He woke up the next morning with a terrible headache. He rolled over on top his back, staring at the ceiling. The memory of yesterday flooded back to him and he shut his eyes and groaned. Maybe he could get his mother to switch schools. Somewhere far away where no would have ever heard about his humiliating defeat in English. He never wanted to see that classroom again.

Sighing, he stumbled out of bed and walked into the door accidentally, falling back on the floor. He groaned again. That kiss really knocked out any memory of normal bodily functions. Or maybe it was signs of illness. Aha. Maybe he was dying and had to stay at the hospital. Nobody would ever know about this at the hospital.

He crawled to the kitchen, too tired to pull himself up on his feet, beginning the hide-and-seek game with the aspirin bottle. He briefly entertained the idea of taking an overdose. Nah. It wasn't worth it. He heard voices floating in through the living room and he froze.

Oh yeah it was.

He scurried back around, still on his hands and knees, and desperately tried to get back to his room. Unfortunately for him, his head hit the wall and the conversation died. He wished he could, too.

"Takeru? Is that you, honey?"

"No!"

"Come out here, Takeru. Come say hello."

Were those voices getting louder? He panicked. Shuffling towards his room, his voice falling and rising hilariously out of sheer hysteria, he insisted, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not Takeru. Takeru moved out years ago, remember? I'm—,"

"What are you doing?"

Takeru leaped to his feet, plastered against the wall. Sayuri was standing behind his mother with her arms crossed, and the two of them were staring at him with curiosity.

"Honey, why were you on the floor? Are you hurt?"

"Mom! I'm not wearing anything!"

"Not true. You have boxers on."

"Really nice, Takaishi. They bring out your legs," Sayuri smirked evilly.

Somebody shoot me.

"Mom!" he wailed, throwing himself into his room and slamming the door shut. "Why didn't you tell me someone was here?"

"I did," his mother protested. "Don't be rude, Takeru. Come back out here and say hello. She wants to talk to you."

"Well, I don't want to talk to her!"

"Takeru!"

"Wait a minute, Mrs. Takaishi, I have an idea." Sayuri pulled out her cell phone. "What's your son's number?"

His mother beamed.

"Why, aren't you just an intelligent young lady," she said, glowing and hoping her son would open his sleepy eyes and pick this charming girl up. If only children could see what their parents could. She gave her his number and sincerely hoped it worked as she went back to the kitchen. It did.

"Hello?" Takeru's voice sounded very suspicious.

"Morning, Takaishi."

"How'd you get my number?"

She leaned against his bedroom door. "You're mother. She's a very nice woman. Now get out here, you idiot, this is stupid."

"What are you doing here?" he demanded, the rustle of bedsheets in the background.

"I'm just making sure you ask Hikari out today. I want to see you do it or I won't be satisfied."

"I already told you, I'm not asking her out."'

"Well, too bad, Takaishi. I see a change in opinion in your near future."

"I cannot believe you're here. Couldn't you have called?"

"Just hurry up and get dressed. You're wasting my time. I don't see what you're so embarrassed about anyway. It's not much too look at."

"I resent that!"

"Well, it's true. Even Motomiya has a more attractive body—,"

The door flew open and Takeru glared at her, cell phone pressed against his ear.

"I'm way better looking than Daisuke," he snapped into the phone.

"All right. You win that one."

Takeru looked down, realising he still had no shirt on, and slammed the door closed again.

"I hate you," came the reply on the phone and Sayuri smiled.

"Wouldn't want it any other way. Now get out here, you pig."

The abuse I go through, he thought angrily, pulling on a tee-shirt over his jeans. He opened the door again and stomped outside, putting his cell phone in his pocket. Sayuri glared at him, annoyed as she turned her own phone off.

"It's about time. Now tell me what you're going to say to her."

"Nothing. Because I'm not going to ask her."

"You're going to whether you like it or not."

"You can't make me do something I don't want to do."

"I had to kiss you didn't I? Now it's your turn."

"Oh come on. You so liked that."

"Don't be stupid."

"Admit it. I'm a good kisser."

"That was your first time, wasn't it?"

He hated it when this happened.

"Now go on. I want to make sure you don't say anything stupid."

"You don't understand."

"You had absolutely no trouble asking me out."

"But that was different!"

"How?"

"Because I actually liked you."

"Oh shove it. I just ate breakfast."

Why did he like her? Somebody remind him again….

"Besides, I've known her too long."

"All the more reason to ask her."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"I refuse to play this game."

"You wouldn't have to if you just left."

"I'm not leaving until you pink up that phone and ask her. Now do it!"

He tried to think of something quick.

"Can I write her a letter?"

"No."

"Then I'm not doing it."

"Fine. God, you're so thick. I want to read it later."

"No way! It's private."

"Nothing in you lovelife is private anymore. I made sure of that," Sayuri smiled wickedly. He glared at her. Of course. Yesterday. In front of every living creature in the world.

"You can watch me mail it."

"You're going to give it to her face."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

She smacked him upside the head.

"Yes."

"Fine," he rubbed his head, scowling in pain and resentment.

"Good. No go ahead and write. I don't have all day."

Takeru fetched a paper and pen, spending a good twenty minutes pretending to think of what to write until she caught him and yelled at him for a good two minutes. Five minutes after that, rubbing his cheek and wincing, he bent over and carefully penned out the first two sentences. He stopped for a break.

This went on for about three hours. He'd write a sentence or two, stop and rest for five minutes, get yelled at for five, argue for ten, and revise for another fifteen before going on to the next sentence. (His mother was about as deaf as he was thick.) He kept moving to different places around the room, trying to find a spot where she would be able to peek at the note, which he had caught her doing several times. This went into a new argument over privacy and authority and such related topics, which she always won though she never got to take a look at the letter in the end. By lunchtime, he had finished half of what he wanted to say, and complained in such an annoying tone that she practically threw him into the kitchen to eat. After a brief debate over the decline of health awareness of teenagers in a developed country, it was back to writing and drafting.

"You may be good at English," she said after a while, "but you suck at Japanese. Otherwise, it wouldn't be taking you this long."

"I have to find the right words."

"I thought you were a writer."

"This is different than writing a story or essay."

"Whatever. Are you done yet?"

"No."

"I swear, Takaishi—,"

"Okay, now I am."

"Let me read it—,"

"Nuh-uh," he shook his head and held it out of her reach. "Remember? I said I'd give it to her face."

"Fine. Come on, let's go."

"You can't come."

"And why the hell not?" she demanded angrily. No one was ever going to tell her what she could or couldn't do.

"If she sees you, she might think—just don't come!" He could feel himself starting to blush again.

"I'll go where I want to go."

"Just—just keep out of sight then. Don't let her see you."

"I'll wait for you in the lobby then. You had better give it to her. Don't think you can trick me. I know all."

"Let's just get this over with."

-

Takeru pressed the doorbell. He waited for a few uneasy minutes until the door opened. Taichi stood there.

"Hey, Takeru."

"Hey. Is, um…is Hikari there?"

"Yeah, one second," Taichi stuck his head back inside. "Hikari!" he yelled. "It's Takeru!"

"In a minute!" she called back.

"Come on in," Taichi held the door open and Takeru ducked inside gratefully. "So how was the last day of school?"

Takeru winced, faking a grin.

"Oh yeah. It was…memorable. Hey, weren't you going to kill yourself?"

Taichi waved a dismissive hand.

"I saw the light. And my actual score. I did better than I thought. Maybe I'll kill myself next term."

"Cool."

"Yeah."

An awkward silence settled. Taichi coughed, breaking it.

"So…how's Sayuri?"

"Huh?"

"You know, curly hair, kinda short, feisty, rude, cute, not to mention great betting champion, co-ordinator, and conspirator."

Takeru paled.

"Daisuke told me everything."

"I'll kill him."

"I'm very proud of you. We never thought of the teacher's desk. Good show. Wish I'd been there."

"I'll kill you."

Taichi grinned.

"I'm just joking. Though it is kind of funny."

"Hey, Takeru," Hikari appeared in the room. Takeru was incredibly relieved.

"Hi. I just wanted to talk to you for a second."

"Okay."

They both stared at Taichi, who stared back innocently for a moment until he realised what they meant. "I'll just be in my room…if anyone cares…."

Takeru waited until the door shut before turning to look at her, trying to smile so not to show how nervous he was.

"How are you?"

"Good."

"Good. That's…good. Um, listen, I was thinking about…I mean—I was just kinda wondering if—well I thought I should give you this—so here," he thrust the letter into her surprised hands.

"What is it?"

"A letter. I wrote. For you."

"Aren't you supposed to mail these?"

"Yeah well, I thought it would be—well, I just wanted to…give it to…myself. So…yeah. Okay."

"Can I open it?"

"Sure. But wait until I'm gone," he grinned, turning pink, and darted out the door. "Call me, later, okay? I just need you…to, you know, reply…but anyway, I'll see you later, okay?" The door quietly clicked shut behind him.

He leaned back against it on the other side, trying to breathe easy. He closed his eyes for a moment. That wasn't too bad. Of course, she hadn't opened it up yet. He quickly hurried to the elevator and back to the first floor. He was about to leave whenSayuri materialised out of no where. He jumped back, startled.

"Well, what happened?"

"I don't know. She hasn't read it yet."

"What do you mean she hasn't?" she demanded. "I thought you said you'd give it to her."

"Yeah, but I never said anything about actually waiting around for her to read it. She'll call me later."

"You idiot. Now I have to wait!"

"You lucky girl, you."

-

Hikari stared at the closed door, not really knowing what to do. This wasn't anything what she had expected. She stared down at he envelope, then carefully turned it over and pealed off the sticker he had used to close the flap. Out fell a single sheet of folded up notebook paper. She sat down, balancing it on her lap, her bangs falling down in front of her face a little as she bent over to read it.

Dear Hikari,

I really don't know how to say this, actually, but I guess I should let you know.
Remember the conversation we had on the Ferris wheel? Well, I was just thinking about it and I just realised how much it meant to me. Sometimes I really don't think you understand how important you are to me. But you are. I hate to think that one day someone else will sweep you right off your feet and away from me forever. Sometimes I find myself wondering if I were that someone. But I'm not. But what we've been through these past years still means a lot to me. It reminds me I always have someone I can turn to, no matter what. And I need that more than I need a girlfriend. And so I need you. I'm just afraid that you don't understand what I mean when I say this.
Hikari, we're always going to have ups and downs, because that's what makes up friendship. But I want you to be the person I always have in my life to come back to when things don't work out. And even when they do work out, I still what you to be the person I tell first. Someday someone out there is going to walk into your life and he'll be luckiest guy to ever live and I'll be the loneliest. Then maybe you'll see what I mean. I'm not him, and I don't deserve to be. I couldn't give you what you need, but I know he could. I love you, but not the way you need to be. You'll know it when you see it, and you'll know him when you see him. But he's just not me. It's a long wait, but it's worth it. I promise you it is. I'll still be here to keep you company, and I'll still be here afterwards, too. That's what friends do, so that's what I'm going to do.
Mathematics just doesn't make sense without you. And my life just wouldn't be the same. These years we've been friends, I hope they stay as much in your memory as they will in mine. Promise to hang in there with me?

Always,
Takeru

-

The End... Okay, okay, sequel to be posted soon entitled "The Challenge"...