Mail Delivery - Chapter 3

[bakemonoremy]

Location: 1-A Classroom

- A few days later - 

Mitsuru: Hajime-cha~n!

...Huh, it’s just Tomo-chan here? Where’s Hajime-chan?

Tomoya: He told me he’s at his school part-time job. Since he’s only bringing in the laundry today, it shouldn’t take too long, though.

Mitsuru: I see~... Then I’ll wait for Hajime-chan to get back. Is that okay, Tomo-chan?

Tomoya: Why are you asking me for permission? Well, it’s fine by me.

...Uu~. I just remembered that I have club activities today. Maybe I should play hooky… Or even better, quit entirely.

Mitsuru: Ahaha. Whenever club activities come up, you talk about how you wanna quit, Tomo-chan.

I like the track club! My seniors there are nice, too, so I’m real glad I joined~♪

Tomoya: You have it so good there.

As for me, I’d be fine if Buchou was a decent person… If only he was a decent human being, I could go to my club activities without a worry in the world!

Hajime: Huff, huff… Tomoya-kun, did I keep you waiting?

Tomoya: Nah, you’re good. But actually, Mitsuru is here waiting for you. He says he’s got some business with you.

Hajime: Huuh? Aah, is it about you-know-what? Fufu, it’s already become a habit, huh.

Mitsuru: Tada~h! Today, I actually put my letter in an envelope!

Hajime-chan always uses cute envelopes for his letters while I just hand mine over as-is, and it’s been bugging me a little.

Hajime: Wah, thank you so much~♪ You used a bread-shaped sticker as a seal, huh? It’s so cute, I feel like it’d be a waste to break it by opening the envelope…

Mitsuru: It’s not real, edible bread, so it’s not a waste! But I’ve brought real bread too, wanna eat some?

Hajime: Eh, I’m not feeling hungry, so I’m fine, really~. You really love your bread, don’t you? Somehow I feel like you’re constantly eating it, Mitsuru-kun.

Mitsuru: Yep! I like it lots, but I’m in a fix because I bought way too much again today. That’s why you’d actually be doing me a favor by eating some of it~.

Hajime: In that case I’ll have some.

Tomoya-kun, do you want to go halfsies on this cream roll? It looks absolutely delicious~♪

Tomoya: Yeah, I guess I’ll fill up before club activities start. ...Munch, munch.

Actually, we’ve gotten off track here. You two have been exchanging lots of letters recently~. How’s it going? Any progress?

Hajime: Yes. Mitsuru-kun is really giving it his all. If he keeps this up, I’m sure Nii~chan will give him his approval soon.

Tomoya: Hmm, if you say so I guess he really did improve a bit. Hey, Mitsuru. Let me have a look at your handwriting, will you?

Mitsuru: Sure thing. Fufun, I am actually practicing my signature as we speak~!

Tomoya: …?

Mitsuru: Tomo-chan, why are you tilting your head? Is it because you can’t read it?

Tomoya: Hrm~m, it’s not entirely illegible… I think. If I squint real hard, it’s like I can somewhat make out what it says, but that’s all.

Hmm, but Hajime can read it like normal, huh?

Hajime: Um, yes. Hm~m, I wonder why?

Tomoya: This is just my theory, but could it be that you simply got used to Mitsuru’s handwriting while exchanging letters with him?

Hajime: Ah, that could be it.

Uu~, now I’m at a loss. I never expected this to happen, so I didn’t come up with a counter-measure or anything!

Tomoya: Well, it’s not like you didn’t make any progress whatsoever.

The results of your letter exchange are showing little by little. There’s no hurry, so just keep at it, yeah?

I’m sure that’s why Nii~chan didn’t give you a deadline either.

...Oops. It’s about time, so I’d better head over to my club now.

What about you two?

I’m on day duty, so I’d like to lock up the room when I leave. But if you wanna stay, I’ll give you the key and you can return it to the staff room when you’re done.

Hajime: That’d be great, thanks~! Tomoya-kun, please do your best at your club activities.

Tomoya: Yeah, I will.

I wonder if Hokuto-senpai is coming today? Uu, I’d hate to be all alone with the Masked Pervert…

Mitsuru: ………..

Hajime: Mitsuru-kun, please cheer up. Tomoya-kun said that our letter exchange is showing results little by little, didn’t he?

I’ll keep helping you out, so let’s keep at it together ♪

Mitsuru: Hajime-chan… Yeah, I’ll do my best!

I’m a strong kid who can weather any storm*, it’ll take more than this to get me all down in the dumps!

Hey, Hajime-chan. While I was reading your letters, I started wondering… Could it be that you like Suba-chan-senpai?

Hajime: Yes! I respect him so much~!

Akehoshi-senpai was so cool during “SakuraFes” the other day, I even ended up buying some of his merchandise. They’re my treasures~♪

Mitsuru: Yeah, I figured you felt that way, since your talking of him takes up like half of your letters.

Speaking of which, do you think Suba-chan-senpai knows that we did that marching band?

Hajime: Hm~m, I’d say he does know about it, no?

Mitsuru: We did that to advertise for “SakuraFes”, right?

I heard that you asked Nii~chan for advice on how to help out Suba-chan-senpai back then.

Hajime-chan, why don’t you tell Suba-chan-senpai about all that? I’m sure he’ll be grateful~♪

Hajime: Oh no, I could never! I have no intentions whatsoever to tell him about that~!

Besides, the marching band was also intended to bring Ra*bits into the limelight. And the reason why “SakuraFes” was such a great success is entirely thanks to our seniors’ competence.

Mitsuru: If I were you, I’d write tons! Like about how I did my best playing the drums for them, and how I was totally cheering for Suba-chan-senpai!

Hajime: I guess you’re right. I do want to tell him that I was cheering him on… No, I think what I really want to tell Akehoshi-senpai is how cool I thought he was back then.

Mitsuru: Yep yep! So write Suba-chan-senpai a letter!

Hajime: That might be nice, kind of like fan mail… It kind of makes my heart pound, though...

Mitsuru: Yeah, it really is fan mail! Alright, I’ll help you with it!

Hajime: Thank you so much~. I ran out of stationery though, so how about we go to the school store first?

Ehehe, I don’t even know where to start, there are just so many things I want to write to him about~♪

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* Mitsuru uses a turn of phrase that literally means “not losing to the rain, not losing to the wind” which is originally from a poem by Miyazawa Kenji. I doubt Mitsuru knows the actual poem, but it’s a nice one so I wanted to link it.