Episode 15: No Matter What You Think of Me

Natsumi told me「I don’t think so it’s him」but I was still worried, so I ended up coming to the rooftop anyway.

And… now there are five male students right in front of me.

I feel like I’ve seen them before, like one of them was a student who confessed to me… or maybe all of them were.

The door behind me was closed immediately after I stepped onto the rooftop.

I haven’t checked the lock, but I feel like it’s dangerous to turn my back just to check…

I know I’m being showered with insults, but I have no intention of listening to what people like this have to say, nor do I plan to take them seriously.

One of the male students, apparently having lost his patience with my lack of reaction, stepped toward me.

I moved away to keep my distance, but that’s difficult on the rooftop, and I ended up being backed against the wall.

I shook off the hand he reached out toward me and moved my position.

「Let’s bet on how long she can keep running.」

The guys who were watching me with smirks started doing something.

I knew that if I were caught, I wouldn’t be able to win with strength.

But, as expected, there was nowhere left to run on the rooftop, and I was cornered.

「What are you doing!? Stop it!? Don’t come near me!!」

My arm was grabbed, and this time I couldn’t shake it off.

「Oops… looks like game over.」

To think… in a place like this… I’m doing…

Even at a time like this, I found myself remembering various things from these past few days.

I haven’t been able to tell Takanashi-san my true feelings, I’ve only ever told him my stance as Vice President.

Based on just that part… in short, I basically declared that I view Takanashi-san as being on the same level as people who do things like this, and now I finally understand the reason for that sad face of his.

My own pathetic nature… my lack of consideration for others… the fact that I made Takanashi-san sad… who I’ve been until now… my current situation…

All these feelings piled up… and before I knew it, I was in tears.

And the boy who was grabbing my arm, apparently thinking I had given up… placed his hand on my chin and forced my face upward.

I hurriedly tried to shake it off…

Takanashi-san…

I stopped just before the entrance to the rooftop and moved slowly.

When I reached a spot where the door was visible, it was closed and…

Just as I expected, there was one flashy-looking guy there, probably acting as a lookout.

Though, he was peeking through the gap in the door at the rooftop, so he didn’t seem to notice me at all.

Just as I approached stealthily…

「What are you doing!? Stop it!! Don’t come near me!!」

There was no way I could mishear that… it was Senpai’s voice.

Coming through the gap in the door, it was a voice I’d never heard from her before, something that sounded like both anger and a scream.

I didn’t care about appearances anymore.

I kicked the flashy guy who was peeking in right from behind (he slammed his face into the door and rolled around in pain), and I threw the door open with a loud noise on purpose to draw attention to myself.

When I burst onto the rooftop, I saw several flashy guys right in front of me.

And as I looked around…

I saw Senpai with her arm caught by a guy…

I saw Senpai crying…

I don’t know if I should say the blood drained from my face, or if it all rushed to my head…

I didn’t care about the details anymore.

It didn’t matter what Senpai thought of me.

Just, this guy, these guys who made Senpai sad, who hurt her!

In that moment, compared to that day in middle school, when that person… when Yuzuha…

Compared to the day Yuzuha cried… I completely snapped.

Keeping the momentum from bursting onto the rooftop, I started running.

「What the hell do you think you’re doing, you bastard!!!」

With that momentum, I punched the guy who had jumped back a bit from Senpai in surprise.

I kicked the fallen guy in the stomach, and after confirming there was no sign of him getting back up, I tried to calm myself down a bit by controlling my heavy breathing.

Leaving him on the ground, I caught the other guys who were standing there stunned with surprise in my sight.

If they all came at once, there’d be nothing I could do.

What should I do? Can I grab Senpai and run for it now? There’s no time to hesitate.

「Takanashi-san!!」

Just then, someone small jumped at me from the side… it was Senpai, and she was crying…

I wanted to prioritize the feeling of being glad she was safe, but my first priority was to use my brain and figure out how to get through this.

「You… what the hell do you think you’re doing, punk!」

Apparently those idiots who had frozen up had rebooted, and one of them spat out a typical one-track-mind line.

I’d lost my chance to run.

Now what…