A/N: Written as a Trick or Treat 2017 exchange gift for ried (riiiied).

The notorious secret about Kaoru was not a secret: Kaoru was a loser, a shut in, shy, boring, and no one special.

For a long time, Kaoru had never done anything to change her image. She kept to herself and didn't bother showing off. Doing that was embarrassing, and she always managed to make a fool out of herself. When her class laughed at her she couldn't bear to show her face.

Kaoru was also a crybaby and a scaredy-cat. Being yelled at hurt her feelings. Ghosts in particular terrified her. When she was a few grades younger, she swore she had seen a ghost wandering the halls of her elementary school, and she had never been the same since. And later, she had sworn the ghost was haunting her, making her homework disappear and other similar problems that terrified her. At the tiniest movement that she thought was supernatural Kaoru lunged at someone for them to protect her. Her reputation had built up badly for a while. She had stopped to an extent now that she was a middle schooler and she was growing up, but she still couldn't stop herself.

In other words, she thought of herself as pretty useless.

The worst crime, however, was that she could never talk to girls. She stuttered. Her body shook. She couldn't think straight, and her throat went dry, constricting her words. Girls always stared at her strangely. Kaoru could never tell those girls how she felt about them. She was discouraged and letdown and couldn't find solid footing for herself.

Why was the world filled with adorable girls!? Kaoru wanted to yank her hair out thinking about how many cute girls there were but none that she could share her time with! It was a stroke of luck and a curse at the same time. Kaoru was cursed! She was cursed to have a torrent of fluttering butterflies in her stomach and feet endlessly rooted to the ground when her chance finally came to ask a girl out. Girls did not want someone that couldn't speak. Girls wanted something who swept them off their feet,

For a while, Kaoru didn't know who to turn to. No one thought of her as "cool" or the "person to rely on." And so, changing herself was the only thing she could do. On TV shows, people always got what they wanted after they did something to improve themselves, and she wanted that for herself. She couldn't continue on the way she was.

One day, she asked Chisato to a family restaurant. Chisato was one of her long-term friends despise her shortcomings and she wanted to rely on her talents.

"Chii-chan! Please!" Kaoru knelt down beside Chisato's side of the booth. The warm food on her plate was an afterthought, because she couldn't think of anything else but asking for Chisato's (hopefully) expert advice. She took her hand in hers. "Tell me how you get the girl!"

"Eh?" Chisato blushed, looking down at Kaoru's pleading face. No one was staring at them but she felt the heat of Kaoru's burning gaze tenfold. "I—I don't know, I never really thought about how I would ask a girl on a date."

"But you're an actor," Kaoru encouraged. She gestured around herself wildly. "You have to know something. Anything good! Romance is always on television!"

Chisato's lips pursed.

"You're right… I try to immerse myself in my characters and it's still a bit hard to pinpoint a certain thing you should do to increase your chances, but I picked up a few things. I guess you have to be positive," Chisato told her, steam picking up in her confidence, "and you have to be direct. You have to outspoken, charming, and be honest. And you have to pay attention to other people's feelings and pick up on the mood. Girls like attention, you know?"

Kaoru groaned. Sulking, she released Chisato's hand, and she flopped back in their booth seat and covered her face. "I'm not that kind of person. You know that. I'm scared of so many things. It's hard to focus when I'm nervous and my heart is beating. I pay too much attention to myself, but I don't meant to." She hated to admit it, but Kaoru was being truthful. A girl's rejection was like a giant monster towering over her, waiting to destroy her dreams.

Chisato raised her drink and sipped from it. She was thinking, but she also looked stumped herself. Acting was one thing and real girls were a totally different ball game. "Kao-chan cares. That's a good place to start, because girls will know that you have a good heart. You have to start talking more romantically, too. Maybe something like Shakespeare? That might be too advanced, though."

Chisato did her best to encourage her. However, the ball was in her court, and she was shooting from the three line mark and not even hitting the hoop. All the same, Kaoru was lost. The walls closed in whenever she passed a cute girl and couldn't muster up the confidence to talk to her. It beat down her self-confidence terribly, and she sat alone in class, watching as those girls didn't even notice her.

So, she had to do better she told herself. Moping around wasn't doing her any favors. She wasn't getting anywhere. Kaoru just wanted to have a cute girlfriend, or plant the roots to a budding relationship. Now was the time.

Yes, a love letter was her best bet. Love letters would convey her true feelings. She had to work on appeal.

Kaoru attached a heart seal to the orange envelop. She sniffed the letter to make sure the perfume she had spritz on it was strong enough—an additional autumn scent with spice and a pumpkin flavor for the season. It checked out. Glancing around the shoe lockers, she didn't see anyone, nor did she hear footsteps. She had to do this quick.

Kaoru hid behind the shoe lockers in the corner. Many students came and went, but her crush came last.

Her heartbeat raced as soon as she heard her crush's familiar steps. She heard her walking in the hallway so often, but this was a matter of love or rejection!

Kaoru peered out and was just in time to see her crush, a blue-haired girl named Rio, turning the knob to her locket. The letter flew out and landed with a soft thud on the floor.

"What's that?" another girl asked next to her, Rio's best friend named Miki. She picked up the letter and handed it to Rio. "Looks like a… could this be… is it really!?"

"It's a love letter! To think, I'm so popular, but I haven't gotten a love letter for the last month," Rio squealed. She pulled off the seal in a hurry and opened the letter.

Kaoru's heart soared. If she was happy to get a letter, maybe she would accept her and it would turn out well.

Rio unfolded the letter and read aloud, "'I really, really think you're beautiful. Your laughter puts a smile on my face. I want to meet your after school tomorrow at 4:30 on the roottop and tell you more. I've been watching you from afar for a while.' Oh, dreamy!" Rio's eyes sparkled. Then, her eyes skimmed further down. "From 'Kaoru.'"

Miki stopped mid pulling on her shoe and frowned.

"Kaoru? Isn't that the red-haired girl from our class?" Miki's face scrunched up and she scowled. "The girl that screamed 'ghosts!' in class because she was sleeping and the teacher yelled at her? And no one likes her."

Rio gasped, remembering the same thing. She dropped the letter like it suddenly combusted into a giant fire and stomped on it with her slipper. She looked disgusted. "Lame! That has to be her! I don't want to meet someone that lame. I want a prince or a princess, not a peasant!"

Rio and Miki shared a laugh at this.

Tears sprang to Kaoru's eyes, but the girls were gone before she was able to compose herself. The discarded letter lay on the floor, bruised and wrinkled. Shakily, she picked the letter up and promptly ripped it in half and threw it away. No one else should see her shame like this.

Maybe she shouldn't have signed her name.

But would it have gone so much more smoothly in person?

Nonetheless…

Chisato had told her to never give up. This might have been a rotten apple experience. Kaoru remembered seeing that in a western cartoon series once. The girl ate a bad apple, but she still found her prince, so she may have a fighting chance. This was just the first setback!

With that reminder, Kaoru was able to walk out of the school with her head held high. She didn't pay enough attention to see it, but girls stopped and looked at the new expression on her face as she passed by them, awestruck at the this girl that apparently went to their school they had never once noticed. Getting to a pretty girl's heart wasn't an easy task. Like Chisato said, she had to show them her affections and lay her feelings out for the world to see.

Kaoru would have many admirers. Just wait and see!