Ultimately, I was left with the same conclusion I’d known from the start: I had to find the courage to talk to her properly.
But while I was certainly afraid of what I might find, the truth was that I had already given up.
Not being trusted, being cast as the enemy, being isolated—I had experienced these things more times than I could count. After all, someone like me...
That feeling of resignation warred with another.
I didn't do anything wrong, so why am I always the villain? Every single one of them...
A sense of deep resentment.
I left the Family Restaurant with a heavy, unbearable weight in my chest. Perhaps because he could tell nothing had been resolved, Yuji wore a bitter expression as he watched me.
Trouble has a way of piling up, though.
Just as we stepped outside...
...I ran into Senpai.
She was with another girl. I assumed it was a friend, but I didn't have the mental space to care. I was just afraid.
I was afraid of her cold gaze. I was afraid of confirming exactly what she thought of me—of truly knowing the truth. Facing her right now felt impossible.
I averted my eyes and spun around so abruptly that I ended up staring Yuji right in the face. He seemed to grasp the situation instantly, looking back and forth between me and Senpai with a grimace.
"Let's go, Yuji."
I called out to him and tried to walk away in the opposite direction.
"W-Wait, please!"
Senpai called out to me, her voice louder than I’d ever heard it.
There was a tone in her voice I had never encountered before.
"W-Wait, please!"
I have never felt such panic while trying to speak to someone.
I had consulted with Natsumi, but we had reached the same obvious conclusion: no matter how I looked at it, I had to speak with him properly.
By sheer chance, I had found him.
I couldn't let this opportunity slip away. I called out to stop Takanashi-san just as he was about to leave.
"Issei, that’s the Senpai you mentioned, right? You should talk to her."
Yuji spoke as if to admonish me.
To be honest, I was terrified to face her, but some small part of me still wanted to believe there was a chance. I wanted to believe there was a reason she’d acted that way, that it wasn't because she didn't trust me. I hoped she might say something—anything—to prove me wrong.
I stopped and slowly turned back toward her, though I still couldn't bring myself to meet her eyes.
"Takanashi-san, about yesterday..." Senpai began. "At the point I arrived, I did not know what had transpired between you and those two students. Therefore, I intended to conduct an inquiry into the circumstances."
Apparently, she hadn't seen me being pushed or grabbed by the collar.
"As the Student Council Vice President, I must view all students impartially. I do not view any individual as special. in that situation, you and the other two were the same to me."
...Which meant she saw me no differently than those two.
"As long as there is cause for suspicion, it is necessary to conduct a thorough investigation."
So she did suspect me. She thought I was the kind of person who would engage in that kind of childish, idiotic behavior. That was why she had interrogated me.
I knew I was spiraling into a negative headspace, but every answer she gave was one I didn't want to hear. I couldn't bear to listen anymore.
Just as I prepared to leave, Yuji spoke up.
"So, what you're saying is that you questioned him because you found Issei suspicious? You really think he’s the kind of guy who would pull some stupid, childish stunt like that?"
It was a rare thing to hear Yuji sound so genuinely displeased.
I held my head in my hands as I listened to Sara’s explanation.
I had told her to speak firmly, but I never imagined she would start by lecturing him on her code of conduct as Vice President.
All she had to do was say: I believe in you. Or: I never doubted you for a second.
If she had just said that, he would have listened. Instead, I watched as Takanashi-kun’s expression grew harder and more rigid by the second.
I felt the need to jump in and salvage the conversation, but the boy who was likely Takanashi-kun’s friend beat me to it, cutting us off before I could speak.
"So, what you're saying is that you questioned him because you found Issei suspicious? You really think he’s the kind of guy who would pull some stupid, childish stunt like that?"
Midway through the conversation, the boy with Takanashi-san interjected.
I felt a flash of aversion at being addressed so bluntly by a stranger, and a wave of irritation that this vital conversation was being interrupted.
"No one said anything of the sort. I am simply explaining my position—"
"That's enough. I understand perfectly now."
"...Takanashi-san?"
His face went completely blank again.
"In other words, Senpai, you think I'm no different from those idiots yesterday. You think I’m some low-life who would naturally do something that pathetic. That’s what this is, isn't it? You’ve always seen me that way. You never had a shred of trust in me to begin with."
She hadn't gone quite that far, but the negative thoughts were pouring out of me now. I couldn't stop them.
I realized then that everything we had built up until now had been utterly meaningless.
In the end, it was just like that other time. No matter how much history you have with someone, if there isn't a fragment of trust, you can be suspected and discarded over a single lie.
What am I even doing...?
Even while we were spending time together, she never trusted me even that much.
I couldn't stand to be there for another second.
"Let's go."
I grabbed Yuji’s arm and walked away.
"W-Wait a minute, Takanashi-kun! It’s a misunderstanding—"
The girl with Senpai called out, but I didn't want to hear it.
"Sorry, Issei," Yuji said, letting out a long, heavy sigh once we were clear. "Turns out your gut feeling was right after all."
"In other words, Senpai, you think I'm no different from those idiots yesterday. You think I’m some low-life who would naturally do something that pathetic. That’s what this is, isn't it? You’ve always seen me that way. You never had a shred of trust in me to begin with."
...What?
Why did he take it that way?
Wait, please. I only wanted to explain that as Vice President, I had to maintain that professional distance in that moment, whether I wanted to or not.
I only wanted to tell him that I, personally, had believed in him from the very start.
Natsumi tried to call out to him in my stead, but Takanashi-san ignored her, pulling his friend along as he hurried away.
"Haaa... I know you weren't ready for this, but failing to decide on your opening words was a massive mistake. Still... that guy must have a hell of a complex."
"Natsumi... what just happened?"
I couldn't wrap my head around the reality of it.
Why did it have to end like this?