Episode 131: The Past, Part 2

「Sorry for making you stick around.」

「Nah, I had stuff to do anyway.」

I’d stayed late at the library to look something up.

Yuji and I walked down the empty hallway together.

The wing where the library’s located only has special classrooms used for specific lessons, so once it gets late after school, there’s hardly anyone there and it gets really quiet.

Passing by one of those classrooms that usually isn’t in use, I heard a laugh that sounded incredibly stupid.

Since the place was so quiet, the voice echoed more than usual.

I was just gonna walk past since it didn’t have anything to do with us, but…

「That girl, Sasagawa or whatever!」

?

Sasagawa…?

I locked eyes with Yuji and he nodded, so we listened in near the door.

「Hey, keep it down.」

That was Yamazaki’s voice… which meant there was a high chance they were talking about Yuzuha.

「My bad. But what’re you gonna do? No matter how you look at it, that girl’s serious about you, Yama-chan. You gonna add her to the collection too?」

「She’s got the looks. But she’s just a bumpkin pretending to be a gyaru, so she’s easy. I took her on a little date the other day and she’s already acting like my girlfriend. It’s hilarious.」

「Man, how many are you gonna collect? Toss one my way, at least.」

What the hell are these guys saying?

Collection? Yuzuha’s easy? How many?

Are they really planning on dating Yuzuha just as a game?

Looking at Yuji, it seemed he’d reached the same conclusion as me. He had a grim look on his face.

「I mean, what about Sasagawa? Once I’m bored of her, I’ll just talk her into it. Then you guys can…」

Rattle!

「Huh?」

CRACK!!

「Gwah!」

Clatter!

I threw open the door, walked right up to him, and punched him down with everything I had. He went over along with the desk.

「You bastard… Takanashi!! What do you think you’re… ugh…」

He stopped talking there.

Well, obviously. I was gripping his collar.

「What were you planning to do to Yuzuha? Well, I heard everything, anyway.」

Patter, patter, patter.

The other guy tried to make a run for it, but Yuji stuck his leg out and the guy tripped, falling into a head-first slide.

「Whoa there, gotta watch your step. It’s dangerous.」

I could leave that guy to Yuji.

More importantly, this bastard…

「Yuzuha was easy, huh? Like you could just drop her?」

「Yeah, a simple, cheap bumpkin like her is a piece of cake. Just playing with her to kill time… gah!」

I let him have a second one to shut him up.

Yuzuha might be easy, sure. That’s why she let those other girls influence her into becoming like this.

But she doesn’t deserve to be mocked by trash like this.

Right now she’s just being influenced by the people around her, but she’s actually cute, quiet, and a total sweetheart.

I believe that one day she’ll find her old self again.

「I’m gonna rearrange that face you’re so proud of…」

「What are you guys doing!!」

Maybe someone reported us, because a teacher came bursting in.

This looks like it’s gonna be a pain…

We were taken straight to the teacher’s office.

Apparently Yamazaki went to the nurse’s office first.

I thought it wouldn’t end with just a lecture, but since it was my first time doing something like this, I got off with just a scolding.

We made it look like Yuji was just trying to stop me, so it’ll probably end easily for him.

The next day, what was waiting for me at school was a classroom with a totally different atmosphere.

The moment I stepped into the room, a wave of awkwardness filled the air.

Yamazaki was there too, but he didn’t say anything.

I’d expected a situation where even the parents got involved, but when our eyes met, he looked away…

Since Yuji and I heard that talk about his girl problems, he’s probably scared of it being exposed.

「Morning.」

I sat in my seat and tried greeting a friend, but…

「…Yeah, morning.」

I just got a half-hearted reply.

I didn’t get what was happening.

I could guess that yesterday’s incident was the reason, but…

「Wow, some people are just the worst, punching someone out of jealousy.」

The voice echoed through the quiet classroom.

I didn’t know who said it, but it was definitely one of the girls.

Starting with that one comment, the other girls all started speaking up at once.

「Being so bitter just because he’s not popular.」

「Who does he think he is, being all possessive just because he’s a childhood friend?」

「Poor Yuzuha.」

「Hey Yuzuha, you should tell him off.」

Apparently, the news that I punched Yamazaki had already spread somehow.

And it was being framed as me punching him out of jealousy…

It was a ridiculous story, but it was surprisingly hard to shut it down.

Plenty of people knew I cared about Yuzuha, and just saying I punched him because I knew how much of a low-life he was didn’t have much weight.

Even if I mentioned that he saw Yuzuha as a plaything or that things might’ve gotten even worse later, it was too far-fetched for anyone to believe.

Besides, I didn’t give a damn what happened to Yamazaki, but Yuzuha wouldn’t want people saying that kind of stuff about her in public either. At worst, she’d be seen as a girl who was treated that way…

Knowing nothing of my inner conflict, Yuzuha was egged on by the people around her and approached me.

「I’ve told you over and over not to come near me, right? Punching Yamazaki-kun out of jealousy is just the worst. I mean, a gross guy like you is a hard pass anyway.」

Yuzuha mocked me, having no idea what kind of position she’d been in.

Maybe I should just blurt it all out…

As Yuzuha turned back triumphantly as if she’d said her piece, the girls around her started chiming in.

「What, is he following you around?」

「And she’s even telling him to stay away.」

「Wait, isn’t that just a stalker?」

「Wait, is Yuzuha being stalked?」

「Y-yeah, he’s been stalking me since forever…」

Of all the things to say, now I’m a stalker?

If you’re gonna go that far, you’re the one who was practically stalking me because you wouldn’t leave my side…

Later, I tried calling Yuzuha out to talk, but of course, it didn’t turn into a real conversation.

My reputation was already trashed, and since everything I did was being seen through the lens of「being jealous of Yamazaki,」nothing I said made sense to her.

Whenever she opened her mouth, she just called me a stalker, obsessively repeating it like a child who’d just come up with a new insult.

And at that time, I hadn’t realized how much I’d underestimated just how malicious rumors could be. That’s something I’d learn later.