"I've been tricked!" Renzou cried out. He stared at the letter in his hands wide-eyed, with an almost absurdly disheartened expression. His voice caught the attention of most of his class, but only Konekomaru bothered to lean over to see what he was protesting about.

"What's wrong?" the shorter boy asked.

Renzou thrust his letter at his childhood friend and huffed as Konekomaru read over it.

"It's not fair! Bon, trade with me!"

"No way," Suguro replied without even looking back at him.

Renzou narrowed his eyes and glared at the back of the other's head, but then he remembered Rin wasn't a girl anyway. They were both brothers. What were the odds of that?

"Not fair…" he muttered. With all the reluctance he could muster, Renzou got out a piece of paper and began to pen his reply. Just after writing the first word, he was already starting to waver, unsure of what he wanted to say.

Dear…

Dear what? he thought grumpily. It would be rude of him to change his mind now especially since this was his own fault. Renzou grimaced as he forced himself to continue to write.

Dear Yuki-chan,

I don't mind being called Ren-kun. You can call me anythin' you'd like, really. Anyway, you sound like a cool guy. I like seafood too, especially shrimp. Sushi's okay. Haven't eaten anything fancy though since I live at a Buddhist temple. We're not supposed to be too picky about food. Or about anything really.

It's not bad living here though. I get to live with two of my best friends. It's fun being with them, most of the time anyway. They're better than my actual brothers, who're always makin' fun of me and pickin' on me. Being with my friends is what makes me smile.

Dunno what else to tell ya. Hope I can come up with something by the time I get your next letter.

Until next time,

Shima Renzou

By the time Renzou had finished writing his letter, his annoyance had faded away. He wasn't sure why. There was something about the activity that put him at ease.

He was still kind of disappointed Yukio wasn't a girl though. What type of person gave their kids such girly names anyway?

I wonder if Bon already found out about that… Renzou got up from his seat and glanced over at the reply the other was writing. His mouth dropped open a bit and just as Suguro was signing his name, he snatched the letter away to double-check what he had seen.

"Sheesh! What's with this boring reply?"

"Shima…! Give it back!" Suguro growled, immediately protesting.

Renzou snickered and kept the letter away from the other a while longer, teasing him about his stiff response. "You sound like an old man! And where're the compliments?" Then, as he realized the other surely didn't know about Yukio's brother yet, he added, "Ask a little bit more about her! You're wastin' a golden opportunity here, Bon!"

Suguro snatched back his letter. "What did I tell ya about callin' me that?" he muttered.

Renzou grinned behind the other's back and wondered how long it would take Suguro to uncover the whole misunderstanding.