(Kaede Rukawa) Let Go of That Fox!!

Also known as The First Love Letter: Rukawa Is My Destiny

My name is Yi Yanxing. I'm an utterly ordinary high school girl. On a rainy day, I met a breathtakingly beautiful fox spirit. I felt like I needed a little courage to keep living, so I made a pact with her. In exchange for powerful magic, I also got saddled with a curse: I turn invisible in an instant whenever I'm around the opposite sex.

I planned to spend the three years I had promised the fox spirit quietly blending into the human world. But fate had other plans. Thanks to my disastrous luck with the opposite sex, the editor-in-chief of the school sports gossip weekly took one look at me and, before I knew it, I was working undercover to dig up gossip about the basketball team.

I certainly did my job well, publishing one sensational article after another: The Gorilla Captain's Girlfriend Really Is a Gorilla, Shocking! Haruko Akagi Confirms She's Dating Hanamichi Sakuragi!, and Manager Ayako Rejected Ryota Miyagi Because of His Feelings for Hisashi Mitsui? My stories caused a huge stir around campus, and I had to wear a hat and mask whenever I went in or out of the gossip department.

The editor-in-chief patted me on the shoulder and said solemnly, "Yi Yan, your gossip articles are pretty good, but they still need a little more punch. What's the most important thing when we write gossip? The truth!"

Then he kicked me straight toward what he called "the truth."

As a result, while I was lying in wait for an exclusive scoop about Kaede Rukawa, I knocked him unconscious with a basketball.

I solemnly promised to take responsibility for Rukawa, who seemed to have gotten stupid after being hit in the head, but he treated me with nothing but scorn and cold indifference.

Still, after I took good care of him, he gradually opened up to me. With a perfectly serious expression, he told me, "I don't need a girlfriend. Unless she's a girl who can turn into a basketball."

I said, "Oh, get lost."

For a number of baffling reasons, I started learning basketball from Rukawa. Mostly, I was hoping it would help me find a handsome boyfriend.

After all, the Rukawa route was already blocked off. Surely there was nothing wrong with finding a handsome guy who also loved basketball, right?

I spent every day with Rukawa, whose mind was full of basketball. I shared my daydreams, and he talked about his basketball philosophy.

As time went on, I got bored again.

I announced, "I'm done learning basketball."

Rukawa asked, "Don't you want a handsome boyfriend anymore?"

I said, "You're really devious."

He replied, "Takes one to know one."

For some reason, Rukawa had started walking me home a lot lately.

I asked curiously, "Are you this nice to every basketball student?"

Rukawa answered, "No. I've only taught you."

I asked again, "Will you treat your next student like this too?"

He said, "No. I'll only teach you."

Later, Rukawa uncharacteristically tried to start a conversation. "You said you liked traveling. Is there anywhere you want to go?"

I said, "Okinawa Island."

Rukawa said, "I can go with you."

I asked, "Does that count as a date?"

He immediately turned red and stammered.

I added, "How could it? We're not boyfriend and girlfriend."

Rukawa said, "Maybe... maybe we will be someday..."

I pressed him. "Be what?"

Rukawa said, "Boyfriend and girlfriend... I mean, if you're willing..."

I cried out, "Oh my god, but I still haven't learned how to turn into a basketball."

Rukawa said, "You don't have to turn into a basketball anymore."

He said, I like you.

And that's how Rukawa and I began a first-love journey full of mutual "torment" and sweetness.

But happiness never lasts.

My boyfriend Rukawa is perfect in every way, except that his memory is unbelievably bad. And now, he's forgotten me again.

Looks like it's time to find the fox spirit and make another deal.

Theme: Anyone with a dream can achieve great things.