NTR Kousuke

Chapter 156

Chapter 156: Letter Confirmation.

The first letter—

"Take heed of Tendou Airi."

—just that one line.

This was the letter that felt the worst, just a single sheet of copy paper.

The rest were a regular envelope and a letter-specific envelope ✉️.

There shouldn't be anything worse than this...

I open the plain white envelope.

Since it wasn't sealed, the paper inside came out right away.

Yeah, is this A5? Just regular copy paper, right?

The contents were—

"Watch out for Osada Ai."

(What the... is this?)

Once again, I can't shake off the creepiness of this strange letter.

What's with the first one and this one?

What kind of message is this for me?

...If these were love letters or something, even if it was a hassle, it'd be better.

It's not slander or defamation, but... this is a malicious message, isn't it?

In this case, either Osada-san has bad intentions toward me, or it's a message meant to make me think Osada-san does.

The envelope and paper are completely nondescript, just a bland letter printed from a computer. What is this?

The last letter. The white envelope ✉️.

Please let this one at least be a normal message!

I opened the letter, almost praying.

This one also wasn't sealed. An A5 sheet, only with simple ruled lines?

I knew it. There's no way I'd get a harmless message after all this.

And inside—

"Be a little more careful around Nagase Aya."

Whew.

All three letters are accounted for.

The worst-case scenario I'd been piecing together in my head.

The pattern where I can't figure out anything and can't make any plans.

There's no addressee, and it's so bland that there's no evidence of who sent it.

All there is are warnings about certain people.

For example, if it said "Don't go near Nagase Aya," I could deduce that someone doesn't want me near Nagase-san.

If I just stayed away from Nagase-san, it'd be fine, and the sender would probably be someone who doesn't want me near her—most likely someone who likes Nagase-san, right? Then I could guess a bit about who or what to watch for.

But with these three—

1: "Take heed of Tendou Airi."

2: "Watch out for Osada Ai."

3: "Be a little more careful around Nagase Aya."

If you read them literally, it's either someone giving me a friendly warning or telling me bad things about those people.

...If I had to say, only the first one is possibly worrying about Airi-senpai or cautioning me.

If I'd been the strategist I dreamed of as a kid, I'd see right through this and outmaneuver it...!

One more thing—were all three of these from the same person? Or three different people?

I have no idea about that, either.

The copy paper was for the first two. The envelopes for the second and third are different.

Are they showing them separately on purpose?

Or are they really from different people?

I feel like there's no "1:2" split here...

The kind of person who does something like this—if a letter was already there, wouldn't they read it? And if they did, maybe they'd even throw it away depending on what it said?

Did the locations just happen to not overlap? Or is that something, too?

The more I think about it, the more my thoughts get lost in a maze.

I sighed and headed off to the physical checkup.

I couldn't just throw the letters away or leave them lying around, so I kept them with me the whole time.

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Height: 166 cm...

If I was just a little taller—like 169 cm—I could feel safe that I'd definitely go over 170!

I've grown a bit since the 165 cm I measured in the nurse's office this winter, but...

Sho is around 175, right? I wish I could be a bit taller...

I forgot about the letters for a moment because of my height, but even during the checkup, all I could think about were those letters.

...Should I talk to someone about this?

If it's inside the school... maybe Tanaka-kun?

After all, the three girls I'm closest to at this school were all named in those letters.

And especially in Airi-senpai's case, it said "take heed." Is there something going on?

Be careful around Nagase-san and Osada-san? Watch out? Which is it, really?

Is this a warning for me, or a scheme to make me suspicious of them?

☆ ☆ ☆

Back in elementary school, Sho and I played this Three Kingdoms game, remember? (Sixth grade)

Sho: "With the forged letter strategy, the generals' loyalty drops super fast."

Kousuke: "...If you don't have trust, you'll even believe a fake letter, huh?"

Sho: "Scary! Strategists are scary! I'd doubt their humanity!"

Kousuke: "...If you fall for something like that, you're the one at fault."

Sho: "As expected from a guy who wants to be a strategist!"

Kousuke: "...Don't say that!"

☆ ☆ ☆

(Sho, the forged letter strategy really is effective, you know?)

I was overwhelmed with the urge to take back what I said as a kid.

The class was lively after the physical checkups.

"I grew taller!" "I gained weight!"—those kinds of voices echoed all around.

Even top-ranked students don't change that much just by being in high school.

As I was thinking about all this—

Osada: "Saito-kun? What's up? Are you feeling sick?"

Yuki: "You don't look so good. Want to go to the nurse's office?"

Osada-san and Yuki-san passed by and said kind words to me, but...

Oh yeah, I just used this on Nagase-san a little while ago too—

"...Nah, it's just... I might not be feeling well? ...It's okay."

Osada-san and Yuki-san both looked serious.

Osada: "Since athletes do a lot of training, it really drains your energy, so illness or feeling sick is your worst enemy, okay? You should rest and take care of yourself early on."

Yuki: "Yeah, that's right."

I thanked the two of them, stuffed the textbooks I got into my bag, and decided to go home today. I sent a LINE to the captain saying I was feeling sick.

I wonder if Tanaka-kun is going to the film club? No, I'll be selfish this time!

I sent Tanaka-kun a secret LINE asking if I could consult with him. He replied yes right away.

As I was heading home, Nagase-san too—

Nagase: "You really are feeling sick, huh? Don't overdo it, get some rest, okay? ...And don't push yourself tomorrow either, all right?"

She waved to me with a worried expression as she saw me off.

The boys in the class shot jealous looks my way.

...Is the sender among them?

No, there's no point thinking about it!

I decided to head home with Tanaka-kun.

Tanaka-kun looked both nervous and happy at my rare request.

...Tanaka-kun is the one person I can really trust, right? We've been friends since middle school.

On the train, I got a long, caring LINE message from Airi-senpai, full of her concern for me.

...All three of them are close to me, such kind, good girls—so why? Who? Why? I can't help but think about it after all.

We arrived at Shinkawa Station and I finally told Tanaka-kun what today's matter was.

We headed home together, and after showing him the actual letter, I explained the situation about today's letter as objectively as I could.

...Surely, even Tanaka-kun can't figure it out from this.

But I want to know what impression he gets from seeing it from a different perspective than mine, and I want him to know what's going on.

I trust Tanaka-kun, so I wanted him to know.

After hearing and seeing everything, Tanaka-kun thought for a bit, then began to speak...

☆ ☆ ☆

I added Kousuke's childhood dream and the measurements Airi-senpai told Nozomi to the character list, lol.