"Look Takagi, it's not what you think." Takagawa pleaded.

"You do own a pink hoodie."

"I can explain!"

"I hope so cause I know you don't have a crush on Nishikata."

Takagawa let out a sigh of relief. "Good, for a minute there I was worried that you'd be upset that I sent him that letter."

"So it was you."

Takagawa froze. "Oh ... yeah, that was me. But you have to believe me, I only wanted to ask him for advice, I don't have any feelings for him."

"I know." Takagi began. "What I don't know, is why you kept it a secret from me, and everyone, especially since so much has happened that could have been solved by a simple explanation."

"Oh ... that ... well, I was afraid that you might get the wrong idea and I didn't want to make you upset."

"Why was the message designed to look like a love letter?"

"Because I didn't want anyone else to see it; you said he gets really embarrassed by stuff like that, so I figured that he would do a better job keeping it secret before I could tell him to keep it secret."

"Yet that backfired."

"How was I supposed to know that he and his friends were having a blood feud?"

"Wait, what blood feud?"

Takagawa sighed. "I don't know the specifics, but Nishikata told me to keep the gist of it a secret."

"Well that would explain why he's been so distraught lately." She scratched her chin and began thinking. "You said that he asked you not to tell anyone anything about it?"

"I'm fairly sure he didn't want me to mention it at all so ... yeah."

"Hm ..."

"By the way, what did he message me about?"

"Oh, I didn't look at that part." She handed the phone back to Takagawa. "I figured it was personal."

Takagawa took her phone and read the message. "Please help, there is a terrible rumor going around that I hate Takagi. Worse, I accidentally blew her off, and now her phone is going directly to voicemail. I'm worried she blocked me, what do I do? I need advice."

Takagi walked over and looked at the phone with Takagawa. "He sounds concerned."

"He sure does." Takagawa said as she began typing her reply.

She's with me now, her phone ran out of power so that's why she didn't pick it up.

That's a relief, but what should I say to her?

Takagi looked at Takagawa with a hint of concern. "I don't think he understood what you meant by, 'she's with me now.'"

Takagawa ignored Takagi and typed in a response.

You don't hate her, right?

I could never hate her; sure, I get annoyed when she teases me sometimes, but she's really grown on me and means a lot to me.

Takagi looked at Takagawa showing a little more concern. "Maybe I should step away?"

"No, stay right there."

But, please don't tell her I said that.

Takagawa glances over at Takagi before typing her response.

I can assure you that I won't tell her anything.

Thanks, I'm not even sure what I'll say to her.

Oh, I'm sure no matter what you say, you'll get your point across. But if you want my opinion, just tell her the truth, that should make things better.

I hope. I kinda need to figure out what that is myself so, I'll just talk to her tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be able to think of something by then. But before all that, I need to silence this rumor.

Okay, talk to you later.

She put her phone away and turned to Takagi. "There, he deeply cares about you, and wants to spend the rest of his life with you, feel better?"

"He didn't say that last part."

"Doesn't matter, are we good? Or should I invite him to the mall with us do you can trick him into having a romantic moment?"

She looked down at Takagawa's phone then back to her. "When he talks to me tomorrow, I'm telling him I saw that conversation."

"You wouldn't."

"I can't lie to him, now can I?"

At the same time, Yukari and her friends were also on their way home. 'I figured one of them would have won by now.' Yukari thought to herself. 'I guess they've been too busy sabotaging each other. But if none of them win, then do I just keep the tickets?'

"Hey! Yukari!" Mina shouted.

"Huh?" Yukari sputtered as she snapped to attention.

"Seriously Yukari, you've been out of it all week, what's going on?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sanae began. "She's thinking about a boy."

"I am not!" Yukari shot back.

"Oh that's right, weren't you with Nishikata at lunch today?" Mina asked.

"Huh? What does that have to do with anything?"

"I think what Mina's trying to say is, you're into him, right?"

"I am not!"

"But you two were eating lunch together."

"That doesn't mean we're going out, or that I like him. Besides, he's into Takagi, not me."

"You keep saying that but never have any proof." Sanae replies.

"Well, he told me that ... not in as many words but-"

"If he didn't say it, then it's not true." Mina stated proudly.

"Geez, can't a guy and a girl eat together without people thinking their dating?"

"You know what?" Mina began. "I bet that was you who was on the roof with him as well."

"THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE!"

"Yeah Mina, she was with us when all that went down."

Mina stared blankly at them for a moment before her eyes lit up. "So it's a love triangle then!?"

'Seriously? Now you guys want to talk about romance?' "THERE IS NO LOVE TRIANGLE! I DON'T LIKE NISHIKATA!"

"We're being watched." Sanae said as she looked off to the side.

Both Yukari and Mina looked in the same direction as Sanae and saw two boys quickly duck behind a corner. "We know you're there." Sanae exclaimed.

The two boys sheepishly walked out from behind the corner and it only took Yukari a moment to recognize the two. "Hey, you're Takao and ... Kimura, right?"

"We were just passing through!" Kimura exclaimed.

"Yeah, that's it." Takao added.

Sanae took one step in their direction and they ran off, scared for their life. "Figures, cowards."

"Maybe it's because you're too intense." Yukari stated.

"Yeah, they said they were just passing through." Mina added.

"You're too gullible." Sanae said as she began walking again.

"I AM NOT!" Mina said as she chased after.

Yukari stood there and let out a sigh of relief. "Well Takao doesn't have a chance, that leaves Nishikata and Hamaguchi." She began walking again. "Well, at least they stopped talking about me and Nishikata."

"Oh, by the way." Mina began. "You guys want to go to the concert tomorrow?"

"Huh?" Yukari said as she looked at Mina. "You have tickets?"

"Nope, but it wouldn't be too hard to get them, right?"

"I really don't care for concerts." Sanae answered. "Too loud and cramped."

"Aw, come on!"

"Well you couldn't get tickets this late anyway." Yukari added. "The last tickets sold out Monday."

Mina's eyes began to water and she looked pleadingly at her friends. "Please?"

"There's no way I'm going." Sanae replied. "And we couldn't get tickets, even if we tried."

"Aw, that's no fair!"