Mika Tanaka had been the student council secretary for two years. In that time, she had uncovered corruption, exposed a counterfeit ticket scheme, and once deduced that the vice principal was having an affair based entirely on the man's sudden interest in fashion.
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She was also, unfortunately, my best friend.
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"You're hiding something," she announced at lunch on Friday.
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I choked on my milk.
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"See? Guilty."
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"I'm not—that was a coincidence—"
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"You've eaten lunch alone with Hana Mizuki three times this week. You, who once told me you'd rather swallow glass than spend five minutes with her."
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"I said I'd rather swallow broken glass than read her essays. There's a difference."
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"Not a very big one."
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Mika leaned across the table, her eyes gleaming with the light of a predator who'd scented blood.
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"The newspaper wants to run a story on the Young Writers' Prize. I'm interviewing the finalists."
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"There are five finalists."
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"There are two who matter. And they've been suspiciously cooperative lately."
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"We're not cooperating."
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"You're sitting together in the clubroom every day. I have witnesses."
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"Witnesses?"
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"The chess club. They can see through the window."
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I made a mental note to check the chess club's line of sight to the literature room. And also to consider whether the chess club had anything better to do with their time.
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"Hana and I are both entering the competition," I said carefully. "It makes sense to compare notes."
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"Compare notes. Is that what we're calling it?"
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"What else would we call it?"
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Mika's smile was the kind that made people confess to crimes they hadn't committed.
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"I don't know. You tell me."
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The bell rang before I could answer. I gathered my tray and fled.
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I found Hana in the library after school, tucked into a corner behind the reference section. She had a stack of books on modern Japanese literature and a pen in her hand, but she wasn't writing. She was staring at the window, watching the clouds move across the sky.
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"Mika knows," I said.
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Hana didn't flinch.
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"I know."
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"She confronted me at lunch."
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"She cornered me this morning. Before archery practice."
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"What did you tell her?"
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"The same thing you did. That we're comparing notes."
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"And she believed you?"
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"No. But she can't prove anything."
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I sat down in the chair opposite her. The library was empty, the way it always was after school, the shelves silent except for the occasional whisper of pages being turned by no one.
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"Why does it matter if she knows?" Hana asked suddenly. "It's not like it's a secret. We're working together. So what?"
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"The competition. If people think we're collaborating—"
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"We're not collaborating. We're editing each other. That's not against the rules."
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"It's against the spirit of them."
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Hana's eyes met mine. There was something hard in them, something I hadn't seen before.
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"The spirit of the rules," she repeated. "You mean the part where we're supposed to hate each other? The part where we're supposed to pretend that competing means being enemies?"
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"That's not—"
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"You know what my grandmother told me? She said the best things in life come from friction. Two sticks rubbing together. Two ideas colliding. Two people who see the world differently."
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She paused.
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"She also said that choosing to cooperate is the bravest thing a rival can do. Because it means admitting you might be wrong."
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I didn't have a response to that. I was beginning to realize that Hana Mizuki had a response to everything.
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"So what do we do about Mika?" I asked.
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"We tell her the truth."
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"The truth?"
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"That we're working together. That it's making us better writers. That she can print it in the school newspaper if she wants, because we're not doing anything wrong."
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"You make it sound simple."
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"It is simple. You're the one making it complicated."
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We found Mika in the student council office, surrounded by papers and the particular chaos that followed her everywhere.
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"We need to tell you something," Hana said.
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Mika looked up. Her eyes moved from Hana to me to Hana again.
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"Finally."
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"What?"
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"I've been waiting for you to confess for two weeks. Do you know how exhausting it is to pretend I don't know?"
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I blinked. "You knew?"
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"I'm not an idiot. You two have been circling each other since first year. I just didn't know if you'd admit it."
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"Admit what?" Hana asked, and I noticed a slight flush on her cheeks.
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"That you're dating."
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"We're not—"
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"We're working together," Hana said, at the same moment I said, "It's not like that."
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Mika looked deeply disappointed.
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"So you're not dating. You're just spending every afternoon together, writing in the same room, editing each other's work, and talking about feelings."
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"We don't talk about feelings."
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"I do," Hana said.
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"That was one time—"
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"You cried when you read the ending of my story."
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"I had allergies."
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"It was raining."
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"Rain causes allergies."
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Mika's laughter cut through our argument like a knife through butter.
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"You two are the worst liars I've ever met. And I'm including the vice principal."
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She stood up and walked around her desk. When she stopped in front of us, her expression had softened.
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"I won't print anything," she said. "But I want an exclusive if you win."
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"When we win," I corrected.
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Hana and I looked at each other.
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"When we win," she agreed.
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---
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Author's Note:
Mika is the MVP of this chapter, and honestly, of this whole story. She's the only one who sees exactly what's happening and refuses to let them pretend otherwise. "You two are the worst liars I've ever met." is one of my favorite lines. Do you have a friend like Mika who always knows when you're hiding something? Let me know in the comments!15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWyJznLTYXB
and then Add to home screen.