Uesugi Hara lowered his eyes, his gaze passing over her clenched fist. A note of curiosity entered his voice. "You seem awfully afraid of your secrets getting out. Have you used similar tactics before?"
Kushida Kikyo stiffened all over, as if he'd struck the rawest nerve. Her buried past came flooding back like a tide—the high school blog scandal had been exposed, and the whole class's fury had cut into her like a blade. She'd survived by resorting to even more reckless "exposures." In the end, the class had become a wasteland, and she'd become a "cancer" everyone avoided.
She raised her head, a flash of ferocity and resentment in her eyes. Her voice sharpened as her mask was torn away. "So what if I did? In high school, everyone isolated and hated me. The only way I could survive was by holding on to other people's secrets! I exposed the nasty things people said about our class and revealed my classmates' secrets. They forced me into it! All they saw was me losing it. No one cared how desperate I was when I was ignored and ostracized!"
Her chest heaved, her heart full of resentment toward the past. "I'm trying so hard to maintain my perfect image now. Why do you get to destroy it with those recordings?"
Uesugi Hara leaned forward slightly, bringing his face closer to hers. "So now you want to take the recordings back and use the same old trick? Use my secrets to shift the blame onto someone else and make me taste what it's like to be ostracized?"
"I wasn't going to... but you're forcing me!" Kushida glared at him. Her usual sweet smile had shattered, leaving only hysteria. "I collect secrets and hide my past so I'll never be ground into the dirt again! If you dare ruin me, then we'll go down together. I was already a 'villain' in high school, so what if I become one again!" She struggled to break free, her fingernails wrinkling the bedsheet.
Uesugi Hara sat up straight and lightly tapped the bedsheet with his knuckles. "I have no interest in becoming another victim dragged into the abyss by secrets, like someone in your high school class." His voice was steady as he met her wild eyes. "But if you want to go down together, by all means, try. Just understand this: if I want to ruin you, I can leave you with not even a fragment of that 'perfect mask.' And I have plenty of ways to come out unscathed." He turned slightly, the morning light falling across his face and revealing his cool scrutiny.
Kushida's breath caught. Resentment and fear twisted together inside her. She knew all too well what it was like to be disgraced; the nightmare of high school was enough to destroy everything she had now.
But bowing her head and making peace with him felt even worse than dying. She turned her face away, her voice trembling with defiance. "What do you want from me... Don't think I'll just let you control me!"
Uesugi Hara studied her conflicted expression, then slowly stood from the bed and smoothed the wrinkles in his clothes. "It's simple. We work together. The recordings and video are both 'weapons' and 'shackles.' If you don't cooperate, I'll make your high school past and this latest breakdown public. If you do as I say, I'll help you maintain your 'perfect image' and give you a way out of the miserable habit of protecting yourself by hurting others." He walked over to the desk, his fingertip tracing the audio waveform. "Choose, Kushida Kikyo. Do you want to keep acting like a cornered animal, or play a more interesting 'game' with me?"
Kushida looked at him, conflict flickering in her eyes. Her past trauma made her instinctively reach for secrets as weapons, but the boy's composure made it clear that going down together would only make things worse for her.
She gritted her teeth and spoke resentfully. "...How do we work together?" The words seemed to have been forced out through clenched teeth.
Uesugi Hara looked back, the faintest smile lifting the corners of his mouth. It held an understanding of her struggle, as well as anticipation for the unfolding "game." "Starting tomorrow, you'll help me with what I need. I'll protect your good name, and you'll play this game with me. Like partners in a detective novel, using and keeping each other in check... You don't have a choice."
Kushida gripped the bedsheet tightly and stared at the ceiling. "That's not enough! I want you to help me get Horikita Suzune expelled."
Uesugi Hara raised an eyebrow and tapped the edge of the desk. The sound rang out clearly in the quiet room. "Get Horikita Suzune expelled?" He glanced down at the audio waveform on the computer screen, which had paused on the part where Kushida had called Horikita "that bitch." "You think a few complaints and the fact that you're 'under my thumb' are enough?"
He turned and walked to the bed, bending over to look at her tense face. "You should know the terms of a deal have to be equal. All you can offer right now is a promise to 'do as you're told.' What I can offer is to keep your ugly high school history and this latest breakdown under wraps."
He paused and tapped the bedsheet beside her ear. "Want me to help you deal with Horikita? Fine. But you'll have to show me enough 'good faith' first. For example..."
He abruptly fell silent, his gaze shifting. He was no longer looking at her tense face or the bedsheet crumpled in her fist. Instead, his eyes drifted lazily over her shoulders and waist before coming to rest on her chest. The morning light outlined the soft contours beneath her uniform blouse, its collar rising and falling with her quickened breaths. His gaze was undisguised and blunt, as if he were sizing up the value of a piece of "leverage."
A chill ran down Kushida's back. She instinctively tried to clutch her collar closed, but before she could lift her wrists, she realized he still had her pinned. Unable to resist, with his blatant stare fixed on her, she felt every hair on her body stand on end.
"W-what are you looking at?!" Her voice was urgent and furious, and her cheeks flared red. Shame shattered the ferocity in her eyes. "Uesugi Hara! You bastard!"
Uesugi Hara acted as if he hadn't heard her angry outburst. His fingertip drifted toward her collar, stopping short of the fabric and hovering in the air. His tone was as casual as if he were talking about the weather. "What do you think people would say if they saw you like this—blushing with anger, pinned beneath me on the bed?" His gaze finally returned to her face, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Or maybe you could 'put on a little show' and convince me this 'deal' is worth it?"
The words struck Kushida like a slap. She jerked her face away, trying to avoid his gaze, but all she could hear was her own heartbeat—and feel his stare on her, nearly burning through her clothes.
Humiliation crawled up her spine, but at the thought of Horikita Suzune's cold face, and of being cast back into the role of the "high school cancer," most of her strength to resist drained away.
"I-I can..." Her voice was quieter than a mosquito's, and the morning light swallowed most of it as soon as she spoke. Kushida's cheeks were so red they seemed ready to drip blood, her neck taut as a drawn bowstring, even her earlobes flushed an unnatural crimson.
Uesugi Hara raised an eyebrow. His fingertip still hovered beside her collar, without moving an inch. "You can what?" His voice was flat as still water, yet carried a pressure she couldn't evade. "Can you 'show me good faith,' or can I 'do whatever I want with you'? Be clear about it. This is a deal, after all, so I need to know what you're agreeing to."
The words were like a needle, finding the most sensitive spot in Kushida's heart. She opened her eyes wide. The tears in them hadn't yet faded, but she forced a little ferocity into her voice. "Do you have to humiliate me like this?!" But when she met his utterly calm gaze, that last bit of defiance deflated like a punctured balloon.
She bit her lower lip hard, until she tasted blood, then forced a few words through her teeth. "...I can show you good faith." Each word seemed to roll around in her throat, bitter and harsh. "As long as you're willing to help me deal with Horikita, I'll give you all the 'good faith' you want."
She mumbled the last few words, then quickly lowered her head and stared at the wrinkles in the bedsheet, too afraid to meet his eyes.
Her blouse still rose and fell with her breathing. The places he'd looked over felt as if they were on fire, making her fingertips tremble. But the thought of Horikita Suzune's cold face—and of a future where she might suffer the same fate again—frightened her even more.