“Oi~ Meru-chan~~~” A loud voice from a certain Murashige Anna startled Meru as she was focused on her phone, looking through the mobile apps, until the half-Russian girl ran up from behind and hugged her, making her look up.

“Mou, Annya, it’s way too early in the morning to be this loud!”

“What’re you doing~?” She said as she looked over to see her phone. “Ah! What’s this? Another text from your ‘secret admirer’~?”

“Shh! Quiet!” Meru covered , embarrassed. “..Yes. It’s her, again.”

“Mmph!” Anna’s voice was muffled. Meru uncovered , “What’s it about this time?”

“She says that… she wants to meet me.”

Anna squealed. “Oh my God!! Where, where??”

“She gave me a picture of this…” She showed her the picture on her phone, which was on a gazebo in a rose garden. “I looked up the address and it’s actually near the park that’s close to the old school house. She says she wants to have a tea party there with me.”

“So, are you gonna go?!”

“I guess I should.. It’d be disappointing for them to get stood up like that.”

“Oooooh, this is so amazing~” Anna hugged the girl tightly. “Congratulations~”

“T-Thanks, I guess.”

“Annya~” A new voice chimed in as Miyawaki Sakura came by, waving to her best friend.

“SAKURAAA~~~” Anna rushed to the cherry blossom girl and hugged her, spinning her around. “Nee, nee, guess what?? Meru-chan’s going on a date!”

“Really??”

“That’s what she said!” Anna dragged her best friend to Meru’s side. “Show her the text!”

Meru did what was told and showed Sakura. When Sakura saw what was on the text, her face turned slightly pale.

“Is that… the park near the old school building?”

“Yeah.”

“Meru-chan…” Sakura looked at Meru, a bit shaken. “Haven’t you heard the stories?”

“Stories?”

“Wait, what do you mean, Sakura-chan??”

“That building… it’s said to be haunted.”

“EEEEHH?!” Meru and Anna both exclaimed.

“People say that a ghost of a girl wanders through the area. I wouldn’t go if I were you.”

“O-Oh…” Meru felt a bit uneasy, looking back at her phone. Indeed, the garden and gazebo looked beautiful, but the thought of a ghost haunting the place was making her have second thoughts.

“Wait a sec! Who’s to say that your secret admirer is really the ghost girl? We don’t know for sure,” Anna said. “Plus, you just said you didn’t want to make her feel bad!”

“Well… yeah, I did say that.”

“Then you should go!”

“But--”

“But nothing! You need to go and see her!”

Meru looked back at her phone, looking at the message from her admirer.

“I have to go,” Meru murmured. “Thank you again, Annya.”

As Meru left, Anna and Sakura looked at one another.

“Do you really think she’ll be okay, Annya?” Sakura asked.

“I hope so,” Anna replied.

---------------------

Meru finally arrived at the park, standing in front of the entrance to the garden. She felt a bit nervous about walking in, debating on whether or not she should go. The words of Sakura talking about the ghost was making her feel anxious, but whenever she thought about Anna’s words or the messages from her admirer, it just made her keep going back and forth. She paced in front of the garden entrance, clutching her phone while holding it close to her chest.

“What should I do..?” she kept asking herself.

Just then, she could hear someone singing. She looked and saw a figure standing at the gazebo. A girl in a white dress and wearing a sun hat with a sunflower in it.

As if being drawn by the voice, Meru stepped through the gates and started walking down the garden path to the gazebo. The fragrance of the flowers completely surrounded her. Roses, lilies, lavender, poppies. All those different scents entered her nose and relaxed her mind.

She made it to the gazebo and saw the girl standing there, singing. When she felt Meru’s presence, she stopped and turned around to look at her, showing her face for the first time. Meru saw a cute girl who looked about her age with short black hair.

“You must be…”

The girl smiled. “I’m Izumi. Umemoto Izumi. I’m so happy to finally meet you, Meru-chan.”

Izumi pulled up a seat and gestured Meru to sit down. She did so and examined the table that was in front of her. There were tea cups set out, along with the teapot, sugar, and cream, and also various sweets like cakes and cookies.

“Wow~ these look yummy,” Meru said, smiling. “Did you make these?”

“Yes. I was hoping you would like them.”

Meru took one of the cookies and munched on it. Her eyes widened and she smiled brightly.

“I love them!” Meru kept munching the sweets, not noticing that Izumi was smiling as the girl enjoyed herself.

“I’m glad you’re happy.”

Meru looked and saw that Izumi’s eyes were filled with sadness.

“Why the long face? You should be happy, too.” Meru stood up to look at her. “Besides… you’re my secret admirer, aren’t you?”

Izumi nodded shyly.

“I loved reading your messages. They cheered me up when I was having a bad day.”

The short haired girl smiled. “That’s good. I’m glad I could make you happy.”

Meru then looked around at her surroundings. “But still… Why this place of all places?”

“Eh?”

“Why did you choose here to meet me? My friends said that this park was haunted.”

Izumi leaned against one of the pillars. “I can’t leave this place.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, actually.” Izumi looked out into the field, where the old school building was present. “That was my school, y’know.”

“Really?”

“Yes… Actually, my last memory of being there was when…” Her voice grew softer. Meru could see her face growing more sullen.

“When?”

“I was waiting… to confess to the upperclassman I liked… But, he didn’t come… I kept waiting, and.. When I thought I saw him, I…!” Izumi then clutched her head, wincing in pain.

“Are you okay?” Meru asked with concern.

“Y-yes… my head just hurts whenever I remember that day…”

Izumi sat down, sighing heavily.

“I’m sorry…” Meru said. “I wish there was some way I could make you happy. After all you’ve done for me and made me happy…”

“Thank you for showing concern. But I don’t think you can do anything for me…”

“There has to be!” Meru urged. She stood up and started pacing, thinking of ideas. Then, it hit her. “I got it! Confess to me!”

“E-Eh?”

“The only way for you to be happy is if your confession gets accepted!”

“Do you really think that’ll work?”

“I know it will!”

“Well, okay. Let’s try it,” Izumi then stood up. She took in a deep breath before facing Meru. “Meru… there’s something I want to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“The truth is… for a long time now, I’ve really liked you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Ever since I first saw you. I always had my eyes on you. For a long time, I would watch over you.”

“Thank you. I really like you, too, Izumi-chan.”

Izumi smiled, putting some of her hair behind her ear.

“So… one last thing.”

“Hm?”

“Can I…” Izumi started to blush before continuing. “Kiss you?”

“O-Okay…”

Izumi slowly walked closer to Meru, who closed her eyes as she approached her. Izumi leaned in closer and gently kissed Meru’s lips.

What was strange to Meru was that, she couldn’t feel Izumi’s lips. Rather, she felt as if something like a gentle breeze had brushed against them.

“Thank you, Meru. For everything.”

When Meru opened her eyes, she saw that Izumi was gone. And almost as if by magic, the sweets and tea that were set out on the table had disappeared as well.

“Eh..?” Meru touched her lips. “W-what was that..?”

She felt another gentle breeze and looked up to the sky. She somehow still felt as if Izumi was watching over her.

“Izumi-chan…”

Just then, her phone buzzed, and she got a new text.

“Thank you, Meru. I’ll always love you.”