Chapter Text
If you see Ayano Aishi, you cannot tell that she's like an empty shell. Every smile was practiced to be like the smiles that she saw on the idols of the magazines and tv shows that she just watched trying to keep a façade. She would like more to don't smile or talk or whatever she had to do to socialize because she didn't had a motivation to do anything. Anyway, she made those things because they had to be done.
But as they say "The bowl is more useful when it's empty". One day she collided with a boy and Ayano started to feel a warmth that she didn't knew before and if the doramas that she saw were to be trusted on that warmth was love, because that's the way you meet your future boyfriend, crashing with each other on the street.
"I'm so sorry, I should be more careful" the boy apologized, taking Ayano's hand to help her to get up. "I'm so late for school that... it doesn't mater anyway. My name is Taro Yamada"
Ayano was freezed on her place and mumbled as if she just forgot how to talk.
"I'm Ayano Aishi" she made a little bow and pushed her hair back with a trembling hand. "I guess that we're on the same school, right?"
"There you are Taro!" yelled a girl with striking and long orange hair. That girl took Taro's hand ignoring that there was someone else with him, more with an intention than just a neglect. "If you don't walk faster, we will miss the Ceremony, baka!"
They both walked away but Ayano couldn't do the same. What she called love was being replaced with something more wild and primitive. She called it wrath.
The rest of the day she was moody, thinking about the girl that was between her and her senpai. And she would stay like that all the week until she saw that text on her phone, where a misterious girl make her a lot of sugestions about the destiny of her rival. Ayano found that her rival's name was Osana Najimi and she was Taro's childhood friend.
"I hope something terrible to happen to her. You have until Friday"
The girl was making her dinner while she was thinking about the so-called Info-chan texts. Just one day was enought to let her notice a lot of posibilities to hurt whoever that tried to take her senpai away. For example, she could ask Osana to see her on the rooftop and just push her. Osana seemed to be weak, so she will not be able to fight back. Or just drown Osana on the toilet or the fountai if she was alone. The hard part would be to dispose of the body. Her school was a very popular choice on the city and the school was almost full, also there was that story about how the teachers knew a lot of martial arts, so trying to reach a safe place to dispose of the evidence would be a long and tedious process.
On the other hand, Ayano knew that she must still act like a normal person that Taro could love if she wanted him to notice her. Every mistake could mean a disaster on her race to win his heart. If Taro saw her carrying a potential weapon or with blood on her clothes, she would win the reputation of being creepy. Also, trying to frame her rivals could make her beloved to got a hostile opinion about women. And that was not something that could help her.
The living room was dark because the lightbulb passed to better life. Upset, she went to the basement. It was her father the one who took care of things like that but since he wasn't there and without knowing where he was going to come back, Ayano had to be very careful with the money that her fathers lefted to her. That's why she couldn't call to anyone to help her to fix everything and had to learn to do everything by herself.
When she turned on the lights of the basement, she saw two tapes, each one on a different corner of the room. Both tapes were named "Our lovely love sounds".
"Eeeeeeeew! Gross! They recorded when they have sex!" she squealed with deep repulsion, almost wanting to throw away the tapes. But some seconds later her curiosity won over the repulsion. She searched for the old tape player and hear the first. When she finished hearing the second tape, Ayano felt like if she was a strange on her own house. She heard about the story of the fantom of her school and about the journalist that tried to frame a student from Akademi High and how that girl was declared non guilty. Everything was so clear now. A dizzyness invaded her and she had to hold on the wall to avoid falling.
All this years and she believed that her family was normal, even if she noticed that her father had some kind of anxiety problems when he saw his spouse holding a knife. Now Ayano knew what he could been enduring all this years, even his conception and birth could make him suffer more, knowing that the sociopath tendencies where a family trait maybe his father lived all this years afraid of Ayano following the family tradition.... if he really loved her. Ryoba, her mother, was not a dedicated and tender mother and wife, she was a mere killer that managed to scape from justice and that's why Ryoba lefted behind her only daughter, trying to keep her love ilusion.
Now Ayano herself was on the same situation that her mother faced some years ago but she had another option to win rightfuly Taro's heart. And even if by that moment she was indiferent to her parents, she believed that doing everything with a more clean strategy maybe her father could be happy. He really deserved that.
She changed the lightbulb and her plans. Ayano sended a text to her parents to know how they were before going to sleep.
"Everything's fine. We love you and eat well. I hope to see you soon again, honey"
"I love you both" she replied.
"Can I help you, Osana?" Ayano asked when she finally could make it to have a moment with her rival.
"Well... I had lost my friendship bracelet" she confesed. "Maybe I lost it when I was changing my clothes for P.E. class and I can't found it. It means a lot for me because Taro gave it to me when we were on elementary school."
When Osana wasn't with Taro she was nicer but also she was more shy.
"I can help you to search it"
"Really? Thank you, Yan-Chan!"
So that's how she spended the next thirty minutes until she found the bracelet on the changing room. The bracelet was made with cheap plastic beads but thinking that Taro made something for someone else made Ayano sick because she wanted him to do the same for her. But also she felt conmoved about that.
The gray world that she had before meting him was getting more and more colors.
"Thank you for this, I own you a favor for this!" Osana was happy of seeing her beloved bracelet"
Ayano took a photo of the girl and sended it to Info-chan, asking for more knowledge about her. Info-chan replied with a text that made Ayano more curious about the girl, so she texted back.
"How is it that Osana has a crush on someone else than Senpai?"
"A smart girl should have a backup plan just in case that the first one doesn't work, y'know?" was the answer of her informant. The potential menace frowned at that joke about her own behavior.
"You said that you wanted me to hurt Osana-chan, right?
"Of course"
"Anyway, I will keep contact with you. Thanks"
During recess hour, the librarian was amused of the books that Ayano choosed to read at home. He must be just some years older than Ayano, maybe a student of the local college in an intership, but anyway he was as moody as the teenagers in that school.
"Let's see. Shakespeare's sonets, a haiku antology, a caligraphy book and... a book about psychology and human relationships. Your homework must be really weird" He gave her the books back after registering them on the library sistem. "You should take them back by the next monday, please. For every day of delay you will pay one hundred yens"
She started reading the last book. If Osana was more like a tsundere, she should make a plan that could control her and the guy that she liked and how they got information about each other until they were finally together. She started to write on a pink notebook, helped with a pencil. A few moments later, she started to write with a fine point propelling pencil.
The next morning, while everyone where on the lockers, Osana searched for her new friend.
"Yan-chan? Can I tell you about something?"
"Sure. What's going on?"
"I can't tell you about it here, baka." she snorted "Let's go somewhere else. To the rooftop?"
A chance to be alone. If only Ayano could open a certain rack on the air conditioner, she will be able to hide Osana's corpse until the end of the day. Also, a lot of students arrived to school until eight o' clock, so it would be easier to run to the changing room. But that wasn't going to happen.
"Haruto Yuto left me a letter on my locker.A love letter, to be precise. The letter says that I should come to you and tell you my answer"
"And what are you going to answer? What do you think about Yuto-kun?"
"He's one year younger than I but... I don't dislike him" Osana confesed.
"So you will say a yes to him?
"I need to know him better" She showed the letter to Ayano, with a rough calligraphy, as it was written with a pencil. "I've never read this words before, so full of feelings. I haven't had an easy love story before and it's hard to trust in someone else again. I've come to Akademi High School just to be near Taro, because we always have been so close friends, you know? But know I'm so confused"
"I will tell him to be good to you. And if he doesn't... let's say that I'm going to kill him" Ayano smiled.
"You're such a good friend, Ayano. Thank you".
During recess hour, Yuto talked to Ayano on the plaza in the center of the school.
"Osana sended this letter to me. I feel moved on because she said that she's afraid to trust someone again but she says that she wants to be closer to me and... I don't know, maybe try something"
"And what are you going to do?"
"She's pretty. She's kind and is always taking care of her friends, even if her ways are kinda rude. She's older than me but I'm not losing anything if I try, right?" Yuto showed to Ayano the letter, written with a cuter calligraphy, as if it was made with a propelling pencil. "The letter also says that I should talk to you to give her my answer"
"Why you don't ask her to go together on a date? But I supose that because you had barely talked to her is better to don't talk about the letters. Never ever talk about them again if her words are on your heart"
"You're right."
Ayano said the same to Osana about the letters and the date and when one of them both tried to retreat, Ayano convinced them to stay and send more letters. Finally, on Friday, the mythical Cherry tree heard a love confession that wasn't for Taro.
The next monday should be sweet to see that Yuto and Osana had become a couple. Yuto's friends were contratulating him about it and Osana's friends tried to know the entire story about how they both decided to be together, they both agreed that they owned a big one to Ayano. Soon, all the girls were around the dark-haired girl to ask her for help to find a boyfriend, but the eyes of the matchmaker were looking at a new girl who was talking and flirting to her senpai. That was the reason that Ayano's Monday wasn't exactly sweet. She frowned. Ayano had to take a photo of her but Taro passed near to her just in the moment where she was trying to take the photo. She wasn't able to send the photograph to Info-chan until it was almos time to go to the classroom, so she will not be able to read the information until recess.
Surprisingly, the new rival met her at that hour.
"You're Zuka-chan, right?" Ayano asked, opening her bento box. It was so simple compared to the ones that the other girls used to take to school.
"I heard what you made for Osana and Yuto. I need you to help me too"
"You're the drama club leader. You could have any boy that you want" mentioned the matchmaker, trying to lure her victim. She was on her phone to see the information that Info-chan had sended to her. The second crush was someone from the martial arts club.
"Well, that's truth" Zuka swinged her hair with childish pride. "And there's a boy that I have a crush on. Aside of that, I'm ashamed of being one of the most popular girls on school but I'm also single"
"I'm guessing that you have a crush on Taro Yamada, from class 3-2, right?"
"You're like a pythoness"
"I know things" she dismissed the compliment. "But you have to think about it. This year you're going to do an adaptation of Dream of a Summer night and, if I'm not wrong about the masks, you decided to do also a Takarazuka play, right? Your career as actress is just starting and you're going to face a lot of dangers. You can not only consider the love that you feel for someone. You need someone that has a strong spirit as you, Zuka-chan. If you become an idol, you're going to need someone with a lot of physical strenght. I really admire you, even if I'm not on your club, and I have nightmares every night thinking that you could suffer the same of that idol that was killed by one of her fans"
"That's scary, Aishi-san!" the drama club leader hugged herself, shocked about that story. "You're right"
"Of course I am. Maybe at the afternoon I would find anyone else for you, so don't worry."
"But... I really like Taro-Kun. Not like but like-like, you know?"
"Well. As someone told me once, a girl who claims to be smart should have always a second option in love. Maybe I can give to them both your letters"
But Taro never saw those letters. Ayano really did a good job convincing one of the Martial Arts club boys to date Zuka.
"As they say, you just need to do things once to gain your fame. It's pretty smart from you to choose play the matchmaker instead of something more violent." said on the text that Info-chan sended to Ayano that afternoon. "It's not what I expected but if there are couples on the school, there are new posibilities of business with the school"
The next monday, everybody in the school were celebrating the triumph of the young matchmaker.
"You did it again!" said Saki Miyu, clapping. "A new couple!"
"If you continue doing this, maybe when the school year is over, all of us will have a boyfriend, right Ayano?" Yuna jocked about the situation with kindess.
"M'eh. I'm giving to them two weeks" Yui rolled her eyes. "If that doesn't happen I'm giving them two weeks andy they will be pregnant"
"You're kinda the Afrodite of the school" Mei pointed. "Or Anteros, one of her children"
"Isn't that Cupid?" asked Saki.
"No. Cupid is the onethat makes everything go wrong, but if you pray to Anteros he will make your love to be reprocicated or if it isn't, he will avenge it." was Mei's answer. "We have our own pantheon here on the school. We have our Afrodite. Oka could be one of the parcae, Zuka is obviously a muse, Melpomene, Amai could be Vesta, Haruka, the swimming club leader, could be our female Neptune"
"How interesting" Ayano looked around her, ignoring the mythology nerd that was trying to get her atention and also the blesing of the false goddness. She was more worried about a girl with a pink apron that was talking to her beloved senpai. This time Ayano was really quick to take a photo of her but Info-chan teased her with the answer.
"Let's see what you can do without the information of the other crush that your rival has. If you can make it, I will give you the complete information of everyone again".
Once again, Ayano didn't had to do anything. The sweet cooking club leader, Amai Mafin, met her and confessed that she was in love with Taro. Ayano lied to her and said that it was really hard to make him to accept her feelings if they had just know each other for one week, but if Amai wanted to try, she will help her.
"Anyway, I would try to think about someone else for you. I don't think that Taro and you could be a good couple. But if you want him, I will do everything that I can to make him all yours"
"Oh, goddness" Amai seemed to be sad about the thinking that her love was not going to be. "Maybe I should listed to the school's matchmaker, you seem to know a lot about this things. Okay! I will await for your answer!"
After stalking Taro until he was on his house and on her way back home, Ayano was still thinking about someone for Amai. The most liked option for her was to make Amai the girlfriend of Budo Masuta. Everyone knows that a sweet girl needs a manly man at her side and that manly man also needs a girl to cherish him and become his ridicuous weakness.
If she had made a ritual to invoke him, it wouldn't be less effective. The martial arts club leader was waiting for Ayano on her house, standing with his usual action hero attitude.
"Speaking about the devil. Or thinking about the devil" she greeted him. "What's going on, Budo-senpai?"
"There's something I want to tak to you, Yan-chan"