When Kida wasn't looking the next morning, Mikado rifled through his friend's backpack. A textbook, a sack lunch, an mp3 player and a spare jacket, plus several notebooks. None of them had pink paper or smelled like strawberries. He breathed a sigh of relief, mind settled for the moment now that he knew it wasn't Kida pranking him. Though the matter couldn't be set aside — it meant that someone else was doing it. Mikado put everything back in its place and pushed the backpack away from him just as Kida came back.

He took a trip to the bathroom during third period, still distracted by his thoughts and what the secret admirer might say next, where they would put the note this time, and if he could somehow catch her — or him, Mikado certainly hadn't ruled that out — in the act of placing the letter. Mikado glanced through the hallway window into Kida's classroom, and moved on; then took a few steps back, then forward, then stopped again. He stared as Kida brightly accepted a few slips of pink paper from the girl who sat in front of him. Along with the door being open so he could hear them just a little, he studied their smiling lips and was just able to make out their conversation:

Thank you! I'm forever in your debt, Arika-san.

You never have paper, Masaomi-kun! This is the last time I'm lending you any.

Mikado raced from the hallway before anyone saw him peeking in. Just when he'd cleared Kida, it turned out it was Kida. When he returned to class he looked over the notes again. Now that he'd thought about it, the handwriting was very similar to Kida's, and for all he knew he probably would be one to own a purple gel pen.

At lunch, Mikado spared no time placing himself strategically near Kida's backpack. Luckily, Kida had left something in the classroom and ran off. Mikado rummaged through all pockets now, being careful not to attract Anri's observant eyes, acting as if the backpack was his own. The front pocket came first: nothing. Now the smaller pocket: he found a mess of borrowed pens and chewed pencils and picked-at erasers, but then exactly what he was looking for: the purple gel pen. He went through more, and discovered those slips of pink paper hiding in a notebook. Nothing was written on them— yet. He was about to set it back down when he saw an additional pocket on the side, almost hidden. Looking around to make sure Kida wasn't on his way back, he searched it and produced a folded pink paper. He opened it quickly, scanned the page, stuffed it back in, and left the backpack in its place.

"I'll be back in a minute, Anri."

He barely made it to the other corner of the roof before his hand was clasped over his reddening face.

Something had to be done. Mikado took out his cellphone and made a call.

oOo

Kida didn't have enough time to write another letter for Mikado. The sheets sat in his backpack, waiting to be used with hearts and doodles and the love prattles of a 13-year-old girl. He was thankful when Mikado met him at Raira's entrace after school.

"Kida-kun, you wanna hang out today?"

"Ne, you really wanna hang out with a guy like me? I'm a hopeless victim of pathos, you know~"

Mikado blinked. "I was thinking my place. We could order pizza and play video games."

"Eh? Really?" Kida's eyes widened with surprise. Still it couldn't be all that unusual, right? Kida had only been to Mikado's apartment a few times.

"C'mon," Mikado coaxed, smiling, "it'll be fun. My treat."

Kida gave in, following Mikado past Raira's gates and out to the streets of Ikebukuro as they waved goodbye to Anri. Mikado told him he had to make a quick stop first, so he stood aside and waited. But he was surprised when Kadota-san stood on the corner. He handed Mikado a paper bag, labeled with a logo he couldn't make out from where he was. Mikado handed the man a few bills, shoved the bag in his backpack, and they continued on.

"What was that all about?" Kida asked with a laugh. But deep down he was nervous, itching to know what was in the bag.

"Just some manga I asked them to get me."

Mikado said no more. He'd seemed cheerful, a little too cheerful, and Kida grew more worried because the shape he'd seen in the bag was not a book.