Disclaimer: All characters, titles, franchises, etc. are solely copyrighted 1999-2004 to companies such as but is not limited to Toei, TV Asahi, BANDAI, etc. unless stated otherwise. I am not affiliated with any of the companies noted above, nor do I have contact with them. This is solely created for fan enjoyment.


Chained to a Letter
Part 3: Games and Aiko


Scribble, scribble.

The pencil scrawled across the paper, creating its own rhythm and beat. The wrinkling of the paper matched its tune, and so did the random tapping of a bird at Kotake's window.

He must be really bored to compare the sounds he was hearing to plain old music.

He couldn't stand it any longer. Kotake threw his pencil across the desk and huffily marched towards the window. As if sensing what would happen, the bird gave a little chirp and flapped away. Good riddance.

Kotake returned to his desk and continued to finish his sentence when the doorbell rang.

"Coming!" he grumbled, tossing his pencil again. Kotake thundered down the stairs, and the doorbell continuously rang. It must be Kimura; he was the one who usually did that, and of course, neither of their parents minded.

However, to his surprise, Kotake found out that it was not Kimura. "S-senoo!"

"Yaa!" greeted Senoo in her thick Osaka accent, holding up her hand in a wave.

"You didn't have to ring my doorbell a kajillion of times," was the first thing Kotake said to her.

Senoo rubbed her head, grinning shyly. "I'm sorry! There was this bird; and it kept flying around to peck me."

"Okay," murmured Kotake after a while. "So, what's up?"

"Your butt if you don't hurry!" Senoo alerted him, becoming more serious. "You have a soccer game today, remember? I just happened to walk by our school and Kimura-kun told me to get you!"

"A... g-game?"

"Yeah, a game," repeated Senoo, scratching her head

It hit Kotake. He had been too busy doing homework to remember the most important thing in life: soccer. All because of that cursed homework he had forgotten about his game today. He remembered his mother prodding him a few times, but she was out grocery shopping and his father was at work. Kotake was the star player... and if his position was given to Kimura, out of all people...

"Noooooooooo!" howled the poor boy, swinging his duffel back out of his closet and proceeding to stuff his equipment in there. Senoo took a step back with an eyebrow raised. Kotake slammed the door on the Osaka girl to change from his normal apparel into his soccer gear.

"What color are we wearing today? Are we home or visitor?" Kotake's muffled voice continued to yammer from behind the door.

Senoo cupped her mouth and yelled so Kotake could hear her over the midst of his panicking. "From what I saw, Kimura-kun and Itou-kun's jerseys were blue!"

"Thanks!"

The door swung open, and out burst Kotake, wildly spinning with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder. His legs were covered with shin guards and knee socks over them. To his dismay, Kotake tripped over his trash can and collapsed onto the floor.

"Ugh..."

Senoo leaned over to examine him. "Hey, are you okay?"

Kotake forced himself to sit up. "Yeah..."

"Good, because when you finish your soccer game, we're going to have a long talk about what you did to Onpu-chan."

"Huhhhhh?" gasped Kotake, staring at a frowning Senoo. "What did I do?"

"The actual reason why I came over here was because Onpu-chan's wrist is swollen. She said that it was nothing, but I know you had something to do with it."

"Ehhh?" Kotake's eyes widened.

"Don't 'Ehhh' me." Senoo put her hands on her hips and leaned closer, giving the soccer player the evil eye. Kotake nervously backed away, and tried to keep thoughts about how big Senoo's forehead was out of his mind. Now wasn't the time to think about this.

"How did you find out? I mean..."

"By magic — er, I mean, common sense." Senoo's Osaka accent broke as she caught herself and cleared her throat.

Kotake looked guilty, but he straightened himself up and the expression was gone. "Well, then, tell Segawa that I'm sorry and I'll buy her some candy later."

Senoo rolled her eyes. "And?"

He sighed. Apparently Senoo wanted more than just an apology and candy. "I'll, uh... get her some more candy."

At last Senoo seemed satisfied, and she kneeled next to him. "All righty, then. You're lucky that the media doesn't know about this, otherwise you'd be dead before you say Onpu-chan's fanboys."

Kotake gulped and nodded, already feeling the pounding fists of the many rabid fanboys of Segawa Onpu. Even though a few of them were nerdy boys, they were sure to kill him before he hit puberty. The pain. Owww. He even winced at the thought of it.

"You should be going now,"advised Senoo, gesturing to Kotake's alarm clock. "You're already seven minutes late."

"Okay! Thanks!" Kotake saluted and was about to stand up when Senoo noticed a certain ball of paper lying next to Kotake.

"Hey, that's weird. Momo-chan and Onpu-chan's writing is on here... and I think I even see Doremi-chan's name —"

Before he knew it, Senoo picked it up and started uncrumpling it. Her cerulean eyes quickly scanned over the words on the page, and Kotake couldn't do anything about it. He gasped and cried, "NOOOOOOOOOO!"

The navy-haired boy tried lunging for the paper, but Senoo, with her quick reflexes, dodged his body, continuing to read his love letter. Next to where she had found the ball of paper was a photo of Kotake and Doremi. Quickly, Senoo understood what was happening and stood up, nodding.

"Oh, so the rumors are —"

"SHUT UP,"snapped Kotake, who was still face-down on the floor.

Senoo chuckled. "Oh, I see. So that's why Momo-chan and Onpu-chan were acting pretty funny."

"Tell me something I don't know,"grumbled Kotake, forcing himself up.

The blue-haired girl grinned. "That letter was so cheap anyways! What were they thinking?"

Kotake's insides felt relieved, and he sighed in satisfaction. He turned around and smiled, finally having someone on his side who understood how he felt! "I don't know, but it must be crazy!"

Senoo's eyes widened. "Yeah! A letter, how stupid!" She threw back her head and started breaking out in a round of idiotic laughter.

The soccer player smirked, and then gave in. He started snickering as well. At last, someone who understood how ridiculous writing a love letter was! The two were laughing together and cracking more jokes about the idiocy of the letter as tears rolled down their faces.

Senoo fell down onto her bottom, clutching her stomach. "I'm going to die from this! This is the dumbest thing I've ever read!"

"Yeah, really!"

"You look like that lovely crushed tulip that Kimura-kun trampled over! That really kills!"

"I know! Writing letters are sure dumb!"

"Of course it is! Everyone knows that writing a song is better than a letter!"

Kotake was practically rolling on the floor by now in wild laughter, but all of the sudden, a bell rang. Something didn't feel right. Awkwardly, he sat up with a confused expression on his face. "Huh?"

The tomboy was no longer giggling, but she had a creative smile perched on her face. Kotake did not like this one single bit. They had a bit of a staring contest for quite a while until Senoo broke the silence.

"Well, doy, smart one. Everyone knows that!"

This was not what he wanted to hear. Kotake felt himself falling down into the pits of the Underworld, being roasted by its fiery caves. Just when Heaven shined some light upon him, it betrayed him and shut it down on him once when he was getting used to it. Why did life have to be so cruel?

He knew it was no use. Kotake knew what was going to happen next. Before he could say anything, Senoo fetched her harmonica out of her pocket and tooted a chord to begin with.

"Now, first you start with a chord." She blew the same chord again.

"Oh, please, no..."

The Osaka tomboy ignored him. "Then you start singing! I could supply music for you if you want."

"No, thank you." Kotake was still in shock that the one person who could have been on his side flipped off onto Momoko and Onpu's side.

"Toot,"went Senoo's harmonica again. Oh, boy. This was going to be long...

Senoo sucked in a deep breath and let her loud voice roll, making up lines as she went. "Just one more time I wanna let you know; you're the one for me in rain, sun, snow!"

Kotake covered his ears. It was too mortifying for a boy his age.

He decided that being run over by Onpu fanboys was a better fate than this.

But of course Senoo was too busy singing rather than paying attention to the tortured boy. "Take me away to a Never-neverland; between the church pews, that's where we will stand!"

Kotake stood up, watching the girl bellow out random nothingness that she had pulled out from thin air, and slipping the harmonica across her lips once in a while. He grumbled,"Okay, okay, Senoo... you can stop... I get it..."

"A cutie angel is what you are; your light guides me from afar; your sweetie-pinky eyes are what I swim in; your heart is definitely clean as a pin!"

Will she ever shut up? thought Kotake sourly, clamping his ears tighter.

"Senoo! Stop it!"

"My lovey-dovey heart is for yours to keep —"

"Senoo!"

"If you're so far away, then I can't sleep —"

"SENOO!"

At last, Senoo stopped the raw punishment, or made it worse by ending the tune with a high squeal that nearly shattered the windows. How she was able to sustain a high note like that, Kotake never knew. Not even Onpu could have done that. Kotake did his best to muffle the noise by clasping his ears with whatever he could hold. He ended up tumbling down onto the ground, twitching.

"Kotake-kun, what's with the twitching?" asked Senoo good-naturedly, oblivious of her reckless singing. A lightbulb seem to click in her mind, and she exclaimed,"I thought of the coolest line ever! Let me write that one down!"

She quickly grabbed the love letter and found Kotake's pen. She quickly slashed a few words here and there, and then dropped it on Kotake's head. "Here you go! I'm pretty sure Doremi-chan will be especially flattered by this!"

"I'm going to kill you for this, Senoo," hissed Kotake under his breath.

Senoo heard. "Well, kill me later because now you're 13 minutes late for your game."

That got Kotake up on his feet. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?"

"See ya," called Senoo with a wink, plopping her harmonica back into her pocket. In a few seconds, she was gone, leaving the poor boy in dismay and anger.

But no time for that. Kotake hurriedly rushed to his scrimmage.

The ignored letter was still resting peacefully on his floor.


Dearest Doremi,

You remind me of a tulip I saw at the garden in the park before Kimura accidentally trampled over it. Its petals are really pretty, and the color of it looks like the same shade of your hair and your eyes.

Your name is just exquisite. Harukaze Doremi; just perfect for you. Your soft personality is as gentle as the spring breeze, and your voice is as musical as your name. All the spring beauties envy you whenever you stand in their presence.

Doremi-chan, you don't know how much you mean to me. How can I go on without telling the person I deeply care for about how I really feel? I'm surprised that I haven't shattered like a mirror yet. Every night and day I suffer from the pain of being pushed away from the warmth of your kindness. My true feelings towards you are too deep to fathom. I can't survive without you. Please accept my love for you or else I'll die.

Through the times that we've had, all the times that I've been bad were for the sake of you. This proves that I love you true.