It's always the same.

It was a few days after Hayato Hiragi came into the action. Nothing had changed for him, it was just another day of his youth and it was the same for me. The difference is that I wasn't in the right place before, but I am now. The only connection I had with my class was now shattered and no one was trying to talk to me which was to be expected because the only reason they ever talked to me was due to my position. It is the predicted outcome that I hoped to happen. For some reason, I can't help but feel a little disappointed. 

'I am used to it', that's what I tell myself whenever I feel low. Who wouldn't feel down, I mean, how low can I get that the teacher has to get her hands dirty? I'm grateful for what she did for me. When no one believed in me she was someone who believed in me that's why she gave me a chance. What did I do in return? Nothing. Instead, I threw the chance she gave me. How miserable she must have felt when I rejected her expectations for me. 

These mixed feelings cloud my mind nowadays. The feeling of guilt and loneliness swayed my mind. Yoshida has also settled down with her newfound friends, Mayomoto Sakura, Umino Hikari, Yukito Sao also known as Mao, Umi, and Yuki in short. They were the first time to catch my attention when I entered my class on the very first day. They were hugging and celebrating their reunion or whatever, so it was hard to not notice them. I mean, they all are beautiful. Now, Yoshida was one of them. Maybe it was just a coincidence that their group only had girls in them, which I don't know was a positive or a bad thing. Yoshida occasionally talked to Hiragi sometimes but it was mostly work-related talks and both of them were keeping their distance from each other for some reason. 

As for me, I didn't talk to her after we talked on the rooftop. We didn't have any reason to, she got what she wanted and I got what I deserved. So, sulking over it won't benefit anyone. The day ended without any incident. 

It was the shoe locker. When I reached there, Yoshida was standing there with a pale expression while looking inside her locker. The students were passing by without noticing her. I couldn't watch any longer so I called out to her. 

"What's wrong?" 

Surprised by my tone she quickly tried to close her shoe locker but maybe she was surprised her reflexes were slow, so I got a glimpse of what was inside. She looked at me flustered, 

"... Nothing, I was just about to leave." 

She gave a nervous laugh. Something was wrong. I just looked into her eyes and she averted her eyes. I started to close the distance between us.  

"What are you-?" 

The one step I took forward, another step she took backward. It continued for a few seconds until she hit her back against the shoe lockers. She had no place to run. As I extended my hand towards her, she closed her eyes in fear. 

"So, care to explain what is this all about?" I asked.

She opened her eyes and looked at me holding something in my hands and observing them one at a time. She realized what those were, she quickly looked at her locker which was opened. Then she looked at me, 

"What are these?" I asked her again. 

I was holding photos of Yoshida. These were photos of her walking at some random places. It was as if she didn't know these photos were taken at that time. After watching her expressions after seeing them it wasn't difficult to guess where it was going but I wanted to hear it from her directly. 

She just stood there silently. It was the same expression she was making on that day. That means she can cry any time now. 

'This is such a mess.'

If she starts to cry now, people will start to assume that I was involved somehow. I hurriedly grabbed her hands and pulled her with me. She panicked by sudden force but she didn't resist. I was dragging her along me and she was silently following me. 

We stopped in front of the park. I was pulling her without looking back, when I looked at her face, tears were already flowing out of her eyes for a while now. Same as before, I didn't know what to do. I dragged her and made her sit on a bench in the park. Maybe because we were alone now and our surroundings we silent with a few birds chirping around, she calmed down a bit after some time. I grabbed her hand in the heat of the moment but she wasn't letting go of my hand. We were sitting without speaking anything waiting for the other person to speak. I still had those pictures in my other hand.

"Is this what it looks like?" 

She nodded to my question. A past conversation flashed in front of me. After PE in the storeroom, some students in our class were making fun of Yoshida. Was that also related to this?

"Did something like this happen before?" 

She nodded again. 

"During PE period last time. There were more photos like these in the girl's changing room locker." 

"Do you know who is doing it?"

She shook her head to deny it.

"I tried talking to people who were the last ones in the locker room but they-"

She went silent. If I'm not wrong this is probably when I overheard them. I didn't know at that time, I thought they were talking about me but I was wrong. A sense of relief and anxiety arose within me. This is a serious case. Someone is stalking her. But the real question is why didn't she reach out to anyone? I'm sure if she asked Hiragi he would have helped and with his influence, he probably could have done something easily.

Instead of finding who is behind this, maintaining her mental state is important. Currently, Yoshida is very fragile, no she has always been a fragile, easy-to-cry type. She was looking at the ground. I couldn't tell what was going on in her mind. She is probably confused about what to do. She probably needs someone to comfort her.

'Someone who can comfort her?...'

A face flashed in my mind. I quickly took out my phone and opened the contact of Mayomoto Sakura. After Hiragi became CR the first thing he did was to make a Group Chat with everyone in it. I most probably wouldn't be in it but because Yoshida had my contact info, I was also invited to the group. So finding Sakura's contact wasn't an issue.

"I'm going to call Sakura Mayomoto here." 

I stated that as if I was asking for permission. I was about to press the call button but Yoshida pulled my arm gently to make me stop. I glanced toward her and she was looking at me with concerned eyes. I let out a sigh and put my phone back in my pocket. 

"Why?" 

"... I'm afraid." 

"That's more of the reason to ask someone for help." 

"But I don't know who is doing it." 

"But you can trust your friends, right?" 

"..." 

I said that but I couldn't trust them either. So, How can I ask her to trust them? After thinking about it I was lost for what to do now. Discussing it with adults should be the right thing to do but for some reason, she's against it. For now, that's out of the option. So, what else can I do? One thing we can do is find the person behind it.

'First the culprit?'

I can't do that because to do that I need to be with Yoshida every time. I mean, we don't know when and where the person will show it. So that's out too. While I brainstormed for what to do, Yoshida was back to her senses. 

"... We should go home for today.", she weakly smiled at me while speaking.

It was hard to watch. I don't consider myself a very emotional individual but even I feel gloomy just looking at her. But I couldn't do anything except to agree with her. So, I walked Yoshida home.

'I hope she feels better by tomorrow.'

Come to think of it if I didn't catch her after school, she would have to deal with it alone. So, having something as a support should ease some load, I guess. Not that I'm a good of a support. I couldn't solve my problems, but in the end, I gave up and decided to go with the flow. 

I spent that evening just thinking about Yoshida and it was the next day. I woke up and didn't feel even a little refreshed. I was sleepy, I wanted to sleep more but I couldn't. I dragged my feet to school somehow. If someone was to look at my face he couldn't tell that I was sleepy because I'm always sleepy. In other words, I have normalized my sleepy face. It's not like someone will take their time and look at my boring, sleepy face. 

Or so I thought. Today, everyone was looking at me in the class. They weren't looking directly at me but stealing glances at me. Yoshida wasn't in the class yet. She was usually here by now. If she overslept today I wouldn't be surprised. How can someone sleep after that? 

I mean just think about it, someone is watching you all the time. It will take a huge mental toll if you can't put your finger on who is the one. You will start to get afraid of little things and even feel paranoid when no one is around like someone is still watching you. That said, no one will do that to me but why do I feel everyone is looking at me? I mean this is this and that is that. 

The homeroom teacher arrived and finally, everyone's gazes were off me. After that, she marked the attendance but Yoshida didn't come yet. It was rare for her to be late, no it wasn't rare it was the first time she was late. So I was a little worried. But I was worrying for nothing. 

"So, Yoshida won't be coming today because she isn't feeling well." 

I got relief for a moment but anxiety filled my chest. She was fine just yesterday, what happened to her? It was obvious that it was more than just the cold and only he knew about it. Chatters filled the room and again a few eyes were on him. 

It was just after the homeroom. Miyomoto walked over to my seat and spoke, 

"I think we need to talk." 

There was a force behind her words and there was no room for me to reject her. It was like she wasn't asking for permission just threatening me, which also caught the attention of others. 

"So, care to explain this?" 

She showed me the screen of her phone and it displayed a picture. A picture that should never been there. It was Yoshida and my picture. In the picture, I was dragging Yoshida by hand and she was tearing up. 

"This?..." 

I didn't know what to say. I thought if Yoshida had been here she would have explained it. Miyomoto was looking at me with angry eyes and her bubbly aura was gone.

I was scared.

"Where? Where did you get it from?" 

"What? You didn't check the group chat?" 

"Group chat?" 

I was dumbfounded by her reply. I quickly took out my phone and checked the Group chat.

'100+ messages? What the hell?' 

After leaving Yoshida, I was just thinking about her. So, I didn't do anything else. Also, I don't have the habit of checking the group chat because I was never in one before. Usually no one talks here and chat wad always dead unless something major was happening. By something major I mean it was teacher's homework or something that we would to bring in the next class. That's why, I didn't check it.

"...If you want to know ask her yourself." 

Yes, that's right. I don't have anything to do with it. It was Yoshida's problem and I have no right to drag people into it if the person herself doesn't want that. But I doubt that she will back down with these words, she looked desperate for some reason.

"I tried to call her but she isn't picking up or reading my messages!" 

"..."

The pressure was really something. I never had this much attention in my entire life that it made my mind go blank. I didn't do anything wrong but I was sweating like crazy and I was feeling hot. It was like blood was rushing to my brain, I could hear it rushing, my ears were ringing and noises in the classroom made it worse.

I couldn't speak anything.

I couldn't think of anything.

I couldn't focus on anything.

But,

All I wanted was to get out of here. I wanted to run away.

"...Are you listening?" 

"... Huh? Um... yes."

" So, I'm saying I don't know what's going on between you two but you better not have done anything to hurt Yoshida."

"..."

"This is the second time this is happening."

"..."

She was probably referring to the cafe time when she saw Yoshida crying. It was the first time eveyone heard about it. They were confused. But the reason question is who took the photo? She left me with a warning saying,

"If you did something to Yoshida confess right now, I may or may not forgive you but I find out from Yoshdia later then you just prepare yourself." 

It doesn't matter right now. I'm not the condition to worry about that. Everyone in the class thinks that I did something to Yoshida and she didn't come to school because to that. I can't blame them if I was in their shoes I would have done the same, I think.

Clearly I was at fault here because I didn't communicate properly. It wasn't like me at all. After calming down a little, I finally really that things were getting worse as day passed and I wasn't even aware of it.