A/N: sorry, i made a mistake. Francis is supposed to be the vie president. i fixed it, but just to let you know. other than that, this time the focus isn't on Prussia, but rather the other story that supposed to concurrently run with the same time line. basically it's just to fill up space whenever i don't know how to advance the plot... other than that, that person is the only one outside of the group that can actually interact with him, kinda cute, but it feels kinda strange the way i wrote it. oh well... so yea, thank you again for picking up this slow piece of work and again please refrain from "commenting" on whether the pairings i use are things that "should not exist" because they all don't

"Did you hear?" Whispers. "What?" Curiosity. "Apparently someone tried the challenge." Rumors. "Again? Really, I know he's pretty and he's got the brains to go with that pretty face, but isn't that council president a little too scary?" Lies. "But that's what makes it a challenge."

The students whispered amongst themselves as they awaited the day to begin.

"That Gil really is something, isn't he." The loud voice of Mathias Køhler reverberated throughout the vicinity before being quieted down by his blonde neighbor and roommate Berwald Oxenstierna.

"It's wrong," were the simple venom that left his mouth. He was displeased at the idea of calling it a challenge, simply because the other refused to interact in such a way. Mathias could hear it in his tone, but made no attempt to stop.

"Aw, c'mon lighten up. I'm sure your cousin could handle them if he wanted to." Mathias continued to speak as if this were an everyday occurrence (and it is), but stopped when he saw the look on his roommate. Even with his permanent glare, there was a calm and distant glow to it that only those who him long enough could discern. Mathias had carelessly walked into a land mine. "…Not anymore."

Mathias' smile faltered before it was dropped completely. "Sorry. It's been a while, kinda slipped my mind."

"Buenos Dias!"

The door opened immediately revealing an upbeat Antonio. All eyes were on him as he entered the room and the whispers continued to grow.

"It's the idiot the Snow Queen is usually with." "Shh. He can hear you." "As if." "I heard that he once toppled over a truck." "No way, that's inhuman!" "I'm sure the Beast can take him." "The Beast?" "Berwald Oxenstierna. He's scary beyond all reason, and he doesn't even try!" "I heard they once had a fight once and took down a whole town." "Wah! Scary!"

"Hey! Morning!" "Monin'!" "G'mornin'"

They greeted each other as Antonio took his seat in front of Berwald. Mathias had taken this opportunity to lighten up the mood by talking to Antonio instead.

"So, did ya hear?" Mathias started with the current rumor.

"About what?" Antonio asked, unaware of the whispers that flowed.

"Our little queen just shot down another guy." This earned a glare from Berwald, but Mathias didn't care, as long as he kept off the subject of the accident then he was fine.

"Really? She must have a lot of admirers, maybe even more than Gil!"

Mathias laughed. Berwald opted to pet the Spaniard instead. "Cute," was the single word he muttered in amusement.

"Eh? I don't get why you're messing with my hair all of a sudden, but what do you mean by 'cute', Ber?"

Mathias laughed again, "You're find just the way you are."

Antonio was confused but accepted the compliment nonetheless.

-Gachack -

The door opened and all eyes were awaiting the entrance of their homeroom teacher, but instead it was Francis who entered. "Good. I'm not late—ow!"

A folder fell atop Francis' head. "Wrong, Bonnefoy. Class started a minute ago. Now take your seats."

Eyes lit up as their homeroom teacher started the attendance.

Class ended and the chatters of the class of those who decided to stay behind filled the room.

The girls that were brave enough to gather around Francis flocked around him as he picked the girl for the day. But it didn't stop him from having normal conversations somehow.

"So, are you going to keep staring at him or are you actually going to say something instead?"

Antonio perked up from his conversation to see Francis with girls around both arms in front of him.

"Are you actually going to go out with both of them?" Antonio asked. Francis was amazed at the ability his friend had at avoiding questions with another completely unrelated question of his own. But it didn't stop him from actually answering.

"Well, of course. I can't keep myself to one person alone. Love is a free will of the heart. Whether it is one or two, or maybe even a hundred. Love will mend us together." Antonio only smiled. "I have a feeling that you're not really caring."

"No. No. Of course not. It's very interesting!" Lip service. But Francis believed it anyway, despite the amount that had been fed to him already. "So, what are you two talking about?"

Antonio had actually been talking to Berwald before Francis started up a conversation with him. You could visibly see them flinch at the slightest mention of the Swede, but Francis knew better. He wasn't the least bit intimidating at all. Over time you get used to it, but the initial fright lingers.

"Oh, we were just talking about how Ber had been gettin' these letters."

Berwald opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself from over-embarrassment.

"Letters?" One of the girls repeated. But from the sounds of it, there seemed to have been a misunderstanding. "Like, a ransom?" "Or, maybe even a kidnapping?" The gossiping had gone a little over their heads. "Sorry, Francis, but I think we had something we had to do."

Francis was a little taken aback by their sudden departure. "How could you."

"Aw, Francis. You know they didn't really like you." Antonio tried to cheer the other up, but he really didn't know what to say. In fact he was kinda happy they weren't around.

"It wasn't meant to be." Berwald comforted. Francis looked towards his direction. He couldn't blame him. He was really innocent after all. "So. What about these letters. They're not really something shady like that is it?"

"No. Nothing like that. In fact, not even close. Would you believe it! It's even something really more adorable than that!" Antonio more or less blabbered useless information that only made Francis more loss than he already was.

"That still doesn't tell me what that means." Francis looked towards Berwald for a better explanation, but instead he leered at him. It took a long time for him to get used to his behavior, even now as he was doing it, he still felt intimidated, but as time passed Francis started to understand the blonde a little better. That was something he had done when he was embarrassed. And that was very often.

"I won't pry further then." Berwald felt somewhat at ease from that.

"They're love letter!" Antonio, however, blurted out immediately after that causing a change in atmosphere from calm to shocked. The leer never left Berwald's face after a while.

"Love letters?" It piqued Francis' interests. He considered himself to be versed in all love gossip of the school, however this was the first he had heard about this, and especially in this kinda way.

Love letters were old fashioned. Heck it's rare enough that they don't exist anywhere out of manga. And he had definitely read his share of them to know that love letters are the ultimate form of love. A memento that can be kept for ages. A passion spent into writing down the perfect words to express your love. It is the evidence of love itself. And yet the recipient of them were none other than the scary Beast of the school, Berwald Oxenstierna.

"Fufufu. Love letters, is it. So whose the one behind these bouts of passion?"

"That's the thing. We don't know."

"Don't know? Then how long has it been since you've been getting them?"

"About two years ago." Berwald had finally let his guard down and decided to properly answer the questions concerning his private life.

"Two years?! And you still don't know who they're from? How can you be sure it's the same person?!" Francis was in disbelief at how dense they can be. What if it was just a prank. And on the poor souls too. What if they were just being deceived until the big reveal is on stage and they made a big fool of themselves for believing it?!

"Well, about that… Ber, do ya wanna say it? I mean, it's your story."

Berwald appreciated the consideration the Spaniard was giving him, but he didn't want to be the one to say it. However, it is his story, so he should be the one to tell it in his own experience.

"I got'em durin' my first year here. The first one came durin' the end of the year, on Valentine's Day. I thought it was a joke, so I kinda ignored it. After break, another one came. It wasn't a special occasion, so dunno who would try to pull that off. Then they kept comin' every month. Sometimes they'd just slip it under the door, other times they'd mail it to me. But it'd only happen in school."

Shooting stars twinkled as Francis took in the story.

"A romance too hard to explain in simple words. A pure and innocent dream. But that wouldn't do, it would do it no justice. Have you any idea who it might be?"

"Well, that's the thing. Ber still thinks it's some elaborate joke or somethin', but it doesn't feel like it to me. Ya know?"

Too cute. Those were the only words going through Francis' mind. It over took him when his hands started roaming. At first it was uncomfortable but it ended soon enough when a deathly glare, by his standards, was sent his way.

"I'm going back to the dorms." Berwald announced as he packed his bag and left.

"Scary...!"