Disclaimer: All rights to Daa! Daa! Daa! and the characters in it belong to Mika Kawamura and may she write many many more manga like that! ^_^

Dear Beloved

Dear Beloved,

I just wanted to tell you that I love you so much! I love you more than you can even imagine! I love you soooo much! I have loved you since the first time I saw you! I cannot tell you how much I love you! I love you so very very much!

Lots of love,

Miyu.

Miyu propped her chin upon her pencil and frowned. That did not come out right. Uh-huh. That, somehow, very weirdly, sounded a lot like the confessions Chris-chan imagined. Erk! Or like Kanata's fangirls on Valentine's Day. Eeeewww! No way! Who in their right mind would want to confess to Kanata? Never! She could definitely do better! NO WAY was she handing in such a thing!

Miyu crumpled up the sheet of single-ruled paper and lobbed it at the dustbin. Clenching her hand in determination, she flipped open her notebook and started on a fresh sheet of paper. Alright, let's try that again!

Dear Beloved,

Hey! I am not some crazy fangirl, okay? I just wanted to say that I love you. But don't think too much of yourself and all that, okay? So, you may be the Class President. And you may also be on the school basketball team. And you may be popular and all that and may have won the Bishounen Contest also, but that doesn't give you the right to think too much of yourself! You're just an arrogant PIGHEADED JERK! You don't even put the toothpaste cap back on and make me squirt it all out when I just pick the tube up! It's ALL your fault! All YOURS! So don't go around thinking that you're all that great! I absolutely hate you! HATE YOU!

Grrrrr! Miyu.

Miyu finished her love letter and looked down at it happily. Whew, to get that all off her chest… What a relief! Now, if only Kanata were here so that she could relay all that to him verbally…

With a satisfied smile, she picked up the paper and held it in front of her, reading it over again. Uhhh… Wait. Wasn't it supposed to be a love letter? She stared at the ending lines in dismay.

I absolutely hate you! HATE YOU!

Oh gosh! GAAAH! Miss Mizuno was going to fail her! Waaah! No waay! Was writing a love letter supposed to be so hard?

And why was she writing about Kanata anyway? This wasn't about Kanata! This was about her imaginary Beloved! What right did that idiot Kanata have to worm his way into her love letter? That arrogant jerk!

Angrily, she crumpled up this sheet as well and threw it into the dustbin.

Retrieving another sheet of paper, she stared down at it blankly. Why was this homework so hard? Honestly, how difficult could it be to – in Miss Mizuno's words – "write a love letter to your beloved person, expressing all your deep feelings for him/her and taking not more than one page of your notebook?"

Apparently, very hard…

Miyu grumbled to herself at the unfairness of life. How was she, who had never ever fallen in love (well, that little crush on Mizuki-san didn't count as 'love', right?) or been confessed to, supposed to write a love letter to anyone? Life was so unfair! And homework was even MORE so! Grrrr!

Still, it was homework, and needed to be handed in the next day…

With renewed determination, Miyu sharpened her pencil and attacked her homework once more. 'Alright, here I go!'

Dear Beloved,

She paused. What was she supposed to write, anyway? A simple, "I love you. The End" would not work – Miss Mizuno had asked for a full page. Hmm… She would just casually declare her love, then! Followed by a request for a date? AL-right! That sounded great!

It's nothing special, just thought that I would casually let you know that I love you, very casually, of course. There's nothing very uncool about it. Just treat it very casually. And if you're cool with it, let's go on a casual date, then! Everything quite casual, of course, so don't be too bothered about it. I'll casually wait for your reply, then. Cool, huh?

Casually and coolly,

Miyu.

Eh… Miyu sweatdropped. That was too… errr… uncool… She frowned. This was turning out to be such a bother!

Maybe a shy, demure, I'm-confessing-for-the-first-time approach would work better? After all, she really was confessing (well, technically, she was, even if it was to an imaginary Beloved) for the first time. So, that should come quite naturally to her, right? Of course! Why hadn't she thought of it before? That was the perfect approach for her! Okay, time to roll, baby!

D-d-d-dear B-b-b-b-beloved,

Actually-ly-ly, I-I-I- I um… w-well… A-a-actually… U-um… T-th-that is, I-I-I- l-l-l-l-l-l-lo- Kyaaaa! I can't say it! Kyaaaaa! Don't make me say it! Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Miyu dropped her pencil and stared at her letter, her eyebrow twitching. What. The. HELL? Where did that come from? She wasn't that whiny, or that screechy, or that loony! Was she? Was she? WAS SHE? No way! That had to be some random spirit floating around the Saionji temple suddenly possessing her, right? Right!

Hastily disposing of the paper via the dustbin, Miyu sat down and held a hand over her heart. Oh God, that one nearly gave her a heart attack! Horrible horrible spirit...

Okay, so apparently, she wasn't good at first time confessions— No! This random horrible spirit possessing her wasn't good at first time confessions! Okay, so… Yes! She would try a different approach! Right! She would ease her way into a confession. That's right! Just ease into it! Smooth and eeeaaasy. Yosh!

Dear Beloved,

The weather has been pretty good for the past few weeks, don't you think so? The sun has been shining, the sky has been blue and the clouds have been white and fluffy like candy floss! Not that it has been like that all through the day or anything… It has, of course, been sun-less, moon-full, starry black sky at nights. But, what I mean is, the weather has been good, hasn't it? And the wind has also been nice, all nice and pleasant and… windy… The temperature has also been nice, not too high, not too freezing, quite… nice and all… The humidity has also been nice… And the sky, too. And the sun is always nice. And the moon, also. The stars, as well… And… Venus! Venus was also very nice at night when I was watching the sky with Kanata! So, well… What I mean to say is…

Miyu paused and stared ridiculously at her letter. The humidity has also been nice? AAARRRGGHHH! What was wrong with her? Even she would never say 'yes' to any boy who wrote such a love letter to her! What the hell was she thinking? And how did Kanata manage to crawl into the letter again?

Snorting at the idiocy of it all, she sent the sheet of paper to meet its predecessors and pulled out a fresh one.

Okay, now. Steady. Breathe in, breathe out. Calm down and think happy thoughts. There. Good going, niiice! She mentally patted herself on her great job at composing herself. Now, let the battle commence!

Miyu pushed up her sleeves and pumped her arms, getting the blood circulation going strong. One two, one two, one two, one two! She cracked her knuckles and rotated her shoulders, preparing her muscles for the forthcoming battle. Alright! Fully revved up finally, she grabbed her pencil and paper and settled down to write.

Okay, think! So, all she had to do was write a few words of how great her Beloved was and then blurt out the three sacred words. Right! It COULDN'T be too hard! It just COULDN'T!

Steeling her determination, she applied pencil to paper. 'May the God of Literature be with me!'

Dear Beloved,

I am writing this to tell you that I admire you a lot. I like your eyes, they are so deep and mysterious and large and bright! And your hair is so smooth and shiny! And, you're so manly! Your shoulders are so broad! And you are so tall and strong and your voice is so gentle! Although, I feel that you could smile a bit more, it makes you look so much better! You don't really have to keep yourself so aloof and stoic all the time! You know, your friends do care a lot about you, and you make them worry when you don't smile often.

I know that we're always fighting and screaming, and that I am mostly the cause that you don't smile, but it's all your fault you know! You just make me so angry! Do you know how much I was looking forward to some care and love when I came to the Saionji Temple? There I was, abandoned by my parents, like always, and feeling so hurt and lonely, and I was coming to Saionji looking for a warm welcome and a better treatment, and what I get is you! And you tease me and taunt me and call me names and insult my cooking! And you hurt me so much!

And then, just when I thought I definitely hated you, you turned around and showed that you care. And you didn't laugh when I messed up the pumpkin, and you threw yourself in front of me when Seiya attacked us with sleeping gas, and you jumped down that cliff to come help me, and you came to save me when I was stuck inside the Seduction Flower, and you've been so wonderful to Ruu…

And I don't know when, but during the last year that we've stayed together, I've started to like you… And it hasn't been a bad year overall, has it? We've had good times, haven't we? You were always there for me, whenever I needed you the most. And, in my own way, I've tried to be there for you, too. Maybe, if we could be like that more often… Maybe, I could be more honest with myself and maybe, I could tell you that Kanata… I think I have fallen in love with you…

Dazedly, Miyu put down her pencil and gazed at the letter. What… What had she written… She held up her hand to her chest and felt the abnormally fast thump thump in there.

Maybe, she had a fever? She felt her forehead and cheeks and was only mildly surprised by how warm they felt. And blankly, she also noted that she seemed to be trembling softly… A fever… She had a fever… Oh… That was probably it… She couldn't possibly love Kanata, it was just the fever…

She looked down at her letter once again. Kanata… I think I have fallen in love with you… Slowly, she reached out her hand and picked up the paper. She should throw it away. It was just fever-induced gibberish. Of course, she should throw it away...

Heaving a great sigh, she folded the paper in two and stuffed it into her notebook, deciding that she'd deal with it tomorrow. She felt too tired and drained and all she wanted to do now was sleep. And NOT think of Kanata. Right. She would just copy the homework from Aya-chan or Nanami-chan in the morning. That's right.

She stood up from her desk and turned off the light. Plopping onto her futon, she pulled up the covers to her chin and closed her eyes. "Sleep," she said to herself, "and DON'T think of Kanata."

Kanata knocked on Miyu's door and waited. Hearing no response from within, he knocked again and called out, "Miyu?"

When there was still no answer, he opened the door and looked inside. Miyu was curled up on her futon, fast asleep. That idiot! And she didn't even return the notebook she borrowed from him before going to bed. Brat! Silently, he crossed her room and walked up to her desk. Unable to spot his notebook in the dark, he picked up all the notebooks there and left.

Sorting through the notebooks in his room, he pulled out his own from the stack and prepared to return the rest to her room, when he spotted her Literature notebook. Suddenly, he smirked. 'Let's see what kind of love letter that klutz has written.'

He opened the notebook and pulled out the sheet of paper folded in two.

Miyu always slept with her window closed, and the curtain drawn. Had it not been so, anyone standing outside would have been able to see her door open and a boy with auburn hair enter with his arms full of several notebooks. They would have seen him place the notebooks on the desk in the corner of the room and then turn towards the girl sleeping on the futon in the middle of the room.

They would have seen him crouch down beside her and reach out his hand to stroke her long golden hair softly. And then, they would have seen him leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. It would have been difficult in the moonlit darkness of the room, but they might have also seen his lips move, as though in a whisper, next to her ear, before he stood up and left her room.

Miyu switched off her alarm clock and sat up blinking. It was morning already? Her sleep clogged mind took full fifteen minutes to recognize the words softly echoing in her head.

Miyu… I think I have fallen in love with you, too…

Eh, was that a dream?