Chapter 13: The Denunciation
It’s after school on Friday, and the day before the study meet.
The Golden Week holiday starts tomorrow. All the other juniors and seniors who have nothing to do with the meeting are already hanging out and doing whatever they want elsewhere.
Ike's one of the rare exceptions who stays here—he's the one in charge of the event, after all.
“You okay helping out today, too, Yuuji?”
“Yep. I think that was obvious,” I answer with a nod.
☆
We head back to the printing room, grab the boxes filled to the brim with the mock exams we'd printed, and return to the student council room. Looks like there’s no one here yet apart from us.
“Now that we're done with this mock exam thing, what should I do today?”
“Well, you’ve already helped me bring the boxes, so you’re pretty much done. All you need to do now is show up tomorrow, and you're good.”
Well, looks like my work here is done.
“The sports clubs will be using the gym until 1:00 p.m. tomorrow. Once they’re done, we’ll have about three hours to organize the place, since the event starts at 4:00 p.m..”
“And who's gonna help out with setting up? You guys are gonna be helping the freshmen out, right? I can’t possibly do everything alone.”
“Members from a few sports clubs will be helping you out. Now that I think about it, the volleyball club has been pretty adamant about helping out. More so than the other clubs, actually.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yep. Just head to the gym around 1:00 p.m. and help around there if you can, please. I’m counting on you.”
Won’t I just be a bother, though? I mean, I'll probably just get in the way of getting things done, since I'm sure I'll just end up scaring the people who're supposed to be helping out. But how can I say that to Ike's face after he just told me he's counting on me? I guess that’s all that matters.
“Well, that's it for now. Do you have any questions before you go? If you have any later, you can just shoot me a text, and I'll be sure to answer.”
“Nah, I don’t. It’s fine.”
“Cool. Okay, then, you’re done for today. Thanks for helping out this week. See you tomorrow.”
I nod and leave the room.
Now that I think about it... where's Touka? I haven’t seen her even once yet after class. I guess that since we finished our work yesterday, she just wanted to go home early today.
I take out my phone to check the train schedule. Immediately, I see a message that Touka sent a while ago:
"Can u come to the roof pls ASAP? I know its a pain but I need help w/smth"
☆
I head up toward the roof just as Touka's message requested. The door leading to the roof is closed, but once I get close enough, I can hear two people talking to each other on the other side. It sounds like it could be Touka and… I think Kai?
I can’t really make out what they're saying that well, but I'm guessing Kai must be confessing to her. That’s probably why she wanted me to come: so I could fulfill my duty as the fake boyfriend.
Unlike me, he probably genuinely likes her. I’m just going to ruin this moment for him. Sorry about this, Kai.
I open the door.
“I’m telling you to stop hanging around with Tomoki, Touka!”
Now that I can hear what they’re talking about, it doesn't really sound like a confession at all… does it?
“Not gonna lie, Kai-kun, your confession kinda sucked. It's actually bumming me out. So yeah... Sorry, but no," Touka replies with a cold voice.
He shakes his head.
“Touka! I’m just worried about—! Huh?! Tomoki Yuuji-senpai?! Why're you here?”
Kai's the first one to notice me. He's surprised at first, but only for a split second—his expression immediately darkens with hatred.
“Hey, Senpai! How'd you know I was here?! Is this the power of love that people keep talking about in the movies?”
Touka also notices that I’m here and starts with her usual spiel. I'm about to interject that she was the one who asked me to come up here, but I quickly think better of it. I notice what she's expecting of me, so I follow her game.
“Well, maybe...”
“Wow, Senpai! You’re amazing!” she cries out as she rushes toward me. Once she gets to me, and with her back turned to Kai, she pouts and whispers, "You're a little late, dude."
“So, uh, did I interrupt something? Did you need to tell her something, Kai?”
I'll try my best to refrain from pissing Touka off further.
Kai doesn’t answer, though. He stays silent.
“Oh Kai, you're a real piece of work. Y'know, Senpai, he was totally just shit-talking you behind your back—he kept insisting that I should stay away from you and junk. Don't you think that's just about the saddest way to confess to someone?” she says while pinching the scuffs of my sleeves. Judging by her voice, she's pretty much done with the whole situation.
“Wrong! I'm not confessing, I’m just worried about you!”
“There’s no need to worry about me. Senpai and I are in a loving relationship, so... sorry, not sorry, Kai-kun. Let’s just go, Senpai.”
Nice to see that she wants out of this just as much as I do. We turn around, ready to leave, when Kai shouts out.
“You don’t know what he’s capable of when he gets angry!”
Touka stops walking.
“Oh, so I guess you're the expert now? All right, then—go ahead, tell me what he's like,” she answers, dead serious.
"He's a violent psycho! Last year, during the summer, I saw him beating up a bunch of people. It was terrifying. I don't get how they let a disgusting criminal like him in this school."
I’m seriously surprised that someone can say something like that to my face. Impressive. I'm even more surprised that he's doing it after seeing me like that before. He must really hate my guts to be able to face me right now.
“You should break up with him as soon as possible. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”
He looks at Touka seriously.
Touka remains silent, then eventually, she curls up her fist. Her serious expression hasn't budged an inch. After a few seconds, she speaks up.
“You think you know Yuuji-senpai? You’re just like the others. They only see what’s on the outside and judge him because of it. You guys don't even consider how he really is on the inside. No, you don’t know him at all. I don’t know what happened last summer... but I bet he was just misunderstood and got into some trouble, just like usual. I know for a fact that he'd never resort to violence unless there was absolutely no choice.”
…So far, only Makiri-sensei and Ike have taken my side when I've tried to explain what happened last year, but Touka took my side without even hearing the story. I’m happy she’s on my side.
"So based only on what you saw, you decided to go out of your way to treat Senpai like a criminal. So, like, what? You think you're some kinda white knight who needs to save the delicate damsel in distress from the villian or something? The hell's wrong with you? It just makes you look super annoying, lame, and—most importantly—creepy."
“No, that's not what I mean—!” Kai exclaims in a panicked tone.
“Shut up. Don’t you dare badmouth my boyfriend ever again.”
She speaks in a whisper, but her words are powerful enough to echo inside my head.
Kai, who's probably never seen Touka this angry before, promptly shuts up.
“Plus, if you really wanted him to stay away from me, why the hell didn't you talk to him about it first? You're totally only pretending to care about me, when all you really care about is yourself. You probably haven't noticed it yet with your head so far up your own ass, but reality check—you're a fucking narcissist. I'm never gonna break up with Senpai.”
Damn, she's not pulling any punches here. He looks taken aback by her outburst, but soon collects himself and faces us.
“I see. I finally get it—I understand how you feel now, Touka. I’m sorry I didn’t notice 'till now.”
“If you get it, then piss off alrea-”
Before she can finish speaking, Kai cuts her off.
“That was all to avoid Senpai's wrath, right? You said that so I wouldn't get hurt.”
“Huh? Where the hell'd you get that idea from? Are you braindead or something?!” Touka’s eyes burst with a fiery hatred; a direct contrast to her frigid voice.
“I understand. Don't worry, your effort won't go to waste—I'll leave for now. Just wait a little longer, okay? I'll save you.”
Touka angrily clicks her tongue at his reply. Kai, who seems to think he "finally gets it,” heads toward the door. As he passes us, he doesn't so much as glance at Touka. Instead, he glares up at me, leans in, and whispers, “Tomorrow. Same time, same place. Don’t you dare run away."
Touka didn't hear a word of what he just said. As soon as he closes the door behind him, she grumbles, "He's the freakin' worst, I swear…"
She’s really pissed right now. Was it really because he was talking shit about me? If that really were the case, nothing would make me happier.
“You really covered my ass there. You even got all worked up over getting him to leave and trying to help me out. Thanks.”
I’m sorta embarrassed, but I still need to thank her, right?
She answers me with a confused, blank expression.
“...Huh? You think I did all that just to help you out?”
“Well, I'm not trying to say all of it was for me, but you definitely got angry because of it. Or at least, that's what I think.”
She seems surprised by my answer and spends a few seconds in silence.
“What’s with you? I swear to god…,” she says. Her voice is hoarse and cracking as she tries to restrain her emotions.
I don't really know what I'm supposed to do. She seems to be struggling with something—should I ask her what's wrong? What should I say if I do? Does she just want to be left alone? I'm at a loss.
