Today was the day.

Ayano had peacefully eliminated all of her rivals, and now she was free to confess her love to her Senpai, Taro Yamada. It was Friday evening, about 4:50 PM — just in time. "Hi there, Yan-chan!" called a voice. Ayano was unsurprised to see her friend and former rival, Amai Odayaka, walking towards her. Hand-in-hand with her was Asu Rito, the fifth rival Ayano had to deal with. "Preparing to confess to Taro?" Asu asked. The yandere girl blushed and nodded. "Ayano-chan!" called another girl. Hanako, Senpai's little sister, was smiling brightly. "Hi, Hanako!" she called back. Little by little, all of the rivals started trickling in — Kizana and her boyfriend, Sora, Megami Saikou and her twin sister, Kimiko, and everyone else.

After everyone left, she took out a pink notebook paper and wrote in her best handwriting;

"Taro-Senpai, meet me by the cherry blossom  tree at 5:30 PM today.
I want to say something important to you.
I hope you'll be there.
xoxo, Ayano Aishi <3"

Ayano stuck the note into Senpai's locker and ran to the back of the school, being careful not to trample the delicate red flowers that grew in a ring around the mythical sakura tree. She paced back and forth for a long time, hoping that Senpai had gotten her note. After about ten minutes, she saw someone running to the tree. She was hopeful, but then noticed that the student was female. "I wasn't waiting here for you!" Ayano groaned quietly as the twintailed girl made her way up the hill. "Ayano-senpai!" she said cheerfully. "You got my note!" "What note?" Ayano asked in confusion. Osana cocked her head. "The one with the pink heart seal," she told her. "You know, the reason you're up here?" Ayano cringed. Osana Najimi, her old rival, was quite self-centred. Ayano cringed at the sight of her, pitying anyone who loved her. She was a pretty girl, very pretty, in fact, but she had a sour, prickly personality, like a cactus. She was about to tell her she wasn't waiting for her when she spoke again.

"Ayano, since the first time we met I've had very strong feelings for you," she began in a confident tone. I already want to stab you, she thought. Unfortunately, she didn't have a weapon. "You are a beautiful, strong girl, and I want nothing more than for you to be mine forever. I could never love anybody else. Your lovely hair, your soft skin, your sparkly eyes... Ayano, you are the only girl I could ever love." She took a daisy from behind her back and gave it to Ayano, who uncomfortably took it. "You complete me, Ayano Aishi," Osana said with a hopeful smile. "You being my girlfriend, Ayano, would make me very happy." Ayano felt uncomfortable, then embarrassed, then confused, and finally enraged. How dare she think he had a chance with her? "Are you kidding me?!" she shouted. Osana looked surprised, then annoyed. "Senpai, don't yell, that isn't very nice!" Ayano scoffed. "Nice? To you? I love Taro! Not some tsundere, narcissistic idiot like you, who thought twice that she could get in between me and my Senpai!!" Osana looked shocked, tears coming to her eyes, when Ayano grabbed her shoulders and spun her around. She let go of her and then grabbed the back of her head, slamming it hard against the tree with a loud and painful-sounding thunk.

The way Osana fell limp scared Ayano. Did I kill her?! I can't clean up the body, Senpai could be coming any second now! But the soft up and down of the tsundere's chest relieved her. Ayano pulled out her phone and texted Joho, aka Info-chan, her reliable provider and trusted ally and friend. Info-chan had helped her many times in the past with eliminating rivals, especially Mida. Maybe she knew how to hide Osana before Taro-Senpai came.

Ayano: Where is Senpai, Info?
Info: He just put down his book, typical Taro. He'll be there in no time. Why?
Ayano: I may or may not have just knocked out a girl with a tree.
Info: What, again?
Ayano: Maybe... it was Osana this time.
Info: That's okay. Just carry her over to the incinerator and leave her there. She'll wake up later. Hurry, though. Taro is going to be there in no time.
Ayano: Thanks, Info-chan.
Info: Anytime.

She rolled Osana's unconscious body down the back of the hill, and carried her over to the incinerator, leaving her in a sitting position. Just for irony, she clasped her hands together like a corpse and delicately left the daisy she had given her in the girl's grasp. Then she found some red paint hidden in the trash and proceeded to paint her uniform and face red to look like blood was leaking from the tsundere's body. She attached a false kitchen knife to her so it appeared that it was sticking right through her chest, and moved her hand to leave her fingerprints on it before moving it back to hold the flower. Ayano smirked and admired her handiwork for a moment before taking a picture of it. After sending a copy to Info-chan, who approved of the prank, she left a notebook paper next to the girl with words scribbled on that said, "Haha, your petty looks alone won't make a girl fall for you, Osana! Try harder next time, and make sure I can't get my hands on red paint, you fucking idiot. –Your senpai, Ayano-chan </3" before running back to the Sakura tree. She waited for about ten seconds at the tree before the back doors to the school came flying open, and a boy came running to her. Black bowl haircut, matching eyes... it was Senpai this time! "Ayano-chan, you wanted to meet me here?" he called with a sweet smile on his face. "Um, y-yes..." Ayano responded, a light blush on her face. When she and Taro were face-to-face, she spoke again. What she always wanted to say for the ten weeks that she known Taro was finally coming out.

"Taro-senpai, since the first day of school, I've had a big crush on you," Ayano said softly. "When you aren't around, I feel like a robot. I am without emotion. I was an empty shell until I met you. You make me feel like a real human. Only because of your presence in my life do I know the purpose of my existence, and what it feels like to be alive. How other people see the world. You don't know the torture of being emotionless, or the joy of finding someone who makes you feel something after so many years of emptiness. But I knew that feeling when I met you." She looked up and saw Taro still listening. "Taro-senpai, I love you. I really do. When I met you, it was like seeing colour, feeling warmth, and hearing music for the first time, after so long trapped in a dull, useless world. Please accept my feelings, Senpai. I can't live without you." Ayano felt her hands cup, and she looked away, still blushing. Everything she could put into words about how she felt with Taro had finally been spoken, but there was so much more she wanted to say that she just couldn't describe in human language. "Ayano..." Taro began. "I've felt the same way since the day we met. Although you confused me sometimes, I've always liked you a lot. No, not liked. Loved. Now I know why I felt like there was something between us." He took her hand and looked into her eyes. Her beautiful, charcoal-grey eyes. "I love you, too, Ayano. Please never leave my side, because I'll need you there for the rest of my time on this planet." He smiled. "I've always compared my life to a dull storybook, where my favourite page was always missing. Now that I know that you were the missing piece, I can continue writing my story, my life. And I need you to help me hold the pen."

Taro lunged forward and wrapped Ayano in a bear hug. The hug startled her, but after a moment she hugged him too. She started to cry a little, and Taro let her go. "Don't cry, sweetie," he soothed, wiping the tears off of her cheek. "I'll never let anything happen to you." He pulled her close and kissed her, which made Ayano wonder, should I kiss him back or explode?! She eventually kissed him back as the cherry blossom petals fell around them, and the red flowers on the hill swayed in the light evening breeze. "Will you be my girlfriend, Ayano?" Taro whispered to her. "I was waiting my whole life for you to ask," she replied. "And I would never say no. I love you so much, Taro." Ayano was happy now, as more tears flowed down her blushing pink face. She was no longer the emotionless Yandere she once was. Now she was Ayano Aishi, a girl who felt human emotions. Ayano had won her Senpai's heart, and she silently vowed that she would protect him for the rest of her life. When she opened her eyes again, Taro was looking right at her with an emotion in his eyes that could only be described as loyalty. Trust. Faith. Love. Happiness. All wrapped into one beautiful stare. He held her close. "Ayano Aishi, my sweetheart, my girlfriend, my one and only," Ayano hugged his neck as he finished his sentence.

"I'll always be here for you, my love. Not death, nor time shall shatter our love, as it will be too powerful for the gods themselves to split apart." Ayano sniffled. He was such a poet. She collapsed on the ground, too overwhelmed with so many emotions at once for her legs to move. Taro picked her up bridal-style, and booped her on the nose, which made her blush even more. He faced the sunset and the two watched for a while as the glowing ball of light majestically disappeared behind clouds and hills, leaving behind the pink and orange skies to go to sleep for the night. Taro listened closely. Ayano had fallen asleep in his arms. He smiled down at her, kissed her forehead, then carried her back to her home. He unlocked the window with the house key he found in her bookbag, went into her bedroom, and laid her on her bed to sleep. As he tucked her into bed, he smiled down at her again. "Goodnight, my beloved," he whispered. "I'll see you tomorrow." He proceeded to feed her kitten, Ninja, before locking the window, leaving through the front door, and locking it behind him. He dropped the key in the mail slot as he left for his own home.

Meanwhile, Osana had just woken up. "Huh... senpai... why did you reject... me..." she mumbled. The memories of Ayano's bitter rejection of her love hit her with the force and pain of a raging tsunami, and she struggled to breathe. "S-senpai..." she gasped, feeling her lungs stiffen. She looked down and saw the red paint and the knife. Not seeing the note just yet, she yowled in shock and fear, before calming down and realizing she couldn't feel any pain. She touched the "knife" gingerly — it was made of plastic! Then she noticed the note Ayano left for her. Osana moved her hands to help herself up, and noticed that Ayano had even rejected her flower. After reading her letter, a burning sadness filled her heart, her face turning red not with love or embarrassment, but with rage. Her Ayano, her senpai had been stolen by another boy. She convinced herself that she had been manipulated into developing false feelings for Taro, and that with him gone, Ayano would love her unconditionally. "Ayano-chan..." she said coldly, her entire body shaking and her fists tightening. "You belong to me, and me alone. I won't be stopped by a petty bookworm. Your heart is mine. You are my soulmate, and I won't have it any other way." She threw her note and her flower in the incinerator and turned it on, still mumbling to herself.

"Only I deserve a girl as beautiful and strong as you, Ayano Aishi," she growled. "That stupid boy Taro doesn't deserve such an irreplaceable girl. Just because he's my childhood friend doesn't give him the right to steal my future wife!! You are under his spell, Senpai. I will save you." She checked under the dumpster for the diamond necklace she had bought for her senpai at lunchtime that day, but it was gone. She turned around and left in confusion, but when she walked towards the gate, she saw Yui Rio in front of the school, handing the necklace — the one that Osana had saved up months and months worth of allowance for to buy for Ayano, the one she would present to her on the day she accepted her love, the necklace that would confirm that they would love each other eternally and hold hands to the moment they died — to her girlfriend, Yuna Hina. Yuna squealed and put it on, spinning around and listening to the pleasant tinkling and watching the gems dazzle, then bear-hugged Yui. "Thank you thank you thank you!!" Yuna cried. "I love you, Yuna," Yui laughed and hugged her back. "I love you too, Yui! I love you so much!" Yui pulled her off and kissed her. While the two continued to socialize, Osana angrily stomped home. She had been robbed of the priceless necklace she was going to give to her Senpai, and now her beloved Ayano-chan had been whisked away from her by a boy who didn't deserve her, like pulling a cookie away from a baby. She would fix this problem-riddled world. For herself. For her dignity.

For her Ayano.