Chapter 52: Shinjou Saya 1
This is the story of me and Yuuki-kun.
The story of a foolish me who did something irreversible.
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Back in middle school, I was someone anyone would see as well-mannered, the student council president everyone admired. People my own age relied on me, and of course, students in lower grades relied on me too.
On top of that, it’s embarrassing to say it myself, but my looks were probably better than average as well.
Students, and sometimes even teachers, came to rely on me.
But…
“Don’t get so full of yourself, okay? You’re annoying.”
“Just having you around makes everything the worst.”
The truth was, there were always a certain number of people like that.
The more popular I became, the more people like that appeared. I was often bullied in places without teachers or friends around, like behind the school building where bullying tended to happen.
At first, it was small things.
Things like my eraser going missing, or my desk being deliberately kicked and shifted. Little things like that.
The people who found me annoying were mostly girls.
And they were girls who belonged to the top of the social hierarchy in the class or grade.
To them, someone like me was a thorn in their side, so bullying me like this was how they let off steam.
I thought it’d be far more productive for them to fix their personalities or looks instead of bullying me, but explaining that would obviously just make things worse, so I quietly accepted it.
They poured water on me, slapped my cheeks, punched my stomach, doing whatever they wanted, but once they heard footsteps coming this way, they ran off somewhere.
“…Haah. If you’re scared, then you shouldn’t do it in the first place.”
If they were that afraid of being seen by a teacher, they should just quit.
How stupid.
That’s what I thought as I looked down on them in my heart, but still, being hit by people and bullied like that wears you down, and I ended up crouching there on the spot.
Some people might think I should’ve just relied on a teacher or a friend right away, but I was someone others relied on, not someone who relied on others.
So I didn’t know how to rely on someone, or even whether I should. I had something like a compulsion that I mustn’t show weakness.
That was because I’d spent my whole life being relied on by others.
But now that I think about it, maybe it was fate that I was bullied like this.
“Ah, um… are you okay?”
The one who spoke to me as I was looking down was a boy with a gentle expression.
“…I’m fine. But what are you doing in a place like this?”
There was no reason to come to such a dark, damp place during lunch break without a purpose.
When I asked that, he made a slightly troubled face and replied.
“Ah, well. I just feel a little uncomfortable staying in the classroom.”
“…I see. Sorry for asking something like that.”
From his reaction, I could tell he probably wasn’t fitting in with his class or had some kind of problem.
“No, no, it’s fine. Ah, um, could you wait here for a moment?”
Saying that, he ran off somewhere.
Wondering what he’d gone to do, I looked up at the sky, and soon he came back in quite a hurry, holding a long-sleeved gym uniform.
“If you don’t mind, please wear this. If you’re wet, you’ll get cold, and also, um…”
His gaze shifted toward my chest.
When I looked down too, my shirt was slightly wet, and my underwear was showing through. I was embarrassed to have a boy see my underwear, so I gratefully accepted it.
“…Thank you. I’ll return it tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
That was how I met Yuuki-kun.