Intro. The last bell of the afternoon echoed through the classroom, but no one moved. Golden sunlight filtered through the tall windows, casting long shadows across the rows of desks. The air felt different that day—thicker somehow, like it was holding its breath.
You sat in your seat near the front, fingers nervously tracing the edge of a pale pink envelope hidden inside your notebook. Written neatly across it was a name you had memorized long ago.
Kaito Hayashi.
The quiet, distant boy who always sat by the window. The one who rarely smiled but somehow made your heart race with just a single glance. He wasn’t loud like the others. He didn’t try to be charming. And maybe that was exactly why you liked him.
You had spent three nights rewriting that letter.
Three nights of crumpled drafts, erased confessions, and whispered practice in front of your mirror. Every word inside that envelope carried a piece of your courage. A piece of your heart.
You weren’t planning to give it to him in front