The Drama Reaches Another

Her heart should have skipped a beat, but the hug caught her off guard. Shiori was too stunned to process any of the emotions that she should have had. More tears streamed down her cheeks as Yuta embraced her.

Shiori’s tears stained his uniform, but he didn’t mind. He rehearsed in his mind what he had read on the note. ‘Stay away from Yuta. You’re always getting in the way of his studies. The only reason he tolerates you is because he has to. A disgusting dog like you doesn’t even deserve to think he’s your friend. Do everyone a favor and disappear.’

Yuta gritted his teeth. ‘Who would write this? Ichinose? No, I don’t think she’d stoop this low… The only people that come to mind are her friends. The handwriting is different from the other notes, so there’s a possibility that this could be someone entirely different…’

He felt Shiori’s arms around him. She bawled into his shoulder, her body shaking with each sob.

“I don’t think of you as a burden, Shiori. We’re friends, remember?”

Her head bobbed, but she didn’t stop crying.

“I’ll make sure people stop picking on you, so stay strong.”

Shiori loosened her hold on Yuta. “Am I… getting… in your way…?”

“What? No, of course not!” He refused to tell her that his grade dropped slightly since he started tutoring her. If she knew, that would only make her believe that she was a burden to him. The consequences of that revelation could be vast.

“R-Really?” She tilted her head up to look at him, her hopeful eyes still wet with tears.

“Yes, so please don’t think of yourself that way.” He released her from his embrace, and she stepped back, wiping away her tears.

“I-If you say so, Yuta… Then I believe you…”

“Would you like to accompany me to the Home Ec room?”

She nodded, still wiping away the tears.

“Don’t worry, I’ll find whoever wrote that note and teach them a lesson.”

…

Yuta was surprised when a member of the student council came to his classroom looking for him after the lunch bell rang. He followed her to the student council room, not quite sure what to expect. After announcing that she had brought him, the girl that escorted him promptly left.

The president sat behind his desk, Kanna at his side. No one else from the student council remained.

“Um, you wanted to see me, president?”

“Indeed, I did. I’m aware that Ozaki has been getting bullied, but she’s sensitive, so I wanted to ask you about it instead.”

“Okay…”

The president had his elbows on the desk and his nose rested on his hands. His eyes were dead serious. “Tell me, has any of her bullying come in the form of a note?”

“Yes, she’s received many notes in the past. I always discarded them before she got to school, except…”

“Except?”

“She came to school early today because she brought ingredients for Home Ec.”

“Kanna.”

“Yes, president.” Kanna handed him a sticky note, which he slid in front of him for Yuta to read.

“Did the handwriting on the note she received today look like this?”

Yuta peered at the note.

You’re ruining Minori. She would have been better off if she never met you, control freak. Break up with her by the time school starts tomorrow if you want what’s best for her. If you don’t do it, you can say goodbye to her future.

“Yes, that’s exactly what it looked like… But the notes Shiori usually receives have different handwriting.”

“Do you have the note?”

Yuta shuffled through his pocket and placed the crumbled note in front of the student council president.

He briefly read through it and nodded. “Whoever wrote these notes has something against both Ozaki and me. As for who that could be…”

“I have an idea.”

“Oh?” The president raised his head. “Do tell.”

“Ichinose’s friends. They’re the ones bullying Shiori, and I overheard them a while ago talking about trying to break you two up. The notes Shiori usually gets are written by them, but it’s always been the same handwriting. Who’s to say the other one wrote the notes this time to confuse us?”

He rubbed his temples. “I don’t have the time to deal with this drama… I have too much work to do for the culture festival…”

“I could question them about it. I was going to find them before you called me here, anyway.”

“Yes, that would help. If it’s not them, maybe you can at least find some leads. I’ll leave the investigation to you. Thanks for helping with this.”

“I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it for Shiori.” Yuta wheeled around and marched out of the room.

In the hallway outside the student council room, he paused. “I won’t let anyone hurt you anymore, Shiori…”

Thankfully, the meeting with the president didn’t take too long, and there was still quite a bit of time left before the next class started.

His phone buzzed. He pulled it out and looked at the new message.

‘What did the student council want to talk to you about?’

‘It turns out the president received a note that was written by the same person as the one you got. It told him to break up with Ichinose.’

‘But why does that concern you?’

‘He heard that you had been bullied and wanted to see if the person that wrote the note was the same person that was bullying you.’

‘Oh, okay… What are you going to do?’

‘Find the person responsible. If I don’t, they’ll definitely do more.’

‘Does Ichinose know about the note?’

‘The president didn’t mention it, but I don’t think she does.’

‘She should know about it.’

‘That’s up to the president to decide.’

‘Could I look for the culprit with you?’

Yuta sighed. ‘If she comes with me, it’ll make everything more difficult… Not to mention it will put her in a place she wouldn’t want to be in…’ If she joined him on his quest, she would definitely get hurt, especially since the first suspects he needed to talk to were her current bullies.

‘No, it’s better if you don’t.’

He dropped his phone back in his pocket and continued down the hall. “Time to find the perpetrator.”