The Love Letter Lovelies

by Glee-chan

06.

The next morning Makoto was out of bed before the alarm sounded, to the annoyance of Taro. She couldn't wait to go to school and see Kaede. They had texted back and forth throughout the night, yet Makoto remembered nothing of what they talked about. She was just happy. Leaving the house after breakfast she gave her sister a huge hug before the parted ways. Nori gave her a suspicious look. Inwardly Makoto realized she was being a bit too happy for no reason, but she didn't care. She was going to see Kaede soon.

Stopping at her locker, Makoto carelessly opened it up to change shoes when four more letter fell onto the ground. Her happy mood ended in an instant as she picked them up. More? I'm even getting them in the morning now? Makoto opened her book bag to put them with the rest of the letters when she discovered something. Seven out of the eight letters had the same envelop. Which meant one person was harassing her.

Finishing up at the shoe locker, Makoto reached Class 1-3 and took her seat. Kaede hadn't arrived yet, but Nobyuki was already sitting down in his desk. Taking her place, Makoto took out the seven similar envelops and randomly opened one.

We are meant to be. When will you see that?

K.

Narrowing her eyebrows Makoto picked up another one and opened it. This one seemed to be more of a normal confession. "I love you, we should go out. Meet me after school by the Sakura Tree." Obviously Makoto hadn't met the person. She opened another one and it was more along the same lines as the first letter. "You can't fight what we have. I'll never give up on you." Always the person signed the letters with just "K."

Noboyuki was looking down at the open letters, reading them without even asking. "What in the world?"

"I got three yesterday." Makoto finding herself explaining. "Then four again today. They're all from the same person."

"Talk about creepy." Nobuyuki helped himself to one of the letters. "This one says 'Stop ignoring me, our love is real.' Do you have any idea who K is?"

"No idea. It's probably why I'm 'ignoring' them, isn't it?" Makoto tried to joke, but inwardly she felt a bit of panic.

"What's all this?"

Kaede must have joined them when Makoto wasn't looking. Briefly Makoto and Nobuyuki explained the situation. Kaede read the letters that were already open, her face maintaining her usual stillness, but Makoto could tell that her jaw was clinched. She was getting angry. Seeing Kaede get like that switched Makoto's emotions to a heated level as well.

Standing up, she slammed her hand on the desk to get the attention of everyone in the room and picked up one of the envelops waving it high in the air for all to see. "Who's sending me these? I want to know right now!" There was a panicked silence. Makoto slammed her hand on her desk again. "Tell me who you are!"

Her sleeved was tugged, and once again a wide-eyed Kaede was pointing behind her. This was becoming a tradition. Dread filled Makoto as she turned around to see Hayashi-sensei. She expected him to be glaring at her angrily, but instead he was looking at her desk. Turning towards her, he took the envelop from her hand and opened it. There seemed to a photo inside. He looked at it, glanced at Makoto, then placed it in his pocket. Then he read the letter to himself.

"Who wrote this?" He spoke sternly after reading it. No one answered. "Answer me. NOW."

As if lightning had compelled her to do so, Izumi shot up from her chair, petrified. Makoto's mouth dropped. Izumi Kato was her full name. K stood for her surname. Hayashi-sensei was staring a hole in her.

"You do realized these letters are akin to stalking. This one here even is threatening." Hayashi-sensei rebuked her. "If you really cared for Akiyama, you wouldn't treat her this way. Look at what you made her do two days in a row. She embarrassed herself yesterday about these letters, and again today she's shouting at the class out of fear. It's all your fault."

Izumi trembled where she stood not being able to say a word.

"I should send you to the principal's office for this." Hayashi-sensei waved the letter he was holding. "You threatened to hurt someone."

"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry." Izumi squeaked out.

Hayashi-sensei turned to Makoto. "I'll leave it to you. Do you want me to report this?"

Makoto looked at Izumi, who was now in tears. She was shaking her head mouthing that she was sorry, though nothing came out but squeaks. She couldn't do it. "I think she learned her lesson, Sensei…"

Hayashi-sensei grunted and physically moved Izumi to another desk and ordered the previous owner of the desk to trade spots. Under his breath, Makoto could hear the teacher complaining about relearning a new seat chart. After he finished the move, he turned to Izumi. "You are to leave Akiyama alone for now on, got it?" Izumi nodded rapidly. Hayashi-sensei turned to Makoto. "And you… come to the hall with me for a moment."

He stalked out the room without waiting for her to acknowledge him. Quickly she chased after him, feeling hot behind the ears from everyone staring at her. When she exited the room, the teacher closed the door. His grumpy demeanor dropped once they were alone. He gave a heavy sigh as he reached into his pocket he handed Makoto the photo that was in the envelop. When she looked at it, her face turned a shade or red. It was an image of her and Kaede kissing the the park the day before. It was taken from a phone, and was zoomed in so it was slightly blurry, but there was no doubt it was the both of them. Makoto could even see Kaede's bloody nose.

"In the letter she threatened to hurt Ozawa-san for stealing you a way from her." Hayashi-sensei explain. "I actually don't want to describe exactly what she wrote."

"Oh God." Makoto stared at the photo, expecting for Hayashi-sensei to next break into a speech about the morality of girl's love. But he was silent for a while, as if collecting his thoughts. When she looked up from the photo he shifted his weight from one foot to another.

"Akiyama, let me give you some advice: Get a bunch of friends and be careful."

"Huh?"

"Society has steadily been accepting relationships like this, but this isn't society... it's High School. You can't expect teenagers to act rational over something that's out of the norm." He looked uncomfortable. "My brother is gay, and the worst years of his life was his time in High School. I can't even begin to imagine how he coped with it all. That's why I'm telling you to be careful. Kids might treat you unfair because of this. So I'm telling you to form a close group of friends to help protect you."

"Sensei." Makoto felt touched. "Thank you."

"If you have any problems, I want you to know that I'll do what I can to help. Don't feel embarrassed about asking. I'm a teacher, it's my job."

After the surprisingly touching talk, Makoto returned to the class room with a small smile. She didn't feel so bad anymore. When she returned to her desk she picked up the letters and made a point to dump them in the trash in front of everyone. Hayashi-sensei didn't say a word and let her do it. Roll call started once she sat down. He still called her 'princess' when he got to her name though, only this time Makoto knew it wasn't out of malice.

Before the beginning of the next class, Makoto briefly filled in Kaede on what Hayashi-sensei told her, trying to keep her voice down low when she got to the gay parts. Kaede really didn't have a chance to respond before the next teacher came in and classes resumed. During lessons, Makoto thought about what Hayashi-sensei said. Get friends. That sounds easy enough but… other than Kaede-chan who else could possibly understand what we're going through? But even as she thought that she had the answer. It was so obvious.

When lunch came about, Makoto looked over the heads of everyone. She saw Shiho avoiding her gaze like she did yesterday afternoon. Makoto gestured for her to come over. When she tried to ignore her again, Makoto stood up and went to her desk. "Lunch at my desk, now."

Before Shiho could argue, Makoto went to Yui's desk. "Is it okay if you eat with Kaede-chan and myself today?"

Yui looked a bit baffled but agreed. When they returned Shiho and Kaede were sitting next to each other not looking so pleased at the prospect of spending another lunch in the other's company. The four of them surrounded the small desk. All of them looking at Makoto with a bewildered expression.

"That's everyone from the love letters except Maria Fukui. I'd invite her but I don't know what she looks like." Makoto said as she sat down.

"Ummm…" Yui raised her eyebrows and looked slightly surprised to hear this.

"You got to be joking me." The girl who had replaced Izumi spoke when she heard her name. "With a name like 'Maria' who else do you think it'd be?"

Makoto hadn't gotten a good look at the girl who replaced Izumi before. Now that she was looking at her, she recognized her as the foreign-looking girl that was Yui's friend. It seemed so unmistakable now that she was looking at her. Maria was a western name and she had those foreign features. For the second time in meeting her Makoto felt stupid. Hiding her denseness, she allowed Maria to join them, all the while wishing Yui would stop looking at her like she was an idiot. Taking in a deep breath she decided to just blurt out her plans.

"I brought us together… no… let me start over. Well… the way I figure it, we all have one thing common: we like girls, right?"

"That and all of us asked you out." Shiho pointed out. "It's like a reunion of losers."

Makoto ignored her. "We're different from the rest of the class. I'm sure I'm not the only one scared about what people would think of me if they knew that I liked girls. And I know it took all of your courage to admit you liked me in those letters, right? I completely understand. It took everything I had to confess to Kaede-chan. So I think we should team up. Become a sort of club. No one will be able understand me like all of you can. And the same goes for you. Even if we don't see eye-to-eye on everything, we at least have this in common."

"You want us to make a Lesbian Club?" Yui asked, her cheeks turning pink.

"Not like a school club, more like an unspoken one. One were we can depend on each other if we need help." Makoto was starting to think maybe she was asking too much of them.

The foreign-girl gave a smile. "I don't know. It seems a bit cruel to make us hang around and watch you and Ozawa make out."

"It's not a club like that!" Makoto looked at her. "It more like if you need a friend I'm here for you, and vice-versa."

"Ozawa and I don't get along." Shiho stated the obvious. "But I actually think this a good idea. Even if it's her, it'd be nice to know that someone has my back."

"Plus we can help each other find girlfriends." Maria suggested.

"I guess that's not so bad." Yui's smile perked up. "What do you think about all this Ozawa?"

"I don't want us to be called Lesbian Club." Kaede spoke in a tone so serious it made the others around them laugh.

"Of course we won't call ourselves that!" Shiho coughed out from her laugher. "I'd die if that's what we went by."

"We should have a cute name." Yui nodded. "Something like Love Letter Lovelies."

"That sounds good." Maria agreed with her friend.

Shiho was about to protest so Makoto stepped in. "We can figure all that out later. For now, are we agreed to become a support group?"

"I'm in." Yui peeked at Makoto, then averted her eyes.

"Me too." Maria gave a curt nod.

Shiho grinned and nodded her head too. "I'm not sure about that name… but I can't think of anything better."

"That should be everyone then." Kaede spoke softly.

"Alright." Makoto gave a sigh of relief. "For the time being, we're the Love Letter Lovelies."

Shiho stood up. "Are we done? I'm starving."

Makoto nodded, and she got up and left. Yui gave a shrug to Maria and left as well, but Maria stayed in her seat. Feeling a bit drained, Makoto slumped in her chair. Kaede and the foreign-girl stared at her as if they were admiring her. It made her feel happy, yet at the same time apprehensive.

When school ended, each member of the Love Letter Lovelies gave Kaede and Makoto a cheerful goodbye. It was almost like the start of a friendship. Kaede was tailing Makoto as she went to her shoe locker. Deep down, Makoto wondered if Kaede was making sure the love letters had stopped. When she opened the locker, there was only one letter this time. Kaede made a noticeable grimace.

"Let's just get this over with." Makoto told Kaede as she opened up the letter. She scanned it and laughed slightly. "It says 'Go Lesbian Club!'."

Kaede looked at the note, and gave another small grimace. "I don't want to be called Lesbian Club."

She seemed cranky, even through she still wore that stoic mask. Makoto gave her a smile. Taking her hand she led the kendo-girl out the school entrance and found a decent sized tree for them to disappear behind. With her heart fluttering, she gave Kaede a tentative kiss. Kaede stiffen a bit, but leaned forward and returned the shaky kiss with one of her own.

"Mako-chan… do you think it's a good idea to befriend those other girls?" Kaede whispered.

"Are you jealous?"

"Yes." Kaede said bluntly. "I don't like the way they all look at you."

Makoto felt bad now. "I should have asked you if my idea was okay with you. Of course you wouldn't disagree with me in front of the others."

"It's a good idea." Kaede looked away. "I'm just not as trusting as you are."

Makoto gave Kaede another kiss. She felt horrible for not considering her feelings. Kaede gave a slight moan and leaned in more pouring her all into the kiss. Makoto could tell that she wanted to get lost in it, or else she wanted to stake her claim, saying that Makoto was hers. Whatever the case the intensity made Makoto's body tingle. When they broke away, Kaede's eyes were filled with passion, though the rest of her still was in that relaxed control.

"We should move somewhere more private. We're still in front of the school, afterall." Kaede suggested.

"Okay… where do you want to go?"

Kaede looked like she had a place in mind, but she didn't really want to say it. After some prompting she said in a smooth voice. "My house isn't that far away. We can go there…"

"Y-Your house?"

It was when Makoto asked that Kaede seemed to realize the importance of that invite. "I apologize. Perhaps that's not a good idea." Kaede quickly said.

"No. I want to, but-" Makoto felt slightly shaky.

"It's too soon for that." Kaede gave her small smile. "Don't worry, about it."