Another day after school, and for once in a rare blue moon, Fuyuji Mikage didn't linger around the classroom. Instead, the moment the bell rang, he chose to head downstairs immediately.
Passing by the bulletin board, he saw that information-soliciting notes regarding this incident had been posted there. Most likely Ichinose Honami's doing. Written beside them were mentions of rewards for finding relevant clues.
How was this helping out? She was even paying points out of her own pocket to gather information? Class D was currently dirt broke.
As expected, Ichinose was far too kind-hearted.
As for Fuyuji himself, something like helping Class D find relevant clues—going through the motions was more than enough.
After all, could Horikita-girl really go to Class A and ask, "Has a classmate named Fuyuji Mikage asked any of you to keep an eye out for clues about the fight in this incident?"
Go ahead and try. Ask one, and you'd get one silent stare.
The remaining time would be spent sitting back and watching the show, testing the caliber of Class D and seeing whether they could withstand Class C's offensive.
However...
Fuyuji halted his steps. His body tilted slightly backward as he turned his head and glanced in the direction of Class D.
What has that scummy loli Sakayanagi been up to these past few days? Why hasn't there been even a peep of activity? Didn't she say she'd already recruited some manpower and would be very busy lately?
Wait, no!
Fuyuji reconsidered.
Knowing that scummy loli's personality, with Hirata Yosuke around, she'd actually find it harder to stir up trouble.
It wasn't that there was no activity. It was more likely that he simply hadn't managed to pick up any intel on that front. In a certain sense, both Class A and Class D were one-way transparent to him. Sometimes, he even got wind of Class D's affairs faster than Horikita-girl did.
Ichinose from Class B wouldn't help Sakayanagi do that kind of thing.
So...
Could that scummy loli have gone off to collaborate with Class C? Stab Class D one more time—pacify the internal before resisting the external?
Just as Fuyuji's eyes were twitching madly from the shock of Sakayanagi Arisu's internal-struggle antics, a voice brimming with sunshine reached his ears.
"Sorry for the wait, Fuyuji-kun."
Ichinose Honami, one hand holding the chain of her bag and the other raised in a wave, jogged over with a smile from the direction of Class B. Slightly out of breath, a healthy flush colored her cheeks. A few strands of golden-pink hair by her forehead fluttered in the breeze.
"No, I only waited a little while."
Once Ichinose had caught up, the two of them walked side by side toward the main entrance of the school building.
"Got held up by class trivialities? Or did you single-handedly take on all of your class's affairs again? That's not something a class leader should be doing." The Class A hands-off boss, who had flung both class affairs and the identity of class leader onto Katsuragi Kohei—Fuyuji—delivered this remark.
"It's already gotten a lot better now. And my classmates' issues... I just always feel like I can't leave them be."
"They managed to get by just fine before you came along. How about occasionally putting a little faith in your classmates?"
"That's true, I suppose. But I find helping my classmates to be a happy thing, you know."
"Then if you keep letting them depend on you like this, what happens if one day you're absent for a special exam? Why not let them solve some problems on their own from time to time? Give them a bit of training, how about it?"
"..."
Watching Ichinose avert her gaze, her lips parting slightly as if to speak, only to close again—repeating this several times—Fuyuji knew his proposal had most likely failed.
He could only say that Class B and Ichinose truly were a match made in heaven. Ichinose, for whatever reason, loved helping others, and the overwhelming majority of Class B's students had no minds of their own. A perfect match.
This was actually quite good. Class B's threat level was greatly diminished. In the future, when Class A and Class B competed, they just had to keep a tight watch on Ichinose.
"Forget it. Let's not discuss this anymore. Let's resolve today's issue first." Fuyuji took the initiative to drop the topic and slowed his pace.
"Mm..." A soft hum slipped out.
Along the way, Class B students continuously greeted her, and Ichinose responded to each and every one with a smiling wave. In no time at all, the hesitant, indecisive Ichinose from just moments ago had recovered her usual radiant demeanor.
Before long, the two reached the first-floor shoe lockers.
"Although I already knew you were popular, this is the first time I've ever seen someone popular to this degree." Fuyuji stepped over the threshold and walked toward his own shoe locker.
While Cha-Cha was also very popular among the first years, she was nowhere near capable of earning the goodwill of the entire class and commanding them with a wave of her hand the way Ichinose could in Class D.
Of course, that might also have something to do with Class D having far too many eccentric talents.
"Not at all. Everyone's just being kind to me, that's all."
Ichinose opened her shoe locker, took out her small leather shoes, and bent over.
"That's not something mere kindness can achieve." Fuyuji also opened his shoe locker. "You are simply—"
His voice stopped.
"What's the matter?"
Ichinose stood on one leg, her other calf kicked back behind her as she hooked a finger and guided her foot, wrapped in black knee-high socks, into her little leather shoe.
"No, it's nothing..."
Fuyuji lowered his eyes. His fingers gently traced the surface of a pale blue envelope inside the shoe locker. It was very smooth, like gliding across a young girl's skin, carrying a faint, delicate fragrance.
Swiftly tucking the envelope into his pocket, he turned his head. His expression rapidly shifted as he spoke in a teasing tone.
"Come to think of it, that love letter was discovered right here. That classmate of yours is a bit careless, huh."
"Ahaha." Ichinose scratched her cheek with a finger and gave two dry laughs. "I never imagined it would turn out to be such a coincidence either. But thankfully, it ended up in Fuyuji-kun's shoe locker."
"Speaking of which, I really did get quite a shock back then. A girl confessing, or something like that—the impact was way too intense." He seemed to recall some unforgettable scene, his voice still tinged with lingering fear.
"Eh? Fuyuji-kun doesn't have any experience in this area?" Ichinose covered her mouth in disbelief. "I thought for sure Fuyuji-kun had handled similar matters before, which is why I thought to ask you for help."
"No, I don't know how to deal with it either." He spread his hands and admitted frankly.
"Actually," a troubled expression surfaced on his face, "the reason I came along this time was because I wanted to see how Ichinose handles this kind of situation."
"But I don't know what to do either. Didn't I say that day that I'm no good at this kind of thing?" Ichinose puffed out her cheeks somewhat dejectedly.
"I always thought you were just being modest. Look, aren't you super popular in our grade? You must have received quite a few love letters and such, right?"
Fuyuji was forced to lean back by the glare of Ichinose's indignant, puffed-up expression. His voice betrayed his utter disbelief.
Ichinose's smile froze on her face.
He probed tentatively. "Don't tell me... Ichinose has never been confessed to before?"
An embarrassed smile surfaced on her face.
Silence hung in the air for a moment, broken only by the distant, fading sound of other students' departing footsteps.
A short while later.
Two students, seemingly rich in experience but in reality possessing a completely blank romantic history, lowered their heads in unison and let out a sigh.
"Ah~" x2
"What should we do?" Fuyuji turned his head to ask Ichinose's opinion.
"At this point, there's nothing to do but face it head-on." Her head drooped despondently.
"Do your best!"
Fuyuji nodded. As a fellow rookie with equally zero experience, he truly couldn't provide her with any real help. He could only offer her his moral support.
Ichinose drew a deep breath and patted her own fair cheeks. She stepped forward with her long, fair legs, carrying an aura of unstoppable resolve, as if she intended to resolve this matter in one single breath.
"Settle it swiftly and decisively!"
"Mm!"
"Make everything perfectly clear in one go!"
"Mm!"
"Leave behind no regrets!"
"Mm!"
Halfway there, Ichinose suddenly slammed on the brakes. She spun around and ran back to Fuyuji, who had been watching her depart. Lowering her head, she spoke in a small, timid voice.
"Fuyuji-kun, come with me. Going alone, I feel all jumbled up inside."
"I can go with you, sure. But is it really appropriate for a guy like me to be standing next to you, watching? Wouldn't this kind of thing be really embarrassing?"
Fuyuji recalled that love letter with the small, neat handwriting.
It was obvious at a single glance that it had been written by a cute, adorable girl, brimming with the aura of youth, overflowing with feelings for Ichinose, wanting to be close and intimate with her.
Him being here...
He silently pressed a hand to his forehead. At this moment, his feelings were beyond expression in words.
"Um, about that... do you know who the girl is?"
"I can more or less guess." Ichinose gave a wry smile. "That girl is very shy."
"How does Ichinose want to resolve this?"
"I don't want to hurt that girl's feelings. And I really like the current atmosphere of our class. I don't want this matter to affect the class." She murmured to herself.
"Then what's your resolution plan?" Fuyuji once again pressed for the key point.
"..."
Ichinose froze in place, as if someone had pressed a pause button.
"It's just... um..." A barely audible voice emerged from her lips. Her large, fluttering eyes stole furtive glances in his direction from time to time.
Fuyuji cupped his chin and nodded, confirming. "I see. Accept the other party's confession, then."
As he spoke, he clasped his hands behind his back and began pacing in circles on the spot, talking to himself without pause.
"But, after accepting a confession, how do you handle the interpersonal relationships? Would the unspoken, tacit understanding originally formed between everyone be broken? Would the harmonious relationships between classmates become complicated? I'm very curious about how Ichinose would handle this aspect of things."
"Of course not!"
A crimson flush rose on Ichinose's face. She shut her eyes tightly and waved both hands frantically in denial. "Although my relationship with Chihiro-chan is indeed very good, but, umm, I am just not interested in girls. Something like that—it's impossible."
"So, rejection, then?"
"..."
"In that case."
Fuyuji puffed out his chest and raised his head high. As he walked toward the destination, he spoke with a tone of unwavering, righteous duty.
"I shall go and accept her confession. After all, her love letter was delivered into my shoe locker. This kind of youth-filled, memory-laden matter—leave it to me."
Ichinose stood rooted to the spot, blank and stunned, for a brief moment.
"Ehhhh—!"
"No!" Ichinose swiftly dashed in front of him and spread her arms wide to block him. "That won't do!"
"Why not? As long as I take the love letter and go to the meeting spot, the moment she sees that the person who showed up is me, eight or nine times out of ten, she'll realize she delivered the love letter to the wrong person. Then she'll recognize the difficulty and retreat. Her momentum will be fierce at the first breath, flagging by the second, and utterly exhausted by the third. In this way, the matter can be perfectly glossed over, forming a tiny little misunderstanding."
As Fuyuji spoke, he nodded his head vigorously, immensely proud of his own cleverness and wit.
"..."
This irrefutable reasoning seemed to have stunned Ichinose completely. She opened her mouth as if to object, but genuinely couldn't find any grounds to refute it.
"In any case, the plan stands as such for now. Sergeant First Class Ichinose, let's move out!"
Fuyuji sidestepped Ichinose's blockade and resumed heading toward the destination.
"No! That's not it!" Ichinose, having regained her senses, circled around once more and planted herself in front of him.
"Isn't this perfectly fine?"
"Mmm..."
Ichinose squeezed her eyes shut. Her already outstretched arms flailed up and down continuously as she spoke at an extremely rapid pace.
"In short, it just won't do. This kind of thing... um... next time, when I've figured out exactly why it won't do, I'll tell Fuyuji-kun."
"Alright, then." Fuyuji looked a bit disappointed. "I was rather looking forward to experiencing that anxious, fluttering feeling of waiting for the target to appear at a legendary confession spot. But this means Ichinose will have to resolve this on her own."
Ichinose remained silent for a while, then let out a heavy sigh and hung her head.
"Yeah. Such kind of thing, in the end, I have to do it myself."
"I'll be cheering for you later. Keep a calm mindset."
"Okay!" Ichinose clenched her small fist.
Before long, the two arrived at their destination—the area behind the gymnasium, the universally acknowledged legendary confession spot.
The other party had arrived there first. Upon hearing the sound of footsteps, she immediately turned around and, with surprise, locked her gaze firmly onto Fuyuji.
As expected, she was a truly cute girl. A petite frame, short light-green hair, and a flower-shaped hair clip pinned in her hair.
"Um... Ichinose-san, who is this person?"
Without the slightest hesitation, the girl named Shiranami Chihiro immediately launched an offensive against this potential love rival.
"Chihiro-chan, I'm sorry for bringing someone you don't know here. Actually, he's—"
"I am a Kamen Rider merely passing through, currently searching for the scent of evil, sworn to vanquish all injustice!"
Fuyuji, who had just moments ago been thumping his chest and vowing to cheer Ichinose on, coldly cut off her words. Like a dashing young man clad in a trench coat, riding past on a motorcycle—self-perceived—beneath the utterly dumbfounded stares of the two, he strode away with his head held high and his chest puffed out.
Left behind was Ichinose, her mind a complete and utter mess, utterly blindsided by this sneak attack from him.
A long moment passed.
Ichinose let out a rather helpless laugh and turned to look at Shiranami.
"Chihiro-chan, let's talk for a bit..."
...
Mm... it seems being forced to watch Kamen Rider by Morishita-sama every day does have its uses after all.
Fuyuji, still immersed in the fantasy that he had carried out justice today, found a vending machine, bought two bottles of a drink, and sat down on a bench. He tilted his head back and gazed up at the swaying green leaves overhead.
Five minutes later, that Shiranami Chihiro, tears glistening in her eyes, jogged right past him. As she passed by, she bared her teeth and brandished her claws at him like a kitten, shooting him a glare before hurrying away without looking back.
That figure, dashing away under the sun—that was Shiranami Chihiro's fading youth.
Shortly after, Ichinose also trudged back, her head hanging low and her spirits utterly deflated.
"Here..."
Fuyuji tossed the drink over, then took a sip of his own and said nothing more.
Ichinose caught the drink. After twisting it open and taking a sip, she sat down limply beside him.
"Falling in love... it's so hard..." Ichinose sighed with deep emotion.
"Yeah. Falling in love is so hard." Fuyuji sighed with equal feeling.
A gust of wind blew past. Leaves from the roadside trees fell onto the hard stone pavement, producing faint, crisp crackling sounds...
"Has Fuyuji-kun ever liked a girl before?" Ichinose, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly asked.
"Maybe I've had that kind of feeling once. Later on, too many things happened, communication grew sparse, and as expected, we gradually drifted apart. To be honest, I can't even clearly remember what she looked like anymore. I only recall that the afternoon sunlight that day was as bright and beautiful as it is now, the classroom was very hot, and there was a half-broken electric fan going click-clack, click-clack as it spun..."
"What about Ichinose?"
"No, never. During middle school, things were always very busy at home. I also had a little sister to take care of. There was simply no time to think about that kind of thing."
"Put that way, it seems our reasons are pretty similar, huh?"
"Haha, yeah, they really are."
A grey pigeon flew past overhead. The two of them sank into silence once more.
Fuyuji seemed to understand why this place was the legendary confession spot. It was quiet, undisturbed. The scenery was just right. Through the gaps in the leaves, white clouds drifted against a blue backdrop. If you closed your eyes, you could hear the distant sound of the ocean waves. When the wind blew, fallen leaves came drifting gently down...
Falling in love, huh...
He slipped his hand into his pocket and lightly stroked that love letter.
Who had sent this one, and the one from last time—in truth, there was no need to think too deeply about it.
Because... in this world, the only ones who could possibly like him... were them...
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