"Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed." - Abraham Lincoln

Chapter 4

The blond heiress felt her flip phone vibrate within the confines of her left pocket as the lesson progressively went on. Her vibrant blue eyes widened with delight and curiosity, knowing that someone would have the guts to go through the trouble of randomly sending her a text message during a busy time such as this. Or, it might be one of those flimsy spam messages she normally gets every single day. If that was the case, she would probably end up throwing the expensive thing off the window like a bouncy tennis ball.

But now isn't the time for senseless texting. Chitoge felt like she just hurled a pin-less hand grenade right at the heavily populated streets of Akihabara, knowing that she just sent the most idiotic and incredibly cheesiest reply ever written for anyone else in the history of the world. That statement might actually be a bit too far-fetched, but there could be some truth lingering into it. After all, who even tells someone to kiss them when the latter asks them about how they're feeling? What could be more ludicrous than that? Well, she could actually list up a lot of things and situations. But despite the vast number of zany things gradually popping out of the heiress' vast, immensely sentient mind, nothing could ever change how she feels about what she bravely and recklessly wrote.

Kiss me, Idiot.

Yeah, right. It's definitely something she would never say out loud without a few or more shots of stingy alcohol flowing within her system, and that's exactly one of the countless reasons why she doesn't go drinking and getting herself really wasted. It would only make her act stupid, talk stupid and feel stupid. And she has indeed done it before, accidentally, that is. (Thanks to those infernal whisky bonbons.) But the very fact that she actually sent and wrote the reply whilst being sober actually frightens her. So much for blatantly lying to Kosaki about the true contents of the note being relevant to what the teacher's constantly yammering about.

She had the urge to rip the dreaded note into shreds with her bare hands out of sheer embarrassment, like how the enraged King Kong brutally tears open an F-45 jet plane with ease with his extremely buff and hairy arms. But as much as she really wanted to get her hands dirty, she couldn't.

No, she can't, and the worst part is that there's absolutely no turning back from this one, since she already asked someone to return it. The blonde heiress had no other choice but to see how Raku reacts and actually live with what he has to say in response. Strangely, a small part of her even wanted Kosaki to throw away the freshly teared piece of paper into the partly filled up trash bin at the side most corner of the classroom, or better yet, through the window so that nobody in her class could ever find it.

What in blazes is she even thinking about? Like there's any logical reason for the saintly brunette to do so. It's not like Kosaki had the guts to do such a heinous thing. Well, the act of tearing up a single piece of notebook isn't what you can dub as so, but the thought of blatantly destroying a parcel meant to pass on to another person without the approval of the sender kinda fits the description mildly. Only Marika Tachibana can do the deed without any qualms, since that overly attached chick is probably the goddess of mischief in disguise, or possibly the devil himself.

Putting everything including her widely colorful thoughts aside, Chitoge reluctantly drew out her phone from her pockets and stealthily flipped it open beneath her desk like she was hiding something that's not meant being seen by public eyes. Well, if you would have the liberty to analyze that situation logically, her phone might be abruptly confiscated in plain sight, so the heiress' slight pulses of paranoia are completely reasonable.

As expected, there are 2 new messages popping out of her inbox. Obviously, the first text was one of those worthless promotional spam mail she regularly, painstakingly deletes, coming from an obscure monthly magazine subscription promo. Just by looking at how the annoying and unnecessary advertisement goes actually makes her feel tired.

The second text message is what made the heiress' eyes flutter like delicate butterfly wings. No, not because the contents of the brief message were too blurry to even read through (Well, to take note, her eyes have yet to scan over them.), but because it came from the most unlikely person.

Marika?

Chitoge's stellar blue eyes widened with surprise. Normally, it isn't really a significant thing. It definitely isn't something that could make your eyes flicker out of disbelief, as if she'd just seen a shiny legendary Pokémon with her own two eyes out of a million tries. But still...since when was the last time she actually received a text message directly from the Overly Attached Girlfriend? About a month ago, perhaps? She couldn't accurately pinpoint the date like how a professional sniper locates its target, since the blonde lass isn't too good with remembering minor details and events that happen too fast.

She couldn't really picture out what Marika herself has to say to her. Well, one thing's for sure. Either it might be incredibly important,insanely eccentric, or possibly a bland mixture of both, the beansprout would always, no matter what kind of topic they're tackling on, be involved. After all, it's like she practically worships the dense idiot to no end, despite the latter indirectly rejecting her rather "over-the-top" advances every time she publicly flirts with him. Seriously, it's like Raku purposely made her chug down a highly concentrated love potion to make her fall for him extremely hard, to the point that it emotionally hurts the pale ginger-haired girl as much as her frail and sickly body does.

As soon as she opened the message with a single click of a button, Chitoge's volatile heart quickly sank as the heiress read the brief contents of the mail. No, it wasn't like how the Titanic vanished into the rusty, barnacle-ridden, corpse-filled wreckage it is today, but it felt more like the still beating vital organ was bathing bare naked on a tub filled with dry ice on a cold winter's night without the heater on. Both similes cut both ways, with one figurative speech being sharper and nastier than the other.

I know who Raku-sama likes. :3

Well, it's not like it's the end of the world, or her world, that is, just because her reflective eyes had the misfortune to gaze upon the ginger-haired lass' extremely heart-wrenching message without taking a deep breath and thinking about it thoroughly. Honestly, even though a lot of possibilities to the meaning of this brief and hopefully cryptic text are likely lingering and littering about within the miniature hinges of the very words that compose it, Chitoge just wanted to scram out of the fully occupied room and cry her eyes out, like a scene coming straight out of a tragic Korean melodrama.

Well, unlike everyone else around her, Chitoge didn't have the luxury of time to water up her eyes like how gardeners casually sprinkle up their plants. At least that's what she often tells herself despite failing to do so at certain moments of her life where crying seemed like it was the only option. Plus, she needed to know if Marika was just pulling her leg as she often does, or if the sickly ginger's actually telling her the the grim and painful truth about everything, and crying like a hungry child wouldn't help her even for one tiny bit.

The blonde heiress needed to compose something in response to Marika's fatal jab through her chest, and she needed to do it as fast as she possibly can without getting noticed by anybody. As long as her fingers are intact and ready, with the phone sitting on top of her palms, she can pull off such a stealthy feat without even the slightest difficulty. And besides, sickly young lass probably doesn't have any clue about her forged relationship with the dense idiot.

Despite being the one who actually crafted the message from scratch with a couple of taps, Chitoge could feel the overloaded dose of sarcasm heavily surging from the brief composition of words just by reading it. Who could even blame her? Sarcasm is her specialty. Or to put it more accurately...

Sarcasm is her.

Unexpectedly, Marika felt her phone swiftly vibrate like a buzzer being slammed upon during the middle of a quiz bee. And she was too busy taking down important notes too...Well, the ginger-haired lass was actually doing a rough, highly detailed sketch of Raku from behind, and she actually enjoys every single moment of it, judging by that love-struck look on her deeply flustered face. Oh my, Kirisaki-san. You even replied while I was busy admiring the incomparable beauty and perfection of Raku-sama. Could it wait until the end of class? the frail lass thought to herself as she promptly dropped her mechanical pencil onto the surface of her desk, with the lead breaking off upon impact.

She impatiently sighed as she hesitantly reached for her phone, with her face displaying a slight mixture of annoyance and boredom. Sure, the ginger-haired lass wanted to know how Chitoge would react, but the pure satisfaction just isn't there at that time. She cannot properly enjoy two things that are happening all at once, and everybody knows that, especially her dad.

With the single slide of her soft, polished fingers, the phone instantaneously opened. Aside from the various Candy Crush notifications she often receives, there lies Chitoge's disappointingly brief text message. She wanted to laugh at how reading it alone makes the veins on her head contract and bulge out like it had trained itself for over 10 years, or how it causes the blood flowing around her circulatory system to go extremely bonkers like a rampaging waterfall, but she couldn't.

Really? Aren't I his girlfriend or something? Nope? Yeah, that probably sums it up. Have some common sense before telling me some nonsense.

It's too sassy and overwhelmingly sarcastic to even pass up, and it feels like the heiress isn't taking her words rather seriously. This clearly pisses her off at a whole new level, to the point that she would be capable of obliterating an entire legion of trained soldiers with the rapid thrust of her pale, bony fists. Plus, never before has the red-headed lass ever felt so downgraded and humiliated over a single line of text. At that very moment, Marika decided to keep herself calm and composed, and quickly cook herself a effective counterattack.

Guess who it is, Kirisaki-san. I dare you.

Was that what one would call a counterattack? More like a way of provoking the enemy troops into unintentionally revealing the nature of their overall strategy. If Chitoge would just continue advancing into her position, there might be a slim chance for the latter to take the upper hand during the siege, with the risk of Marika's troops getting entirely wiped out. Wait, what the hell? They're just texting for crying out loud, not reenacting a battle scene from Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms. And the fact that the ginger-haired lass finished reading all volumes of the book series actually makes her feel like a big fat history nerd, and for a girl of her stature, it feels really, really awful.

Well, those mildly provocative words were probably the best she could make up, for now. Besides, it's not like the hot headed heiress had the essence of time to literally punch her in the face with the use of electronically transmitted pixels of text, and the formal lass knows she herself doesn't. They're obviously inside a Japanese classroom, and squaring it all off inside one could result into dire consequences.

As soon as she began slipping the phone back into the pocket from whence it came, it abruptly vibrated for the second time. And this time, Marika didn't want to know what Chitoge has in store for her. But the pale lass just couldn't resist the urge of ceaseless battle, in spite of her peaceful and calm demeanor. She actually felt her dark orange hair rise up out of sheer anticipation as the latter began unlocking the phone's screen once again.

Not you? :(

The text above packs more than a single punch. It's like she got stabbed right in the gut, or shot through the head, to say the least. Something hiding within those words didn't just hit her, it technically went right through her like how a hot knife easily goes through butter. And what was that, you may ask? Well, it's probably the sudden realization that Raku never reciprocated her romantic feelings in the first place, a fact she knew all along but refused to accept.

Marika's fragile heart began to contract like twisted ropes the moment her widened gaze tethered itself into the broad, radiating screen. As much as she hated to admit it, those two simple words were actually stating nothing but the undeniable truth. Her hands were lightly trembling as she felt her dark-orange eyes well up thin streams of minuscule tears.

She didn't have the intent to cry. That was in fact the last thing she wanted to do, in public, that is. After all, crying is a huge sign of one's weakness: nothing but a miniature white flag that seemed to be partly raised towards her competitors to infer the act of total surrender. But this time, the flawed human being locked inside of her wanted to take over and do the rest.

The ginger-haired lass quickly rubbed the steadily flowing streams off her eyes just before anyone would think to notice. It would be downright embarrassing if anyone would find out about her sudden emotional discharge. Great, now her freshly washed sleeves are now ridden with salty tears. What gives?

Let's talk to each other after class. Marika calmly typed with her head held high, as her elegant thumbs lightly rested on top of the virtual keypad. I'll tell you everything from A to Z.

"How embarrassing it is to be human." - Kurt Vonnegut

Shortly after taking the fragile parcel from Chitoge grasp, Kosaki couldn't bring herself to pass the folded note back to its rightful owner. I can't. she told herself subconsciously as her captivating chocolate-brown eyes abruptly closed shut with her head slightly shaking. I just can't. Even though Chitoge-chan implied that it doesn't contain something romantic...doesn't mean that it actually doesn't! the brunette continued, with the note still resting on top of her currently sweaty palms, with the paper gradually absorbing the fluid.

Oh, no! This can't be happening! This can't! she mentally exclaimed as soon as she quickly noticed the miniature puddles of sweat clinging unto the note's delicate surface. "Me and my nervous fits..." the brunette muttered under her breath with her head slightly lowered in a submissive manner. "What's wrong, Onodera?" a familiar voice called out to her, which instantaneously caught her undivided attention.

With her neck swiftly turning to her left, Kosaki immediately knew who the voice belonged to. It was none other than a concerned Raku facing towards her, with his eyes clearly showing a great sense of worry. "Ichijou-kun!" she unnecessarily exclaimed as she quickly tucked and drilled the moistened paper into the depths of her left pocket like how a druggie unsuccessfully hides a bag of weed in front of a patrolling police officer. "Uh, did you just punched something really hard inside your pocket? I could've sworn I've heard a ripping sound." the beansprout pointed out after seeing the suspicious act first hand.

"What are you talking about, silly?" Kosaki nervously laughed and coughed, with her face slowly flushing dark red just by the sight of him. D-Did she just call me "silly"? Raku thought to himself as he subconsciously darted her a weird, perplexed look, which made the nervous brunette really uncomfortable.

Oh my God...Oh my God! He probably thinks I'm weird and creepy! If only I would just give the letter back sooner, none of this would've happened in the first place! Now that it's too late, what should I do? Should I just give it back to him? No! Ichijou-kun might think I'm gross if he touches my sweat on the paper! Touches my sweat...

Touches... The moment she thought of the interactive verb, that was when her subconsciously stored up sexual fantasies ran wild. What am I saying!? Why am I even thinking such naughty thoughts at a time like this!? the brunette wanted to slap herself in the face for being incredibly out of context. Well, some teenage girls have a bunch of lewd thoughts running across their heads, but it still hurts to even visualize it.

Onodera's acting really strange today. But she wasn't acting up like this a few moments back... some personal problems, perhaps? Better not ask her such questions. Raku thought to himself as he managed to catch a glimpse of Chitoge secretly fiddling with her phone, with her face looking really occupied. Ah, so that's what's taking her so long to reply... I hope she isn't texting another guy. That would suck. the beansprout thought as he felt a glint of green envy lingering inside of him. But why do I have the sudden urge to look at her inbox?

Kosaki felt like her left thigh was fully exposed. Well, that would seem like a random thought made all for the dull purpose to block out all the previous scenarios rushing around her head, but it literally felt like it. Yes, her skirt is rather short. Shorter than most school uniforms in the city, but never has she felt so airy from down below whilst sitting down. It's like her skirt got ripped off on one side, which sounds completely irrational and stupid for one to think, and all the boys around her area would probably notice it by now if that would've happened.

Wait. Didn't Raku mention something about the slender brunette punching her pockets?

Looking down was probably one of the biggest mistakes she had ever made in her entire life. Her beating heart rapidly resonated with the fast flowing movement of her pulse rushing through her veins, as if she had just ran a grand marathon against Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin. To her absolute horror, the brunette's skirt literally got ripped off from the right side, with the rims deeply torn and the zipper broken and separated, with the light blue strings that was once part of the fabric resting against her bare skin. And to make matters worse, part of her white bear-printed panties are accidentally up for display. The force of how she forcibly tucked the note in was absolutely bonkers. It's like she temporarily and inconveniently borrowed Saitama's powers from One Punch Man.

"Shit!" she cussed, for what sounds like for the first time, out loud. And it sounded like she was taking a quick sneeze to boot. Raku's ears quickly picked up one of the most used words in his household coming from the most purest person he knows. "O-Onodera?" he quickly turned towards the trembling, nervous lass with one eye twitching out of sheer disbelief. Plus, he looked really weird by doing so. "Yes!" Kosaki squeaked, with her shaky voice being loud enough for everyone else in the class to hear. It was like she completely lost track of how low should her voice go at certain situations.

"Woah, Onodera! You don't have to shriek that loud in front of me. I can hear you!" the beansprout exclaimed as he rapidly waved both of his hands. Now he thinks I'm deaf... she gloomily thought as she quickly tore a piece of her notebook to cover up the severely ruptured side of the brunette's broken skirt. "Yeah, how silly of me! Could you do me a favor and look the other way, Ichijou-kun?" Kosaki could've sworn the sweat leaking around her body had gone cold and ticklish. "Why? It's not like you're naked or anything. Well, that would be a shocker if that's true." he jokingly replied. Naked? Partially, that is.

"Why do you always have to look at my side anyways?" she protested, with her hands pressing against the torn up page, slightly crumpling it. "I'm probably used to doing that by now. Could you please tell me what's going on, Onodera? It's like you wanted to go to the toilet or something." Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. "What do you mean by being used to look at my way?" she absentmindedly asked, which caused the beansprout to flinch like a rock.

Crap, is she suspecting me for constantly checking out on Chitoge for the past few hours? that line of thought recklessly trekked through his shallow brain like a wandering hiker. Don't tell me...was he checking me out all this time? a flustered, crooked smile suddenly formed on the moist surface of Kosaki's mouth as she mindlessly thought of the highly improbable possibility. "D-Does it mean anything important?" Raku replied, with his cheeks slightly reddening. "Yes! I wanted to know why!" the nervous brunette desperately exclaimed.

"Onodera and Ichijou. May I see the two of you arguing "love birds" after class?" the teacher called out as he quickly adjusted his glasses.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Raku inquired as he immediately began mending the ruptured piece of fabric with a set of sewing equipment he managed to borrow from the sewing club. (Which he had to fill in some paper work for membership, of course.)

Kosaki didn't know exactly what to say to him. It's like she's on the middle of playing a dating sim where the trio of choices given to her are all confusing and seemingly misleading, to the point that she needed to desperately surf the net to find the right answer. But unfortunately, this is real life, and the man she's currently on a "date" with is a real person. Her heart began to pound loudly as she slowly leaned against the concrete walls behind her, grabbing the jogging pants she reluctantly borrowed from Raku tightly to ease the unnatural feeling.

"Ichijou-kun..." she managed to muster the courage to call out to him, and it sounded like she's choking on own her words and is about to cry because of it. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I've put you through today." her dark brown hair felt like they were slowly standing up like a scared cat's as she hesitantly continued her unfinished sentence. "Don't sweat it, Onodera. It's not entirely your fault." "Yes, it is." she protested instantaneously in a rather shaky tone. "No, it isn't. You were really nervous, and I couldn't blame you for it. If my zipper breaks in the middle of class, I would probably react the same way."

He's indeed too kind to stay mad at her. Heck, the dense protagonist isn't even harboring such negative feelings towards her altogether. And honestly, the pale brunette feels a reasonably huge amount of guilt because of it. "You didn't have to let me borrow your jogging pants, or sign up for the sewing club just to fix up my skirt for me."

"Yeah, you're right. I didn't have to, yet I chose to do those things. Whether you like it or not, that's how I roll, Onodera." Raku replied as he began biting some of the excess string with his teeth. "It would really worry me if you're all stuck-up and guilty all the time. You should take a quick look back at it and share a good laugh with me." he continued, with a wide, hearty grin forming around his face. It looked perfect.

"I guess you're right. But I'm not in the proper mood for laughing right now. It's not like I would force myself to laugh at things that I don't find pretty funny." Kosaki earnestly explained as her eyes gracefully fluttered with her doll-like lashes. "Do you want to hear a joke?" the beansprout kindly offered. "No! You don't have to force yourself to entertain me...I might hurt you if I wouldn't laugh at them..." she politely declined, with her face buried deep against her knees.

"Well, they couldn't be that bad. But if you say so, I wouldn't make a fool of myself for doing so." the beansprout shrugged as he continued to casually fix the skirt like how an old woman seamlessly knits a sweater. He's probably gotten pretty used to sewing by now, much to his dismay. What did I just say? the brunette's eyes widened with worry. What should I do? I've probably offended him by saying those things! Maybe I should say something that would encourage him? Yeah, that's probably it!

Encouragement, huh? Does she really want to say such platonic things? After what she had seen that afternoon...after what Chitoge bravely said? The nervous lass isn't going anywhere with her constant shyness, in contrast with the blonde heiress' inextinguishable aggression. Judging by the homey atmosphere around them, ridden with all the perfect conditions, wouldn't it be the right time to lay it right in front of him? You know...to confess?

Filled with the sudden urge to do the impossible, she could literally hear Shia LaBeouf obnoxiously screaming the words "Just do it!" whilst posing peculiarly weird gestures in front of a broad green screen. Looks like she doesn't have much of a choice, doesn't she? If she would have the chance to cease everything she ever wanted for one moment, would she catch it? Or just let it slip? Wow, who would ever thought that the first few lines of an Eminem song accurately reflects her swelling emotions.

"Ichijou-kun, could you please take a quick break on sewing my skirt for a bit? I want you to hear everything I'm about to say to you. Could you please listen?" the brunette politely requested, with her cheeks glowing in a shade of light red. "Sure, Onodera. Go ahead, I'm all ears." Raku eagerly nodded as he immediately placed the mended fabric on the floor beneath him, with the expression on his face screaming the word anticipation. I wonder what she has to say to me...

"No matter how strange it may sound, I don't want you to feel creeped out if I say this, nor do I want you to avoid me or treat me indifferently from everybody else. So please...accept everything I'm about to tell you, every single bit of it!"

Kosaki sounded incredibly desperate and serious, as if the fate of the entire world depended on the outcome this very moment, and Raku subtly felt it, scratch that, he could practically see it in her glistening watery eyes. And strangely, he didn't like where this is going. "Onodera..."

"I don't really know how to properly put this, but..." After pausing and fidgeting for a few seconds, Kosaki took a few sips of air before finally gaining the strength to carry on.

"I...I really like you, Ichijou-kun."

Wait... I didn't hear anything wrong from her...didn't I?

Well, it has been nearly a week since I've uploaded the last chapter, and to be honest, I'm not really confident with how it turned out. But anyways, I would love to thank you all for the 11 faves and 15 follows! Holy crap, I wasn't expecting such positive feedback from all of you, and it makes me smile just to see how each and every one of you have been enjoying everything I've written so far. I sincerely hope this insanely long chapter wouldn't bore you to death or anything, that's not even in my bucket list.

It kinda took me a while to plan everything out, and I guess it ended up with Onodera and Marika being the key characters in this chapter to bring out a double cliffhanger. Hope this was worth the long wait. But I honestly believe that you all deserve better, and I'll try my best to make the next chapter more interesting than the last.