Author POV:
For as long as anyone could remember, Yoshiko Hanabatake was known as the idiot. The banana girl. The walking disaster.
She made people laugh. She made people cry, usually out of confusion. And she never seemed to care what anyone thought of her. She just lived. Loudly, foolishly, and without shame.
But that all changed the day she stopped laughing.
It began one afternoon, on a rainy day no one remembered until much later. Yoshiko had followed Akuru as usual, pestering him with absurd ideas — marriage, monkey language school, a banana shrine in his honor.
But Akuru didn't smile. He didn't yell. He just said, softly:
"You're exhausting. I wish you'd grow up."
That wasn't new. But this time, it hit differently.
Because that was the day she saw him, standing next to Sayaka.
And he was smiling. After that;
Two weeks passed. Yoshiko stopped showing up at school.
No one believed it at first. They expected her to come crashing through the windows any day now, riding a goat or throwing candy. But the days stayed quiet.
Then her mother told Sayaka the truth.
Yoshiko had gone to the hospital.
Diagnosis: An undetected neurological condition — one that had impaired her cognitive reasoning for years. It wasn't full-blown mental disability, but it explained her erratic behavior and poor memory retention. Doctors had started a treatment plan, and it was working.
Yoshiko was getting smarter.
But with clarity came consequences.
Yoshiko sat in her room, silent, flipping through her old notebooks.
Doodles of bananas. Plans to kidnap Akuru. Notes like "Smile = marriage?"
She felt... ashamed. She felt dumb. She felt NUMB.
The memories came back in fragments. Her pranks. The humiliation. Akuru's coldness. Sayaka's pitying glances. The way the world had laughed at her, not with her.
She realized she had loved Akuru in her way — a simple, childish kind of love. But while she chased him with foolish devotion, he had been falling for someone else all along.
Sayaka.
Gentle, mature, kind.
Everything she was not. One afternoon, Yoshiko asked Akuru to meet her at the park, where they used to play as kids.
She was different now. Calm. Her words were careful. Her eyes are clear.
"A-kun," she said, "I know you've always hated how dumb I was. I don't blame you. But I think... I loved you."
He said nothing for a while.
Then:
"Yoshiko... I never hated you. But I couldn't love someone who didn't understand me."
And he added, without cruelty:
"Sayaka and I are together now."
It was the truth. Honest. Simple.
It shattered her FRAGILE HEART..
After that day, Yoshiko disappeared again — not physically, but emotionally. She went to school, studied, spoke politely. She was praised. The teachers were shocked by her improvement.
But the joy was gone.
Sayaka tried to reach out, but the friendship was no longer the same. Yoshiko NEVER SMILED much now. Nodded easily BUT WITH POLITENESS.
Even her banana obsession faded. Her mother cried once, finding a whole bunch left untouched on the kitchen table.
The girl who once screamed about marrying fruit now barely touches dessert.
She wasn't "Aho Girl" anymore.
Just Yoshiko. AND A STRANGER TO ALL, EVEN HER MOTHER.
One evening, Yoshiko sat under the old sakura tree by the school.
She thought of everything she'd lost.
And then, Sayaka sat beside her.
"You were never broken, Yoshiko. Just... different."
Yoshiko chuckled, a real one.
"Different enough to lose everything."
But Sayaka shook her head.
"You gave us all color. You gave A-kun laughter when he had none. And me... courage."
They sat there for hours, under the falling petals.
No forgiveness was needed. Just understanding.
Yoshiko had changed. Everyone could see it.
She no longer burst into classrooms yelling about bananas. She no longer stalked Akuru down the hallway screaming, "A-kun, marry me~!"
She was quiet now. Focused. Kind. Still a little strange — but in an endearing way.
Akuru noticed.
At first, it was unsettling. The silence where chaos used to live. His mornings were peaceful, but... dull.
She no longer showed up at his door. No longer dragged him to rooftops to name clouds or run away from imaginary banana thieves. He thought he'd be relieved.
But every time he passed her in the hallway, politely bowing, offering a soft smile, something tugged at him.
It was like... losing something you didn't know you needed until it was gone.
Sayaka had always been the calm one. The kind one. The sensible one.
She and Akuru made sense on paper — both mature, both grounded. Everyone said they were perfect together.
But perfection is cold when there's no fire beneath it.
She felt it in the way Akuru drifted into his thoughts when she spoke. The way he stopped holding her hand when they walked home. The way his eyes lingered just a little too long when Yoshiko laughed with the neighborhood kids.
Sayaka didn't say anything.
She just smiled, like she always had.
But inside, she wondered... Was she just the safe choice?
And when Akuru looked at her, did he see her?
Or the absence of someone else?
Sayaka was happiest when Akkun said they would both date, but soon Yosiko's changes in behaviour affected their relationship.
One afternoon, Sayaka asked him directly.
"Do you love me?"
Akuru hesitated.
Just for a second.
"...Yes," he said.
But Sayaka saw it — the pause. The doubt.
So she smiled again, gently.
"Then why do you keep watching her when she's not looking?"
Akuru said nothing.
Graduation came.
Yoshiko, dressed neatly, stood at the back of the class. She didn't try to steal the mic. She didn't scream. She just watched — eyes gentle, hands folded.
Akuru and Sayaka stood together. Yoshiko clapped for them with the rest of the crowd.
Then, quietly, she walked away.
FROM THAT DAY, NO ONE KNOWS WHERE YOSHIKO WENT...
Suddenly, they all became adults.
Now all of them are in college.
Akkun had always been exasperated by Yoshiko's wild antics and cluelessness. But lately, something was different—Yoshiko had changed. She was no longer the chaotic, silly girl who caused trouble everywhere; she had become calm, thoughtful, and surprisingly normal. This transformation caught Akkun off guard.
As Yoshiko grew more mature, Akkun found himself drawn to her in a way he never expected. Her new demeanor revealed a side of her he had never seen before, and slowly, his feelings deepened into something like love.
Sayaka, who had quietly cherished Akkun from afar, watched this change with a heavy heart. She had hoped to be the one Akkun noticed, but now she saw him smiling at Yoshiko's newfound normalcy, laughing with her, and sharing moments that once belonged only to her and Akkun.
The more Akkun's affection for Yoshiko grew, the more Sayaka felt her love break quietly inside. She realized that the bond she dreamed of was slipping away, replaced by a new connection she couldn't compete with. Sayaka noticed the change. The study sessions she once shared with Akkun grew shorter. He smiled at his phone, texting someone she knew wasn't her.
One afternoon, Sayaka gathered her courage and asked Akkun if something was wrong. He hesitated, then admitted, "I think I like being around her. She's...different. I don't have to be on guard all the time." His words were honest, but they stung.
Sayaka smiled, hiding her heartbreak. "I'm glad you found someone who makes you happy," she said, her voice trembling. She knew Akkun had always needed someone to balance his seriousness, but she'd hoped that person could be her.
As Akkun walked away, Sayaka realized that sometimes, even the strongest friendships and budding loves can't compete with the unexpected. She watched him go, wishing him happiness, while quietly promising herself to find her own
In the end, Sayaka chose to step back, wishing Akkun happiness with the changed Yoshiko, even as she mourned the love that could no longer be. Meanwhile, Yoshiko, now a different girl altogether, and Akkun began a new chapter—one born from unexpected growth and shifting hearts.
Guys... stay tuned... I am bringing this story to an end.
Author pov: Even I feel sad about Sayaka, but Yoshiko is my heroine.