A man sat on the plush couch in his flat, his hands clasped together in his lap as his hands shakes with nervous energy. He mutters quietly to himself.
"Atsuko is going to be here soon… or at least, she should be here any second."
He sits, nervous, sweaty, and afraid. This is not a feeling he likes to experience. All he's ever been was confident, all he's ever really wanted to be, is a famous and successful artist, a person people respect and look up to. But, he's been in love before, and it's always been the same. Every time he meets someone new, he's either too scared to express his feelings, or he gets too nervous and does a complete 180, often times pushing his crushes away.
He's ready for this time to be different, though. He's going to confess to someone special today. Someone who has the same love of anime that he does. Someone he has a lot in common with, in fact. He broke down the door to their internet forum, and sent them away, banning them from all of their threads. He's been waiting for them to message him back. He even left a very sincere, very direct hint to the person that, when he saw the message, was unmistakable to the person he was talking about.
"I love this anime. I have watched it all the way through multiple times," said the post, "Honki Delight, it's called! I can't spill ice cream on you, a girl was running over, and it went all over the place."
The person had been smiling widely when they saw this message. This is because, they sent the email directly to Atsuko. Now he has someone special to confess his love to, and he awaits her arrival. He sits there, waiting, smiling that beautiful smile and feeling his heart beat so fast.
"I'll never forget you, Atsuko. I love you," says the email, "and I want to see you one last time."
He remembers how they spoke, how they laughed, how they were able to be friends and he despite never meeting her in the real world.
"I feel so dead inside without you here," said the email, "I feel like my soul has been torn from my body and has been left suffocating in the pleasure of your absence."
He remembers them, glancing out the window at his messy room, trying to do his schoolwork as fast as he could. They had taught him how to do it well. They taught him how to handle stress and how to keep his calm. They taught him how to get on with his day, instead of about how he feels. They taught him how to live a life of his own, instead of letting other people tell him what to do and what to be.
"I need you. I don't even care if it's dangerous, I could never let you go. I want to follow you, wherever you go," said the email, "stay at my house, or at yours, or even go with you. I want to go with you to forget about yourself, if you want to forget. I want us to remember each other."
He remembers how calm, cool, and collected Atsuko was, how she helped them learn to be the same, how to slow down and enjoy life and how to be happy.
"I'm going crazy. I'm going to end up killing myself. Nothing is making me happy without you."
He is a person who is in love. He has always been in love, and this person he is in love with has a name. They call her Atsuko.
They call her their everything.
"I want to see you just one more time. My soul knows you exist and is begging me to find you. Will you please come with me? Will you be my friend again?"
He remembers how Atsuko read them a book, and how much it made her happy. He remembers how much it hurt seeing her pain, but he did his best to comfort her.
"I love you. I love being with you. I love being your friend. Wanting to be with you is like my life, it's all I want. I can't do this without you. I can't go on. How do you find someone like you?"
He remembers how Atsuko used to get irritated by their clumsiness, but she never stopped helping them.