lend me your ears | bokuto kotaro

20 ' the gallery

The next day, Hoshino came to school a little later than usual, with her undereyes also darker than usual. "Oh, are you okay?" Yukimura asked as she rushed inside the classroom. She worried she was late.

"W-What?"

"Are you okay? You look a little, um, tired," he repeated, referring to her messy hair as well.

"Yes," she mumbled and gave him a thumbs up, "I kind of crammed the essay."

She reached her seat, only to find a small blue envelope placed on top.

"What's this?" she asked herself and sat down.

She placed her bag on the floor and carefully opened the envelope, her heart racing faster every second.

"Hey, Nanao, good morning!" Bokuto greeted her, interrupting the moment of revelation of whatever was in it.

He took the empty seat next to her with his phone on his hand. "Good morning, Kotaro-san," she greeted him back and took a deep breath out of surprise.

"Oh, what's that?" he asked and turned off his phone.

"I don't know," she answered the partly opened envelope.

"Check it out, it might be interesting," he suggested and placed his phone on his pocket.

"But weren't you going to say something or, um, show something?" she asked, observant of his phone.

"Nah, that can wait. Just a trending cat video."

"Oh, o-okay," she stammered, then, pulled out its content. It was a small paper with a message.

Hoshino-chan. Please meet me
at the back of the basketball
gym. I have -

She didn't finish reading it. Nor did she plan on reading it later. She quickly folded the envelope and letter, then stashed it on her bag.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Nanao?" he asked and nudged her, smirking.

"A threat," she blurted out a guess at the same time as he blurted out his. "A love letter!" he said.

"W-What?" Her strange guess surprised him.

"What?"

"How could it be a threat? And the person put so much effort on it, I think?" he inquired.

"I, I mean," she stuttered, having difficulty admitting her reasons.

"Ah, it's okay if you don't explain, it's okay," he reassured, seeing how uncomfortable she became.

"No, no, it's okay. If it's Kotaro-san, it's okay." It's her new tagline. He loved it.

"Well? Well?" he asked, full of enthusiasm.

"The last time I followed letters like those, it was a prank," she answered in a dead tone.

"Oh. Who did? Here? In our class?!"

"Shh!" She had to hush him.

"Oh, sorry," he whispered.

"My old school, a long story," she answered.

Flashbacks of her classmates cutting her hair as a prank made a quick appearance on her head. She tried to brush it off.

"So you're not going?" Bokuto asked, unsure how to react to it now.

"Absolutely not." Her tone was firm, she was sure with her decision.

"Well, okay, that's understandable," he agreed and shook his head.