The Blackmailing - II

"Hey, what if I reported about your part-time job to the school?"

"!"

Since she was pressed against me with her head resting on my shoulders, I couldn't get a good look at her face. But I am sure a sadistic grin was spread on her face.

I felt a bucket of sweat slide down my body. With a trembling voice, I asked her, "How do you know..."

How did she know that I was working part-time?

"Heh." She snorted. "Let's save that talk for later."

She pulled herself away from me and the expression on her face was exactly what I had imagined.

"If I am not wrong, our school prohibits anyone from doing any part-time job, right?"

Izumo High School was similar to an exam prep center where students were taught in a way that would help them to crack the toughest of entrance exams. The school puts a high emphasis on academics and desires its students to spend their time on their studies. So that there is no distraction for them and their academic level doesn't drop, the school prohibits its students from doing part-time jobs.

"The school is pretty strict in that regard. Now, what will happen if I report that you are doing a part-time job going against the school rules?"

I audibly gulped.

Like she just pointed out, our school is pretty strict when it comes to matters related to academics. If it were known that I was breaking the rules, then the school will take disciplinary action.

I was an honor student and was able to get into the school with pretty good marks and as a result of my high achievement, I was provided a scholarship. If the school found out about my part-time job, I might lose my scholarship. That would spell a huge problem.

Right after I finished junior high, my father - who was a government employee - received a transfer to Tokyo. The two of us were supposed to move there together but because of my extremely personal reasons, I didn't want to go and I said as much to my father. I insisted that he go alone and I will stay here - all alone, of course. But there were many problems that stood in the way.

The government sector my father was getting posted to was related to educational matters in Tokyo. So, if I were to transfer there, as an employee benefit, I would be able to study for free at any school in Tokyo and all my expenses will be covered by the benefit. 

But I had insisted to my dad to stay here. That meant he would have to pay for my tuition and school activities if I stayed behind. Not to mention, his income would have to be divided into two: one for his expenses in Tokyo and one for me here in Izumo. 

To solve this problem, I worked my ass off and obtained a scholarship that covered my entire tuition. That solved the problem of school expenses. As for the household expenses, I told him that I would work part-time. Of course, I didn't give the details about the school policy for part-time jobs to my dad. 

Still, it took a lot of convincing on my part for him to finally relent. I gave all sorts of reasons that I wanted to stay here in this city, that all my friends are from here and it would be hard making new ones in a completely new place and environment, and that I wanted to learn to live alone.

So, the point is that he agreed.

But now, this girl in front of me was trying to lay waste to all my hard work.

If the school finds out, I would be prohibited from working part-time anymore. It would deal a blow to my finances for a while but it wasn't that unmanageable. Though my skills online are not that great, and the money I earn would be less than my current part-time job, I could work online and fend for myself. Better yet, I could ask my father to send some extra money until I managed to sort the situation out.

The problem was if they revoked my scholarship as well.

The tuition cost here - although not exactly expensive - wasn't that lenient as well. If my father suddenly had to start paying for tuition, it would put a strain on his finances. And when I was the one who suggested this whole arrangement, I didn't want it busted because of my carelessness.

"Ara, what is this? You seem to be thinking a little too hard. You don't need to do so, you know. You can just agree to my proposal and this won't happen."

I gritted my teeth and grumbled, "You are willing to go as low as blackmailing? Just for something simple like that?"

"Simple? Who told you it was simple? It could be, from your perspective but to me, it is the most complicated thing in the world. And I want it solved as soon as possible and I am ready to use whatever means I have at my disposal for that." She said, as a matter of fact.

Again, I had to wonder.

Just how much does this girl know? Does she know about my part-time job only or about my scholarship as well? And what about my deal with my dad? Did she know that as well? Judging from how she knew what my reasons were for staying away from love, she may even know the reason why I was so adamantly against the idea of going to Tokyo. 

But, again, how the hell does she know all this? It's almost as if she is living up in my headspace. This is weird. And this is scary. Something is fishy here and I need to find out. But, first, I need to figure out what to do in this current predicament.

I don't know her that well yet so I can't be sure just how far she is willing to take this. Is her blackmailing just a bluff or will she really go through with it if I don't agree?

I looked at her face. She was looking at me like a predator would at its prey. A smirk covered her face. I can't get a read on her.

"I will really inform the school, you know?" She emphasized.

There was the certain risk that the life I had worked hard to build up to now will crumble if she goes along with her threat. I needed o protect that at any cost. That meant I had no choice but to agree. But that meant being in a fake relationship with her.

Love. Relationship.

I couldn't help but contort my face as those words echo inside my head.

It was the one thing I didn't want to be involved with in my life.

What to do now? Agree or disagree? Sacrifice my peace of mind for a while or sacrifice my hard-earned life? The choice seemed to be obvious. But I was still hesitating. My peace of mind was still something very important to me.

"Hey, we will soon be arriving at the departure point. Decide fast, will you?"

"Grr...."

She was pressing me for an answer and she wanted it fast.

This girl is absolutely nuts.

"Hey, can't you find someone else?" I tried reasoning once again.

"Nope." The denial was immediate. "And now that I have told you everything, letting you away will only increase the risks for me. Not to mention, the chance of other guys falling in love with me for real is exponentially higher compared to you. So, I am not letting you go."

No matter how sultry she tried to be with that last statement, it didn't arouse me. In fact, it only increased my fury at her eccentric way of dealing with me.

"Come on, you just have to pretend. You can deal with me as you deal with your other classmates. Pretending to be friendly while keeping them at arm's length. You can similarly pretend to be my boyfriend while keeping an emotional distance from me." She said.

As horrified as I was that she had such a good grasp of me, I agreed with what she said. I did deal with other people that way. So what she said was a viable option but I still didn't want to say yes to her.

The announcement for my station was made just then.

I was really running out of time here.

Something I hadn't expected to happen right then.

Komatsu-san suddenly bowed her head to me. Her long hair fell forward and almost touched the floor.

"I beg of you." She began in a solemn and serious tone of voice. "I really want your assistance with this matter. There is something I have hidden from you and well, I don't want to give you the full details, but because of some incident in the past, I am not good with boys. I am scared of them and their proximity. And you are the only one I somehow feel safe with and that is why I want you to help me deter all these boys away from me. Please, lend me your help."

The sudden change in her attitude threw me off balance. Her sincere words resonated deep in my heart. I did get the implication of what had happened through her words.

I did want to put a distance between myself and the others. I didn't want to get too close to them so they could hurt me but it didn't mean I wouldn't help them in need.

She was threatening me and using underhanded techniques earlier. And now she was asking me sincerely. There was a certain weight behind her words that I couldn't shake off. She was doing everything she could to get me on board.

I thought for a while and weighed the pros and cons of the situation once again and eventually arrived at an answer.

*

If I was in the right frame of mind, I would have realized the discrepancy in her statements but her words and her abrupt change in attitude had fried the circuits in my brain and I wasn’t able to notice it in time. And that led me to the decision that I eventually made.

And that decision was what marked the beginning of a very tumultuous phase in my life.

Though now that I think about it, it had already begun long before that.