[Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth someday in uglier ways.]
-Freud, "The interpretation of dreams"
Takahashi Ren quietly climbed to the fourth floor and found the boy leaning over the railing, looking toward the top floor.
The boy noticed him too and immediately made a shushing gesture, then pointed downstairs, signaling for them to leave together.
Takahashi Ren nodded.
Just then, Kushida seemed to realize she had gone a little too far. Her body stiffened, and she abruptly fell silent. Yet it was precisely that moment of dead silence that aroused her suspicions.
As though checking whether anyone had heard her, she whipped her head around, catching sight of them at the far end of her line of sight.
"Ayanokoji... and Takahashi Ren... what are you doing here?"
Kushida stared at them in disbelief. Two people had actually caught her acting like that at once. What a joke!
"I got a little lost. Ah, sorry, sorry. I'll leave right away." Ayanokoji offered an obvious lie.
Takahashi Ren did not evade her gaze. "Sorry. I didn't mean to."
This really was his fault. He had brought this trouble on himself out of momentary curiosity, and he had to own up to it.
"Did you hear everything?"
"Would you believe me if I said we didn't?" Ayanokoji said calmly.
"I heard you." Takahashi Ren did not dodge the question.
Kushida strode down the stairs without ceremony, grabbed Ayanokoji by the collar, and shoved him hard against the wall.
She glared at them, enunciating every word. "If you tell anyone what you just heard, I won't let you get away with it."
"Of course," Takahashi Ren replied.
"And what if I do?" Ayanokoji suddenly asked.
Takahashi Ren shot him a surprised glance. Even pinned against a wall, he still had to provoke her and ask for trouble. Couldn't he just give her a sincere apology and be done with it? Did he have to push things until they got out of hand?
"Then I'll tell everyone you nearly raped me here."
"That would be a completely fabricated accusation."
"That's fine." Kushida's lips curved into a cold smile. "Why don't we try it and see whether it's fabricated?"
Her words carried a force that brooked no argument. Then she grabbed Ayanokoji's left wrist and forcibly pried open his hand. Placing her own hand over the back of his, she guided it toward her chest.
"What are you doing!" Ayanokoji clearly had not expected her to go this far. He hurriedly tried to pull his hand back, but she held it firmly in place from directly above.
Unable to watch any longer, Takahashi Ren struck out like lightning and clamped his hand around Kushida's wrist.
"Enough." His voice was calm, but his grip allowed no resistance. This malicious attempt to frame someone had crossed the limits of his tolerance.
He pulled Ayanokoji's hand free of the deadlock.
"You're going to stop me?" Kushida glared viciously at him. "Let go, or I'll turn you from an accomplice into the main culprit."
Takahashi Ren glanced down at the wrist in his grasp and let go.
It was not because her threat had frightened him, but because he had already accomplished his goal-Ayanokoji's captive hand was now out of Kushida's control.
"There's no need to degrade yourself like this," Takahashi Ren said calmly. "At the end of the day, this isn't anything worth spreading around."
"Huh?"
"What matters is how you see yourself. Everyone has a side others don't know about. All you did was show your true self, wasn't it?"
"'All I did'? I work hard to make everyone like me," Kushida said irritably. "Do you know how difficult and exhausting that is? How could you possibly understand... stop pretending you care."
"Even if it means befriending people you hate? Even if it leaves you unable to breathe?"
"That's right. This is how I've chosen to live, because it lets me truly feel that my existence has meaning."
Her unhesitating answer left Takahashi Ren silent for a moment.
So that was it. She had principles and convictions that were hers alone.
"I don't know about your past, but I respect your choice." He looked at Kushida. "At the same time, I want you to know that I appreciate the real you more."
Kushida began to stammer. "Y-you think I'll forgive you just because you say something nice now?"
"I was wrong, and I admit it. Whatever you want as compensation, just ask."
"I'm telling you both, this isn't over. You're not to breathe a word about what happened here today." Kushida still maintained her angry expression.
"Okay," they both replied.
"All right. I trust you." Kushida took a deep breath.
"By the way, is there any reason you find me trustworthy?" Ayanokoji asked.
"Intuition. Ayanokoji, you're fundamentally not very interested in other people, are you? That's why I don't think you're the type to go around talking."
"If you're that confident, there was no need to deliberately try to make me touch your breasts."
"That was-my mind went blank then. I was really panicking..." Kushida's voice caught, and the expression that had begun to soften instantly filled with agitation.
She averted her gaze, unwilling to discuss the subject any further. Turning, she went up the stairs and came back down with her schoolbag.
In the blink of an eye, the angry mask on her face had vanished without a trace. In its place was her usual trademark "little angel" smile.
"I'll be going, then," she said brightly before hurrying away.
Only when her footsteps faded into the distance did Takahashi Ren breathe a sigh of relief. For now, things had more or less settled down.
"Thank you," Ayanokoji said calmly. "I never imagined Kushida had such a terrifying side."
Terrifying? Takahashi Ren thought. Faced with Kushida in that state, Ayanokoji's expression had never changed. He had even deliberately tested her limits.
If he was not stupid, then everything had been within his control. There was more to this guy than met the eye.
"Yeah. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, thanks to you. You managed to calm Kushida down when she was like that."
In fact, Ayanokoji had noticed long ago that Takahashi Ren was following him. To some extent, he had kept quiet about it to draw him into the situation as well.
But things did not always go according to plan. In the end, events had deviated somewhat from what he had expected.
"You weren't bad yourself. You stayed pretty composed from start to finish."
"I just have a blank face. Inside, I was scared out of my mind."
"Really?" Takahashi Ren did not call him out. As if he would believe that.
Still, putting that aside, he really needed to rein in his curiosity from now on.
He had managed to resolve things this time, but there was no telling what would happen next time.
Another week passed in the blink of an eye, and May was already more than halfway over.
On Friday evening, Takahashi Ren prepared black tea in his dorm room and waited for a guest.
"Knock, knock, knock." A knock sounded at the door. Takahashi Ren got up to open it, ushered his visitor inside, and asked softly, "No one saw you, right?"
"Right. Don't worry. It wouldn't be good for me either if someone saw."
"Please, have a seat." Takahashi Ren gestured for his guest to sit and gently pushed the freshly brewed black tea in front of her.
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