A beautiful woman who is outwardly warm but inwardly cold and avoidant x a purehearted, clear-eyed, youthful girl
Sasaki Rio had the kind of beauty everyone adored.
Bright and sweet, with dimples when she smiled, she had never lacked admirers.
She dated on a whim and broke up without a fuss, taking all the little troubles of love as lightly as dust.
Gentleness was her mask; indifference was her nature.
As a sociology student accustomed to deconstructing everything, she floated apart from everyone else's enthusiasm, never falling in love, never growing attached.
Until her boyfriend suddenly betrayed her, saying he had fallen for someone else.
The special girl he spoke of was Asakura Juri, a famous student in the science department.
Short-haired, bare-faced, and unadorned, she spent her time among physics equations and on the soccer field.
She was the complete opposite of Rio, who was gentle and beautiful, surrounded by admirers.
With resentment and confusion, Rio deliberately drew closer and watched her coolly.
She had meant to deconstruct this absurd change of heart, to dissect the so-called "charm" the other girl possessed.
But day after day, she gradually lost control.
She saw her honesty and purity, saw her tenderness and sensitivity.
She saw the moments when she looked up and blinked, bewildered and at a loss, and the place in Rio's heart that had lain barren for years collapsed with a roar.
All her life, Rio had drifted with the current, never clinging to anything and brushing off everyone's affection.
But after meeting Asakura Juri, for the first time she felt the urge to keep someone by her side.
Everyone else thought this was just a passing novelty, a casual fling.
Only Rio herself knew:
This encounter, which began as a test, had already become the one and only time her heart had ever fluttered.
"The first time I met you, my heart fluttered so much."
The first time I saw you, my heart fluttered like this.
Theme: Break free from a life of indifference and drifting with the current. In a sincere, intimate relationship, shed detachment and arrogance, learn to see the individual, accept genuine affection, and bravely pursue the one person you love, finding redemption and growing along the way.
