Rumors

A Chance of Happiness Chapter 17: Rumors

Rumors spread like wildfire the second they leave someone's lips. Depending on where these rumors come from fuels the fire that blurs the line between truth and lies. Those in the position to spread them, or rather, those with power, influence, or popularity, have nearly sole control over what they want people to believe. After all, if it’s coming from them, why wouldn’t it be true? Those involved can be complacent or a new target, and those not can be blissfully ignorant. Even so, the one constant that always remains when the fire begins to spread… is that someone always gets burned.

Before him, Jin found himself face to face with Kazuto Okamato, glaring at him with an expression he’d rarely ever see. The face of someone who has something, or someone to protect.

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb with me! I saw her run after you yesterday after class and she’s been acting weird ever since!” Kazuto tugged a little on Jin’s arm. “So I’ll ask you again, what the hell did you do to Mina?!”

“What do I do? What do I even say?” Jin thought to himself, looking around to see nobody was around to watch their confrontation. “I-I’m sorry–”

“You’re sorry?! Then you did do something! What did you do?! I never knew it for a fact but it’s obvious now that the rumors are true! You’re exactly like they say!”

All throughout junior high, Jin’s heard a lot of people say similar things to him. Worse things than this. Even though he’s convinced himself he’s become used to hearing them, he can still feel every word. Cutting him to his very core.

“I–”

“You… You’re nothing but a delinqu–”

“Kazuto!” a voice called from behind them. They both turned to see Mina in the walkway starting to run towards them.

As soon as Jin looked at her he knew something had changed. The feeling he got from her facade was missing entirely, and before him stood the real thing.

“Mina?! What are you–”

“Leave him alone!” Mina shouted, but the demand wasn’t directed at Jin.

Before Kazuto could even question her, Mina ran between them and pulled Kazuto’s hand off Jin’s arm with so much force it shocked them both. Mina gripped Kazuto’s arm, looking at him dead in the eyes.

Confusion, shock, and surprise overtook the resentment and anger in an instant.

“W-What are you doing?” Kazuto lowered his arm while Mina’s still gripping it.

“Please, stop.”

“But… he–”

“He didn’t do anything wrong!”

Jin looked at the two, absolutely bewildered. The change in circumstance, the words defending him, and the person they were coming from took him completely by surprise.

“But yesterday! I saw you follow him into the walkway and afterwards something was clearly bothering you! You even admitted it to me this morning!”

“It wasn’t–” Mina started.

“Excuse me.” a voice called from down the walkway.

The three turned to see Vernon holding a couple lunches, looking at them with a calm expression.

“Seems I’ve missed something rather important.” Vernon examined the lunches in his hand for a moment. “I don’t think I’ve brought enough for everyone, but I’d like to hear about it over lunch. It’d probably clear a few things up as well.”

Vernon tilted his head and smiled at the other three as they looked at him completely speechless at his calmness.

“I can’t leave you alone for a second can I? Oh yeah, and hold these.” Vernon passed the lunches to Jin, who nearly dropped them. “I take it the apology didn’t go as planned.” Vernon pointed behind them to Mina and Kazuto who were following them at a distance.

“I didn’t even get to that. He just showed up out of nowhere. He thinks… I did something to her…”

“Perfect. Then this is it.”

“What?”

“Well, you did technically do something to her, but this is your chance to come clean about everything. Maybe they’ll stop believing the rumors and see you for who you really are. Besides, since the two of them seemed so angry with you–”

“It wasn’t both of them.”

“Huh?”

“Okamato was the one who confronted me.” Jin glanced back to see Mina still walking behind them, attempting to avoid eye contact with Kazuto. “But she… defended me.”

The four of them stood outside the fitness center as Vernon opened the door as he and Jin walked in.

“Is it… really ok for us to be here?” Mina asked.

“Of course! Kimura-sa– I mean Kimura-sensei gave us special permission to eat here so come on in! Just be careful not to spill anything, or else.”

“Or else?” Kazuto gave a look of concern as he stepped into the fitness center.

“Well…” Vernon thought for a moment, remembering the multitude of physical exercise torture he had to endure at one point. “Bad things will befall us.” Vernon shivered.

The four of them sat in a circle in silence for a brief moment, only to be interrupted by the sound of Vernon rummaging through his bag.

“Crap. Where is it? Where did I put it… ah!” Vernon grabbed a pencil and notepad out of his bag as if he were preparing to take notes. “Now that we’re all here, who’d like to go first?”

Jin, Mina, and Kazuto sat in silence as Vernon looked expectantly towards each one.

“No takers, huh? Hmm, howabout–”

“I’m sorry.” Jin finally spoke.

Kazuto turned to him with a surprised expression. “For what exactly?” he replied, almost sounding accusatory.

“Kazuto!” Mina spoke up in an attempt to calm him down.

“For what I said yesterday, to you, Yuriko-san. It was rude and insensitive of me to say that. Especially to someone I just met.”

Mina looked away, giving a conflicted expression as if she were deep in thought about something.

“It wasn’t my place to say something like that and it wasn’t my intention to upset you.”

“What did you say to her?”

“Let him finish, Okamato-kun.” Vernon interrupted him.

“I’d also like to apologize to the both of you for what’s happening now as well as what happened yesterday. Just me being there clearly made you both uncomfortable. Earlier today, I asked to move seats, but–”

“You don’t have to do that.”

Jin looked over to see Mina staring at him dead in the eyes.

“But me being near the two of you–”

“It doesn’t. Not for me.”

“But why?”

“Because I know it’s not true. None of it is.”

“How could you possibly–”

“Because the person that the rumors describe would never be having this conversation with us in the first place. They’d never attempt to move seats or do anything to make us feel more comfortable. They’d never… wear that look of emptiness you have on right now.”

The words resonated with Jin and took the other two by surprise.

“When you looked at her and saw her false self, what do you think she saw when she looked at yours?”

In the blink of an eye, rumors can spread far and wide, causing more damage than anyone could ever imagine. There’s no theoretical limit for how long they may last, and the damage they cause may never heal. Despite this, all it takes is a single person to start putting out the fire. Eventually, others will soon discover what it was that was truly hidden behind the flames.