Us? Forever.

Chapter Five: First Match

Chapter Five: First Match

Being an anime girl, I finally decided to use one of my favorite characters.

I chose Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell. I loved her too much not to.

I filled in the necessary information to create my profile.

When it came to the description… I froze.

What was I even supposed to say?

After a moment of awkward thinking, I typed:

Hi, I’m an anime girl. I love K-pop and all kinds of music. I’d love to meet people like me… and yeah, I’m a lesbian.

It felt weird.

Simple.

A little too honest.

But I left it like that anyway.

Once I was done, I started swiping.

Left.

Left.

Left.

No one really caught my attention.

And honestly… I didn’t even feel like talking to anyone.

Being an introvert wasn’t helping.

What would I even say?

How do you start a conversation with a stranger?

How are you supposed to act?

I had no idea.

Eventually, I dropped my phone and decided to do my chores instead. I didn’t have lectures that day, so I was home alone. Everyone else had either gone to school or work.

Before putting my phone down, I opened my music app and played my K-pop playlist. “Oh My God” by (G)I-DLE started playing on shuffle.

I sang along while doing my chores, letting the music distract me.

About forty-five minutes—maybe an hour—passed when I heard my phone notification go off over the music.

I ignored it at first.

Then it rang again.

I paused.

What could that be?

Maybe it was important.

I walked over and picked up my phone.

As I turned on the screen, I saw a notification from the dating app.

Two messages.

From someone named… Sakura Haruno.

My curiosity instantly sparked.

Sakura Haruno—from Naruto.

Wait…

Could this person be an anime fan too?

For the first time since downloading the app, I felt something shift.

Interest.

Maybe I wasn’t that weird after all.

Maybe… I wasn’t the only one.