Confession!

Natsume Chikage's gaze passed through the falling cherry blossom petals and settled on the girl waiting quietly beneath the century-old cherry tree.

Pink petals danced lightly in the spring breeze, like a silent drizzle.

Several petals rested softly on Tsukishima Rin's long black hair and slender shoulders.

The beauty mark beneath her left eye was like the final stroke carefully placed by an artist, lending even more delicate charm to her already gentle, intelligent face.

Noticing Natsume Chikage approaching, a faint blush instantly spread across Tsukishima Rin's fair cheeks. Her clear eyes held an unmistakable shyness mixed with a trace of barely perceptible unease.

Her slender fingers unconsciously twisted the hem of her simple, elegant dress, betraying the tension and turmoil within her.

"...Are you Miss Tsukishima Rin?"

Natsume Chikage had no idea what the person who wrote the love letter looked like, so he could only politely confirm her identity.

He certainly did not want the awkwardness of mistaking someone else for her.

"Y-Yes... that's me." Tsukishima Rin lowered her head slightly, her voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz, the tips of her ears flushed red.

But then she thought about it. Since she had been the one to deliver the love letter, she should be the one to speak first, no matter what.

Tsukishima Rin nervously clenched the corner of her dress. After taking a deep breath, she slowly raised her head and bravely met Natsume Chikage's gaze.

Yet the instant their eyes truly met, her heartbeat suddenly spun out of control, pounding violently inside her chest.

That feeling of losing control instantly reminded her of the moment yesterday that had changed everything.

It had been the morning of the first day of school.

Groups of students walked along Cherry Blossom Avenue, heading straight toward the depths of the campus.

The orchestra's rehearsal room happened to be on the first floor of Building B, on the right side of the road.

To prepare for Friday's grand opening ceremony, even on the first day of school, the orchestra members had to arrive early to rehearse the music for the ceremony.

That was why she had arrived at school earlier than most.

Tsukishima Rin's heart had been a source of hidden concern since childhood.

She suffered from an irregular heartbeat, with her pulse often hovering around sixty beats per minute, far below normal.

Strenuous exercise and intense emotional fluctuations had both been strictly forbidden by her doctors, since they could easily trigger dizziness and suffocating difficulty breathing.

Over time, she grew used to suppressing her emotions and actions. Only the melodies that flowed from her fingertips through the violin could ease that deeply buried loneliness a little.

But the cost of that suppression was enormous—when it came to most things, it was as though a pane of glass stood between her and the world, leaving her unable to feel intense joy or sorrow.

Even after years of treatment, her heart condition had long since improved.

Yet even when a roller coaster raced to its peak, when she entered a haunted house and faced its scares, or when she stood alone at center stage beneath the spotlight, enduring the gaze of hundreds or thousands in the audience... her heartbeat remained as calm as a windless lake.

She felt like a cold machine, lacking any real sense of being alive.

Only music was the one emotional outlet she was permitted to have.

When she played the violin, the surging passion, sorrow, and ecstasy she could not feel through her body could be expressed through its strings.

The reason her performances could move people so deeply was precisely because she poured all the passion for life she could not experience in reality into her music.

She had thought she would live forever in that vacuum of emotion.

She had believed such days would last forever.

Until yesterday.

During a break in rehearsal, she had absentmindedly looked out the window.

At that very moment, she saw Natsume Chikage walking along the cherry blossom path.

It was as though a bolt of thunder had torn through a silent night sky, as though an electric current had shot through every part of her body—the heart that had not truly stirred in years suddenly began beating wildly, vibrantly, inside her chest!

That electric sensation still faintly trembled within her, impossible to shake away.

In that instant, for the first time, she truly felt alive.

Now, as she faced Natsume Chikage directly, that feeling became stronger than ever before!

Feeling her heart pound fiercely in her chest, Tsukishima Rin took a deep breath. Her previously wavering gaze turned resolute.

Gathering all the courage of her life, she made her confession in a solemn voice that trembled slightly but remained clear:

"Um... Natsume-kun, from the first moment I saw you yesterday, I fell deeply in love with you!"

"P-Please, go out with me!"

After finishing her confession, her heart still raced wildly. It was a vivid sensation unlike anything she had experienced in her seventeen years of life.

This dizzying flutter in her heart made her utterly certain—Natsume Chikage was the person fate had chosen for her.

She lifted her slightly flushed face. Shyness and incomparably fervent anticipation mingled in her eyes as she fixed them tightly on Natsume Chikage's, waiting for his reply.

Natsume Chikage was not oblivious; he had a clear understanding of his own appearance.

Ever since childhood, quite a few girls had confessed to him, and their reasons often came down to "love at first sight."

However, when it came to relationships, he had always remained cautious and serious.

He had never believed that a fleeting, breathtaking glance could sustain a lifelong bond.

Compared to the elusive notion of love at first sight, he preferred understanding that grew gradually over time, feelings that developed naturally, and the profound bond of truly knowing one another.

What was more...

At present, he bore the heavy burden of drastic changes in his family. Too many urgent matters weighed on his shoulders, and he simply had no spare energy or time to cultivate a relationship that required such investment.

But—a confession this solemn deserved an equally solemn response.

Natsume Chikage drew a slight breath. With an incomparably serious expression and sincere regret in his eyes, he looked at Tsukishima Rin.

"I'm sorry, but I can't return your feelings."

The hopeful light in Tsukishima Rin's eyes abruptly froze, then quickly dimmed.

She stood rooted to the spot as the color gradually drained from her face, leaving it pale as paper. Her voice trembled with disbelief.

"W-Why...? I heard... you didn't have a girlfriend..."

Natsume Chikage gently shook his head.

"I don't."

Tsukishima Rin knew very well that her family background, academic performance, and appearance were all considered outstanding among girls.

Yet after being rejected so directly, intense self-doubt instantly seized her. Could it be that, in his eyes, she was truly that lacking in appeal?

Her eyes quickly reddened as glistening tears welled up uncontrollably, trembling at the corners of her eyes. Her voice was thick with tears and grievance.

"Then... is there something about me... that isn't to your liking? Or is there something about me... that you find unacceptable?"

Natsume Chikage's gaze remained calm and candid. He shook his head again, his tone even.

"No. You're very beautiful, and you have an exceptional presence."

"Among all the girls I've met, very few could compare to you."

"The reason I'm refusing has nothing to do with you. It's purely because of my own circumstances."

Tsukishima Rin's sorrowful expression seemed to ease slightly at his affirmation, but her voice still carried a stubborn confusion.

"Then... why exactly...? Could you... tell me the reason?"

Natsume Chikage looked directly into her eyes and explained seriously.

"My family has recently gone through a major upheaval. There are many things I need to face and deal with."

"As I am now, I truly have no way to set aside the time and attention needed to devote myself to a romantic relationship."

"So... I'm really sorry."

His explanation was clear and sincere.

But at that moment, no rational words could pierce Tsukishima Rin's despair. Instinctively, she believed this might merely be an excuse he was using to comfort her.

To her, this rejection was no different from utterly destroying the vivid world she had only just touched.

What came from her chest was no longer the delightful flutter of her heart, but an agonizing pain as though she were being torn apart alive—so painful that she could barely breathe.

So a heart really could hurt.

This feeling, which she had only read about in literature yet never understood, now swept over her with such reality, such cruelty.

The tears she had held back finally burst through, rolling down her pale cheeks in large drops like pearls from a broken string.

She choked out between sobs, unable to form a coherent sentence.

"I'm sorry... I... disturbed you... sob..."

The girls who had been hiding nearby to cheer her on immediately realized what had happened and hurried over in a cluster.

One of them could not help shooting Natsume Chikage a fierce glare, her eyes filled with indignation.

Then, together with her companions, she carefully supported the still-sobbing Tsukishima Rin, who could barely remain standing. They comforted her softly and led her away from beneath the cherry blossom tree, a place once filled with anticipation and now immeasurable sorrow.

Natsume Chikage silently watched their retreating figures, a helpless sigh stirring in his heart.

Only after they vanished from sight did he slowly raise his head and look at the lush, blossom-strewn Confession Cherry Blossom Tree overhead. His expression suddenly became somewhat subtle and strange.

[Confession Cherry Blossom Tree]

[Quality: Blue]

[Effect: Confession success rate -20%; after a successful confession, the chance of growing old together increases by 20%!]

[Description: Beneath the cherry blossom tree—that was my youth, now gone...]

[Synthesis Requirement: At least three pieces of equipment of the same type are required!]

"My rejection of Tsukishima Rin was entirely my own decision, right? It shouldn't have had anything to do with this tree's effect... right?"