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"I'm thinking of rejecting the love letter guy." Iino remarked, one morning in the student council room. Another flower envelope was in her hand, though the blushing that usually accompanied it was faded by now.
It all started on a gloomy afternoon. After the most recent elections, Iino had won by a clear majority. Being backed by some of the most powerful students and with no clear opposition, victory was practically assured. But winning the election didn't automatically give her the power she needed to reform the school's morals. On the contrary, it dumped her with a lot of paperwork and event planning, and the school mostly ran the same as normal.
These things took time, she knew. But time took forever, just like the increasing list of responsibilities she didn't even realize a student council president needed to handle. So it was on one particularly exhausting day that the next letter appeared. A flower-pressed letter for her, talking about how diligent she was and how much she inspired them. This time, she had looked all around the classroom and even the hallways, but nobody was around for her to pin it on. She felt secretly glad for that, the way her face heated up when she had begun to read it.
It wasn't the same person as the first letter, she was mostly sure of it. The paper was a different brand, the flower a different kind from the first. But it certainly brightened her day, and the days after that. Ever since then, flower letters appeared on her desk weekly, all with some new encouraging letter, the second person's handwriting, and a different flower each time. What could it be if not romantic?
"A bit creepy, if you asked me." Ishigami tapped away at his own laptop, pointedly ignoring the letter in her hand. "Plus, are we really calling them love letters? Aren't you reading a bit much into them? They always seemed more like appreciation notes to me..."
"Well, it's the result that counts. And they seem like Love Letters to me."
"Maybe you're just that desperate for love."
"Maybe I am." Iino admitted, sighing sadly. She wasn't quite sure of what to make of their new relationship. They certainly weren't mortal enemies anymore, but they weren't lovers, either. She guessed that Friends was an apt term, if friends bickered as much as they did.
"Why are you telling this all to me, anyways? Don't you have some other friends to tell this to?" He asked, mind flitting back to Fujiwara or maybe Shinomiya. "It's pretty difficult to have girl talk with a guy, you know."
"Well... I was hoping you'd give me advice." Iino fidgeted, looking away from him. "On how to let a guy down gently."
She looked up from her papers, and saw... Actually, she wasn't quite sure what emotion she was witnessing here. At first glance, it could have been some unholy mix of horror and despair. But there were also tinges of melancholy or sadness, as well as some abyssal emotion that looked like it came directly from a horror manga. In any case, Iino had to remind herself, there were more proper things to be doing than examining her treasurer's face.
After a laden silence, Ishigami finally coughed into his hand, moving again. "Well... Maybe you should give him a chance? Who knows, maybe he's not as creepy as the letters make him look."
"You think the letters are creepy?" For a second there, she looked hurt. Then it faded for her typical scornful, I-Know-Better-Than-You look. "Well, you wouldn't know anything about romance from your dating sims. I bet you prefer 2d to 3d!"
"What makes you say that?" He was struggling to keep his face straight now.
"Personal experience." A pout flitted across her face. "In any case, there's already someone I like, so I don't have a choice but to turn the letter guy down."
"Oh. You like someone?" His one visible eye widened slightly.
"Yes. I do." Just talking about it wouldn't break any of the rules, she supposed. "Someone in our year, actually."
"Can I get a name?"
"Since when did you become a gossip?"
"Since you started pulling me into your love life." He deadpanned, rolling his one visible eye. "Just be careful, all right? There are guys out there who'd take advantage of you."
"Well, I'm sure HE wouldn't. I think I know him too well for that." Iino chose to slip a little lie into her next words, just to give Ishigami a little confidence boost against the letter guy. "And neither would the guy writing the letters. How could he take advantage when he's too much of a coward to show his face to me?"
Ishigami staggered back, as if shot in the chest. Packing up his laptop, he let a single tear fall onto the coffee table. "I want to rethink my life, so I'm going home."
"Well, at least it's not dyin- Hey! Come back here, our work's not yet done!"
The letters stopped for a while after that. He pretended not to notice, but Ishigami saw the slight frown on her face when she saw her empty desk, or the small gloom she tucked away afterwards.
So he went back to writing them. It was just to keep her spirits up, how bad could it be? And she was happier when she saw them, there was no doubt about it. Sure, it was a bit of a hassle to smuggle in letters right under the new President's nose and leave them for her, but he'd been smuggling in video games and magazines from her since forever. He'd be caught dead before being caught with the letters-
"I forgot something-" Iino froze, staring at the letter he was holding, inches away from her desk. She had caught him with redder hands than the carnation on the envelope.
No good! If she discovers it was me leaving those letters... Racing faster than his heartbeat, Ishigami's mind began to construct the most likely scenarios to happen. One terrible thought stood out.
"Oh? You've stooped so low as to write love letters for me, without being brave enough to give them to me yourself? How cute..."
A voice recorder is held up inches away from his face. "Read them for me, please? In slow motion."
Truly a fate worse than death.
When caught red handed in a crime, there are only two options left for the guilty: Confess, or Deny. Every other option just delays the inevitable question that arises after. And Ishigami chose...
To lie like a little coward. "Yeah, I was just reading the letter! To make sure it was safe for you; you know how guys are these days, low morals and all that. But hey, the letter's clean, so I'll just leave it here and be on my way..."
"Wait." That lie obviously wasn't going to work, he had just taken it out of his open bag. Which left only one horrifying conclusion... "You're working with the enemy!"
"The WHAT?"
"It was obvious from the start... They used you to get into my inner circle and gain my trust, then report back on everything I said! Then, unsatisfied with that, they'd leave you to do the dirty work of leaving their letters around for them!" Iino began to mutter, not having learned the previous president's skill of internal monologuing. "As the newest Student Council President, I knew I'd have made enemies, but this is too fast, too soon! They even singled out my weakness!"
"Why am I the weakpoint?! And who's they?!"
"The shadowy organization delivering these letters!"
"I... Uh..." Ishigami's brain shorted out. Shadow organization? I'm a mole? "Yeah, you got me, detective."
"Wait, really?"
"No! What did you think was going on?"
"Well..."
My name is Shinigame. The protege of the infamous assassin, R. Korogane, the god of death. My contract: To kill the upcoming revolutionary, Miko Iino. She is a threat to the elders, the shadow council that rules all of Japan without it's knowing. I am an assassin, and she is my contract.
So why can't I bring myself to do it? If I did it, I would be rich beyond my wildest dreams. I could mark my name as a true assassin. Maybe then... Korogane-Sensei would finally truly look at me.
Take these roses, Miko, as a sign of my love. But be warned: Every rose has it's thorns...
That's such a beautiful story! Is what he thought.
"That's stupid. What kind of assassin warns the target before killing them?" Is what he said. "And I thought the letter guy was supposed to be a coward?"
"He's a coward because he won't change this society with me." Iino huffed, snatching her bag from her seat. "Who knows? Maybe being on the student council guarantees a love life?"
"Yeah, I wish." Ishigami rolled his eyes. "Here, just take it."
"Mph!"
"You were gonna walk over and pick it up, so I'm saving you the trouble. Take it."
Iino glared at him for a moment. Slowly, she approached, like a wary animal being given a scrap of food. Then, snatching the letter out of his hand, she scampered off like an intimidated squirrel.
"No letter this time..." Iino sighs, thinking about her empty desk. The usual weekly letter was absent, which left her feeling strangely dull. Maybe she should write one back? But how would she even return it? Leave it on her desk?
"Hey. Here's your mail."
"Since when were you a mailma-" The familiar flower on the letter froze the words in her mouth. Dropping it onto the table, Ishigami shuffled off to his usual spot.
"Since you already knew, I figured it'd be easier to just hand them off." The nonchalant misdirection! By pretending to not be stressed or embarrassed, one could stave off any major emotion and fool others! A time-honed technique used by all members of the council, it was a technique mastered by Ishigami!
But Iino had mastered it as well! "Just leave it on the table, I've got papers to fill out."
The room fell silent, save for button taps and pen strokes.
"Actually. Can I ask you a favour?" Her voice was softer now, barely above a whisper.
Ishigami looked down on the Switch in his hands, pausing his game. He guessed he did owe her for not being as naggy as before about it. "Sure. Go ahead."
"Read it for me? I really need to get this done…" She muttered, her pen dancing across the papers in rapid motion. From any normal person's point of view, it would seem like any ordinary request, like asking to be read a text message while in the middle of a busy intersection! But keen observers would have noticed the way her eyes were glued to her papers, or the way her breathing was muffled, as if ready to etch each word into her memory.
"Sure." In order to maintain the lie that Ishigami didn't particularly care about the letters, he needed to read them! Any refusal could suggest that he indeed cared about their contents, which would leave him trapped! And as his hand reached for the floral paper, only one desperate plan came to mind! "Here we go. Listen up, I'm only doing this once."
Ishigami takes a deep breath…
"youareagifttothosearoundyou"
And mumble raps every word of the letter.
"I wasn't ready! I said read it, not rap it!" With the hotter temper of the two, Iino's facade cracks first! Muttering to herself, she returned to attacking the papers, her pen cutting swathes through the innocent documents.
Crisis averted! Smirking to himself, Ishigami booted up the switch once more. Now that that was over with… But what was with Iino's expression?! She looked like he had just kicked over her sandcastle, or slapped a puppy. Did she really care that much? Suddenly, the game he was playing felt a lot less interesting.
Might as well get it over with, before she could set up a voice recorder. Throwing away any hope of keeping his dignity, he picked up the letter again.
"Iino. You really are a gift to those around you."
A pen clattered to the ground. Wide-eyed, she was staring at him like he had just spoken the secrets of the universe to her. She was glowing now, too. Not a reddish embarrassed glow, but an overjoyed yellow glow. It felt different, hearing it in person, and especially when he didn't immediately follow it up with a request! Did Ishigami know how much that meant- Of course he didn't. He was right back to playing his switch, as if nothing had happened.
"Are you sure you're not the one who wrote these? Now that I hear you say it, these letters match... You, somehow." Iino had her suspicions, after all! Seeing Ishigami leaving the letter on the desk made him guilty, in some way or another. But the question was: Was he just the lackey, or the ringleader? If she guessed poorly…
"Oh? So you thought the letters I handwrote for you were made by someone else? So cruel…" A single tear splashed on the ground, sparkling. "I want to die, so I'm going home."
Or…
"Oh? You thought I was the one writing you these letters, when in reality I don't care and just want to play video games?" Ishigami looked down on her with a smug smirk. "You really have an overactive imagination, Iino."
She would not be looked down upon! Either they entered this as equals, or not at all!
"Give me some credit here! I'd never write anything so cheesy." Feeling his face warming, Ishigami refused to look her in the eye.
"Are you sure? Shinomiya-Senpai did suggest you had a habit of littering to impress the girl you liked."
"It's not littering! It's an anonymous gift."
"Oh, so you do leave things around, then?"
"Why? Gonna put my gifts in the lost and found?"
"It wouldn't be the first time." Unconsciously, her hand clasped around the hidden heart locket.
He wasn't replying. That was unusual, their mock-arguments usually lasted much longer than this. Why did he-
"When was the first time?"
He didn't remember? Of course he didn't. He never knew how much he meant, did he? After all, he had been interested in Tsubame back then, and she was just an afterthought. He was just being kind before, right? So why… Why did it mean so much to her? "Never mind. I'm feeling tired, so I think I'll do the rest of my work at home."
"Right. I'll accompany you home?"
"I'm not telling you about it, no matter how much you ask."
"And you're not going to get any less lonelier if you storm off like that." Packing up, Ishigami stretched himself awake. "C'mon, let's get back before it gets dark."