Afterward 1
A few days had passed since Misuzu and the others went to the café Kyousuke ran and ended up ruining themselves there.
Kyousuke and the others had already gathered enough evidence, and they also considered that Yuuki’s mental state would completely break if things dragged on any longer. So they acted quickly, and Misuzu and the others were now suspended.
The final decision had not been made yet, but from what people were saying, Misuzu would be expelled, and the others would also be suspended for an unknown amount of time. However, it was more likely that the other three would end up choosing to withdraw on their own.
No one knew if it was Yume, Kyousuke, or someone else entirely, but the incident had spread online, and Misuzu and the others would now have to live while feeling the weight of shame.
Ayaka was also subject to consequences. Online, there were even opinions saying Ayaka was more in the wrong than Misuzu, though it was hard to say how widespread that belief was.
On top of that, not only Misuzu’s parents, but also the parents of the friends who took part in bullying Yuuki were apparently struggling now as well.
According to Kyousuke, it seemed that one of the regular customers was seriously in the middle of destroying Misuzu’s parents in retaliation.
The whole situation had grown so big that it became the subject of online articles, yet Yuuki, the victim himself, did not care at all.
To Yuuki, it did not matter what happened to Ayaka, Misuzu, or any of the others. They were no longer connected to him, and he saw no value in spending time or emotion on people he now considered irrelevant.
Instead of something so meaningless, he thought only about what he might be able to do for Kyousuke and Yume, who had acted for his sake.
Even though he was not comfortable around Yume, he understood at least somewhat that she had defended him and taken action behind the scenes. If he avoided thanking her just because she was difficult for him to deal with, then he would be no better than Ayaka and the others.
And Kyousuke had been protecting him all this time. Yuuki felt that now was the moment he should finally give something back.
He disliked the mood at home, so he went outside to clear his head and tried to think, but no matter how long he thought, nothing came to mind.
He considered doing something grand and expensive, but Kyousuke and the others would not appreciate that.
While he was still worrying, he saw a small child walking hand in hand with a parent.
Ah, that is right.
He suddenly remembered how, when he was very small, his father had cherished a letter with a drawing of his face that Yuuki had made for him.
It was probably because the memory overlapped with the time Kyousuke had once told him that he was like a son.
He thought about using that idea, but his calmer thoughts quickly stopped him.
He had no guarantee that Kyousuke would be happy to receive a letter written with the idea of a parent and child in mind. The possibility of rejection made him anxious, and taking that step felt frightening.
But Kyousuke had been happy before. If he continued to hesitate here, he would never find a better idea.
So Yuuki began walking toward the station to buy stationery.