"I'm telling you..."
"The male lead must've liked Fujii Itsuki."
"Obviously! When the female Fujii Itsuki got bullied, he rushed over to fight. He even deliberately did things she disliked just to get her attention."
"But... the female Fujii Itsuki seems kinda weird too, doesn't she?"
"Right? Who waits in the parking lot for someone for three or four hours just to return a foreign language test paper?"
"Oh, and that girl named Sanae—when she was about to confess to the male Fujii Itsuki, did you see the female Fujii Itsuki's expression? She looked pissed."
"Especially when he said he didn't like anyone—she looked furious, like she was about to disown her entire family."
"Do you like someone?"
"Do you?"
"No."
There was a slightly tense exchange between the male and female Fujii Itsuki.
His annoyed expression when she tried to set him up with another girl, and her angry look when he claimed he didn't like anyone—it all said plenty.
Tang Yun blinked.
There he was at the sports festival, injured but still showing up.
And there she was, pretending not to look at him—but her camera lens had somehow captured every moment of his entrance.
Back at the school library, today's student library committee members were shocked when they heard her name.
"Wait, you're Fujii Itsuki?"
"No way."
"You're seriously that Fujii Itsuki?"
The stunned expressions of a group of middle school girls cracked the mystery open just a little more.
More than a decade had passed, but for some reason, many of the books in the school library still had borrowing cards tucked in the back—with the name "Fujii Itsuki" written on them.
Normally, those cards shouldn't be in books—so if they're there, someone must've put them there on purpose.
At that moment, something stirred inside Tang Yun.
So all that time when both Fujii Itsukis served as library committee members… was this what the male Fujii Itsuki was doing?
Those cards secretly tucked into the books—
Was he writing his name, Fujii Itsuki?
Or was he writing her name?
Was it just a prank?
Or was he hoping that one day, the female Fujii Itsuki—his fellow library committee member—would find them?
"He passed away two years ago. A mountain accident."
It was only after this that the female Fujii Itsuki learned from a former middle school teacher that her old classmate, the male Fujii Itsuki, had died years ago.
Her carefree and cheerful expression froze.
The teasing from current student committee members about how the boy who left all those cards must've liked her faded into silence.
Then, riding alone through the snow on her bike—
Tang Yun felt like, just maybe, she was finally starting to understand this story.
But she needed more to confirm it.
Maybe it was the cold weather, or maybe it was the shock of hearing about his death, but the female Fujii Itsuki's cold suddenly worsened.
She collapsed at home.
Her father had died years ago because a cold went untreated, and the snow blocked the way to the hospital.
Determined not to repeat that tragedy, her family dragged her through the snow to the hospital.
Then the scene cut to Watanabe Hiroko.
She and her boyfriend Akiba had gone to the mountain where the male Fujii Itsuki had died.
After months of exchanging letters with the female Fujii Itsuki, Watanabe Hiroko had finally found her answer.
And at last, she let go of her last attachment to him.
"Are you doing okay?"
"I'm fine!"
When Watanabe Hiroko shouted those words into the mountain where he had died—
Back in the hospital, the newly awakened female Fujii Itsuki murmured unconsciously:
"Are you doing okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Are you doing okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Are you doing okay?"
"I'm fine."
At that moment, both Watanabe Hiroko and the girl lying in the hospital bed said the same words—
To the same boy who had long since passed away.
For some reason—
The corners of Tang Yun's eyes turned red.
This story, from beginning to end, didn't have anything flashy or dramatic. Just a gentle, flowing narrative.
Two girls who looked exactly alike, drawn together by a boy who had died two years ago.
Watanabe Hiroko's longing, the female Fujii Itsuki's memories, and the letters they exchanged—
The entire film never gave a definitive answer, yet somehow... it said everything.
Back in middle school, when the female Fujii Itsuki had temporarily stopped attending due to her father's death—
One day, the male Fujii Itsuki showed up.
He handed her a book, shyly asking her to return it to the library.
He looked like he had something to say—but after hearing it was her father's burial day, he said nothing.
And there—she smiled.
That was the last time the two ever met.
He transferred schools. Left the city.
He didn't tell anyone in class. Only the teacher made an announcement.
But it seemed… before he left, he came to find her.
Only because of what she was going through, he couldn't say a word.
The female Fujii Itsuki returned the book to the library—and inside, she found a borrowing card with the name "Fujii Itsuki" written on it.
She glanced at it, then put the book back.
A breeze lifted the library curtains—but the boy who once basked in sunlight by the window was no longer there.
At this point, the film 'Love Letter' had reached its final act.
"The name written on the card—was it really his?"
"I think he wrote your name on it."
Through the letters from the female Fujii Itsuki, Watanabe Hiroko finally came to understand the full extent of the male Fujii Itsuki's feelings.
Only the female Fujii Itsuki received a final reply from Watanabe Hiroko, who still didn't fully understand.
She didn't think much of it—until the end of the film.
A group of present-day middle school library committee members brought the very book the male Fujii Itsuki had once asked her to return—
They wanted her to look at the borrowing card inside.
She had seen the front of it before. It said "Fujii Itsuki."
"Flip it over," they urged, eyes full of anticipation.
She turned the card over.
And there—
On the back of the borrowing card tucked inside the book—
It was a pencil sketch of a girl.
It looked just like Xia Yining. More accurately, it looked like the female Fujii Itsuki, since she had been played by Xia Yining in the film. Naturally, the sketch resembled her.
Tang Yun's breath caught in her throat.
In this two-hour movie, all the slow build-up, all the carefully placed hints, every nuanced performance—the female Fujii Itsuki's shyness, the male Fujii Itsuki's silence and odd behavior—
All of it came together in that one moment.
A love letter… delivered more than ten years too late.
The film never once said the words "I love you."
But from start to finish, those two words were etched into every frame.