Class had went on and ended quite uneventfully and everyone was on their way to their next class, save for Nishikata who was making a b-line straight for his friend Hamaguchi. 'He thinks he can win by shoving a wedge between Takagi and I? Well I'll show him!' His expression softened up as he realized what just went through his mind. 'Wait, but Takagi and I ... I don't know.' He shook the thought from his head and continued looking for Hamaguchi.

It didn't take long, he managed to find him sitting with Takao and Kimura, sitting at a bench in front of a window. "Hey." He said trying to sound friendly. "How have you guys been?"

Hamaguchi and Takao tried to avoid eye contact, while Kimura turned to him and smiled. "Hey Nishikata, wanna sit?"

"Actually, I kinda need to talk with Hamaguchi and Takao alone." Kimura looked at him curiously, then at the others and noticed that they were trying to avoid eye contact with just about everything.

"You guys mind telling me what's going on?" There was no response and Kimura just sighed. "Okay then, I hope you all get it sorted out." He stood up and left them alone.

When Kimura was finally out of earshot, Nishikata turned back to his two friends, specifically Hamaguchi, and glared at him. "You think playing dirty is going to help you win?" He asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Hamaguchi replied.

"Don't play dumb, she told me who she got to deliver the letter for her." Hamaguchi didn't look like he was about to spill, so Nishikata decided to push a little harder. "I could ask Houjou about it, seems like it's a little childish so I'm not entirely sure if you would have told her-"

"Okay! Be quiet! There are still people who can hear us." Hamaguchi snapped.

"I want the truth."

Hamaguchi sighed and looked off to the side. "Early yesterday, someone came up to me, and asked me to sneak a letter into your bag. I didn't know what it was-"

"Bull shit." Nishikata interrupted.

"Fine, it was obviously a love letter, but she wanted it delivered, and I did just that. You're making it sound like I did something wrong."

"You were trying to use it to put distance between Takagi and I. Don't pretend that your actions are justified by being friendly."

Hamaguchi and Nishikata stared each other down for a bit before Hamaguchi eventually folded. "Okay, yes, I tried to take advantage of it by leaving your bag open so more people in the locker room would see it, and pointing it out so people would see you two standing together. But I didn't think you two were close enough for any distance to be put between you guys."

"I-" He froze. "Wait, that doesn't make sense; my bag was closed when I got back into the locker room, and how could you have taken the second picture if you were already on the ground?"

"Huh?" Hamaguchi shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't be like that, who else would be motivated to do something like-" At that precise moment, he noticed Takao was trying desperately to avoid looking at him and sweating profusely. "Takao ... didn't you have to go to the restroom during gym yesterday?"

Takao glanced back at him before looking away again. "You can't prove anything."

"Can't prove anything?" He hissed. "If Hamaguchi is right, and he left my bag open, and you were the only one who went into the locker room between then and all of us returning, then I think that gives me plausible cause."

"So you're saying that I'm a bad person for closing your bag so that no one can see inside?"

"No." Nishikata said as he shook his head. "But who else would know to follow me to get that second picture?"

"It could have been anyone."

"So then you wouldn't mind if I saw your phones picture library then?"

Takao began to sweat. "Uh ... well ... the thing is ..."

"DAMN IT!" He exclaimed. "You guys know that this is probably going to have some lasting negative consequences for me?"

"Look." Takao began. "I'm sorry if I messed things up between you and the girl you like but-"

"I DO NOT LIKE HER!!!"

There was a coldness that permeated the air around them, and Nishikata couldn't help but feel like someone had crossed a line.

"Okay." Hamaguchi said as he stood up. "What's done is done, I can't really ask Houjou out till Friday anyway, Is there anything else you wanted to talk with me about?" Nishikata sighed and shook his head. "Then I'm going to class."

He walked away, leaving Nishikata and Takao alone. The second Nishikata looked at Takao, he jumped to his feet and took off, as if running for his life. "I'll have to deal with him later." He crossed his arms and began thinking to himself. 'Right now I need to find a way to fix things with Takagi.' He turned around but froze when he noticed that there were a few students staring at him. 'Well this probably isn't' good.' He ignored them and continued onwards.

As he made his way to his next class, his phone sounded, signaling that he got a message from someone. "Huh?" He pulled out his phone and saw that it was from Takagwa.

So what happened?

Nishikata began typing his response.

So apparently, one of my 'friends' found out about the letter and tried to take advantage of it.

To what end?

Not something I can really talk about.

He thought to himself for a moment before typing in another message.

But so long as you don't tell anyone, I can say that it was essentially to make some distance between Takagi and I.

Was it Hamaguchi?

No, he may have had ulterior motives, but he didn't do much, other than deliver the letter and point us out on the roof. But please, again, don't tell anyone I told you any of this.

Why?

Nishikata sighed before typing in another response.

Because I might be able to turn this around still.

There was a long pause before Takagawa sent him another message.

Hey, could I ask you something?

Sure, what is it?

Do you have a crush on Takagi?

Nishikata felt his heart jump into his throat, not only was this a difficult question for him to address, but he was talking to Takagi's best friend, which made it all the harder. Before he could give her a flat-out 'no' though, she followed up with another message.

I promise I won't tell, you're keeping your promise of not telling anyone about what happened on the roof, even though it would help you. I do appreciate that more than you can imagine.

Nishikata sighed and slowly began typing.

Honestly, I don't know anymore. I mean we're close and all, I kinda respect that she's always somehow one step ahead of me, she always pushes me to train hard, she's nice, I like spending time with her, I like challenging her even more, her laugh is adorable, even if it's aimed at me, and I always feel this ... I don't know, feeling while I'm around her, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

There was another long pause as Nishikata began to contemplate if it was a good idea to actually send that.

Nishikata?

Yes?

I'm fairly sure that's called being in love.

Nishikata blushes before typing rapidly.

That remains to be seen. Anyway, you can't tell any of this to Takagi, she'd tease me in all new ways if she thought I was in love with her.

Well you're not wrong.

Yeah, so, don't tell her.

Okay, I promise. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get to class.

Nishikata let out a sigh of relief and continue making his way to his next class. 'Now how am I supposed to fix things with Takagi?'