"Akihisa, what's wrong?"
Having noticed that I returned to the classroom, Hideyoshi spoke out in concern.
"No...Nothing special. Ha, haha."
Mistaking a blackmail message for a love letter is something I could not bear to say aloud. With my pride on the line, no matter what, I cannot let this get out.
"Liar. We heard a strangled yell from the windows. Are you hiding something?"
"Oh, Minami. Good morning."
Appearing behind Hideyoshi was the student from Germany, Shimada Minami. She is a girl with a ponytail and eyes full of vigor.
"Good morning Akihisa, what are you hiding? Unless it is...?"
The corner of Minami's eyes rose sharply, indicating that she was about to enter battle status.
"How is that possible, Minami. I really am hiding nothing."
"Unless you want to say you received a love letter?"
"Minami, such an accusation should not be spoken lightly. Everyone's reaction to 'love letter' was extremely explosive, look, everyone is aiming crafting knives at me!"
My classmates are such a dangerous bunch of individuals. To have such strong killing intent against another member of the same class is simply abnormal.
"Everyone, the crafting knives are too early. Cool down and think it over. This is Akihisa that we are talking about, he surely couldn't have received a love letter. He must be hiding something else."
Minami raised one of her hands to halt the onslaught of the class.
Although her intuition was completely correct, under this situation, her words stung greatly against my pride as a man. Even if I have to bullshit my way through, I still have to say it!
"Yes, it is actually that. I discovered a love letter in my shoe locker this morning!"
THWUNK! (Was the noise of the craft knife piercing the tatami mats.)
"Next time, it'll be your ears."
"My sincerest apologies."
Pride? What the hell is that? Is it edible?
"Then answer honestly, what are you hiding?"
"Well, I am hiding...."
I thought that on most TV dramas, the contents of the blackmail normally should not be revealed to a 3rd party. And for my own interests, I wish to limit the number of people who know of the blackmailing. Smarten up Yoshii Akihisa, what can you do?!
"Uhm...."
At this point, time slowed down to a crawl.
Under the extenuating circumstances, it is standard for the mind to recall past experiences to escape the current problem.
"'Uhm' what?"
At this point, I reached the height of recalling yesterday's TV shows from memory.
"Oh, it's the advertisement letter from a competition swimsuit club."
...And this is the final result of my brain under pressure, the idea it manages to make? I started to worry about my sanity.
"R-Really? Akihisa?"
Obviously it's a lie.
But, if I were to deny it, we would end up going back to square one for "What are you hiding?" And this time, I have no confidence that my brain will manage to bring up a better excuse.
