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Mitsuru wasn’t a writer.
He read a lot (at least if you counted shonen manga), but writing wasn’t something he did. He barely even turned in his homework, and not just because he didn’t want to do it, but because he never really knew what to write.
That made the advice Zuki had given him hard to follow.
Zuki knew he liked Izumi. It hadn’t been something Mitsuru had shared with him as much as it’d been something Zuki had observed. Mitsuru accepted that; Zuki was too observant for his own good. But when Zuki had asked what he liked about her, he struggled- not because there weren’t things (there were so many things), but because saying it out loud was embarrassing and not exactly tough (or hard).
So Zuki had chastised him and basically told him that if he couldn’t handle telling him, he’d never be able to tell her. He then told him to write it down.
At first, Mitsuru had scoffed. Like he would do that! He wasn’t going to write some confession letter. Especially for someone as out of his league as Izumi Kanai. She deserved way better.
But then Zuki had said his feelings were probably too fickle to write something good down anyway. And Mitsuru hadn’t known exactly what that meant at the time (seriously, fickle? Who used words like that), but when he’d figured it out, he’d been offended.
Even if he wasn’t good enough for her, his feelings for her were strong. So, he was in class writing. It was more of a list than anything, but the more he wrote the more that came. As it turned out, writing wasn’t too bad once you got started. At least when he was writing with Izumi as his muse. He still wouldn’t be giving her a confession letter today, but maybe... well, maybe someday he’d write something worth giving her.
Mitsuru never planned to show anyone what he’d written, not even Zuki, whose idea it was. So, when class was over, he’d thrown the paper in the trash can by the door as covertly as possible.
And that’s where it would have stayed until the trash was taken out had it not been for Izumi’s clumsiness.
It was later in the day when she and Chisato returned to the classroom during lunch to get their notebooks so Satomi could help them with math. They grabbed their notebooks and then hurried to the door, only for Izumi to accidentally kick over the trash can, sending its contents everywhere.
“Oh no!” Izumi cried as she bent down to start picking things up.
Chisato bent down to help her. “It’s okay! There’s not much...” Chisato started before she picked up a folded paper from the floor that had partially come open.
“What?” Izumi asked looking at Chisato.
The other girl was grinning wide. “Someone wrote you a love letter!” Chisato exclaimed as she showed the paper to Izumi. “Or at least a list of things they love about you.”
“What?! No! Who would do that!?” Izumi said, even as she was looking at the letter, which her name was at the top of.
“I don’t know, but it’s definitely boy writing,” she said before sighing quietly. “I wish Mimura would write me a love letter.”
Izumi couldn’t stop looking at the letter. The writing wasn’t super neat, but she could read it well enough. Well enough to know that someone thought she was cute and smart and caring- the list went on. Izumi held her face and the letter as she blushed.
“We have to tell the others!” Chisato said as she pulled her friend up, the trash forgotten.
“I don’t know...” Izumi said, as though she could ever keep this a secret.
“Come on! Between all of us we can probably figure out who wrote it,” Chisato said with a sure smile. Then she faltered. “Right?”
Izumi half smiled. “I guess we can try.” But her eyes weren’t on Chisato or even on the letter. They were on Mitsuru’s desk, the only boy who she’d want the letter to be from....
Izumi and Chisato raced back to the lunchroom (or at least went faster than usual, they weren’t exactly athletic). Once they arrived, Satomi looked expectantly at them.
“Are you ready?” Satomi asked.
Chisato was bouncing with excitement as she shook her head. “No, we have something else to work on!” Chisato was typically timid, but she loved gushing about boys.
“Something more important than the math test?” Satomi asked in a voice that made it clear that she doubted it.
“What is it?” Yukie asked curiously as she paused writing in her notebook to try and take control of the situation.
“Tell them,” Chisato encouraged quietly.
“I-It’s nothing! Really!” Izumi said, blush on her face and note in her hand.
“I’ll be the judge of that!” Yuka said as she grabbed the paper.
“Hey!” Izumi called, but it was too late to get the paper back. Instead, her hand swatted at empty air.
“Daaaaaang! Someone has Izumi fever!” Yuka declared as she laid the paper flat on the middle of the table.
“But who?” Chisato asked as she sat down next to Yuka.
“Someone who probably isn’t worth her time,” Haruka said as she looked at the note suspiciously.
“Where did this come from?” Satomi asked, still looking a little like she’d rather be talking about math.
“I-it was in the trash can. I accidentally knocked it over,” Izumi explained as she reclaimed her empty seat.
“Ugh, definitely not worth your time,” Haruka said, looking unimpressed as she took a bite of her food.
“I don’t know about that, Haru, this is preeetty good stuff. We should definitely find out if one of the cute boys wrote it before we dismiss it,” Yuka argued.
“It is all really sweet,” Noriko said as she looked at the list.
Izumi blushed harder.
“Well, let’s figure this out then!” Yukie said as she laid down the notebook she’d been writing in since the note was displayed. “I wrote down all the boys’ names in our class. Let’s figure out who wrote this!”
“Do we have to?” Izumi asked, trying not to look over at Mitsuru’s table.
“Obviously!” The other girls announced. Izumi could only hope for the best.
“So how do we start this investigation?” Haruka asked Yukie. She wasn’t very into the idea of some random boy writing about Izumi, but she loved seeing Yukie in the zone.
“The easiest way to find out who wrote this is to try to find the boy whose handwriting matches this,” Yukie said as she held up the letter.
“It’s not Shuya’s,” Noriko said before looking surprised that she’d said anything. “I-I mean, I was helping him with some lyrics yesterday and his writing is smaller than that.”
“And neater,” Yukie agreed, seeming a little interested in the observation, but moving on for Izumi’s sake. “I already crossed out his name on the list.”
“So should we rule out the rest of his group first?” Satomi asked, figuring that would be a logical way to go about the situation.
“Makes sense to me!” Yukie then looked to Izumi. “Sound good?”
Izumi looked over to the neutral boys’ table. She felt bad, but she hoped it wasn’t any of them. “Okay!” she said, trying to sound confident since her friends had made it clear that this was happening. Then she knit her brows. “How do we compare the writing?”
"We just need to get a couple of them to show us some writing samples!" Yukie said as though it was obvious.
"But how do we do that?" Izumi asked. "Do we ask them for homework help or something?" Izumi asked, finally starting to get involved in the investigation.
"Why would you ask them?" Satomi asked, looking over at the group where Yutaka Seto was currently making his friends laugh by doing a walrus impression, which consisted of him clapping his hands while holding chopsticks under his top lip.
"Satomi is right, it wouldn't make sense for us to ask them for homework help, but we might ask them to do something else. Follow my lead, Izumi," Yukie said as she stood up.
"Me?" Izumi asked, already standing up to go with her.
"Of course, you! This is to find out which boy likes you after all," Yukie said, grinning at her happily.
"Do you want us to come with you?" Noriko asked Izumi kindly, although she seemed to partially be looking over at the neutral boys' table.
"Because we will," Chisato said quickly, her eyes also darting off to the other table.
"This is a covert operation, ladies. I think Izumi and I can handle it," Yukie said, although she was looking at the other table too.
Izumi wondered if this was about her as much as this was about the other girls getting to talk to their crushes. But still, a part of her was curious... And she wanted to prove that it was none of the neutral boys. It wasn't that they weren't all perfectly fine! They were great! It was just that none of them were Mit- her type! Yeah! Her type! It wasn't like she was hoping it was written by a specific boy and would be crushed forever if it wasn't!
"Let's do it," Izumi said, trying to put on a brave face.
Yukie nodded. "Don't worry, I've got this," she said as they walked over to the boys' table in the crowded cafeteria.
As they walked that way, Izumi noticed Mimura's eyes on them first. He didn't show much reaction, but for some reason, he did yank the chopsticks out of Seto's mouth. For a second Yutaka looked surprised but then he followed Shinji's eyes and saw the girls and immediately sat up straighter. Weird.
"Rep, Kanai hey! How's it going?" Shuya asked, acting as the spokesman for their table.
"It's going well Nanahara-kun. Izumi and I were just hoping we could get your opinions on something," she said to the whole table.
"Our opinions, huh? Must be important business," Shinji said, suddenly putting the attention on himself. Beside him, Yutaka still looked a little off. Izumi thought about asking him if he was okay, but then Shinji flicked his ear casually and he seemed to shake it off.
"Yeah! Very important! How do we help? If you need a joke, I'm the guy for it!" Yutaka said, his voice eager.
"That's great to hear!" Yukie said, clapping her hands together. "We're trying to get a jump on the winter dance, and we want to get some boy opinions on the theme this year. So, if all of you could write your names down, followed by your theme ideas, that would help us a lot with making this dance one of the best ones yet!"
"Wow, Rep, and you're coming to us first? I feel honored!" Shuya said.
"Honored-sponored! It's about time we got some say on this stuff!" Keita said excitedly as he leaned over his friends and grabbed the notebook and began writing.
Izumi had a moment of terror at the thought of Keita being the one who wrote the list, but thankfully his writing was much too big and messy to be the note writer. She let out a breath of relief and then felt guilty.
"Uh, so, Kanai, what kind of theme were you wanting for the winter dance?" Yutaka asked her, taking her out of her thoughts. She looked over to him, eyes wide. She hadn't even thought of the winter dance yet! It was only October!
"Oh, um, I'm not sure... Something fun and, uh, classic!" Izumi looked to Yukie for help.
Yukie laughed. "As you can see, this is why we need help with ideas."
Yutaka nodded. The notebook got passed along to all of the boys within a few minutes. Once Hiroki had written down the final idea, the notebook was passed back to Yukie.
"Thanks so much! If we choose one of your themes, we'll make sure to let you know!" Yukie said.
"I'll be waiting, Rep. Mine's pretty good," Shuya said teasingly, using the tone he'd been borrowing from Shinji all year.
"I don't know about that, Shu. My money's on whatever this guy wrote down," Shinji said, patting Yutaka's shoulder.
"Did you guys not even read what I wrote down? How could they NOT pick mine!?" Keita asked, jumping up too suddenly and spilling his drink everywhere. The table erupted in complaints.
"Well, we'll leave you boys to that," Yukie said before grinning at Shuya and then walking away with Izumi as the boys cleaned up Iijima’s mess.
"Okay, let's get back to the table and see what we've got!" Yukie whispered to Izumi.
Yukie and Izumi were returned to their lunch table with a warm greeting.
“What did you find out?” Chisato asked quietly as Izumi took the seat beside her.
“Did you find the love of your life yet? I hope it’s Sugimura, then I can stare at him more,” Yuka joked with a wide grin.
“Yuka! You can’t stare at the love of Izumi’s life, whoever he might happen to be,” Yukie joked back.
Yuka scoffed. “I thought you liked it when we shared!” she joked.
“Can we see what you found?” Chisato asked again.
“I’d like to see it too,” Izumi said with a lightly raised hand.
“Of course!” Yukie said as she laid her notebook next to the list about Izumi.
“Well, it’s not Iijima!” Yuka laughed as she looked at the first line. “But I like his idea of ‘Pizzaland, you know, like Candyland but with pizza.’ He’s really got something there, Yukie,” Yuka laughed.
Yukie looked like reading that pained her. “This is why I’d never leave it up to the boys to pick the theme,” she said.
“It’s not Mimura either!” Chisato said as she pointed to Shinji’s small, chicken scratch writing.
“Ugh, for someone who acts so smart, his penmanship is awful,” Satomi said as though Shinji’s writing offended her.
“It’s not that bad,” Chisato mumbled.
“What does it even say?” Satomi asked.
Chisato shrugged rather than admitting she could tell it said, ‘A Third Man Wonderland.’
“Seto’s is too neat,” Haruka said as she pointed at his on the list. “And what kind of theme is ‘classic fun’?”
Izumi looked at it before laughing awkwardly, “Oh, I told him I thought it should be something classic and fun. He must have thought that was funny,” she explained. He probably thought she was scatterbrained.
“Sugimura is out, too. His writing is too square. Too bad for you, Izu! He could still be into me though,” Yuka teased. “Although with a theme like, ‘snowflakes?’ I’m not sure he could handle my creativity!”
“It isn’t Mr. Nobu’s either,” Noriko said as she looked at it. “His is too rounded.”
Yukie nodded in agreement before looking to Izumi. “It’s official, none of the neutral boys are your secret admirer.”
“Unless our girl has multiple admirers!” Yuka said as she nudged the other girl’s shoulder.
“I don’t!” Izumi cried. She could barely imagine having one. It still seemed like some kind of mistake. Well... unless it was him...
“So, what’s the next move, captain? Ask all the boys for their terrible theme ideas?” Haruka asked Yukie, seeming interested in her process. Izumi assumed that the answer would be yes, so she was surprised when Yukie shook her head no.
“As much as I hate to admit this about my own plan, I don’t think this is thorough enough,” Yukie said, looking hard between the papers.
“What do you mean?” Izumi asked as she looked between the papers, hoping to see what Yukie was seeing. She couldn’t.
“I mean we got lucky with this. Some of the boys were, well, I’ll say ‘brief’ with their answers. Had their writing been more similar, it’d be hard to compare it to such a small sample size,” Yukie explained.
Izumi nodded in understanding. She hadn’t thought about that.
“How do we get bigger writing samples?” Noriko asked. “Do you think Mr. Hayashida could help us?”
“You’re all missing something obvious,” Satomi said, looking almost bored.
“What’s that?” Yukie asked. “Please contribute to the investigation!”
“Yeah, help Izu find her soulmate!” Yuka teased.
“S-soulmate?! You think it could be that serious?” Izumi asked.
Satomi rolled her eyes. “As if I wouldn’t help. Think about our last science project.” It took a second, but then their eyes widened. Some of the projects were hanging on display in the classroom. They could look at the writing on those!
“You’re so smart, Sato!” Izumi complimented.
“I know. Now let’s go investigate before lunch ends.”
The girls all rose from the lunch table at the same time, picking up their trash and quickly going to throw it away before heading toward the classroom. An adult really should have stopped them, but it was hard to question the innocence of a group like theirs.
Once they made it to the classroom they went to the wall where some of the poster projects were displayed. Not everyone had chosen to do a poster for their project, but those who had were hanging up.
“So, we have Akamatsu, Motobuchi, Yamamoto, Takiguchi, and Kuramoto,” Yukie read the names.
“Two of them already have girlfriends,” Noriko pointed out.
“Like that means anything. Boys can be gross,” Haruka pointed out.
Izumi and Chisato weren’t paying much attention as they were already using the letter to compare.
“It’s none of them,” Chisato said quietly after careful examination.
“Are we sure? I mean, no offense to Satomi’s idea, but I always write neater on homework than I do on something not important,” Yuka pointed out.
“Not important? This was obviously meant to be a confession; so, you’d use your neatest writing. No one wants to date someone with poor penmanship,” Satomi argued.
“Oh, yeah, that’s a total deal breaker for me!” Yuka joked.
“It did end up in the trash though... Obviously, this wasn’t meant to be a confession,” Izumi said softly. She wasn’t sure tracking the guy down was a good idea... What if it wasn’t Mitsuru? Would Mitsuru write like that about her? Would he say all those nice things? A part of her thought yes, but she was pretty sure that was wishful thinking.
“Nonsense! The trash can was just a sign that your admirer got intimidated by your greatness! He had to have known how important this was,” Yukie said just before the bell rang.
“We‘ll have to continue the investigation after the math test,” Satomi said.
Izumi groaned. She’d never had Satomi help her study.
When the bell rang the Kiriyama Family made their way to the math class. Had any of them remembered that there was a test, they all probably wouldn’t have bothered to show up. But they hadn’t remembered, so they all did.
Mitsuru had taken his test quickly, not because he was confident and knew the answers but because he’d been so frustrated by not knowing the answers that he’d started guessing. Now, he sat watching the rest of his class take the test.
He’d considered ducking out for a smoke, but... well, Kanai looked kinda cute when she was doing math. Her face would scrunch up in confusion before her eyes would light up in recognition and she’d excitedly start writing. Or sometimes it stayed scrunched up and Mitsuru found himself silently rooting for her, hoping that that look of excitement would come across her face instead of the look of defeat. Today she looked distracted though, like her mind wasn’t really on the test. It wasn’t until after she turned in the test that he figured out why.
After she’d made it back to her seat (and they’d had a moment where they’d caught each other’s eyes and then quickly looked away) she pulled a piece of paper out of her notebook. She seemed to be studying it, which was weird because Mitsuru was pretty sure he hadn’t forgotten about two tests. But then she leaned it up just enough for Mitsuru to see it.
Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. It couldn’t be that! He’d thrown it away. Was he seeing things? Was that why she’d looked at him earlier? Shit. He needed a game plan. He stood up and went to the teacher’s desk and asked to go to the restroom. He’d text Zuki to meet him outside. He’d made the mess, so he could clean it up.
Mitsuru was pacing when Zuki met him behind the school. “Oh, Mitsu, how can you always tell when I’m dying for a smoke break?” Sho asked as he lit up a thin cigarette.
“Kanai found what I wrote,” Mitsuru said, ignoring Sho’s small talk.
Sho raised a perfectly manicured brow before a look of recognition crossed his features. Then he grinned. “You actually took my advice and wrote her a letter; that’s adorable!”
Mitsuru scowled. “I didn’t write her a letter! It was just- she wasn’t supposed to see it! I threw it in the trash!”
“This is why I’m always in charge of making sure we don’t leave evidence behind,” Sho said before he took a puff of his cigarette. “Do you want one?” Sho asked, holding up his cigarette.
“Fuck, no, Zuki! I don’t want one of your gay cigarettes, I want ya to fix this! It’s your fault I wrote that shit in the first place!” Mitsuru whisper-yelled, as he essentially threw an adult tantrum.
Sho tsk’d. “Now is that how we talk to our friends? You’re being very emotional right now,” Sho pointed out with a smirk as Mitsuru sputtered. “Anyway, you got yourself into this mess if she found what you wrote, and I’m not sure what you want me to do about that.”
Mitsuru scowled. “Can ya just fix it? Like, steal back the letter all sneaky like and shit?”
“And that would accomplish what? I assume she’s already read it,” Sho said. He looked amused, which Mitsuru hated.
“That don’t mean she knows that I wrote it! So, you need to take it back before she realizes,” Mitsuru explained.
Sho took a painfully slow drag of his cigarette before responding. “Look, sweetie, it’s too late for that. If it were me, I’d be looking for the writer by matching up handwriting. As we speak, Kanai and friends are probably doing that. Even if I took back what you wrote, she will probably recognize your writing if she sees it, or at least one of her friends will.”
“So what? I’m just fucked?” Mitsuru asked.
“Only if your confession goes over well,” Sho teased, smiling lewdly with his beautiful mouth.
Mitsuru scowled. “I’ll figure this out without you. And don’t talk about girls that way!” he snapped before stomping off. He had no idea how he was going to do that, and Zuki’s laughter in the background didn’t give him much hope that he could.
Mitsuru snuck back into school just in time for his next class, where his friends were waiting for him.
“Way ta sneak out without us, asshole!” Ryuhei said, with a scowl. “The fuck is Zuki?”
“Still outside,” Mitsuru said as he sat down. He needed a plan.
“Ha, did you two hook up?” Hiroshi teased.
“Don’t be fuckin’ gross,” Mitsuru mumbled, still struggling to think.
Ryuhei snorted. “Like Zuki would settle for ya anyway.”
“Obviously, I could do much better,” Sho said, sliding into his seat as the teacher spoke. He’d somehow managed to come in unseen, a talent he had.
Mitsuru stared at Izumi. She was looking at what he wrote again. Did she at least look happy about it? Even if he wasn’t good enough for her, maybe his words would be worth something? But he knew he wasn’t good with words, so that was unlikely. He had to think. She must have seen his list in the trash or something, or more likely one of her friends had. Izumi wasn’t the kind of girl to dig through trash. He’d tossed it out right before lunch, so she’d only had it a couple of periods. She couldn’t have ruled out many people yet.
...she’d probably started with the guy she liked the most.
That would make sense. He wondered who that was? He wanted it to be him. Maybe her friends would have led her to someone else first? Fuck, it didn’t matter! He just needed to figure out how to fix it! He didn’t care what Zuki said, stealing the letter back was obviously the way to fix things. Or maybe he just couldn’t think of a better plan. Now he just had to figure out how to snatch it...
Izumi was still looking over the list when her teacher began splitting them into groups for a project. He was using a method that most of their class hated, which was drawing their names out.
On a normal day, Izumi might have also not been pleased with the method, but she could see the excited looks of her friends. This was a good thing. They could all look at the writing of the boys in their groups!
Izumi nodded to Yukie, signaling that she understood the plan. Then she did what she always did when they were randomly put into groups; she hoped she got put with Mitsuru.
But that wasn’t the case. In fact, Mitsuru ended up in a group with Ryuhei (the teacher looked like he regretted his own method) and Motobuchi (who looked like he regretted his own life).
Meanwhile, Izumi ended up in a group with Akamatsu and Oda. She’d already ruled out Akamatsu, but Oda was still on the list of possibilities. That meant she needed to check his writing. Although she couldn’t really imagine Oda settling for... anyone, actually. He had some high expectations. But she was one of the few people in class that he seemed to at least tolerate, so maybe?
So, when the teacher was done splitting them into groups, she went to sit with him and Akamatsu. “Hi!” she greeted both of them, sparkly pink notebook in hand.
Akamatsu mumbled a greeting to his desk while Oda looked pleased. “It’s nice to see I’m not stuck working with just the vulgar masses for once,” he said.
She lightly laughed, tossing Akamatsu a reassuring smile before she sat down. “I’m sure the three of us will make a great team!” But more importantly, Izumi needed to focus on the mission.
Oda looked doubtfully toward Akamatsu. It seemed he thought their 'great team' had a weak link, but he didn't say that, and for that, Izumi was thankful.
"So, um, we need to write down the important people first, right?" Izumi asked, wanting to get straight to the investigation.
"Yes, that would be our logical first move," Oda agreed, not making any move to do anything.
"Great! ...Who wants to write it down?" Izumi asked, hoping that Oda would volunteer.
"My handwriting isn't very good," Akamatsu admitted sheepishly.
"Your handwriting isn't bad," Izumi said before realizing that was probably a strange thing to say. After all, if it weren't for her mission, she wouldn't know what it looked like. "I-I mean, I'm sure it's not! You seem like someone who would have, um, good penmanship!" Izumi was sure she sounded ridiculous and Akamatsu must have been embarrassed on her behalf because he looked down with a blush on his face.
Oda scoffed. "I doubt having such giant hands makes for good penmanship," he suddenly seemed extra annoyed by Akamatsu for some reason. "Anyway, weren't you going to write? You brought over your notebook," Oda pointed out. "And I'm sure your handwriting is adequate."
Oh no! She had brought over her notebook! Why had she done that?! She needed to think of something quick. "Oh, um, yeah, it's fine, but... but, I hurt my hand! I hit it against the desk last period and now it hurts to write! So, I was hoping you could write, Oda-kun?" Izumi asked, hoping her lie wasn't as obvious as she feared it was.
But Oda seemed to buy it, even looking the slightest bit concerned. "Did you go to the nurse? I know this school doesn't employ anyone with any actual medical talents, but you could at least be given an ice pack. You don't want to leave your hand untreated when you play piano."
"Oh, you're right. I should go get some ice," Izumi said.
Oda was looking at her like he was unsure why she hadn't thought of that, but it was too late to do anything about that now.
"Would you be upset if I went and got ice while you worked?"
Oda shook his head. "Of course not. This assignment is simple for someone of my intelligence. You go take care of your hand."
Izumi smiled, although she felt guilty for getting out of work. She'd make it up to him somehow. "Okay, I'll be back soon," she said before going to ask the teacher to go to the nurse. When she got back, she would examine Oda's writing...
Mitsuru was sitting with Ryuhei and Motobuchi when Izumi left the room. Mitsuru knew this was his chance. Izumi had left behind the list that Mitsuru had written; he'd seen her fold it and put it into the pocket of her notebook. He just needed to get it back. For that, he needed a distraction.
"Doesn't look like Akamatsu is bein' much help," Mitsuru said casually. Usually, he wouldn't mention Akamatsu around Ryuhei or at all. When he did mention him, it was usually to tell Ryuhei to stop making his life hell. But in this case, he kind of needed Ryuhei to pick on the other kid.
Mitsuru would make it quick, then call him off. Their teacher was currently walking around to different groups and wasn't near either of theirs, so it was perfect timing.
Ryuhei scoffed. "Man, that fat fuck pisses me off. Look at 'im just fuckin' sittin' there," Ryuhei said as he focused on the boy who was, in fact, just sitting there, eyes occasionally looking at what Oda was writing.
"Teacher ain't looking," Mitsuru said, still striving for casual. Had Zuki been there, he would have pointed out how strange it was that Mitsuru was mentioning that. But it was just Mitsuru and Ryuhei, (and Motobuchi who was doing the assignment and ignoring both of them) and Ryuhei was an act first, ask questions later kind of guy. As such, he grinned before getting up and walking over to Akamatsu's seat.
Mitsuru couldn't tell what he was saying to the other boy, but he looked like he was cowering. And Oda had moved away a little and was scowling at the situation, not paying any attention to Izumi's notebook.
It was time to go for the kill. Mitsuru hoped he could be half as sneaky as Zuki as he started his walk over.
Mitsuru made his way over to the other group as casually as he could. When he got there, Ryuhei was 'subtly' bullying Akamatsu while Oda looked at them, seeming maybe a little disgusted?
Mitsuru frowned. He had no business looking at one of his friends like that. But if he asked him what he was looking at, that would put the attention back on him, which was not what was needed for a stealth mission. So instead, Mitsuru acted like he was just there to watch. It's what Hiroshi would have done if Yukie Utsumi wasn't forcing him to actually participate at the moment.
He slowly put his hand down on Izumi's desk.
"Ya seriously ain't good for nothin' are ya? What's the point of bein' so fuckin' huge if ya just cry all the time?" Ryuhei was berating Akamatsu as Mitsuru shoved Izumi's notebook off of her desk.
The sound attracted Oda's attention, who then scowled at him. "Ugh, not only are you not controlling your goon, but you're throwing the property of those higher than you socially on the filthy ground?" Oda said, seemingly not knowing who he was talking to.
Mitsuru glared at him. He wasn't wrong on either account, but that didn't mean Mitsuru had to like it. "Mind your own business, frog boy. I'm pickin' it up," Mitsuru said, leaning to pick it up.
"The fuck did ya just call me?" Ryuhei asked Oda as he turned his attention on him, relieving Akamatsu and giving Mitsuru an opening to grab at the paper that had slid out of Izumi's notebook. He grabbed it and then the notebook. He was about to be home free!
"Um, what's going on?" Izumi asked as she appeared next to Mitsuru, an ice pack in hand.
“Uh...” Mitsuru wasn’t sure what to say to the girl standing above him.
“These delinquents came out of nowhere to disturb our group and throw our things on the floor,” Oda said with a scowl on his face.
Mitsuru’s brows lowered. “It was an accident and ‘m pickin’ it up,” Mitsuru said as he sat the notebook back on the desk. He was going to have no choice but to give up the list too, or he’d look even more suspicious. At least he would have had to do that, had Sho not snuck up behind him at some point.
“And what about this, Mitsu? Stealing the poor girl’s homework?” Zuki asked as he pulled the list from his hand.
Mitsuru had never felt such betrayal. And from someone he considered family!
“You took her homework?” Oda asked furiously. “That should be an expellable offense.”
Mitsuru was quick to turn to Izumi. “It wasn’t like that! When the notebook fell it came out,” he said, which wasn’t technically a lie.
Izumi looked confused but nodded, but her eyes had turned to Zuki who was reading the letter. Why was he doing that? Was he really going to be nosy after trying to throw Mitsuru under the bus?
“Kanai, hun, why do you have my list?” Sho asked.
Mitsuru stared at him. That was his plan? Try to make Izumi think he was into her?
Izumi seemed confused as well, not to mention embarrassed. “Wait- you wrote that list?” Izumi asked sounding surprised.
“My, this is embarrassing for both of us. Would you mind talking about this with me somewhere private?” Sho asked, not actually sounding embarrassed at all. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying himself.
“Why would she go somewhere with the likes of you?” Oda asked, looking offended by the suggestion.
“I swear if ya open yer mouth one more time, I’m going to learn ter cook frog legs,” Ryuhei threatened.
Oda looked ready to retort when Izumi spoke up. “I don’t mind talking! It’s fine, really! We can talk in the corner,” she said, pointing to an empty spot in the classroom.
Oda looked less than thrilled but had no choice but to accept it as Sho clapped his hands delightedly. “Oh, goodie! Let’s do that,” he said before ushering her that way. He then looked over his shoulder at the rest of them. “Play nice everyone. Don’t let frog legs and bacon boy ruin your dinner,” he sang out, resulting in Ryuhei rolling his eyes.
Mitsuru could do nothing but watch them go and hope Zuki had a plan.
Izumi walked with Sho over to the corner of the classroom. She was happy to see their teacher had gotten stuck in a conversation with Mizuho and was still not paying attention to them.
“...So, you wrote the list?” Izumi asked awkwardly. She wouldn’t have even considered him as a suspect, she had been pretty sure he liked boys as much as she did.
“I know, how to believe, right?” Sho said with a knowing smile. “Someone like me writing out a potential friend qualification list. It’s almost tragic.”
Izumi’s eyes went wide. “Oh! A friend list,” she said, things suddenly making a little more sense.
“Of course. See, I love my little family, but there’s a little too much testosterone for me. I was thinking I needed a girl friend,” Sho explained. Izumi nodded, feeling stupid. Obviously, it hadn’t been written by a crush!
“Oh! Oh, no! This probably looked like something a crush would write, didn’t it?” Sho said as he put a hand to his chest. He must have read Izumi’s expression a little too well. Izumi flushed in embarrassment.
“Oh, well, maybe for a second! But I should have known better!” Izumi’s face fell a little. It was good that it wasn’t from some random guy but... Well, she should have known better than to get her hopes up that it would be from Mitsuru. “It was silly to think it was from a crush.”
Sho scoffed. “Oh, honey, that’s not true. If you weren’t crush-worthy, I wouldn’t be interested in you as a friend,” Sho assured her.
Izumi smiled. “I appreciate that. Oh! And I’d be happy to hang out with you!” Izumi said. She wasn’t sure what she’d do with a boy though...
Sho looked at her oddly for a second before smiling. “Perfect. We can shop!” Sho said before pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket along with a pen. He then wrote his name and number on it. He then handed it to her. Izumi stared at it for a second. It didn’t look like the writing on the list...
“I’m glad we cleared up this whole list thing. I’m sure you and your friends were trying to figure it out,” Sho said knowingly. “And having a whole group of people know your feelings before you’re ready can be a little embarrassing, especially for a tough guy,” Sho explained with a wink. “See what I’m saying, dear?”
Izumi nodded, although she wasn’t sure she did. Was he saying...
“Good! Call me later; we can gossip!” Sho said before turning and going back to his seat, leaving Izumi with nothing to do but go back to her group, which no longer included Ryuhei and Mitsuru.
Mitsuru didn’t get a chance to talk to Sho until the end of the period and even then, he didn’t get much out of him besides, “You wanted me to fix it and it’s fixed.” And it did seem fixed. Zuki had given him back the list and he’d overheard Yuka Nakagawa yell, “So this whole investigation was for nothing? Man, I worked hard!”
But... it just felt unfinished to Mitsuru. Which was why at the end of the day he found himself walking up to Izumi at her locker. She’d just waved her friends off, so it seemed like the perfect time.
“Uh, hey,” Mitsuru said from beside her.
Izumi jumped a little, not having noticed him.
“I’m sorry!” He quickly said. “I didn’ mean ta sneak up on ya.”
“No, no! It’s okay! I was just lost in thought,” she said. Her face was the cute rose color it sometimes was when they talked.
“Well, I can let ya keep thinking-“
“No! It’s fine! You came over here to talk to me?” she asked, her eyes asking him to go on.
He nodded. “Guess I just wanted to check on ya. Zuki’s bein’ all weird about what you two talked about. I wanted ta make sure he didn’t bother you.”
Izumi smiled softly. “No, he didn’t bother me. I guess maybe he’s embarrassed about what we talked about?” Izumi sounded unsure about that. Mitsuru snorted.
“Zuki ain’t never been embarrassed about anything,” Mitsuru assured her. “...You guys were talking about that list, right?”
“You saw the list?” Izumi asked, her expression unreadable to Mitsuru.
“Uh, yeah, I’d seen it,” Mitsuru said as he ran a hand through his curls nervously.
Izumi nodded. “I was surprised he’d written it. It...It didn’t quite look like a list of friend qualifications,” Izumi admitted. Mitsuru nodded, so that’s what he’d told her it was. “But I don’t see why he’d lie, and my friends all thought it made sense.”
“Yeah... It is a little weird,” Mitsuru said, trying to keep eye contact.
“I guess I just didn’t think some of the things made sense on a friendship list. I understand things like saying I’m smart and kind but... well, saying I’m cute when I’m doing math for instance. That seems... unimportant for friendship.” Izumi was looking up at him questioningly.
He felt a little panicked. “I-it’d make sense if ya knew Zuki. He’s kinda into looks and all that, even though he hangs out with the rest of us,” Mitsuru tried to cover.
“I-I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the way the rest of you look,” Izumi said, looking at the floor.
It’d be easy to brush it off. Say something about her never having seen Hiroshi with his mouth full of egg salad, but it felt like maybe she wasn’t actually talking about all of them. “I guess maybe it’s possible that Zuki’s covering for someone,” Mitsuru said. He could feel his heart pounding.
“It is?” She sounded almost hopeful, so Mitsuru kept going.
“Yeah, like maybe he said he wrote it because the guy who actually did isn’t ready ta tell ya. Maybe that guy was trying to practice saying it so that when he said it, it might actually be good enough for ya, even though maybe he ain’t,” Mitsuru admitted. He felt like he’d just opened himself up to her, and it was terrifying.
Izumi’s face was kind and Mitsuru feared an awkward rejection that he wasn’t ready to hear, but that’s not what came. “I-I think if that’s what happened, then I’m happy about it. Knowing that there’s a guy out there who’s trying so hard to say those words to me... It means a lot. And I think any guy who wrote those things about me would be more than good enough. So, I’m excited for when he’s ready to tell me them,” Izumi said, and it felt like he was the only guy in the world she would say that to.
“Yeah, he is too,” then he caught himself. “I bet! I bet he is.”
But Izumi was grinning, and he couldn’t help but grin back.
Someday he’d tell her. And someday she’d accept it. But for now, he was happy offering to walk her home, and she was happy to accept it.