On Having a Crush on Kise

Blurb: In middle school, Akamori Akane was on the fringes of social life. Even her name was rarely mentioned. In sharp contrast was her classmate Kise Ryota. He loved socializing, was popular with everyone, and had even made a name for himself as a model. Their only face-to-face interaction came at graduation. The girl personally handed him a brand-new yearbook and asked him to fill it out. Though they had been classmates for three years, Kise Ryota had never paid much attention to Akamori Akane. All he knew about her was that "she's one of the top students in class, always coming in first, I think." Still, he accepted the yearbook readily and wrote a message in the comments section: "Wishing you success in your studies, Akamori-san. I hope you'll keep coming in first." * That afternoon, in the classroom with no one else left, Akamori Akane gazed at the page before her, rubbing its edge with her fingertips, lost in thought. No one knew what the name in the name section meant to her. * "First love is a wordless affection, a delicate and hesitant heart." - First Love *Happy ending / unrequited love *Blurb written on March 27, 2022, revised on December 14, 2023 *I think it starts in high school (?), with flashbacks woven in Theme: .