Forging a Love Letter

A week had passed since the start of school. Glancing at the chaotic scene in the classroom, Horikita Suzune lowered her head and refocused her attention on the textbook in her hands.

She had already previewed the lessons; reading them again was simply to etch the information firmly into her mind.

She was by no means an absolute genius. While she was smarter than the average person, there was a significant gap between her and those geniuses who could grasp an answer at a single glance.

Her excellent grades relied primarily on unremitting effort and a focused attitude.

Over this past week, she had formed a basic judgment of the students in this class: they liked to slack off during lessons, arrive late, and leave early.

Most people acted this way, and with the teachers turning a blind eye, the situation was becoming increasingly severe.

This made her—a good student who listened attentively every day, strictly followed school rules, and practiced self-discipline—seem a bit out of place.

She was puzzled as to why she had been placed in a class with these people. Had the school made a mistake, or was the situation the same in other classes?

However, she didn't care much; as long as she managed herself well, what others did had nothing to do with her.

Fortunately, no one came to bother her.

Except for two people.

That girl named Kushida Kikyou had been clinging to her lately, racking her brains to try and become her friend.

No matter how many times she refused, the next day she would act as if nothing had happened and continue trying to close the distance between them.

She really was an annoying person.

Then there was Wang Meiyu, who sat in front of her.

Although they hadn't exchanged more than a few words, Horikita could always feel a trace of resentment in the girl's gaze whenever she snuck a look at her.

It was as if Horikita had snatched away her favorite toy.

Once, when she couldn't help but want to ask for the reason, Wang Meiyu had been so frightened that she scurried away, as if Horikita had truly bullied her.

What a headache.

There didn't seem to be a single normal person in this class.

Take Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who sat to her left, for example.

Aside from a few meaningless words at the start of the term, he hadn't bothered her since, unless absolutely necessary.

Based on her observations, Ayanokoji hung out with the three idiots of the class, so he probably felt there was no need to be friends with her.

Birds of a feather really do flock together.

Finally, she lifted her head slightly to glance at Jingu Byakuya, who sat near the center of the classroom, before looking away.

To win that person over and have him work properly for her, she had been treating him to meals for the past few days.

Speaking of him, she had initially thought he was pursuing her, but through their peaceful interactions over the last few days, she found that aside from the occasional nonsensical remark, he was quite well-behaved.

Only then did she slowly begin to believe that he might genuinely want to be her friend.

When it came to friendship, there was a fundamental difference between Jingu Byakuya and Kushida.

Jingu Byakuya was only pestering her because he truly had no other friends, whereas Kushida already had plenty. To Kushida, friends weren't exactly rare commodities; wouldn't she look like an idiot if she kept groveling to get close to her?

Moreover, she always felt that this person held some hostility toward her. She also had a vague impression of Kushida; they must have met somewhere before.

Stopping her train of thought, she returned her attention to her book.

There was one important thing to do after school today.

Jingu Byakuya looked at the object in his hand, which resembled a love letter, his eyes drifting slightly.

A week into the semester, he had finally received a love letter.

This was completely different from the grand spectacle of previous years, where his shoe locker would be overflowing by the second day of school.

Unlike those "warm men" who would gently reply to every girl who had a crush on them, he never replied to letters, nor did he ever look at their contents.

Even so, he would still take them home, light a fire, and watch the envelopes quietly burn into ash.

Then, he would sprinkle the ashes into the soil of the carnivorous plants he grew.

Only things that cannot be obtained are cherished.

He knew those girls harbored fantasies about him, and he couldn't bear to destroy them. Reality was always cruel; only after they truly started dating him would they realize that the beautiful things they had fantasized about didn't exist.

Everyone had flaws, even the most perfect people. The higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment.

Rather than letting them be disappointed in him, it was better to let them hold onto their hope forever.

In the future, when they lost hope in life, this tiny glimmer might allow them to hold onto their original intentions.

He opened the envelope and took out the paper inside.

After reading it, he put it back into the envelope and shoved it into his desk.

The content of the letter asked him to go to the rooftop after school, where the sender would be waiting for him.

Based on his years of experience receiving love letters, this was a fake. The person who wrote it was most likely a male.

Not to mention the crude packaging of the envelope, the wording and the sleazy handwriting alone made it impossible for it to have been written by a girl who had a crush on him.

Furthermore, the paper even smelled a bit foul; he had no idea if the person who wrote the letter had washed their hands after using the restroom.

Based on this, combined with the unusual circumstances surrounding him over the past few days, he could basically draw a conclusion:

This letter was written to him by the "idiot trio," which explained why those guys had been sneakily following him around lately.

Since it was a trap, he naturally wouldn't go, so ignoring it was the best course of action.

With a little time left before class, he tapped on his phone and opened the class group chat.

Although it was a group chat, not many people liked to stir up activity there—mostly just Yamauchi Haruki, Ike Kanji, Shinohara Satsuki, Sato Maya, as well as Kushida Kikyou and Hirata Yousuke.

Kushida and Hirata mainly posted class announcements; Hirata was the class representative, while Kushida had been elected as the class's affinity ambassador, responsible for maintaining relationships between various groups.

The others just liked to post random nonsense.

As soon as he opened it, he saw Yamauchi posting his thoughts on some philosophical masterpiece again; he could tell at a glance that those thoughts were plagiarized.

Of course, this class had more than just this one group; there were girls' groups, boys' groups, and private chats for various small cliques.

Girls in a single dormitory could create ten different groups, so this class probably had dozens.

Among them, the one he was most interested in was an anonymous chat group with about ten people, all from their class.

This group had no owner and no administrator; one could join or leave at any time.

Rather than an anonymous chat group, it was more of a stress-venting group, where the content was basically just insults and very nasty language.

One of the latest messages caught his eye.

Member 2: I saw that guy Jingu go into a KTV with several upperclassmen last night. How lewd! I knew he wasn't a good person!

It was clearly a frame-up; he had been playing Monopoly in the room with Wang Meiyu last night, so how could he have gone to a KTV?

Member 6: You're lying! He's not that kind of person at all!

Member 2: Who are you? How would you know if he's that kind of person or not? This guy dared to seduce my little Kushida as soon as school started!

Member 6: I was with him last night, I can testify.

Member 2: ???

Bai Ye: "..."

Others: So who exactly are you?

Bai Ye covered his head, wanting to put a stop to it, but couldn't think of a good way.

After a long while, Member 6 finally sent a message: I am Horikita Suzune.

???

At that moment, Horikita happened to be looking for something under her desk with her head down. Feeling the piercing gazes suddenly shooting toward her from all around, she looked up and glared back at each of them with cold eyes.

If she hadn't made that gesture, it might have been fine, but because she did, it actually made them believe the statement.

Wang Meiyu also realized things had gone south and immediately exited the group chat.

Watching the messages teasing Horikita, Bai Ye also exited.

Actually, it wasn't a huge problem; he had been getting closer to Horikita lately, which had sparked some rumors.

He was already a focal point; he was inexplicably watched wherever he went, making it impossible to keep a low profile even if he wanted to.

Kushida had also asked a few times if the two of them were dating. Although her tone was very polite, it always seemed like she was hinting that he shouldn't date Horikita.

Sure enough, the second he exited the group chat, he received a message from Kushida: Are you two really dating?

He replied: That person just now was Meiyu.

Kushida: Oh, alright then. Actually, I have a bit of a crush on you. If you get together with Horikita, I won't talk to you anymore.

Yeah, right!

That's too fake, Kushida-san; you almost let your true feelings slip out.

As for why Kushida didn't want to see him dating Horikita, he guessed that getting two people expelled was much more troublesome than getting just one expelled.

No wonder Kushida had been getting more and more enthusiastic toward him lately; she wanted to establish a deeper friendship with him before Horikita could.