Even though Natsumi told me she thought I was wrong, I couldn’t get it out of my head. I went to the rooftop anyway.
And now, five male students stood directly before me.
They looked familiar. I had a feeling some of them had confessed to me before... or perhaps all of them had.
The door was shut the moment I stepped outside.
I hadn't checked the lock, but turning my back to them felt dangerous.
I knew they were hurling insults at me, but I had no intention of entertaining their words, let alone taking them to heart.
One of them, seemingly provoked by my silence, took a step toward me.
I moved back to keep my distance, but there was nowhere to go on the open rooftop. I soon found myself backed against a wall.
I slapped away a hand reaching for me and tried to reposition.
"Let's place bets on how long she can keep running," they sneered.
The boys, watching me with smirks, began to close in.
I knew I didn't have the strength to fight back if they caught me.
But as I feared, there was nowhere left to run on this rooftop. I was cornered.
"What are you doing?! Stop it! Don't come near me!"
A hand clamped onto my arm. This time, I couldn't shake it off.
"Whoops—looks like game over."
What was I doing here? In a place like this...
Even now, memories of the past few days flashed through my mind.
I had failed to tell Takanashi-san how I truly felt. I had only shown him my persona as the Vice President.
By doing only that... in short, I had essentially told him I viewed him as no different from these men. I finally understood the reason for that heartbroken expression on his face.
My own wretchedness... my lack of empathy... the fact that I had hurt Takanashi-san... everything about who I was and the situation I was in now...
The weight of it all crushed me, and before I knew it, tears began to fall.
The boy holding my arm took my silence as surrender. He grabbed my chin and forced my face up to meet his.
I tried to hurriedly pull away—
Takanashi-san...
I slowed down as I approached the rooftop entrance, moving with caution.
I reached the door only to find it shut.
Just as I'd suspected, a flashy guy was standing there, likely acting as a lookout.
However, he was too busy peeking through a crack in the door to notice me.
Just as I approached stealthily...
"What are you doing?! Stop it!! Don't come near me!!"
There was no mistaking it. That was Senpai.
Her voice, a mix of fury and terror unlike anything I'd ever heard from her, leaked through the gap.
I stopped caring about how I looked or what the consequences would be.
I delivered a kick to the lookout’s backside from behind, sending him face-first into the door. As he rolled around clutching his face in pain, I threw the door open with a resounding bang to draw everyone's attention.
I stormed onto the roof and saw several flashy guys standing there.
And as I scanned the area...
I saw a man gripping Senpai’s arm.
I saw Senpai crying.
Whether the blood drained from my face or rushed to my head, I couldn't tell.
Logic didn't matter anymore.
It didn't matter what Senpai thought of me.
All that mattered was that this guy—no, all of them—had made her cry. They had hurt her!
In that moment, I was angrier than I had been on that day in middle school when Yuzuha cried. I had completely snapped.
I didn't even pause. Using the momentum from bursting through the door, I charged.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, you bastard?!"
The man let go of Senpai in surprise, and I used my speed to drive a fist into his face, sending him flying.
I followed up with a kick to his stomach while he was down. Once I was sure he wasn't getting up, I forced myself to take a breath, trying to regain a shred of composure.
Leaving him there, I turned my attention to the others, who stood paralyzed with shock.
If they all rushed me at once, I was done for.
What should I do? Could I grab Senpai and bolt? There was no time to second-guess.
"Takanashi-san!"
Suddenly, a small figure threw herself at me from the side. It was Senpai, still in tears.
I wanted nothing more than to be relieved that she was safe, but I had to focus on how to get us out of this.
"You... what the hell do you think you're doing, huh?!"
The idiots had finally rebooted. They spat out the usual generic threats.
I had missed my window to run.
Now what...