Chapter 1

They say romance is like opening a new book. That it opens new doors. That’s nice and all, but sometimes you just want to close that book. Shut that door. So I write this with all the sincerity in my heart. I want to break up. So Rin, please kindly get the fuck out of my life.

Yuto scrunched up the letter. He could never say this to his girlfriend Rin. Sure, he meant it when he wrote about wanting to break up. But he couldn’t word it quite so bluntly. Rin was a sweet, kind girl. Always doting, always caring. Not to mention, she was one of the most attractive girls in the class. Honestly, in most people’s eyes, she was perfect.

But Yuto didn’t love her. It wasn’t as if he had anyone else to run off to. Not that he didn’t have his own fanbase. He was decently good-looking. Honestly, there was no deeper reason for this breakup. The only reason was simple. It was just the right time.

This was something he decided many months ago. Something he had attempted to enact many months ago.

He jumped to his feet and gripped his head as he screamed, “Why can’t she take a bloody hint?!”

He tried over and over to break up. But no matter what he did, she just didn’t seem to understand. How could the smartest girl in the class be so dense that she failed to notice his breakup advances?

He slumped back down into his chair. Flicked his pen around a few times and began the next letter.

Rin, you are nice and all, but I no longer love you. I want to break up.

~Yuto

He paused for a moment, putting the pen tip in his mouth as he thought.

‘Simple. Clear. Polite.’

“It’s perfect!” He began to shed tears, and they just continued to flow, glistening in the golden rays of the rising sun. She would read this letter and finally understand his true feelings.

He dropped the paper on his desk and spun around in his chair. His black hair whipped as he spun. It may have taken all night, but at least he now had a flawless letter. His smile began to hurt his cheeks.

Which was also when the nausea began to set in.

‘But what if, somehow, she doesn’t understand my true feelings?’

Yuto reached down and picked up the paper. He noticed his hand was shaking, so he braced it with the other. Anyone else and he wouldn’t harbour these doubts, but Rin was a different bag.

Not leaving anything to chance, he read it once more. And then again. And then many times more. Although doubt still resonated within his heart, every time he read the letter, he came to the exact same conclusion. It was perfect. There was no room for misunderstandings.

Finally satisfied, he slipped the paper into an envelope marked with Rin’s name.

He glanced over at the clock. It was already time to get ready for school.

❤︎ --- ୨୧ --- ❤︎

He didn’t even reach Rin’s locker before breaking out in a coughing fit. Standing at the locker next to Rin’s was Riko, the number one sportsman in the school.

Yuto covered his nose and mouth with his sleeves. Even then, it did little to shield the smell of Grnx Antarctica clinging to Riko. Yuto wanted nothing more than to get out of here as quickly as possible.

“Yo, what’s up, bro?”

“Riko… Just how much deodorant did you use?”

“Just a bit, little dude. Had to smell good after practice,” Riko flexed his arms above his head, somehow showing off his muscular arms and chest at the same time.

‘Pretty sure you’d classify as a bioweapon.’ Yuto didn’t dare say this out loud. Instead, he simply gave him a thumbs-up. “Well, you do you, buddy.”

“What about you, bro, whatcha up to?” He nodded towards Yuto.

“Just trying to give Rin this letter.”

A smile flickered on Riko’s face.

“Old school flirting. Pretty sick, dude.” He signalled a surfer pose with his fingers.

“Thanks,” Yuto responded to try to escape this interaction as quickly as possible.

“If you want some pointers, I can give you some tips.” He flexed his arms above his head like some sort of ancient Greek statue, which also released more of his toxic level of deodorant. “I’m pretty popular with the chicks.”

Yuto flashed the letter in front of his face and winked at Riko.

“That’s alright. I think my feelings are clearly outlined in this letter.”

He turned back to Rin’s locker and slipped the letter into the slit.

Rin always arrived at ungodly hours, so she wouldn’t see the letter until lunchtime. But it didn’t matter when she saw it, so long as she saw it.

Sure enough, the moment Yuto opened the door to his classroom, he caught a glimpse of the girl who captured everyone's awe. Rin. Sitting gracefully on her desk, positioned centred in the room.

A conveniently timed gust of wind blew through the room, catching her perfect brown hair like some sort of shampoo commercial.

All those in the class were bewitched by her beauty. All but Yuto. He had seen it all before.

The moment the gust settled down, she opened her eyes and noticed Yuto standing in the doorway. A warm smile formed on her face. She kicked off the desk and jogged up to him.

“Yuto! Good morning!”

Yuto avoided making eye contact with her.

“Good morning, Rin,” Yuto replied.

“You two flirting this early?” a female voice chimed in from behind Yuto. It was Hana, Yuto and Rin’s childhood friend. Unlike Rin, who had the energy of a puppy with Zoomies, Hana was cool and mature.

“Lay off my Yuto!” Rin called back, wrapping her arms around Yuto.

“He wasn’t the one I was referring to,” Hana replied, taking her seat.

Yuto shrugged Rin off and whispered to her. “I placed an important letter in your locker. Please read it very carefully so you know how I really feel about you.”

Rin glanced away quickly, trying to hide how beetroot her face had turned. Meanwhile, Yuto hadn’t clocked that his statement could be misconstrued as another love confession.

At the front of the room, Mr Yamamoto hunched over his desk, half-asleep behind his wavy brown hair, pretending very hard not to notice who was flirting with whom.

Class soon began, and time flew by as Yuto nervously kept checking the clock. Counting down for the moment that Rin would finally be out of his life. The bell rang, signalling the beginning of lunch. Rin left ahead of him, but before he could catch up to confirm that she had read the letter, the ringing of the bell was replaced by the ringing of another alarm.

A fire? Yuto thought to himself as he rushed towards the exit. Before he even got to the exit, the alarm cut out. By the time he reached the exit, he could see smouldering remains of Rin’s locker and the adjacent one owned by Riko.

“Thank god no one was hurt in the blaze,” Mr Yamamoto commented, brandishing a fire extinguisher like a weapon.

Whilst he was putting out the embers, Yuto ran up to Rin, who was looking calm, surprisingly so, despite her locker having just gone up in a ball of flames. A sense of calmness that Yuto didn’t share.

“Rin! What the hell happened?!”

Rin turned her head. Without even a hint of panic, she calmly responded. “Seems like a case of Spontaneous Locker Combustion.”

Yuto blinked, taking several seconds to process her words.

“Spontaneous what now?!”

“Spontaneous Locker Combustion,” she replied nonchalantly.

Yuto grabbed Rin's shoulders and began shaking her back and forth.

“What the hell even is that?”

Rin shrugged his hands off and began waggling her finger at him.

“It’s as the name suggests, darling, the locker spontaneously combusted.”

Yuto’s mind went blank. Well, blanker than it already was. His eyes glossed over, and there was a moment of awkward silence. Finally, he composed himself.

“How is that a real thing?!” He exclaimed.

She shrugged.

“It’s not as rare as it seems.”

“I think it is quite unusual.”

“Not really. Did you know, more lockers spontaneously combust each year than die from shark attacks?”

“How many lockers are going to be attacked by sharks?!” Yuto asked, getting exasperated.

“Less than spontaneously combust,” she replied, doing a ‘gottem’ pose with her fingers.

Yuto stared blankly at her.

“You know what, never mind, I don’t want to even try and think about it,” he replied with a hint of resignation.

By now, the fire had been completely extinguished, and Mr Yamamoto wandered over to them.

“Rin, I’m glad you are alright. I’m so sorry all your things got burnt in the blaze.”

Wait… The entire situation finally dawned on Yuto. The letter he had spent so much time on went up in flames, along with any hope of a successful breakup.

“That’s alright, objects are just material items that can be replaced. I’m just glad nobody was harmed.”

“That’s very mature of you,” he replied, placing a hand on her head. At the same time, he side-glanced Yuto with a knowing look. “Saying that, we will need to find you a new locker to use.”

“That’s okay, there is no need to rush.” Rin waved her hands in front of her, trying to dismiss him. But he simply smiled wickedly.

“How about the vacant one next to Yuto’s?”

Before Yuto could object, Rin piped in, “I’d love that!”

“Excellent, feel free to use that one from now on.”

Mr Yamamoto left, but not before giving a thumbs up that only Yuto saw.

“Well, darling,” Rin leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “I guess it means we will be closer from now on.”

Yuto gritted his teeth.

I swear to God! I’ll find some way to get Rin out of my fucking life.

❤︎ --- ୨୧ --- ❤︎

End of Chapter 1