Do Bullies Have Real Friends?

Eventually, Yuta gave up trying to get through the door. Nothing he tried worked. He put his ear to the cool metal, listening in to the conversation.

Shiori shrank under Ichinose’s presence. “W-What do you want?”

“I want you to…” she takes a step back, “help the student council with their preparations for the culture festival.”

“H-Huh?” Shiori was stunned by the request. She expected to be abused by these girls. “I-I don’t know if I can do that…”

“Why not? If it’s because of your social anxiety, you could just work alone on some posters. Any help will be appreciated.”

Ichinose’s friends whispered in the background.

“Don’t you think Minori has been a little obsessed with her boyfriend lately?”

“Yeah, it’s like she turns everything into an excuse to do something for him.”

Yuta pulled out his phone and started recording the conversation, hoping it might come in handy in the future.

“I thought we were supposed to be bullying Ozaki, not asking her for help.”

“Right? If Minori keeps this up much longer, we might have to take the matter into our own hands.”

“The student council president is changing her. Next time she does something like this, let’s ditch her.”

The recording stopped. Yuta chuckled to himself. ‘I can use this to blackmail her friends into leaving us alone. And if that doesn’t work, maybe I can use it to turn Ichinose against them.’

Meanwhile, Ichinose tapped her foot, impatiently waiting for Shiori’s response. “Well? Will you help or not?”

“I think… I might…”

“Might? It’s a yes or no question, which one will it be?”

Shiori shut her eyes. “Y-Yes… I’ll help…”

Ichinose flipped her hair back. “Good, because there would have been consequences if you had said no. I’ll tell Kenji that you’re willing to help. A member of the student council should come to your class tomorrow. Oh, and I’ll make sure they know to avoid as much socializing with you as possible.”

“O-Okay… T-Thanks…” Shiori looked to the side, uncertain how she should react.

Ichinose’s friends stared at her in annoyance.

“Yeah, she’s definitely not the same…”

“Want to make the student council president break up with her?”

“That’d be pretty easy. Should we really do that to her though?”

“It could bring back the old Minori.”

“I still think that’s a little below us. Doing that to a friend, no matter how much she annoys us, doesn’t sit right with me.”

“Maybe you’re right, but what else can we do to get her back to normal?”

“I don’t know. Let’s wait before we plan anything.”

Yuta rolled his eyes. “You know I can hear you two, right?”

One of the girls banged on the door. “Get lost already, would you? Shouldn’t you be off studying somewhere?”

“Normally, yes… But you’ve got someone trapped on the roof, and I’ve already stated I can’t let bullying go unnoticed.”

“What, is she your girlfriend or something? I thought studying took priority over other people.”

“It does, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let you get away with whatever you want. If I see someone doing something bad, I’ll stop them.”

Ichinose approached her friends by the door. “Our work here is done, girls. Let’s get out of here.”

“Yes, ma’am…”

Yuta took a step back to avoid getting hit by the door. The girls marched down the stairs, glaring at him as they passed. He took the opportunity to run outside to Shiori. “Are you okay, Shiori?”

She nodded. “Y-Yes… Just a little confused… I thought they were going to… hurt me or something…”

“I’m glad they didn’t. So, you agreed to help the student council?”

She nodded.

“But you’re not comfortable interacting with people you don’t know very well. Why did you accept?”

“She said I could work on posters by myself…”

Yuta sighed. “Nothing I can do about it now. I just hope you don’t feel too uncomfortable. Come on, it’s time to go home.”

He walked her home, too busy in his own mind to talk to her. ‘Will they leave her alone now that she’s agreed to help?’ He shook his head. ‘Ichinose might, but the other two didn’t care about that. They’ll be likely to continue messing with Shiori unless Ichinose keeps them on a tight leash.’

After he arrived home, he quickly changed to his normal clothes and checked with his mother in the kitchen. “I’m home. Sorry I’m late, I had a situation to deal with.”

“No problem, we haven’t had many customers come in yet, so I’ve been able to manage on my own.” The sound of the front door played in the background. “Speaking of customers, it sounds like we got a few. Why don’t you take their orders, Yuta?”

He nodded and returned to the front, taking his spot behind the counter. “Welcome to Omatsukan, what would you like to–” He froze upon seeing who the customers were.

Ichinose and her friends looked around the restaurant thoughtfully. She was taken aback when her eyes stopped on Yuta. “What are you doing here?”

“That’s what I want to ask you. This is my family’s restaurant.”

“We came here to eat, like everyone else. We wanted to try a new restaurant.”

“Well, here’s the menu.” He handed out three menus. Ichinose grabbed them and gave one to each of her friends. They took their seats in the corner by the door.

He turned around and breathed out. ‘Great, now they know I work here. I hope they don’t figure out that I also live here.’

After a few minutes, he approached their table. “Is everyone ready to order?”

Ichinose glanced at her friends, then turned her attention to Yuta. “I’ll have the Teriyaki Chicken.”

“I’ll have the Vegetable Tempura.”

“And I’ll take the Spicy Unagi Roll.”

Yuta wrote down the orders on a notepad. “Anything to drink?”

Ichinose huffed. “Just water. We don’t want to spend any more money than we need.”

“I’ll be right back with your drinks.” He entered the kitchen and gave the order to his mother. Once he had filled three cups with water, he placed them on a circular plate and filled a pitcher. He placed it in the center of the plate and brought it to Ichinose’s table.

Before he could leave, Ichinose stopped him.