LMLCG – Episode 15 – No Matter What She Thinks of Me

Natsumi told me, “I don’t think it’s him,” but even so, I was still curious so I went to the rooftop.

And now, in front of me, were five male students.

I felt like I had seen them before… Some had confessed to me before… Maybe all of them had.

The door behind me closed the moment I stepped out onto the roof.

I didn’t check if it was locked. Something told me turning my back on them now would be dangerous…

I could hear their abusive words clearly, but I had no intention of listening seriously to that kind of talk. I won’t take it seriously.

Maybe irritated by my lack of response, one of the boys stepped forward toward me.

I tried to maintain distance, but on the rooftop, that was difficult. I ended up cornered against the wall.

I shook off the hand that reached out to me and moved again.

“How long can you keep running? Let’s make a bet.”

The smirking boys said that as they began to move.

I knew that if I got caught, I wouldn’t be able to win by force.

Still, the rooftop gave me nowhere to run, and I was gradually being cornered.

“What do you think you’re doing!? Stop it! Stay away!!”

He grabbed my arm again, and this time, I couldn’t shake him off.

“Ooh, game over, huh?”

What am I even doing here…?

And even now, in this situation, my mind drifted back to everything that had happened recently.

I wasn’t able to tell Takanashi-san how I really felt. All I gave him was a formal explanation as the student council vice president.

And if that’s all he saw… then of course it looked like I was lumping him in with these awful people. I finally understood the reason for that pained expression he wore.

My own pathetic self. My lack of empathy. The fact that I had made Takanashi-san suffer.

Everything I’d been… And now, this moment…

The emotions overwhelmed me… and before I knew it, tears were falling from my eyes.

The boy who had my arm seemed to take that as a sign I’d given up. He placed his hand under my chin to lift my face.

I tried desperately to shake him off.

Takanashi-san…

Just before reaching the rooftop door, I stopped and moved cautiously.

I got to where I could see the door, it was closed…

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

He was peering through the crack of the door and hadn’t noticed me.

As I sneaked closer…

“What do you think you’re doing!? Stop it! Stay away!!”

There was no mistaking that voice, it was Senpai’s.

Her voice rang out from behind the door, a mix of anger and desperation. I’d never heard her sound like that before.

I didn’t care about appearances anymore.

I kicked the guy in the back with full force (he slammed into the door with his face and rolled around in pain), and then I threw the rooftop door open with a loud bang to draw everyone’s attention.

I charged onto the rooftop. In front of me were several flashy-looking guys. It seemed like…

And when I looked around…

I saw Senpai, her arm being grabbed by one of them…

I saw Senpai crying…

My blood either ran cold or boiled, I couldn’t tell which.

I didn’t care about the little things anymore.

It didn’t matter what Senpai thought of me.

All that mattered was that these bastards, they, had hurt her, made her cry.

At that moment, more than even that day in middle school… that guy… Yuzuha…

I was completely pissed off, even more so that the day Yuzuha cried.

I didn’t even hesitate.

With the momentum of bursting onto the rooftop, I broke into a sprint and shouted,

“What the hell are you doing you bastard!?”

I punched the guy who had let go of Senpai in shock, knocking him down with the force of the charge.

After he fell, I kicked him in the gut, and when I saw he wasn’t getting back up, I took a few deep breaths to calm myself.

I turned my eyes toward the others who were frozen in place in shock.

If they all came at me at once, I didn’t stand a chance.

What now? Could I grab Senpai and run? There was no time to hesitate.

“Takanashi-san!!”

At that moment, from the side, someone small leapt at me, it was Senpai, crying.

More than anything, I was relieved she was safe. But I couldn’t let my guard down yet. I had to think of a way to get us out of this.

“You bastard… What the hell are you doing!?”

One of the stunned guys snapped out of it, spouting the same tired, idiotic line every punk seemed to know.

We missed our chance to escape.

What now…?