She was already in high school. She couldn't go on living like that anymore!
She'd learned how to do her makeup. She'd learned how to put together a nice outfit. She could finally leave her old self behind!
She pushed open the classroom door and walked in, beaming with energy. "Good morning, everyone!"
The noisy classroom fell silent for a moment. A few people glanced her way strangely, then quickly looked away.
Kazue Kuraki's smile stiffened for an instant. She grabbed the hand of Misa, her friend in class. "Hey, Misa, what exactly is going on?"
She deliberately raised her voice and put on an assertive air. "The atmosphere felt weird the moment I walked in. Was someone talking behind my back while I was gone?"
Misa gave an awkward smile. "Of course not..."
She pulled her hand free. "I have to go to my club. Let's talk later."
Kuraki returned to her seat almost woodenly.
She had only just sat down, bewildered and confused, when she heard hushed voices coming from the boys' seats nearby.
"It really wasn't me... Why would I do something like that?!"
The speaker was Yuji Yoshida, a tall member of the track and field club who wielded a lot of influence among the boys in class.
In the past, as long as the two of them agreed on what to do, hardly anyone in class would oppose them.
Since starting high school, Kuraki had teamed up with Yoshida to bring the various cliques in their class together as quickly as possible.
So what was happening now?
The boy sitting beside Yoshida leaned back against his chair, wearing a mocking smile. "I think it sounds exactly like something you'd do, Yoshida. A few days ago, you even bragged that you'd win over Nishimiya in less than a week, then got rejected at lightning speed, didn't you?"
Yoshida's brows shot up. "Fujii, what are you getting at?"
Fujii was in the school's Piano Club. He had a pale, handsome face and was exactly the kind of pretty boy girls liked. Naturally, he was also exactly the kind of pretty boy that the tall Yoshida couldn't stand.
The two of them had never gotten along, though Fujii usually kept Yoshida's fists in mind.
What was going on today?
Fujii folded his arms, looking disdainful. "I always thought you were a lousy person, Yoshida, but I never imagined you could be this awful. I feel so sorry for Nishimiya."
Nishimiya?
Yoshida finally couldn't stand the taunting anymore. He stood up and punched Fujii in the chin!
The homeroom teacher rushed over as soon as the news reached them. Meanwhile, Fujii was still clutching his swollen, reddened chin and taunting Yoshida relentlessly.
"Yuji Yoshida and Kazue Kuraki are framing their classmate out of selfish motives. Sobu High School can't keep letting scum like them get away with this, Sensei!"
The classroom descended into chaos.
Just then, Kuraki's phone buzzed softly. She had a LINE message from Misa.
Misa: "Forget everything else and go check the Campus Forum, Kazue!"
Kuraki hurriedly opened the Campus Forum. A post at the top of the page, its popularity score glowing red, nearly made her blood boil.
<Let's Talk About Class 1-D, the Class That Makes Me Laugh>
"I'm a disciplinary committee member from another first-year class. A couple of days ago, I was called to a meeting about the Theft Incident in Class 1-D. The Musashi Committee Member and Senpai Miura were both assigned by the school to investigate it thoroughly.
"Everyone was discussing it heatedly at the meeting, but all I could think about was laughing. Just a few days ago, Kazue Kuraki was making snide remarks on Twitter, saying, 'There's this girl in our class who thinks she's the tragic heroine. Don't tell me she actually thinks all the boys like that type? That's disgusting!'
"And then, a few days later, you tell me Kuraki's money was stolen? And that it was stolen by the new transfer student??
"What an incredible coincidence, teehee.
"By the way, you haven't even deleted that tweet yet, teehee.
"Everyone in our year has heard a little about all of Kazue Kuraki's petty schemes, her backstabbing, her jealousy, and her other ridiculous behavior. I won't list it all. Let's talk about someone else.
"That's right, you, Yuji Yoshida.
"Good job. Excellent work. You're the best at hitting on girls in the whole world.
"I still can't figure out why Yoshida has it in for Nishimiya. He's always making snide remarks about her in class with Kazue Kuraki. It wasn't your money that got stolen, so why are you so worked up?
"After careful consideration, I have rigorously ruled out the possibility that Yoshida is taking revenge because he's embarrassed.
"After all, Yoshida is so fair-minded, upright, and selfless. Sure, he bragged to the boys that he could easily get Nishimiya to go out with him in a week, then got rejected and, with a dark look and clenched teeth, told her, 'Just you wait.' But of course he'd never do something so deliberate, like framing her.
"I believe in him, teehee.
"Kuraki lost several thousand yen. I heard that right after the money went missing, Kuraki forcibly searched Nishimiya. She dumped out everything in Nishimiya's schoolbag, but still didn't find a thing.
"I guess Nishimiya must have Doraemon's Dimensional Pocket.
"Otherwise, could it be that Nishimiya didn't steal the money at all, or that Kuraki never even lost any money in the first place?
"And if Nishimiya wasn't the one who did it, then it could only have been someone else, right? [sad]
"There are so many people in Class 1-D. It's impossible to guess who.
"So that couldn't possibly be it. Absolutely impossible, teehee."
Good grief. After reading the whole post, with its constant "impossible"s and "teehee"s, Kuraki's blood pressure shot through the roof.
At last, Kazue Kuraki understood why the atmosphere in class had felt so strange when she arrived at school that morning.
Because now, she and Yoshida were standing alongside Nishimiya on the suspect stand.
Not a single word in the post said what she or Yoshida had done, yet every pointed line was enough to get people excited and make them imagine a whole elaborate drama in minutes.
And for students trapped in the endless hell of studying, gossip and wild speculation were always the things they looked forward to most.
Every word of that post was a knife to the heart!
The post currently held the top spot on the Campus Forum. In that short time, roughly half the students at school had clicked on it.
They hadn't just read it, either. They were posting whatever they liked on the forum, anonymously or under their real names.
[Kuraki, huh... Not surprising. I'd already heard plenty about her when we first started school.]
[First-years really are amazing. They manage to make such huge news every year. Us upperclassmen salute you.]
[Yuji Yoshida is the really impressive one. Does he actually think the school is his personal harem, and that none of the girls he picks can turn him down?]
[I'm in Class 1-D. Just going to say this anonymously: What does this pair think our class is, exactly? Their way or the highway?]
[I'm also in Class 1-D. Just quietly saying that I feel so sorry for Nishimiya, but if I said that in class, I'd get bullied along with her QAQ]
[So did Kuraki actually lose her wallet or not? And if she did, who took it?]
[Could someone close to her have done it? If you weren't close to Kuraki, you wouldn't even know she kept money in her schoolbag.]
Kazue Kuraki was shaking all over with anger.
Whether she'd lost her wallet or not, didn't she know that herself?!
This was slander!!!
She slapped the desk and stood up, pointing at Shoko Nishimiya, who sat in the last row.
"Shoko Nishimiya, you wrote that post, didn't you?!"
Shoko Nishimiya looked up in confusion when Kuraki pointed at her.
Even with her hearing aid, her hearing wasn't as good as an ordinary person's. She already struggled to hear people when she was paying close attention, let alone when she hadn't noticed them at all.
She pointed at herself, looking timid.
It was as if she were asking, "Do you need something?"
Kuraki's anger surged toward Nishimiya. She knew it was probably impossible. If this mute girl had that kind of sharp writing, vicious wit, and cunning, Kuraki would have already learned to give her a wide berth.
"Stop pretending!"
She shoved aside her chair and strode over, her teeth clenched. "I knew from the very first day you transferred here that you were no good—"
"Kuraki!"
Someone stopped her.
Iroha Isshiki stepped in front of Nishimiya. "Yoshida just got sent to the disciplinary office for fighting. Do you want to get a warning on your record too?"
Kuraki grew even angrier. "Iroha Isshiki, are you in a hurry to step all over me?"
In any group, only one or two people had any real say. Once the king and queen had been established, anyone else who stood out was treated as a potential rival.
Iroha Isshiki was famous as a beauty among the first-years and popular throughout the school. Before, after Kuraki joined forces with Yoshida to bring order to their class, she had regarded Isshiki as her number-one rival.
But Isshiki had never taken sides or given anyone a reason to hold something against her, so Kuraki had rarely had a chance to clash with her.
Yet she'd chosen this moment to step forward.
Yoshida had been disciplined, Iroha Isshiki had suddenly switched sides, and her classmates and friends had started distancing themselves from her. All these unexpected changes left Kuraki feeling dazed.
It was only a post! How had things turned into this?!
She looked around at the others in class, but most of them quickly looked away when their eyes met hers.
"Kuraki, I advise you not to bully Nishimiya again," Iroha Isshiki said with a faint smile. "I won't let something this nasty happen in our class again!"
Yeah, as if you hadn't turned a blind eye to everything Nishimiya went through a couple of days ago.
"Miss Two-Faced Isshiki, and you've still got the nerve to say that?"
Isshiki, now called Miss Two-Faced, didn't get angry. She smiled gently. "It's only today that I found out Kuraki had done so many awful things."
Seeing Kuraki surrounded on all sides, her friend Misa finally couldn't sit still. She stood up and said quietly, "Everyone, don't argue. Class is about to start."
Then she came over and pulled Kuraki back to her seat. "Stop arguing, Kazue. Just calm down for now..."
After calmly comforting Nishimiya, who still seemed a little bewildered, Iroha Isshiki returned to her seat.
Though she seemed calm on the surface, she still couldn't hide her frustration.
Iroha Isshiki wasn't a mean girl, but she wasn't some hot-blooded, justice-loving fool, either.
Of course she didn't want a kind, beautiful, adorable girl like Shoko Nishimiya to be wronged. Of course she wanted to help Nishimiya—but only if it didn't put her at risk.
When the incident in Class 1-D had suddenly erupted, she'd spent the whole night trying to think of a practical solution and couldn't come up with one. That was why she'd turned to the Service Club for help.
After all, Kuraki's wallet really had disappeared, and it still hadn't been found. As long as the missing money couldn't be accounted for, Nishimiya couldn't clear herself of suspicion.
Iroha Isshiki even vaguely understood that clearing Nishimiya of suspicion wouldn't do much to improve her awful situation.
But this post, like a stroke of divine genius, had come flying out of nowhere at just the right moment, like an arrow that broke the deadlock. It had nearly killed two birds with one stone—no, four!
First, it had cleared Shoko Nishimiya of most of the suspicion to some extent.
Second, it had spread the suspicion across the entire class. The resulting chain of distrust had broken apart the cliques that had previously been entrenched in Class 1-D, making it easier for Shoko Nishimiya to fit in.
Third, Yoshida and Kuraki had lost much of their influence, and anyone who accepted Nishimiya would no longer be treated as part of the class's outcast group.
Fourth and finally, although the social circles around Yoshida and Kuraki had largely fallen apart, they hadn't been completely destroyed. As long as Iroha remained in this class and still couldn't stand people like Kuraki, she had to get on good terms with Nishimiya.
Because Shoko Nishimiya's very existence served as a constant reminder, emphasized and underlined, of just how awful Kuraki and Yoshida were.
Everyone was afraid of becoming Nishimiya.
Iroha Isshiki couldn't help thinking, Holy cow.
It was only a post on the Campus Forum, yet every word struck where it hurt without drawing blood. The social order of all of Class 1-D had been turned upside down, and it was as if the entire school were moving according to the poster's will.
---Terrifying!
A pure consequentialist genius, a born schemer, a genius at manipulating people. I didn't stand the slightest chance!
If nothing unexpected happened, the incident that had started all of this—the lost money—would also soon be resolved.
Iroha Isshiki took out her phone. [Senpai Yuigahama, do you know who wrote that post?]
The reply came quickly. Clearly, she was gossiping and following the drama too.
Yui Yuigahama: [Oh, that? I'm not really sure (●°u°●)"]
So she did know.
She hadn't admitted to it, which meant it wasn't Senpai Miura.
That cheerful, playful tone probably belonged to someone Senpai Yuigahama was rather proud of.
And a genius.