Chapter 31

"Izumi, Yanagi is already waiting for you outside," her mom called upstairs to her.

He is? But isn't he suspended? "Coming." Izumi rushed downstairs, grabbed her bento, hugged her mom, and headed outside to meet Yanagi, who waved to her mom.

"Such a lovely young man." She snickered, closing the door.

"Hey..." Izumi trailed off as they started walking to school like usual.

"What am I doing here? I'm walking you to school, dealing with the teacher, and then I'm off to Kuruma's. We're going to focus on the game as much as we can."

"His parents don't mind?"

"Both he and Takumi already got into trouble, but Takumi smoothed things over and said we're working on our assignments... which is true, but the game will take a lot of time."

"I see... Can I ask what happened?"

Yanagi scratched his chin. "It's... a bit of a guy thing. Say, how worried was Shi? She's going to miss me, right?"

"I doubt she'd admit to it, but yes."

Yanagi nodded, biting his lip. "Great..."

That's... odd.

Chatter took over as soon as they passed the gate into the schoolyard.

"Isn't she the one they fought over?"

"Yup, a girl at the baseball game told me."

"And she's still hanging onto them?"

"She must be playing both sides."

"How dare she get them suspended!"

"If they saw her real face, they'd throw her away in an instant."

What? Izumi froze, but Yanagi wrapped his arm around her shoulder, glaring at the gossipers as he walked her into school. What's going on? She swallowed hard, her hands shaking. Are they saying the two of them fought over me? And real face?

Inside, at the shoe lockers, an old photo was plastered all over.

"Tch. What's wrong with these..." Shiori cursed under her breath as she pulled them down.

Izumi's eyes widened. It was a photo of her from her middle school yearbook. "H-how did they..." They must know someone from my old middle school. That's the only way. But why would they do this?

The whispers from outside rang through her mind.

Because they blame me for Yanagi and Kuruma's fight... Her shoulders slouched as she averted her gaze, staring at the floor instead of the photos. What did I even do? Maybe I shouldn't have hoped for friends...

Yanagi poked her nose, and her eyes widened. "Whatever dark thought you're thinking, get rid of it. You weren't at fault, and people are cruel for no reason."

Don't I know that well already?

"Damn, you're here already?" Shiori noticed them and approached. "I'll figure out who did this and shove it down their throat—"

"Please don't," Yanagi said and leaned in close to her. "We can't have you suspended, too, or even worse, and leave Izumi alone."

"Tch, fine."

"You guys are going through so much trouble because of me," Izumi whispered.

"No, we're not. It's whoever's picking on you, and because of your association with me. Sorry." He gripped her shoulder tighter.

Maybe I should go home and hide under the covers...

"I'm not even sure what they're trying to do here." Yanagi took one of the photos. "You look cute. More than a little shy, and might want to pull the hair out of your face, but cute."

Shiori smirked. "Shouldn't have expected anything else from you."

"I don't look cute. I look like a demon," Izumi grumbled.

"Not true at all. Maybe I should keep it in my middle school yearbook, since we went to different ones."

"You don't need to keep it." Izumi reached for the photo, and he pulled it away.

"Why not? We're friends, aren't we?"

"Yes..."

"I like having photos of my friends."

"B-but I..." She swallowed hard.

"I said it before, and I'll say it again. You look cute." He kissed the top of her head, and her eyes widened.

Oh my gosh! He just... Her heart skipped a beat.

People nearby gasped.

"Yanagi, that's taking it too far, unless you mean something by it," Shiori whispered.

"It means we're close friends. You can have one too, if you want." Yanagi winked at Shiori.

"Pass..." She turned away, her cheeks red. "Let's get to class before we're late." She ripped off a few more photos down the hallway.

They entered their classroom, and the group of girls at the front snickered, holding up Izumi's old picture as they stared at her. "How does it feel showing your true, horrific self?" Hoshi asked.

Izumi's lip trembled.

"Oh, how I want to stuff it down her petty little throat," Shiori mumbled.

"You gals must be blind. She looks cute in the photo," Yanagi said, and seeing how much Shiori had reacted earlier, he kissed Izumi on the top of the head again. "She always looks cute."

"Y-you can't be serious!" Hoshi screeched. "How can you—"

Yanagi slammed his hand down on her desk, making all of them flinch back. "I call it like I see it. And what I see here is a group of ugly girls trying to bully someone because she's better than you."

"U-ugly? How can you call us ugly and this thing cute?" She held up the photo.

"She is cute, with a good heart that shines bright. It's a shame you can't see that, and instead of befriending her, you try to tear her down. Thanks for coming to my baseball games all these years, but I'd rather you not if you're going to act like this."

Izumi's cheeks flushed. That's how he sees me?

Hoshi's jaw hung open. "Y-you can't mean that! I'm totally your number one fan."

"Of course, I mean it." His eyes swept across her friends. "That goes for anyone picking on my friend. And if that isn't enough to make you back off, I'll unleash the wrath of Shiori." Yanagi pointed over his shoulder at her.

Shiori had her head tilted slightly down as she glared at them, draping shadows over her eyes. She mouthed the words 'te finiam' at them as she moved her hand across her throat.

They gasped and backed away from Hoshi, shuddering.

"What are you doing?" she snapped at her friends, who backed away further.

"Sorry, Hoshi, but you went too far." One friend returned to their seat. "And we'd rather not get banned from the games." She glanced at her other friend, who agreed and retreated back to their seat.

Wait, they don't agree with her?

"Tch. Some friends you are," Hoshi huffed.

Yanagi backed away, glancing at each of them. "I think I've made myself clear."

They nodded, agreeing with him, while a few other students clapped.

"Well, that was a beautiful display, Mr. Tsueno," Mrs. Nagao said as she came in with his and Kuruma's assignments. "But you'll have to leave after taking this, and Mr. Hiroto better get his assignments, too."

"Yes, ma'am." He took the papers and handed over his apology. "We'll see you on Monday." He patted Izumi on the head.

"Thank you," she whispered.

He nodded and leaned in close to Shi. "Or possibly before then." He kissed her cheek and left as the class squealed.

Shiori stood there, stunned, and lightly touched her cheek. "Did he just...?"

"Yes," Izumi said, biting her lip. I think that meant something different. "Let's get to our seats." Izumi took Shiori's hand and led her to her seat.

"I can't believe he... in front of the class." She held onto her burning cheeks. "I'll kill him."

"What?! Don't do that." He's too precious to get rid of.

"But he—"

"Showed you how much he likes you." People may say he likes me, but despite the flirting, I don't think he's into me that way. Her heart ached slightly. But that's okay. I'm probably better off not wishing for my real-life shoujo. She sighed, staring at Kuruma's empty seat.

"I definitely have to pay him back for that little stunt," Shiori grumbled.

"With a date." Izumi giggled.

"Shut up."