It Starts With A Letter

Chapter One

Natsuki picked up her pencil. Her teacher changed the slide and continued their lecture past the sixty minutes she had in this class. It should have been a crime to keep students past the bell, and teaching chemistry should have been punishable by death. Natsuki sighed, and she started doodling again on her notes.

What was there to enjoy? All these discussions about the laws of motion and equations were boring, just like her school life. She had expected her junior year to be exciting, with chill professors and meeting new friends. Instead, she was bombarded with assignments and hadn't friended anyone. Was it the way she acted? Maybe her short temper? Natsuki didn't know, but at least the professor finally dismissed the class.

With her textbooks squeezed into her chest, Natsuki fought through the crowd of students and spun her locker combination. She wanted to go home now, and her jammed locker wasn't helping, "Open, you stupid piece of junk!" She pounded on her locker, and after three failures, it finally opened.

Balled-up quizzes, markers, pots, pans, and shoes filled up her locker and were responsible for the jam, and she knew that. It was the second time this day her locker got stuck. She threw her textbook and notebook inside the mess and slammed the locker, "The hell is this?"

A sealed envelope fell from Natsuki's locker. She didn't talk to anyone, so who wrote this? There was no dust or name on the cover, so the letter must have not been for her.

Unaware of whether she was the receiver, Natsuki didn't hesitate and ripped the letter open. Inside, she deciphered the cursive handwriting and ran into the faculty bathroom, away from everyone.

Natsuki read the letter again, "Is this some sick joke?" She skimmed the letter and gritted her teeth, "Nobody from this school even talks to me to know about my secret, so it's probably for the locker next to me." She crumpled the ball and played off her panic. The locker beside hers was some random dude, so it was probably for them.

But what if?

She unraveled the paper, "If you don't join The Literature Club by the end of the week, I'll expose your secret."

How was she supposed to get to the club? There had been no room directions on the sheet until she flipped it over. The room number, written like the rest of the letter, said room 405.

Natsuki hadn't even heard of this club: the 400s were right below the rooftop, where nobody dared to host their clubs because of poor janitorial maintenance. Students, staff, and not even the faculty cleaned up there, and she knew thanks to the excessive dust that entered her lungs and lack of lighting. Natsuki pounded her chest, and after several coughs and swatted cobwebs, she found room 405.

The classroom's lights weren't on, and the glass was extremely dusty, "Why was I so stupid to believe in this?" Natsuki mumbled and turned around. She sighed and walked toward the stairs in aggravation. She somewhat looked forward to this note. Even though it was a form of harassment, this could've changed her lackluster school life.

"Yuri, look! This must be the friend you were talking about!" A voice from behind stopped Natsuki in her tracks.