really. You guys are always unpredictable…"

"Alright. Listen. "

"A harem ending is incredibly difficult to achieve. Even if you raise the affection points of each girls sufficiently prevalent, it will only result in a BAD ENDING," he lifted his head. "I don't want bad ending. I hate them."

Ayumi stared at me, I stared at Yui, and then our eyes met. "That's your problem. You must figure it out yourself."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard us!" Ayumi yelled.

"Good luck, Katsuragi!" I patted his shoulder.

"See ya tomorrow, Keima-kun!"

"Wait, guys? At least untie me! OI!"

Thus, our night ended with smiles of victory on our's, the girls, face. We walked back to our room, barely managed to get caught and then slept. I, however, was unable to sleep peacefully because there's still something odd that hadn't been finished.

"Hey, Ayumi," I whispered to Ayumi who was sleeping next to me.

"Nggh? What, Chihiro?"

"Nothing, it's just..."

"I'm not going to accept your marriage, okay? It's invalid, okay?"

Without turning her back, "Aaah, that? Of course it's valid. We already have..."

I waited for a sec, but she didn't continue. "You have what?"

"Ah. Nighty night too, Chihiro..."

"W-wait! Don't leave me like that! Ayumiiiii!"

That was the reason I couldn't sleep well last night. I am not normal if I could sleep well in such curious state. What has she done with Katsuragi? She couldn't be do 'this and that' with him, right? I'm going to ask her later! Anyways, that's the end of it. Life must go on and here we are. Glaring at each other.

"He really deserves a beating, don't you think so, Chihiro?" she smirked.

"Heh. Can't agree more!"

...

We are now sitting on the bus. In the very same seat as yesterday, which means that I'm sitting with Katsuragi again. I thought I won't be able to meet him naturally, but it turns out that there's nothing to worry about. I can act like I always been.

"Hey."

"Hey," he reacted.

"How was your night?"

"You damn real woman. Thanks to you three, there were countless mosquitos biting me and I was unable to blow them away because you tied me up!"

"Woa. You have it tough, don't you."

"You don't seem to feel sorry."

"Never intended to."

"Ugh..."

"So, which spot is itching?" I volunteered myself to help him out.

As I moved my hand towards him, he creeped out. "No, I'll scratch it my self."

"Don't be shy. I'm just taking responsibility!"

"It's fine, really!"

There, I gazed upon him all sullen and frowning; My savior, my first love. The guy who saved me from the depth of darkness. The guy whom I shared affection to with Ayumi and Yui, my best friends and band mates. Even after all we've been through to get this guy, we still can't stop loving him. We just can't, neither we can sacrifice our friendship. I once heard a quote that someone who choose love over friendship are trash. Love might hurt you, but best friends will always stand by you in any situation you are in. This is the best resolution for our problem, no doubt about it!

Of all people, we fell for this guy I always mock and insult. It seems you that don't need a reason to love someone. Even if that someone is this strange of a guy, it won't disappear. In my heart, it will still remain pure along with the memory of my first love.

... Hmm that was a good rhyme...

"What are you grinning about?"

"I think I'm going to write a song!"

I swoop my pencil and notebook from my bag and begin pouring everything that's in my mind.

Swallowed up by the changing days,
I didn't think that I would be in love.
It seems you don't need a reason to like someone.
I fell in love.

The moment and feeling that will never come twice.
Even if they disappear,
In my heart, it will still remain pure along with

The memory of my first love.

THE END

A/N: Finally it's finished. Thank you for supporting me until the end of this fan fiction. Without them, I can never finish this story. I'm sorry if I always write it in my bloody mud English. You guys can see how much effort Organization Number 15 had to make to turn this fan fiction better. Really, no one's gonna read this story if it wasn't for him. I'm sorry for creating such OOC ending. No one desires a harem ending here, right? It was an amazing ride. I learned so much by writing this fan fiction. English literature, grammars, Japanese culture, etc. I'm glad I wrote this fic!

Anyways, my time is running out. If I don't finish it now, I won't finish this story and I don't wish for that.

By the way, boke and tsukkomist are... Well, you should know that.

Again. Thank you for reading until the last chapter. I also would like to specially mention my beta reader and my friend Organization Number 15. Best wishes to all of you, guys. Don't forget to buy TWGOK manga book when they are sold at your bookstore to support the author!

P.S: If you have time, please read my friend's TWGOK fan fiction too. His pen name is Aaron Jaeger, he wrote a KanonxKeima fic. I recommend it because it was good. Especially if you enjoy fluff.