Crumbling

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Some sunny morning, Ami woke up to her first case of genuine happiness that she could recall. By her side layed Haruto, who after days weeks of giving her nothing but the bare minimum of affection, had finally agreed to sleep with her. It'd been an awkward experience, for the both of them. Neither one having any experience what so ever, topped with Ami's meek and insecure nature made sure it couldn't have gone any other way. Then again, no one's first time is ever gracious or "just the way they'd imagined it". Be it that she'd just had the best night of her life, or that she got a good nights sleep for once, Ami looked fairly good despite just waking up.

Looking up at her boyfriend, she couldn't help but notice that he had a troubled look on his face. Had her performance not been satisfactory? Did she mess up somehow? Maybe he expected more??

"Uhm.. I-i ..Is t-there anything wrong?"

Behind the annoying stutter, the worry in her voice came across clear as day. Even she who had extremely limited social experienced could tell that something was up. Haruto did little to hide it, anyway. While he'd enjoyed his time with Ami these past few weeks more than he'd ever care to admit, something had happened which made him question his decision. Of course, the choice to be in a committed relationship in the first place originated from his desire to keep her around just in case. And that's precisely what he'd done, keep her around until something better came along.

Despite him insisting on Ami keeping their relationship a secret, she'd slipped up on numerous occasions, especially at school. By dating in secrecy, Haruto hoped it wouldn't affect his future prospects at picking sweeter fruits. In an odd twist of fate however, his girlfriend's eagerness had paid off. Seeing Haruto and Ami together all the time spurred up the ol' rumor mill. Turns out the saying about people suddenly confessing their true feelings to you once you're already taken is absolutely true, at least in this specific case.. Some girl at school had caught a whiff of the rumor that Haruto and Ami were going steady. To put it simply, this girl both had a better social standing, better looks and most importantly; No stutter or crippling hentai addiction.

Suffice it to say, Haruto didn't think twice about ditching Ami for this new gal, never mind her name. The conflicting feelings visible on Haruto's face weren't ones of regret, or indecision. No, he just didn't look forward to the eventual meltdown that Ami surely would provide without question. He could just say nothing, slowly remove himself from her until graduation, while seeing the other chick. That, however, didn't sit right with him. She'd been nothing but good to him, to the point where he'd questioned if he even wanted someone else. Obviously, there was. And he'd ironically found her due to Ami's doting actions. At the very least, she deserved to know the truth. She deserved to be dumped properly, face to face. And she'd deserved to at least experience true companionship and intimacy, if only for a night. One could probably argue that it was crueler to elevate her to cloud nine before dropping the news in her lap for her to deal with. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Usually an expression meant for strength, but very much applicable as far as emotions go. It's all about perspective, after all..

"Yeah. There's just this thing I wanted to tell you.."

Her whole body tensed at those words. She may not have much experience with people, but those words usually only meant one of two things. Something bad was about to happen, or she was being proposed to. The latter one seemed much more unlikely in this case..

"..."

For someone who already struggled stringing basic sentences together, coming up with a response would be one hell of a mountain to climb. Her gentle nodding had to suffice as a prompt to let Haruto continue.

"You see.. There's this ..girl i like. We've seen each other a few times already and I think I might have fallen for her"

Ami, as one would expect, was at the brink of tears. Her lack of confidence and self worth had made sure that the possibility of Haruto leaving her for someone better. What made it all much worse was the timing. For once, she'd actually felt as though she'd be enough for him. She'd never felt more sure that he'd stick with her. This felt as though it came out of nowhere.
Haruto could tell that the breakdown inched ever closer, and a sense of urgency began to form to get the hell out of there. Precisely the reason he'd opted to do this at her place, rather than his. There'd be no way for him to retreat once the floodgates opened if they were at his place, and kicking her out would've been rather difficult if she were to become properly hysteric.

"-I just want to do right by you and let you know. We haven't done anything yet. In other words, I haven't cheated. But I don't think It's good for me to be in a committed relationship with you if I have feelings for someone else. Basically, I'm breaking up with you."

Perhaps a bit in poor taste, but the entire confession and breakup had been spoken as he got dressed, clearly not intending to stick around to comfort her.

"But! B-But! I l-l-ove you!" She cried out, tears streaming down her reddening cheeks.

"I wish I could say the same, I really do.."

The last words he spoke before leaving were genuine. He truly wanted the feelings to be mutual. Then everything would've been perfect, and no one would've been hurt. But there were too many things about Ami that got on his nerves. Issues he couldn't look past. In his eyes, as she were right now, Ami truly was unlovable.