The Taste of Victory

She tried to call Mei, but the call went straight to voicemail. She sent a message to Kaito, asking about his art competition, but his reply was short and evasive: "It's fine."

The "Reject Club" was broken.

On Monday morning, the walk to school was solitary. Mei didn't meet her at the usual intersection. Kaito wasn't at the corner either. Hina walked alone, feeling exactly how she felt on her first day back: like a ghost.

But this time, the whispers weren't about her.

The school hallway was buzzing. Everyone was talking about the game. "I've never seen anything like it..." "...tripped on his own air. It was pathetic." "I heard his dad pulled him off the team." "Akari broke up with him. She said she couldn't date a failure."

Hina walked straight past the groups, keeping her head down. Ren Ishida was absent. His chair at the front of the room was empty, which only fueled the gossip further.

Hina arrived at classroom 2-C. Kaito was already there, sitting in his seat, but he wasn't drawing. He was just staring at the cover of his sketchbook.

When Hina sat down, he didn't look at her.

"Kaito?" she whispered.

"Hi, Hina," he mumbled, without looking up.

"Did you see Mei?"

"No," he said, his voice tense. "She's not answering my messages."

Hina tried to concentrate on the lesson, but she couldn't. She spent the whole morning feeling a cold knot in her stomach. The victory that had seemed so just and powerful on Saturday now seemed like only... cruelty.

She remembered Haruto's notebook. Test: Bad Luck. Result: Success. He deserved it.

She felt dirty.

At lunchtime, Hina walked to the cafeteria in a daze. She grabbed her food tray and turned around, expecting to see their table empty.

But they were there. Kaito was sitting, staring at his food. And Mei was sitting at the other end of the table, as far away from him as possible, looking small and sick.

Such a huge relief flooded her that she almost smiled. She had worried for nothing. They were still friends. They were waiting for her.

Hina walked over to the table.

"Mei! Kaito! I was so..."

She stopped. Neither of them looked up. The table, which used to be full of laughter and drawings, was dead and silent.

Hina sat down. The silence stretched on for a full minute, so heavy she could barely breathe.

"So..." Hina tried, her voice sounding weak. "Did anyone do the math homework? I didn't understand the last..."

"Hina."

Mei's voice was low and trembling. She looked up, and there was no friendship in her eyes. Only fear.

"What did you do to him?"

Hina froze. "What do you mean? I didn't do anything."

"Don't lie to me!" Mei's voice rose, causing a few people at the next table to look over. "I was there. In the gym. You marched in there like you owned the place. You confronted him. He read my diary, he humiliated us, and then... he pushed you."

"Mei, I didn't..."

"I saw your face, Hina," Mei continued, tears welling up. "You... you didn't look like yourself. And then, on Saturday. At the game."

Kaito looked up, his face pale, looking from Mei to Hina.

"What happened on Saturday wasn't normal!" Mei said, her voice now a hysterical whisper. "People don't trip on air, Hina. They don't forget how to shoot a ball in a second. That wasn't a 'bad day.' It was... it was what you said in the gym. You cursed him, didn't you?"

The cafeteria seemed to vanish.

"Cursed?" Kaito repeated, his voice faint.

"Mei, you're being irrational," Hina said, but panic was growing in her chest.

"Am I?" Mei slammed her chopsticks onto her tray with a clatter. "You make me sound crazy, but I saw it! First Kaito. He's been afraid to show a drawing his whole life. Then you show up, and suddenly Ren pushes him, his notebook magically falls open to the right page, in front of the right teacher? What convenient luck!"

Kaito turned slowly toward Hina. "Hina... what does she mean by 'convenient'?"

Hina's face burned. She was trapped.

"And now Ren," Mei continued, tears streaming down her face. "He's an idiot, but... Hina, what did you do to him? Are you a witch or something?"

"I..." Hina pleaded, reaching her hand out across the table. "Mei, please..."

Mei recoiled as if Hina's hand were on fire.

"Don't touch me," Mei said, her voice cracking. "I... I can't. Hina, I'm scared of you."

Mei grabbed her tray, stood up, and ran out of the cafeteria, leaving Hina and Kaito behind in the deafening silence.

Hina stood staring at where she had been. Destroyed.

She turned to her only remaining friend. "Kaito..."

Kaito was silent. He wasn't looking at her. He was looking at his own backpack. Slowly, he unzipped it and took out the brown leather pencil case she had given him. He placed it on the table between them.

"Hina?" His voice was quiet, but it wasn't scared. It was... dead. "The case. It was it, wasn't it?"

"Kaito, I didn't..."

"Please, don't lie to me," he said, finally looking at her. "I'm not an idiot. I know what happened to me in the cafeteria wasn't normal. And what happened to Ren wasn't either. It was you. Both times."

Hina couldn't lie to him. She just looked at her hands.

Kaito nodded slowly, as if a terrible puzzle piece had fallen into place. He pushed the pencil case across the table until it hit Hina's tray.

"Take it back."

"What?" Hina whispered, heartbroken.

"I don't want it," he said.

"Kaito, no! I just wanted to help you! Your talent is real!"

"Is it?" he asked, and for the first time, Hina heard anger in his voice. "Then why did you need to use... whatever this is... to help me? I thought that... I thought Tanaka-sensei really saw my work. I thought I was good. But I wasn't. It was just your trick. It was just a magic pencil case."

"That's not true! You drew those things!"

"But I wasn't the one who made the notebook fall," he retorted, his voice cracking. "I wasn't the one who made the teacher walk over to my desk. It was you. It wasn't my talent. It was your 'luck'."

He stood up, grabbing his backpack, but leaving the case behind.

"I'm not entering the contest," he said, his voice hollow.

"Kaito, no! You worked so hard!"

"It doesn't matter. If I win, I'll never know if it was because of me or because of this." He looked at the case with disgust. "I prefer being a failure no one notices than a fraud."

Kaito turned and walked out of the cafeteria, leaving Hina completely alone at the table, with the brown leather case and her untouched tray of food.

The "Reject Club" was over.

Hina sat there, motionless. She had done it. She had power. She beat Ren. She protected Mei. She helped Kaito.

And now she had absolutely no one.

She looked at the ring on her finger. Victory. Was this what it felt like? She felt exactly like her brother.