There Will Always Be a Place for You in My Heart

Wave after wave rolled onto the shore, then receded.

Barefoot, Imaizumi Keita felt the soft sand beneath his feet grow firmer as it was soaked by seawater while he walked toward the shallow area.

“Imaizumi! — Over here, over here!”

Yanami Anna stood in knee-deep water, holding up an orange water gun high above her head, her face lit up with an unreserved, radiant smile.

Beside her, Shio Lemon cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone and shouted energetically, “Ima-chan! Hurry up! If you don’t come soon, Anna’s going to charge at you with the water gun!”

Watching them—especially the undisguised excitement in Yanami’s eyes as she looked at him—Imaizumi Keita couldn’t help but show a hint of helplessness.

This girl… she’d been sneaking glances this way the whole time, hadn’t she?

And the way she visibly relaxed the moment she saw him separate from Komari—she didn’t even try to hide it.

As soon as he approached, Shio Lemon couldn’t hold back any longer and smacked the beach ball toward him.

“Ima-chan! Catch!”

Her voice was full of the lively energy unique to an athletic girl.

Imaizumi Keita reacted quickly. His body instinctively shifted to the side as he extended his hands and caught the ball steadily against his chest.

“Oh—! Nice catch!”

Shio Lemon whistled, praising him without hesitation.

Holding the ball, Imaizumi Keita let his gaze pass over Shio and land on Yanami Anna, who was looking at him expectantly.

He smiled slightly and flicked his wrist, sending the soft beach ball toward her with just the right amount of force.

It was a perfectly normal interaction—an invitation to keep the game going.

However, he had clearly overestimated his “fake girlfriend’s” athletic ability.

“Huh?”

Seeing the ball flying toward her, Yanami Anna’s brain seemed to freeze for half a second.

She instinctively reached out to catch it, but her reaction was just a bit too slow.

Thump.

The beach ball hit her squarely on the cheek.

It didn’t hurt, but the soft impact and suddenness made her stumble slightly backward, and the water gun in her hand dropped into the water with a splash.

She stood there blankly, blinking, looking completely dazed and clueless.

“Pfft… hahahahahaha!”

Shio Lemon burst into merciless laughter.

“Anna! You’re seriously hopeless! Hahaha! How do you even get hit in the face like that!”

She laughed so hard she bent over, clutching her stomach, even slapping the water dramatically and splashing it everywhere.

Only then did Yanami Anna realize just how embarrassing that moment had been.

Heat rushed to her head, and her face turned bright red at a visible speed.

“S-so annoying!”

She tried to retort, but looking at Shio laughing uncontrollably, she didn’t even know where to begin.

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop laughing.”

Shio Lemon finally managed to calm down. She bent over to pick up the water gun, shoved the beach ball back into Yanami’s hands, then waved casually.

“Anna, I’m going to play with the president and the others! You two take your time!”

With that, she turned around and ran toward Tamaki Shintaro and Tsukinoki Koto, who were in the middle of a water gun battle.

As Shio Lemon left, only Imaizumi Keita and Yanami Anna remained in the shallow water.

The sea breeze brushed past, lifting the damp strands of hair on Yanami’s forehead.

She stood there blankly for a few seconds before finally regaining her composure.

Lowering her head, she looked at the beach ball in her hands, then raised her eyes toward the man standing not far away, smiling at her.

Yanami Anna puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction and threw the ball back at him with force.

“Hey! Imaizumi!”

Her voice carried obvious complaint—and a trace of grievance she hadn’t even realized herself.

“It’s all your fault! Why did you suddenly pass the ball to me?!”

Imaizumi Keita caught the ball easily, finding her puffed-up expression somewhat amusing.

“I just wanted you to join in and have fun too.”

“Who wants to play with you?!”

Yanami retorted stubbornly, but quickly shifted to what was really bothering her.

“More importantly, you were standing so close to Komari just now—what were you even talking about?”

With her hands on her hips, she looked like she was interrogating him, her clear eyes staring straight at him.

“We were barely apart for a moment, and you were already getting close to another girl. Imaizumi, are you the type who falls for anyone you see?”

There it was.

That familiar, borderline unreasonable accusation.

Imaizumi Keita looked at her, not annoyed at all—instead, he seemed mildly entertained as he tossed the ball back to her.

“Of course not.” He shook his head calmly. “The type I like is carefully chosen.”

“Huh? Carefully chosen?”

Yanami Anna caught the ball, clearly surprised by that answer.

“That’s right.”

Imaizumi Keita nodded. He stepped forward slightly and spoke plainly, his tone calm and matter-of-fact.

“No matter how many people I meet in the future, or how many people I come to like, there’s one thing I can say for sure.”

“That is… in my heart, there will always be a place for you, Yanami.”

Yanami Anna’s heart skipped a beat without warning.

Even though it sounded like the kind of line a smooth-talking playboy would use to dodge the topic, she didn’t feel any disgust.

The flush on her face, which had come from annoyance, quietly deepened into something warmer—something more intense.

“I-I…”

She opened her mouth to say something, but her mind had gone completely blank.

“However,” Imaizumi Keita didn’t give her time to process, abruptly changing tone. His voice returned to its usual blunt calmness.

“Yanami, I should remind you of something.”

Looking at her slightly flustered expression, his gaze became a bit more serious.

“If you keep getting jealous over small things like this, it can get pretty annoying.”

“I…”

Yanami Anna’s momentum instantly weakened.

Clutching the beach ball, she lowered her head and absentmindedly traced circles in the water with her toes, her whole body radiating a gloomy mood.

Seeing her like this, Imaizumi Keita sighed inwardly.

This girl really had gone from one extreme to the other.

At first, she had been so hurt, yet still forced herself to smile and even created chances for her childhood friend and her rival to be alone together.

And now, just seeing him talk to another girl for a bit made her openly show jealousy—甚至理直气壮地跑过来质问。

The shift was so fast it was almost hard to keep up with.

But…

Looking at her profile—head lowered, yet ears already flushed red—his earlier helplessness quietly softened into indulgence.

Maybe…

This wasn’t so bad after all.