Two Birds, One Stone

By the next day, things had taken a turn for the worse. Ayane came to school but didn’t talk to anyone, including Mizouchi. She had secluded herself from everyone and the school’s air had gotten harder to breathe. Natsume had noticed it too but was clueless this time. He wasn’t able to figure out the reason for her sudden change in behaviour.

“Did you hear about her? It was all over Instagramm.”, one classmate told another.

Natsume overheard their conversation and quickly opened his phone. His eyes widened in shock as he continued to scroll down through the comments.

‘What the hell?’

He hadn’t expected things to get this bad. At this point, it was pure desperation. By not interfering, he had expected things to slowly fix themselves but the Instagramm post had instantly proved him wrong. It was a complete miscalculation on his part.

“Where’s Rumi chan?” Natsume asked a classmate in a hurry.

“I think she's with her friends in the music room”
“Thanks!” Natsume said as he rushed up the stairs towards the music room.

‘That idiot!’

He reached the room and pushed open the door. Rumi and her friends were standing by the window and talking. They were startled by the sudden thud made by the opening of the door. Natsume stood there, panting.

He looked up and walked up to Rumi. He pulled out his phone and showed the Instagramm post to her.

“Stop this before it’s too late! The deadly cycle will just continue.”, Natsume shouted.

The Instagramm post was a picture of Akihiro and Ayane walking together down the lane under the gloomy sky. Since Ayane looked like she was enjoying herself while looking at Akihiro, it passed on a romantic misinterpretation in everyone’s head. It was probably taken by someone when Natsume had left them alone while coming back from Ayane’s house. Although it was probably a simple picture of them talking to each other, Natsume knew how this image was being manipulated to drive a certain narrative.

The comments were hideous. To Natsume, it felt like he was reliving his middle school days.

‘She flirts around with too many guys’

‘Is she two-timing them?’

‘I thought she liked Mizouchi-kun’

‘She’s so desperate!’

‘Attention seeker!’

The comments were filled with hostility. The person who posted it wasn’t Rumi, but Natsume knew that she played a big role in it. After all, she was very influential and held a grudge against Ayane.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Rumi asked, loudly and arrogantly.

“Rumi, I know you did this.”, Natsume said affirmingly.

“I didn’t post that! Can’t you see?”

“You were the one who made her post this with this caption. You were the one who pushed this narrative. Rumi, I know what you have been doing to Ayane all this while. But now you are taking it too far!” Natsume shouted. None of the girls could understand why he was getting so worked up about something unrelated to him.

To Natsume, it felt like he was talking to his past self. Maybe that was why he felt it was his duty to stop this from continuing.

“Get lost Natsume. I don’t know what you're talking about.” Rumi said as she dismissed his allegations and continued talking with her friends.

“RUMI!” Natsume shouted. Rumi instinctively looked back at him. The sudden change in his tone of voice made Rumi tremble for a moment. Natsume looked her dead in the eye and shouted, “Trust me, I’ve never been wrong. YOU WILL REGRET THIS!”.

He stormed out of the room. His eyes were filled with rage. Not because his ego was broken, but probably because he vowed to stop Rumi from continuing the deadly cycle. Maybe this would be redemption for him.

He went back to the classroom and sat next to Akihiro. “Where’s Ayane?”

“She just left the classroom. She probably went to the cafeteria. ” Akihiro replied.

“Anyways read this” Natsume said while showing the Instagramm post to him.

“Oh, this was taken on that day...” Akihiro replied.

“Yea! Look at the comments.”

Akihiro read through the comments. “What…?”

“Exactly. You probably don’t care, but this was targeted towards Ayane. And that too, at the worst possible time”

“What do you mean?”

“Ever since you rejected Rumi, she had been releasing all her frustration on Ayane by bullying her. At first, it wasn’t too bad, so I didn't say anything but now it’s just getting worse. I don’t know if this was timed or not, but it’s exactly posted after Ayane lost Mizouchi as her support system.”

Akihiro remained silent. He clutched his head as he felt a sudden sharp and intense pain in his head.

“Aki kun, are you okay?”

“Yea” Akihiro let go of his head and stood up. “What will happen if this continues?”

His eyes were no longer indifferent and unbothered. There seemed to be some life in his eyes. For a moment, Natsume could feel the determination radiating from Akihiro's eyes. Akihiro was changing and Natsume was struggling to keep up. He wasn’t able to figure out what was going through Akihiro’s head anymore.

“I don’t know. Things could just get worse, and she could just stop coming to school? Or something much worse...” Natsume said.

“Oh….”

“Anyways come with me for now,” Natsume said and dragged him down the hallway. “I have a gut feeling that it’s not only Rumi, but even Shinoda is somewhat involved behind all this. I think Rumi agreed to date him to get his protection. I’m not too sure though.”

Akihiro continued to remain silent. He was deep in thought; just processing what Natsume had just said and was trying to understand what he was feeling at the moment.

“Aki kun, do you remember what I said before about bullying?”, Natsume asked.

“Yeah. People are desperate for entertainment.”

“Yes, exactly. As long as you are unable to become a source of entertainment, they will eventually leave you.”

They had just entered the cafeteria. Ayane was sitting there alone, sipping on her orange juice. Her eyes had dark bags under, and there were tear stains on her cheeks.

“Ayane, this is the last time I’m telling you. If you need help, ask for it!” Natsume yelled.

“Leave me alone. I can handle this by myself. I don’t require you or Akihiro or Mizouchi to save me. I’m not as weak as you think, Natsume.” Ayane replied.

Natsume would normally have reacted to the last statement, but this time he didn’t.

Instead, he wore an evil looking grin, “So that means we are not helping you. Anything we do is purely for our satisfaction and pleasure and has nothing to do with you, right?”

Ayane was startled by his response. She stopped sipping on her juice. “Wh- what are you planning?”

Natsume and Akihiro turned around and started walking away.

“It doesn’t matter to you anymore, right?” Natsume said as they walked out of her sight.

----

School had just ended and most students were going back home. Natsume peeped out of the window to confirm something and then went to Akihiro. “Let’s go home.”

They both started walking down the hallway. “Sometimes, it might just become really hard to get a bully to leave you. Sometimes your very existence is entertaining and you can’t do anything else to stop the bully from bullying you. Then what do you do?” Natsume asked, looking at Akihiro.

“I don’t know...”

“You have no other choice but to fight. Poison the roots and even the biggest tree will fall.” Natsume said as he walked with his hands in his pocket.

As they left the campus, Natsume took a left instead of the usual right turn. Akihiro realized they were walking in a different route.

“Aren’t we supposed to go that way?” Akihiro asked, pointing towards the opposite direction.

But Natsume didn’t answer his question. Instead, he suddenly raised his voice. “Oh look where we ended up, Aki-kun!”

They had just crossed paths with Shinoda and a few other members of the ‘Renji-kai’.

“HUH? Natsume, do you want to get beaten up so badly?”, Shinoda said angrily. Natsume’s taunt had pissed him off.

“Remember when I said that Rumi was using Shinoda-san for protection? It makes things convenient for me. Killing two birds with one stone.” Natsume whispered in Akihiro’s ears, as he grinned.

“What are you planning, Natsume?” Akihiro asked.

“I need you to buy me some time. Just defend yourself and divert their attention from me.” Natsume said. “I’ll get someone to help us. I’m sure that if we succeed, you will find the answers to your questions.”

“Okay,” Akihiro nodded as he came and stood between Shinoda and Natsume.

“Are you both trying to pick a fight, huh?” Shinoda shouted. His friends got up from their seats and stood next to him.

“Rumi-chan is only dating you because Aki-kun rejected her. You are just a replacement. If Rumi-chan could choose, she would still choose Aki-kun without any thought!” Natsume yelled.

“COME HERE, I’LL KILL YOU HERE RIGHT NOW!” Shinoda screamed.

“Remember Aki kun, just distract them for me. I’ll be back with someone to help. Just trust me.” Natsume said in a low tone to Akihiro and started running. Akihiro nodded and faced Shinoda without any hesitation. Natsume found this odd. The fierce look in his eyes made it clear that Akihiro was standing there, not because of what Natsume had said but for his own reasons. Natsume didn’t expect it to be so easy to convince Akihiro.

‘I didn’t even give him any proper reasoning and he still agreed. I’m pretty sure he has his own reasons to fight. I can’t comprehend him anymore. I wonder what he’s thinking right now?’

Natsume pulled out his phone and started texting as he began to run towards the cake store near the school.

Ayane’s phone began buzzing in her pocket. She quickly opened the phone and looked at the messages. Her eyes widened in shock. She looked around worried, grabbed her bag and quickly rushed out of the class.

Mizouchi had been silently watching her from the corner. He ran behind her and caught up to her in no time. “Where are you going?”

“I’m busy,” Ayane replied as she continued running.

Mizouchi grabbed her hand and pulled her back as he repeated his question again, this time much louder. “Where are you going?”

“Akihiro is being attacked!” Ayane shouted as she tried pulling her hand away but she was unable to break out of his grip. He still held on to her hand firmly. “It hurts, Mizouchi-kun. Leave my hand!”

Mizouchi still didn’t let go of her wrist. He looked at her straight in the eye. His seriousness was evident just by the look in his eyes. “Ayane...what is he to you?”

She suddenly stopped resisting. She looked him in the eye. A sudden wave of thoughts flooded through her head as she tried to answer his question. Her eyes were moist.

“I don’t know…” Ayane answered, in a sad tone.

Mizouchi let go of her hand and watched as she turned back and took off immediately. He watched as his love ran, to save another man. He had finally come to accept that his love was truly unrequited, once and for all.

----

“GET OUT OF THE WAY AKIHIRO!” Shinoda yelled. “You wanna die here too?”

Akihiro didn’t respond. One of Shinoda’s friends ran towards Akihiro and tried to punch his face. Akihiro deflected the incoming punch with his right hand and kicked him in the stomach, forcing him to drop to his knees while clenching his stomach.

“Tsk. GET HIM!” Shinoda ordered. Four other members of the ‘Renji-kai’ moved towards Akihiro and encircled him.

Akihiro’s heart rate increased. His breathing became deeper. He could feel the blood rush into his arms and legs.

He raised his hands up, covering the sides of his face in the conventional boxing position and ran up to the person in front of him. The guy tried to punch him in the face again, but Akihiro dodged the blow, planted his left foot forward and landed a low upper hook on the bloke’s chin, knocking him out instantly.

Akihiro’s veins were now clearly visible as they protruded over the muscles on his arms and legs. He then looked at the other two. One of them charged towards him with a punch. Akihiro grabbed the gangster’s fist and moved closer. The gangster tried hitting him with his left hand but Akihiro grabbed it too as he pushed forward and brutally slammed the gangster into the wall. He then looked at the final person remaining.

Meanwhile, Natsume found Rumi and her friends at the cake shop as expected.
“Shinoda san is beating Akihiro up!” he shouted.

Rumi was shocked. “Where is he?”

“Follow me”, Natsume said and started running.

Rumi followed him at full speed too.

Akihiro was now standing in front of Shinoda. The rest lay on the ground either grovelling in pain or unconscious. Natsume had just reached, with Rumi behind him.

Akihiro looked confused as he watched Natsume standing in front of Rumi. He had expected Natsume to bring someone who was physically strong. Rumi was out of breath but Natsume’s face was shining as if it was going to witness magic.

“Playtime is over. Let’s end this.”, Natsume yelled.

Shinoda charged towards Akihiro and tried to land a punch. Akihiro dodged it and went for a left hook. Shinoda ducked and punched Akihiro in the gut. Akihiro didn’t flinch as he immediately placed his palms together, interlocking his fingers and whacked Shinoda, right in the centre of his head. Then Akihiro turned his body to the side as he lifted his legs and kicked Shinoda in the chest. Shinoda fell back helplessly against the wall.

Ayane had just come running there. She was panting heavily as she held her phone in her hand, with Natsume’s texts reading that Akihiro was being attacked.

Natsume was observing Rumi’s reaction as she watched Shinoda lose in a fistfight. Natsume smirked as he said,

“Game over, Rumi-chan. Your turn has come.”