3. About the past

Ding dong ding dong~

Ding dong ding dong~

Dong~ dong~ dong~ dong~

The clock tower from the nearby church rang to signal the end of most afternoon classes.

Narcis and Taro exited from the building that held the math and science classes while Sarcy and Lisa exited from the building that held the literary classes. The boys strolled to the library that was nearly in the center of their university campus. Because the girls arrived at the library first due to being closer to the library, they worked on the easiest part of their homework while waiting for the boys to arrive. When they met up, they packed their bags and started walking to the bus stop.

After walking a minute in silence to gather his thoughts, Narcis began recounting the past to Lisa and Taro.

(-_-) ...Basically, in high school I was a playboy.

(1.1)* Aren't you still a playboy?

(l o l)! What?! No! Not anymore! This is my dark high school history, so you guys can't tell anyone.

(1w1)* We're gals, so can we tell anyone?

(1n1) Lisa!

(1~1)* I know, I know! Sheesh, just trying to lighten the mood.

(>~<) Forget it. Sarcy, please tell them instead. It's too embarrassing!

(1o1) If you so insist. Back in high school, Narcis was a person who thought it was okay to get involved in women's problems and help them become better people.

(lo l)P Isn't that a good thing?

(1o1) But he "fell in love" with those women and confessed to them. He tried to help them to escape from toxic and abusive relationships and become more confident and successful, but he didn't realize that he was a toxic person himself. As soon as they became sufficiently independent, his "feelings" waned and he broke up with them in order to stay true to his heart. Fortunately, most of those women were independent enough to keep going, but they still felt a blow to their confidence. They started to notice that he misunderstood his feelings of pity and sympathy for that of love. Even if he really did love them as their confident and independent selves, he was too involved in the process that he didn't know what to do for their relationship later. This was the general idea.

(lo l)P What exactly made him a toxic person?

(1o1) He thought he was still a good person, and everyone else besides the victims thought so too. They blamed the victims for being clingy, desperate, or too cold. He didn't do anything about the female shaming either.

(l v l) Then I met Sarcy. She was not interested in romance, so I thought she would be cuter if I taught it to her. Thus I confessed and was rejected in the most unusual way.

(1.1) Unfortunately, I messed up.

(lo l)P How did you mess up?

(1.1) He saw through my intricate facade.

(*lol) Your acting is just terrible! Even if I pretended to believe you, you had a slip of tongue.

(1o1) Oh yeah. It was the slip of tongue.

(*l^l) Your acting too!

(1.1) My acting was fine.

(l ~l) Hah... I give up. Anyways, I didn't give up that time. Even though I lost the earlier feeling of interest and what I know now is the feeling of sympathy, I felt a new emotion.

(1.1) It was anger.

(1o1)* (l o l)P Woah, plot twist!

(lo l)! Wait no! Why would you believe that!? I had an adrenaline rush because she was a challenge. One that I had never experienced.

(l ol)P Dude, that is kinda scummy.

(1o1)* Yeah, disgusting scum.

(1.1) ... I can't defend the "you" of that time.

(l . l) Yeah, I can't defend the "me" of that time either.

(l o l) So anyways, I tried confessing over and over again, got rejected over and over again, and then eventually Sarcy was starting to get harrassed. My friends back then heard about the way she rejected me and thought it was excessively cruel. The new female students joined in on harassing her. They said that I was a good person, and if she was going to reject me, she should not have played with my feelings. To be honest though, I have been rejected many times. I just never broke up with them so fast, and I am usually the one who ends the relationship after it started.

...

Eventually, she finally gave me a chance on the condition that I reflect on my behavior and how it was wrong. She told me how unhealthy my relationships were. My relationships were based on pity and changing one person for the better, but not growing alongside them. She told me that the real reason she rejected me wasn't because I lost my virginity, but because healthy relationships are "give and receive" and vice versa. It is important to not focus on changing a person even if it is for the better, but to work on improving together. There will be times that one will give more, but there also should be a time when one should receive.