I enter my room with a bowl of cherry tomatoes in my hands and walks to my table which is facing the window. I put the bowl on the table. While taking a seat, I put one of the cherry tomatoes in my mouth.

   ‘Yummylicious! Oishi!’ I grip one of my hands dramatically. Gosh, best food ever! I search for the Business Law book from the book rack beside me, and put it in front of me.

   ‘Ne, Rai-chan!’

I look up when I heard the voice. Thought so, it’s him. I raise my eyebrows at him. He’s from the opposite house which is my neighbor. Our room is facing each other, so automatically our window faced each other too. We’ve been neighbor for ages.

   ‘Nanda yo? How long have you been there?’

   ‘A while. What’s so delicious about the thing you eat? Tomato deshou?’ He looks at me. I nod my head.

   ‘It’s cherry tomatoes. Want some?’ I hold up a small and cute cherry tomatoes at him with a grin. He makes face.

   ‘Iyada desu. I hate tomatoes!’

   ‘Why do you hate tomatoes?’ I give him a frown. The same question I’ve been asking him every time he says that he hates tomatoes. I always knew that he hates tomatoes. We have fought about it million of times, yet he is still not satisfied with the reason I loves tomatoes.

   ‘I’ve told you before right? It tastes weird! And it’s seems sticky! I can’t eat anything sticky.’

   ‘Weird and sticky ne? How about the strawberries? What’s so different about tomatoes and strawberries that you hates tomatoes but loves strawberries? Don’t you think strawberries are sticky too?’

   ‘Oi! Strawberries are delicious! Don’t ever compare it with your tomatoes! Plus, strawberry is not sticky. Have you ever eaten a strawberry before?’ He says. I tilt my head to the left while thinking.

   ‘Of course I have! But, seriously. Both tomatoes and strawberries are red in color deshou? And both of them are good for health since they contain Vitamin C and antioxidant. What else do you want?’ I say as I open up the thick Business Law book in front of me.

   ‘Mochiron. But, strawberries are sweet, fruity, juicy, refreshing and yummy! But tomatoes seem sour.’ He flinch his body while making face.

   ‘But, it’s juicy too. And I think strawberries are sour too.’ I put in another cherry tomatoes in my mouth with a smile. And again, he makes face. He crunches his nose, making it looks like a cat for me. I laugh.

   ‘Some of it. But, strawberries are more to sweet than sour.’ He says with a broad smile.

   ‘Oh yeah? For your information, tomatoes are way healthier than strawberries.’

   ‘How can you be so sure about that?’ He looks at me with I-don’t-believe-you look.

   ‘It’s a fact. You can search for it in the internet if you’re not satisfied, though.’ I shrug. ‘Strawberry is the only fruits with the seeds outside of the fruits. Don’t you think it’s weird to eat it?’

   ‘Warusa… Whatever you say, I still like strawberries, and I dream of a pool full of strawberries in front of my house. Isn’t that great?’ He looks at me with dreamy eyes while gripping both his hands to the front. I make face. That is such a weird dream, Ryosuke.

   ‘Yeah. What a great dream ne. Ryo-chan, strawberries is a member of Rose family right? And I always thought it seems girlish for a guy to likes strawberries.’

   ‘So, how about a girl eating tomatoes? Looks like a guy?’

   ‘Oi! Bakairo!’ I stand up and look at him. He laughs. It’s lucky that you’re cute, Ryosuke. If not, I’ll definitely go to your house and strangle your neck, makes you struggling and beg me to release you. I smile evilly as the imagination come across my mind.

   ‘Anou.. Rai-chan. What’s with that smile?’ Ryosuke looks at me, fidgets. Did I look that evil? I shrug.

   ‘Nanimo. It just that I’m imagining something great.’ I smile. He stares at me for a while before continues to talk.

   ‘Eto.. Rai-chan, do you know that there is a museum in Belgium just for strawberries? Is there any museum just for tomatoes in any part of the world?’ He asks with a smirk. I grasp one of my hands tightly. Without thinking, I take one of the cherry tomatoes in the bowl in front of me and throw it as hard as I can, towards him across the window. It hit right at the middle of his forehead.

   ‘Yosh!’ I laugh.

   ‘Itai..! Shinrai!’ He howls and rubs his forehead with one of his hand. ‘You always did that when you’re losing!’

   ‘Losing? Are we fighting over something?’  I look at him with innocent face. He narrows his eyes at me. I give him a smile. ‘Another tomato-gift for you, my dear Ryo-chan.’

   ‘I should think of giving you a strawberry-gift sometimes then.’ He is still staring at me. I stop laughing.

   ‘Ne, Ryo-chan.. You don’t have to be so serious. It’s our never-ending war deshou?’ I give him a naughty smile. He stares at me with emotion-less face for few seconds, and then he takes a deep breath.

   ‘I’ll sure do something about this.’ He gives an assuring smile. It seems creepy for me.

   ‘Ryo-chan, I never force you to likes or eats tomatoes. Why are you always not satisfied when I eat the tomatoes?’

   ‘It just looks weird seeing people enjoying the thing I don’t like, especially in front of me.’

   ‘I’m not eating it in front of you!’ I slam the table with my fist.

   ‘And where are you now?’

   ‘In front of you. I mean, in my room!’ Damn it Shinrai! Ryosuke laughs.

   ‘See. You’re eating tomatoes in front of me.’ He continues laughing. I glance at him. ‘So, what are you doing? Benkyou?’ He says as he stops laughing.

   ‘Un. My midterm examination is this Friday.’ I say while flapping the pages of the book.

   ‘This Friday? What day is today? Tuesday right? Last minute study ne?’ He raises his eyebrows with a smile. I look up to him.

   ‘Oi.. You do that too right? I mean, study last minutes, it’s common for the students. You are just so lucky that you are not yet a university’s student.’ How I wish to go back to high school! He’s younger than me by a year, which means he’s 18. ‘Oi, when are you going to seat for the entrance exam?’ I look at him.

   ‘Entrance exam for what Rai-chan?’ He rests his chin on his fist that he makes as a stand on the window’s bench, and stares at me. Ryosuke, don’t ever look at me like that. I scratch my head and look at the book in front of me. I don’t know why but it just feels weird. His stare is something, I guess.

   ‘Entrance exam for getting into university of course. What course are you taking? Which university?’ I say without looking at him.

   ‘ahh.. That. I’m not sure whether I’m furthering my studies or not.’ Hearing that, I look up at him.

   ‘Ehh? Doue?’ I frown.

   ‘I’m sick of studying.’ He says as he sighs. I sigh too.

   ‘Ryosuke, I’m sick of studying too. But, I’m still doing this. May be it’s for my parents, and for my future too. Yeah. Thinking about future makes me have to do it. So, you should think about your future. What would you wanna do if you doesn’t further your studies?’

   ‘You do sounds like Ka-chan.’ He laughs. I eye him and he stops laughing. ‘I wanna be a national soccer player.’ He continues his talk.

   ‘National soccer player?’

   ‘Un!’ He nods his head. ‘I love to play soccer, remember?’

   ‘Yes, I always knew that.’ I stop for a seconds, ‘But, are you sure about that? Becoming a soccer player? What did your parents say?’

   ‘They want me to further my studies into the university, of course. But,…’

   ‘But, you’re too stubborn that you decide to pursue your dream in becoming the national soccer player. And your parents have to agree with that since they want the best for their only son right?’ I look at him.

   ‘You know me really well ne.’ He gives me a smile.

   ‘Of course. But, still I do think you have to further your studies Ryo-chan. I’m just saying it for your own future ne. But, the decision is in your hand.’ I shrug.

   ‘Sou desu ka?’ He smiles again. ‘Arigatou ne Ka-chan. Ahh.. I mean, Rai-chan.’ He laughs. I sigh and shake my head. ‘Rai-chan. I’m going out. Wanna accompany me?’

   ‘I..am..studying..Ryosuke..’ I say while putting emphasize on each words and narrow my eyes at him. He burst into laughter.

   ‘Sou deshou ne. I’m going now. Happy studying then. Mata ne!’ He waves his hand to me.

   ‘Yeah. Sure. Enjoy yourself.’ I sigh as he disappeared from his window. Why do I have to study again? Oh yeah. My future. I sigh again. I’m still flapping the pages of the almost-900-pages of book in front of me. What chapter will it be in Midterm? Aha! This one, found the pages I’m searching for. Yosh! Ganbatte kudasai Yamamura Shinrai! I’m taking Accounting course in Waseda University. It’s my first year. Few more months left before the final examination. Thinking about Ryosuke, I frown. What is really wrong with that kid? I always thought that he’s such a cute kid, with his well-padded cheeks. Not until I befriend with him during my third year of junior high school. He was in the second year. I was a new student at the school and I met him during our break hour few days after I entered the school. I have had actually saw him before that because we always arrive at the school surrounding almost at the same time and he also always takes the same route with me when we were on our way home. I was wandering around the school and searching for the best and quiet place to hang out during break time, and we bumped onto each other. He was with Chinen and Yuto. That is the first time we talk. I still can remember his look at that time. Remembering his round face at that time, I burst out my laugh. Seriously he has a very round face at that time. Yet, he is so cute. He thought that I’m younger than him, since I’m shorter than him. He’s quite short too, for a boy of course. But, still I’m shorter than him. But then, when he knew that I’m older than him by one year, he kept on apologizing.

   I smile remembering that time. He then shows me their favorite spot to hang out during recess which is at the rooftop. We became quite a close friend when I know that he actually is my neighbor, along with Chinen and Yuto too. But, Chinen and Yuto are not living in our district. Yet, we are still close since they always came to Ryosuke’s house. No wonder he always takes the same route with me. His house is just beside my house. How can I never notice that? I then befriend with Hikari-chan since she’s one of my classmates. The five of us used to hang out during our junior and senior high school time. But, Chinen went to stay at Australia during his first grade of senior high school. I miss that kid!  My mum kept on asking me to walk to the school with Ryosuke. I have no other choice since my younger brother is still in elementary school at that time. That is how we became quite close. Yeah. We are close, yet we became enemy when it comes about foods. To be precise, about tomatoes and strawberries. I still remember the first time we fought about tomatoes and strawberries. Ryosuke deleted my phone number and we didn’t talk about a week although we went to the school together. He really is a kid. Ryosuke is a strawberry lover, and I am a tomato maniac. That is how the war begins.