Dear Hagiwara-san

Misaki stared at the white, voluminous clouds through the window, hand supporting her chin. It really was beautiful outside, sky a vibrant, serene blue, and wind rustling gently through the trees. 

The final bell chirped and the clamor of people rising from their chairs filled the classroom.

Eventually the din started filtering out into the hallway like a babbling river. She waited in her seat until it was quiet and sighed, smoothing out her dark pleated skirt and grabbing her bag from beneath the desk.

A light tap on Misaki’s shoulder had her looking up. Her eyes landed on a boy a few inches taller than her with ruffled brown, shoulder-length hair that framed tawny eyes. A single, silver earring hung from one of his ears.

He was shifting his weight discreetly, swaying gently from side to side.

“Excuse me,” his voice was familiar but she couldn’t connect it to a name. “Are you Hagiwara-san?” She nodded, loosening her grip on the bag’s straps.

“And you are?” He blinked as though the question caught him by surprise.

“Uh… Mirahara. Given name Kyosuke.”

Mirahara actually was a name she recognised. If the girls weren’t the ones drooling over him, it was the guys idolising him or asking for help. He was one of the popular kids, and decidedly not the kind of person who talked to her.

Well.

Technically, he was now.

She smiled at him as politely as possible, hoping to ease the awkwardness. “Sorry. I’m not very good with faces.” 

He smiled back.

“Probably because yours is always pointed towards your desk.” She blinked at him, and the smile quickly faded. “Sorry, I… woah, okay. What I meant was it's refreshing to meet someone who isn’t falling all over me… Wait, no, that sounds— ahhh…” he blushed slightly. “A-anyway, I was asked to give this to you.” He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket like a magician revealing a flock of doves and held it towards her, slip-up quickly forgotten. Her name was written on the outermost section, and she took it.

“From who?”

“Rin.” There was a brief pause before he followed it up with, “Dirty blonde hair, about yea high? Plays, like, fifteen different sports?”

It took her a second, but she said, “Yumehara?” and he nodded.

“Anyway, now that I’ve faithfully completed my delivery, I must away. Have a good day.”

“You too,” she said absentmindedly, pocketing the note and pulling on her bag onto her shoulder. They left the classroom, heading their separate ways.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Misaki groggily blinked awake to the twinkling sound of a notification. Stretching, she rubbed her eyes and slowly cleared away the pages of homework she had evidently fallen asleep doing. The notification had come from her laptop, and she opened the email, blue light of the screen illuminating the dark room.

Her eyes skimmed it briefly before the words registered and she had to go back to read it properly.

Dear Hagiwara-san,

I am so sorry about this, but I wanted to profusely apologize regarding the contents of the letter I gave to you yesterday. Like I said then, the note was from Yumehara-kun, and I didn’t open or proofread it before passing it to you. This was an oversight on my part and I take full responsibility for it. It was only after I had completed the delivery that he admitted to what it held after much prodding. Please accept my humble, sincere apologies.

Thanks, and sorry again,

Mirahara Kyosuke

She stared at the email, bemused. It barely even sounded like Mirahara, not with all of the apologies and formalities and awkward undertone. Strange…

The letter! She hadn’t even opened it yet; it was still sitting in her uniform's pocket.

She dug it out, flipped it open… and was equally shocked. It was a completely over the top love confession. The page was decorated with red and pink hearts and XOs, and it started with ‘To my most dearest darling Hagiwara-chan~’. She could hardly believe such a thing existed, much less sat in her hands. It had been signed off ‘your secret admirer (M.K.)’ and she almost went to report Mirahara until she remembered the crucial bit of information his email contained. 

He hadn’t been the one to write it.

She might’ve felt annoyed, but truthfully was more relieved than anything that it had turned out to be just a prank. Misaki chuckled to herself, rereading his email. She could imagine him flushed and panicking, trying to send it as soon as possible lest she misunderstand.

Carefully, she set the letter down on her desk and started typing out her reply.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Misaki pulled her bag closer to her chest and ran a hand through her hair as the train rattled quietly on the tracks. She mentally prepared herself for another day of school and fought the urge to groan aloud. She leaned the back of her head against the window instead, sighing.

“Hagiwara-san?”

Her eyes flew open, feeling just as bewildered as he sounded.

“Mirahara?”

“What are you doing here?"

“…I’m going to school?

“Right.”

“Have you always ridden this train?” He shook his head, paused, and then nodded.

“Well, I ride in the mornings and normally in a different car, but I’ve been riding since middle school, yeah.”

“Oh.”

There was a pause before Mirahara’s eyes blew wide.

“Oh! I’m so sorry about yesterday and the note and everything!! I promise I had no clue what Rin had written in there. If I did I never would’ve given it to you, I swear!” She had to hold back a laugh, raising a hand to wave it away.

“No, it’s totally okay. I got your email and everything, and honestly I hadn’t even read it until you mentioned it.” He scratched the back of his head, flushing slightly.

“Sorry about that too. I normally wouldn’t send an email, but I didn’t have your number, and I didn’t want to wait till today in case you already read it and thought I was weird or something. I don’t know…” he trailed off.

“You can tell Yumehara-san that it was mission accomplished.” She grinned at him, and he returned it.

“Sure thing.”

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

“Misaki?”

“Huh?” Misaki blinked back to reality to find Hinata waving a hand in front of her face.

“I asked why you’re staring at Yumehara-san? You have a crush on him or something?”

Actually, she had been staring at Mirahara before she zoned out, but they didn’t need to know that. All of the awkwardness from their precious interactions had seemingly disappeared without a trace, and he was fully animated, laughing loudly with the other popular boys like normal.

“I wouldn’t blame her if she was,” Suzume sighed fondly, and Misaki pulled her gaze away from Mirahara.

“No, you can have him,” she replied, trying to focus on the worksheet.

“Anyway, do either of you know who you’re gonna work with on the project?” Hinata asked, tapping her pen against the edge of the desk.

“I don’t know,” Suzume said. “Shouldn’t we wait until he gives out the rubric so we can get an idea of what the project is even about?”

“Yeah, but we only have so long to work on it. It’s good to get at least a bit of a headstart.”

The conversation continued over her head, and slowly but surely Misaki’s attention drifted back over to Mirahara.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Misaki watched Mirahara intently as he tried to avoid her gaze. They had said the customary good mornings when the train departed from his stop, and he took the empty seat next to her, but they’d sat in silence since then.

“Why do you do it?” She asked finally.

“Do what?” He replied, startled, still refusing to meet her eyes.

“Switch like this. At school it's all the teacher can do to get you and your boys to shut up, but then all of a sudden you’re quiet and awkward around me. Which one’s real?” He stared at her for a second before letting out a half-laugh, half-sigh.

“…I guess, both? Kind of? Well, one more than the other but that’ll take some explaining and— Long story short, both. Like, I don’t put on an act or anything, but—”

The chiming of the train cut him off, announcing they had arrived at Kaori Station and they both scrambled to put their things together.

“Y’know what? Why don’t we finish this tomorrow?”

“Or… I could come to your place after school and we could talk then.”

He gawked at her, blinking in shock. “If you’re busy, it’s no big deal, but I seem to remember you delivering a pretty salacious note to little innocent me. I dare call it lecherous, really.” She was joking, but he seemed to deflate and sighed.

“Okay. After school, meet me by the side of the gym. I’ll walk you to my house.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

She grinned at him and he smiled softly back as they alighted from the train together.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Kyosuke watched as the clouds drifted lazily across the sky. The sunlight filtered through the leaves of the trees and landed on him where he leaned against the wall of the gym. He glanced at his watch until the sound of quiet conversation floated over to him.

“You seemed chipper today,” the brunette— Takahashi, Kyosuke thought her name was —said, and Hagiwara laughed lightly, schoolbag bouncing with every step.

“Can't be in a good mood anymore? I'm just glad the day’s finally over.”

“Suzume and I were gonna go to get some ice cream if you wanna join.” She shook her head.

“Maybe next time. My afternoon’s full.” The girls waved, departing, and Hagiwara walked over to him. 

Her rippling hair reflected the afternoon light and Kyosuke felt his breath catch in his chest. The long, wavy strands that normally looked black seemed to be tinged a deep, radiant purple in the bright sunlight, and her grey eyes almost sparkled from behind thick, black eyelashes.

“Earth to Mirahara-san.” She was waving a hand in front of his face and he blinked back, floundering for a moment.

“S-sorry. This way.” They stepped through the school's front gates together, joining the crowd of students leaving for the day.

“Takahashi-chan and Hano-san. They’re your friends, right?” He asked as they started walking away from the school. She hummed noncommittally.

“Kinda. We were friends back in middle school, but I don’t have that many classes with them this year, and they were always closer to each other anyway. So acquaintances, I guess.” She perked up, leaning closer to him. “But enough about me. I’ve been thinking about you all day.” Kyosuke felt warmth rise to his cheeks against his will and she smirked. “You made quite the impression, y’know. I’ve been plagued by the thought of it since,” she sighed melodramatically.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you like torturing me,” Kyosuke groaned, wishing he could sink into the ground. “Rin is going to pay for that someday.”

“You better start explaining before I recite my secret admirer's love confession. Passionately.” He sighed.

“It’s… kind of awkward. I don’t really know where to start…”

“Why do you hang out with the rowdy, popular bunch if you’re secretly an awkward loser?” He blinked at her, stunned.

“Did you have to phrase it like that?”

“Yup," she said, popping the 'p'. He sighed again. She was certainly… straight to the point.

“Well, they kinda just… brought me into the friend group. I mean, I like those guys, and they’re my friends, but they saw me one day sitting by myself and just roped me in.”

“So they adopted you like a lost dog.” Kyosuke almost tripped.

“You’ve gotta learn how to cushion those blows.” They paused at a crosswalk, and Hagiwara took a look at him.

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised.” Hagiwara said. “Your appearance isn’t exactly helping.”

“What’s wrong with the way I look?”

“Nothing’s wrong with it, per se, but the long hair and earring certainly radiate popular kid energy.”

“That’s why I was sitting by myself. It was specifically so that this wouldn’t happen. And look where that got me. Bringing home a random girl I only met a day ago.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be embarrassed and self-conscious? And technically you didn't meet me a day ago; we’ve been in the same class for months.”

“You didn’t even know my name until yesterday.”

“Don’t flatter yourself; I don’t know the names of half of the people in that class. Well. I know the names, just not the faces.” They lulled into a silence as they crossed the street.

“…That didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would,” Hagiwara admitted eventually. “I thought you said it was a long story.”

- ~ - ~

Kyosuke kept his eyes trained on the wood grain of his desk, worrying a strand of his hair between his fingers and taking in deep breaths.

“Well, I think he’s mute,” a girl whispered loudly to her friend.

“Maybe he’s just stupid.”

“I don’t know what he is, but he’s scary.” Another girl spoke up from a few desks away.

“I wish he never moved here in the first place.”

- ~ - ~

“Yeah,” Kyosuke replied. “I guess it was longer in my head, sorry.”

“Well, I guess I could just stop by your house quickly since we’re already heading that way.”

“Oh, this isn’t the way to my house. My house is in the other direction.”

…

“Then would you please enlighten me, dearest Mirahara-san, on why we spend the last seven minutes walking in this direction?” Hagiwara grit out through clenched teeth stretched into a forced smile.

“I have to pick up my little sister. Her aftercare is this way.”

…

“You could stand to be a little more straight-foward, you know.”

“Sorry," he laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "And sorry for wasting your time.”

“It was my idea,” Hagiwara sighed. “It's fine. I needed to go to the general store before heading home, anyway, so it works out.” She hiked her bag a bit further up her shoulder, and Kyosuke looked at her, thinking.

“Well, what about you?”

“Hm?”

“You’re always so quiet at school, nose pressed into a book or staring absent-mindedly out the window, but I think it’s pretty safe to say you are awfully… opinionated.”

“Watch it.”

“Why don’t you speak up more often?”

“Unfortunately, it’s not as easy to do the adopting as it is to get adopted. I don’t wanna come off as pushy or get turned down, and it’s weird to just interrupt a somewhat private conversation with my own input.”

“I don’t think you’re pushy, and you literally pushed me into bringing you to my home.”

“That’s… different.”

“How is it different?”

“Because you felt like you owed me, and you’re nice, and… and a lot of things, okay? I’ve tried before, but I think it’s just safer and easier to stay on the outside looking in.”

“You know you’re fairly popular among the boys. Even though you don't say much, it’s pretty unanimous that you look good, and I can’t disagree.” His mouth was moving faster than his mind and the sentence made its way out before he realized what he was saying. She froze and blinked at him, finally speechless. Kyosuke stopped in his tracks, pushing his hair back frantically.

“WOAH, OKAY, woah, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. My foot was in my mouth, I’m sorry. I just meant that I don’t think anyone would be opposed if you were to speak up more because they already think well of you, even if you don’t think it, and… and… and…”

She raised both hands quickly, shaking them to stop his rant.

“It’s okay. Really. I don’t mind.”

“I wasn’t thinking, I swear. I wasn’t— I wouldn’t—”

“It’s okay, Mirahara.” Her eyes were glittering again, and she smiled at him. “Thank you.”

She started walking again and he followed, at a loss for words. This girl was completely different than the one who had sat listlessly in his class for all these months. She was radiant and outspoken and brass. How could he have missed her?

“You aren’t too bad yourself, y’know,” she said. “If the awkward delinquent poser type is what you’re into.”

“Okay.”

”That Yumehara-san is much more attractive. Everyone says so.”

“I said okay, Hagiwara.”

“Y’know, I bet I could name 20 girls who like Yumehara but none who like you. Maybe one, if I tried.”

“That's enough outta you; I’d like to rescind my previous statement.”

“Too late~”