Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to anything. This is merely a fan-made work of fiction.

A/N: Tadaima! I am SO sorry I have not been present lately, but here I'm going to play the school-is-such-a-time-consuming-monster-even-though-it's-actually-my-fault card. I have been a tad swamped, and then at the beginning of the month I decided on a whim: "Why not do a Valentine's Day story?" (even though I dislike Valentine's Day because I'm an angst-filled teenage girl and I'm pretty much supposed to.) But that even took up a lot of time. For any of my followers (I love you people) I promise to update Misunderstandings of Monarchy next week! Seriously! And sorry if the time-skips are awkward in this story.
So, Happy Valentine's Day! Here's my valentine to all of you~! Parts II and III will be updated later today.
Rant over! Read on! 3
-Silvia

Part I: Of Swingsets and Secrets

Wednesday, February 12th
School hallway
7:12 A.M.

Green Oak shoved his hands in the pockets of his uniform pants as he trudged through the hallways, ignoring the annoying chatter of his peers. He always hated useless babble. But unfortunately, when one rarely talks, one tends to hear more. That was how Green had become such a useful resource, such an avid observer.

And so it was that he passed the lockers of some bubbly (and not completely unattractive, he noted) girls in his class.

"Oh my gosh," he overheard one of the girls—for all his observing, he was hopeless with names—simper, "have you read the paper? The Greene Girls wrote a column about Valentine's Day!" Insert the squealing of her friends.

Upon hearing this, Green shouldered his bag and plunged through the crowd of students to his locker, groaning in irritation.

It's good that the school newspaper is at least getting popularity, Green mused to himself, shoving through his books aimlessly, while other schools don't even have one. But those damned girls…

He sighed and slunk to his first class. Then to the rest. He spent the morning, as usual, scribbling notes, solving equations, squinting at blackboards, and sitting in agonizingly uncomfortable chairs (he wished he could punch whoever the hell designed those painful bastards.) It was the twelfth of February, and he was determined to act as normally as possible and ignore the tensions that would build in two days' time.

Being a senior, Green had dealt with Valentine's Days in school before. Sure, it was awkward, but not much ever really happened except for people chickening out and saying they'll confess to their crush the following year. However, as a senior, it was his last year in high school, with his same peers. That being said, it was some students' last chances for a Valentine's confession to their crushes. Green could practically sense the hormones, as if they were electromagnetic currents in the air.

Of course, he wanted no part of it. Valentine's was a stupid holiday. Girls built up their expectations, hoping to get a valentine, and most of them ended up disappointed. Then they ate chocolate out of self-pity. Didn't they realize how bad that would be for their teeth? Sugar could lead to so much decay…

Green slipped soundlessly into the class of his favourite subject, science, and positioned his thin reading glasses on the bridge of his nose. He joined his reluctant lab partner—a freshman named Platinum Berlitz who was just as quiet, easily-annoyed, and smart as he was. Therefore, the two had a sort of mutual, silent respect for one another. It helped that they both liked science a lot—any sort of science really—and were in the Sciences Club, which mainly researched and did projects pertaining to biology, chemistry, and physics.

After the period was over came lunch, along with the usual chill and unpleasantness of the cafeteria. There was a constant stench within the room that could never be described as anything but just plain overall icky.

He sat with Platinum again, as well as the rest of the members of the Sciences Club. One of the reasons he disliked the cafeteria so much was that he didn't even get to sit with his real friends. He liked his fellow science fans, but they just weren't the same as real companions. Green was just sort of inclined to sit with the Sciences Club. The school lunchroom had a sort of order that was never to be broken, a status quo in which students never really strayed from their posses.

And, after all, he had a reputation to maintain. He was Green Oak, the surprisingly popular, increasingly intelligent, dead-sexy science prodigy. Girls swooned over him, for being so nice and sitting with his nerdy science pals, for being so buff and so cool and so smart. He didn't particularly care about him (though he could not have said he particularly minded having girls swoon over him.)

But was that really all he was? Just a child prodigy, grandson of a professor, who liked science and was good-looking? He didn't really like to think of that.

"Space Cadet, you might want to snap out of it before your ship crashes."

Green looked up from his textbook to find the severe and undeniably-gorgeous junior Crystal Hiradaira staring at him. He blinked. She sighed (she sighed almost as much as he did) and went on, "If you walk around with that blank look on your face, like you've got no idea what's going on, someday you'll walk into a wall."

Platinum sipped her juice box. "Hm…I wonder how the impact of a wall against Oak-san's body would affect him…"

"I'm right here and you're discussing me bouncing off a wall," Green observed blandly.

Platinum shrugged. "I say such things when I get bored with you tedious peasants." She came from a very wealthy family, and although she was not arrogant, she addressed anyone she was familiar with as a "peasant" or "commoner". It should have been offensive, but Crystal had explained to Green once that from Platinum, it was a term of endearment.

When the three of them, as well as the three other male members of their club, dropped into a steep silence, Green glanced all around at the lunchroom. Observing, as usual. There were the girls' popular cliques, the jocks, the Drama Club, the obnoxious boys who came in an array of skateboarders and coffee-drinkers and comedians, the strangely-sexy-science-students (yes, that was Green and his club), the actual geeks who spent their Fridays solving quadratic equations for fun, a colourful collection of various clubs, and the occasional wallflower or two.

(Green noted vaguely that of all the groups and clubs, there was no table occupied by members of the School Newspaper Club. Therefore, nobody ever knew who the supposed Greene Girls could be.)

Almost as if the girl was psychic and reading his thoughts, Platinum started, "So I hear there's something big in the school newspaper." She slurped her apple juice like an eager kindergartener, though her metallic eyes were void of expression.

Falkner, another dashing male in their club, nodded. "I guess so. I mean, there have been bigger things. But apparently in that one column, the one that those two girls write, it discussed Valentine's Day or whatever, and they're holding a poetry contest."

For at least a year, the school newspaper had had a column called "Letters from the Greene Girls" whereby two female students under aliases replied to letters that other girls wrote to them. Usually, they replied to the ones that included common problems that could be given advice about. Rarely was the advice about love, surprisingly. The Greene Girls had gotten fairly popular around the school. At least that everyone knew about them, but not a single person knew who they actually were.

Mostly because nobody had ever bothered to ask Green.

It's so damn obvious! How can nobody notice who they are?

"Valentine's Day is so pointless," Crystal replied witheringly.

"Indeed," Green agreed, but was drowned out by the sound of a handsome yet tragically irritating club member asking mockingly, "So are you one of those lonely maids who hates Valentine's Day because she never gets a boy, Hiradaira-san?" He snickered.

"No," Crystal deadpanned, brazenly unfazed. "It's just the fakest holiday ever. And if you think I'm lonely, tell that to Falkner." By the silence that followed, Green could tell she had not meant to say that; it must have slipped out in the spur of the moment.

Platinum raised her eyebrows. "Falkner?"

Falkner smiled coolly. "We've sort of been going out for a month or so."

"And you never said anything?"

Crystal shrugged. "We didn't want to."

"I stand corrected, then," responded Marlon, who'd made the guffawing accusation before.

Green sighed, leaned his head on a hand, and drowned out the conversation for the rest of lunch.

The downside of having science in the morning was that a boring afternoon ensued. It included calculus, which wasn't that bad, but also history, which was boring as hell. In addition, there came time for gym. Green could have been a jock he was so lean and athletic, so he really had no problem with gym. His class was obnoxious, though. Like most of his classes. Students just generally annoyed him. Jocks, especially. Two in his gym class, Gold Okami and Sapphire Birch, got competitive in literally everything, while the third jock in the class, Red Sakishima, smiled apologetically at everyone over their antics and beat the both of them. Every time. And every time, Green would think to himself, This is why I'm glad to be a smart kid.

And then the end of the day came. Other students trickled off out of the school or to their respective clubs. Green lingered by his locker as usual, pretending to sort through books. It was a Wednesday, so he did not have Sciences Club. Which meant he had something else planned.

Crystal, passing him by on the way to her study group, bid him farewell, and he observed how oddly downcast she seemed. He watched her go before shutting his locker and making a break down the school hallways, to the second floor, and to an inconspicuous room that had been specifically picked as one to not draw attention to itself. It had a good vantage point without attracting unwanted notice.

Green knocked thrice, and slid open the door to reveal a regular clubroom with tables and computers dragged in, parchment and pencils flying about, fingers tinkering away at their keyboards, organizing and writing and drafting. He knew this room well.

It was the room belonging to the School Newspaper Club.

His club.

School Newspaper Club room
2:21 P.M.

The School Newspaper Club met almost every day, but not every member could attend every day, since some of them had other activities—much like Green who attended Sciences Club on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and School Newspaper Club for the rest of the week.

Unfortunately, the Newspaper Club finalized and printed the week's paper on Tuesdays, then set it out for students to take on Wednesday mornings. After, they would start on the next paper. It was a good process, really, except for that Green was never there on Tuesdays in case someone threw a curveball. He was not in charge, there was no formal president or representative of the club, but he was one of the four seniors amongst the remaining members, who were underclassmen sworn to secrecy about the club.

Green glanced around, unable to find his fellow seniors—who called themselves "the center ring" of the club—and marched over to a kouhai, who sat typing an informational article for the next paper. Green barked out, "Where are those damned girls?!"

His kouhai cowered. "I-I don't know, G-Green-sempai."

Green groaned and ran a hand through his messy brunette hair. "Where can I find a copy of the last paper?" A sophomore pointed it out to him, and he leafed through the ink-heavy pages until he found the column he was looking for.

"Letters from the Greene Girls:
H.L. wrote a letter to us concerning how to manage social life and extracurricular activities along with classes and exams.
Answered by Aoi:
Well, there are lots of ways to juggle a busy life…"

Green didn't even read the rest. He just scoffed at the idiotic alias and kept skimming until he reached the bottom and found what he was looking for.

"A note from The Greene Girls:
In honour of the upcoming holiday, Valentine's Day, we would like to hold a contest! Whoever submits the best poem by the end of the day on Friday (Valentine's Day) will be our winner. The prize is not much, but the winning poem will be featured in the next issue of the school newspaper, and the winner will meet with us, The Greene Girls, in person."

Green stared incredulously at the paper. Finally, he screamed, "WHAT THE HELL?!" Effectively frightening the underclassmen.

At that moment, the door swung open. "Tadaima!" called the boisterous voice of a fellow senior in the club. "Who's screaming?" Then he caught sight of an angry Green holding their newspaper and began to feel very cold. It was a quite dangerous situation. "Hi, Green…"

"Did you know about this?" the normally stoic and calm boy asked, jabbing a finger at the column.

Red Sakishima smiled, hoping to ease the tension. "Yeah! The girls showed it to me before it got finalized. I thought it was a good idea…"

"It's a horrible idea," Green barked. "When those damned girls get back here…"

"Oh come on," scoffed Lyra, a junior. "You wouldn't do anything but yell at those two."

Green was about to ask her what he meant by that—he could have done something, right? Cancelled the contest or something? Right?—but the door slid open and revealed a laughing figure. "Ho, ho, ho, well what do we have here?" she asked at seeing Green's typically stoic expression twisted into that of wrath.

Blue Chitanda was a tall, curvy member of the Drama Club, and a good source of Green's headaches. Standing beside her was the noticeably smaller Yellow Midori, a shy and petite wallflower.

Red waved jovially.

Green glared. "What the hell did you write this for?"

Blue beamed at him. "It was my idea. What do you think I was drafting in my notebook all day on Monday? And I thought it would be fun to shake things up a bit, no?"

It wasn't as if Green was particularly surprised by her antics, only angry with them. In fact, he had almost become accustomed to Blue scheming against him. After all, they were childhood friends.

Green had been best friends with Red, Blue, and Yellow since they could toddle and chase each other round playgrounds. They were inseparable. Their mothers even chatted for great lengths of time as they played, as the mothers of best friends tended to do. Often times the four of them gathered at the park where they could all walk to, at the big and often empty playground. In future years it would appear unimpressive, but to a bundle of children, it was a quite impeccable mechanism. Beside it lay trees and a small lake where ducks slid by and quacked their nostalgic quack, gobbling heartily at the breadcrumbs that the children tossed their way.

All through the sun-soaked days of elementary school they were Green's greatest companions, by his side for everything. Whenever he said he was having friends over, no one even questioned who, since it would always just be those three. Those three loyal friends of his.

But middle school proved to be a greater challenge. They began descending into the state of existential crisis's and worrying about trivial matters such as appearance or companions. It was inevitable that the quartet would drift apart. By graduation, Green almost never spoke to them. He would see them in the halls with their respective gangs—Red with the members of whatever sports team he had just joined, Blue with her companions from the school play, Yellow…well he almost never saw Yellow since she wasn't very noticeable. Every now and then he would stop for a moment and mourn their lost friendship, but then tell himself he didn't really care. They were just childhood friends, right? They didn't remember him constantly, so why should he care about them all the time? And he went back to worrying about his own life only, as young teenagers often do.

But then came high school. And in freshman year, and event so great would happen that Green would come to call it The Call. The Summoning. The Gathering. The Great Assembly.

A number he didn't recognize called his cell phone one chill Saturday morning in November and when he picked up, the caller screamed, "COME TO THE PLACE WHERE IT BEGAN. TWO HOURS. OR DIE."

He was almost one hundred percent certain the "or die" part was bluff, but the message still intrigued him. He played the message again and again, not recognizing the voice, until he had a rather overly-hopeful hunch. But who else would have sent that message? Who else would be able to say "the place where it began"? There was only one place he knew of where something began. And although it was a long shot, he grabbed a coat and ran out of the house without a word.

He took the long way around in case he wanted to change his mind. Every time he tried to turn around, something in the back of his mind stopped him. Some strange, ancient feeling was revoked and he pushed on. Pushed on until he emerged from the trail into a park that looked pleasant even on that cloudy day, and until he stepped up to an old playground.

Of course, he saw Blue immediately. He called out her name and she spun around, a smile illuminating her face. She glowed as if she'd expected him to come the entire time, but he saw that there had been nervousness in her azure eyes. She was glad he had come.

Only minutes later arrived a gasping and frantic Yellow, who almost instantly collapsed into Blue's arms, and Green couldn't blame her. He had been lonely enough without his old friends, but Yellow must have fared worse since she was tragically shy and hadn't made friends like he had.

Red took much longer and when he finally arrived he explained, "I knew right away that it was Blue, but…I didn't really know where 'the place where it began' was. 'Cause really we met in preschool, so I tried going there, but, uh…" He laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, a position in which Blue would later deem "Da Red Pose".

An awkward silence ensued, but soon they had all gotten to talking, talking about anything and everything, the old days, middle school, the start of high school, everything. Sitting around their old playground, it began again. Their friendship began again. Green had believed all along that it was gone, that there was no way things could go back to the way that they were, but they did. On that day, Blue had pulled them back. That was the greatest debt that Green owed her.

All throughout high school, they spent almost every day together. In the School Newspaper Club, which Blue forced them to join ("So that we can spend more time together!" she'd bubbled.) At frozen yogurt parlours or coffee shops or libraries. Anywhere. Their friendship grew even stronger.

Except high school was a very complicated and temperamental beast. The slightest crack in the status quo could attract unwanted attention and criticism. Wordlessly, the friends stayed with their respective groups during the school, but spent the rest of their time together.

Blue had pointed it out one day, but said that it was better that way. ("It's like a game!" she'd said. "The popular kids from totally different areas—and one wallflower—are actually best friends and no one knows. It's like a mystery! And besides, those other idiots don't need to know our business. We don't have any classes together, so why not just keep this up? Then if someone figures it out, it'll be that much more dramatic!")

Blue tended to love playing games like that. That was probably something she inherited from their very secretive sempais in the School Newspaper Club, who indulged in secrecy; secret sources, secrecy of the news club members, secrecy of location. Green couldn't say he minded. It was actually fun to have a secret like that. He was part of a whole secret world. He, Red, Blue, and Yellow were secretly the best of friends and secretly in a secret club under secret identities.

Secrecy was how Blue became Aoi and Yellow became Kohaku. The Greene Girls. ("That's what we'll be called!" Blue had declared one day in the clubroom. "'The Greene Girls'! After our best buddy, Green, and because Blue and Yellow makes Green! We'll just add an 'e' and no one will suspect anything.") Green found it shocking that nobody even did suspect anything. It was just so obvious.

But someone meeting with The Greene Girls would mean their identities and friendships exposed. Green pointed that out, and Blue only scoffed as they stood their in their beloved Newspaper Club room.

"Nobody will really find out," Blue replied. "We'll disguise ourselves or something. Plus, we're seniors. It would be even more dramatic if people discovered us now!"

Green sighed at her antics, at her crazy games and plans. Lyra sent him a glance, as if to say, I told you so.

Thursday, February 13th
Green's locker
7:03 A.M.

Green arrived at school early the following morning, and shuffled in a very sleepy, zombie-like manner to his locker, where he proceeded to sift through his things to pass the time. He didn't feel like going straightway to class nor striking conversation with the few people who had shown up so far.

But suddenly he felt a presence next to him. Right next to him.

Green recoiled instinctively and found that it was Blue, who had snuck up on him and now stared up at him expectantly. "So, what are we going to do about Yellow?"

He blinked, fighting the heat that rose to his face at such close proximity to the pesky girl. "What the hell, you idiot girl?"

Blue huffed and crossed her arms. "You didn't even read our column this week, did you?"

"No," he answered blatantly.

"Here." She shoved a copy at him and he reluctantly read the second letter, skipping over Blue's:

"S.B. wrote a letter to us concerning how she has come to realize that she has feelings for a friend of hers, and she does not know how to deal with them, especially so very close to Valentine's Day.
Answered by Kohaku:
From the letter that S.B. wrote to us, I can tell that she is not a girl who often gets this sort of feeling. A crush is an unusual, foreign thing to her. This is why I have chosen to write a reply instead of Aoi, who is an experienced matchmaker."

Green glanced up at the pesky girl before him and thought, Well ain't that the truth. He read on.

"I also am unfamiliar to such feelings. I've never really felt so strongly towards people. But I have—and yes I will dare to say this—fallen in love."

Green stopped dead. Yellow's in love?

"I've harboured feelings for someone for a long while. It's hard for me because I'm not a person who is necessarily good at expressing my feelings, much like S.B. who finds herself stifled in confrontation. In fact, I probably would never be able to write like this if my identity were known. So my advice to all girls out there who are faced with heartache over someone is to be brave. You don't have to confess or walk away from these feelings, but accept them. Stay calm. And if an opportunity presents itself, be a little brave. Not only because Valentine's Day is coming up, but because we're all young and we have these feelings, so we should not let them be stifled. Especially girls like me who are not used to them."

Green stared at the paper, baffled beyond measure. He would have never known Yellow to write something like that.

Blue caught his shocked expression. "See what I mean? She loves someone." She grinned mischievously. "Now we just have to find out who and make sure he notices her."

"Don't you have other people to bother this time of year?" Green grunted, referencing how she always came to him and jabbered endlessly about her "shippings" whereby she paired her friends with one another.

Blue snapped her fingers. "That's right! I do! Well, I could try to find a girl for my kouhai, Ruby, he's in the Drama Club with me, but he tends to be a perfectionist. And I already got my other Drama Club friend, Bianca Hyuuga, together with Cheren Ibara—you know him? He's that brunette, semi-stuck-up genius kid on the debate team?"

Green had heard of him. "Of course I know him. We child prodigies have a secret club that meets in the school at nighttime while all the normal kids sleep and we talk about how fugging stupid everyone else is."

Blue furrowed her eyebrows. "Did you just use sarcasm for the first time in like the history of everything?"

"Moving on. Can't you just mess with your brother again or something?"

Blue's younger brother, Silver, was a very grumpy junior in the Sciences Club who didn't like Green. At all. Green would have no problem seeing the redheaded boy traumatized by his sister's matchmaking.

"I could," Blue considered. "He does need a girlfriend. But Yellow comes first, because she's our best pal! And 'cause she's seventeen years old and has never even been kissed before!"

Green stiffened at the mention of a first kiss. "Can't you just let her deal with it on her own? You should stop meddling with first kisses."

Blue faltered and blushed. "But I have to help!"

"There's a word for people like you," Green said, pretending to think about it. "What was it? Oh yeah. Pesky."

She turned to march off and find Yellow as more students flooded in.

Sciences Club room
2:03 P.M.

Green set his bag on a lab table and glanced around. Mostly everyone was looking through a microscope or on a computer. Sciences Club was generally quiet. Platinum was wearing giant glasses and staring down at some chemistry problems scrawled into her notebook. It looked like the same set she had been working on for a while.

Apparently noticing this as well, Crystal asked, "Platina-chan, what are those problems?" She was the only one in the club allowed to call the heiress "Platina-chan". Everyone else was only permitted to "Berlitz-san," or something of the sort.

Platinum didn't look up, but answered, "A code I've been trying to crack. It just shouldn't be possible…but today I've brought a specimen to test." Green, Falkner, and Marlon gazed over at her lab table, vaguely interested. Platinum reached into her backpack and extracted a paper bag containing…

"You've been trying to crack the recipe of a cupcake?" Marlon questioned.

"This is no ordinary cupcake," Platinum replied seriously. She handed it to Marlon to try, who greedily took a bite.

"This cupcake is awesome," marveled Marlon. "Like, beyond awesome. Who made it?"

Platinum hesitated. Finally she decided on, "My knight."

Green and Crystal exchanged glances. They had never heard that term used by her before. So if it was a step above "peasant" or "commoner" then it must have meant her boyfriend.

"The formula just should not work," Platinum went on, "so I have been trying to decipher it."

"Oh boy," Crystal sighed quietly and returned to a computer.

At that moment the classroom door clattered loudly open and Silver Chitanda entered, breathless.

"You're late," Green deadpanned at the same time as Crystal flew over to him and exclaimed, "You look like you've seen a ghost!" Mostly because Crystal was actually his friend.

"I'm fine, Hiradaira," Silver answered. He didn't look it.

But after that, nobody questioned him, and Sciences Club went on as usual. Platinum deciphered her cupcake, which Marlon then ate, Crystal and Falkner did research on their computers (which just so happened to be beside one another and they just so happened to have pushed their chairs suspiciously close), Silver investigated various slides under a microscope, and Green was left with his same old tests and his same old research. There was no breakthrough today. No exciting new experiment for them to throw themselves into.

An interruption could not have come sooner. The door found itself opening again and Blue emerged into the science lab. She sent a smile to her brother, and then beckoned Green out, explaining only, "I'm borrowing him for the rest of the day."

Other Sciences Club members (excluding Silver, who begrudgingly knew of his sister's friendship with Green) stared, baffled, but said nothing as Green gathered his things and left with Blue.

Together, the two walked down the hallway (well, Blue more or less strode. There was a certain thing about striding that led Green to walk behind her, partly because she was leading him, partly because he was sulking, and partly to watch her as she strode. Sometimes, Blue Chitanda could be quite the spectacle.)

"Where are we going?" Green questioned.

"Spying on Yellow," Blue replied, as nonchalantly as if she were just saying to the park or to get a snack. "We'll go find her and watch to see if she gets nervous around someone. Maybe then we can figure out who she's in love with."

"Yellow gets nervous around the air," Green deadpanned. "How are we supposed to pick out one person?

Blue considered this. "You're right. But we'll see if she gets especially nervous around someone."

Green stopped mid-sigh, feeling like he sighed too much, and let Blue walk ahead of him down the hallway. He gazed dismally, darkly, dramatically out the windows, like an angry anime character might, still watching Blue out of his peripheral vision.

Sometimes it was so hard to be around her. To say nothing about that feeling from so long ago that had crept back in, and grew and grew. It was her fault, really.

"Nee, Green! Neither of us have had our first kiss yet, right?"

"No, why?"

"Well if we kiss each other then we'll both have had our first kiss with someone we'll always love, right? 'Cause we'll always be best friends."

"Blue, what do you mean by th—?"

He still carried that memory around. They were just kids, right? It hadn't meant anything, right? She just kissed him so that she would have had her first kiss, right? With someone who was her friend? So it didn't matter?

But even if that kiss from when they were little had not mattered, everything else did. All of the other memories. Of when they splashed in the lake at the park in the summers as kids. Of the hidden trails they walked in the woods, the sun splaying through the leaves. Of when they saw an unexpectedly scary movie as sophomores and she shielded herself behind him. Of when she took his hand at a crowded amusement park, acting as though she was leading him around, when she really admitted that she didn't want to get lost. Of her laughter. Of all the Valentine's Days the four of them had spent together eating chocolate and watching girly movies (which Red and Green would never admit that they actually enjoyed sometimes, given the right movie.) Of when they boycotted junior prom to hang out together and get ice cream. Of all the years he had spent by her side. Of everything.

All those things he kept hidden, buried, but when he saw her smile, they flooded back so overwhelmingly. Uncontrollably.

And yet, after all the years that Green had known her, Blue just seemed so far away.

She turned round and faced him, tilting her head adorably to one side. "Something wrong, Green?"

He looked her in the eye and lied. "No."

They searched until the hour was almost up and finally found Yellow in the library, alone, studying. Blue swore under her breath that she hadn't caught Yellow swooning over some boy. But they called Yellow over anyways.

"Let's leave," Blue suggested and they followed her out of the school.

Park
5:28 P.M.

As it turned out, Blue brought them to the old playground. It was already late enough that the winter sun was setting, rays of failing light falling on the playground and the woods, and turning the lake into liquid gold. The three of them sat on the rusty old swingset (because swingsets are places for people to be very dramatic, Green decided, and therefore were good for Blue.)

The aforementioned pesky girl tried to coax a confession out of Yellow, while Green stayed silent. Blue would ask things like, "Has anything interesting happened lately?" or "How have things been?" or "Have you chosen another letter to reply to?"

Green knew it was coming, but still flinched when Blue finally cracked and screeched, "GOD, YELLOW, JUST TELL US WHO YOU LOVE ALREADY!"

Yellow stared, her amber eyes wide. "W-what?"

Green groaned in irritation. "Blue read your response to that letter in the newspaper and now thinks you're some tsundere moe girl hiding your long-harboured feelings for some dashing male who you swoon at the sight of."

Blue turned to him sharply, her eyes glittering. "You know the term 'tsundere'?"

He blinked. "Yes?"

"I've taught you well, grasshopper." She returned her focus to Yellow. "So…I don't mean to pry or be meddlesome—"

"Yes you do," Green interjected.

"—but we're you're best friends and I just figured if you can tell anyone, you can tell us. And we could help, you know? We could drop some not-so-subtle hints to this guy. We could help out. So, if you're comfortable telling us…" Blue trailed off expectantly.

Yellow didn't seem amused by this, or even embarrassed by it, as Green had expected her to be. Instead, she just stared down at her feet for a long time, and then took a breath.

"It's not that easy, you know," she started quietly. "I can't just tell you and you can't just somehow make him return the feelings through some probably embarrassing, elaborately-constructed plan. It's just not that easy." Yellow's voice broke and tears spilled from her amber eyes. "He'll never think of me the way I think of him. And I've known that the whole time, and yet I let myself fall so hard. And you guys are trying to help me, when I just can't do anything. My feelings won't ever be anything but unrequited, and that's the reality of it. It just…it hurts. To love someone so strongly when you can't ever say anything."

Green felt his heart twinge with sympathy. If anyone knew how that felt, he did.

"Yellow," Blue replied softly, "I am so sorry. But I just don't understand. Who is this that you couldn't say anything to, ever? Because I know that you're shy, but if you couldn't ever say anything to this person…"

Tears spilled onto the ground. Yellow buried her face in her hands. "Red. I'm in love with Red."

Green felt as if he'd been hit in the gut by a brick. Red? All along it had been Red? Their best friend? He had never realized it. If he had, maybe he could have helped her or done something. But she was shy and had never said a word of it to any of them.

All three friends turned sharply to the left when they heard footsteps. And then there he was, walking out from behind the playground. Red. Wearing a grim expression.

Yellow's eyes could not have been wider. She was frozen, trembling with her hands still suspended near her face. Then, faster than any of them thought she could, she took off and ran towards the tree line.

"Yellow!" Red called out, and he started after her, with Blue and Green close behind. Yellow was smaller and couldn't run as fast, so Green knew she couldn't outrun them, but when she ducked into the woods, tears flying and glinting in her wake, he wondered if they might lose her. If she would outrun them today and forevermore. If she would disappear in the way that wallflowers could, passing them unnoticed in the halls, not answering their calls or facing them again. She could. She really could do that.

And she probably would have if not for a gnarly tree with roots sticking out. Her foot got caught on a root that she didn't see—tears had probably long since clouded her vision—and she fell forwards. But before she hit the ground, a hand quickly grabbed her arm and yanked her back. From the momentum of the save, Red tumbled forward along with her, but managed to cushion her fall. They slid and then sat up, mostly unharmed save for a few scratches. Yellow looked like she was about to run again, but Red, still gripping her arm, pulled her against him and held her tight in his arms, still sitting on the ground. Green almost went forward to them, but Blue held out an arm to stop him and the two of them stepped back, watching.

Red rested his head on Yellow's shoulder. "Please…don't run away from me again…" he murmured. Yellow's eyes widened yet again (if it was physically possible for them to be that wide anyways.) Tentatively, she brought her arms around him. He squeezed her tighter. "Please…don't go, Yellow…"

"I…I don't understand," she said finally.

"I'm sorry I overheard," Red began, "but you think I couldn't return your feelings? After all this time? I just can't believe you would ever think that. You're everything, Yellow. And I've always known that you would be the girl to bring me down." He laughed breathlessly. "I've been beside you for so long, but it's never enough. And I…" He pulled away ever so slightly, so he could look her straight in her teary amber eyes. "I think I'm falling in love with you too."

It was like a moment straight out of a movie, with the setting sun lighting the scene. If Green didn't know any better, he would swear that the chirping of the birds and the whistling wind came to a crescendo and played out tunefully as background music. Yellow fell back into Red's arms, beaming and crying happily.

Blue sniffled quietly, as to not be overheard by their friends, and whispered, "Success! I knew it would work."

"You knew about them?" Green asked in a hushed tone.

Blue shrugged. "I had a hunch. I was always rooting for those two, anyways. So I told Red to come and meet us out here. I counted in the fact that he's curious and will probably listen to us for a few seconds before jumping in, and I had a feeling that he would keep listening once he heard that we were discussing Yellow liking someone, but never would I have believed my plots could go so perfectly." She grinned devilishly and wrung her hands like an evil villain.

Green puffed out a breath in relief, ignoring any God-Blue-is-hot-when-she-treats-a-situation-like-a-scientific-equation thoughts. He thought that the drama for the time being was over, as the four of them walked home calmly, Red and Yellow trying and failing to be discreet in their hand-holding. But it had really only begun.

Friday, February 14th
School hallway, by Green's locker
7:09 A.M.

Green was at his locker again, on the morning of Valentine's Day, crouching down to sort textbooks, when it happened.

"What is this?" he heard someone ask incredulously. He could hear a sputtered, apprehensive reply, "Uh, well…" But that was Blue's voice. He shot up and glanced over at the commotion. If anyone except for Blue had been standing in the center ring, he would have ignored the drama and ignored it again when Crystal and Platinum gossiped at lunch.

Green spotted someone, some girl he didn't know, leafing through a notebook. Blue's notebook; the one where she kept copies of letters and drafted her responses as Aoi. The girl who had found it looked incredulous, before that twisted into a malicious smile.

"BLUE-CHAN IS ONE OF THE GREENE GIRLS!"

Students stopped in their tracks and gathered round to be sure. After all, the discovery of a Greene Girl, or even just a member of the elusive School Newspaper Club was big news.

"I…" Blue tried to form words, but couldn't. For all the attention she seemed to love, for all the times she had put herself onstage or before others, she seemed stumped. Green had to do something. So he spoke instead.

"Blue is a member of the School Newspaper Club," he clarified. Blue glanced at him, surprised he would reveal that much, or even defend her so publicly.

"How would you know?" interrogated a voice. Green couldn't see the source. But he answered anyways.

"Blue Chitanda, Red Sakishima, Yellow Midori, and I have all been best friends since we were little. We're still best friends. And the four of us are the four senior members of the School Newspaper Club, which is usually shrouded in mystery. But because we're seniors, it's about time people knew. Maybe next year the juniors will do the same, or maybe this is totally untraditional. Blue and Yellow are the Greene Girls. And we can prove this all. I can prove that I know Blue. That I've known her and known her to be the annoying Drama Club girl that you all know her as. But I also know her as one of my best and most important friends, who's been with me all this time. And I'll prove it, today of all days."

Students exchanged confused and shocked glances, wondering if all that Green claimed was true. How he would possibly prove that he was close to Blue. What he meant by "today of all days".

"Blue Chitanda!" he shouted suddenly, and she stared at him, perplexed. For once, he was stunning her. "I was your first kiss, right?"

A few gasps came from fans of Green and or friends of Blue. The crowd that had gathered watched with rapt attention. Blue blushed. "Right."

"I want to be your last."

The crowd of students whistled and "ooh"ed. Blue's azure eyes widened like a deer in the headlights. "W-what?"

"I love you."

The crowd cheered and jeered, but still Green was filled with so much doubt. He expected her to turn on he heels and run, and that's sort of what she did. But instead of running away, she ran straight at him and tackled him in a hug.

"You big idiot!" she shouted, and then she kissed him.

After being kissed that one time by Blue when they were kindergarteners, Green had actually been on dates and kissed other girls. It was never serious, and Green always imagined that kissing someone he really loved would be much better. And it was. Students around them clapped and wolf-whistled until Green and Blue stood up and bowed bowed, and teachers came to disperse the crowd (but Green got an odd feeling that they had first waited for the ordeal to be over with.)

Green gazed down at Blue. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Blue hugged his side. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Of course, their small moment of silence was rudely interrupted by Red approaching, shaking his head, and chiding, "You guys just had to steal the spotlight, didn't you?" But he grinned anyways, and then the bell rang.

Coffee shop
2:17 P.M.

All day, the four best friends finally acted freely. Everyone else would admit it was a little strange. Two popular students spontaneously best friends and then an item after a dramatic confession. One of the most popular jocks of the school with his arm around a bashful wallflower who nobody really knew (Red's fangirls were very distressed when they found out that he was absolutely head-over-heels for his petite friend, and they couldn't very well be angry since she made him smile that adorable smile of his, so they mostly sat and cried in corners like fangirls do.)

Blue didn't sit with the Drama Club at lunch. No, she dragged Red and Yellow to come sit with her and Green at the table usually occupied by the Sciences Club. Falkner, Marlon, Silver, and Platinum were shocked for a few minutes, but silently accepted it (Crystal wasn't present for lunch, as Green noted. Peculiar.)

Blue's only qualm of the day was—as she pointed out rather loudly after school when they all ended up in a coffee shop—that Red and Yellow still hadn't kissed. She stared at them expectantly, as if that was going to make them.

"Give them time, you pesky girl," Green chided.

She fell back against him and Red and Yellow laughed. Perhaps, in a way, they were mocking his misfortune for having such a mischievous girl, but he wouldn't have had it any other way.

A/N: So, yes. I did combine Japanese formalities with a different type of school (i.e. still using the term sempai and kouhai, while classifying the grades as freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, instead of first year, second year, et cetera.)
Keep the woods in mind, guys. They come back in Part III.
And that's all for my endnote.
Arigato! ^-^