Chapter Text
Shuichi Saihara checks his locker between every class period. It saves him from having to carry a lot of materials around, especially things that he won’t be using until way later.
His locker code is muscle memory to him by now. He’s not the only one who knows it, though. Two of his best friends, K1-B0 and Kaito Momota, happen to know it as well. K1-B0 knows all of his close friend’s codes in case anyone forgets. As for Kaito, it has accidentally committed itself to his memory from having to retrieve things for a forgetful Shuichi way too many times.
Lunch passed about an hour ago. Today’s lunch period is the last time this month that all of his friends will be there at the same time eating together. Around this time during the school year, the science fair unit for every grade level begins. A common time to work on projects outside of class is during lunch, so, lunch period will feel a bit different for a few weeks. He typically spends that time with Kaito, K1-B0, Maki Harukawa, Kokichi Oma, and Rantaro Amami. For a while, it’ll be randomized.
Now, Shuichi is leaving geometry class and getting ready to go to biology. Today, Shuichi should be finding out who his partners are for the science fair. If his luck pulls through, one of them will be the girl he likes. He thinks about it until he gets to his locker and opens it.
Shuichi immediately notices an envelope partially sticking out between two of his textbooks. He pulls it out and looks at the front side of it. Written on it is his first and last name with a heart next to it in black ink. He stares at it for a good moment, contemplating whether or not he should open it now. He decides against it, considering that there’s only a small amount of time between the end of a class period and the start of the next.
He puts the letter back between two textbooks and grabs the materials he needs for biology. With that, he closes his locker and walks off, but the letter still burns in his mind.
The handwriting already feels familiar to him, but he can’t quite put a finger on who it’s from yet. Of course, he’ll know when he actually opens it. With the heart next to it, it screams “love confession” to him. Though, it’s not determined that it’ll be from his crush, so he might have to reject someone instead. He’s never received anything like this before! The anticipation of it is guaranteed to make him anxious for the rest of the day.
During biology, everything goes great for Shuichi. Not only is one of his partners Kaito, but his crush as well. His entire group for the science fair consists of people he gets along with well: Kaito, Kaede Akamatsu, Himiko Yumeno, and Tsumugi Shirogane. As for their project topic, Kaito pushed hard for an astronomy-based concept, Tsumugi wanted something involving clothing, Himiko wanted something minimally interactive, and Kaede was open to anything, so they compromised. After a long discussion, they agree on making it about how shirt colors affect the wearer’s protection from the sun’s UV rays as per Kaede’s suggestion.
During all of their conversations this period, Kaito easily notices something different with Shuichi. Normally, he’s quite calm in the way that he talks unless there’s something up with him. What that could be is beyond Kaito. Though, he doesn’t bother to ask Shuichi in front of the girls, because then that would put him on the spot and possibly make him feel awkward. He deems that if it’s really anything bothering Shuichi, Kaito will likely be the first to hear about it since they tell each other practically everything.
Biology quickly ends as quickly as it began, and so does the following period-- the last of the day for Shuichi: weight training.
As soon as Shuichi gets home, he runs off to his room and pulls out the letter from his backpack. He flips it over and prepares himself. With how good today was, he doesn’t expect anything less. He rips it open. At the sight of the first sentence, his whole mood begins to change.
“;Do you wholeheartedly believe that we are friends, Shuichi?
We see each other at lunch every day, but do we ever talk outside of that? We have classes together, but have we ever talked to each other in them other than when we had to? Have we ever hung out outside of school alone? How much do we know about each other, in all actuality?
To be completely honest, I find it hard to get along with you. I do not know if you feel the same way, and if you happen not to, it would not change anything anyway. One-sided friendships never work. Groups of three, especially, do not work either. I know Kaito introduced me to you, but I never asked him to do that. He does not know how I feel about you, and I would prefer if you allow it to stay that way. If you want to avoid any conflict, you should keep this to yourself. If anyone in your friend group asks why I stopped hanging around them, claim that you do not know anything. Though, if you see me around Kaito, that should not be a surprise.
As I made it clear before, I am not going to sit with you and your friends at lunch anymore. Do not try to talk to me from today onward. I am not interested in having any conversation about this-- or any conversation at all-- with you. That is the main reason why I could not approach you in person. This is a matter between us two only, it is in your best interest to keep it that way.
Maki Harukawa.”
“W-What?” Shuichi whispers to himself. A teardrop hits the paper, which surprises him. He didn’t realize he started crying. Never in a million years would he have ever seen this coming.
He’s completely conflicted. His immediate inner reaction is to get on the phone with Kaito start telling him everything, but he respects Maki, even now. He respects her honesty as much as it hurts him. And with what she wrote about still being seen around Kaito, Shuichi doesn’t want to hurt their friendship because of his own apparent differences with Maki.
“Differences” doesn’t feel like the right word to describe it. Shuichi always felt good with her, so what changed? He clearly had no idea she felt this way. He truly believed they got along quite well, but he supposes he made the wrong judgments. Yet, deep down, he knows she’s right. They weren’t as close as he mistakenly thought they were. His chest physically hurts at the thought of having lost her. Losing any friend hurts-- he’s sure-- but losing Maki hurts in a different way. Pretending like nothing is wrong is not going to be easy at all.
Tears are still falling from his eyes, but now they’re hitting the floor. He tosses the letter to the side and falls onto his bed. As he stares at the ceiling, he contemplates what he should do. He hates baring things like this on his own, but he doesn’t want any conflict or to blow things out of proportion.
Maki is right, it is in his best interest to keep this to himself.
Though, the more he thinks about it, the more of an issue he has with this letter.
A few things are inconsistent with the possibility of her having been the one who actually wrote this. One of the biggest things that stuck out to him is the heart that was written next to his name. Why did she need to make it misleading?
After a while, Shuichi falls asleep on the thought, mostly passing it off as him wishing the truth right in front of him wasn’t the real one.