Entirely unlike before,
a strange, heavy atmosphere instantly swallowed the space around the two of us.
Bewilderment, denial of reality,
and then an immense rage welling up after them.
A vicious aura mixed with countless indescribable emotions
was pouring off Kyo in real time.
"Um, Kyo...?"
Feeling a chill run down my spine,
I carefully spoke to Kyo, whose head was lowered as her shoulders trembled faintly.
Without saying a word, Kyo
pulled the crumpled confession note from her uniform pocket with a trembling hand and held it out before my eyes.
"Hey, Morita?"
"Y-Yes!"
It was nothing like her usual lively yet gentle voice.
Her low, sunken voice swept coldly down my spine.
I found myself answering loudly, stiff as a soldier at attention.
For some reason, I felt that if I did not, something terrible would happen immediately.
"Sunohara put this in there...?"
Her violet eyes pierced me sharply.
Just as I was desperately wracking my brain to prevent the bloodshed that was about to unfold,
[Affirmative. After comparing the handwriting, it has been confirmed to be Sunohara.]
'I didn't want to know!'
I screamed inwardly,
but it was already too late.
The moment I learned the truth I had not wanted to know,
my eyes wavered ever so slightly.
At least my expression did not crumble.
'...Not yet.'
Hoping she had not noticed my eyes,
I forced a smile.
"Well... maybe it wasn't...?"
"Your expression may lie, Morita, but your eyes can't."
"..."
The corners of Kyo's lips curved upward with a softness so eerie it gave me goosebumps.
Creak.
Along with the sound of her fingers tightening,
the note in her hand crumpled miserably, as though it might turn to dust at any moment.
The note had been anonymous from the beginning, without even the sender's name written on it.
Because there had been no name,
she had spent the entire morning furtively worrying about the gazes around her while imagining every possible exciting scenario by herself.
Though she had stopped partway through,
the instant she realized all those innocent feelings she had carried while running all over the school
had been nothing more than Sunohara's dazzlingly childish prank,
Kyo's face became that of a demon.
Ah... Sunohara.
He was really going to die today.
Just as I was silently praying for Sunohara's soul,
Kyo lowered her head
and muttered in a low voice.
It felt as though even the air around us had frozen solid.
"Morita, you know where Sunohara is, don't you?"
Her face was smiling brightly.
That smile only made her more frightening.
...I didn't know.
At least,
not until just now.
[Sunohara is currently in an unused vacant classroom at the far end of the third floor of the main building.]
'You really...'
'have no sense of the situation, do you?'
The instant Kyo's gaze met mine,
I was completely found out.
Kyo missed nothing; my pupils had flickered toward the third floor of the main building for the briefest moment.
"...The third floor of the main building."
Without a word, Kyo shoved the crumpled note into her pocket.
Crack.
Crack.
The sound of her cracking her knuckles echoed heavily before the silent storage room.
The pressure was so intense, as though a bloody storm were about to break out at any second, that I swallowed dryly without realizing it.
"Morita."
"Y-Yes!"
Kyo called my name in a voice even lower than before.
"You said you were responsible too, right?"
"...Yes."
"Come with me."
Kyo slowly turned and strode toward the third floor of the main building.
Then, after a moment of chilling silence,
Kyo's next words, carrying a terrifying implication, rang through the hall.
"You too."
"..."
The crime of standing by.
No, more accurately, the crime of tacitly allowing it.
I had not actively stopped him,
even though I could have warned her in advance.
In the end, I was no different from an accomplice who had aided and abetted Sunohara's prank.
Guilt and self-reproach washed over me.
Clenching the bag of bread in my hand for no reason,
I silently followed behind Kyo as she strode ahead, radiating murderous intent.
...
I watched Kyo's back as she led the way without a word.
The murderous intent pouring from her back made my body instinctively shrink.
Even so, I thought I needed to make sure.
Even if she looked calm on the outside,
she might have been more deeply hurt than anyone.
"Um... Kyo."
Kyo slowly turned her head.
Her violet eyes, steeped in coldness, looked at me as though they could pierce straight through me.
They were different from her usual confidence or charisma.
They were like sharp blades capable of freezing someone in place.
But I tried to read the unease that lay beyond those blades.
"...What?"
She spat the word out shortly.
"Um... are you really okay?"
At my question, Kyo's eyes trembled almost imperceptibly.
I gathered my courage and continued.
"I'm..."
"I'm scared right now, but..."
"I was more worried about whether you were truly hurt, Kyo.
That was what worried me most."
The moment she heard those words,
Kyo stopped walking dead in her tracks.
In the middle of the hallway,
only the sound of our breathing and the distant noise of classrooms lingered in the empty space.
Kyo stared hard at me,
then bit down tightly on her lip.
"...Idiot."
"What?"
"What do you really take me for...?"
Kyo took a step toward me.
The murderous intent she had been giving off until now had faded somewhat,
but in its place was an indescribable, strange heat.
"Hurt?"
Kyo let out a small breath, as if mocking herself.
"Yeah."
"I was hurt."
"...Then?"
"I fell for Sunohara's prank...
wondering if it might be you,
or someone else.
I ran around the school with those expectations all by myself...
I'm angry because I feel like such an idiot!"
Her face flushing red, Kyo sharply turned her head away.
"Haa..."
After letting out a short sigh,
she began walking forward again without another word.
I could not move for a while as I watched her retreating back.
Fujibayashi Kyo, our class representative, whom I had always thought of as confident,
brimming with charisma,
and stronger than anyone else.
But the girl walking before me now,
clutching tightly at the hem of her clothes, was not that person.
She was only...
an ordinary girl trying desperately to swallow her embarrassment and hurt.
Seeing her like that,
something in my chest inexplicably tightened.
If only I had been a little faster...
would she not have made that expression?
...
And at last, the tightly shut door of the vacant classroom at the far end of the third floor of the main building came into view.
Through the crack in the door,
Sunohara's carefree voice, still giggling without a clue, and Okazaki's disapproving tongue-clicking could be heard.
The instant those childish voices spilled into the hallway,
Kyo's shoulders, ahead of me, sank rigidly once more.
She clenched her fist so tightly that veins rose on it.
"..."
Kyo glanced back at me.
Her eyes seemed to say, "Stay where you are."
Then, with an ice-cold smile, she grasped the doorknob.
Creeeak...
The door opened very slowly.
"This really is the last one, okay?"
Okazaki's voice came from inside.
"I know, I know.
This one's really the last one."
Sunohara, standing in front of the blackboard, answered grumpily.
"Where should I tell her to come this time~? What wording would be good?"
Sunohara rested his chin on his hand, pondering the next place to lure her to and what he should write.
It was at that exact moment.
"How about something like, 'I'll be waiting in hell'?"
A low, chilling voice echoed coldly behind them.
"Hell?"
Okazaki immediately recognized the owner of that voice, and his face instantly froze in horror.
"Oh, that's a good idea!"
"It sounds kind of scary, which is perfect!"
Sunohara readily agreed without any suspicion.
Okazaki covered his forehead and sighed.
"..."
"...Hey, Sunohara. Look behind you."
"Huh?"
Only then did Sunohara turn around, and the color drained from his face.
"Ah."
"I'm glad you like it."
Black flames burned within Kyo's eyes.
As though she had no need to hear any more, she silently clenched her fist
and strode toward the two boys standing before the teacher's desk.
The next moment.
Baaaam—!
"Aaaaargh!!"
"Why am I getting hit toooo?!"
Along with the dull sounds of impact, the two boys' miserable screams echoed mournfully through the vacant classroom.
Watching the scene from behind,
I silently prayed for Sunohara's soul.
'...Sunohara.'
'This time, you really were in the wrong.'
I felt sorry for Okazaki, who had been unfairly dragged into it,
but the price for trampling on a girl's innocent heart could never be light.
...
After Kyo's merciless, brutal punishment came to an end,
Sunohara lay sprawled on the vacant classroom floor as if his soul had fled his body,
while Okazaki, wearing an aggrieved expression, straightened his clothes.
Kyo looked down at them for a moment before leaving the classroom without looking back.
Standing by the door, I hesitated briefly, unsure whether I should take care of my fallen friends
or follow Kyo.
Then Okazaki, the first to rise as he dusted himself off, looked at me, jerked his chin toward the door, and spoke.
"Haa. I'll take care of this idiot. Go after her."
"...Okazaki."
"Go on. Even if she left like that, she can't be feeling okay inside."
I nodded silently.
Okazaki was right.
Kyo had punished Sunohara in her anger,
but she could not possibly have shaken off all the embarrassment and bitterness she had confessed to me in the hallway earlier.
I adjusted my grip on the bag of bread in my hand once more
and slowly left the classroom after Kyo.
Far down the hallway,
I could see Kyo from behind, walking a little slower than usual.
Her shoulders were still stiff,
and for some reason, her silhouette looked much smaller than before.
I quietly quickened my pace and moved up beside her.
Our shadows began to stretch long across the hallway floor in the afternoon sunlight.
What should I say to her?
Had what she just did made her anger go away?
And how was she feeling inside?
I did not know.
Even in the real world, I had barely interacted with any women apart from my mother and younger sister.
Even if I tried to be careful and considerate,
the words I spoke might become another wound
and pierce Kyo's heart like a dagger.
Even so.
I remembered how she had helped me in the faculty office.
I remembered that small encouragement,
when she had pushed me forward as I stood frozen in front of the classroom.
It had not started well,
but I also remembered the welcome sign for new students that we had eventually completed together with laughter.
Even if my words were a little disjointed,
I wanted to gather my courage and say them.
"...Kyo."
"What?"
"This might be something you don't want to hear...
but there's something I really want you to listen to."
"?"
Kyo stopped walking and slightly turned her head to look at me.
Her face was still stiff, as though the lingering embarrassment had not faded,
but her violet eyes turned to me with curiosity at my serious tone.
Calming my uneasy heart, I took a deep breath and opened my mouth.
"You... are not someone who deserves to be the target of a prank like this."
"...What?"
"You're a kind, wonderful person—someone another person could sincerely come to like."
"So... please believe that much, at least."
My voice rang through the silence of the quiet hallway.
I was not good with words.
I had no elaborate turns of phrase,
nor any eloquence that could move a person's heart.
I had only conveyed the sincerity that came to mind exactly as it was.
The moment she heard it, Kyo's violet eyes trembled quietly, yet fiercely.
"..."
Kyo stared at me blankly with her lips parted, as though she had been struck hard by something.
She was a confident, strong class representative,
but she was also someone who knew how to offer another person sincere kindness.
She had quietly encouraged me by pushing my frozen back forward,
and though it had been under the pretext of keeping an eye on me,
she had still worked up a sweat with me to complete the sign, even after nearly getting hurt.
It had all been her.
I did not want to see such a wonderful girl blaming herself over a childish prank any longer.
It was enough for me alone to blame myself. I hoped she would not become like me.
But contrary to my intentions,
Kyo's face turned so red it looked as if all the blood in her body had rushed to her head, and she clutched at her chest with a trembling hand.
"M-Morita... you, you really... how can you say things like that...!"
"What? Did I say something rude?!"
Ah.
Had I made another mistake?
"Idiot! You're such a complete idiot...!"
Unable to bear it any longer, Kyo turned away and covered her face with both hands.
"You can't just say things like that..."
"...?"
"You can't just say things like that so casually...!"
Her voice sounded both resentful and choked with emotion.
After practically shouting those words,
Kyo ran off down the hallway without looking back.
"Ah..."
The hand I had been about to reach out with stopped in midair.
Watching Kyo's retreating back, I felt as though my heart had dropped to the floor.
'Ah, I gathered my courage... but I ended up hurting her after all.'
It seemed my clumsy way with words,
my presumptuous comfort, had instead wounded her pride.
Had I only pretended to understand someone who was trying hard to swallow her hurt?
'A kind, wonderful person.'
My chest felt tight when I thought about how hollow words like that must have sounded.
I still did not know how to comfort someone.
I had believed that all I needed to do was convey my sincerity.
But apparently even that had been clumsy.
I thought I had chosen my words carefully,
yet it felt as though I had hurt someone again in the end.
Guilt weighed heavily on my chest.
Someone like me should not try to comfort anyone.
It was enough for the dark feelings of blame and self-reproach to belong to me alone.
I had only hoped that at least that kind girl
would not become broken inside like me.
...
Ding.
───────────────
[Emergency Quest Complete]
───────────────
"...Ah."
Was it making fun of me?
No matter how I thought about it, it felt like I had failed.
───────────────
[Emergency Quest Complete]
[A Girl's Heart]
Rating: S
Special Evaluation by the Committee
「We highly evaluate your choice to worry about another person before seeking a reward.」
「This is judged to be an uncommon behavioral pattern in other users' leisure lives.」
「This evaluation has been awarded based on your choice, not the result.」
Special reward granted.
[???]
※ This reward will be automatically granted when the user needs it.
───────────────
No matter what the system evaluated me as,
or what reward it gave me,
none of it could be exchanged for that one expression on Kyo's face in that moment.
Because the last image of Kyo I had seen with my own eyes was clearly that of someone wounded and running away.
The system's high evaluation could not wash away the heavy guilt I felt.
"...Haa."
Letting out a long sigh,
I left the middle of the hallway, dyed red by the setting sun, and began dragging my feet toward the classroom.
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