This is a sequel to my previous Love Letter, Love Letter fic. Asahi finally gives his answer in this. I should note that I changed Maya's last name between fics. It went from Suzuki to Suzaki, because Suzaki can be written with the kanji for scarlet and sparrow, which I found badass. The cover picture is one I drew and can be found on my dA here: http*:/plantress*.deviantart.*com/art*/Lunch-date-561951775 Just remove the stars.
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The first time Maya saw Asahi after she had given him her love letter, nerves stopped her short. She stared at him from the doorway of the classroom for a good long moment. He was already at his desk and talking to someone else. It felt like an eternity since those few moments, and now she wasn't what to say. Had he even read her love letter? Yeah, he had taken it, but he hadn't really acted like he knew what it was, and his teammate had shown up before she could try to say anything else. Wouldn't he have been a bit more nervous if he had realized she'd just handed over a letter with all her feelings in it? She had gotten a couple of texts from him, but the first had been something along the lines of 'I am a total idiot forgive me' complete with a sad emoticon, which was followed by a 'Sorry ignore that last message. I'm really sorry' text.
What had that meant? What had either text meant!?
Well, no use putting it off. She was just going to have to find out now. She clutched her bag a little more tightly and walked into the classroom. She traded greetings with Ai, listening with half an ear to her friend chatter about what the drama club was planning. She and Ai had seen each other yesterday, and she'd heard it before, but she just responded as if this was her first time hearing it. Or at least she thought she did. It was hard to concentrate knowing that Azumane was right behind her. She hadn't actually had a chance to say anything to him yet, which was even more distracting since she couldn't even begin to think about how he was going to respond! He hadn't said anything to her yet either, and she wondered if he had even noticed that she'd come in.
Did he even care if she had? If he didn't care that she'd given him a love letter maybe he didn't care that she existed at all and...she forced herself to pay attention to what Ai was saying. At least it kept her mind off of Azumane.
Finally though, her friend went back to her seat and Maya felt herself tense. Her excuse was now officially gone. She could just feel her neck prickling and she wasn't sure if that was because he was staring at her or just because she was so aware he was there.
She took a deep breath. No use putting this off any longer. She turned around in her seat.
"Good more Azumane-kun!" she hoped it didn't sound too loud.
Azumane just stared at her and pulled back in his seat, face going bright red. "M..morning good," he babbled, "Th...the weather is very fuzzy today, isn't it?" He broke into a nervous laugh.
She wondered what that meant. He had to have read her letter, right?
"Did you..." she started to say, but the door opened just then, and the teacher entered.
"All right, quiet down, the lot of you," she said, and Maya could only glance back at Azumane pleadingly before turning to face the front.
She steeled herself to face him again all during class, which made it really, really hard to concentrate. She was going to have to ask someone for their notes later, because she barely remembered anything the teachers had said.
When break was finally there, she turned around...just in time to see Azumane hurrying out the door. "...Eh?" She shoved her chair away from her desk and took off after him, but by the time she got there, he was gone. She stared down the hallway for a moment, before slowly going back into the classroom. As she made her way back to her seat, she had the sinking feeling that Asahi had read her love letter and didn't feel the same way. She blinked away tears and almost wished that he would just tell her that. Even though she really didn't want to hear it, at least it would be over with. Then she would be able to cry.
He disappeared during lunch too. She didn't really go looking for him, although she kept glancing toward the door nervously. He didn't show up until class was almost ready to start. He slide into his seat just as she turned around. Their eyes met for a moment and he went bright red. His mouth opened and closed for a second, then he just stared straight over her head, shaking slightly in his seat. She started to say something, anything that would at least get him talking to her again. Of course the teacher clapped for attention just then, and Asahi buried his face in his book to avoid looking at her.
By the end of the day she was starting to feel completely nervous, and almost sick, wondering when the axe would fall and he would finally say something.
She barely got any sleep at all that night, and stumbled into class at the last second.
At lunch she dropped her head onto her desk and sighed. "I think," she mumbled, "he really must hate me now."
Ran paused in the middle of the bite she was taking and just looked at her. "...Who hates you?"
"You mean Azumane-kun?" Ai reached over and snagged a bite out of Maya's lunchbox.
Maya barely even noticed and just nodded in response. "He's been avoiding me," she muttered into her desk, "since yesterday. You know I gave him a love letter. You'd think that would make him say something. Maybe he doesn't feel the same way, so I made things awkward for him. And now he hates me."
"It's Azumane," Ran pointed out, "from what I've seen him, I don't think he's going to hate you over that. Most guys wouldn't hate you over that."
Maya slowly picked her head up to look at her friend. "You really think so?"
"But it is Azumane-kun," Ai said, with her mouth full. "I mean, he's not really normal or anything, right?. I heard Yuna say that Mai-chan said that she saw him…"
"You don't need to repeat every rumor you hear!"
Normally Maya would have been ahead of Ran in scolding Ai, but she was too busy thinking about what she had said. Not about the rumors, she never listened to those, but that Azumane was different, so what if he really did dislike her now?
"Suzaki!" One of her classmates called from the front of the room. When he caught her eye he waved towards the door. "Someone wants to see you."
"..Okay," she said and pushed herself up from her desk. Maybe this would be a good distraction, although she didn't know who would want to call her out. She was still wondering who it was when she stepped out into the hall and stopped short. "Sugawara-kun?"
She hadn't seen the silver-haired volleyball player since before summer vacation. He smiled at her. "It's been awhile, Suzaki-san," he said cheerfully. "Can you come with me for a little bit?"
She stared at him for a second then nodded hesitantly. "Sure," she said at last, wondering what he could want. He was friends with Azumane. Maybe he would know what was going on.
He lead her through the school hallways, and up the stairs.
"Sugawara-kun, where exactly are we going?" she asked as they climbed.
He turned around and grinned at her. "Don't you want to talk to Asahi?"
She froze then looked away, aware that there was a faint blush on her cheeks.
"If he wants to talk to me," she managed to say as she started walking up the stairs again. Sugawara chuckled.
"I'm sure it will be fine," he said fairly, "and honestly I'm a bit jealous. I wish I could get a love letter from a cute girl."
Maya stopped mid-step. She felt petrified and suddenly her heart was pounding in her ears. "You….know about that…" she managed to get out although her throat was tight. Then again maybe she really shouldn't be surprised. Sugawa and Azumane were friends. You talked about things like that with your friends, didn't you? At least she would have if things had been the other way around.
"I heard about it," was all Subaward said but it was still enough to make her reach up and cover her face with her hand.
She hadn't thought about what would happen if someone else knew about the love letter. At least it was only Sugawara-kun so it couldn't be too bad. She still couldn't meet his eyes though, and just kept her feet down until the reached the top of the stairs.
For some reason she hadn't really been paying much attention to where they were until he shoved open the door at the top, and she realized where it lead.
"The roof?" she turned to look at him. "I thought…"
"I wanted to give the two of you some privacy," he said cheerfully, and stepped behind her before giving her a shove forward that sent her stumbling out onto the roof. "Now talk!" he all but ordered as he closed the door with a final sounding thud.
Maya whirled around and stared at the door, trying to figure out what happened. Someone made a high pitched sound behind her.
"S..suzaki-san!?" at the disbelieving sound of her names she turned. Standing a few feet from her was a very familiar sight.
"Azumane-kun?" she said in complete shock, then she glanced back at the door. Then looked over at him and pointed at the roof door with a shaky finger. "Did Sugawara-kun just…?"
"I...I think he did," Azumane finally managed to get out. "I'm sorry, Suga just said he would help, I didn't know he would…!"
"Um," she said quickly. "I don't mind, I mean, I wanted to see you so, this, this is okay.." It was hard to look at him now that he was in front of her, and she was still blushing. Azumane was blushing too, but that just made her more aware of him. Was he mad that she was here? What had Sugawara been helping him with? Why bring her here? He was going to reject her, wasn't he?
"Oh," Azumane muttered, sort of playing with his fingers. "That's..good then."
There was a long, awkward silence after that. Finally Maya looked up at him and cleared her throat. "Um, Azumane-kun.."
He jumped a little. "Y….yeah?"
One of her hands tangled in the fabric of her skirt and she looked down. "I...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make things awkward. If you…"
"What?" Azumane seemed honestly startled by that and when she looked back up he was just staring at her. "Awkward? You didn't! Why would you think that?"
Her stomach twisted. "You were avoiding me so I thought you didn't want…"
"No!" the word was said so forcefully she nearly jumped herself and Azumane looked almost panicked. "Th..that wasn't about you! I just took so long with the letter, and then I didn't even call you and I thought you would be...mad…" he trailed off, and scratched the side of his face.
Her heart leapt up to somewhere in her throat. "I'm..I'm not!" she said, taking and unconscious step forward. "I'm not mad. Really. It's fine."
He sagged a little and let out a relieved sigh. "I'm glad," he said and gave her a little nervous smile.
She smiled back and then let go of her skirt, only to clench her hands together. "So, um, you read the letter?"
He went bright red immediately. "I...did," his voice was a squeak. "Sorry, I didn't say anything right away, umm…"
A small curl of excitement made her breath faster. "It was out of nowhere so I didn't expect it right away," she couldn't meet his eyes. "I...I wanted to tell you in person but I was afraid of messing things up so I just ended up writing everything down. It was kind of a coward's way but I just wanted you to know."
"That wasn't being a coward!" Asahi said earnestly, "I think doing something like that on it's own is really, um, brave." He kind of looked away then, but she felt a sense of warmth run through her. This, the atmosphere didn't seem that bad. Maybe she really had been overthinking things.
"Do," he finally said and audibly swallowed, "do you really think that way about me? You, um, you...you think I'm cool?" the last was said in a rush and she wasn't sure he had been going to say that in the end, but she nodded anyway.
"Yeah," she said simply, and smiled a little. "I meant every word in the letter. You're really cool. I mean, off the court too, but especially when you're playing I really can't take my eyes away."
He looked happy about that, then something seemed to cloud his eyes. "I'm happy...but I don't want to disappoint you either," he said, as if was a confession. "I'm really not that cool and I know…" He hesitated as if he was to afraid to say anything else.
For a moment she wasn't sure what he was getting at then it clicked in her mind. "I know what some of the girls in class were saying, and I think they're idiots." she said firmly. "You're a really nice person Azumane-kun. I mean that part of the letter too. You've always been really sweet to me, and I...I really like being with you. So, it's not like that. I…." she was nearly panicking now,and it was hard to speak but she forced herself to keep going, "Ijustlikeallofyou."
Maybe because he already knew what was in the letter, maybe because she knew that he had to know what she felt, but she could actually get the words out this time.
Azumane went red, and put a hand over his face, shaking. She waited for a bit, each long second feeling like a lifetime.
Finally she couldn't take it anymore.
"Azumane-kun…?"
There was a gasping intake of breath. "You really feel like that?" his voice was shaky, and he moved his hand just enough so he could stare over the top of his fingers.
Her throat felt so tight that she could nod in response.
There was a long moment then Asahi said very fast, and so soft that she could barely hear it, "...Ifeelthesameway."
It was so mumbled that she wasn't sure she had heard it right at first but then she made a strangled noise and her hands flew up to her mouth. Her face was hot. "Really?" the word came out so much louder than she had meant it too.
Azumane didn't seem to mind. He just nodded himself, his hand slowly lowering. his face was at least as red as her was. "I was really happy that I had a love letter, but it made me excited when I realized it was from you."
Her throat was so tight she couldn't get any words out. It was hard to believe this was real, that it had actually happened. She had been so sure that it would end badly when he had been avoiding her that the fact that he felt the same was almost unbelievable.
Suddenly Azumane gave a strangled, "Su..zukai-san, was wrong?"
She looked at him in surprise, then realized there was something wet on her cheeks. She started giggling she couldn't help it. "Nothing's wrong," she said when she saw the panicked look on his face. "I'm just happy."
He froze, and seemed to relax as he reached up to run the back of his neck awkwardly. "Ah," he said in a small voice. "So, that's good…"
Silence filled the air again, only it was more comfortable this time.
A metallic thud from behind them caused both of them to jump, and she whipped around to stare at the door.
"...Didn't Sugawara-kun close that?" she asked finally and looked back at Azumane.
"I thought so," he said, looking just as confused as he was.
The sound seemed to have broke some sort of spell though, because now she could suddenly hear the sound of voices from down below and feel the wind coming across the rooftop.
"Maybe we should get back to class before the bell rings?" she said, not sure what else to do.
"...Good idea."
They started towards the door together, and she couldn't help looking at Azumane-kun out of the corner of her eye. When he looked back at her and smiled, she knew that she probably had the stupidest grin on her face and she didn't care. This was the happiest she had ever felt.
She would have to tell Ai and Ran about it right away.