Disclaimer: I do not own Cause of Death and its affliated characters. I also do not own the poem by Koushun Takami.

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"First up, Malachi Fallon."

The above-mentioned fourteen-year-old boy in his second year of junior high school raised up his hands with a cheer and waved at the rest of Class 2B.

Not only am I popular, my poem is also read first! That has to mean something, he thought, grinning smugly.

Miss Yates, their Literature teacher, had instructed the class to do a poem on any theme they wished at the start of the year. Now she was going to read some of the 'best ones' aloud before returning her pupils their work. Mal, having already developed an interest in rock ("It's an acquired taste," he told a good friend once), had written some of his very own rock songs. During the 'production process', there were some lyric fragments he could not quite make into songs. These lyric fragments were made into his poem.

He was confident. After all, he had a talent for writing songs. Most of the girls seemed to admire him anyway.

After reading his poem, Miss Yates read three more poems before she announced something different.

"Last but not least, Natara Mansingh. This is my favourite piece." She smiled at Natara, who was sitting a few rows away from Mal.

And so a girl beat me at writing? Mal felt a slight tinge of jealousy as he turned his head towards Natara Mansingh, the rich daddy's girl of their class. It was common knowledge that Raj Mansingh was 'filthy rich!' and thus Natara seemed aloof at times (although she never meant to be 'aloof'). Perhaps this formed the stereotype of the 'rich daddy's girl'.

Shoulder-length hair the colour of coffee framed her face. She had a piercing pair of emerald eyes ("Pretty," thought Mal) which seemed to appear kind most of the time. Petite and playful, she was like most other girls of Class 2B. Maybe writing was her forte. Mal must admit, he had never really noticed Natara before today.

I bet she writes great compositions too.

Miss Yates took a deep breath and read Natara's poem aloud.

If I could have my way, I would fashion a tale
I would fashion a tale about everything surrounding me
The flowers on the trees, the crybaby dog next door,
the wind chime I bought before, the sea from that one day,
the man I spoke with at the book shop,
If I could, I would fashion a tale about it all
Yes, that's what I think
And if everyone would protect that tale
The world would be always at peace.

Despite not having much of a soft side, Mal smiled. It was so simple, it was beautiful.

It was that sort of poem.

I'm going to speak to Natara after class.

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Natara Mansingh sensed his presence by her table. Quickly arranging her face and composing her thoughts, she looked up from her novel.

True enough, it was Malachi Fallon, the star baseball shortstop and basketball player standing next to her. This was the first time he had personally approached her. Eyes the colour of the night sky stared into her own green eyes.

"Mind giving me tips on writing? I enjoyed your poem," he murmured in a deep voice.

So he noticed me only because of that poem. Huh. Nevertheless, Natara made her face appear kind.

"Hmm… Don't take writing too seriously. Just write whatever comes to your mind. Don't go too heavy on the rock. Miss Yates doesn't like rock."

That last sentence stung Mal. "How do you know?"

"I can tell," she said simply.

"Well, well. You make it sound so easy. What did you think of my poem, then?" Mal scratched the back of his neck. He had always worried about receiving negative feedback for his 'decadent music', as a distant relative told him once.

"Nice, but it's not my type," Natara responded coolly.

"Perhaps I can perform for you one day. You know, one of my own songs…" Mal trailed off.

"And what, may I ask, do you want to achieve from that?" Natara sensed Mal wanted something from her in return for his 'performance'.

"Your feedback, and… uh… your other poems and compositions!" Mal blurted.

He just wants to talk to me about literature? Can't he do more than that? Euh! He's going to pay!

Here Natara decided she would try something funny. She made her eyes appear hard and stood up from her desk. She glared at Mal, paying close attention to his eyes. If looks could kill, her glare would have.

Blue, like the ocean. Wow. She hastily brushed that thought off.

"So… you talked to me just for the things I write?" she rasped, feigning anger, as she stepped slowly towards a frozen Mal. "After you're done with me, you're going to impress all the other girls and forget about me?"

Mal lunged back, absolutely horrified. Why the sudden personality change? It was unexpected. "Whoa, whoa! No! Why would you think that?"

Natara then relaxed and smiled a little. "I was kidding! Now fix a date with me, and we can work together!"

In the end, they arranged to meet each other in the music room after school. As Mal hurried out of the classroom lest Natara went all scary on him again, the latter thought: How very charming indeed. Well, maybe he's not as bad as I thought.

And so both Malachi Fallon and Natara Mansingh went through the rest of the school day, looking forward to their 'jam session' together.

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Next chapter will be the meeting itself!

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