"Sorry for making you tag along."
"Nah, I was headed this way anyway."
I had been looking things up in the library, which was why I was so late leaving.
Yuji and I walked together down the deserted hallway. Since the Library Wing was comprised mostly of specialized classrooms, it became a silent, desolate place after school once the final bell rang.
As we passed an empty classroom that was rarely in use, the sound of an incredibly stupid laugh echoed out. Because the hallway was so quiet, the voice carried much further than usual.
It had nothing to do with us, so I intended to just keep walking, but then...
"That Sasakawa girl, man!"
I stopped.
Sasakawa...?
I locked eyes with Yuji. He gave me a silent nod, and we both leaned in to listen by the door.
"Hey, keep your voice down."
That was Yamasaki’s voice. If they were talking about a "Sasakawa," there was a high probability they were talking about Yuzuha.
"My bad. But what are you going to do? No matter how you look at it, she’s head over heels for you, Yama-chan. You going to keep her for yourself?"
"She’s got the looks, I guess. But she’s just a Plain Jane playing dress-up as a gyaru. She’s easy. I took her on one little date the other day and she’s already acting like his girlfriend. It’s hilarious."
"Whoa, how many girls are you planning to juggle? Pass one of them down to us."
What the hell were these guys talking about?
"Keep her for yourself"? "Yuzuha is easy"? "How many girls"?
Was he seriously planning to date her just for a laugh?
I looked at Yuji and saw that he had reached the same conclusion. His expression was grim.
"Tell you what—how about Sasakawa? Once I’m bored of her, I’ll talk her into it with some excuse. Then you guys can—"
Rattle!
"Huh?"
Crack!!
"Gwah!"
Crash!
I threw the door open, lunged at him, and punched him with everything I had. He went flying backward, flipping over along with his desk.
"You bastard... Takanashi! What the hell do you think you’re do—ngh!"
His words were cut short. Hardly surprising, considering I had him pinned by the collar.
"I should be asking you what you were planning to do to Yuzuha... though I think I heard enough."
Patter, patter, patter.
The other guy in the room scrambled to escape, but Yuji stuck his leg out. The boy tripped and went into a spectacular head-first slide across the floor.
"Whoa there. You have to watch your step or you’ll get hurt."
I figured I could leave that one to Yuji. Right now, I was focused on the trash in front of me.
"Was Yuzuha easy? Did you think you could just 'take her down'?"
"Yeah... a Plain Jane who’s easy and shallow like that is a piece of cake. Just playing with her to kill time—Gwah!"
I delivered a second blow to shut him up.
Maybe Yuzuha was "easy." That was exactly why she had been so easily manipulated by those other girls until she ended up like this. But she didn't deserve to be mocked by a piece of trash like this guy.
She was just being influenced by the people around her right now. Deep down, she was still that sweet, quiet, spoiled girl I knew. I believed that someday, she would find her true self again.
"I think I’ll rearrange that smug face you’re so proud of—"
"What do you think you’re doing!"
Someone must have reported us, because a teacher came bursting into the room. This was going to be a massive pain.
I was hauled off to the staff room immediately. Yamasaki, meanwhile, was sent to the infirmary.
I expected more than just a lecture, but since it was my first time ever getting into trouble, they let me off with a stern scolding. I had made it look like Yuji was the one trying to hold me back, so his involvement was dismissed quickly.
The next day, a completely different atmosphere awaited me at school.
The moment I stepped into the classroom, an awkward, heavy tension filled the air. Yamasaki was there, but he didn't say a word to me. I had prepared myself for a scenario where our parents might get involved, but when our eyes met, he was the one who looked away.
He knew Yuji and I had overheard him talking about his "rotation" of girls. He was probably terrified of us exposing him.
"Morning."
I sat down and tried to greet a friend nearby.
"...Oh, morning."
The response was lukewarm at best. I didn't understand what was going on. I assumed it had something to do with yesterday, but...
"Wow. Some people are just the worst, punching someone out of pure jealousy."
The voice echoed through the quiet room. I couldn't tell who said it, but it was definitely one of the girls. That single remark acted as a signal for the rest of them to start chiming in.
"Being so bitter because you're not popular yourself? Pathetic."
"Who does he think he is, acting all possessive just because he’s a childhood friend? It’s creepy."
"Poor Yuzuha."
"Hey, Yuzuha, you should tell him off once and for all."
Somehow, the news that I had punched Yamasaki had already spread like wildfire. But the narrative had been twisted—now, I was the villain who had attacked him out of petty jealousy.
It was a ridiculous story, but debunking it was proving to be a nightmare. Plenty of people knew I looked out for Yuzuha, so the argument that I "only punched him because I knew he was trash" lacked any real weight with them.
If I told them that Yuzuha was being treated like a plaything—or that she might have faced even worse treatment later—it would sound too far-fetched for them to believe. Besides, even if I didn't care about Yamasaki’s reputation, Yuzuha wouldn't want that kind of talk going public. In the worst-case scenario, she would be branded as the kind of girl who was "easy" enough to be treated that way.
Unaware of my inner conflict, Yuzuha approached me, seemingly emboldened by the girls egging her on.
"I’ve told you a thousand times not to come near me, haven't I? Hitting Yamasaki-kun because you're jealous is the absolute worst. Seriously, I want nothing to do with a gross guy like you."
She mocked me, having no idea what she had almost been subjected to. I felt a surge of frustration—I wanted to just lose my cool and spit the whole truth out right there.
As Yuzuha turned back to her friends with a triumphant look, the other girls crowded around her.
"Is he still following you around?"
"I keep telling him to stay away, but he won't listen."
"Eww, isn't that basically stalking?"
"Wait, Yuzuha, is he a stalker?"
"Y-yeah, that’s right. He’s been a stalker for ages..."
Of all the things she could have said, she called me a stalker. If anyone was the stalker, it was the girl who had spent her whole life refusing to leave my side until recently.
Later, I tried to call Yuzuha out to talk, but a rational conversation was impossible. My reputation was already in the gutter, and since every action I took was viewed through the lens of "jealousy over Yamasaki," nothing I said mattered.
Every time she opened her mouth, she called me a stalker, repeating the word like a child who had just learned a new slur and refused to let it go.
It was only later that I realized how much I had underestimated the power of a malicious rumor.