Chapter 0 – How to Begin the End of the Beginning

The stairs leading to the rooftop of a certain high school.

There, a stereotypical boy and girl were talking about something clearly up to no good.

“Let’s give Takuma a fake love letter since he’s been getting so full of himself lately. It’ll be hilarious.”

“Ehh, poor guy!”

“Come on, you’re saying that but you’re laughing.”

“Ah, you caught me?”

“Obviously. Alright, since you told such an obvious lie, you write the love letter. Make it sound like it was written by someone with a brain made of cotton candy.”

“No way, I can’t do that! The best I can come up with is something like, ‘When I think of you, I can’t sleep at night, and my body just aches for you~’.”

“Uhahahaha! You totally can write it! Let’s go with that! The spot will be under the breezeway tomorrow after school! Let’s call the guys from class and laugh our asses off.”

“Leave it to me! Ah, but… whenever I think about you, I might actually start to ache…”

“…………Then how about I relieve that ache for you?”

“Ah… stop it♪.”

Thus began their flirtatious make-out session. However, it ended in a mere five minutes, and the two headed down the stairs.

The girl had a dissatisfied look on her face as she lightly pounded on the guy’s back.

“We’re picking this up when we get home! You didn’t reveal anything at all!”

Then, another five minutes later, the door to the rooftop—which was supposed to be strictly off-limits—opened, revealing a figure standing right where the previous tryst had taken place. It seemed they had entered the school building from the forbidden rooftop.

“…………”

The figure standing there in silence was a beautiful girl with a tall, slender frame and long black hair that looked slightly bluish when the light fell on it. She gave off a mature, gorgeous vibe rather than just being cute—you could easily call her a true beauty.

And then there were her sharp, slit-like eyes. After narrowing those eyes even further,

“…………”

She silently made her way down the stairs.

◇◇◇

The next day, a certain boy found a love letter slipped into his shoe locker.

The boy’s name was Takuma Akasaka. At first glance, he was an ordinary high school boy with no particularly standout features.

“Eh— w-wait, is this… a love letter!? I’m finally having a normal romantic encounter!”

Expressing his joy in a way slightly different from the average guy, Takuma carefully tucked the love letter away and waited for school to end.

However…

“Huh? What are you doing in a place like this, Takuma-kun?”

“Could it be you’re waiting for a confession?”

“No way~ Look at you being so popular~.”

“Ahahahahaha!”

When he arrived at the designated spot, all that awaited him was the mocking laughter of his classmates.

“I see. I was tricked. This love letter was a fake…”

Just as Takuma was about to tear up the love letter in his hands, he heard a voice from behind him.

“Oh, are you going to tear it up? And after I took the trouble to write it, too.”

“Huh?”

He turned around, and standing there was that beautiful girl who had come down from the rooftop.

“I’m the one who sent that. Tell me what it says. Because every word is true.”

“Eh? No way… But it says things like ‘I can’t sleep at night, and my body aches for you,’ and ‘Even when I close my eyes I see your face,’ and ‘If we go out I’ll do anything for you’!?”

“…………T-That’s right. It was me.”

“No way… You mean… Watase-san actually has feelings for me!?”

The beautiful girl’s name was Ayane Watase.

She possessed such unparalleled beauty that she was called the prettiest girl in Takuma’s high school, but thanks to her icy glare, everyone around her referred to her as the Empress.

And she was also the girl of Takuma’s unrequited affection.