Pov kiyo.
Dan: "Is everyone ready to watch a new video? Because this video is going to be a bit dramatic so everyone please hold your hearts.
All students: "Will the video be fun to watch?
Dan: "Some students will enjoy it, but not all.
Ryuen: "Leave everything else and tell me, will I enjoy it or not?"
Dan: "Whether anyone else enjoys it or not, you'll definitely enjoy it a lot, I'm sure."
Ryuen: "That's what I'm talking about!"
Pov ryuuen
"This brings us to the end of homeroom," said Sakagami-sensei, Class C's teacher.
"I'd like to remind everyone to please be on your best behavior, even during winter vacation, and to make good use of your time. That's all."
I took out my phone as I listened to his gracious, meaningless words. Today was the day of the closing ceremony-the final day of the second semester.
Ryuuen: ohhhh I seee kukuku.
Sakagami-sensei: "well I m not even surprised."
Sae-sensei: " I guess that's to be expected of Ryuen... " She sighed in exasperation
Mashima-sensei: "Does he also act like that even in front of you? "
Sakagami-sensei: " At least it's not everyday.... "
Chei-sensei: " what a rude student u have."
Mashima-sensei: "You have it rough, huh... " he said in sympathy
Sakagami-sensei: well yesss.
Our classes finished early, leaving us free by afternoon. There were no club activities today, either. The school encouraged students to head back early, so hardly anyone would be left in the building. In other words, it was finally time to strike.
Kenzaki: what u up to ryuuen???
Hashimoto: maybe something crazy.
Katsuragi: maybe X.
Ryuuen: kukukuku.
Nagumo: now we will see ayanakoji vs ryuuen it will be interesting right senpaiii.
Manabu: ( well he just ignore him)
"I eliminated everyone I can, but that still leaves about ten possible candidates," I muttered to myself.
Some were people I'd never even spoken to, but it couldn't be helped. I would've preferred to do this without using Karuizawa, but X had eluded me so far.
"Well, I guess this just means I get to have some more fun."
To be honest, there was a particular person I'd had my eye on all along, but I couldn't jump to conclusions yet.
If anything, it would be all the more fun to be able to confront X with a clear head and no doubts.
I'd taken certain steps after the Paper Shuffle. I mobilized every Class C student and assigned them targets to spy on. Of course, it wasn't like tailing people was likely to get me much closer to discovering X's identity. I excluded the weaklings, narrowing my list of suspects to delinquents like Sudou and Miyake, and conservative people like Hirata.The Class D punks had noticed they were being tailed-except for Sudou, who was so dumb and oblivious I'd had to have my people provoke him directly.
Sudo: you basterd.
Horikita: don't do anything sudo he's just provoking you.
Sudo: ok suzune.
Ryuuen: what an amazing dog 🐕 Kukukuku
Sudo: (clenched 👊 his fist in anger)
Horikita thought: it's good that he understand.
But being noticed was fine by me. I wanted them constantly aware that I was watching. I wanted X to spend their days trembling with fear, terrified of having their identity discovered.
Some students who knew Kiyotaka started laughing , otherwise everyone was silent.
Yet they'd continued to use Suzune as a cover, stubbornly keeping themselves hidden. Which meant I had to tighten the noose.
One more thing. Though I'd all but told X I'd target Karuizawa, I had yet to make a move. I was sure they'd been on edge these past two weeks or so, probably wondering how and when I'd contact Karuizawa, how I'd extract information from her.
Chances were, they were asking her daily whether anything out of the ordinary had happened. The uncertainty would take it out of them. It would confuse them. They'd be exhausted, paranoid, and jumping at shadows, constantly imagining me breathing down their neck.
Ichika: 'I started laughing very hard and said, 'Oh senpai, you're so funny! How did you even think of this?'
Kei, who was sitting next to me, also started laughing. I looked around and saw that everyone who knew me was laughing, while those who didn't know me looked a bit confused. As soon as Hosen got the chance, he started teasing Ryuuen. Now Ryuuen is very angry. But Hosen didn't stop and continued to tease Ryuuen even more.
Which made today the best day for me to strike. Now, I was ready to corner them. Even though it'd only been a few minutes since dismissal, more than half the class had left. The clock on the wall seemed as if it was ticking slower than normal.
"Kukukuku..." My heart raced. It'd been years since I felt this kind of exhilaration.
Ibuki: creeep.
Ryuuen: kukukuku.
Ibuki:tch
Ibuki had asked why I risked so much just to identify X. She called it meaningless. She was right that I didn't care about anything past discovering X's identity, at least.
Ibuki thought I'd feel disappointed once I found out who X was. That might be true of normal people, but fighting Class D had led me to understand that X thought and moved like me. I'd never met another person like myself before. That fascination drove me onward.
I wondered how I would feel when I came face-to-face with X, and what my next goal would be. X had entertained me for so long. The thought of meeting them made my pulse quicken, almost like first love.
Sakayanagi: fufufu dragon boy seem so exited to meet our x.
Ryuuen: kukuku indeed
Kamuro/ibuki: what a weirdo.
I would do anything, use any means, to find them.
The text I'd sent to X this morning was already marked as read. They knew what was going to happen today. What would they do, then? What kind of plan would they devise?
"Ryuuen-kun," said Shiina Hiyori, who sat right beside me.
"What?" I asked.
"Everyone seems really restless today, don't they?" she asked, surveying the room.
Katsuragi: seems like you didn't know about that.
Hiyori: yea I don't involve in class matter.
Katsuragi: I see.
The remaining students all drew nearer to me.
"What are you planning?"
"I'm going to confront my entertaining quarry of these past several months. You wanna come?" I asked.
"No, I must decline. I don't quite see how that would be fun." Shiina paused, then said, "Do you really need to hunt them down?"
"Huh?"
"Nothing. I suppose that's for you to decide, Ryuuen-kun, as our class's leader." She stood. "I'll be in the library. If there's any trouble, please contact me."
"It's not like you'll be of any use, though, is it?" I asked.
"I suppose you're right. Well, have a nice winter vacation."
Ishizaki: "Ryuuen-san, if you had taken Shina with you that day, Ayanakoji-san wouldn't have beaten us up. He couldn't hit us in front of Shina, they're friends, after all. We should have taken her with us."
Ryuuen: "If we had taken Shina with us that day, Shina would have stopped us from doing all that with Karuizawa, and Ayanakoji wouldn't have attacked us that day, but he would have attacked us the next day for sure."
Ishizaki: oh I understand sorry ryuuen san.
She said that calmly, without a trace of fear, then left. Hiyori was clever, but she hated conflict, which made her useless as a pawn. People who obediently followed me around were much easier to use. I finished my final preparations, then gathered my people.
"It's time, isn't it, Ryuuen-san?" said Ishizaki, looking restless.
"Let's make the most of today," I told him.
I handed Ishizaki a bag with certain indispensable items in it. Ibuki and Albert stood up, too. I didn't need large numbers for this. I needed people who were tight-lipped, because we were about to do something that would shock this proper, well-behaved school to its core.
Kenzaki: "But during the winter holidays, no serious issue came up, maybe it was suppressed before it could come up."
Thirty minutes after homeroom ended, winter vacation had begun.
The campus was practically deserted. As with summer vacation, the students stampeded back to their dorms, leaving barely anyone to witness our bold movements.
"So, where are we going? Cut the crap and tell us," said Ibuki.
All students : finally
I'd said nothing of my current strategy to anyone, to eliminate the possibility of spies like Manabe and her friends. Ibuki and the rest only knew that I'd ordered Ishizaki and the other guys to keep an eye on Miyake and a few more people. Therefore, they didn't know the real reason I'd pressed Kouenji.
I had no doubt that X would do whatever necessary to keep their
identity hidden. So, I'd hidden my plans as much as possible to improve my
chances of cornering them.
"Concerned, Ibuki?"
"You make me nervous, dragging me into all your stupid schemes."
Ishizaki might have been curious about my true intentions as well,
because he drew in closer, too.
"You remember Karuizawa, right?" I said. "She's the reason Manabe
and her friends were strong-armed into spying on us for Class D."
"That loud girl from Class D, right?" Ibuki had infiltrated Class D on
the deserted island, so she knew its students quite well.
"I sent Karuizawa a message today, asking her to come to the rooftop.
Karuizawa knows I was the one who sent it, too. I got her email address from
another girl in her class." I avoided saying the traitor's name. It wasn't
necessary for me to reveal Kushida Kikyou's part in this yet.
Ike: "Why did you call Kikyo-chan a traitor?"
Sotomura: "yea why u called her traitor!"
Ryuen: "If I don't call a traitor a traitor, what should I call them?"
Kushida (thinking): "What do I do now? If this keeps up, everyone will find out I'm the class traitor..."
Matsushita: "Kushida-san, why are you sweating so much? Say something to clear your name, or are you really the class traitor?"
Kushida: "No, I'm not a traitor!"
Sakayanagi: "Defects?"
Hashimoto: "Do you know something about this, Hime?"
Sakayanagi: "Is there something I don't know?"
Hashimoto: "Well, it's true..."
Ichinose: "So, Kushida-san is the class C traitor!"
Hirata: "Everyone, be quiet! We can't just blindly trust someone and start a fight in our own class."
Horikita: "You don't need to worry, I've got everything under control."
Sudo: "You're amazing, Suzune!"
Sakayanagi: "Puppet leader "
Ryuen: "Brocon"
"Huh? Rooftop? There's no way Karuizawa would come if you're the one calling."
"She will definitely come. If she doesn't, I told her I'd expose her past." If the pathetic fact that she got bullied in the past were to come to light, it'll cause a huge ruckus. If she understands that this could put her current social status at risk, then She had no choice but to bite the
bullet and turn up.
"Even if Karuizawa does show, do you think she'd tell you X's
identity?"
"I suppose she wouldn't let that slip, normally..."
"Normally? No." X had almost certainly promised to protect
Karuizawa from all her enemies. "But I sent X a message, too. I told them I
was meeting Karuizawa today, and that I was going to learn their identity
from her. That I'd use any means necessary to get what I wanted. That way,
I'm not just threatening Karuizawa, but also threatening X at the same time."
"But...you sent a threatening message to Karuizawa, right? What if she
tattles to the school? If X puts the idea in her head, she might." Ibuki glared
at me, as if demanding to know why I hadn't thought that far ahead.
"She won't do that. If she does, I'll expose her right away. No matter
what she tries, Karuizawa can't turn the tables on us."
The only countermeasure at their disposal would be if X showed up to
confront me directly instead of Karuizawa.
"The worst-case scenario," I said, "will be if X shows up instead of
Karuizawa. Regardless, it's going to be fun to see what Karuizawa does."
"I can't imagine it's worth the risk.".
Kei's friends: did he do something to bad to you kei chan tell us???
Kei: just watch the video.
Akito:kiyotaka promise her he will protect her so no need to worry.
Ryuuen: do you really believe that kukuku.
Haruka: you will save her right kiyopon????
Kiyotaka: you will find out later.
"That's not true at all. Crushing Karuizawa means taking one of X's
most valuable pawns off the board. It seems they've been using her in various
ingenious ways."
"How do you know that? I mean, I understand that X threatened
Manabe and her friends to protect Karuizawa, but..."
Even I had only recently realized that Karuizawa was one of X's pawn.
I had arrived at that conclusion precisely because of several incomprehensible
things that happened during the Paper Shuffle.
"Heh. Well, eyes forward, Ibuki. X aside, you'll definitely get to see
Karuizawa terrified by the threat of me exposing how she was bullied in the
past," I said.
"If Karuizawa does show...what are you going to do if you can't
extract X's identity from her?" asked Ishizaki. Both he and Ibuki seemed
concerned.
"According to Manabe and her friends, Karuizawa was bullied quite
viciously in the past. People who've been through such traumatic experiences
tend to lose control of themselves when placed in a similar scenario. Why
don't we go ahead and reproduce those memories for her? Let's put on a
show. We'll reenact her past until she tells us X's identity."
Hirata: u r not doing anything bad to her.
Ryuuen: what happened hirata did you feel bad for your fake ex girlfriend. Or did u realise u r in love with her ??? Kukukuku
Hirata: don't say anything ryuuen-kun.
"No way. This is insane!" said Ibuki.
"This is extreme, Ryuuen-san. A bunch of us ganging up on and
bullying a girl? I mean, there are cameras on the rooftop!"
Kiryuin: seem like u don't wanna do ishizaki but you have to bcz of that idiot.
Ishizaki: well yea.
"I'm fully aware of that. I have a plan."
I began ascending the stairs to the roof. Halfway up, I stopped and
looked back at Ibuki and Ishizaki, who were lagging a couple steps behind.
"If you don't like it, run," I told them.
"I-I won't run. I'll follow you, Ryuuen-san."
"What about you, Ibuki?"
"It all depends on your plan. If I think it's dangerous, I'll leave."
She'd
been curious about X's identity for some time
Asahina: and she is there bcz she is curious 🧐.
now, too.
I had Ibuki, Albert, and Ishizaki wait near the rooftop door, taking the
bag from Ishizaki. I removed the necessary tools, then handed the bag back.
"This is..."
"Wait."
I opened the door. It was rare for a school rooftop to be accessible
year-round. The reason this one did was because it had both proper fencing
and a surveillance camera. Any dangerous activities would be recorded.
Students knew this, which was why they behaved themselves up here.
However, the roof was also a secluded spot. With its cafes and mall,
the campus had many much more popular hangouts. I was probably the only
one eccentric enough to often come all the way up here.
There was also a limit to the number of cameras the school could
install. There was only one surveillance camera on this particular roof,positioned above the door, which was the only real place a camera could be
installed here. The one camera was more than enough to capture nearly the
entire rooftop in its field of view, leaving almost no blind spots. The flipside
of this, of course, was that if that one camera stopped functioning, the rooftop
would be unmonitored.
It was the same kind of camera as the ones in the school building:
vandalism-proof, with a strong polycarbonate lens and tough steel body that
would be tough to break. But violence wasn't the only way to disable a
camera.
I stood directly underneath it and looked into the lens. I took the can of
black spray paint I'd brought with me, pointed it at the lens, and sprayed.
Nagumo: nice plan.
Koenji: Impressive dragon boy.
Ryuen: Shut up you blondie.
Mashima-sensei: "I'm impressed. As expected of Ryuen, I guess. "
Sakagami-sensei: " Yes, this year holds many promising students. "
Sae-sensei: "I can tell that they are still growing. Even here, some are showing signs of growth. "
Chie-sensei: "All because of a single person!" She said in joy
The other three: " Yeah. "
Their conversation is only audible within the adults' row.
'Kijima should be pleased that Ayanokouji Kiyotaka attended this school in this year of diamonds in the rough. ' - Tsukishiro
"There. Safe from prying eyes," I said.
I'd done my research. Of the hundreds of cameras installed throughout
the school, only a limited number displayed footage in real time, and this
wasn't one of them. The school authorities wouldn't notice what was
happening up here in time to stop it. I'd painted a different surveillance
camera before, to test my theory, and my only punishment when I reported
what I'd done to Sakagami was paying to have it cleaned.
The school was bound to be on low alert today, when most of the
students had left.
"Albert, remain on standby down the stairs. When Karuizawa comes,
let her pass. If anyone unexpected pays us a visit, like one of the teachers,
call me right away."
Albert nodded and went back downstairs.
"You painted over the camera?" asked Ibuki. "Isn't that a punishable
offense?"
"Just a simple prank. Nothing to get worked up over."
"We'd better hope Karuizawa shows up."
"She'll come. This is a matter of life and death for her."
Ichinose: you use her past to blackmail her u are the worst here.
Ryuuen: I can do whatever I want as I will destroy you and your class sooon.
All that remained was to wait.
IT WAS ALMOST TWO in the afternoon, just shy of the time I'd set for
Karuizawa, when the rooftop door opened to admit a lone student. The
leading lady of today's show appeared, stiffening in the cold air.
"Heh. I knew you'd come, Karuizawa."
I turned off my phone and slipped it into my pocket. Ibuki and Ishizaki
faced Karuizawa, both looking a little nervous.
Everyone: she come.
Sato: kei chan I will gonna tell us if anything happens to you we are here for you.
Kei: I will.
"The message you sent," said Karuizawa. "What's it supposed to
mean?"
"There's really no need to ask me that. You're here precisely because
you understand what it meant."
My message had read, Manabe and her friends told me everything
about your past. Come to the rooftop after class, alone. If you talk to anyone,
word of your past will spread through the entire school.
Just mentioning Manabe and her friends was enough to guarantee
Karuizawa would understand what the message meant. She had no choice but
to understand it.
"I'm guessing you told no one, as I instructed? Well, it's not like you
had a choice. You can hardly let just anyone know about your past, after all."
Karuizawa might've panicked and alerted X, considering that X alone
probably knew her secret, but I didn't really care. As I told Ibuki and the
others, I'd sent X a message myself.
Today, I'd pass judgment on Karuizawa. And then, I'd hound her for
X's identity. Whether or not she'd asked for help, it didn't matter. The end
result would be the same.
"You came alone after all, huh?" I asked.
"You told me to, didn't you?"
"Heh. Suppose so."
It wasn't like X, who'd done so much to hide their identity in the first
place, was going to carelessly show up here. And Karuizawa couldn't ask for
help from anyone other than X, because if she did, then her past would be
exposed. The same applied to X, who wanted to keep their identity hidden. In
other words, both of their options were severely limited.
"Look. I really don't, like, have a single clue what you're talking
about, but it's cold out. I wanna finish this quick." Karuizawa rubbed her
arms, as if she had a chance of pretending she didn't know what was going
on. She was a poor actress.
"In that case, why come here? You should've just ignored me."
"Well, that's...because I didn't want any lies spreading around."
She was trying her hardest to appear calm, but I easily called her bluff.
"Lies, huh? Everyone here knows the truth... that you were bullied before
you started high school."
"Ah..." When confronted with that, her behavior changed.
"It was a stroke of luck that Manabe and her friends found out. If you
want to blame anyone, blame yourself for not handling them better."
"What do you want? What do you gain by threatening me?"
"What would you do if I told you I'm just killing time?" Though I still
had plenty of leverage, Karuizawa was already out of options.
"If you do anything to me...I-I'll tell the school," she stammered.
"You came here alone because you know you can't do that."
"Aren't you getting carried away, Ryuuen? She might still have
something up her sleeve," Ibuki said. She still seemed to suspect something
was up, since Karuizawa had come to the rooftop alone.
"Karuizawa's powerless to do anything but rely on X. No need to be so
cautious. Even if she records this conversation, it's not like she can do
anything with it. Having her past exposed is her greatest fear. As long as we
hold that card, she's at our mercy."
"But-"
"Enough. Shut up."
I already knew what Ibuki wanted to say. She was going to say that
Manabe and her friends had been threatened with evidence of them bullying Karuizawa. They'd been forced to lay off her, made to promise they wouldn't
speak a word of it to anyone, and then strongarmed into digging their own
graves by giving away information about Class C.
Ibuki was anxious that evidence of what we were doing up here might
be used to blackmail us the same way, but that wasn't going to happen. I
would make sure of it.
Karuizawa's past was our weapon. As long as I made good use of that
weapon, we had nothing to fear. Anyone trying to drive us into a corner
would be doing the same to Karuizawa. And the danger there went both
ways, of course. It was a double-edged sword.
I had to use the information at my disposal to cause enough disruption
to be effective, but if I went ahead and entirely exposed Karuizawa's past to
the school, I'd have nothing left to threaten her with. I'd crush Karuizawa,
but X would get away. I had to find the person hiding behind Karuizawa. I
had to learn X's true identity here and now, and to do that, I needed to gauge
the strength of the connection between Karuizawa and X.
"Let's stop going in circles. You want me to let you off, right? Tell me
the identity of the person hiding behind you. If you do, I'll keep quiet about
your past," I told her.
"I don't, like, get what you mean." Karuizawa looked upset. She'd
known that I was looking for the Class D mastermind, but until now,
probably hadn't realized that we'd figured out her connection to them.
"X saved you from Manabe and her friends, right?"
Horikita: (So my assumption was right.)
Onodera: why are you not coming to help her?
Ayanokoji: It was not right time.
"H-huh? You're wrong."
"It's pointless to hide. I've got evidence."
"Evidence?"
It seemed X had kept more details from Karuizawa than I'd thought. I
would slowly and methodically exert more pressure on her until her back was
up against the wall.
"How do you think X protected you from them?"
"I have no idea. Besides, they weren't bullying me. Even if you say
this stuff about X, or whatever-"
"Okay, okay. I get it. If you're not going to fess up, I'll just tell you."
Looked like she wasn't going to spill the beans unless she had the facts laid
out for her. "X threatened to expose Manabe and her friends for bullying you
if they didn't do as they said. That's how they got them to keep their mouths
shut."
Shinohara: well did you know about that?
Karuizawa: No I did not know well but he said to me that all was going to according the plan so that's why I didn't ask much because he always have a way out.
Karuizawa didn't answer. All she did was glare at me.
"Heh heh. I see... So, you did know how X kept Manabe and her
friends quiet, then."
"I-I didn't say anything."
"No, you didn't. But your eyes told me the truth quite well on their
own."
I continued speaking.
"If that was all X did, I wouldn't care. But that wasn't enough for
them. You see, X forced Manabe and her friends to betray me during the
sports festival, too. They made them be their spies and leak information to
them by threatening to expose the fact that they'd been bullying you."
"What are you talking about? Seriously, I have no clue-"
"Your eyes are shifty, aren't they? Seems like this is the first time you
heard about the sports festival."
There's no way, I thought. Perhaps Karuizawa actually didn't know
who X was? If X always contacted her with an anonymous email address,
then...
No. I didn't think Karuizawa would follow orders from someone she
couldn't see and didn't know. If she really had no idea who they were, why
not just admit she'd worked with them to an extent but knew nothing more?
If she was denying that she knew anything, there had to be a reason for it.
"All I want is X's name. The name of the person who's been attacking
me. I honestly couldn't care less about your past. Wouldn't it be wisest to
comply?"
"No matter how many times you ask, my answer's the same. I don't
know anything. Seriously, it's cold out here..." She was wearing extremely
thin clothing. Perhaps she hadn't intended on being out here very long.
"Yeah, it sure is cold, isn't it? Don't you want to finish our little chat
quickly and head back inside?"
"I have nothing to say."
"I see. If you insist on covering for X, then I have no choice. You're
okay with me exposing your entire past?"
"I..."
Karuizawa was truly up a creek without a paddle. No matter what I did
to attack her, she'd have no choice to keep her mouth shut. Whatever she
chose, she'd be making an enemy. She could think about it all she wanted,
but all that would do was waste time.
"There's no point fighting me," I said. "You can't brainstorm your way
out of this situation. You know your options are limited. If you want to save
yourself, you know the correct choice is to tell me their name."
"I-If there really is someone hiding in the shadows like that, you have
no way of knowing whether the name I give you is actually the person you're
looking for, right?" asked Karuizawa.
Ishizaki, perhaps because he was also hung up on that point, cut into
our conversation without permission. "Ryuuen-san, she's right. We have no
way to know if she's telling us the truth."
The idiot was just giving Karuizawa an escape route. I shot Ishizaki a
look to tell him to be quiet. Realizing his mistake, he shut his mouth.
"If I find out you lied to me, I'll expose you later," I told Karuizawa.
Bitchnohara: "That's all happened her bcz of that
Kiryuin: " Oh stop being toxic, bitchy Kohai. I bet some of you are victims of her bullying, right? That glasses girl from Class D already show a proof of what would happen once you get a hold of her weakness. That goes to the others. That's reality. "
Most girls averted their faces, and the boys couldn't say anything. Seeing no one will back her up, Shinohara sat with a frustrated face.
"That-"
"The only way you can save yourself is to tell me everything you
know." I laughed at her, but Karuizawa just looked at me sideways and
countered my words.
"I'm not that stupid," she shot back. "It doesn't matter if I tell you the
truth now, or lie. Either way, you'll just try to use this against me again down
the line. Sorry, I'm not going to be a pawn you can use whenever you want."
"Heh. Yes, I suppose you're right. There's no guarantee I won't keep
using this against you, like X used Manabe and her friends. Even so, what
choice do you have?"
"I can neither confirm nor deny that there's someone hiding behind me.
I'm not going to just blurt out a name to you, either. In other words, I have no
answer for you."
Apparently, Karuizawa had determined that silence was the only
correct answer. It wasn't a bad option, but I could hardly say it was the best
one.
"And if I expose you as a result?" I said.
"You think that someone's controlling Class D from the shadows, but
you wouldn't have contacted me unless you'd failed to discover their identity
so far. In which case, I'm the only lead you have, and you can't afford to
throw me away."
"I see. So, if I expose your past before I get anything out of you, I'm
screwed, eh? You won't tell me anything, and my hunt for X's identity will
be delayed even further," I reasoned.
Karuizawa averted her eyes, as if to say, "Yes, that's exactly what I
meant."
"Honestly, I don't really care if I don't learn X's identity from your
lips. I'm happy to take my time figuring out who they are. You think that I
won't have plenty of opportunities to catch X in the future?" I asked.
"That's assuming X comes at you again. If they notice that you're
trying to figure out their identity, won't they be extra careful from now on?"
she replied.
She was smarter than I thought. A clever, sharp-tongued woman. If X's
mind really worked the same way mine did, they'd probably chosen her
because they felt her social clout within Class D made her a valuable tool. X
had no qualms about using people, which meant they probably had no qualms
about abandoning her, either.
There was no doubt X was moving to advance Class D's prospects.
What I couldn't rule out, however, was the possibility that if forced to
choose, X would prioritize keeping their identity hidden over advancing
Class D. If I went ahead and exposed Karuizawa, I might never find out who
they were. That would really spoil my fun, huh?
"You really came up with some good self-defense measures, huh? All on your own, too?" I asked Karuizawa. I was guessing she'd racked her
brains to get here. It was possible X had fed her some ideas... but the chances
of that seemed slim.
"Get the picture? Don't you think the best option would be to just
quietly let me go?" she shot back in return.
I checked my phone. No texts from anyone. Had my attempt to contact
X gone south?
Well, it wasn't like I hadn't known it wouldn't be easy to pin X down.
I decided it was time to take things to the next level.
"Look, all you need to do is tell me who X is," I told Karuizawa. "If
you know, I'm going to extract it from you one way or another."
This is your fault, X. This is the result of you trying to have your cake
and eat it too; both saving Karuizawa and hiding your identity.
"If your threats don't work, how do you intend to make me talk?" she
asked.
"That's obvious, isn't it? Torture is a time-honored tradition."
"Ryuuen-san, are you serious?"
"Ibuki, hold Karuizawa down."
"Why me? You can do it yourself, can't you?" Ibuki didn't seem very
willing to join in.
"Do it," I commanded.
"I won't be complicit in this. It's too risky," said Ibuki.
"Pathetic. You're wimping out after failing me so many times in a
row?" I grabbed the rebellious Ibuki's arm and pulled her close. "This is how
you earn back my trust. I'll take responsibility for what happens here. Don't
hold back."
"Tch..." Ibuki clicked her tongue, but approached Karuizawa.
"Wh-what?" Karuizawa squeaked.
"Look, I've got problems of my own. Sorry," said Ibuki. She moved
behind Karuizawa and grabbed her hands.
"Ow!" shrieked Karuizawa.
Despite Ibuki's initial reluctance, she held Karuizawa easily in place.
There was nothing Karuizawa could do against someone with martial arts
training.
"Ishizaki, go fill some buckets with water. Let's start with two. There
are two cleaning buckets in the men's bathroom one floor below. No one
should be using it right now."
"Huh? Water? What for?"
"Are you going to defy me, too?"
"N-no. I'll get them!" Ishizaki panicked and ran past Ibuki, looking as
if he was about to trip over his own feet.
"Now, let's enjoy a nice little chat until Ishizaki returns," I said.
"No! Let me go!"
Karuizawa thrashed desperately, but couldn't break free of Ibuki's
grip. She probably guessed what was going to happen, which was precisely
why I was having Ibuki restrain her in the first place-not to prevent her
from escaping, but to amplify her fear of what was to come.
"If you lay one finger on me, I'll tell everyone!" Karuizawa shouted.
"Heh heh. It was pretty cocky of you to show up here. Did you think X
would protect you this time, too?" I asked.
Onodera: How can you help him as you are also a girl.
Ibuki didn't answer.
Ryuen: kuku because of fear that's it. If you are ordered by someone who is above you and you also fear him/her you will naturally follow that person order.
Ayanokoji: (I didn't think he will take all blame in himself. So he care about his classmates)
Sudo: You bastard.
Kanzaki: There are limits that you have crossed it.
Katsuragi: Now I am having second thoughts about joining class.
Nagumo: hmm something is interesting going on right senpai.
Manabu: no comments.
Kiryuuin: These guys are more interesting than in my year.
No matter how many times I asked her, the answer was the same. She
stubbornly refused to admit whether this X person really existed.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess X, Class D's hidden puppet
master, promised to protect you from things like this. Right?" I asked.
Karuizawa's eyes darted around. She might have thought she was
hiding her thoughts, but they were plain for all to see.
"If not, this doesn't add up. If your past became known, your
headstrong, bossy attitude would work to turn people against you, even girls
from other classes. Manabe and her friends wouldn't be the only ones
targeting you," I said.
Ibuki took her eyes off Karuizawa and looked over at me.
"You must spend every day racked with fear that they'll all learn the
truth. But you managed to get this far without your secret getting out. Why?
There's only one possible explanation. It's because of the person who saved
you and supported you."
"And you think that person's X?" asked Ibuki.
"For now. But that's only been the case recently, right?" I asked
Karuizawa. "X only learned the truth about your past after your spat with
Manabe and her friends. You made Hirata pretend to be your boyfriend to
protect yourself, didn't you?"
Sakayanagi: so dragon boy also know everything about her.
Ryuuen: yes I know everything about everyone loli.
Karuizawa's pupils dilated. "Y-you're wrong..."
"But I'm not, am I? Don't lie to me, Karuizawa." I peered deep into
her eyes, as if I could see all the way to the darkness buried within. X
must've done the same.
"Ah...?!" She was really panicking now. It was cute.
"How could you know that, Ryuuen?" Ibuki sounded shocked, too.
Hashimoto: so she also didn't know about that.
"Chalk it up to experience. I've dealt with tons of rotten people in my
life," I told them.
"Ugh...oof. S-sorry to have kept you waiting." Ishizaki returned,
carrying two buckets almost completely full of water.
Hirata: what's on your mind.
Ryuuen: seat and watch the show hirata don't interfere.
Their contents splashed violently.
Ibuki barraged me with questions again on seeing the buckets. "You
said that there were two buckets. How did you know? Did you investigate
this all beforehand"?
"Do you know how many surveillance cameras this school has? I bet
you don't even know that much."
"Huh? Of course not."
"You won't know if you don't investigate. But if you do your research,
you'll begin to comprehend everything that you see around us," I told them.
Every day, little by little, I'd scoped out all the locations where
surveillance cameras were installed throughout the school. As a result, I'd
also learned about the buckets stored in that particular bathroom for cleaning
purposes.
"One of the experiments I used to ascertain all this was the time I had
Ishizaki and the other guys attack Sudou," I said. "Because they're idiots, it
seems there was a witness from Class D there at the time."
As a result of the witness's presence, Ishizaki and the others had been
tricked into confessing by a fake surveillance camera. Ishizaki wore a look of
shame on his face as I mentioned the incident. If not for the witness, C Class
could have gained quite a bit that time.
"I told you before, Ishizaki, didn't I? Never admit any wrongdoing."
"Y-Yes... I was j-just, well, that just shook me a bit..." he stammered.
"The school might appear to strictly enforce a code of behavior, but
that's not entirely true. There are loopholes that allow the use of forceful
methods, if you play your cards right," I continued. There were clues
scattered all through our normal, everyday lives to hint at that. "I'm sure you
guys don't get it, but the cleverest members of the student body are the ones
constantly testing the boundaries of what the school allows."
The very first thing I'd done after enrolling at this mysterious school
was look for its "rules," and how to beat them. The second thing I'd done was
something vital to understanding the system: test the importance of private
points.
"For instance," I said, "have you ever noticed one particular thing that's strange about all these tests? The uninhabited island test, the cruise ship
test, the Paper Shuffle-whatever the test, you'd think the senior students
would be able to give us some advice, wouldn't you? But if you try and ask
them, not a single one will give you a satisfactory answer. Why do you think
that is?"
"...Maybe the exams are conducted differently each year? Like, it's
possible the rules are different."
"Yeah. I don't think the exams are exactly the same each year. Strictly
speaking, though, it's probably more accurate to say the rules for every grade
level are different."
"What do you mean, Ryuuen-san?"
If you could clear exams by with from senior students, then they'd
hardly be exams at all. Everything would just turn into stupid competitions to
see who could butter up the seniors more. There had to be rules put in place
to prevent that from happening.
"What if there was a supplementary rule that stated 'any second- or
third-year students will be expelled immediately if they leak exam
contents'?" I asked.
"That's... They would never talk."
"That's right. Even if a freshman asked them, they wouldn't say a
word. No way would people who fought to avoid expulsion for a whole year
risk getting expelled over making a careless comment. In fact, I tried and
utterly failed to negotiate in second-year Class-D students by offering them
private points. Proof that talking carries considerable risk."
"But... Well, I suppose you might be right. Komiya and Kondou said
something like that a while ago, too. They said they tried to ask some
upperclassmen for hints and got nothing. If anything, it kind of felt like they
weren't even allowed to ask."
Which was precisely what gave rise to the feeling that it had been
forbidden for generations. It was very likely the actual rules were more
detailed, but we'd learn them eventually.
"I've always tried to push the boundaries between what's acceptable
and what's considered a violation of school rules," I explained. Researching
the surveillance cameras, bribing the senior students, and making the back-
alley deal with Class A were all part of my experiments to ascertain what I
could and couldn't do. "What we're about to do to Karuizawa is one such
experiment, too."
Karuizawa started to shiver in the cold.
"Trauma can be awakened more strongly through the senses than
through words," I added.
Based to what Manabe and her friends had told me, the fierce
Karuizawa would quickly buckle when subjected to this.
I signaled Ishizaki with one glance. Ibuki pushed Karuizawa forward
and then stepped away. In accordance with my orders, Ishizaki dumped a
bucket of water on Karuizawa's head.
"Ah!"
Being doused outdoors, in the middle of winter, would chill anyone to
the bone. Karuizawa collapsed, shivering, and hugged herself tight. Her
bravado was gone, washed away by just one bucket of water.
Everyone it's cold after all.
"Do you remember the baptism you received at your previous school?"
I asked.
"N-no!" She covered her ears and sat there, her whole body trembling,
as if she were a little girl afraid of ghosts.
"Come on, we're just getting started." I took out my phone and began
recording. I pushed Karuizawa's wet bangs from her eyes, watching her spirit
begin to break. She was probably flashing back to being bullied right now. "If
you won't talk, then I'll circulate this video throughout the school."
That was a lie, but Karuizawa was no longer in any state to tell.
"Come on, scream. Beg me to have mercy."
"N-no!"
The deeper the scars, the more they hurt when you uncovered them.
"I can't watch this. I knew I shouldn't have helped you," said Ibuki,
averting her eyes.
"Bullying the weak is pretty fun though, right? It really gets you
going."
I thought back to a particular occasion when some people had attacked
me, long ago. There was one guy who started out all cocky, but then wound
up bawling like a baby when I turned the tables on him.
Karuizawa's case was a little different.
"Even though you were so persistently bullied, you stood tall in D
Class. I'm impressed," I told her. "That's not easily achieved. In a way, you
might be a girl with the spirit to stand up to me."
Despite being so weak, she'd held her head high. She'd created a new
identity for herself, then maintained that position by using Hirata and through
X's protection.
But bullying makes people servile. Once experienced, the trauma is
easily reawakened. That's just the way it is.
I crouched beside Karuizawa's trembling form and continued to mock
her. "Here's the thing about human nature. People don't change. You were
designed to be bullied, not to bully. Remember that."
I picked up the other bucket and dumped the water over Karuizawa.
"...!" Letting out a silent scream, she curled into a ball, shrinking in
fear.
"Ishizaki. Get more."
"Y-yes." Ishizaki picked up the two empty buckets and headed
downstairs.
"Who's protecting you and keeping Manabe and her friends quiet?" I
demanded.
"There's...no one... No one, no one, no one!" Karuizawa screamed.
She shook her head fervently.
"Heh. Still trying to hide it? I guess you do have spirit. Or maybe it's
just that you're so used to being bullied? Maybe this doesn't even qualify as
bullying for you." I grabbed Karuizawa's arm and yanked her to her feet.
"I can't watch this," Ibuki said again.
Asahina: so she can't .
Horikita: is that really u ibuki.
Ibuki: shut up u bitch.
"This is where the fun begins," I said.
"You're evil. This is disgusting." But Ibuki didn't leave. She leaned up
against the door instead. "I'll leave after you get a name out of her," she said.
"Fine by me."
I wasn't doing this to entertain Ibuki. I was breaking Karuizawa for my
own pleasure.
Nishikawa: "I don't know what to say to Ibuki-san... "
Hashimoto: "Well... she's curious, I guess. "
I WAS FREEZING. Icy water dripped from my hair. They'd dumped
water over me four times now. My uniform was soaked right through; even
my underwear was wet. But what scared me wasn't the way my body
violently trembling from the cold. What scared me was the ice in my heart.
Silent ensued. The atmosphere get heavier. They were afraid and curious in what Kei is thinking during this times. These emotions hunts them and made it hard for them to watch this scene from her perspective.
I was facing down a deep darkness, so intense and bitter that it made
me hate the entire world.
Why am I being bullied? Slowly, my feelings changed to, Why am I
alive? What did I do wrong?
As if an arrow was shot to their hearts, they felt pain in their chest. There is nothing to be guilty about yet that feelings hunt them.
I started blaming myself. My heart was frozen and my body was being
devoured. The deep scars etched into my being started to throb again, like
they were hot.
Sudo:" Damn.. I can't believe something like this was happening while I'm just lazing around in my bed... " he bit his lips as he muttered those words
Ike:" Me too... "
"Come on. That's enough, Karuizawa. Make things easier on yourself.
There's no need to suffer any further," Ryuuen sneered.
That was a dead end, though. If I told him about Kiyotaka, it might
reprieve me temporarily, but there was no guarantee that Ryuuen wouldn't
try to blackmail me again. He might even command me to betray Class D.
Like the tragic finales you saw on television, misery was all that awaited
people who continued to betray others.
I would hold on to hope until the very end. I'd believe in Kiyotaka's
words, and his promise that he'd protect me. That was my final defense
against my heart being swallowed up by the darkness.
"I know what you're thinking. If you give up X, you'll lose their
protection. All hope will be lost," said Ryuuen.
My teeth loudly chattered from the cold, making my terror audible to
all. I struggled desperately to stop, but my mind had already abandoned me.
Repulsive memories thrashed around in my brain. The past and present
overlapped.
"Do you want to die holding onto hope? Are you okay with going back
to the way things were?" Ryuuen's vicious words cut me. "X can't save you.
I can, if you give me their name."
I was scared.
Kei friends: Karuizawa-san.
Hirata: Ryuen-kun stop at once.
Akito: you lunatic.
Ryuen: it's interesting right.
Kei: Calm down guys it's all in the past.
Sudo: you asshole just wait.
Haruka: where were you kiyopon at that time?
Okitani: Don't tell me you ran away.
Kei was about speak but was cut off by ichinose.
Ichinose: ayanokouji will surely help karurizawa-san.
Kanzaki: How do you know?
Ichinose: Because I know he will come.
Hiyori: I also believe as ayanokouji-kun always help his friends.
Horikita: I know he is do lazy in class matter but he is not one of them who will ran away.
Sakayanagi: fufu I agree with horikita-san. No way ayanokoji-kun will lose someone imp pawn like her.
Everyone became surprised as they didn't know main girls of all four classes will take his side.
Nagumo: well senpai your trust him.
Kiryuuin: My kohai-kun. You sure are a playboy to capture a hearts of this many girls.
"If you won't cooperate, though, I have no choice but to destroy you."
Save me.
"I'm going to list everything there is to know about you, everything
you pretend to be, and circulate it to the whole school."
I'm scared.
"When that happens, will you be able to keep your position in your
class? Will you still be a leader?"
Save me.
Horikita massage ayanakoji: Where were you at that time ayanokoji-kun?
Ayanokoji: I was near as it was part of my plan.
Horikita: plan??
Ayanokoji: just watch the video. You will know it soon.
"No. You'll just go back to being what you were before. You'll be
back to the real you, that pathetic girl who was always bullied."
The cruel memories of the bullying I'd endured long ago continued to
play in my head on loop. I never wanted to return to that dark, miserable
world where all I could think about was how much I wanted to die.
"No, no, no no no! No no no no!"
"Then make things easier. Protect yourself."
"Please, forgive me! Please, forgive me!"
My pride had already shattered. No, that wasn't true. It'd shattered
before, and I'd clumsily pieced it back together with tape. The Karuizawa Kei
who made a new life for herself was dying. I could feel my second chance at
a happy school life crumbling into dust.
"I'm not merciful like Manabe and her friends," said Ryuuen. "We
know your secret. Even if you get me expelled, it's not just me who knows.
I'll spread rumors of your past. Your own classmates will smell blood in the
water and turn on you!"
"No, no, no..."
"Then remember. Remember how painful it'll be to go back to how
you used to be."
Even though I hated it, I remembered.
For a moment, my mind went completely blank. All I saw was endless
white. And then immediately after, there was darkness.
Sudo: where the hell are you ayanokoji?
Ayanokoji did not answer.
Ike: why the hell are you not answering?
Shinohara throw water at ayanokoji.
Chabashira: Shinohara behave yourself.
Kei: I told you guys he will come as it's all in the past.
Hirata: Apologize to kiyotaka-kun.
Ayanokoji grp: Yes apologize.
Shinohara: I will not.
ike. She is right. It's all his fault.
Okitani: if he has not blackmailed her this wouldn't have happened.
Some students started to agree with him and blamed on ayanokoji.
Horikita: You guys have some brains or not.
Sudo: they are right suzune. Why are you defending him?
Kesei: it was ryuen who did wrong and you are blaming on kiyotaka.
Ichinose: (What should I do? How should I help him?)
Hiyori have nervous expression on her face as she was thinking.
Shinohara: Your mother must be ashamed to have son like you.
Onodera: I have same thought as shinohara-san.
Hirata: SHINOHARA-SAN.
Kei was going to speak.
Kiyotaka put his hand or her hand to clam down her. It is not shinohara fault.
Kei look at Kiyotaka.
Kei whisper: I m sorry .
Kiyotaka whisper: it's not your fault it's all my fault forgive me kei.
Despite myself, I remembered. I remembered junior high and the hell
I'd created for myself over the most trivial of things. I was stubborn,
headstrong, and right after starting school, I made enemies of the other girls
for no reason. What followed was a completely nightmare.
Writing hateful graffiti on my textbooks and throwing my notebooks
away? That was just cute. They dumped water on me while I used the
bathroom. More than once. It even became a routine. They punched and
kicked me. They recorded me getting beaten up and circulated the videos.
They put thumbtacks in my shoes and dead animals in my desk.
I remembered all of it.
They pulled my skirt down in front of our classmates. They hid my
underwear and uniform after swimming class. They made me confess
romantic feelings to boys I didn't actually like. They made me lick their
shoes. They even made me pick garbage off the ground and eat it.
I remembered experiencing one humiliation after another.
Yes, that was right.
I remembered.
In times like these, the defense people have is to just accept whatever
happens. After a while, I learned to do that. To accept reality. Accept that
Ryuuen and his follower were bullying me again. It would be easier if I just
accepted it.
Disbelief, Irritation, and Hate for that school and its students is welling up inside them.
Shibata: "What.. the hell..? "
Hashimoto: "What's with that school? "
Satonaka: "Are they even humans? "
Ichinose: "How can the teachers not know this?! Or did they just let it be?! And did nothing?! " She shouted, she was angry
Later on, her classmates calmed her down.
Matsushita: Are those guys even human?
Shinohara: Just tell me name of them karuizawa-san. We will take care of them.
Kei: A-haha it's all in the past guys as now I am thinking what will you guys to them as you throw water on him.
Was I really going back to those days? If that happened, I knew my
heart couldn't take it. I couldn't endure it if the girls who were now kind to
me, who were my friends, started to change.
My old school had abandoned me. The only good thing it ever did for
me was tell me about this school. They threw me a lifeline by letting me go
someplace where no one knew me. If no one knew me, then I-
I looked up at the sky as tears ran down my face.
Why do I have to suffer like this?
No. I didn't want this.
That feeling began to grow within me.
I didn't want to go back.
Ryuuen said he just wanted to find the person he was looking for. In
other words, if I gave him Kiyotaka's name, I'd be free.
Mazeno: Just give it karuizawa-san.
Kei did not answer.
But there was no
guarantee he wouldn't reveal my past anyway. It might be public knowledge
come tomorrow. If that happened, I wouldn't just lose Kiyotaka's trust, but
all my friends.
Kei's friends: how can u even think like that, we are always with you, don't ever think like that again please karuizawa san.
Kei: yes thankyou guys I m happy to have you all.
But-
It was still possible. I might be saved. If I just gave him Kiyotaka's
name, it was possible this cruel, painful torture would come to an end.
I'll save you.
Kiyotaka had promised me that, but he wasn't here. Even if I kept faith
in him, that didn't change my current situation. Didn't he see the message I
sent him? I'd also looked at him, begged him quietly. Our eyes had met. He
definitely saw me.
He told me he'd protect me. Had I just imagined it? Had I been a fool
to believe him? I didn't know anymore. There was no way I could be sure,
anymore. Our relationship was far too shallow. He cut me off with no
guarantee he'd keep Manabe and her friends at bay. He quoted selfish reasons
like how it was no longer necessary for him to manipulate the class further.
I was just an afterthought. Had I been betrayed? Had he abandoned
me?
Shinohara: See that guy just used her and throw away like a tool.
Haruka: Is that kiyopon?
Onodera: of course it's true that's why he is not saying anthing.
Horikita: will you guys shut up a bit.
"Do you see anyone coming, Albert? I see." Ryuuen sighed quietly,
standing in front of me, "I assume you're holding on to the hope that
someone's coming to save you. But it doesn't look like it."
Ah. So, I'd been abandoned after all.
Irritation was evident in most students' eyes. And praying is what my friends could do. Praying that I will come and save her.
They can't ask me. Because they know I will not answer. Unfair it might be, but they are considerate to my supposed feelings of the matter. So they can only do nothing but pray.
Well, what was I supposed to do,
now if not believe? Kiyotaka had told me he'd save me. And the truth of the
matter was that he did protect me from Manabe and her friends.
"It seems like you trust X quite a bit, Karuizawa." Ryuuen sighed in
exasperation. "You were tricked."
"No, that's wrong."
"I'm not wrong. I'll tell you the truth about the cruise ship test. The
truth X never told you."
Kenzaki: which truth he is talking about.
Katsuragi: maybe X is the one who trapped her.
Ryuuen: u r pretty smart aren't you.
Sakayanagi: fufufu indeed.
"The tr-truth?"
Ryuuen's smile disappeared.
"Manabe wanted to get back at you for being mean to her friend,
Morofuji, but she couldn't find a good opportunity to do it. I mean, even if
she tried to summon you somewhere secluded, it wasn't like you'd show up.
But then, for some reason, you went down to the lowest floor alone. Why?"
"That was-" Because Yousuke-kun had asked me to. Back then, I'd
been emotionally unstable. I'd had no choice but to rely on Yousuke-kun, the
host I attached myself to like a parasite. That was why I went.
Then Manabe and her friends showed up...
"Do you really think that was a coincidence?"
Horikita: mean that was also his plan.
Once again, Ryuuen saw right through me.
"Manabe and her friends couldn't follow you around all the time,
especially not on such a big ship. Them showing up wasn't coincidental, but
an inevitability."
So Yousuke-kun had tricked me?
No...
That couldn't be.
I knew right away that that wasn't it.
Haruka: "I don't like where he plan on leading this..."
"You know it already, don't you? X secretly contacted Manabe and
then set you up. They tricked Manabe by claiming they hated you too, and
would help her get you. You were an idiot for taking the bait so easily."
Kiryuin:this all went according to his plan. U r genius kouhai kun.
Nagumo: a heartless genius.
Kiryuin: look whose talking.
Nagumo: I m not heartless.
I did remember how strange it'd seemed. Yousuke-kun asked me to
meet him there, but in the end, he never showed. I understood now that
Kiyotaka had instructed Yousuke-kun to get me there alone.
"X set you up. They intentionally let Manabe bully you so they could
record it to use against her. Unjust of them, don't you think?"
Please... don't let this break her trust... Kiyopon/Kiyotaka-kun will definitely come. '- Ayanokoji Group
I wanted to tell him that he was wrong. But what Ryuuen was saying...
I couldn't easily deny it. So, Kiyotaka showing to save me wasn't coincidence, either?
"You weren't saved. You were trapped. Pretty stupid, huh?"
I'd been...tricked?
The audience was split into two. Some were irritated, and the others were hoping. However, they were all the same in terms of wanting Kei to escape the hell she is experiencing. Moreover, they still want Kei to keep on trusting me. They still want me to come and rescue her.
Everyone was tense. That is the only expression that everyone is similar to. Stressed and beads of sweat dripping. Attention was focused on the screen to know what might happen.
"Look around you. Is X here right now? Is X saving you?"
Kiyotaka...had been deceiving me from the very start?
"It's safe to assume that X cut all ties with you when their identity was
about to be exposed," Ryuuen said.
No, that wasn't...
That couldn't be...
I...can't be saved. Even though I'm suffering so much...
I'd been caught in Kiyotaka's trap. He let me think he might save me.
Ichinose: he will I m sure.
Hiyori: yes kiyotaka is not a bad guy.
He even made me help him with so much stuff. But at the crucial moment,
when I needed him, he abandoned me.
Class c students: that loner basterd.
Hirata: "Hirata: I thought I would leave Karuizawa-san's responsibility to Kiyotaka, thinking that you would take care of her well, but you've only made her worse"
Hirata is expressing his disappointment and frustration with Kiyotaka, feeling that he has failed to take care of Karuizawa-san properly and has instead made her situation worse.
Kei: don't worry hirata I m fine now.
Hirata: I m so sorry karuizawa it's all my fault.
"Kei: Please don't say that, Hirata, it's not your fault"
"Hirata: If I had taken better care of you, this would have never happened. Forgive me"
Kei is trying to console Hirata, telling him that it's not his fault. Hirata is taking responsibility for what happened, feeling that he should have taken better care of Kei, and is asking for forgiveness.
"You finally get it, yeah? That's right. You've just been bullied all
over again."
I was completely shrouded in dark. I couldn't escape this never-ending
vicious circle of bullying.
"Well, there's still one way for you to save yourself," said Ryuuen.
A name.
Kiyotaka's name.
At this moment, the tension had risen. Feelings were overflowing. Dread has caught on to them. The climax is beginning. They kept themselves silent and put their focus on the screen despite their anxiousness.
"That's right. It'll all be over." Ryuuen laughed again, as if reading my
mind. "If you give me the name, I promise never to bother you again."
Shinohara: just tell him the name karuizawa-san as that guy should suffer.
Mazeno: yes tell him we won't blame you.
Ike: I agree.
Okitani: I also
If I give Ryuuen his name, will this be over...?
All I had to say was "Ayanokouji Kiyotaka." I didn't know if I could
believe Ryuuen. But if he heard the words emerging from the bottom of my
heart, I was sure he'd understand. It was the only thing I was sure of right
now.
Against my will, my trembling lips began to part. Despair and anger at
being betrayed rose up to fill my heart. But no sound came out. It was too
cold to speak.
"Just take it slow. Give me the name."
"K..." I was trembling all over, shaking with fear, but finally got one
sound out.
Ayanakoji group:no...........
Kei's friends:just tell him kei chan.
"K...?" Ryuuen repeated the noise back to me.
"K...t..." Slowly, very slowly, I managed to squeeze more sounds out
of my throat. This was it. If I did this, I'd be free.
Shinohara:yes just give his name already.
"One more time." Ryuuen put his face closer to mine.
"K-knock...it...off. No matter how many times..."
Every student whatttttttttttttttt
Ayanakoji group: finally, they were able to heave a sigh of relief.
The words were coming out now, but they weren't those words. I'd
never had any intention of telling him.
Because I...wouldn't...
"No matter how many times you ask me...I'll never, ever tell you...
creep."
At that, Ryuuen's smile vanished.
Their eyes widened. Mouth agape. They can't tell if this was the best choice, maybe it's not. But for reasons that cannot be explained, happiness started welling up inside them.
It felt like a single ray of light
pierced the cloudy sky. My words hadn't changed at all, but with those
words, I'd made my choice.
"Even if I lose everything I built at this school starting tomorrow... No
matter how much you put me through..." These weren't Ryuuen's words or
Kiyotaka's. They were mine. And they were something I could believe in, no
matter what. "I'll never give you the name."
Everyone:What is this girl made of how can someone be so tough ? This girl is truly amazing.
Shinohara: why karuizawa-san?
Sato: well I think I know why but let's just watch the video.
Warmth flooded my chest.
"Are you certain, Karuizawa?"
Yes.
I'm okay with this.
I might come to regret it.
But, I'm okay with it...!
"Even though X was just using you, why you're still protecting him?"
I wanted to ask myself the same question.
"I don't know why." But there was one thing I did know. "I want to
stand tall until the very end!"
My vision, which had grown hazy, suddenly sharpened once more.
"I see. That's too bad, Karuizawa. I don't want to do this, but you've
left me no choice. Still, you have my respect. Despite all your trauma, and the
one person you could rely on betraying you, you didn't sell him out.
I honestly admire you."
Manabu: u earned my respect.
Kei: thnx senpai.
Kiryuin: kouhai how u make her so loyal to you tell us.
Kiyotaka: who knows.
This is fine.
This is fine.
I kept telling myself that. I was going to be broken, now, but somehow,
I couldn't help but feel proud of myself. Even though he'd betrayed me, I
hadn't betrayed him. I'd protected him. If I could somehow help him find the
peace he sought, that wouldn't be so bad, would it? It even made me pretty
cool. Right?
Everyone u r so brave karuizawa san.
My life had never been very interesting, except when I worked with
Kiyotaka. Helping him out with all his different schemes wasn't so bad. In
fact, it was exciting. I had fun. I felt like I was playing the role of supporting
actress, aiding the hero from the wings. I didn't understand a lot of what we
were doing, but somehow, it was extraordinarily fun.
Besides, no matter what happened, the truth was that he'd saved me.
That was why I had no regrets.
But, well...deep down, I still hoped he'd come and save me. Those
fleeting feelings within me were...real, I guess. Ah, I was such an idiot. I'd
only ever been dancing in the palm of his hand. Guess you reap what you
sow, huh?
First Yousuke-kun, then Kiyotaka, had protected me. I was a girl who
couldn't do anything on her own.
Hirata: no no it's not true karuizawa san.
Somehow, underneath the cold winter sky, I felt glad.
Goodbye, fake me.
Welcome home to the cold, empty Karuizawa of the past.
Video end.........
Yagami:You seem to possess a good pawn, Ayanokoji-senpai.
Class c students: How did Ayanakoji save Karuizawa???????
Dan: You'll find out in the next video, so wait for it.
"Ayanakoji group: Hey Kiyotaka, how did you save Karuizawa?"
Kiyotaka: "Who knows"