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03.19. 2006
"I really like you! Please be mine!"
You raised an eyebrow at the wavering boy who had bowed down to you. A straight, perfect 90 degree angle. His hands held a white envelope with a pastel pink heart that tapped down the flap, closing off the personal details one might include in an intimate letter. His mop of black hair swayed in the wind with his eyes and mouth screwed shut. He was waiting for an answer, but you wouldn't relent. One minute passed, then two, then five. His heart was beating a million miles an hour, and for every second that ticked, his face became progressively redder and redder due to utter embarrassment. It was a typical reaction you have seen with every boy that had confessed. You lost count after fifteen. But you did have to admit that this kid was ballsy. A first year confessing to an upperclassman, let alone the fact that you didn't even attend the same school. You gazed upon the Kyoto Jujutsu High sign that stood proudly against the spring air. Him showing vulnerability and weakness to a girl he had only seen a couple of times disgraced the school he was currently representing.
A sigh came from your mouth, you decided to let him down easy. As you so graciously took the envelope from his hands, the boy looked at you with hope pooling in his eyes. However, such hope was ripped away once he saw you carelessly shove the letter inside the breast pocket of your school uniform. "I really appreciate it, thank you for sharing these... feelings with me," you coolly said. Your hand made contact with the underside of his chin and lifted his face up to look you directly into your eyes. You smiled at him. But the feelings that drove that aforementioned smile was pity. Your glossy lips came closer and closer to his ear, almost touching the edge; and his face glowed all shades of red.
"But I don't fuck little kids."
You retracted, keeping your distance from him and started to walk away. You lazily waved in the direction of the meek boy who confessed, shouting out, "Come confess again next year when you're more mature, alright? Then maybe I'll consider it!" You giggled to yourself without an afterthought; however, what you didn't see was the boy helplessly looking at your retreating figure, fist clenched tight. He wanted to be mad, he wanted to yell out and tell you how bitchy you were for saying such a mean thing to him. But once he saw your smile, he melted. He couldn't get mad at you. Your sweet smell invaded his mind, and likewise your perfect lips. He was so privileged to see such a sight. So, so privileged.
₊⊹
"So, uh, what were you and that guy talking about?"
Not even one foot had stepped on the floor of the pristine bullet train and this nimrod had interrupted your train of thought, or the lack thereof in this case. You rolled your eyes and took a seat that faced him. You sighed as you looked at the now motion blurred houses that whipped past your line of sight. "Does it really matter, Geto?"
Shoko, your good friend who sat beside you, brushed her fingers through her hair. She hummed, "I think that he's a little jealous, honey."
With your eyes torn away from the window, you gazed into her eyes and shrugged, "Jealous of what? The guy? In all honesty, he was just as boring as they come. Average physique, average hair, and average personality."
The brunette pursed her lips, but then they melted into a mischievous smile. "So," she started to say. "You're saying that you would pick Geto instead of that other guy?"
You waved a relaxed hand and lazily grinned in response, "Well, of course! If I wanted to have a fight with someone I'd rather have them be strong. I like it when they struggle."
Geto bursted into a fit coughing; however, you hardly noticed the color of his cheeks that had flushed into a blossoming shade of pink. It seemed like he took a liking to the passing infrastructures from his window. Shoko sighed, "That's... not what I meant..."
"Wait what? What do you mea-?"
"Hanahaki!"
"Huh?"
But before you could fully ask, Gojo interrupted you. You grinned at him, "What's up?"
"Who was that guy? Like, for real, for real? Is he your boyfriend? I think I've seen him before in the Sister Exchange Event! What do you think of him? Am I off the table then-?"
As Gojo bombarded you with mindless questions about your love life, you sighed and shook your head. "You know," you started to say with your pointer finger touching your chin, "I don't exactly know what I think of him... But I know what he thinks of me, though." You giggled as you threw Gojo the crumpled up love letter that lay dormant in your breast pocket.
Gojo caught the letter in mid air. "It's not opened, yet," he observed.
"Would you like to do the honors? It might be a good experience for you. You know, because I know you don't get confessions often. Maybe you can know what it feels like," you playfully mocked.
"Ouch," Gojo pouted.
"Damn," Shoko breathed. "Are you gonna take that lying down?"
"Actually, Shoko, if it's a jab coming from Hanahaki, I will gladly take it lying down," Gojo smirked as he enunciated every syllable of the word gladly. He blew raspberries at Shoko as he opened the letter. He read aloud, "Dear (Y/N) Hanahaki or Absolute Zero, or all the wonderful aliases you go by, I—"
After the first sentence, you were gone. There was no use in trying to listen because every love letter you received in your painfully long life has been the same over and over again, in one way or another. Unbeknownst to you, however, Geto was discreetly trying to look over at the letter Gojo had beside him, merely capturing a couple of words.
"Wow, Hanahaki," Shoko drawled. "I think you should have said yes. He seems like a reaaal romantic."
"Are you kidding me? All he did was talk about her face and her ass," Gojo grumbled. "Both are great of course-"
"What Gojo is saying, Hanahaki," Geto exhaled, "Is that this guy seems like a total scumbag and only cares about what you look like on the outside. You should find someone who likes you for who you are. Someone who's grounded. Someone who's strategic. Someone like-"
"Oh my god, guys!" you exclaimed with hands gesturing to your friends to back off. "I rejected him, obviously. I just like to keep the letters."
"Why? What's the point?" Shoko asked.
"For my collection, of course," you grinned.
"Oh, yeah, right," your friend facepalmed. "I forgot you get these confessions pretty often."
"Often?" Geto grimaced.
"Yeah," you shrugged. "Doesn't really matter to me, though. They all go to the same place anyways. No phone call back, and in a box in my room."
"How charming," Shoko said.
₊⊹
As you and your friends approached the dorms of Tokyo Jujutsu High, you all waved your goodbyes and went your separate ways to your dorms. After getting ready for bed, you kneeled to look underneath your bed. A shoebox laid idly until you pulled it towards you. There, you dropped the love letter and closed the box tightly and returned it to its previous position. You sighed and stood up. You hadn't even bothered to look in the mirror before you laid down. Why bother? Your appearance hasn't changed in the last one hundred and fifty-six years you have been on this planet for.
word count: 1297