Chapter 15: How to Handle a Love Letter
As soon as he arrived in the classroom and put down his bag, the class representative, Kitamura Yusaku, came over, put an arm around Kaede's shoulder, and whispered, "Asakura, where is it?"
"It? What is it?"
Kaede looked at Kitamura Yusaku in confusion and asked, "Can you be clearer?"
Leaning in closer, Kitamura Yusaku whispered, "I saw it when I came in this morning. A girl put a love letter in your shoe locker. Hurry up and show it to me."
"You saw it?"
Looking at Kitamura Yusaku, Kaede asked, "Do you know which class she's in?"
Although he hadn't thrown the love letter away, treating girls was different from treating guys. Even if Kaede wasn't interested, he wouldn't be so cold-hearted as to throw it straight into the trash, at least not while still at school.
"Hehehe, I won't say which class she's in. She's a pretty cute girl. But I assume you won't accept, right?"
Kaede nodded. "Ah, I definitely won't, but I still appreciate the courage and the sentiment."
"That's why I said, hurry up and take it out so I can look at it."
"Forget it. I don't want people gathering around to watch."
Just then, Takasu Ryuji arrived in the classroom. Seeing the two of them huddled together whispering, he walked over curiously. "What are you two talking about so secretively?"
Hearing Takasu Ryuji's voice, Kitamura Yusaku immediately turned around and called out, "Come over here quickly. Asakura received..."
After Takasu Ryuji walked over and heard Kitamura's explanation, his eyes widened in surprise, and his words inevitably carried a hint of envy. "Wow... that's amazing. It's only been a week since school started, and you already received a love letter?"
"There's nothing to envy, Takasu," Kaede said, looking at him. "I have to handle this kind of thing properly. After all, I'm not some cold-blooded person. Hmm... but I won't let you guys see the contents. I'll go to the club room alone after lunch to read it."
Seeing this, Kitamura Yusaku reluctantly curled his lip. "Tch, hogging it all to yourself."
"It was meant for me in the first place, not for you."
At noon, after having lunch with Kitamura Yusaku and Takasu Ryuji in the classroom, Kaede got up and left the classroom, heading toward the Art Club.
Besides the president, the first-years also had a key to the Art Club room, which was entrusted to Kaede for safekeeping.
Upon arrival, he found the door locked, indicating that the president didn't plan to come over at noon today.
After unlocking the door with the key, Kaede walked in, opened the club room windows, and then sat down on the sofa. He took out the love letter from his inner jacket pocket, tore it open, and unfolded it.
Kaede had received love letters more than once even back in middle school.
After finishing the contents of the letter, Kaede wasn't too surprised. Although he had moved up to high school, the behavior patterns of the girls hadn't changed much compared to middle school.
Behind the school building after classes in the afternoon? He supposed he would go and see then.
Putting the letter away, Kaede stretched, leaned back on the sofa, and started playing on his phone.
Time slowly passed, and finally, the day's classes were over, leading to the afternoon club activity period.
After organizing their bags and saying goodbye to their classmates, Eriri and Usami Mizuki left the classroom together and headed to the Art Club room.
When they arrived at the club room, the president and Uchimaki Subaru were already there, but Kaede had not yet arrived.
Seeing the two of them, the president asked, "Sawamura, Usami, have you seen Asakura?"
Both girls shook their heads.
Eriri replied, "We came straight from our classroom and didn't pass Class C. Is he on duty?"
"No, he shouldn't be. I remember seeing Asakura during a break earlier today, and I asked him. He said his duty day was Wednesday."
Tagging Kaede in the group chat yielded no response.
The president stroked his chin and said, "Hmm... It seems he has something to do. Let's start our own work first. Since he didn't say otherwise, he's definitely coming."
Eriri, recalling what she had seen that morning, had a guess.
After nearly fifteen minutes, Kaede finally pushed open the club room door and walked in, holding a bag of drinks.
"Sorry for making everyone wait. Something came up. I'll treat everyone to drinks."
"Oh! Drinks!"
The president immediately shed his lazy demeanor, came over, took the bag, and pulled out a can of cola.
"You guys pick too; there are all sorts."
After everyone grabbed a drink, the president, sipping his cola, asked, "Asakura, were you busy with something?"
"Yeah, I went to meet someone, and it took a little time."
"Meet someone?" Uchimaki Subaru didn't quite understand.
Eriri looked at the calm expression of Kaede and asked, "Was it about the love letter you received this morning?"
"A love letter?!"
The president and Uchimaki Subaru didn't react much, but Usami gasped, her face flushing red.
Kaede nodded and asked with a smile, "Yes, a love letter. Is something wrong?"
Usami, clearly a very innocent person, her cheeks bright red, asked curiously, "So, Asakura-kun, did you just go to meet the girl who wanted to confess to you?"
"That's right." Leaning against the back of his chair, Kaede said, "It was something a girl did after gathering her courage, after all, so I couldn't just coldly ignore it. If I was going to refuse, I had to refuse properly."
"Eh? So you rejected her?"
"Of course." Kaede shrugged. "It's not like I have to accept just because a girl confesses to me, right? Besides, after meeting her just now, although she was a cute girl, she wasn't really to my liking. I didn't feel that connection."
Following that, Kaede stopped talking about the subject, took out his homework from his bag, and started writing.
Eriri also looked at Kaede with surprise, not expecting him to have such a thoughtful approach.
Thinking of the love letters she had long since thrown into the trash, Eriri couldn't help but smile and continued instructing Usami on her drawing.
More than half an hour later, Kaede finished his homework as usual, Uchimaki Subaru finished his manga, Eriri pointed out and corrected a few mistakes for Usami, and the president also finished his cola, rested, and sat up.
"Well then, let's start the meeting for this weekend's off-campus activity!"
The others looked toward the president.
"Ahem!"
After clearing his throat, the president said, "The time for cherry blossom viewing and sketching is tentatively set for Saturday. We'll meet at Ueno Park at 9 AM. Is that okay?"
Since everyone was free on the weekend, there were no objections, and they agreed immediately.
The weekend activity was quickly decided upon.