A troublesome confession Part 1

It was the morning of April 13th — a beautiful Friday in the middle of spring. The sun was shining, and the light breeze blew away the soft pink leaves of the blooming cherry trees. Nature was rather lively. The birds sang odes to the world, and the squirrels fidgeted around the trees. It was the season of love.

As Kaede opened her school cabin, she noticed something inside it. To her surprise, it was an envelope.

"Huh? Who could have sent this?" she said as she took it out to take a better look.

The envelope was sealed with a red shape of a heart. Kaede looked around to see if anyone was looking at her. Confirming that nobody was near her, she carefully opened the envelope. There was a letter inside it, and the recipient was her. The message was short.

"Meet me at the big old cherry tree in the schoolyard at 12:10. I have something to tell you..."

The sender's name wasn't written anywhere.

"Who might this person be and what does he want from me?" Kaede whispered to herself. "Well if I want to know, I have no choice but to go there and meet them. But I gotta be careful..."

She could guess that it was a love letter but wasn't entirely sure of it. She was very surprised and nervous, but curious at the same time.

And so Kaede did as the mysterious sender instructed. She was waiting for them under the big old cherry tree. It was already 12:07. Since it was lunchtime, the area wasn't busy at all. She could spot easily if someone was approaching her. The arranger of their meeting could arrive at any time. 

As she was waiting, she saw someone coming in her direction. It was Matsuda Satoshi.

"Huh, Saotoshi-kun? What could he be doing here at a time like this?" she thought to herself. "Wait? Could it be that he is the mysterious sender?!"

"Satoshi-kuuun! Here, here!" she waved at the boy with a naughty smile as she walked towards him.

Satoshi turned in the direction of the voice. 

"Ugh, it's a wild Kaede. I'll just wave back, and move on before she starts teasing me..." he thought and waved at her with an awkward smile and did as he planned.

"H-hey, wait! Where are you going? Satoshi-kuuun!" she shouted after him.

But Satoshi was already gone. Kaede, feeling broken down, walked back and sat down under the tree. 

"Heh... Heheh... I've just got ignored," she said staring at the ground with kind of a sad face. "But if it wasn't Satoshi who sent the letter, who was it?"

At that moment, she heard a voice of a boy from behind.

"So you actually came... I didn't expect that."

Kaede jumped up from her spot and turned around. The boy was standing behind her. He was about 25 centimeters taller than her. His voice was somewhat deep and muscular. He had brown hair and black eyes. He seemed pretty muscular, but lean. However, he didn't look as mature as a second or third-year student.

"Oh my gosh... He's super hot!" Kaede thought immediately as she looked at him.

"My name is Kazuo Shiraki. I'm from class 1-B."

He moved closer to Kaede, who backed a bit in her surprise. His body pressed against the trunk of the tree as she did. The boy then suddenly put his large muscular hand on the tree and looked deep into her eyes. Kaede was a little startled, but for some reason, she also felt a passionate curiosity toward the guy.

"Kaede-san! I love you... Please go out with me!" Kazuo confessed to her.

At that moment, Kaede's mind was overloaded. She didn't know what to think of the situation. She was overwhelmed with the swirling of different thoughts and feelings inside her.

"What? He wants to go out with me?! But I'm a freshman, is it even okay to do that? And this all came so suddenly! Aaawh! But he is suuupper hot! No... I don't deserve someone like him... But at the same time, I can't just reject him! But would I even make a good girlfriend?! Right... He doesn't know that I'm a..."

"So what is your answer?" Kazuo's question interrupted her chaotic thoughts.

"I... I can't. Because..." she spoke, "Because I already have a boyfriend!"

"I see..." the guy lowered his hand.

"I am saved!" Kaede thought. "I'm sorry..."

"It's fine... I'm used to it. But I just wonder... Who is your boyfriend?"

"WHO?! What kind of details is he going to ask me?!" Kaede thought as she tried to figure out what to answer. "Sa... Satoshi... Matsuda! He... He's my classmate!" 

"I see... I've never seen you with anyone, that's why I thought you were single," Kazuo answered while pondering.

"W-well, we've just got together a few days ago..."

"Ah, then it all makes sense now... Well, sorry to bother you then!"

"I-it's not a problem, really!"

Suddenly, the bell rang. The lunch break was over.

"Well, now if you'd excuse me..." the boy said as he turned away.

"Y-yeah! Have a nice day!" Kaede smiled awkwardly as she said goodbye.

"You too!" Kazuo nodded and walked away.

Kaede fell to the ground in her relief.

"It's over..." she sighed. 

"I hope I'm not gonna get in any trouble because of this..." she thought as she slowly walked back into the school building.