It was raining heavily and the lack of umbrella was the only thing stopping Satoshi from leaving the school. Everybody from the Literature Club left early and now he was cursing himself for not going with them. No, he had to hope it'd stop raining.

The boy was wandering around the huge building that his school was, as it was the last thing left to do. He could always go to the library, to be honest, but he didn't really feel like it. He ended up roaming around empty corridors. Every window he passed revealed dark, cloudy sky and big, heavy raindrops falling to the ground. Only few unlucky silhouettes were dashing through the school area, most of them carrying umbrellas or covered in raincoats. Satoshi sighed, mentally hitting himself on the head for the millionth time.

There was still some time left to the evening, so the lights weren't on and, because of the rain, it was rather gray and gloomily in.

The boy continued his trip, looking for anything that could occupy his mind for more than a minute. That was when he saw it.

Satoshi was passing the class occupied by the Manga Club. Firstly, he thought that he had walked a pretty long distance and he wasn't truly aware of it. Secondly, he thought that if he wasn't wrong, Mayaka was a part of this club. Then, he thought that whoever drew the picture on the door must be a genius.

He stopped, looking at the drawing in awe. It was stunning.

The picture showed a beautiful young girl in a long dress. She was looking down with a soft smile on her lips, with one hand fixing the fabric. As if there was anything to fix – the ethereal dress was laying on the girl perfectly, its pastel light blue colour matching her milky skin. It looked like it was waving in the wind, and, just like long orange hair of the girl, it smoothly passed into waves and spirals, that made whole picture magic and unreal, like the girl wasn't really human. She looked like a fairy, fragile and enchanting, with incredibly pretty, glistening eyes and her soft features adding even more charm and perfection to the whole.

She was a dazzling girl.

Satoshi was standing in front of the poster like a fool, staring at it speechless, absorbing the view; a lone figure in the dark, empty corridor, silent – except for hum of the rain.

Dazzling girl, indeed.

...

Another day

...

"Oreki-san, you have to hurry up!" Chitanda Eru, an overactive young girl was almost jumping, her mesmerizing violet eyes shining like never before. "I'm so curious!"

Of course she just found another mystery to solve.

Her complete opposite, Oreki Houtarou, was slowly getting up from his comfortable chair, trying to save as much energy as he could. He definitely didn't share the excitement of his friend.

Seeing his reluctant actions, Chitanda puffed her cheeks. Although she was rather angry, it made her look really cute and it made Mayaka, who was also in the room, laugh. She kept laughing until Oreki finally reached the door.

"Oh!" Mayaka suddenly shouted, noticing something the moment he touched the knob. He turned to her with his usual bored face and a wide eyed Chitanda at his back. Mayaka stood up rapidly. "You're going to the library, right? I almost forgot, I have to go there too quickly!"

She started grabbing her stuff nervously, completely panicking.

"Please wait for me! Just a second!" she kept repeating.

Chitanda was just nodding, saying they would wait. Oreki only sighed.

Soon, Mayaka joined them in the door and opened it to reveal Satoshi, who was just about to knock. He tilted his head to one side.

"Are you going somewhere?" he asked.

Oreki's face appeared in the small space between the door and the frame.

"We all are."

"Oh."

Then Satoshi stepped back and followed his friends with his eyes as they went quickly in the stairs' direction. As soon as the three figures disappeared, he turned back to the door and sighed.

"I just came..."

The boy stepped into the room and casually threw his colourful bag on the table. He stretched with a pout, wondering what to do. His eyes carefully scanned the place, looking for anything likely entertaining. His gaze slipped from one thing to another, until it landed on the table he ignored before. At this point Satoshi stopped, noticing several sheets of paper laying on it. Drawings. The boy sat at the table and took a closer look on them.

His eyes lit up as he recognized the light, delicate style, carefully drawn lines and faint colouring. He scanned faces full of emotions and detailed backgrounds with a smile that was growing wider with every picture he saw. He couldn't be wrong – the author of the masterpieces Satoshi was holding in his hands drew also the dazzling girl from before. Satoshi lost the track of time watching the amazing drawings in his hands.

He just discovered a couple of pages of a manga under the pictures when one thought came to his mind.

Who was the author?

He put the sheets back on the table. The pictures were in the Literature Club's room and on Manga Club's room's door. He bit his lower lip. It meant only one person.

...

Mayaka was officially in the state of panic.

She turned whole house upside down, checked every little place she could think of, yet she couldn't find her drawings. Constant "ai ai ai" in the background started annoying her, but she still kept the song on replay. After a couple of minutes of running around and shouting that she had left everything at school, Mayaka finally came to a conclusion that she shouldn't be panicking.

And so she stood in the middle of the living room, sighed and started thinking.

When she was going to the library earlier that day, she really was in hurry. It was possible that she simply left her papers in the club room. Mayaka closed her eyes. If so, they should be safe. She will go to school earlier tomorrow and take them before lessons start.

She was suddenly snatched out of her thoughts when the door bell rang.

Mayaka curiously walked towards the front door. She didn't expect anyone to come. Maybe her parents forgot to take the key...?

For the second time this day, she opened the door to reveal Satoshi.

"Hello" they said at the same time and Mayaka smiled nervously. What could he...

Oh he could.

It hit her suddenly. When she, Oreki and Chitanda were leaving the club room, they passed Satoshi and she forgot about it. Perfect, Mayaka, perfect, he surely came to give you your drawings. The person she always wanted to impress the most saw her imperfect, amateurish drawings. Drawings that weren't good enough. Drawings that...

"Mayaka?"

She noticed Satoshi's hand waving before her eyes.

"Sorry" she muttered, embarrassed. However, the boy didn't seem to notice and casually handed her a pile of paper, showing her his best smile.

"You left it at school" he said, his shiny hazel eyes meeting hers, wide open. She wasn't sure what his grin meant. "I let myself look, hope you don't mind" Satoshi added with a wink and her heart skipped a beat.

She wanted to say something, but he didn't let her.

"Honestly" Satoshi smiled even wider, "these are one of the best drawings I've ever seen. I was dazzled! Your potential is like... this huge!" here he spread his arms to show her.

He then hid them behind his back and stepped closer, his nose almost touching hers. Mayaka blushed. She was stunned by his praising. Satoshi's smile was replaced by his trademark evil smirk.

"How come I didn't know about this talent of yours? Did you think you'd hide it from me forever? You don't know Fukube Satoshi then!"

With these words, he stepped back, putting his hands on his hips with the oh-I'm-fabulous look on his face. Mayaka couldn't help but giggle and Satoshi smiled again.

He looked away and then back at her, this time seriously.

"Hey, Mayaka."

She looked up at him curiously, a bit surprised by his sudden change.

"Make sure I'm the first to read your manga, okay? Before it appears in any magazine" Satoshi said.

She only smiled, his words repeating in her head over and over again.

"Sure, Fuku-chan."

He nodded, as if mentally noting that he reached his goal, and turned to leave.

"Have a good day, Mayaka" he waved at her and sent one last glance.

"You too" she waved back as he started going away.

"...Or should I check your work regularly?"

Mayaka blushed at his remark and closed the door quickly. She rested her head on it and took a deep breath. This guy was just... just Fuku-chan.

Mayaka smiled.

Sekai wa nante suteki.