Ah, I think I've already guessed.
Rumors kept spreading around school. Posts about all the main players in the Class 1-D incident flooded the forum, a mix of truth and fiction.
Some people even dug up stories from Yoshida and Kazue Kuraki's middle school days. Apparently, Yoshida had nearly been expelled back then for injuring a classmate, while Kazue Kuraki had been bullied.
Yukino thought that people who wanted so badly to cut themselves off from their past feared nothing more than having their ugly history dragged into the open.
The wave of Dark History exposés kept growing, and the whole class was on edge. Yukino had even heard that many students in Class 1-D had suddenly started acting warmly toward Shoko Nishimiya, as if they wanted to plaster the words [I'm not an accomplice] across their foreheads.
The next day, after classes ended in the morning, the Class 1-D homeroom teacher held a brief meeting. They announced that a sealed box would be placed in the classroom that afternoon and that everyone would be given an identical envelope for their written reflections.
Of course, if the person who had actually stolen Kazue Kuraki's money was willing to return it by putting it in the envelope, the school would let the matter go, on the grounds that students didn't know any better.
Otherwise, the school's investigation would continue.
Yui was very curious about what would happen.
"Little Yuki, Little Yuki, do you think the person who stole the money will really turn it in secretly?"
Yukino had no idea when Yui had started calling her by such an affectionate nickname.
Yukino rolled up a test paper and lightly tapped her on the head. "Have you finished the exercises? Are you ready for the retake exam?"
Yui hugged her head, her eyes brimming with tears. "I've finished all the example problems you picked out for me, and I'm confident I'll pass the retake exam too."
Yukino nodded. "That's good, then."
"So, do you think they'll really get the stolen money back?"
Yukino casually drew a timeline of the Momoyama Period and its major events on a sheet of scrap paper, using it to review ancient Japanese history.
"I don't know if the thief will return the money, but the others definitely will."
Yui hugged her head and let out an adorable little sound.
"Huh?"
Before school let out that afternoon, students from Class 1-D started live-posting the final results of their class's reflection meeting on the forum.
When the results were revealed, the anonymous poster who had started the thread posted a string of question marks.
[Kazue Kuraki lost 6,000 yen, but eight envelopes came in with 6,000 yen each????]
[Is something wrong with our class??? Are our students all that rich???????]
Nothing was wrong. Most of the students in Class 1-D just wanted the whole incident to end as soon as possible.
Sobu High School might not have been like Shuchiin, where every student was a rich young master or lady, but 6,000 yen (about 380 RMB) wasn't a lot of money to them. Paying to put a stop to the increasingly rampant Dark History exposés was absolutely worth it.
Thinking this, Miura messaged a few of the other Campus Forum moderators and told them they could start restricting posts of this kind.
The incident came to a smooth end, though it was a little disappointing that they never found out who had stolen the money.
As school let out that afternoon, Yukino packed up her books and glanced over at Miura.
The pretty blonde girl was unusually sensitive to her gaze. She immediately blushed, grabbed her things, and hurried out, not even hearing Ono call after her.
Yukino: ???
She'd already said it was an accident, and they'd only bumped foreheads. Why are you blushing so much?!
Miura sprinted off.
Only after she got on the train did she realize she hadn't waited for Junko and Kaho that day.
The three of them didn't live near one another, but they usually rode together for a few stops.
When she opened her phone, she found that Junko and Kaho had already sent her a bunch of question marks. Miura felt awkward. She really had done a lot of stupid things lately.
[I had something urgent to do, so I left first. Sorry!]
[Okay, okay. Yumiko, send us a message when you get home so we know you're safe... You ran off so fast, seriously. @_@]
Miura hated herself for lying to her friends like this.
She didn't have anything urgent to do. She just couldn't quite face Yukino.
Her parents were away on business again that day, so nobody was home, and no one cared what time Miura got back.
Miura got off at one of the stations. She hadn't walked far from the station when she spotted a familiar bookstore.
She had so many urgent questions, fears, and doubts inside her. She needed something to give her an answer.
She passed the study guides and fashion magazines she usually browsed and made her way to the light novel and manga section.
<Love Metronome—The Complete Revised Edition Is Here! Teacher Utako Kasumi Redefines Romance!>
<How I Got Sent to Another World and Became the Villainous Male Lead>
My Offline Girlfriend Is My Little Sister???
At last, she spotted a manga with a cover showing two girls leaning close together.
She had just picked it up and looked through a few pages when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"Wow, you like this manga too? What a coincidence!"
Miura turned around in alarm and found herself facing a blonde foreign beauty.
"Hello, hello! My name is Smith A. Bansaka." The blonde girl spoke fluently, her face full of an innocent, adorable smile.
Why would you introduce yourself to someone you've just met?!
Miss Smith said happily, "This is the first time I've met another girl my age who likes Yuri Manga. I'm so happy!"
Wait, Yuri Manga????
Miura struggled to explain. "Um, well..."
Miss Smith pulled her over to a seat in the bookstore. Even though she lowered her voice, she couldn't hide her excitement.
"Miss, you like the part where the two heroines in this manga have crushes on each other, don't you?"
Heroines? Crushing on each other?
Miura swallowed what she'd been about to say and stammered, "Ah... I'm confused about something..."
She'd never dared to tell anyone about any of this before, but perhaps being with a stranger she didn't know made her feel braver.
"I have a friend..." she said, feeling terribly guilty. "She knows that a friend of hers has a crush on her, but she didn't feel that way about her friend before."
Miss Smith's eyes sparkled. "And then? What happened next?"
Miura carefully chose her words. "Then my friend recently told me that her feelings toward that friend were getting stranger and stranger."
"She wants to be with her all the time. Whenever she sees her happy, she can't help smiling, and whenever she sees her sad, she can't help feeling down too. But that's not even the worst part..."
Miura's expression turned grave. "She even wants to ask what her friend's exposed neck smells like. And whenever she sees her face and lips, her heart races and her face turns red..."
She covered her face in shame. "Isn't that just completely perverted?!"
"Perverted?"
Miss Smith let out a soft gasp, then suddenly burst into laughter.
Her smile was innocent and adorable, making her look pure and harmless.
"But that's clearly mutual love."
Eriri was grinding her teeth!
Ever since she'd caught Kasumigaoka riding home with that green-tea girl, Eriri had been keeping a close eye on Kasumigaoka and her Twitter alt accounts.
She wanted to keep an eye on Yukino too, but the problem was that the girl didn't even have Twitter. In this modern, internet-connected world, she didn't have Twitter or Instagram!
Kasumigaoka's main Twitter account was Utako Kasumi. It only posted information about the works of Teacher Utako Kasumi and barely touched on any details of her personal life.
Eriri followed that main account as a fan of Teacher Utako Kasumi, of course. But what even Kasumigaoka didn't know was that Eriri had tracked down several of her alt accounts.
Some were used to follow gossip, others to go after haters, and some to post all kinds of melancholy, embarrassing little essays that she'd never want anyone to see. If someone screenshotted one, she'd be so ashamed she'd roll around on the floor.
Eriri had followed Kasumigaoka's alt accounts because she wanted to screenshot her Dark History and one day show it to her, so she could watch her roll around in embarrassment.
A lot of those little essays were baffling.
The general vibe of the ones from a little over two years ago was:
[In the end, I bore it all alone...]
The ones from a little over a year ago went more like:
[Though the world has kissed me with pain, I must repay it with a song]
And recently, the tone of Kasumigaoka's alt accounts had changed again.
[Turns out I can be someone else's star, too]
Eriri felt goosebumps from how sugary it was. Good thing Kasumigaoka's books aren't full of this kind of sentimental nonsense, or I'd never be able to read them.
Though she hated to admit it, Kasumigaoka's recent posts had grown brighter and brighter. Sometimes she'd take pictures of the bright blue sky, sometimes of a strip of sunlight by the window, sometimes of the lush green plants she'd grown herself. The pictures and captions all exuded peaceful serenity.
If Eriri hadn't seen that same plant die four times and get replaced with four different ones, she might actually have believed it.
Today, Kasumigaoka's alt account had posted again.
[Took the kitty to get a shot~]
The kitten in the photo was the very same one Eriri had seen Kasumigaoka and Yukino carrying home that day.
Damn it, something really is going on!
But if she asked Kasumigaoka, she definitely wouldn't tell her.
That woman was so malicious!
If Kasumigaoka got close to any boy or girl in the world, Eriri might feel a little lonely, but she wouldn't be grinding her teeth like this.
Yukino was the woman who'd trampled all over Eriri's pursuit, her dreams, and the person she loved.
Just thinking of the way Yukino had acted back then made Eriri so angry she wanted to shut herself away.
And now Kasumigaoka, who Eriri had thought was her steadfast ally, had defected at a time like this.
Eriri was furious and confused.
Then she'd just have to bait Yukino.
Who said she couldn't be a Scum King too? This was hilarious!
After thinking it over carefully, Eriri applied for a Line alt account and picked a handsome, cool-looking guy's profile picture—the sort that was popular among Japanese girls at the moment. She gave herself a cool, flashy name: [The Dream of Japanese Girls].
Then she added the most obvious internet-famous abs photo she could find, along with pictures of the interiors of several of her dad's luxury cars, to her profile.
Only then did Eriri add the Yukino Line account she'd finally managed to find.
There was no girl who wouldn't be tempted by a catch like this, especially not a green-tea girl like Yukino!
Haha, even when I'm playing a Scum King, I'm a rare genius!
[Your friend request has been rejected.]
[You have been blocked and can no longer add this account.]
That weekend, Yukino had arranged to take the kitten to the vet with Kasumigaoka for a checkup, deworming, and vaccinations.
She'd just gotten up when she saw a friend request from someone she didn't recognize, along with a message Kasumigaoka had sent the night before. Yukino had probably been watching Sign Language tutorial videos then.
She casually blocked the eyesore of an account, then finally got around to checking Kasumigaoka's message.
Kasumigaoka: [Did you buy all this stuff???]
Kasumigaoka had sent a whole pile of pictures filled with cat trees, little toys, snacks, dried fish, and all sorts of other things.
Yukino cleared her throat and replied, [No.]
Kasumigaoka: [No, my ass! Who else could it be?! Do you know I was up until the middle of the night assembling that cat tree last night, damn it!!!]
Before you continue