Chapter 38: Do You Like Your Classmates? 6

Akaishi endured being thoroughly torn down by Hirata, her followers, and the rest of the class, but he thought rationally and said nothing in return.

The day ended, and he fled home as if escaping.

“Seriously, Hachiya pisses me off~”

“I know right~”

In the classroom after school, Hirata and her followers were noisily talking.

“You remember, right? She said ‘Don’t make fun of Akaishi’ or something. Like, who the hell does she think she is? Then she turns around and says she doesn’t even like Akaishi? It doesn’t make any sense, right?”

“Totally~. She acts like that toward us but gets all clingy with Sakurai-kun. It’s so annoying~”

“““I know right~~~~~~”””

Hirata and her followers badmouthed Hachiya one after another.

“Seriously, that kind of girl should just die.”

Hirata climbed onto Hachiya’s desk, put her feet on the chair, and kicked it over and over while laughing hideously.

“Also, I’ve hated her for a long time. Doesn’t she look down on us?”

““Totally~~~~””

“Everything about her sucks.”

““Exactly~””

Hirata kept kicking Hachiya’s chair to vent her frustration.

Even after that, Hirata and the others continued laughing together in the after-school classroom.

Takanashi watched them silently from the side.

Akaishi had returned home.

“…………”

He lay on his bed and stared silently at the ceiling.

Why? Why had Hachiya ended up like this?

Was his speculation correct? Why didn’t Sakurai help Hachiya?

Countless questions filled Akaishi’s head.

“…………”

Akaishi stared at Hachiya’s contact information.

He dialed her number.

He couldn’t stop himself from calling.

Ring ring… Click.

Hachiya answered.

“…………Hello.”

“It’s me.”

Hachiya’s voice sounded utterly exhausted.

Akaishi felt he had an obligation to ask what had happened.

“Tell me what happened.”

“…………”

“…………”

“…………”

“…………”

A heavy silence continued.

Akaishi didn’t know if Hachiya was organizing her thoughts or simply didn’t want to answer.

“The day before I skipped school, Hirata-san called me out……”

Hachiya began speaking haltingly, as if tracing fragments of memory.

“She showed me the photo of us together and asked if we were dating. But I said we weren’t. You……”

“I said the same thing.”

So far, it was as he had expected.

“Then she mocked me, asking if we were just fuck buddies… It was humiliating. Why did I have to be told something like that? Why did people have to think that about me? I was so frustrated……”

Her voice began to mix with sobs.

“Before I knew it, I was spitting venom at Hirata-san… Terrible, unbelievable venom. After that, things moved fast… Hirata’s face turned bright red with anger. She said she was going to spread the photo and did something right in front of me… It was probably already spread……”

So it really had been spread.

The person who targeted Hirata on Twique might have planned exactly this.

“But even then, I thought it would be fine. Because even if people found out we went out together, we didn’t do anything wrong… right?”

She spoke as if trying to convince herself.

“After that, I went to the broadcasting club room, but……”

She paused for a moment.

“Shiorin was kind. She asked if I was okay, and that made me happy. But…… the others weren’t like that. They were completely indifferent toward me…… It was scary. Not hatred, but indifference… It was terrifying. I didn’t understand why they were looking at me like that. Why…… I didn’t understand anything……”

Hachiya finally broke down, sobbing and gasping repeatedly. Even through the phone, Akaishi could almost see her tear-stained face.

“But…… but I thought Sousuke would be fine. Only Sousuke…… That’s what I believed. …But it wasn’t like that…… Sousuke looked at me with sad eyes and said……”

“Did you tell Sakurai clearly that there was nothing between you and me?”

“I did…… I told him…… But he said, ‘Sorry, if you’re with Kyoko it’ll get in the way of Akaishi, so I’ll step back……’”

Was that line from Sakurai’s pride, just like Akaishi’s own?

Did the same pride that made him withdraw from a girl who didn’t only think about him drive Sakurai to do the same?

Why would he say something like that?

Akaishi suggested,

“Then if you explain the current situation between me and you to Sakurai……”

“I can’t say that!”

Hachiya screamed.

“How could I say that!? Do you think if I told him ‘it was like that,’ Sakurai-kun would suddenly start dating me!? Do you think I can succeed in confessing in this atmosphere!? Don’t make fun of romance! If it were that easy to confess, I wouldn’t have needed your help in the first place!”

“……………………”

Akaishi stayed silent.

He simply listened to Hachiya.

He finally understood why Sakurai was distancing himself from Hachiya.

Sakurai was probably jealous.

Jealous that Hachiya, who he thought only thought about him, had gone on a date with Akaishi instead.

If that was the case, then the feeling he had when Sakurai seemed to be searching for him in the park wasn’t just his imagination.

What was the truth? What was correct and what was mere speculation?

Akaishi’s thoughts swirled, but he quickly refocused on the call.

“It was so painful………… I realized that even Sousuke couldn’t do anything…… What am I supposed to do now……? I don’t know what to do anymore!”

Hachiya, who had been sobbing, suddenly raised her voice.

“It’s all your fault! Everything is ruined because of you……! Sousuke…… because of you, Sousuke……”

She spoke through tears.

However, while Hachiya’s emotions boiled over, Akaishi’s heart grew colder and darker.

“I don’t know.”

“…………Eh?”

Akaishi spoke in a cold voice.

“I said I don’t know. Didn’t I ask you if it was okay even if we were seen together? You said it was fine even if Sakurai saw us, right?”

“I did say that! But I never thought it would turn out like this! I never imagined Sousuke would distance himself from me like that…………”

Hachiya sobbed again, wailing.

Akaishi poured out the anger, the contradictory desires, and the dark, vulgar emotions inside him toward Hachiya. He criticized Hachiya’s self-centered side in a way that hurt her.

“You’re so selfish.”

“……………………Eh?”

Akaishi pressed her.

He cornered Hachiya.

He cornered the girl who had called him out and then tried to push all responsibility onto him when something went wrong.

Even though Akaishi himself had tried to push all responsibility onto her, he still cornered her.

“You’re selfish. You were the one who called me out. And when the photo of us together got taken and Sakurai started avoiding you, you blame me? That’s messed up. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s wrong.”

He criticized Hachiya for not being logical.

He criticized Hachiya for being irrational.

“If you hate it that much, I’ll step back too. Since ‘being with Hachiya gets in the way of your love with Sakurai,’ I’ll step back.”

“Eh………… wait………… w-wait…… wait a second……!”

“If me being with you caused Sakurai to step back, then I should step back, right? That’s what you want, isn’t it? Then I’ll step back.”

“St…… stop it! If you abandon me now…… If you’re not on my side anymore, who am I supposed to rely on!? Stop…… Stop it, Akaishi, please stop!”

“…………Goodbye.”

Akaishi hung up the phone.

Hachiya immediately called back.

Akaishi looked down at his phone but——

“…………”

He ignored the call from Hachiya.

The sediment in Akaishi’s heart swirled deeper and blacker.

It had grown so dark that even he could no longer control it.

He had no mental room left to manage that darkness, nor any compassion left for Hachiya.

His heart was filled with incomprehensible emotions, derailing from normalcy.

Rational thinking dominated his mind.

Hachiya is wrong. I am right.

Akaishi turned off his phone and stared at the ceiling.

That evening’s dinner tasted worse than garbage.

Chapter 38_ Do You Like Your Classmates