Chapter 2 Love Letter

Chapter 2 Love Letter

The next day.

Hoshino Haruna walked into classroom 1-3 with dark circles under her eyes that could rival a panda's.

"Oh... Hoshino! Good morning!"

As soon as Hoshino returned to her seat, she heard a familiar voice from beside her.

"Only a few days into school and you already confessed? Pretty impressive!" The person shot her a look of admiration.

...

As if she had expected him to say that, Hoshino's expression stayed completely blank, and she just stayed silent.

"Hey, Hoshino, why aren't you saying anything?" The person found it strange.

"I'm dead," Hoshino suddenly said.

"...Huh?"

"Dead people can't talk," she explained.

???

Upon hearing this, Yamazaki Kenji was taken aback. "Hey, come on! Even if your confession failed, it's not that bad..."

"Shhh—"

Hoshino quickly shushed him with a gesture.

"If you keep shouting like that, the whole building will hear!" Hoshino said, unable to hold it in any longer. "Besides, what confession? It's obviously a misunderstanding!"

Hoshino quickly explained the whole story from beginning to end. Otherwise, knowing this old friend from junior high, Yamazaki would definitely spread the news everywhere.

But...

"You haven't told anyone already, have you?" Hoshino asked suspiciously.

Yamazaki: ...

"Great, I'm dead again." Hoshino dropped her head in despair.

"Wait, don't die yet!" Yamazaki quickly tried to comfort her. "You can't blame me for that! It was after school, and lots of people heard it right there. Whether I said anything or not, it probably didn't make much difference, right?"

Hoshino's face grew even paler.

"But hey, you don't have to be so negative, do you?" Yamazaki kept talking to himself. "Since it's just a misunderstanding, why don't you just explain it to Tsukishima?"

"It's not that simple! I ran off in a hurry yesterday without even having a chance to discuss the manga reference material with him!" Hoshino said, then began to sigh. "Now there's such a huge misunderstanding, and the rumors can't be cleared up. There's no way he'll ever help me!"

Yamazaki thought for a moment.

"I have an idea," he suggested.

Hoshino: ?

"How about you just go along with it and actually confess to him? If you succeed, won't the rumors disappear?"

After all, directly turning the rumor into reality would do the trick~

Hoshino: ...

"Thanks a lot," she said expressionlessly. "When I decide to die a third time, I'll consider your suggestion."

Yamazaki: ?

***

Meanwhile, in classroom 1-4.

It was break time, and Tsukishima was calmly organizing his textbooks at his desk, but his mind kept replaying the scene from yesterday afternoon—a girl with a shoulder-length mushroom cut bowed deeply to him out of nowhere and said—

"Tsukishima-san, can you be the main character in my story? Please!"

...

What kind of person could say something like that without a second thought? Some kind of single-celled organism??

It's only been a week since school started, and he had absolutely no connection with that girl. It was a stretch to call it a confession.

But if it isn't a confession, what did those words mean?

...

Tsukishima couldn't understand it.

Things he couldn't understand always lingered in his mind until they were completely resolved—that was probably a common problem among many top students. But for Tsukishima, that wasn't the worst part.

The worst part was that there were so many people around that afternoon.

Members of the volleyball club.

People from school.

At this age, students love gossip, and one of high schoolers' favorite pastimes during their free time is digging up romantic news around them. The fuss they caused yesterday was so big, he couldn't believe the people around them would just pretend not to notice.

But when he came to the classroom this morning, he felt that the atmosphere was no different from usual. Everyone was doing their own thing, and no one talked about the scene from yesterday afternoon.

Tsukishima: ...

So... was he overthinking it?

Although it wasn't what he had expected, Tsukishima was pretty satisfied with this outcome.

Great, let's just pretend nothing happened, he thought.

Though nothing had really happened in the first place.

Just as he was settling down to start studying, Yamaguchi Tadashi, who had missed practice yesterday due to personal reasons, suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Tsukki," Yamaguchi said secretively, leaning in, "I heard someone confessed to you?"

Tsukishima: ...

Well, what's bound to happen happens.

And...

Recalling the serious expression on that girl's face from yesterday, Tsukishima confirmed his conclusion once again in his mind—

As expected, nothing good comes from meeting a dense person!

***

In the following days, Hoshino would run over to the neighboring classroom, Class 1-4, every time she had a free moment to find Tsukishima, hoping to clear up the misunderstanding from that day.

But as luck would have it, every time she went there, Tsukishima wasn't at his desk.

Several days passed like this, and Hoshino couldn't sit still. Putting aside the manga research stuff for now, she had caused him trouble that day, so it was absolutely necessary to apologize. Disappearing for days after causing trouble and running away would make her seem irresponsible!

...

No, no! Hoshino shook her head inwardly.

Today, she absolutely had to talk things out with Tsukishima-san!

Since she couldn't talk face-to-face, she would leave a message! Thinking this, Hoshino immediately took out some stationery and an envelope from her bag and carefully wrote an apology letter.

Hmm... not bad, not bad!

A few minutes later, Hoshino looked at her masterpiece with satisfaction.

Neat handwriting, sincere words—this letter would surely convey her sincerity to Tsukishima-san!

Then, before the break was over, she went to Class 1-4's classroom, greeted the class monitor, and went to Tsukishima's seat, placing the letter on his desk.

However, just as she was about to leave, she heard voices behind her—

"Tsukishima, the English teacher said she left her textbook at your desk."

"Oh, okay. I'll go back to my seat and get it."

...

Hoshino: Huh!

It's Tsukishima!

Since Tsukishima is already here, it would be more proper to hand him the letter in person!

Without a second thought, Hoshino snatched the letter from Tsukishima's desk, rushed to the classroom door in a few quick strides, and bowed deeply at Tsukishima, who had just entered the room—

"Tsukishima-san, I'm truly sorry about last time! Please accept my sincere apology!"

...

....

......

Eh, wait.

Hoshino felt that something was off again.

Why did she have this familiar unsettling feeling? Was it her imagination?

However, before she could fully react, Class 1-4 had erupted—

"Wow, is this a love letter?!"

"I heard someone confessed to Tsukishima before and thought it was a rumor... I can't believe it's true!"

"Is she making up for not having a love letter last time by bringing one now? How thoughtful!"

"Damn, I'm so jealous!"

...

The classmates around seemed to still be talking about something, but Hoshino couldn't hear a word. The Tsukishima Kei she was looking for was standing right in front of her, but she had completely lost the courage to look up.

Well, she was dead again.

Hoshino thought despairingly.

Now that I think about it, how many times had she died already?

-TBC-

*

Author's note:

Congratulations to Hoshino for earning a spot on Tsukishima's blacklist (just kidding)