Confession (Part 1)

After school, Konoe went to the school building entrance to wait for Ichinose. After that, he still wanted to go to the Student Council to look at the dossier for Sudo's appeal.

Since school had just ended, the entrance was crowded with students. Konoe pondered for a moment before deciding to wait for Ichinose in a corner.

In less than a minute, Konoe spotted Ichinose in the crowd. Students around her kept striking up conversations with her. She smiled and responded while slowly making her way towards the entrance.

Seeing this, Konoe felt it wasn't appropriate to approach her directly, so he took out his mobile phone and made a call.

"Look at the corner behind the cabinet to your left." Ichinose looked towards the corner, and Konoe waved at her from not too far away.

After bidding farewell to the surrounding classmates, Ichinose quickly came over to Konoe.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Ichinose, you're really popular. Were all those people from Class B just now?"

"No, not really. It's just that I get along well with everyone in Class B. Oh, right! Why don't you come to our class, and I'll formally introduce you? You'll be able to make friends with everyone quickly too."

"...Thank you, but no need. What are we doing next?"

"It won't take up too much of your time. Let's go somewhere else."

The two walked side by side, heading towards the gymnasium.

The sun was setting, casting a pale yellow light on the road, giving a sense of the sun's warmth. Many people were engaged in sports club activities nearby, with cheers and shouts occasionally drifting from afar.

Soon, Ichinose led Konoe to the back of the gymnasium. This area was shaded by the gymnasium building and surrounding trees, making it slightly darker. It seemed to be a secluded spot, unlikely to be disturbed.

"So..." Ichinose took a deep breath and turned around, saying, "Actually, it's about a confession..."

"...What?" Konoe's expression was dazed, and he didn't react immediately.

"I think someone is going to confess to me here!"

"Huh?"

Seeing Konoe frozen in place, Ichinose took out a pink letter, sealed with a red heart sticker.

"I still don't quite understand why you brought me here... Do you want me to give you some advice?"

"Mhm... That's not entirely wrong. Actually, the other person is my good friend, and I don't know much about romance, so I don't know how to refuse without hurting them. Besides, I want to remain good friends with them afterwards..."

"You want to refuse? I think I understand. May I see the letter?"

"Please."

Konoe opened the letter. The handwriting was elegant, and the content was sincere. It read, "I've been thinking about you since the start of the semester," and "I recently realized my feelings," explaining how the other person had fallen for Ichinose.

"Ichinose. I don't know much about romance either, but even I can see the sincerity in the letter. Since the other person is your good friend, you must have thought about this carefully, right?"

"Yes, of course."

Konoe thought for over ten seconds but still had no idea. He asked, "...Why don't you ask other friends in Class B for advice?"

"Actually, the other person is also a student in Class B. I want to keep today's events as secret as possible. It's fine if I only tell Konoe," Ichinose explained anxiously, as if she had something urgent to do.

"Mhm, alright. Don't worry, let me keep reading..."

The letter also stated, 'Friday at 4 PM, I want to meet you behind the gymnasium.' It seemed the other person was very serious about confessing.

"Wait! Isn't today Friday? And this place is...!" Konoe also started to get anxious. He checked the time; there were only ten minutes left until four o'clock.

"They... should be here soon," Ichinose said, taking a deep breath. "I want to ask Konoe-kun to pretend to be my boyfriend. With that reason, the other person will have no choice but to give up."

"Why didn't you... tell me earlier... No, since the other person invited you with a letter, you could have written back to politely decline." As Konoe spoke, he kept turning his head back, afraid someone might suddenly appear.

"If I really liked Ichinose, confessed to you, and came to our agreed meeting spot only to find a boy standing next to you... and then you told me he was your boyfriend..."

"...Then?"

"I'd never want to see another human again in my life... It would be nice to live in seclusion in the mountains." Konoe's eyes gazed into the distance, at nothing.

"Is it that serious? But... ah." Ichinose suddenly stopped speaking as she said this, looking behind Konoe.

"Ah..." Seeing Ichinose's expression, Konoe felt a sense of despair and slowly turned his head. At the same time, he was curious to see what this boy from Class B looked like.

To Konoe's surprise, standing in the sunlight was a cute girl wearing a skirt.

"Ichinose, is he... Konoe-kun?" The girl stood dazed not far away, somehow knowing Konoe's name.

"Um... I'm sorry, Chihiro... for bringing Konoe here without asking..." Ichinose stammered.

Before Ichinose could finish, Chihiro's eyes filled with tears. "Could it be... he's your boy—"

"W-wait a minute!" Konoe shouted loudly, interrupting Chihiro. "Even though Ichinose said that, I secretly followed Ichinose here on my own."

"Huh?" Ichinose tilted her head and looked at Konoe.

Chihiro also wiped away her tears and looked at him questioningly.

Konoe took a deep breath and said in a sickeningly strange tone, "Actually, I was wandering around the gymnasium when I saw the cute Ichinose sneakily walking this way, as if she had a secret she didn't want anyone to know. Since I might discover cute Ichinose's secret, I followed her out of curiosity. But then I realized this place seemed perfect for a confession, and Ichinose is so cute, I was worried someone else might get there first... So I came over and confessed to the cute Ichinose first!"

Ichinose let out a surprised sound: "...Huh?"

"How could you! So Konoe-kun is that kind of person!" Chihiro said indignantly.

"But... Ichinose said she doesn't want to date girls, even if they look like girls, so... sob sob sob..." Even with all his acting skills, Konoe couldn't force out two tears. He covered his eyes with his arm, pretending to cry, and then tried to escape.

"Wait, Konoe!" Ichinose tried to grab Konoe back, but her movement froze when she saw Chihiro's expression, and she let Konoe get away.

Konoe saw Chihiro's hostile gaze as he passed by her, then he fled.

Konoe went to a wooden bench by the roadside not far away and sat down. He hunched over, head down, propping his legs with his arms, as if trying to bury his head under the chair.

The distance from the back of the gymnasium to the main entrance was certainly more than enough for him after training for a while, but he wasn't physically tired now, just mentally exhausted.

He wanted to take a deep breath to adjust, but each time he would unconsciously sigh.

I should just go back. Just as Konoe was thinking this, a girl who was crying suddenly ran out from the roadside. The girl seemed to have noticed him, and then she ran towards him.

By the time Konoe realized this was Chihiro from Class B earlier, she had already sat down beside him.

Chihiro had stopped crying, but she couldn't stop the tears from sliding down her face, so she kept wiping them with her sleeve.

Konoe couldn't help but take out a handkerchief and hand it to Chihiro: "...Are you okay? Although I might not be qualified to say this, I still hope you won't be too sad."

"No... it's not that. Ichinose just told me everything... including asking you to come here. So thank you, Konoe." Chihiro took Konoe's handkerchief to wipe her tears and said with her head down.

Konoe looked at the Cherry Blossom Hairpin on Chihiro's head and said, "I'm the one who should apologize. I feel like I might have ruined your confession... It wasn't easy, was it? Mustering the courage to confess, though I don't really understand these things..."

Chihiro also stopped crying and said with red eyes, "Konoe-kun probably doesn't know me, but you're quite famous in our class... I'm Shiratori Chihiro from Class B, First Year... Ah."

Chihiro seemed to suddenly realize something and abruptly got up and fled.

A moment later, Ichinose walked up to Konoe's side. As Konoe tried to stand up, she placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed him down.

"...I can't believe you did that just now, Konoe. I might have been called 'cute' so many times in a row for the first time in my life." Ichinose sat in the spot Chihiro had just vacated, next to Konoe.

"Sorry, Ichinose-san... I could only think of that method at the time."

"Although I think Konoe's method had problems, Konoe also made me understand. Lies told at times like these can't solve problems, they only hurt others." Ichinose looked up at the sky. "My previous thought of avoiding the situation to not hurt Chihiro was wrong. Don't worry, Konoe. I told Chihiro everything, including the fact that you lied just now."

"Then how did you reply to Chihiro later?" Konoe asked curiously.

"Of course, I explained properly to Chihiro and rejected her directly. But what you said just now was too funny. What do you mean, 'I don't want to date girls, so it's not okay even if I look like a girl'?" Hahahaha, thinking about... how you were angry about this this morning, I can't stop laughing... Sorry, Konoe." Ichinose laughed, holding her stomach.

"What! That's because... I wanted to help you deal with that situation, so I said that lie! I don't think I look like a girl at all." Konoe stood up indignantly.

However, even when Ichinose later treated Konoe to a meal at the restaurant, she would still occasionally recall this incident and burst into laughter.