Class 1-D was still as lively and noisy as ever. Everyone was casually chatting about the kinds of things high school students talked about.
Fashion, outfits, idols, celebrities, video games, basketball stars—everyone chatted and laughed together, and the air was filled with happiness.
Only the cherry-colored-haired girl in the last row sat at her desk with her head slightly bowed, her whole body nearly rigid.
Her beautiful, fluffy hair was a cherry blossom pink. In the tipsy sunlight, its lovely color seemed as though it might even be surrounded by a soft, beautiful halo.
Her face was gentler and lovelier still than her hair.
She was like a cherry tree in spring, with petals scattering in the breeze and filling the air with the feeling of spring.
A beautiful, adorable girl like her should have been surrounded by other girls and fawned over by boys. Yet at that moment, she seemed not to exist at all, quietly shrinking into a corner of the classroom by herself.
"It's because some weird people showed up that the atmosphere in class has gotten so strange."
The speaker was a young woman with brown hair and a fashionable look. Even the way she had her hair curled and dyed, the style and colors of her nails, and the way she matched her clothes and makeup all seemed to take some inspiration from the Queen of Sobu High School.
Word had it that some underclassmen even called her "Little Miura."
Miura herself hadn't heard the rumor. If she had, she would've come over to confront them.
At Sobu High School, the only person Miura had ever lost an argument to was Yukino. Under her Queenly aura, everyone else barely dared to talk back.
She was one of those people who stood out in Japanese classrooms: speaking loudly, laughing boisterously, with everyone around them echoing their opinions.
"She has absolutely no self-awareness. Anyone can get into Sobu now? Does she think Sobu High School is a garbage dump?"
"I wouldn't say much about other things, but if someone has a problem with their morals, then there really is no hope for them. Hehe."
Yuji Yoshida, a big, tall boy, laughed. "Hey, hey, if you say things that harshly, she might start crying again."
"Right? Whenever she cries, the teacher comes over, and then the whole class gets scolded. Who can deal with that?"
The cherry-haired girl lightly bit her lower lip, forcing herself not to make a sound.
Here, even having red eyes seemed like a mistake.
...How strange.
Shoko Nishimiya felt as though she'd suddenly been tossed into a freshwater lake like a deep-sea fish, or some kind of tortoise.
Someone seemed to have made another joke about her, and laughter rang out from all around.
The malice of the group converged into a river rushing straight at her. A person caught in the current only had to hesitate for a moment before being swept away completely.
"Classmate Nishimiya, Teacher Hiratsuka is looking for you."
After her recent outstanding performance, Teacher Hiratsuka had been saddled by the school's leadership with a whole pile of responsibilities, on the grounds that young people should be given more work.
Nishimiya looked up and saw a girl in her class named Iroha Isshiki smiling at her.
She stood up in a bit of a panic. As she said thank you, she also signed "thank you" with her hands.
As she walked out, she heard a quiet conversation behind her.
"Iroha, you can't get close to that Plague God!"
"Of course not, ha..."
She lowered her head awkwardly and made her way to the office she remembered as Teacher Hiratsuka's.
But the familiar Teacher Hiratsuka wasn't there. Instead, there was an unfamiliar girl as translucent and beautiful as ice and snow.
The girl looked up at her and called her name slowly, one word at a time.
"Shoko Nishimiya?"
Yukino understood why Iroha Isshiki had been so certain that Shoko Nishimiya couldn't be a bad person.
Appearance reflected the inner self, and this was surely what that meant.
She had eyes that were truly gentle and clear.
Yukino knew a little about reading and interpreting people's microexpressions—a skill known as discernment.
If the Buddhist ideal of being like lapis lazuli, clear and flawless both inside and out, truly existed, then surely someone like the girl before her was what it looked like.
The clean, fragile air about her was difficult to capture in a photograph. It could hardly show even a tenth of it.
In front of such a beautiful person, Yukino's concern for her image, which she'd cast aside earlier, came back to her.
She had originally planned to try out her rudimentary sign language, so bad that calling it half-baked would be an exaggeration. But now she simply wrote on her notebook and handed it to Nishimiya.
[I'm Yukino Yukinoshita, a second-year student. Teacher Hiratsuka asked me to look into and resolve the incident in Class 1-D.]
Nishimiya obediently wrote a friendly reply.
[Hello! I'm Shoko Nishimiya.]
Yukino: [I've already learned the basics of what happened. I'd like to ask you about where the money went. Do you have anyone you suspect?]
After thinking it over, she added another sentence.
[Don't be nervous. You can just say whatever comes to mind, and I'll investigate further myself.]
Nishimiya took the notebook and looked at it. She pressed her lips together lightly, as though deep in thought.
She wrote a reply in the notebook and handed it back.
[Even though this awful thing happened to me, I think it was just an accident. I don't think anyone deliberately framed me.]
[Also, I'd never dare to say "whatever comes to mind" in front of you, Senior Yukinoshita. You seem like a very serious person, and I'm sure you'd investigate even a casual remark thoroughly.]
Yukino immediately felt a headache coming on.
She had a feeling this gentle, unhurried girl reminded her of someone. Who was it?
Hmm... Right, Yui Yuigahama.
This girl's personality was probably an enhanced version of Yui's.
Earlier, Yukino had assumed that even if this girl's personality made things difficult, she'd be no worse than Yui: unable to turn people down, too kind for her own good, and a headache to deal with.
But now she realized she'd been too naïve.
Yui might not be very good at saying no, but she still knew how to distinguish right from wrong and treat things accordingly.
As for Classmate Nishimiya, how should she put it?
[No one is at fault. Everyone had reasons they couldn't avoid for doing what they did, so I should forgive them.]
Good grief. Where had this young girl picked up this Ultimate Angel Syndrome? She wanted to save everyone.
Yukino was completely numb.
Nishimiya looked at Yukino, who wasn't saying anything, and anxiously began signing. [I'm the one who caused so much trouble for the class. Please don't...]
"You, of all people, shouldn't think of yourself as a burden or a bother," Yukino interrupted.
As soon as she said that, Nishimiya froze. She blurted out her first words since meeting Yukino that day.
"You can understand... sign language?"
Her intonation was a little unusual, but Yukino didn't find it unpleasant. It was rather cute.
Yukino gave a light cough. "I learned some a while ago."
That alone was enough to make Nishimiya smile.
When she smiled, she gently pressed her cherry-colored lips together. There was a small, restrained happiness about it.
Nishimiya's shoulders, which had been tense ever since she entered the office, relaxed considerably. It reminded Yukino of the familiar life she'd had at Kitsukou Special High School.
Back then, she and her classmates had communicated through sign language, speech, writing—whatever was convenient. Everything had been so comfortable and pleasant.
Everyone around her had been the same. As time passed, Nishimiya had nearly come to believe she was just like everyone else in the world.
But this sudden transfer had shattered everything she knew.
Her mother was happy, very happy.
The day Nishimiya received a charitable scholarship that allowed her to transfer to Sobu High School, her mother had clumsily used a computer to look up the school's illustrious alumni, their names shining with prestige. It was as if she could see Nishimiya shining just as brightly someday.
Holding Nishimiya, she'd said through gritted teeth, "Our Shoko is just as good as anyone else!"
Even her younger sister had been amazed.
"Sobu? That's Sobu! Its university admissions rate is second only to Shuchiin, where all the genius monsters go!"
Everyone seemed so happy.
It was wonderful that everyone could be happy. It was just that Shoko was so stupid.
Shoko Nishimiya's hearing had never been very good, and it had always been hard for her to follow the teacher's explanations of all the Knowledge Points.
Sobu High School was a Famous School. Even students from other ordinary high schools struggled to keep up with its teaching quality and pace, let alone Shoko Nishimiya.
The more anxiously she tried to catch up, the further behind she fell.
Yukino wrote in her notebook: [Sobu High School won't let this sort of incident go unchecked. We'll resolve everything as soon as possible, so just focus on your studies.]
Nishimiya replied beneath it: [Um, you don't have to find out the truth. I don't feel like I'm being bullied...]
Yukino fell silent for a moment.
"Nishimiya..."
Nishimiya looked up at Yukino a little timidly.
She had only just transferred to this school, and hadn't heard many of the awful rumors about Yukino's past. She'd only occasionally heard that this unbelievably beautiful senpai had rocketed from twentieth-from-last in the grade to second place in a little over a month.
Simply... an idol!
"There's an old saying in the Eastern Country..." Yukino deliberately slowed her speech, making her voice sound low and gentle. "Repay evil with good, and what do you repay good with?"
"If you give all your kindness, forgiveness, and tolerance to the people who hurt you, then what will you give in return to those who've shown you even a little kindness?"
"Your life? Or your very soul?"
Shoko Nishimiya froze at her words.
Yukino tore off a sheet of paper and wrote down her contact information for Shoko Nishimiya.
"I'll resolve this incident within two days. If you run into any trouble at other times, you can contact me too."
Even after returning home from school that day, Shoko Nishimiya kept thinking about what Senior Yukinoshita had said.
Repay evil with good, and what do you repay good with?
She repeated the phrase to herself, still feeling as though she didn't quite understand it.
But...
When Yukino had said those words, the look in her eyes had been so lonely. It was almost as if she were looking through Nishimiya and seeing her own past.
Nishimiya patted her cheeks to clear her head.
How could that be?
How could someone as outstanding and perfect as Senior Yukinoshita have ever been ostracized, isolated, or treated with malice?
Lately, a flood of nonsense rumors had been spreading around Sobu High School.
First came the theft incident in Class 1-D, followed by the escalating conflict and Isolation Bullying Incident. Before the gossip had even died down, the School Forum had exploded with another controversy.
Kazue Kuraki hadn't even entered the classroom yet that morning when she sensed that the atmosphere had become even stranger.
It was a feeling she'd never experienced before.
Usually, as soon as she arrived at school, classmates she knew would come over to greet her. Then everyone would yawn and talk about whatever celebrity gossip they hadn't finished discussing the day before.
But today, everyone she happened to encounter on the way to the classroom had avoided her.
It was very strange.
Kazue Kuraki couldn't help thinking of some unpleasant things she'd gone through in middle school.
—No, I can't.
Before you continue