Sotoba was a small village, it was in the middle of three large mountains like a triangle. Completely surrounded by fir trees.

"No more! That is it! What is wrong with these people?" Megumi Shimizu always felt she was a misfit in the very village she was born in. It didn't help that the village elders laughed at her clothing choices either. Her only real friend, Kaori Tanaka, to her, was nothing more than a pity friend. Just moments earlier, Kaori brought up gossip about three deaths in the same area of Sotoba, at the same time, which irritated Megumi, as it wasn't anything absolutely new. She completely lost her temper when Kaori's little brother, Akira brought up that they made the paper.
Megumi was running to no place in particular, until she turned her head to see a certain, violet-haired boy waiting for the bus, while staring off towards the City.
"Yuuki..."

Megumi always wrote as if she was his close friend, even though he made it clear that he hated her. It wasn't because she developed a crush on him without even knowing anything about him. It was that he had seen her hiding in the bushes outside his bedroom window a few times, clearly stalking him and still expecting him to return her feelings for him. It was because of Megumi, that Natsuno had to keep his window closed when studying. It was annoying because at night the air was nice and cool, why did he have to suffer because of someone else's selfish desires.

A love-sick puppy, that was what Natsuno described Megumi as, to him she was someone who held onto her feelings and being very sure that he would one day he would return them. Natsuno had never given her any reason to believe that, none whatsoever.

Everyone in Sotoba village was like that, along with all the gossip over anything that was considered uncommon, the villagers liked to assign roles to each other and expecting them to obediently follow them in order to fit in. Natsuno had pretty much had enough of this village, what were his parents thinking when they believed that moving away from the city would be better for him. Who are they to decide what was best for him.

This village was nothing but a prison to Natsuno. As soon as he graduated, Natsuno was determined to go back to the city and study in a college.

The next morning, Natsuno stood by the bus stop, it would be a while before the bus came. It was very hot today, not the nice hot weather people travelled abroad to sunbathe in. Sotoba always had hot humid weather, it was stuffy and made it hard to breathe. He stood there staring at the scenery, listening to the cicada. Down the highway, behind the mountain was the city. Natsuno would occasionally have dreams about running down this same highway, he could see the tall buildings in the horizon but no matter how far he ran he could never reach that place.

"Good morning, Yuuki."

It was her again, Megumi who always said the same thing every morning on a school day. As usual Natsuno ignored Megumi, he knew exactly what she was going to say next.

"Staring off towards the city, huh? Are you feeling homesick?"

"Not her again."

Natsuno could see her shadow on the road, she was leaning towards him waiting for a response but still he ignored her hoping that she would get the message this time.

"I guess you're still ignoring me, who can blame you. I mean, why talk to someone that you hate, right?"

There it was again, Megumi trying to make him feel guilty. It was as if Natsuno was wrong for hating her, but who can blame him. Megumi never left him alone. Megumi fully knew that Natsuno was aware of her stalking him, she just pretended she didn't. He had spotted her watching him in the bushes and she would quickly hide believing that he couldn't see her.

There was a pause, before Megumi said something again.

"So no sign of the bus, yet?"

Megumi was still trying to get him to talk, but eventually she stayed quiet. Just when Natsuno thought she had finished she spoke again but this time more quietly.

"I can't wait to leave this village."

This surprised him, as Megumi had never said this before, and there was a slight sad tone in her voice as if she was sick and tired of something. Natsuno turned to look to see if she was upset. Megumi turned her eyes on him, she gasped then immediately smiled at him. Natsuno quickly turned his head back.

"Oh no, I'm in deep crap now."

He turned his head again, to find her blushing. After he turned back around, Megumi decided to do something she never did before.

"Yuu...Natsuno..."

The very mention of his first name caught his attention.

"That's a nice name...Natsuno."

"Stop that."

This was the first time Natsuno had ever said anything to her, albeit slightly rude. He didn't know why he said something this time, but he did know it was already too late to take it back.

"What?" Megumi responded. "Calling me by my first name."
After that, brief silence.

"Well, I know Tohru calls you by that."

"I don't want him to..."

"Oh...I see."