A big sigh of relief escaped from Kimiko a mouth as she capped her purple, correction, Aoi's purple marker and folded Tsurugi's letter up neatly.
"Writing those letters must have been a big burden. Looks like someone's really glad to finally finish" Tsurugi teased.
"Well it's not my fault someone was so hard to write to"
Oops I shouldn't have mentioned that..
"I wonder who that might be"
Kimiko kept quiet as she walked towards the table where all the envelopes were placed disorderedly in piles and jumbles.
"Need some help?"
"It's alright. I'll manage. Maybe you should put your letters in first"
"Mine won't take long but looks like yours will. How many people did you even write to?" Tsurugi asked as he gestured to the handful of letters Kimiko was holding.
"Don't judge. I have plenty of friends I need to write to" Kimiko purposely emphasized. "Unlike certain people" she whispered loud enough for Tsurugi to hear.
"Ouch that hurt" he said clutching his chest dramatically.
"I wasn't necessarily saying it to you. You didn't have to act all hurt"
"Well if it wasn't for me then who was it for?"
"It could have been for anyone"
"Right... totally believable" Tsurugi snorted.
"Well you don't have anything to worry about. Friend or no friend, you'll still be getting stacks of letters"
"Why's that?"
"Haven't you noticed the herds of fan girls drooling all over you and following you everywhere you go?"
"Do I sense some jealousy there?" Tsurugi smirked.
"Nope, no jealousy here"
"You know Kimiko, it's never good to lie"
"Omg, I had no idea you were this type"
"What type would that be?"
"Arghhhh"
"This is the real Tsurugi Kyousuke"
By now, Kimiko was done inserting all the letters into the correct envelopes except for Tsurugi's. she couldn't seem to find his anywhere.
"Who's envelope are you looking for?"
"No one's" Kimiko lied, "just trying to be a helpful person and arrange the envelopes"
"I'll help too"
"It's fine really" Kimiko said hoping he would walk away so she could get the chance to freely look for his envelope.
"No, I insist"
Even after they managed to arrange every single envelope in an orderly fashion, Kimiko couldn't seem to spot Tsurugi's anywhere. Confusion was etched on her face but she didn't dare say anything because she knew he would just answer with another one of his annoying comments.
"Seems like you didn't find what you were looking for"
"I wasn't looking for anything" she said trying to brush it off.
Tsurugi completely ignored what she had just said and continued, "if it's my envelope your looking for you probably wouldn't find it there"
"How come?"
"That's cuz I've kept it with me this whole time" a sly grin spread across his face.
"Aw come on, why did you do that?"
"Cuz I did notice the herd of girls following me everywhere and I didn't want my envelope to be filled with random letters full of nonsense"
"Then I better not put my letter in"
"A letter from you definitely wouldn't be full of nonsense. I'm sure of it. Oh, and does that mean you do admit that you were looking for my envelope?"
"Just give me the envelope, please" Kimiko said and gave her cutest puppy eyes. Sure enough, the envelope was thick and full of letters just as she had expected.
"No one could possibly say no to that" he said handing her the envelope.
"Actually someone has"
"Woah I wonder who's that heartless person"
"It's actually Ichinose-san, and he's not heartless he's just looking out for me"
"Ichinose-San?"
"Yeah"
"You mean the Ichinose Kazuya that was Kino Aki-san's husband?"
"Yeah, you met him at Endou-san's house"
"Ohhh. But how could he possibly say no to those adorable eyes of yours"
"Well considering he's kinda my dad, he has the rights to say no"
"Wait what? I thought you guys were just relatives. How is he your dad? Is that even possible?"
"I'm adopted"
"Oh, I'm sorry I brought it up"
"No, it's fine"
"How did this happen?"
So Kimiko ended up telling Tsurugi about how she used to live in the states and how Ichinose-San decided to adopt her.
"But how come he just suddenly decided to adopt you? Adopting a child who's nearly the age to be their sibling isn't an easy job."
"Well, we kinda had this deal"
"Deal?"
"Yeah. Pretty much, I help him and Aki-San get together and he helps me find my dad"
"Oh, but then you found out he was ill"
"Yeah. I hope he's doing better" Kimiko said her tone laced with worry.
"I'm sure he'll recover soon enough"
"Thanks, Tsurugi"
"No problem. I'll always be here for you if you need me"
The two stood still for a while before Tsurugi piped up.
"What was your real name? You know like before you were adopted"
Kimiko sat silent. She hoped this questions wouldn't come. But now that it had been said, she couldn't really avoid it.
"It's better if I didn't tell you"
"Why? It's your name, Kimiko. There can't be anything bad about that"
"It's kind of a secret"
"Does anyone else know your real name?"
"Yeah, the adults like Endou-San, Ichinose-San, Haruna-san know. Tenma does too..."
"You told Tenma? Come on, if Tenma knows then I gotta know too"
"You'll find out eventually but now isn't the time"
"This is so unfair" he whined like a three year old.
"Just know that you'll see me quite differently if you were to find out"
"Now you just make me wanna know even more. Please just tell me. I'll do anything"
"Anything? I don't think I'd be worth it"
"Well maybe not anything but you get the point"
"You'll find out soon enough"
Kimiko got up and walked back to her room despite Tsurugi's protests to find out the truth.