Jun Kitamura was a taller guy with neatly parted black hair and a high academic esteem that endeared himself to the school faculty and student body alike. Ever since he joined the ranks of the popular students, he experienced success in every field you could imagine.

Unfortunately, I didn’t really care about any of that. I could appreciate why other students liked him, but popularity, at least as far as my research was concerned, didn’t really factor in to answering that all-important question.

“Hey, Fumiko. I take it that our date went well. Interested in progressing to phase two, or is there more you need to see before you can make an informed decision,” he said, gesturing to himself by waving his hands towards his figure.

He was obviously waiting for a response. Any response, really. He was trying his best not to hyperventilate. Even if we only spent a few days together, I knew when he was struggling to breathe properly.

Oh, Jun. Even with your insincere demeanor, you’re going to make this really hard for me. I sense that you’re a decent guy at heart, but there’s nothing more either of us have to gain from a romantic relationship.

“Oh, Jun, how do I say this,” I began. “We had fun together, but that date was never meant to lead to anything romantic. I told you at the beginning, I always give everyone a date before I come to any judgments.”

“But all that time we spent together afterward. You said you needed new romantic experiences.”

“And I really appreciated your help with my romantic research. Plus, I thought we became good friends. Didn’t you?”

The rising chatter from the crowd around him made Kitamura recoil and hide his face as he fled the scene. I received that ever so judgmental look from the surrounding students as he ran.

I shrugged as I tried walking away from the spot where so much tension built up and twisted up my insides. But they never see any of those uncomfortable sensations. They only see the icy-blue eyes and unyielding robotic pace of my footsteps.

The Blue-Eyed Terminator of Romance strikes again, huh?

I continued forward, trying to ignore the gaze of the dozens of pairs of eyes that converged on my back. But there was another person like me that stood in my way.

My eyes were met with an equally unyielding gaze from sharp glaring light brown eyes. The infamous Tyrant Prince met my obstructing body with a grunt between his bared teeth.

It was unmistakable now. At first, I saw his harsh gaze as a rejection, but behind it all, I could see a similar weariness of romantic relationships.

My prolonged eye contact must’ve stirred something within him, as he lifted his nose at me as he walked away, his hands dipped into his pants pockets.

I was prepared to give up my personal mission, but perhaps there was an emotional angle of romance I’ve discounted.

                                                                                      ***

I recounted a rumor spread at the beginning of the semester. There was a freshman last year that always stood at the precipice of failing his classes, occasionally being absent from school.

He had a school-renowned temper that drew more negative attention than it was worth. But a new urban legend soon supplanted it.

It was said this same freshman joined the school’s varsity basketball team. Soon the infamous temper that terrorized the student body now terrorized the opposing team’s basketball team. No one wanted to stand in the freshman’s way when he drove to the basket.

And after another rumored fight in the locker room, the freshman was suspended and ousted from the team. This was the school’s legend of the Tyrant Prince, who’s remained out of the school’s judgmental eye ever since he was suspended.

As my mind’s eye visualized this school legend, another Experience Journal was born. I scrawled madly into the lines of the journal’s pages, all the while wearing my most comfortable monster hoodie over my face, and while writing from the comfort of my own room.

Kenta Yamamoto didn’t realize it yet, but he’d be the final boy to help me find the meaning of the Universal Definition of Love.