Volume 1, Chapter 4: The Letter

*****

Time skip. Several days had passed since the first day of school. Ryu and I have gotten used to the school and are making friends slowly but surely. I for one only had a small group of friends that I talk to, but mostly I don't talk too much, only when I want to. I hang out sometimes with them, but I always prefer to hang out with Ryu. While Ryu on the other hand, was getting more attention in our class...to girls that is...he can handle a girl or two but when they're swarming at him, he just self destructs, that's the time where I save him and always get his ass out of that kind of situation. 

Our other classmates were also friendly and nice even to nobodies like us. They even sometimes approach us to invites us to go with them. I sometimes get invitations from them, but Ryu mostly gets the invitations...again...from girls that is...*sigh*...I envy this guy so much...but then again, I'm not much of an outside person, so I also preferred this way, thus why I always kept declining to such invitations. I'd rather make time to watch anime, play video games, and such than waste my time and energy to hang out with them knowing that they might not even talk to me during those times...yeah, I'm such a complicated person, thank you very much

Speaking about our classmates, Hoshizawa is always active and hands-on to everyone. She always helps out our classmates, other students, the teachers, the staff, etc. Due to that, she's fully appreciated and respected by the freshmen, sophomores, seniors, and the like

I even heard about the rumors spreading in school that Hoshizawa rejected love confessions from 200 boys from each different grade level. She also just recently turned down a love confession from one of the handsome boys in school. Well its to be expected to get turned down by the prettiest girl in school. I wonder if she has already someone in mind? Nah, probably not, its Hoshizawa san we're talking about here! She'd probably has high standards for the guy she likes, like I do to the ideal girl that I like...

But aside from her getting endless love letters, there's something that concerns me...From my perspective, I personally think that Hoshizawa is doing favors to others too much, I might be overthinking this, but I think she's trying to be much of help to other people for some reason...I usually have good hunches when it comes to these things so I really can't shake off the feeling, but I'm still not entirely sure if I'm right about it...

But then again, I have no right to butt in to whatever she wants to do...although it somehow bugs me that she's forcing herself to do everything for others...in my perspective, there's something more to this than meets the eye...I just know it...

As I was recapping what had just happened through these past days while walking with Ryu to the classroom, a group of girls we're talking about Hoshizawa near our seats

"Hoshizawa san's so kind! She helped me with my homework yesterday!"

"Oh, same here! She also helped me made it understand better!"

"Me too! She was really good at cooking class yesterday too!"

"Oh yeah, you were like, in the same group as her yesterday right? Hey, hey, how's the taste of her dish?"

"It's really delicious! I wish I could eat it everyday!"

"Eh? You already tasted it once, aren't you already lucky enough that you get to taste it?"

"No! I want to eat it as a whole!"

"You're such a glutton!"

They laughed as they chatted about Hoshizawa and her delicious dish...

...

...her cooking huh...it must've been that good if the girls kept talking about it...

While imagining what the food might've looked and tasted like, the girls suddenly changed the topic

"Still, it's amazing how Hoshizawa san was able to extend a helping hand to every people"

"Yeah...she's also appear to be always free when you ask her for a favor or something"

"Whaddya expect? Its Hoshizawa san after all! Helping others is just a simple task for her!"

For some reason, they made it sound like Hoshizawa has nothing better to do than help others in need everyday. It also seems that they don't even see that she's already doing too much than she could handle, all they could see was how helpful she was at many situations...I somehow felt bad for her for that reason...

Just as about Ryu and I have finished putting our bags in, one of the girls approached Ryu and asked something-

"Right, Ito kun? Isn't Hoshizawa san amazing?!"

"Eh? Uh-Yeah! She's too spectacular!"

Ryu was so surprised that he just blurted out a word to say something, also, "spectacular" was an understatement, its unbelievable how Hoshizawa even made time for everyone considering she has to take care of herself as well...on second thought, has she even been taking good care of herself? 

"Hey, no fair! Let me talk to Ito kun too!"

"Me too!"

"Ito kun!!"

Oh boy...this isn't looking good...he's about to blow himself out today as well...I'm surprised he still isn't used to this at all...

"Ah, eh, uhh...SHUNNNNN!!! HELP MEEE!!!"

He cried for help as he stood behind me cowering in fear...its like he thinks he's about to experience one of those that you see in doujins, the "Rape" tag...if that had been the case, I would've left this guy ages ago for all I care

"Ah, you're...oh! Amagasa kun!, I didn't know you were there the whole time"

As one of the girls said that, I felt as if I had just reappeared into existence just now

"That hurts..."

"Sorry, my bad, you have weak presence, its not my fault!"

Having a weak presence in our class really didn't bother or hurt me, what hurt me is that our classmates seems to forget that I even exist...I might even consider myself as someone who comes to life whenever Ryu calls out to me

"Anyways Amagasa kun, you also think Hoshizawa san is amazing, right?!"

"Why are you even asking him that? Of course he is! He was the first one to get to talk to and get a favor from Hoshizawa san! Of course he thinks she's amazing! He's basically the trigger!"

Trigger? What trigger? What are they even talking about? Also, I didn't know that Hoshizawa talking to me in the first day of class were the talk of our classmates up until now!

Plus, I rarely even talk to girls! I always prefer to talk to other guys more so its making me awkward around them for some reason! Now I kinda know how Ryu feels when a bunch of girls approach her at the same time...but not to the point that I'm wetting my pants in fear

As for their question, I could say the same thing about Hoshizawa, but personally, I think there's more to it than that...I'm not sure if I'm right but I shouldn't be making assumptions about her for now.

I answered the girls' question with just one line-

"Yeah, but she's doing it too much"

"Oh? Too much? I don't think so, but why do you think of it like that, Amagasa kun?"

You don't think so?! seriously?

"...No reason at all"

"Hmm...Okay then, if you say so"

"Hey!, hey! Lets go look around the clubs that they have!"

"Oh! I like that! We still have time before class anyways"

"I wanna go see the basketball club!"

"You just want to see the handsome senior in there aren't you?"

"Eh?! I-I'm not though..."

"It's written all over your face girl!"

They laughed as they left the classroom. I'm glad that they didn't press me further because of my answer, otherwise they might think less of me if I told them my reasoning

"Thanks again for saving me man, I thought I'd be a goner!"

"If you feel grateful for once, why don't you treat me to a yakisoba bread this time?"

"Sure! Leave it to me! Oh, but you have to come with me too"

"Yeah I know... you're useless when you're on your own after all"

"Hey! Don't make it sound like I can't do anything without your help!"

Dude. You literally wet yourself in front of the girls earlier. I made a doubting face as I looked at him

"Oh? Wasn't that the case?"

"Shun! C'mon man! I can't do everything, but I can do something!"

Oh? You're not wrong about that though...

"Yeah, you're right, especially when its something that even a elementary school kid can do"

"Is your opinion of me really that low? *Sigh*"

"Just accept it Ryu, we're like a parent and a child, but I'm the parent and you're the child"

"Isn't it the other way around though?"

"Dude, no parent has such an obsession to chocolates"

"Are you implying that I can't become an adult because of my craving for chocolates?!"

"I wouldn't say that, but you might be the first parent who have such obsession to chocolates in the future"

"What did you say?! On second thought, that isn't bad at all! I could even get featured on the news if that day happens!"

Uwa- this guy's way of thinking really is something. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised anymore at this point, since he's been apparently "revising" his plan to get close to Hoshizawa

I couldn't help but smile at least, he might've been the weirdest popular guy I have ever met in my entire life, but his weirdness was the reason that we became such good friends

We talked more about other stuff while waiting for other students to come and for the class to start

*****

Class just finished and now its break time. As Ryu promised, we walked down the cafeteria to buy one yakisoba bread. Since its too big, we always share it together and eat behind the school near the big tree

"I hope we don't run out of stock after we get there"

"Start praying now man because I think we will!"

As we entered into the cafeteria, there were still a lot of people in gathering up in the counter. I still see some yakisoba breads left but I don't think Ryu and I will get one this time

While we find a chance to force ourselves in, a loud stomp was heard through the cafeteria. And that loud stomp apparently came from the-

"T-The student council president!"

"Eek!"

The people crowding up in the counter exactly knew what would happen when the student council president showed up herself. They immediately lined up cleanly and organized just like what they did to Hoshizawa on the first day of school, but this time, they didn't lined up on their own, they lined up by force

"Seems like you know what happens when I come around, huh? Very good. I shall overlook this once but I'll not tolerate anyone who will break the rules next time!"

"Y-yes maam!"

Nomanai said it fiercely as she walked up to the counter and bought the last yakisoba bread

"Ah, Shun, she bought it..."

"Oh, yeah...I guess we should look on other foods then"

We weren't even disappointed nor devastated that we didn't even get the last yakisoba bread, we were more amazed in just how the student council president were able to solve the issue on hand. Nomanai really does her job well

While I was thinking that, Nomanai was slowly walking towards us...or rather my direction! As she walked up to me, she gave me the last yakisoba bread

"Here, its yours"

"Eh? Uhh...why?"

"Because you followed the school's cafeteria rules"

"Rules? What rule?"

"You're standing on it right now, the right spot for waiting in line, not like these other students who just ignore the cafeteria rules"

I looked down at what she said, and it seems that she was right, it is the spot for waiting in line, and apparently, there's even more of it as you go through the counter, I always thought this red circle thing was just a floor decoration for the cafeteria, but it seems that it was serving an important role. That's probably why I've never noticed

"Oh...is that so? I didn't even know I was standing on it the whole time"

"You didn't know that before? I'm surprised that you didn't even broke the rule once"

Man, I'm also glad that I didn't broke it, otherwise I'll end like them just now!

"I guess I just got lucky this time, haha"

I let out a small laugh as if to ease the tension around us...the stares that they're giving me right now are the same stares that they gave me from the first day of school

"It's that guy again, the one who got a yakisoba bread from Hoshizawa san the other day!"

"Seriously again? Isn't he a bit too lucky?!"

"I feel like he's doing this on purpose"

Trust me when I say this but I really don't planned this to be happening at all!

"Well then, I'll be off by now, be sure to eat your lunch before the bell rings"

"Ah, yes, thank you very much, Ms. Nomanai!"

She raised a farewell hand as she left from the cafeteria. The other students that were near the counter had already gone their way to buy other foods to eat while I think some students are still talking about me and the student council president, god I hope this doesn't become a new weird rumor that'll spread the school for the next days...*sigh*

Now that other students talked about it, I haven't seen Hoshizawa aside from classroom today. She wasn't in the cafeteria as well. I wonder where she is right now?

...

"All's well that ends well, huh, Shun?"

"My ass! Where did you ran off to?!"

While Nomanai was walking towards me, Ryu had already hidden himself somewhere in the cafeteria

"I didn't ran off! I was behind you the entire time!"

Such a blatant life, does he really think I'll believe that? I think I'll have to eat this yakisoba bread myself if he's going to go with that

"Yeah sure I believe you, I don't even have the energy anymore to argue with you...let's just go to our usual spot and eat there already!"

"Hey...you sound like you don't believe me at all!"

"Its probably just your imagination"

"I'm telling you, its the truth!"

We left the cafeteria as Ryu tried to justify his so called "truth" to me. We ate to our usual spot, chatted more about useless stuff, and waited for the bell ring for the next class

*****

Time had passed, sun is already setting and school was done for today, Ryu and I took our bags and gone downstairs to pick up or shoes in the shoe locker

"Man! Today was hectic too! Wasn't it, Shun?"

"Isn't it always hectic every day for you though? I mean, yeah it is but I'm already getting used to it"

"Eh? You shouldn't be getting used to it at all!"

"Why not? This is school after all, its not always about having fun and making friends"

"It is about having fun and making friends! You're not gonna live a good life if you keep being like that, Shun"

Says the one who is such a wuss around a bunch of girls!

"Yeah, say that to me again once you've conquered your fear of a bunch of women"

"Urk!"

Ryu couldn't think of something to say after what I've just said that made enough for him to go quiet. Finally this guy stopped his mouth to keep-

As I opened my locker, an envelope appeared on top of my shoe

"What's this?"

I looked at the front and back of the envelope but it doesn't have a name in it

"What you got there, Shun?"

"An envelope, it seems someone sent me one in my locker"

"A letter, in the shoe locker? Hmm...Ah!- COULD IT BE-"

"No, it's not a love letter"

"-Eh?"

Yeah, it isnt, I already read the contents of the letter and it says:

'Shun Amagasa, can we talk after school? I have something important to tell you. I'll be waiting at the rooftop'

From what I've read, It has to be something important and secretive since they want to talk about it in private...

The letter wasn't in any different kind of color, it was pure white with a neat handwriting, that's why I couldn't figure it out if it came from a boy or girl...but who could it be? Is it one of the girls in our class? Or...is it one of the boys? Oh god, I hope this letter isn't gonna lead me to a fight or something!

"So what will you do, Shun? Will you come to the rooftop?"

"Of course I will, I just hope its not what I think it is"

"What you think it is? Hmm, if you want, I'll come with you"

If this is indeed an invitation to a fight, then I'd rather let Ryu out of this one...

"Are you stupid? The letter was meant for me, so obviously that person only wanted me to come"

"I guess you have a point, I'll wait for you outside the school then"

"Sure, this won't even take a while...I hope"

Whoever or whatever reason that person has, I have to come to the rooftop to know more about it!

I said as I walked to the hallway, alone, to the rooftop...

*****

End of Chapter 4