"Each of you has to write a poem!" Shimada-sensei, the class A Japanese teacher, shouted. "I will give you each a genre."

A few minutes later, he came to Irie's name. "Irie Naoki- ROMANCE!"

"Sheesh, what a bother." he intoned, annoyed.

"Who is he going to write it about?"

At lunch time, the whole school was abuzz with the rumor. "Irie has to write a romance poem."

"It's settled!" Jinko shouted in her scratchy, loud voice. "We're spying on Irie tomorrow!" Satomi nodded and Kotoko wondered nervously who he would write about. Her?

ENTER FANTASY

"Wide brown eyes that blink and send me into enchantment,

rose pink lips that I long to kiss,

a figure that is as perfect as the BRRRIIIINGGG!"

"Bring?" Kotoko asked.

It sounded again. BRRRRRRRIIIIIING! It was the bell for classes to start, snapping her out of her fantasy and hurrying to class.

It was late at night, and Irie wondered what to write. He didn't want something that would have everyone fighting. He knew who he wanted to write a poem about. Ah, he would do it, too, in a very Irie like way, as well.

"Recite your poem!" Shimada shouted at the gray-brown haired teen.

He glanced quickly at the door. Three faces were peeking in, one with black hair, one with blonde hair, and one with red hair. Jinko, Satomi, and Kotoko. He suppressed a laugh and stood up and strode to the front of the classroom.

"My one love," he began, "cooks dishes as sweet and savory as the feasts in heaven itself." Not Kotoko, everybody in the room thought somewhat disappointedly.

"My one love, is more intelligent than the wisest man on Earth." Definitely not Kotoko.

"My one love is so beautiful, a woman that evokes jealousy in every man." Not Kotoko, not really. She wasn't beautiful in the standard way, like an unattainable glamorous hottie, but she was more of the 'cute and adorable' type, and her beauty was such that once you realized that it was there, you could never let go of, and she didn't realize how many people fell under its spell, even if it was a bit unconventional. So not Kotoko.

"She doesn't trip, or fall, yet dances across whatever surface she walks on with a subconscious grace, like a ballerina."

Not Kotoko. NOT AT ALL. Everyone thought yet again. But then, isn't this poem a lot more about what Kotoko isn't rather than what some woman IS? Irie is definitely a kuudere...

He ended a poem with a simple, "I love her best of all."

(Here's the full poem as read by Irie:

My one love cooks dishes as sweet and savory as the feasts in heaven itself,

My one love is so beautiful, a woman that evokes jealousy in every man,

She doesn't trip, or fall, yet dances across whatever surface she walks on with a subconscious grace, like a ballerina.

I love her best of all. )

"Well..." Shimada sensei scratched his head as Kotoko slunk away in disappointment and the class started to whisper. "It was very unconventional, but to the point...A+!"

"Thank you, sensei," Irie replied and sat back down.

Jinko and Satomi were coming over to the Irie household, and talked excitedly to Mama about the 'love poem' as Kotoko stood next to them with a sad look on her face.

"YOU MEAN HE WROTE IT JUST TO SPITE KOTOKO?" Mama shouted in outrage.

"IT SEEMS SO!" Jinko shouted equally loudly. "BUT SOMETHING ABOUT THE POEM...wasn't really that complete..."

"But never mind!" Satomi patted Kotoko on the back. "Let's cheer her up with a girl movie marathon!"

Yuuki was hanging around the kitchen to get an after-school snack. He heard Jinko's words, "Something about the poem...wasn't really that complete..."

Yuuki hid a mischievous smile on his face and left.

After he made sure that Naoki was asleep, the minirie (Mini-Irie) snuck up quietly to his desk and took out Naoki's English Composition notebook.

The original poem was there...but the way the gray-brown haired teen had written it, it had a blank line after every one line.

Hmmm, Yuuki thought and turned the page. And there, was the more sincere, loving, second half of the poem that helped the first one make much more sense. Yuuki taped the pages together and cut out the blank lines, so it looked like one complete poem. He smiled mischievously and scampered to Kotoko's room and slid the poem under the door.

Kotoko woke up out of another romantic fantasy with Irie and thought sadly, "it never is going to happen, is it? this one-sided love?" She got up to brush her teeth but saw a piece of paper on the floor of her room, with a short note.

"Happy Early Birthday. From Yuuki."

And there was Irie's poem...but it seemed longer! Kotoko scrunched up her nose and started to read.

(Bold is the original poem, Italics are the new lines.)

My one love cooks dishes as sweet and savory as the feasts in heaven itself,

Not taste-wise, but her enthusiasm and determination makes her food taste like a gift, and I feel so happy whenever I eat something she's given me.

My one love is so beautiful, a woman that evokes jealousy in every man,

She doesn't realize that she does, either, but her unconventional loveliness is a powerful magnet.

She doesn't trip, or fall, yet dances across whatever surface she walks on with a subconscious grace, like a ballerina.

When she's excited, at least...and then she falls, and I help her up, and she somehow manages to fall again. How can someone fall over so many times?

I love her best of all.

She makes my life interesting, she tries so hard and thinks of me a lot, emotionally, she knows exactly what I'm thinking without me having to say (except when it comes to her.) . And her mistakes make for a good laugh. She'll be my wife someday.