"HELLO!"

Upon arriving at Naoya's doorstep, prepared to face the wrath of his mother, it was to the least of my expectations to instead be greeted by a small girl. Propping open the front door, which was triple her size mind you, she gazed up at me with wide, cinnamon-brown eyes and a toothless smile. This must've been his youngest sister.

"Hello," I responded. "Is your older brother home?"

Her eyes sparkled. "Yes!"

She dashed back inside, and within seconds, reemerged with another little boy.

I blinked, as did he.

"Er. . . no, I meant. . ." My words trailed. "Is your other older brother home?"

Both children shared a glance, and bobbed their heads in unison.

"He is!"

When they both disappeared, I heaved a sigh. Perhaps, their mom wasn't home. Naoya did mention she often worked late.

Tiny footsteps padded across the floorboards until eventually, the kids returned.

I should've expected they'd bring yet another small child with them.

Gosh. A third one.

On cue, they all stared up at me, as if I were some extraterrestrial creature.

I hunched over once again, putting forth my best smile.

"Let me change my question. Is Naoya home?"

All three of them beamed, bobbing their heads.

"Yes! In his room!"

Man, were they adorable. Still, I prayed they'd return with him this time so that this whole farce could end.

As I milled around the doorstep, waiting for them to reappear, I flitted my focus up to the second floor. It was an unintended gesture, so tell me why I spotted Naoya there, bouldering down the side of the house. My jaw collapsed. Hastily, I sprinted across the lawn and into the yard.

Using tied-up bedsheets, as if straight out of a cartoon, he carefully descended from the window. What the. . . ? Don't tell me he spotted me from the window, or overheard the commotion, and was trying to escape?

"Naoya!"

Shouting was evidently the wrong move. He tossed a glance over his shoulder, and a higher-pitched scream left his mouth. He immediately prepared to climb back up.

"Hey!" I cried. "Don't you dare try to run! Come down here!"

"W-wait, Ann, we can talk this through!"

"How are we supposed to talk if you're avoiding me?"

Left with no choice, I gathered random pebbles and sticks off the ground and chucked them at him.

Unable to dodge my barrage of rocks—my arm put the entire MLB to shame—he soon lost his balance and tumbled right along the ridge on the house and onto the grass. Fortunately, it wasn't too far of a fall, so he didn't sustain major damage. Nevertheless, I scowled down at him, eyebrows twitching uncontrollably. All the while, he sputtered, frantic-eyed.

"I-I— I—"

I pointed.

"Sit," I ordered.

"W-woof! I-I mean, y-yes, ma'am!" he squeaked, rolling right back up and onto his knees.

Trembling, he didn't look up from the floor, nor did he attempt to. Sweat poured down his face in figurative buckets. If this reaction didn't spell out guilty, I didn't know what would.

"Wh-wh-what brings you all the way here—"

"Let's skip the small talk." Squatting before him like a certified yankee, I extended the creased envelope. "I found this."

"Tha— h-how. . ."

"I didn't overthink it at the time, but you are the one who asked Takumi to borrow his notebook. You're the one who found the answer sheets inside of them, and scattered them across the floor. This whole string of events yesterday morning started with you." My voice caught, unable to bear the anguish of the idea. "Naoya, tell me I'm wrong," I begged. "Please?"

I searched his eyes, his soft eyes that typically sparkled with each and every wholesome grin. Except, now, his demeanour was dreary. Frightful.

A heap of tears swelled in his eyelids, gushing down and over his cheeks.

My heart plummeted to my gut.

"Why?" I demanded, desperate for answers. "Takumi is your best friend."

"I-I messed up."

Unaware of how ridiculous he looked with strands of grass intertwined between layers of his wavy cherry-red hair, he bawled and bawled under the light of the setting sun.

"I messed up really, really badly," he snivelled, his fingers balled into fists on his lap. "I-I'm a coward."

"What do you. . ."

You two might actually have a lot more in common than you think.

Recollection of Creeper's text message smacked me in the face. Don't tell me what we have in common. . .

"What happened?"

Naoya's lips quivered. Unable to muster a steady voice, he dug into the pocket of his sweatpants. What he passed to me was a crumpled sheet of paper. Brows furrowed, I tentatively unfolded it. Within seconds, it became abundantly clear what exactly I was staring at.

The missing letter from the envelope.

Surprise stole the air from my lungs, leaving me breathless.

No matter how many times I scanned and rescanned the page, the contents remained unchanged. With this, I had all the evidence I needed. With this, all the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. But, there was no way this was—

"—true?" My mouth moved to process my shock. "You. . . you have feelings for Takumi?"

On cue, his shoulders jolted, hands twitching with indescribable nervousness. My innocent inquiry had sent shockwaves throughout his entire being.

"Just, for a long time now. . ." In lieu of finishing his sentence, he awkwardly twiddled his thumbs. "Ren isn't the least bit interested in dating, though. . . o-or me. All he likes is school."

Even though the words came from his own mouth, they depressed him all the same. In fact, mushrooms seemed seconds away from growing out of his head.

Naoya. . . had a one-sided crush on Takumi? Moreover, he confessed to Takumi back in middle school and got rejected? What?

What?

This was a twist I'd never have expected.

Thinking back, there was that one rumour—about a surreptitious relationship between the two of them—but I thought the girl who came up with it was just being bitter.

But, there held at least some degree of truth.

Damn, Takumi. Not only girls, he even stole the heart of his best friend.

"I'm sorry, Ann. I'm so, so sorry. You can hate me."

As Naoya struggled to breathe, he let out a series of hiccups, his tears falling continuously like a steady rain.

Whoever sent this to him deliberately made this letter look like a harmless love letter—and not vicious blackmail.

It was a smart tactic. If any staff members had searched his shoe locker, they'd definitely overlook this, deeming it the usual teenage shenanigans. The letter had been printed, not handwritten, so there was no gauging the sender's identity, either.

But, it was obvious who it was. Creeper was the only scumbag who'd use underhanded blackmail and manipulation like this.

"Naoya, look at me." I kneeled in front of him, squeezing his shoulder to force his teary eyes to mine. "I don't hate you. You were blackmailed. You had no other choice."

"But. . ."

"No ifs, ands, or buts. Whoever sent this to you knew what to say to use you. And they took advantage of that."

I collapsed onto the grass next to him, our arms close enough to brush.

"I was supposed to be your target. I was the one who was supposed to find those answer sheets and panic, not Takumi. Considering they somehow wound up inside Takumi's desk and not mine, though, I'm going to assume you accidentally mixed our desks up? The reason you asked Takumi to borrow his notebook—it was your grand idea to prompt me into bringing mine out. But once you realized you had accidentally placed the papers in the wrong place, you panicked, and tried to take the blame."

Naoya jolted.

"H-how did you know—"

"Simple deduction," I answered, glazing over the beautiful reddish-orange tint of the sky. "You must've been scared out of your mind. Scared and crushed by guilt, that you weren't even paying attention to who you were setting up. You just wanted it all to be over." The corners of my lips edged upwards. "Even when you try to do a bad deed, you're stupidly honest. You don't have a single bad bone in your body."

"Ann, aren't you angry?" he snuffled. "I tried to frame you! To protect my secret!"

"If I were in your shoes, I'd want you to frame me," I answered. "I'd be angrier if you didn't. Whoever wrote you this letter—whoever blackmailed you—"

—Has it out for me. They used you to get to me.

I couldn't finish my sentence out loud. Not to him.

"Am I the only one who thought we had a pretty friendly relationship going on?" I opted to say instead. "Friends help each other out when they're in trouble. So, next time, as a friend, just confide in me first before you do anything rash. Sound fair?"

Newfound tears springing to his eyes, he throttled me in a bear hug that catapulted us to the ground. "Ann. . . !" he blubbered. "I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry! I'll do anything to make this up to you! I'll even sever my little finger and give it to you!"

"I don't want any of your fingers."

"Then, I'll split open my belly and you can sell my organs! Take whichever one is worth the most amount of money!"

What were we, the yakuza?

"You don't need to make it up to me that way. I already forgive you." Sighing, I rubbed circles into his back. This was exactly who Naoya was. Sure, he was dramatic. Sure, he did questionable things. But his heart was always in the right place. "You're getting snot all over me."

"Sorry!"

Upon releasing me, he wiped his nose with his sleeve, his eyes red and swollen from crying.

"Thanks for trusting me with your secret," I added once free. "I can see why you'd feel compelled to keep something like this hidden. Especially from me, someone you most likely have a poor view of as some romantic rival, but—"

"That's not true!" He whipped his head back and forth. "That's not true, Ann! I didn't go through with this for whatever reasons you're thinking! I accepted a long time ago that Ren'll never feel the same way. The only reason I confessed to him a few years ago was just to get it off my chest. That's it. I didn't expect anything else. Ren already felt horrible about rejecting me because he didn't want to hurt me. That's why I told him to forget about it. And he did. Since then, we've been able to put it behind us. I want to keep it behind us. But, this letter. . . If he finds out that I maybe, sorta, kinda still like him, he might try to end our friendship for good because he wouldn't want to hurt me again. I don't want to lose my best friend."

"Naoya," I murmured.

He rubbed at his eyes again. "This is worse than when I accidentally broke his bike and pinned it on aliens. He's never going to forgive me. A-and I almost hurt you too. Tomorrow morning, I'll go to the principal and ask to be expelled. Transfer schools if I have to. My mom will definitely slaughter me and bury my body right here in my backyard, but that's a small price to pay."

I opened my mouth, but he cut me off.

"You can't stop me. Me and my small brain have already come to this decision. I'm doing this. I'm atoning for my mistakes."

His words were broken up into choppy breaths. His reddened complexion and watery eyes lingered for quite some time as he sat there, shattered.

"Ren's never going to forgive me."

"You two have a lot in common," my ass.
You blackmailed him.
You threatened him, and that's why he did this.

It wasn't easy. Believe me.
The guy is an idiot.
If he'd done his job right, you would've been the one earning yourself a one-way trip to expulsion. Not Takumi.
This teaches me to never rely on a useless pawn again.

Useless pawn???
I swear to God, once I find out who you are, you're going to regret this, you piece of shit.

What? Don't tell me you forgive him. You do realize he planned to frame you, right?

So what? You left him no other choice.

You're right. That was pretty evil of me
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Anyway, as much as I love our little arguments, the clock is ticking.
If nothing is done, Takumi really will get his official sentence handed down by the principal, and have all his life achievements stripped from him. His future will hang by a thin thread with nothing to save him.
You better act soon before it's too late.

"Act" how? What am I supposed to do?

We both know what.
Your grand solution is right in front of you! Throw Naoya Otomo under a bus—have him take the blame. Heartbroken by the betrayal of his dear best friend, Takumi will have lost total faith in the world! That's where you come in. Comfort him. Land a smooch on him. Then, you and him will live happily ever after!!
(Until, of course, I have you break his heart to pursue Love Interest #2).

I'm not doing this.

Then, you'll just let Takumi suffer?

I. . .

Either Ren Takumi or Naoya Otomo. You make your choice.
I've made myself clear, Anri.
Play this game like you intend to win.
Or else.

. . .

He deserved to rot in hell.

I wasn't going to let it happen.

I wouldn't give him what he wanted.

Neither Takumi nor Naoya would take the blame for this. Neither of them would go down for the sake of his plans.

There was only one way I could make Creeper leave them alone for good. . . I just had to muster the guts to do it.

_____

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