Letters

March 15...

"Asahi!"

I slowly lifted my head at the sound of my name. I rubbed my eyes and saw Haru looking straight at me. His unexpected presence startled me as I nervously leaned into my seat. "Why do you have to scare me like that?" I said, trying to calm my nerves. Haru laughed the way he usually did and smiled. "I'm assuming you didn't get much sleep last night?" He said. Ever since we were young Haru has always had amazing intuition.

I rubbed my eyes again and stood up from my desk. "Yeah..." I said tiredly. "I'm just stressed about this whole collage list coming up in two days." Haru then put his arm around me, which caused me to go into a mini panic. "Everything is going to be just fine" he said walking out of the classroom with me, "I know what would cheer you up. The Baking Club is meeting after school today. Let's see if we can get whatever Rana's making in there!" And just then Haru broke away from me and started running down the hall. Which then prompted me to chase after him.

"Haru!" I tried to call out. "Slow down! I can't keep up with you!"
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When I finally caught up to Haru I was completely out of breath. He was staring through the window of the club room. I watched as he fell into a trance over the club members cooking and trying out their delicious creations. Haru then put his arm around me again and basically got me cheek to cheek with him. Which caused me to go into another mini panic. With him so close to me, I hoped he didn't notice how red my face was getting right now.

"They're making Matcha Swiss Rolls!" Haru said excitedly. "Asahi, we neeeeeed to try them!"

Just then, the club room doors swung open. The strong smell of pastries all flooded out of the room and surrounded the air.

"I knew we shouldn't have made Matcha Cake Rolls. Of course you would be all over them"

We both turned our heads and saw her standing in front of the doorway. It was none other than Rana Amamatsu, president of the Baking Club.

Haru laughed nervously at her presence. "You guys are making Matcha Rolls?" He said jokingly, "I had no idea..." Rana rolled her eyes playfully. "You've been using that same phrase since middle school and yet you still think that I don't see it coming"

Rana had electric green eyes. Her hair was as red as perfectly ripe cherries. Her hair was also very long, but she had it tied back today. I wouldn't say we're friends, but we've been visiting the Baking Club every week since middle school so we know each other really well.

"Not true" Haru continued. "There was that one time in middle school-"

"Because that was the first time you did it you idiot" Rana interrupted.

"Yeah but we've never missed a week of heavenly delights" Haru said. "In fact, whenever I wasn't in school Asahi would be so kind enough to come by and bring back some desserts for me-"

"Alright! Alright! That's enough!" I said, in yet another state of panic. I tried to calm my racing heartbeat, but there was no use in trying so hard. "Anyways..." Haru continued, "can we come in?" Rana sighed heavily, accepting defeat. "Alright then" she said gesturing to the door, "you can come in."

Just as I was about to enter the room Rana stopped me quickly. She had this smile on her face that could only be described as pity and smugness. I immediately realized that she'd connected the pieces all together.

"Please..." I said nervously, "do not tell anyone about this..."

Rana smiled and winked at me. I knew I could trust her. I followed her inside and she shut the door behind us.