I hurried home, eager to finally confirm the contents of the letter.
"Ohoo, Ryouta-kun. You're finally back, I see."
Entering my room, I set my bag down on the desk.
I’d managed to sidestep Rui’s questions earlier, but I still needed to find out exactly what was inside that envelope.
"Ah, and just so you know, this isn't trespassing! Your sister told me I could have some of her hand-me-downs today, so that's the only reason I'm here."
Rui, Yuria, and Airi all had fans throughout the school. It was only natural that I’d attract some haters for being so close to the three of them.
(Would they challenge me to a duel or something?)
"Hey, Ryouta-kun, why the long face?"
But for a hate letter, it had a rather cute musical note sticker sealing it...
"Geez! What is with you? Don't just ignore me!"
"...Hm? Tanaka? Since when were you here?"
"I've been here the whole time! I even gave you my usual 'Ohoo!' greeting. You really should give me a proper reaction!"
"That 'ohoo' thing is just something you do on your own."
Since I'd been ignoring her, Tanaka puffed out her cheeks in a pout, clearly annoyed.
"Setting that aside, why have you been staring at your bag since you got back? Don't tell me you've become such a pervert that you're finally getting off on backpacks, Ryouta-kun?"
"No way! I don't have such abnormal fetishes!"
"Then what is it?"
Now, what should I do? Should I tell Tanaka?
Telling Rui would have invited all sorts of complications, which is why I’d been vague with her, but Tanaka...
Well, as usual, she has no friends, so telling her shouldn't be a problem.
"Actually, I found this in my shoe locker."
I pulled the envelope out of my bag and handed it to her.
"What! Could this be a love let—no, there's no way a perverted loner like you, doomed to remain a lifelong virgin, would ever get a love letter! My apologies, my deepest apologies."
"Don't go spouting insults and then act sympathetic! You're in the same boat as me, aren't you?"
"D-Don't put me on your level! I'm incredibly popular! Why, just the other day, the brother-themed BL fanfic I wrote got twenty thousand bookmarks—"
"I don't care about your embarrassing history. I'm about to check what's inside."
I snatched the letter back from her.
"Ch-Check it? Wait, wouldn't you normally read a letter the moment you find it in your locker?"
"Airi and the others were rushing me to go to karaoke."
"...Huh? Karaoke?"
The moment she heard the word 'karaoke,' Tanaka's expression soured as if she’d bitten into something bitter.
"Ryouta-kun... don't tell me you were just out living it up at karaoke with the Beautiful Girl Trio?"
"Uh, yeah. We did go."
"Hey! Why didn't you invite me?! I'm part of the regular group too, aren't I?!"
On the verge of tears, Tanaka started drumming her fists against my stomach.
Ugh, how annoying... I did feel a bit bad for forgetting about her, though.
"T-Today was a victory celebration for Rui."
"Then you should have invited me even more! It makes me look like an idiot for spending my time alone, rummaging through every single corner of your room!"
"Why you... Well, I'll ask for details on that later. For now, let’s see the letter."
Putting Tanaka's eccentric behavior aside, I slowly peeled off the musical note sticker.
"Um, can I look too? If there's a 0.00000000000000001% chance that it's a love letter, it feels a bit wrong to peek."
"Hm? Wait, Tanaka, this is..."
"Yes?"
The letter contained a single sentence, written in quintessential bubbly handwriting.
'I’ll be waiting for you on the rooftop tomorrow morning. ♡ Ryouta-senpai ♡'
S-Senpai? That means the person who wrote this is...!