1. Her First Letter
A piece of blue paper stuck on her locker is the last thing she expects to see in the morning.
Agatha looks to her left and right, seeking out a suspect possibly watching her from a distance that could've been the one who left the paper on her locker.
But all she ever saw was students walking across the crossing hallways, getting to where they needed to go, with none of them acknowledging her presence as usual– everyone seemed to mind their business.
She brings her blue eyes back to the paper on her locker. Agatha reaches for the paper and gives it a little tug, careful not to break it.
When she's certain the paper is loose enough, she plucks it out with a swift flick of her hand.
Its a singular piece of blue paper folded like origami into the shape of a bird, the size being no bigger than her palm. Her perplexed eyes examine the piece of paper in her hand as she drags the tip of her fingers across its edges.
Agatha might've been a little too curious as one of the folds started to slip out of its form. She curses under her breath as her finger pushes the paper back in panic, but the movement only made the paper loosen its shape.
Only then did a little tint of ink on the paper catch her attention.
She stands there for a bit and wonders if ruining a beautifully folded paper bird is truly worth reading ink that might have something written inside.
Agatha blinks, and gently moves the paper wide open.
Her eyes grow wide as she catches a glimpse of what appears to be a squiggly line of words on the paper. Adrenaline took over her mind as she quickly unfolds the origami bird.
As Agatha's eyes met with the letters written by the ink, her heart skips a beat.
"You look very pretty, miss. <3"
She doesn't know anyone who would've call her as "very pretty". The time is not even close to any big events within the school, like a ball or prom of some sort.
The only people she ever knew in her school are her cousin Norman, his best friend Neil and some other acquaintances she talks to once in a blue moon.
Was someone stalking her? Or does she have a secret admirer?
The words echoed in a loop in her mind, igniting an imaginative train of romanticising thoughts. She's not known for adventure, but all she wants now is to find out who wrote the letter for her.
2. His First Encounter
Agatha's locker is one of her favourite places to visit. She never sees the owner of the locker to her right or the locker on her left, so she claims the tiny blank spaces as hers.
She enters her number coding on the lock and opens the locker, hopeful that she can check her schedule for today.
After a few days, she didn't get any origami-shaped letters, as she expected. A small wave of relief crashes onto her, as she didn't need to worry about anything else other than staying out of anyone's business.
"Uh oh, nerd alert," some boyish tone sings from behind her, followed by a round of roaring laughter.
Agatha didn't even flinch once her locker slams shut in front of her face, knowing very well that today is unfortunately her unlucky day.
She straightens up and gives the person a hard-knock glare, letting her eyes speak for themselves.
The boy's tanned figure is joined with a smug look on his face as he runs his fingers through his curly dark brown hair. His other friends, meanwhile, didn't look as decent as he. Pity, his looks didn't match his personality.
"Hey you," he bellows at her as he arrogantly leans his face closer to her. "What's it like to be a total loser without any friends?"
She continues to look directly at him without uttering a word, as waves of mocking laughter came from the other students with him.
"I might not have as many friends to form an army," Agatha says as she rolls her eyes at his goons while they snicker at her.
"But at least I'm not an idiot like you," she says with a smile, before casually turning back to her locker and went ahead to opening it like nothing happened.
"Ohh, snap Calo!"
"The nerd has guts to speak to you bro! You gonna let a nobody wipe you down?"
Calo aggressively slams Agatha's locker shut once again.
"What did you just call me?" He warns as he towers over her, almost like he's threatening to hurt her immediately.
Agatha didn't want to deal with any of this to begin with, but the countless of eyes watching her locks her into place, making her feel like a turtle wanting to shrink back inside its shell.
Her breathing picks up its pace as she counts the crowd with her fazed blue eyes, dizzily realizing how many people have come to watch them– to watch her.
"Aww, look at her! She's gonna cry!" "Go on, cry baby!"
"She looks like she's gonna have a heart attack!"
"What a pussy." "Most nerds are."
"脳たりん!!!" Someone shouts from beyond the crowd, making everyone–including her, turn their attention to the booming voice.
They didn't turn to him because he's shouting, they looked because he's speaking another language they didn't understand.
He blows some of his bangs off of his one eye with a huff. His long hair flies behind him as he pushes through the crowd, marching towards her and Calo with his face turning into a snarl.
"彼女から離れてください!!" He shouts again as he stands in front of Agatha like he's shielding her from Calo and his friends.
"Oh shit, another freak!" Calo screams, as some others laugh at him. "Trying to defend your girlfriend with your alien dialect?"
"Your beef is with me," the guy speaks in English as his face turns to her, "she stays out of it."
Agatha continues to stand behind the guy in awkward silence, choosing to remain quiet as she had no idea what was happening, or where was all this going.
"Go!" Suddenly, the guy in front of her shoves Calo away from them with a violently harsh push.
Calo struggles on his footing as he stumbles backward. If his no-good friends weren't there to catch him on time, his face would've met with the floor.
"行く!" He shouts with a stomp of his foot, causing for the bullies and the crowd to cower away.
"ここから出ていけ！スクラム!"
"Let's get outta here before a portal shows up and Satan appears," Calo mocks one last time before he and his friends flee away from the scene.
"続ける！行く！ここから出て、馬鹿!" The guy shouts. "馬鹿! 馬鹿! 馬鹿!" He shoos the students away from them with his hands.
The crowd quickly dissolves into nothing but busy noise as the guy quietly laughs to himself.
"Ah yes," the guy breathes out, "it feels good to curse in your native language without anyone having an idea what you're saying," he says with a chuckle.
The guy's gaze brings her back into reality, like a reminder that she was the reason why this had all started in the first place.
"I'm so sorry about them, miss," the guy tells her with a sigh, "they follow me wherever I go."
"You didn't need to do that, but thank you," Agatha says as she purses her lips.
"Don't mention it!" He grins. "I wonder how they knew about my new locker location," the guy says out loud as he walks to her left.
"Hang on, your new 'locker location'?" Agatha questions him with a raised brow.
"Yeah!" The guy nods as he opens the locker beside her own. "Is yours also around here?" He questions as he looks up to her.
"Yours is next to mine," Agatha answers as she watches him in bewilderment.
"Well, I hope you don't mind me being a nuisance," he mentions.
Agatha realizes that if Calo and his friends follow this guy wherever he goes, that means she has to deal with them too. The look on her face falters a bit.
She refuses to look directly at him, choosing to stare at her own locker, knowing very well that they didn't know how to talk to one another.
"Sorry," the guy frowns, "are you still bummed out from earlier?" He asks as if he can see through her own thoughts.
She giggles awkwardly in response, and there was a moment of silence between them. She hopes that he reads her silence as an answer.
The guy taps his fingers on his locker door, before deciding to lend out a hand for her.
"My friends call me Kubo," he says with a smile.
She warily takes his hand and shakes it carefully, and somehow that makes his smile grow wider.
"Agatha," she replies with a nod as they let go of each other's hand.
"Well, Agatha, you don't have to worry about them again," Kubo tells her with a smirk. "We're locker neighbors now."
3. Her Second Letter
Ever since the incident, Kubo has proven himself to be an eccentric but kindhearted "locker neighbor," as he calls it.
The first few days, he's not around before and after her class; Agatha counts it as a win.
As she gets to her locker this morning, a piece of paper has found its way stuck beside it once again. She smiles at the new letter she got to start the day.
"It's like getting the newspaper," she says to herself as she opens her locker, "you'll never know what's on the news," she laughs as she plucks the paper out.
This time, the paper is folded into the shape of a butterfly that's almost as big as her whole palm.
Upon seeing the beauty of the origami butterfly, she makes a secret promise to herself to give whatever the author wants when she finally meets them in person.
The origami butterfly is too beautifully crafted, its almost a shame to unfold it. Knowing how these letters work, she unfolds the piece of paper anyway.
Once again, the words by the ink made her heart skip a beat.
"Your smile reminds me of cherry blossoms, miss. <3"
Agatha couldn't help but grin at the gentle words written on the paper. Heat flushes onto her cheeks as those words resonated in her mind, the thoughtfulness this person has for her filling her heart with pure electricity.
She tries to imagine the person writing these letters, how they think about her as they write the words, before folding the paper into a piece of art.
Those thoughts have only itched her curiousity to find out who makes these letters for her.
She closes her locker shut before her mind wanders off to something else.
4. His Second Sight
Her classes are beginning to end quicker– too quick for her liking. Even as she walks towards her locker, she feels as though time travels faster every time she thinks about the anonymous person sending her those letters.
Agatha only met Kubo a few days ago, so he couldn't be the one giving them to her. It must've been someone else entirely.
Just as she was thinking about Kubo, she sees him standing by his locker. The sun peers through the windows to their place, as if its giving him a bright spotlight.
His locker stays open as she gets closer to him, his eye remains focused on what he's doing inside. She presumes that he doesn't even see her coming.
Agatha keeps her footsteps silent as she walks to him, eyeing his locker to get a closer look.
Kubo takes a small peek from outside his locker. Agatha freezes on her spot as their gazes meet with each other.
"Hi!!" His voice cracks as he greets her as he immediately closes his locker shut.
"I didn't know you were coming," Kubo stammers in a shaky voice as he leans against his locker, as if he's hiding something from her.
Agatha keeps her mouth shut as she watches him figure out what to do with his arms. He decides to cross then on his chest instead.
Her gaze intuitively went to his locker. "I saw you doing something in there," she points out as she walks towards him, stopping her steps once she's by her locker.
"Oh!" He gulps as his eye went back and forth between her and his locker.
"Um, t-that..."
He chuckles nervously as he scoots closer to his locker. "I was just making an art project in there, don't worry."
"But classes were already dismissed," Agatha raises a brow.
"I-I mean, for tomorrow," Kubo gestures with his hand, as if he's moving the words out of his throat, "I just want to do it ahead of time," he persists with a nod.
The way he mentions his words piques her interest, almost like she caught him off guard.
"Sorry, I sound like I'm snooping around you," Agatha says as she opens her locker to divert her attention away from him.
"It's alright miss," Kubo smiles, and her attention is immediately drawn to him once again.
"I would've done the same thing if I see someone doing something suspicious," he adds, making them share a laugh.
That goofy smile on his face is infectious, as she couldn't help but smile along with him. She feels ridiculous whenever they talk to each other, and she couldn't quite figure out why.
"Are you feeling okay?" Kubo asks. She feels an unfamiliar spark erupt from her chest. She's only ever felt that way when their gazes meet for a brief moment.
In her mind, she asks herself if she should tell him about the letters. But then, she would make him think she's accusing him as the one making them for her.
"Y-yeah," Agatha blurts out, as she forces herself to tend to her locker.
She pretends to do something by arranging and rearranging her things inside, hoping to spot him out. But when she tries to catch him staring at her, he catches her staring at him instead.
As her heart pounds faster with every minute she's with him, she decides that enough was enough.
She gently closes her locker and takes a deep breath in as she faces him.
Her gaze meets with his, allowing herself to get lost for a moment. Its easy to get lost in someone's gaze when you only have one eye to look at, she realizes.
"I better go now," Agatha says with a polite smile.
"Okay then," Kubo replies with a nod.
She slings her bag higher and pushes herself to walk past him, feeling his gaze lingering on her with every step she takes.
But then she stops.
Agatha looks back amongst the sea of people walking down the hallway. This time, she catches Kubo staring at her from afar, giving her that same warm smile.
5. Her Third Coincidence
Another set of days pass by, and a brand new letter has yet to be seen on her locker.
Before all these things happened to her, the anticipation for an origami letter to appear on her locker was last on her list.
And yet here she was, still hoping for another letter to wind up stuck on her locker day by day. Her world has been nothing but a void far away from people, not until she received the first letter. That's when someone finally placed something in her world.
"Why am I like this," she sighs as she opens her locker.
Then, in the corner of her gaze, she sees Kubo approaching from across the hallway, with that same bright look on his face. It's him, she thinks, him and those letters– the two things that makes her world go around.
"Good morning," he greets her with a smile as he opens his locker by her side.
"Hi," she replies with a small voice as she throws him a look. "Odd to be seeing you here so early."
"I hope you don't mind me coming here earlier," Kubo mentions as his eye meets hers. "I don't want to miss a beautiful morning view."
Agatha didn't have time to resist the red blush from appearing on her cheeks as he says those words. Warmth bubbles inside her chest once a flush of red appears on his cheeks as well.
"I mean, it's me... " He clears his throat as he pulls his locker wider, "I am the morning view," he points to himself as he shows her a mirror on his locker's door.
"Really?" She questions him with a raised brow. This, whatever this may be, she wants to know how he puts this into words.
"I'm not saying that you're not a beautiful morning view," Kubo explains.
And then he shakes his head, as if he realizes what he just told her. Agatha couldn't help but giggle a little because of him.
"W-what I mean to say is, I was referring to my reflection on my locker's mirror," he tells her, ending his arguement with a huff.
She's never heard him be this defensive over his actions before. Is he being defensive in the first place? At least that's what she thinks of his behaviour right now.
"Yeah, its the mirror," Kubo gulps down the knot in his throat, "I'm in the mirror."
"The mirror, yeah," Agatha repeats with a nod, passively choosing to end their small debacle. "Thank you for making that clear."
"I clean that mirror every day, so you're welcome," Kubo jokes as he wipes his palm on the surface of his small locker mirror.
"What does that even mean?" She laughs, even though she's not quite sure why she's laughing.
"I have no idea either," he laughs along, until they're just standing there laughing with each other.
She feels the time moving slower as the two of them cherish this small moment together. She hasn't laughed this hard, neither did she hear someone's laugh sound like music before– almost like a small bubble of happiness.
The bell ringing across the hallway pops their laughter into a halt, their grins still stuck on their faces.
"Sorry for that," Kubo chuckles as he puts his hands on the pocket of his pants.
"It's alright," Agatha giggles. As she gently closes her locker shut, she brings her gaze back to him.
"Well, I'll see you later," he says as he closes his locker.
She gives him a funny look, her lips forming into a smirk. "I agree with your mirror, just so you know," she thinks, the words tucked safely under her lips.
Agatha walks past by Kubo's astonished face, surprised by what she just told him. That was the first time she's ever wished for someone to have amnesia.
6. His Third Letter
Agatha can hear nothing but the words she didn't remember telling him, those words echoing over and over inside her head.
She can feel her legs tremble as she walks closer to her locker, her gaze lost at the guy standing mere inches away from her area.
Kubo seems to be reaching for something stuck on her locker's doors. Nothing ever gets stuck on her locker, unless it was...
Her mind didn't finish that thought as she sprints towards her locker, fearing that he might read the letter intended for her.
"Wait!" Agatha yells at him, and Kubo's hand freezes on the paper stuck on her locker.
Her footsteps stop just in front of her locker, prompting him to step away. She catches up with her breath and glares at him.
"Shit," she hears him curse under his breath.
"Are you snatching that!?" She shouts with her thick brows furrowing tightly into a glare.
"What!?" Kubo cringes. "N-no! I wasn't!" He answers before he puts his hands up in the air, as if he's been caught by the police.
"Then why are you grabbing it?" Agatha asks him as she snatches away her letter out of his reach.
"I wasn't going to!" Kubo says with the shake of his head. "I was actually... checking... if it was in good condition...." His voice trails off as he nods at her nervously.
"Make sure you didn't see anything," she says as she gently grips the letter on her hands.
"I promise, I didn't see anything," he tells her as his finger draws an X on top of his chest.
She stares at him in consideration, before turning her back towards him.
"You really don't want me to see that, do you?" Kubo asks her.
Agatha snaps her head to him. "No peeking!" She shouts before sticking her tongue out.
She ignores his roaring laughter as she turns her gaze back to the letter in her hands, choosing to focus on the letter instead to hide her embarrassment from how she just acted towards him.
The origami letter is folded into a beautifully intricate flower, almost reminding her of a lily pad with a flower on top.
"Isn't that a lotus flower?" He asks from behind her. When she peeks over her back, she can see him looking over her.
She glares playfully at him. She takes a step towards him, placing her hand on his cheek before shoving his head away from view.
"Ow!" He says with a laugh, and she takes the opportunity to turn her back to him once again, sneaking in a quiet chuckle.
She can't focus with him around while she reads her letter, but she might as well get it over with and deal with the one eyed boy after. She carefully unfolds the origami from the bottom, hoping that she wouldn't have to ruin the flower on top. Her attempts failed, as the paper didn't budge.
Agatha takes a deep breath in and hesitates, before carefully pulling the tip of a petal upward. The origami begins to deform from its once beautiful form.
When she unfolds the flower, she sees something much more beautiful.
"Your laughter reminds me of music, miss. <3"
She couldn't stop herself from giggling as she reads the words on the paper again and again.
"How sweet," she hears Kubo speak from behind her, prompting her to turn towards him.
"Think what you want, but whatever you and your secret boyfriend say to each other? I'm out of it," he crosses his arms.
"I don't have a 'secret boyfriend'," she chuckles at his words.
"Then that letter is coming from who?" Kubo questions with a sly smirk.
Such an interesting thing to say, she thinks. She's never even told him about anything, and yet he speaks like he already does.
Agatha smirks back at him. "I didn't say anything about this being a letter," she replies as she eyes to the piece of paper.
Her smirk turns into a grin once she sees his face burn red, with that same bright smile of his still stuck on his face.
She slowly turns to her locker, swiftly moving it open to place her letter inside. In his words and his actions, she thinks she already knows who's behind this.
7. Their First
Tomorrow comes after the whole incident from yesterday. Agatha comes to her locker earlier than she usually does, with nothing but hope enticing her mind.
She finally sees him walking towards her, and the excitement builds up from inside her chest.
Something feels off, once she saw Kubo's face. She didn't see that bright smile he usually wears. Instead, his face look stoic.
He gives her a glance. "Hi," he says with a small smile, before keeping his business to himself.
Her excitement turns into worrying when he simply walks past her as the morning bell rings, as if something in him had changed.
Could she have been wrong?
Could she have imagined everything?
Agatha continually questions herself until the dismissal bell rings across the hallways. She feels nothing but dread as she walks towards her locker.
Kubo is already there, tending to his stuff, not even noticing her presence.
As she braces herself to call for his name, he suddenly takes a piece of paper out of his locker. He folds it in half, before sticking it to her locker.
She can see that bright smile briefly return to his face as he fixes the paper, making sure it stays stuck on her locker.
When Kubo pays a look over where she stood, he freezes.
Agatha opens her mouth to say something, then decides against it as she chooses to walk towards him, her lips set into a thin line.
Neither of them broke their gaze away from each other. Her footsteps came into a halt, feeling her heart race inside her chest.
"It was you," she says, feeling herself breathless just saying those words.
Kubo breathes in, his eye looking at the letter he placed on her locker. He simply nods his head, not uttering a single word.
"Is it you?" She asks, taking a step closer to him. "The one who sends me letters always fold the paper into a form or a shape."
He remains silent as she swipes his letter from her locker, "you only folded it in half," she says as she shows the paper him.
Kubo gently holds her hand in his as he stares silently, making her close her mouth shut. With his other hand, he takes the letter out of her grasp and lets go of her hand.
Agatha watches him as he gently starts to fold the paper into a shape. The memory of the words within his letters struck her mind like lightning with every fold he makes.
Of how her smile is as beautiful as cherry blossoms, of how her laugh sounds like music.
How could someone anonymous hear and see her laugh and smile, when she only acts like that with him?
He presses his palm against the paper one final time, as their eyes return to each other's gaze once again.
Kubo reaches for her hand, and places the newly folded origami letter on her palm. The letter is folded into the shape of a heart.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Agatha's brows furrowed.
It was his turn to step closer towards her. He looks straight into her eyes, and her heart skips a beat.
"What would you do if I told you those words up front?" Kubo chuckles. Somehow, that was enough to make her blush.
"You wouldn't even talk to me if I did," he shakes his head, as his gaze lands back to the letter in her hands.
"I wouldn't have," she replies, making them both chuckle quietly.
"Those letters... were my way of telling you what I really wanted to say," he says before gulping down the knot in his throat.
"I'm sorry if that made you uncomfortable," he tells her as he looks away.
She looks at his letter on the palm of her hands and smiles.
"I thought someone's just pranking me," she chuckles, and he laughs along with her.
"I guess you don't need to read that letter then," his eye looks at the piece of paper in her hands.
She stares at the heart-shaped letter. An idea pops into her mind.
"I don't," Agatha tells him, as their gazes meet once again.
Kubo's face contorts into a confused expression as she gives his letter back to him.
"I want you to read it for me instead," she says with a grin, making him gasp.
"Are you serious?" His jaw drops to the floor with a breathless laugh, his mouth forming into a smile.
"Go on," she scoots closer to him and leans against his locker with a smirk.
"If that makes you happier, then..." He stops his sentence as he unfolds his own letter with a grin.
Kubo takes a a quick glance at her with a laugh, before dragging his gaze back to the letter. He takes a deep breath and clears his throat.
"It looks like I slipped, miss. You've caught me, and this feels like my final letter to you-"
"Wait a minute, why do I sound so dramatic?" He asks out loud.
"Oh! Now I remember," he face palms, "I thought this wasn't going to end well!" He says, making them both laugh.
"Anyways," he brings his attention back to the letter.
"I never had the courage to truly express how I felt, so I hid those feelings within these letters. I got to know you better with each letter I write, and I thank you for giving me that chance. Much love. <3"
"It's written in Japanese because I thought you wouldn't talk to me anymore," Kubo chuckles with a shrug, once again looking away from her gaze.
"You know... Ever since the first letter I got, I always wanted to know who made them. I wanted to ask, 'why me?'" Agatha moves closer, only mere inches away from him.
"After that I started to realize, whoever is making those, they're putting time and effort just to create them for me," she smiles.
"Nothing has ever made me feel like I'm important," she shakes her head, "absolutely nothing. Until you came."
Agatha places her hand on his cheek, feeling his skin instantly heat up against her palm. She gently moves his face, as Kubo meets her gaze once again.
Her heart flutters when he gives her that bright goofy smile she's grown to adore.
"It's too bad that I couldn't fold the letter back to how it used to be," Agatha tells him.
He gently wraps her other hand in his, spreading her palm open. He shows her his letter with his other hand, and places it on her palm.
"Don't worry," Kubo says, feeling the sparks fly as they stare into each other's eyes. "I'll teach you."