Story Preview: As If an Old Friend Had Returned (Part 3) / Story Preview: As If an Old Friend Had Returned (Final Part)

Bounty, open!

I've rested for three days, and I'm feeling good again, so I'm opening a belated launch-week bounty.

It'll run for five days, from Monday through Friday this week.

Three hundred monthly votes gets one extra chapter.

One hundred and fifty blades gets one extra chapter.

Ten thousand cat biscuits in donations gets one extra chapter.

Four thousand recommendation votes gets one extra chapter.

All bonus chapters for this book are 4,000 words, so one chapter counts as two.

The cap is still ten chapters, or 40,000 words. Let's go!

Episode Preview: Return of an Old Friend (Part 2)

Karuizawa Kei noticed that every little thing she did—every word, every action—was being watched. Whether she was among the boys or the girls, she tried hard to cultivate an air of natural nobility as a protective disguise. But perhaps she simply didn't have that so-called "queenly" aura by nature. In her day-to-day dealings at school, she also did her best to avoid offending anyone.

"Don't you think you're being too careful around them, Kei? There's no need for that. You just have to be a little nice to boys and they'll cling to you like a dog with a bone."

One girl had once offered Karuizawa Kei that advice.

It had started a month after the school year began. Quite a few boys had finally worked up the courage to forget about Karuizawa Kei's "boyfriend." Yes, the rumors had grown more and more outrageous, and Kitagawa Ryo had gone from being her "childhood friend" to her "boyfriend." At this rate, it wouldn't be long before he became her "fiancé, bound to her by a marriage contract" or something like that.

The bolder boys began to tentatively approach Karuizawa Kei. It wasn't necessarily that they wanted to pursue her; they just wanted to show off in front of the girls. Their classmates had only just started middle school and weren't yet full of complicated thoughts. Since Karuizawa Kei was the center of the girls in their class, making a good impression on her was the same as standing out in front of all the girls. With this simple, blunt idea in mind, the boys took action.

Karuizawa Kei began to get approached more and more often. Whether it was about everyday things or class notes, she found herself dealing with them with growing weariness. She genuinely couldn't understand why anyone in her class would ask her for help with their studies. If she had that kind of talent for teaching, her own grades wouldn't still be hovering around the middle of the class.

"Ah... yeah, I guess it is a little annoying."

Karuizawa Kei lay her upper body across her desk and complained softly.

"Exactly. Kei should be a little colder to them. Besides, none of them even comes close to Kitagawa."

"I guess you're right."

Karuizawa Kei idly picked at her nails, her slender, pale fingers tapping lightly on the desk.

"Hmm... I'll do that, then."

Only then did Karuizawa Kei realize that the protective disguise she'd built around herself with "Kitagawa Ryo" had indeed raised a wall around her heart—but it had also gotten in the way of normal social interactions. The relationship she'd described between herself and "Kitagawa Ryo" meant that she had no right to accept kindness from other boys. It was as if she were contradicting her own story.

If you're so close to "Kitagawa," and he's even planning to transfer back from overseas for your sake, how can you act close with other boys?

Once she understood that, Karuizawa Kei began to put on a cold front. Whenever a boy tried to talk to her, she responded as coolly as she could, whether he meant well or just wanted to be friends. She was getting better and better at controlling her facial expressions: narrowing her eyes, raising her eyebrows, clicking her tongue. Before long, most of the boys were saying that Karuizawa Kei had a terrible temper and thought she was above everyone just because she had a boyfriend.

After losing her standing among the boys, Karuizawa Kei could only take even greater care to maintain her position among the girls.

"Kei, a girl from the class next door deliberately knocked me down in the cafeteria at lunch, and she didn't even apologize."

One day during lunch break, a girl suddenly ran up to Karuizawa Kei, panting and looking indignant as she complained:

"It was Wakata from the class next door. She's always looking down on people because her boyfriend's an upperclassman. She knocked me down just now, and my whole lunch set spilled on the floor. She didn't even apologize. I asked her to pay for another one, but she just walked away like she hadn't heard me."

The girls had their own little disagreements and conflicts among themselves on ordinary days, but when something like this gave them a rare chance to unite against someone else, they were quick to sympathize with one another:

"I'd heard Wakata from the class next door had a bad temper. I don't know how her boyfriend can stand dating her."

"Seriously. I heard her boyfriend just became vice-captain of the school basketball team, too. When I saw her in the hallway a couple days ago, she was acting like she was better than everyone."

"She's only getting away with it because she has a boyfriend to protect her. Otherwise, all the girls in her class would've ostracized her ages ago."

They all chimed in, one after another, but their feet stayed rooted to the spot.

Clearly, it was easy enough to condemn someone and offer support in words. If they were actually going to confront her, though, they needed someone to take the lead.

So everyone turned to Karuizawa Kei, including the girl who'd first come to complain. She was practically demanding that Karuizawa Kei stand up for her, and was on the verge of wiping away tears.

"Um... how about we go to the cafeteria together and talk to Wakata... to Wakata-san?"

Karuizawa Kei felt their eyes digging into her. Only after she said those words did their nail-like gazes finally lift from her. A sense of utter exhaustion welled up from deep inside her. Now that she'd decided to be a tiger, she couldn't afford to be weak over something like this. Rabbits ate grass. Tigers didn't.

The girls in the class immediately surrounded Karuizawa Kei and the girl who'd been bullied, as if they'd just received an order. Then they stormed off to the cafeteria.

Perhaps it was just good timing, but as soon as they reached the cafeteria entrance, they saw Wakata finishing her meal and walking out alone, heading toward the garden beside it. She seemed to be going for a stroll after lunch.

"Hey, you're the one who knocked Yuko down earlier, right?"

A dozen or so girls immediately surrounded her. It was a particularly delicate moment: the end of lunch break. If they'd come a little earlier, there would probably have been plenty of students eating packed lunches in the garden. A little later, and it would have been filled with students going to and from class.

Seeing how few people were around, and that there were more than a dozen of them against one person, the girls suddenly felt the strength of their numbers. In a noisy rush, they dragged Wakata off to a more secluded patch of woods and pinned her against a large tree.

"Yuko, it was her, right?"

Emi Eura, standing at the front, tugged on the other girl's hair and looked back to ask.

"Yeah, it was... it was her. She knocked me down and didn't even apologize."

Yuko still seemed timid, and she stammered out her answer.

After hearing that clear response, Emi Eura broke into a delighted, almost vicious smile.

"So you're Wakata. Did you think you could do whatever you wanted at school just because you have a great boyfriend?"

Wakata seemed to have only just realized what was going on. She was tall and had short, mid-length hair. She was also said to be a key member of the track and field club. Without a hint of hesitation, she knocked Emi Eura's hand away, straightened her clothes, and frowned.

"She bumped into me first because she wasn't watching where she was going. Why should I apologize first?"

"I didn't do anything wrong. Classes are about to start, so move out of my way."

Her self-righteous attitude only added fuel to an already tense situation. Yuko lowered her head and pursed her lips, looking ready to burst into tears at any moment. One of the girls beside her seemed unable to stand Wakata's attitude and rushed out to shove her hard.

"What are you pretending for? Hurry up and apologize to Yuko!"

Karuizawa Kei knew this girl. She seemed to be in the track and field club, too, but unlike Wakata, she was only an ordinary member. Perhaps she'd built up a great deal of resentment toward Wakata during their club activities. Karuizawa Kei could even see a hint of satisfaction in her eyes.

When personal grudges were folded into the goals and actions of a whole group, people could take revenge openly, without a second thought.

Karuizawa Kei felt a chill creep down her back for no reason.

"That's right! Apologize to Yuko!"

"Why aren't you calling your boyfriend now? Make sure you call him a few times while you still can. Once he graduates next year, you'll have to go looking for him at some high school."

"Dating a guy two grades above you a month after starting school. Tch."

With that girl leading the way, the rest of the girls seemed to let loose all at once. They formed a series of walls advancing toward Wakata, squeezing her room to move smaller and smaller. By the end, almost everything she could see and hear was a barrage of inexplicable curses and insults, most of them no longer having anything to do with the incident itself.

"Fine, I'll apologize, okay?"

Wakata seemed to realize the situation had turned against her. She tossed out a perfunctory apology, then tried to push her way through the wall of girls.

"That kind of attitude counts as an apology?"

"Can you stop making that face?"

"I feel like giving you a good lesson myself."

Karuizawa Kei stood lost in this noisy little world. When Wakata apologized, Karuizawa Kei even found herself thinking of her own situation. She almost screamed at Wakata. She wanted to tell her that apologizing wouldn't help—in fact, it was a sign of giving in.

"...Um... shouldn't we...?"

Karuizawa Kei tried to step forward and say something. She felt that if things went any further, this would become school bullying.

"Kei, should we teach her a lesson?"

Emi Eura gave Karuizawa Kei a playful look. Her knees were already trembling slightly. Unfortunately, the girls around them were absorbed in how cool they looked standing up for a friend, and hardly anyone noticed the turmoil in Karuizawa Kei's heart.

"—!"

At Emi Eura's words, everyone seemed to suddenly remember Karuizawa Kei. After all, she was their "center," at least on the surface, but she'd barely said a word in the last few minutes. Every gaze, Wakata's included, turned toward Karuizawa Kei like a spotlight.

"Kei?"

Emi Eura called to Karuizawa Kei again, like a loyal servant waiting patiently for her master's next command.

"------?"

Karuizawa Kei managed to gather her thoughts. In just that short time, a thin layer of sweat had already gathered on her forehead.

"Karuizawa? So it's you. I'd heard there was a legendary figure in the class next door."

Wakata put extra emphasis on the word "legendary." As though she'd found the real culprit, she said with a mix of anger and regret:

"So you're the one backing these people up. Tch. I'd thought you weren't like this."

"Don't twist her words. You were the one who started this. No matter what Kei does, I can't stand someone like you picking on a girl from your class."

Before Wakata could finish, the girl from the track and field club hurriedly cut in to deny it.

Emi Eura also looked furious on Karuizawa Kei's behalf. She grabbed Wakata by the hair, slammed her against the tree, and slapped her across the face with her left hand.

Neither side had expected Emi Eura to suddenly hit her. The sharp slap rang through the quiet air for a long moment before fading.

"Listen up. Don't mess with anyone in our class again. We were only going to teach you a little lesson, but you even dared to insult Kei."

Emi Eura theatrically forced the words into Wakata's ear. She saw the disbelief in Wakata's eyes, then nodded toward Yuko behind her.

"Yuko, want to give it a try, too?"

"I... I'll pass. Hitting someone feels like too much."

Yuko quietly declined. She probably hadn't expected things to go this far either.

"It's fine. She was supposed to apologize to you anyway, and there's no one else around."

Emi Eura unceremoniously drove her knee into Wakata's side. Grabbing her by the collar, she invited Yuko again:

"If the person involved won't do anything, doesn't that make it look like we're going too far as her friends?"

She'd already figured Yuko wouldn't refuse again. Timid people like her only needed to hear, "You're my friend; I'm doing this for you." Even if she was only worried about making Emi Eura angry, Yuko wouldn't say no a second time.

Sure enough, Yuko didn't refuse again. She just hesitantly stepped forward and gave Wakata a feather-light slap that couldn't have hurt at all, keeping her eyes closed as she did it.

"It's fine. You have to hit her harder."

Emi Eura still didn't seem satisfied. She reached out and gave Wakata a hard slap, as if to demonstrate. With no way out, Yuko put a little more strength into her own slap. A faint sting spread across her palm.

If it hadn't happened right in front of her, Karuizawa Kei would have found it hard to imagine that the timid, meek Yuko would slap Wakata, who looked so tough. But now, this almost surreal fact kept crashing into her mind, over and over. She even saw two other girls who couldn't hold back stepping forward, eager to try. One of them was the girl from the track and field club who was in the same club as Wakata.

It wasn't until the warning bell rang ten minutes later that Emi Eura finally stopped the violence, feeling thoroughly satisfied. To be precise, she and four or five other girls had stopped.

"Kei, what do you think?"

When Emi Eura returned, she patted Karuizawa Kei on the shoulder, sounding genuinely pleased, as if she'd just completed a mission.

Karuizawa Kei suddenly remembered something important. If Emi Eura had gone to the same elementary school as her, then she might have known about the bullying she'd suffered before fifth grade. Her teeth began chattering in panic.

"It's fine. Apart from those first few slaps, you can't even tell by looking at her face. Telling the teachers or her parents won't do anything."

Emi Eura turned to reassure the girl beside her, who seemed worried now that it was over.

"What if her boyfriend comes looking for us?"

Emi Eura tilted her head and looked at Karuizawa Kei with a half-smile, like a hunter who'd spotted her prey.

"Don't we have Kei? Right?"

Episode Preview: Return of an Old Friend (Complete)

The shift from bully to victim could take only a single night. Karuizawa Kei tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. The moon was beautiful that night, so she opened the window and let the moonlight seep into her room like water, slowly drowning her.

It was already one-thirty in the morning. The thoughts in Karuizawa Kei's mind, still unable to sleep at that hour, sprouted like mushrooms and spread wildly through the vast moonlight. All kinds of chaotic thoughts filled her head, so she simply turned on the room light.

But before long, Karuizawa Kei worried that her parents might see the light if they got up in the middle of the night. She switched off the harsh white ceiling light and turned on the orange desk lamp instead. Wrapped in her blanket, she rolled around on the bed beneath the moonlight, like a fish swimming back and forth in a rippling lake.

Another thirty minutes passed like that. Karuizawa Kei was probably tired by then. She closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep, but as soon as her vision went dark, the day's events came back to haunt her like a nightmare. The harder she tried to forget, the clearer the memories became. She gasped for breath, then opened her tired eyes again in resignation.

Karuizawa Kei immediately spotted the photo frame on her desk. Inside was a picture of her and Kitagawa Ryo together at their graduation ceremony. Their black and white uniforms looked eerily ghostlike in the dark room, but Karuizawa Kei paid it no mind. She picked up the frame and reached out to touch the two figures in the photo.

Her fingers traced the uniforms bit by bit, as though she could reach through the photograph and feel the actual texture of the fabric. It seemed to comfort her. She placed the frame on the bedside table, closer to herself, and finally closed her eyes.

From that day on, Karuizawa Kei began to dread the start of each new day. The arrival of every school morning filled her with unease. It was as if time itself had been bewitched into moving slowly, and each day had become empty and unfamiliar. She sat in the classroom and was still surrounded by girls during breaks, but gossip, trends, romance, and all kinds of conversations and news could no longer fill the emptiness inside her. She knew she was still troubled by what had happened.

"Wakata... she hasn't come looking for trouble with you again, has she?"

Five days after the bullying incident, Karuizawa Kei finally found an opportunity to ask.

"Oh, Wakata? I heard she broke up with her boyfriend."

A girl who knew what had happened answered in a leisurely tone: