Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, or the short movie, Love Language, or any remakes or interpretations of it. Or Post-It notes for that matter.

Chapter 2: Day 2

The bell rang, signalling the end of the second last class. Mako quickly stuffed her Post-It notes into her pencil case, and zipped it up. Throwing all of her textbooks into her bag, she got up from her desk and left the room in a hurry.

"Mako-chan!" Mako turned around to see her best friend, Kotoha, coming up from behind, slightly out of breath.

"Mako-chan, where are you going?" Kotoha asked her. "I mean, I know you have a spare right now, but you usually stay in the cafeteria or the library to study."

"I thought it'd be good to have a change of pace," Mako replied. "You know, get some fresh air or something."

"Mako-chan…" Kotoha put her hands on her hips. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"No, I'm not hiding anything from you," Mako tried to shoo her friend back to class before she was late. "Honestly, I'll tell you about it later."

"Okay," Kotoha held up her pinky finger. "Promise?"

"Promise," Mako hooked her pinky finger and entwined it. "Now go to your class!"

I'm not really skipping, Mako thought as she tried to justify her actions. I have a spare and I'm entitled to do whatever I want to with it, right?

She spent the entire walk to the park battling herself in a heated debate of whether she was skipping or not, and in the end, lost to the guilty feeling that she was skipping school.

But it's not my fault! she screamed in her head. It's totally that guy's fault! Just because I can't stop thinking about him!

And it was true; she couldn't stop thinking about him or those quiet hours that they had spent together on the bench. She had become so obsessed with reliving those hours that she had made up her mind the night before going back to the park and see that guy again.

Only, he wasn't there. Mako sat back where she had yesterday, and pulled out the book she was reading, and tried to act casual to passersby. She took out her phone and looked at the time.

2:45, she read. Great, what if he's in school? I'll be stuck here for a long time then.

Sighing, she resigned herself to the fact that she had been too eager.

Takeru strolled down the path to the park, anxious to return to the cool sanctuary of the bench in order to finish his sketch of the girl from yesterday. As he rounded the corner, he noticed with a start that the same girl was there, reading a book again. She didn't appear to be waiting for anyone, so boldly, Takeru decided that he would sit there and finish up his drawing. Hopefully, she wouldn't notice what he was sketching.

Plugging his earphones in, he tried to act nonchalant as he strode towards the bench.

Mako glanced back down at her phone, 3:00, she read. School's already done by now.

She put the phone back into her pocket, and heaved a sigh of discontentment.

Just when she was debating to leave or not, he came. Almost like a blur, he sat down, just as cool as could be, with his earphones in. Mako looked at him in disbelief as though she couldn't believe he actually came, but she took it in stride and smiled back at him.

At least he remembers me, she thought.

Mako tried to return to her book, but once more, the words became a confusing jumble. She gave up trying to read, and attempted to make a conversation with him.

"What are you listening to?" she asked, moving closer, but he only pointed to his earphones.

Feeling sort of dejected, she wondered how she could make a conversation with him, without trying to seem rude. Then, she got it. She searched through her bag and brought out her stack of Post-It notes and a pen. With careful handwriting, she wrote, {What are you listening to?} on the Post-It note and pasted it on the space between them, making sure to attract his attention.

{What are you listening to?}

Takeru peeked over and read the note, a small smile playing on his lips. Taking the Post-It notes the girl had provided, he replied: [It's a secret.] and returned to his sketching.

Amused by the playfulness by the response, Mako decided to write back: {Can I listen to it?}

By now, the smile had grown larger as Takeru scribbled an answer back: [I'd be embarrassed.]

A grin had now started to form on Mako's face as she replied back, growing bolder with her questions.

{Fair enough. Name?}

[Tono-sama.]

{Haha, very funny. Mine's Shiraishi Mako. Call me Mako, everyone does.}

[I'm Shiba Takeru. Nice to meet you]

{Can I call you Takeru?}

[I guess so. Everyone does.]

{So, do you have any hobbies?}

[Just sketching and kendo. You?]

{I like to read and cook.}

[What do you cook?]

{Japanese food, mostly. What are you drawing?}

[It's a secret. :)]

{You have a lot of secrets.}

[And you should tell me more about yourself.]

The exchange lasted a long time, as they spent almost two hours sending messages back and forth. Slowly, with each note, they moved closer to each other, until they reached the border they had created with their joint army of Post-It notes.

Mako had found out that Takeru was an only child and lived with his grandfather, and his cousin, Kaoru. As well, she had also found out that he was the same age as her, and going into his last year of high school. He was also really good at art, but it took a long time to coax him into letting her see his sketchbook, except for one page.

[It's not finished yet.] was his reason.

On Takeru's side of the border, he had found out that Mako was also an only child, and that she lived with both of her parents nearby. She was involved with a lot of extracurricular activities and had a best friend called Kotoha. Unlike him, she was best at English, and wrote a lot.

{But I like cooking a lot more.} she assured him.

[I believe you.] Takeru replied, now writing more steadily.

A small blush grew as Mako bluntly threw her intentions out into the open. {I'd love to see you again. Can I have your number?}

Her face lost some of its colour as she read Takeru's reply. [I don't have one.]

{Really? That's a horrible lie.}

[It's true. But if you want, I'll be here again tomorrow.] Takeru slid the note over.

{Haha, great! See you tomorrow then!} With that, Mako got up to leave, but was held back by Takeru's hand. Wordlessly, Takeru slid a note into her hand.

[Bring some of your cooking tomorrow, please :)]

Woot! They're getting closer! Haha, if anyone has already seen the short film, Love Language on YouTube, try not to spoil the ending, although I've changed it to my version :P and if you haven't, go watch it! I'll see you people in two days! Review please!

Lots of thanks to Pearl and Lisa once more :D