The Price of Lies: Kushida's Brink of Despair

On the night Ryuen Kakeru was driven back, a long-absent warmth finally returned to the Class D camp.

The campfire flickered, illuminating weary yet excited faces.

"Cheers!"

Ike Kanji raised his canteen and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"To our victory!"

The relief of surviving disaster finally gave the stifling atmosphere of the past few days an outlet.

Yet Kushida Kikyo, standing in the corner, seemed completely out of place amid the celebration.

She still wore that sweet, lovable "angelic" smile as she handed out the recovered food to several girls, but beneath it lingered a shadow she could not shake.

Over and over, she replayed everything in her mind.

What exactly had she said... to the people from Class C?

Which sentence, which word, had leaked Class D's plan?

No.

She was certain she had not let anything slip.

Then why had Ryuen found their supply point so precisely?

Could it be... that she had been used?

The thought made Kushida Kikyo's heart sink.

If everyone found out she had connections with Class C, then the image she had worked so hard to build...

She did not dare think any further.

Her fingertips turned slightly white from the force of her grip. She forced her smile to become even brighter, her voice sweeter still.

"Everyone, hurry and eat. You need to restore your strength."

Not far away, Natsume Yu took all of this in.

Using a branch to poke at the fire, he casually spoke to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka beside him.

"Kiyotaka, don't you think it's strange?"

"The people from Class C seemed to be specifically after our supplies, but they also seemed not to know who our real leader was. They attacked the wrong target."

His voice was quiet, but it carried clearly to the ears of several nearby classmates.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka expressionlessly lifted his eyelids.

"Yeah. There was an error in their intelligence."

"Exactly, an error."

Natsume Yu smiled meaningfully.

"It feels like... someone in our class wanted to hand Class C a knife, but their hand slipped, and they gave them the handle instead."

"Pfft!"

Yamauchi Haruki, who had been drinking water nearby, sprayed it out in one gulp.

"Natsume, that analogy is insane!"

Ike Kanji also leaned in and lowered his voice.

"You mean there's a spy in our class?"

The moment those words were spoken, the area fell silent.

Everyone's gaze began unconsciously drifting through the crowd.

Who could the spy be?

Who normally had the best relationships with other classes?

Who was most likely to have come into contact with people from Class C?

One name surfaced in several minds almost simultaneously.

Kushida Kikyo.

Several subtle, scrutinizing, suspicious gazes silently fell upon Kushida Kikyo.

Her joking movements stiffened, and the smile on her face became somewhat forced.

She felt it.

Those looks were not malicious, but they made her feel uncomfortable all over.

"W-What's wrong, everyone?"

She tried her best to make her voice sound as innocent and carefree as usual.

"Nothing, nothing."

Ike Kanji and the others immediately waved their hands and looked away, but the seed of suspicion had already been planted.

Surrounded by enemies on all sides.

For the first time, those words appeared with such clarity in Kushida Kikyo's mind.

She felt as though she were trapped beneath an invisible net. The more she struggled, the tighter it became.

Sakura Airi sat quietly in another corner of the camp, hugging her knees.

She did not understand those complicated schemes, but she could keenly sense the shift in the atmosphere.

She saw the way Ike and the others had begun looking at Kushida differently.

She also saw Kushida's smile, which was on the verge of falling apart.

Finally, her gaze settled on the indifferent boy leaning against a tree.

Natsume Yu.

Was all of this connected to him?

She did not know.

But instinctively, she felt that the fractured atmosphere in the class might trouble Natsume Yu.

She was a little worried.

After hesitating for a long time, Sakura Airi picked up a bottle of water beside her and shuffled over to Natsume Yu in small steps.

She did not dare speak. She merely held out the bottle to him gently.

Natsume Yu turned his head and looked into the girl's worried eyes.

He knew what she was concerned about.

That pure emotion, untainted by any personal gain and born solely for him, gave him a strange sense of pleasure.

It was like appreciating a perfect work of art.

He did not take the water. Instead, he reached out and gently ruffled the girl's hair.

"Don't worry."

Warmth spread from the top of her head. Sakura Airi shuddered all over, her cheeks instantly flushing crimson, even her neck turning pink.

Like a startled rabbit, she quickly pulled back, clutching the water bottle as she ran away.

Natsume Yu withdrew his hand, the curve of his lips deepening.

The night grew darker.

Natsume Yu gave Ayanokoji Kiyotaka a look.

"Go."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nodded and rose to walk toward the water source deep in the woods.

It was at the edge of the camp, a place few people ever visited.

Sure enough, not long afterward, another figure quietly left the camp and followed him.

It was Kushida Kikyo.

She had to find someone and get answers.

And Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, a man with almost no presence in Class D who nevertheless always appeared at critical moments, was the only breakthrough she could think of.

The woods were dimly lit, with only sparse moonlight filtering through the gaps in the branches.

"Ayanokoji!"

Kushida Kikyo called out to the figure walking ahead of her.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stopped and turned around, his calm, unfathomable eyes quietly watching her.

"Is something wrong, Kushida?"

"What... what did Natsume mean earlier today?"

Kushida Kikyo went straight to the point, her voice carrying a faint, barely perceptible tremor.

"Is there really a spy in the class?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka did not answer her question. Instead, he said something completely unrelated.

"Kushida, you're very good at making friends."

Kushida froze.

"But when you make too many friends, sometimes you forget what you told each of them."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's tone was flat and without a ripple, yet Kushida Kikyo's heart suddenly clenched.

What... what was he talking about?

"I don't understand what you mean..."

"Is that so?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka took a step forward.

"You haven't mentioned that unpleasant experience you had in middle school to anyone in the class, have you?"

Boom.

Kushida Kikyo felt her mind go blank.

In that instant, all the blood in her body seemed to freeze solid.

How could he know?!

That was the deepest secret she had buried in her heart, a past she could never allow anyone to touch!

"Y-You... how could you..."

Her voice shook beyond recognition. The sweet mask on her face cracked inch by inch, revealing the raw terror and horror beneath.

"You investigated me?!"

"I just happened to know."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka calmly stated the fact.

Those words, "just happened to know," were more devastating than any harsh accusation.

They meant that he knew everything about her, while she knew nothing about him.

At that moment, her psychological defenses completely collapsed.

"No..."

Kushida Kikyo staggered a step backward, her eyes unfocused and filled with despair.

Her disguise had been torn apart. Her secret had been exposed.

She felt as though she were standing naked before him, with nowhere to hide.

"Please..."

Her voice carried a sob, so faint it was nearly inaudible.

"Don't tell anyone... please, don't say anything..."

The girl who was always lively and radiant like a little sun now looked as miserable as an abandoned dog soaked by rain.

She grabbed Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's arm, her nails digging into his flesh as she begged with all her strength.

In the shadows not far away.

Natsume Yu held up his phone, its screen illuminating his utterly merciless face.

The sight of the girl breaking down through the lens filled him with an exquisite thrill.

The prey had already been caught.

Late at night.

Outside Sakura Airi's tent, a faint rustling sound suddenly arose.

Then came a chirping sound, imitating a little squirrel.

The tent zipper was carefully pulled open a crack.

Sakura Airi poked her little head out and looked around curiously.

The night breeze was chilly, and the tree shadows swayed. Apart from the chirping insects, there was nothing.

"Strange..."

She muttered softly before retreating back into the tent.

Behind a tree she could not see, Natsume Yu leaned against the trunk and smiled soundlessly.

Teasing that innocence was one of his few pleasures.

Elsewhere.

Horikita Suzune watched Kushida Kikyo return to camp in a daze and frowned.

The smile on that girl's face looked even uglier than crying.

Her eyes were empty, as if her soul had been drained away.

What had she gone through?

Horikita Suzune did not know, but she sharply realized that the waters of Class D ran far deeper than she had imagined.

Her gaze involuntarily turned toward Ayanokoji and Natsume Yu.

Those two men possessed powers she could not see through at all.

In the most inconspicuous corner of the camp.

Natsume Yu leaned against a tree and lit up his phone screen.

The video playing on it was the one he had just recorded.

The image froze on Kushida Kikyo's face, streaked with tears and filled with fear and despair.

He turned off the video, a cold curve forming at the corner of his lips.

"The Fall of the Angel has only just begun."