Winona knew his heartfelt speech was meant for her. She turned to look at him.


    "How about something stronger?"


    "...Alright."


    Keaton opened a bottle of whiskey and poured a ss for each of them.


    They both downed their first ss before Keaton finally asked, "You look so weighed down. There''s definitely something on your mind. Want to talk about it?" Winona took a sip of whiskey. "Who told you I was down?"


    "I can just tell."


    "... You''re so perceptive. Alright, then, tell me why I''m so down."


    Keaton''s eyes narrowed. "It''s because of Zane, isn''t it?"


    Winona fell silent.


    "The hurt Zane caused you," Keaton said, "it''s just like what Clementine did to me. So I get it. I understand how you feel."


    "Clementine?" Winona asked. "The girl you mentioned on the drive over, the one who hurt you?"


    "Yeah."


    "I''ve never heard that name. Is she from Jindale City?"


    Keaton shook his head. "No, she''s not from Jindale City. She wasn''t some debutante either. Just a regr girl."


    Winona''s curiosity was piqued. "So how did you two meet?" Birds of a feather flock together. For a guy from a wealthy family like Keaton, most of his friends were from simr backgrounds.


    Keaton let out a long breath, finished the whiskey in his ss, and lit a cigarette.


    He turned to look at the lighthouse. "I spent ninth grade in a different town. The Huber family had business there, so my parents had to stay for a year and they took me with them. That''s when I met her."


    "Her family was poor. She''d dropped out of school in eighth grade and was helping her grandparents sell fruit from a stall outside my school."


    "She wasn''t stunningly beautiful, but she was tall and thin, with long hair. She had these beautiful, delicate hands and slender wrists. She just had this fragile quality that made you want to protect her."


    "And she smiled all the time. Her smile was so gentle, and her eyes were incredibly bright."


    "I had a really good impression of her back then. A lot of guys in my ss liked her. They''d always use buying fruit as an excuse to go see her after school."


    "But it wasn''t just us. Some of the local thugs had their eyes on her too."


    "One time, when her grandparents weren''t there, those thugs started harassing her. I happened to walk by."


    "I was young and hot-headed, and I already had a thing for her, so I got into a fight with them."


    "It was me against a bunch of them, and they were older. Unsurprisingly, I got my ass kicked."


    "I can still remember it. The way she was trembling with fear, and how she threw herself over me when I was on the ground, crying and screaming my name."


    "She was crying so hard, so helplessly, shaking my arm and asking, ''Where are you hurt? Does it hurt? I''m so sorry...""


    "That was the day I fell in love with her."


    "Before that, it was just a crush. That day, it was for real."


    "It was the first time in my life I''d ever truly fallen for a girl."


    "To keep her from worrying, and for my own pride, I gritted my teeth through the


    pain, got up, and ran a hundred yards away."


    "Then I ran back to her and said, ''See? I''m not hurt. I don''t feel a thing. You can stop crying."


    "Those street punks knew how to fight. They never hit you in the face, so the teachers and parents wouldn''t find out."


    "She actually believed I was fine and stopped crying. She gave me a huge bag of fruit. I didn''t want to take it, but she insisted, so had to carry home."


    "I never used to eat much fruit, but I ate every single piece she gave me."


    "I ate it all myself. I didn''t even share it with my parents. It was the best fruit I''d ever


    tasted back then, sweet as honey."


    "After that, every time I went to see her, she''d secretly slip me a clementine."


    "So I gave her a nickname, Clementine. Only I called her that."