Chapter 2 Bring Me Up

1

A student was transferred to us.

I barely noticed how it was already May of the second year of highschool.

After the daily morning scandal, class was passing as usual. When the class supervisor, Bizon-sensei, said, “Today, we will greet a new comrade”, even those guys that didn’t care about the class hour woke up suddenly.

The door opened and in came the mentioned person. Not a speck on the jacket, not a single attrition on the green tie. Unlike ours, the new girl’s uniform shone with novelty, and her long hair fell freely to her shoulders, with strands falling out of her ponytails. The stranger’s height was about one fifty, with a pretty face.

The newcomer, tapping with her heels, walked up onto the platform at the board and laconically said: “Minato… Rica. Nice to meet you.”

Bizon told her to write her name on the board, and the girl took the chalk. Her index, middle, and ring fingers were thin and equally long. They would be great for cleaning pockets, I thought.

The girl wrote three hieroglyphs of her name on the board.

Minato Rica

Whether for comfort, or for simplicity, she curved the corners of the kanji. Having finished with her name, Minato descended from the platform, and Bizon pointed to a vacant spot in the last row by the window. The girl sat there, and at this, the class hour came to an end.

She, just like me, got a place on the outskirts of the class. This place for the new girl, just like in a manga, was vacant because we became one less last year. I remembered how half a year ago, a student urinated there because he was forbidden to go to the washroom.

The newcomer, ignoring the curious glances, sat there and looked around.

And the look that she bestowed upon the classmates, with whom she was going to spend almost every day, was as cold as mine, but only I noticed this.

***

“Do you listen to music?”

“Not really.”

“Did you see the movie yesterday?”

“Don’t really watch TV.”

“Have you done sports?”

“Never.”

“What do you do?”

“Many things. But mostly sit at home.”

When the standard questions were finished, the interest in the newcomer faded rather quickly, quicker than I expected. After all, the composition of the classes in our school didn’t change and we got used to each other. The new girl, who suddenly invaded us, seemed like an alien and raised a general interest. They wanted to understand what kind of character she was: whether she was vicious or kind, whether she was vindictive, whether she had any talents?

However, when it stopped worrying them, the interest was also lost. As a result, the girls began to call Minato Rica a swellhead. It’s not like Minato ignored the other students or looked down on them, she wasn’t interested in them at all. When she was asked a question, she answered, and when someone started a conversation, she didn’t leave. But she never started communicating first.

Shortly speaking, Minato was of those who didn’t care about their interlocutors. The girls wanted to get some living emotions out of her, they wanted her to pay more attention to them, but Minato’s careless behaviour infuriated them, which led to the reputation of “swellhead”.

Approximately two weeks after her transfer, Minato began to come to classes in sportswear, and often in street shoes. There was never a textbook on her desk. Minato’s completely new school uniform was worn out in the blink of an eye. After a while, the girls began talk about her behind her back. Whether Minato understood this or not, but all of this would lead to her being bullied.

All forcer, all forcer, the goal — Minato Rica, the goal — Minato Rica.

As if by agreement, the girls began to discuss Minato with each other in high voices. While the guys under Fushimi’s leadership bullied Hara, the girls, led by Tanabe Kyoko decided to have fun with the new one.

The clapping of hands, which were heard in the classroom once more, exploded like bombs in my head.

2

It turned out that Tanabe Kyoko was wrong. She should have chosen someone else to satisfy her sadistic needs. In June, when we were all on edge because of the heat and rain, Minato’s inviolability went to hell. They no longer scoffed her behind her back, but openly.

“Checking for prohibited items.”

At lunchtime, Tanabe Kyoko grabbed Minato’s as if it was normal and shook the contents out onto the table. The objects fell onto the desk one by one with a clatter. A textbook and notebook, a bento box wrapped in sakura colored fabric, and a hand-sized mirror. Other girls dragged along a bunch of makeup, so compared to them, Minato’s bag was fascinating with its simplicity.

“What boredom.”

Roughly going through the objects, Tanabe threw away the textbook and notebook. The badly bound sheets flew in every direction. One sheet went right into the trash, and Tanabe whistled through her yellowed teeth.

However, Minato was not at all outraged and just looked at her. She looked with eyes lacking any anger, and as if directly into her soul.

Tanabe didn’t like this look. Gradually, she went into a complete fury and continued to scatter Minato’s things. The mirror in the plastic frame, which followed the textbook and notebook, was broken into pieces, and only the bento box remained on the desk. Tanabe tore off the sakura-coloured packaging and a steel fork with a spoon rolled out onto the table.

Tanabe didn’t stop, she opened the lid and shook the box’s contents right onto the table. An omelet, a broccoli, and some meatballs flopped out before Minato, but she didn’t react. Then Tanabe sighed and grumbled at her.

“Boredom, and that’s all. We thought we would find some cool slut’s condoms or something.”

Tanabe didn’t stint on her dirty words.

And then.

“That goes more to you, Tanabe-san. You’re behaving like a bitch in estrus,” said Minato, obviously trying to provoke her. She was persecuted so quickly after being transferred to us.

The class fell silent, it took everyone a moment to realize what just happened. Tanabe jerked and, without hesitating with her answer, placed her left hand on Minato’s desk, and grabbed her collar with her right. Without any constraint, Tanabe leaned forward and almost touched faces with Minato.

“You want a fight?” Tanabe hissed as if preparing to hit Minato on the forehead. The legs of the table creaked under the weight of the bully.

“Do I want a fight? Of course not. Why should I do this, you will cry if you get hit in the neck.”

Sparks flew out in the blink of an eye.

“What?! Just you wait!” Everyone fell silent from Tanabe’s angry shriek.

There were twenty minutes left until the end of lunch. The teacher wouldn’t come in and wouldn’t separate them.

“Huh? You sure? Are you ready? And what if you start whining?” Minato clarified.

Tanabe didn’t see anything around her anymore.

“Well! Come one, let’s…” A sharp sound of a hit interrupted Tanabe’s sentence, and after she fell silent, there was a complete silence for a moment.

It seemed as though time stopped. From Tanabe’s lying on the table palm, a metal fork was sticking out which was held by Minato’s hand. Her fingers were long, though not as long as mine. Tanabe’s claw, with disgustingly painted nails, was completely pierced through. There was a surprise on Tanabe’s face, and Minato broke into a smile.

The scene was played with bright colors for me.

“A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ah!!!” Tanabe collapsed onto her knees with a cry of pain, but her left hand didn’t leave the desk. The fork that pierced the palm, got stuck in the table top and stayed in it, though it also creaked. Not moving, Minato held the fork with all the force she was capable of.

At the sight of this picture, the class stiffened. Everyone seemed paralyzed. Minato didn’t let Tanabe pull away from her wounded hand, and she was only able to snatch the air like a fish thrown ashore. The people were speechless. A bloody pool spread over the desk.

Nobody moved a step, and Minato reached for the contents of the bento with her left hand. The meatball, stained with sauce and blood, splashed when Minato lifted it and thrust it into Tanabe’s open mouth. Then the newcomer forcefully closed it and wiped her stained hand on the opponent’s blouse.

“This, Tanabe-san, is exactly what I wanted to tell you: I hate you. Sometimes, I even want to kill you.”

In the silence, the voices from the neighboring class were heard clearly. Tanabe’s teeth began to chatter loudly, and this sound filled the entire room.

“I forgive you this time, let’s be silent about our affairs together. This will be our little secret.”

Unable to contain myself any longer, I jumped from my seat. The corners of my mouth rose. No one in the class noticed my disappearance. I jumped out into the corridor and rushed at full speed to the staircase leading to the roof, which was deserted at that time.

The clapping that was beating me on the brain, died down.

***

I laughed like crazy. My lungs emptied, my diaphragm tensed up, and my throat went dry, but I continued to laugh. I coughed and bent over from the pain in my stomach, but I continued to laugh on the deserted staircase.

I couldn’t explain why. The laugher just didn’t stop. Exhausted, I stretched out on the cold floor, the tiles of which cooled my heated my body.

Minato Rica. Minato Rica. Minato Rica.

What a girl.

My lips stretched out by themselves into a smile. An incredibly refreshing feeling. I got up, and staggered as if I was completely drunk. I looked at my smartphone, that replaced a wristwatch, and realized that there was only five minutes left to the end of recess.

And here I saw something. A message came on my smartphone, which happened very rarely. One letter from an unfamiliar address.

“From”

Minato Rica

“Text”

Idzono-kun

Can we meet up after school at 5?

It wasn’t just the polite sentence that caught my attention, but also the map, on which a cafe near the school was circled. By the way, my name is Idzono.

3

A breeze made by a ceiling fan blew away the curling steam above the coffee cup. Minato and I were sitting at one of the cafe tables. I came here after two more lessons in which everyone was surprisingly silent. It was quite a stylish place and not so far from our school. Ten minutes of waiting and at exactly 5 in the evening, at the specified time, came the person who called me here.

“Forgive me for doing this on such short notice, did I interfere with your plans?” Minato asked this as if she were an ordinary highschool student. Her greeting sounded so normal that the recent scene imprinted into my mind felt like a dream.

“No… It’s fine.”

“Yeah? Then it’s okay.” Minato took a sip of her coffee.

“That… I wanted to ask, are you okay after that?”

What distance are you supposed to keep when talking to a classmate in such a situation? Let’s say I speak of myself as usual, but how do I address my companion? Would “Minato-san” suffice?

“After what?”

“What? Well, you pierced Tanabe’s hand. With a fork.”

“O-o-oh, that? Well, I wasn’t the one getting pierced, so everything is okay.”

It’s strange, the way her brain works.

“I’m not talking about that. Of course it was Tanabe who was injured, but her dumb boyfriend Fushimi won’t stay silent.”

“And?”

“He will avenge her. I don’t think that it’ll be today, but tomorrow or the day after he certainly can come out from the corner.”

“More specifically?”

“Well, he can hit you or take away your money…”

I also wanted to say, that he will undress you… but stopped, because that could be like sexual harassment.

“Got it. Anyways, Idzono-kun, are you worried about me?”

This confused me.

“Well… something like that.” I looked away, and Minato added sugar and milk to her coffee and mixed it, twisting the black and white stripes into a brown whirlwind.

Minato then looked at the discouraged me from top to bottom and asked:

“Then will you save me, Idzono-kun?”

I already regretted on getting on this topic.

“I’ll save you… As much as I can.”

“As much as you can?”

“As much as I have strength for. Well, I’m not very good in fights, and you can’t really call me strong.”

“You lie, Idzono-kun.” Minato rolled her eyes.

From that one single word, my heart sank and my palms became sweaty.

“What do you mean I lie?”

“You even talked about your strength so craftily. Especially since you have it.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

It seemed the classmate that was shorter than me by about twenty centimetres saw right through me. I was overcome by a vague alarm. Under the table, I straightened my index and middle finger which were accustomed to strangers’ pockets, and dragged them along my left wrist, as if cutting my veins. Of course, I did not die. I was just checking the raging pulse with my fingertips.

“But don’t you remember?”

Minato opened her schoolbag, remade so it can be worn on the back, and pulled something out. Her tender pale hand laid several objects on the table.

Wallet.

Wallet. Wallet.

Wallet. Wallet. Wallet. Wallet. Wallet. Wallet.

A blow to my breathing.

Those…

My trophies for these last few days.

“Idzono-kun, let’s go to the movies or something?” Minato suggested as if she was a completely normal girl.

***

Now, together with Minato, we were shaking on the train, going to a rather large station in the opposite direction from mine. Minato sat beside me. Every time the train shook, she pressed her whole body on me, triggering many different feelings.

“Hey Idzono-kun, is this your first time going somewhere like this with a girl?” Minato whispered.

“Where’d you get that?”

“Well, something like intuition. Am I mistaken?”

“No, you’re not.”

“Are you happy?”

“Well, something like that.”

“Understood. Then we’ll also take a walk later.”

Oh really?

The local train ran slowly, picking up and dropping off people at the train stops, and we got closer to our target. The carriage slowly emptied. It was nearly half-past six, those who had left work early were getting home at this time.

“When you’re riding in a train, your hands are just itching to do something right?” Minato asked, lowering her voice. Behind the bag on her knees, she pointed her index finger at it.

“I will refrain perhaps. And if you want smoke or drink with someone, look for someone else.”

There is such a disease - a craving for theft, or kleptomania: the limiter seems to be taken out of one’s head, and self-control is shut down. As a result, the person commits a crime just for the sake of momentary gain or pleasure.

But this wasn’t my case. I didn’t lose my self-control, I chose the target and place. My theft was a kind of delayed attack. I performed a hidden attack on people who irritated me, and did in a way that they couldn’t attack back. They noticed the damage taken when it was too late, and this thought led me into ecstasy.

Powerless, I could only express my protest like this.

“Oh, we’ve arrived.” Minato said.

The flickering outside slowed down, and I was able to read the name of the station on the sign. The passengers who were going to transfer onto the express, began to exit. I stood behind Minato, and she held out a pale hand to me.

“Let’s hold hands?”

“I’ll refrain.” I refused politely.

4

I stayed a bit behind Minato. It was a long time since I walked with someone like this.

“What movie do you want to watch?” A voice came from the person in front of me.

“Don’t care. I don’t even know what is playing right now.”

I swear. It’s not that I didn’t like movies, but I also didn’t have the habit of going to the cinemas either.

“Then let’s watch something that I choose?”

“Whatever you want.”

Since she already figured out my secret, then she should probably choose the movie? At the same time, I knew that not a lot of people go to the movies with people like her.

“What to pick…”

Like this, we approached the cinema, a complex of a whole of eleven rooms. There were posters of new movies outside, and through them it was possible to understand what the movies were about.

“Okay, let’s go for this one, Idzono-kun.” Minato pointed at a poster of a foreign CG cartoon. When we got closer and checked the show schedule on the electronic panel, it turned out that there were twenty more minutes until the start. I bought two tickets, and Minato got some popcorn and a leaflet.

“There is still time before the show starts, we’ll have the time to reach it a hundred times.”

Minato wasn’t nervous, she wasn’t worried or something like that, but she was somehow strangely inspired. She seemed like a five or a six-year old girl who is joyfully looking forward to something new.

But I had a lump in my throat. It’s lousy when a person who knows your secret, doesn’t threaten you, but also doesn’t leave you alone. This is much worse than going to a horror movie, where you don’t know when some monster will pop up on the screen.

“It’s fun, right?” Is she talking about the movie or about herself?

We took our places in the dimly lit room. I sat on the left with Minato on the right.

“Here, take this drink, Idzono-kun. You’re not against coke right?”

Minato put a paper cup in the armrest holder. The lights turned off and the start of the show was announced. After a short video, which asked for the adherence to the etiquette rules, the movie commenced.

***

The authors succeeded. The movie wasn’t bad. The plot, the graphics, the music, and the voiceover were all successful.

“Good story…” Minato said and rubbed her eyes.

And I? I couldn’t squeeze out the tears. Yeah, nice scenes. Yeah, tearful scenes. I really thought so. I thought it a lot while watching. But the tears didn’t flow. It’s not that I was trying to show off or look strong - the tears just didn’t flow. Even when everyone around were crying, I stayed indifferent. When I realized this, I was always filled with a feeling of emptiness. I walked past the cleaning lady and left the movie theatre.

The administrator, waiting at the exit, was watching the audience throwing out their garbage, making a whole mountain.

“So this is it?”

“Yes.”

“I’m going home.”

“Do you want to go to the game centre?”

I was dumbfounded but agreed.

“Sure…”

She still wouldn’t let me go.

I didn’t go to play very often, but I knew where to go. It was necessary to go a little back towards the station. The first floor of the centre was filled with crane machines, the video machines were on the second.

“Idzono-kun, get me a plush toy.” Because of the loud music, I couldn’t hear her clearly.

“Can you be more precise? Do you want anything specific?”

We looked at a bunch of stuffed toys that were hung behind a plastic barrier. Two hundred yen for one try. Five hundred for three.

“It’s a normal thing to get a girl a toy in the game centre. Or is this something unusual for you?”

“I don’t play crane.”

“What? You fell in my eyes. Look, what do you think? That keychain.”

Minato pointed at a small plush chibi-dog, hanging on a chain. Its head and body were the same size. The claw that was supposed to be used to grab the toy by the ring was lowering from the top.

“I probably won’t get it.”

“Come on. If you won’t try - you won’t get it for sure.”

“Then you try. Here’s a thousand yen.”

Hideo Noguchi stuck his head out of my purse and was transferred into Minato’s hand.

“You’re so cold,” Minato complained, exchanged the money and put a token into the machine. Light music played, and the claw began to move.

To my surprise, Minato pulled out two prizes for five hundred yen.

“Here, one for you. It’s as if they’re from the same set.”

A well-made and a pleasant-to-touch toy dog appeared in my hand. On her back was a zipper, which I unzipped, but there was nothing inside.

“And what goes inside?”

“Mmm… I don’t know. Maybe a cellphone.”

“It’s not very comfortable. I mean, so you put inside, and what next?”

“Oh, well yeah…”

The dog was small, my finger could only fit halfway into the pocket on its back.

“Let’s attach them to our mobile phones.”

“I’ll think about it.” And I walked out of the place. Minato followed me.

I couldn’t think of what to talk to about, so I was silent. Minato supported me on that. We just walked, and took a train at the nearby station.

I tried to steal a bit, and Minato didn’t notice. She probably only saw when I was getting rid of the wallets. It was good that this time I threw them into a mailbox instead of a garbage can. Regardless of my wishes, the train continued on its way, and we got off after a few stations.

5

“Why are you even here?” I asked, taking the travel card from the receiver of the turnstile.

“Umm, because we go out at this station?”

I went through the turnstile.

“Your house is somewhere near here?”

“Something like that. Let’s go together.”

If she hadn’t known my secret, then this offer would have felt nice. If she hadn’t known. I moved my legs. And acted as indifferently towards Minato as I could. In a grocery store, I bought a bento for dinner and admired an oven’s orange light. Minato flipped through a manga magazine by the counter, and I wanted to run away already, but the girl didn’t let me out of her sight. “Just one bento?” The seller asked curiously.

“So what are you buying?”

“A bento with pork ribs.”

“Oh how much fat. If you eat that everyday you’ll die.”

“There’s not much longer to wait.”

If this girl knows my secret, then maybe it’s better to just die. I put my index and middle finger together and cut my neck with them. My fingertips quietly rubbed against my skin. My neck remained in place. I did not die, blood didn’t flow. If I really want to do this, I need to be more determined.

“Listen, how could you dare to pierce Tanabe’s hand?” I asked.

“Why so suddenly?”

“Well, just interested.”

“Ah, I see. Well, it’s quite simple, she started - I fought back. You don’t expect me to tolerate her right.”

This is way too simple, I thought, but didn’t say anything. Only few are capable of such simplicity.

***

I didn’t have time to notice, how I got home, to my empty castle. Minato was still walking behind me. And why?

“You live in this house?”

“And what if I do?”

“What do you mean if?”

“I thought, maybe I’ll stay here.”

“Where?”

“In the home of Idzono-kun.”

“Why?”

“Because I feel like it.”

“Why?”

“I thought you’d ask me.”

“What?”

“ “Stay… My parents wouldn’t be home today,” or something like that.”

Afterall, it would be better to die.

I put my index and middle finger together and cut my neck, but it remained intact.

“How do you know?”

“I’ve been watching you all the time.”

I moved my fingers across my neck again. And again, I did not die.

“If I just hang around anywhere tonight, Tanabe-san would definitely attack me.”

Is she dumb?

“Oh, I brought a change of clothes, don’t worry.” And Minato blushed.

I flipped my fingers on my neck. Everything trembled before my eyes. Has my neck finally succumbed? But no, the head is still on my shoulders. Hallucinating?

“I can’t stay?”

Yes. No. Two options.

And I understood. Even if I refuse, I’ll hear, “Oh come on”. And what do I say next, “yes”? Seriously. Ahhh, sh*t. Or should I stay silent? Well, of course.

“Thanks. Sorry it’s so sudden. The more the merrier.”

So the time on the answer was limited? It’s infuriating.

“M-m-m.” I answered vaguely, as I turned the key in the automatic lock at the entrance.

The door opened with a buzz. Hey, aren’t you here to stop suspicious individuals from entering? The door didn’t reply, and Minato calmly walked through it. Die, stupid door. I took the mail. Called the elevator. Minato entered it. She was about to go upstairs. Die, stupid elevator.

The elevator took us to my floor. I felt as if I was sentenced to death.

“And, Idzono-kun, even though you let me stay… let’s save the s*x okay?” My executioner said.

***

I wanted to leave my own room with passion. Having eaten the bento with pork ribs that I took for dinner, Minato went to take a shower. There was a sound of water. I didn’t understand what was going on, I furiously ruffled my hair. Minato was cleaning herself up, but nothing could help my thoughts. The water roared and roared, and then abruptly stopped.

“Can I have a hair dryer?”

Minato peaked out from the bathroom, and my heart skipped a beat. She then went out - in her white pyjamas with blue polkadots. Her long hair was wet, and her cheeks were red from the heat.

“Oh, yeah, take it, of course. To the right on the shelf.”

There was a low hum of hair dryer. The drying took a lot of time, it’s probably always like this with long hair. I usually didn’t dry my short hair. Soon, Minato finally returned.

“It’s your turn.”

***

When I took a shower and returned to the room, Minato was already snuffling on the bed. In contrast with the bright corridor, lit by a white lamp, my room was in semi-darkness, dispersed by an orange night light.

“Hey,” I called from the door.

…

No answer. I knocked on the wall, which was louder than a normal gypsum panel. Bam bam bam… No answer, like before. I came into the room and I saw, under the covers on the bed, a girl with her hair tied up into two ponytails. Her shoulders rose steadily to the rhythm of her breath.

She has to be waken.

I didn’t know what facial expression she slept with. I went up to her shoulders uncertainly. In the place where her hair was separated into the ponytails, the white skin of the nape could be seen. I slowly reached for her shoulder…

I was suddenly grabbed by my wrist. I froze from the abruptness. Minato grabbed me, and then, turning over onto her side, faced me. She was looking at me, her head raised, and smiled.

“Idzono-kun…” Minato said tensely, and then with a mischievous smile asked an insidious question, “Why did you come to a sleeping girl? Will you attack me?”

What is she saying?? I shook my head.

“Then what?” Letting go of my wrist, Minato pressed her finger to her lips, and then tilted her head to the side and whispered, “Joining a girl in bed?..” She tilted her head to her shoulder again, continuing to bend that line. “Or…” She continued, moving her finger along her lips. “Or you are on a night visit, master?”

Minato pulled the sheets to her chin and waved her eyelashes invitingly.

“Sleep.”

As a result, I slept on the couch.

6

I slept terribly on the leather couch. As I was used to a normal bed, I sweated, wasn’t able to roll onto my other side, and woke up at the crack of dawn.

When I glanced at my phone, to check the time (it turned out to be five o’clock), the image was twitching slightly - maybe it was updated during the night. The sky outside began to brighten. The right side of my body ached. To wake up, I drank water from the fridge, pulled on some clothes and went to the store.

I left the sleeping neighborhood. The garbage truck rumbled across the street, on which the food stores were located. The crows, that were pecking at something, flew away croaking, as they noticed me. Black ants surrounded a crushed cockroach and tore it to pieces.

When I entered the deserted shop, a sleepy salesman came to me, rubbing his eyes. Three, no four suitable buns went into the basket. I took the bag containing them from the salesman and left the store. The early morning was pleasant because of the silence on the streets. In a few hours, there will be huge crowds of people making noises, but for now, I slowly walked home, enjoying the peace.

***

“Very tasty.” Minato, who already changed into her school uniform, bit off another piece.

The bun with Japanese tuna, a hundred and twenty yen. The bun with red beans, a hundred and five yen.

“Well, thank you.” I answered, not leaving her alone.

The bun with mayonnaise and sausage, a hundred and thirty yen. The croissant with chocolate, a hundred and ten yen.

“You even have a coffee grinder, you live the right way.”

Minato brought a cup of coffee to her mouth. The price is unknown.

“I don’t drink coffee, I don’t get it.” I brought a cup of water to my mouth. The price of tap water has been changing recently.

“You have breakfast this way every morning?”

“Something like that.”

“Food can be stored in the cold you know.”

“For example?”

“Salad or soup.”

I only kept seasonings in the fridge, I didn’t even keep instant noodles in there, what is she thinking?

“Is it okay that you didn’t return home?”

“I think, no one noticed.”

“You have problems with your family?”

“I wouldn’t say so. We just don’t really talk.”

“Hmm.”

Somewhat complicated. It would be better to not ask for details. I turned on the TV. There was the morning news, on which they were talking about unfamiliar singers and idols. Useless, unnecessary information.

“You like watching this stuff?”

“No, not really.”

We silently watched the television. Some results of a street survey were aired. Nothing interesting. They showed a woman with a hat with a large word, “FUN”. It looked like some new trend. FUN in the head. Fun to its fullest. The most important thing for the dumb.

Seven o’clock in the morning, the woman-announcer reported.

“And you’ll go to school today?”

“What do you mean?”

Yesterday she pierced a classmate’s hand with a fork. Can Minato really go to school as if nothing happened? A normal person would doubt whether to go or not to go. But it seemed as if she didn’t even think about it.

“No, nothing.”

What will be the weapon today? If not a fork, then a spoon? It will be even more painful. But the piercing power of a spoon is much lower. Minato stood and went to the kitchen, where she took a bento box. I don’t know when she had the time to wash it.

“Ah… So you, apparently, don’t make food for yourself?”

An empty fridge. An empty rice cooker.

Minato was hinting at something.

Suddenly I realized: something was missing.

***

At half past seven, we left the house and arrived at the school by eight. I was worried that Minato was walking nearby. I was afraid that I stood out too much to those around me. Who knows what they’ll think. Minato became target number one for the whole class. I didn’t want to get there too.

I opened the door to the class. For a moment all eyes were focused on me, scanning me from head to toe. The target was confirmed. So this is Idzono? They were disappointed? Usually it would just end at this. Few people in this class were interested in me. But not this time.

Behind me was Minato.

The mood in the class changed instantly. Hara and Fushimi haven’t arrived yet, and the attention of my classmates was focused on Minato, who was following me. Everyone was reacting differently: some looked dumbfounded, some looked hostile, but everyone present were staring at Minato. But she calmly went to her place through the dense crowd of stares, that turned into some kind of metal detectors. Several voices depicted a characteristic sound signal.

Dangerous items. Dangerous items.

Minato sat at the spot by the window. Tanabe, whose hand was pierced, left school early yesterday and still hasn’t appeared. There was a dangerous silence in the class. Everyone was throwing sideways glances at Minato Rica. And at me at the same time, having arrived with her. Me, who never stood out ended up becoming a target.

In our closed environment, something finally began to happen.

7

8:20, Hara arrived.

8:30, Tanabe arrived.

8:31, Bizon arrived.

8:32, the class began.

8:36, the class ended.

8:40, execution. The naked Hara was being chased around the room.

This way, half an hour passed since our arrival. Tanabe threw sharp looks at Minato and raged because she completely ignored her. Yesterday, Tanabe lost her face in one moment. I don’t like such people, let them get what they deserve.

Slowly, the lesson began. Everything that the teacher said, went into one ear, and came out of the other. Classical literature. Algebra. English. Ethics.

The bell rang announcing the start of lunch break.

Minato got up from her chair and headed in my direction. She walked past me, without stopping, and stepped out of the class through the door behind me.

“Let’s go eat lunch together.” Damn it, she actually remembered me. I stood up and also walked out.

“Listen…”

“What?” Minato turned around. The hallway was very noisy during the lunch break.

“Don’t involve me in your affairs.”

“So, stay away from you?”

“Not to that extent… Well actually, that sounds nice.” I was not one of those japanese, who don’t know how to say no.

Descending the stairs, Minato said:

“We spent so much time together under one roof, you could’ve been softer.”

This statement could well cause misunderstanding, but after all I lived in an apartment building, where dozens of people are under one roof. I followed Minato, who was descending the stairs, provoking ridiculous rumours. I caught a bulletin board with useless leaflets on the dangers of drugs.

“Or,” Minato turned around, “should I just threaten you? If you don’t go eat lunch with me, I will tell everyone about your secret.”

Having raised her hand, Minato folded her fingers in a gun, and the corners of her mouth twitched up.

***

“Hey, what do you want? Anything specific?” I shoved a spoonful of curry into my mouth.

“You think somewhat badly of me.” Minato stopped eating her udon with fried tofu and pouted. “Of course I want something, but I wouldn’t force you into doing something terrible.”

“And, what do you want?”

“Huh? Should I tell you now?”

Her question sounded suspicious.

“Perhaps… Why postpone it, I’d like to hear it right away.

“Got it. Well then…”

Minato leaned across the table, stretched out thin fingers to my chin and turned my head thirty degrees to the side. The touch to the smooth, and still hairless skin of my face agitated me.

We stood out. In this cafeteria, we stood out very much.

“Steal Fushimi-kun’s smartphone,” Minato whispered in my ear. The feeling of fingers on my chin and a tickling voice in my ear. From all this, my mind trembled. A storm raged in my head. “So, steal Fushimi’s phone?”

“And what’s this for?”

Minato leaned on the table and stared at me almost face to face.

“For the sake of salvation.”

In a religious way? Salvation through theft? Pray and go to heaven? It makes one speechless.

“Whom do we need to save?”

“Hara-kun… and you, Idzono-kun.”

“And why me?”

“Well, if we try, you’ll see. Just-do-it (Said in English)”

I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to do it at all.

Minato sat back down. A group of freshmen girls closeby, started whispering lively. The guys standing  around us stared at us. Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

“Will you be able to do it today?” Minato asked from the other side of the table.

“Well… probably. Just in case, where does he have it?”

I already began to think about my plan of action.

“In an aluminum case, with an apple sign.”

I will probably be able to. Rubber phone cases could easily get stuck in pockets, and I tried to avoid them. Whether it worked, is another question.

“Then, I will rely on you.” Minato announced. Whether I could or I couldn’t, she didn’t wait for my answer.

Now, she will milk me until nothing is left.

***

I returned to class with the first bell. In my school, it sounded ten minutes before the end of lunch break and meant that it was time to get ready for class. Of course, the message did not reach the addresses. And at this time, there came a guest to my table. I immediately recognized the visitor just by looking at their bandaged hand. Well hello there, Tanabe Kyoko.

The call was a success. I, her, and her companion - just us three. Come to the emergency ladder.

Once I closed the door behind me, I could only hear a low hum from outside. Tanabe’s companion, Takeoto Ishihara, who was taken purely for quantity, drilled me with a look.

“So, what’s your business?”

Seven minutes to the end of lunch break.

“Ah? What’s my business? And you can’t guess yourself?”

I could perfectly guess. The girl raised her voice for some reason and shouted into my ear. Shut up, beast. Her voice shook the air along with my eardrums. It seemed as if my ears would fall of any moment.

“You somehow got close pretty quickly.”

The topic became clear immediately. Thank you for the polite explanation.

“Minato?”

“What’s your relationship?”

I myself didn’t know.

“Nothing…”

Fingers that were way too long clung to my collar, with luridly painted nails. Do they not interfere with her life?

“Then stay away from her. Don’t talk to her at all.”

Thank you for deciding for me.

“I refuse.”

“Did you not hear me?”

Quite clearly.

“What for should I listen to you? What’s the benefit? Have something to offer? There is nothing to offer, so why are you bothering me? Are you completely stupid?”

She drove me wild. If this girl thought that she can easily get to me with such orders, she risked getting into something. It was as if I was filled with wet gunpowder. And sparks were sent at me.

“Watch your mouth. Why are you provoking me? You could’ve just nodded, like normal guys do. Do I have to force you?”

What a poor vocabulary. Their conversations always came down to the same. Sex, in a few minutes, again sex, in three, four, five, again the same. And the system of values is certainly the same. How infuriating. Sparks already flew from me.

Five more minutes left.

“Shut your mouth. Your hand was pierced, and now you’re scared of Minato? What about you don’t bother me, and stop yelling with all your might.”

Everything infuriated me. The cow before me infuriated me, the bull which she took with her. If Japan was an anarchic country with no laws, I would kill them both. I glanced at the clock. Four minutes left.

“If you want something from me, offer something. If you have nothing to offer, try to threaten me. Or will you go and cry to your boyfriend?”

The door handle turned. Tanabe, all red and ready to explode any moment, shook from anger. I rushed through the door and slammed it, but after a moment it was knocked out, a crash came from behind me. Three minutes were left to the end of lunch break. Will the battle continue or would it be after school? When I threw out the previously emptied purse of Tanabe, the bell rang for the lesson.

8

The fifth lesson ended with another bell.

“Did something happen at lunch?” Minato asked curiously.

“Tanabe demanded to stay away from you.”

“And?”

“She infuriated me, and I rejected.”

“Awesome.”

Tanabe burned me with her eyes. I did not die.

“You were told: Stay away from Rica”, and you: “I reject!” Some real warrior of love!”

“Wait, what?”

***

The sixth lesson ended. Class ended. The classroom was filled with the sounds of desks and chairs being moved. I immediately jumped from my seat and ran out from the class. It is time to deal with the business Minato entrusted me with. 2-3. 2-2. 2-1. I ran past three classes, and from my own, left far behind, the crowd filed out. I could feel their eyes on my back. I haven’t caught Fushimi’s figure yet. It seemed like my class ended before everyone else’s. With a small delay, students started to come out of from other classrooms. The hallway slowly began to fill up, and so I won’t stand out. I mixed into it.

I’ve never cleaned anyone’s pockets having planned it in advance. My attacks were always targetting something that was infuriating me. Of course, this “something” did not have a specific definition. It was impossible to describe it as a “who” or “what”. “Something”. I always called the target of my attacks “something”.

Minato ran past me and seemingly smiled at me, turning for a moment. But maybe I was imagining it. I habitually evened out my breath and gathered my strength. I merged with my surrounding and turned into something like a shadow. And started walking. Time slowed down.

A flow of students were walking past me, whose names and faces I did not know. The light, that streamed through the windows lit my face up. I tried not to meet people’s eyes, walked into the shade, then again into the sun, and with my whole body I showed that I’m not rushing anywhere. Fushimi got closer. No one understood my intentions. Fushimi. I walked past him. Got into his pocket. A-and - Fushimi’s smartphone was in my pocket.

And now, we leave. I decided to slip into the nearest classroom and wait until Fushimi goes further and gets to the door.

And.

I was grabbed by the shoulder.

Having turned around, I saw Fushimi’s face.

“Let’s go outside?”

9

Both good and bad news awaited me.

The good news. My thieving skills did not worsen enough, for Fushimi to notice me. He called me out of the school because of Tanabe’s, his girlfriend’s, request, and noticed me only after our exchange.

The bad news. Force was applied to me faster than I expected. Without further conversation, Fushimi brought me to the back of the school and without any words drowned his fist in my solar plexus. How did I get into this situation? The pain was spreading through my body, and I lost track of time. A-a-ah, sh*t.

“Couldn’t you have talked first, and then hit?”

My body ached in pain. I lifted the corners of my mouth and squeezed out a smile. A-a-ah, I should’ve at least done my crunches.

Suppressing the pain, I opened my mouth… and another blow hit me in the stomach. My insides whined from the sharp pressure. The feelings in the place of impact sharpened, and I felt a furious pulse there.

“In class you usually keep silent, and now do not blabber.”

I tried to block the blow to my face with my left hand. I felt pain and the rubbing of my school uniform against my skin. The blow was done in a too sweepy manner, but I didn’t manage to block or dodge it. The hand took the second and third stroked. They were so strong that they could have broken a bone.

The pulse sped up, and the skin on my left arm became numb. I breathed heavily. The blood flowed from my hand and everything swam before my eyes. I tried to inhale, for a moment loosened my stand…. and at that moment Fushimi’s left hand flew into my forehead. He didn’t hit with his dominant hand therefor not with his full strength, but I still unwillingly squinted and swayed.

I recoiled two-three steps and collapsed, reflexively throwing my hands before me. And here I felt a kick, Fushimi drowned his foot in my stomach. My guts were terribly twisted. For a moment I became breathless, I then buried my face in the ground and coughed heavily, there was a tickling pain in my throat from the sand that had gotten into it.

Fushimi’s legs were before my eyes, and when I slowly looked up, I was his smirk. He was waiting for me to get up with a sneer, like a cat playing with a mouse. Why do I have to endure this? Because I didn’t take Tanabe seriously? “Sorry, I’ll stop talking with Minato.” Is this what I was supposed to say? So I had to obey the order of the one that ridiculed me? And then again, why was I even ridiculed?

I didn’t regret anything, I didn’t feel bad, I just detachedly thought about it.

Fushimi, looking at me from above, crouched down and pulled out a jackknife. The blade hardly reached five centimetres, a trifle. Fushimi turned the knife around with his left hand. What an idiot.

Why am I being beaten by such an idiot? Why am I not hitting back? Why do I have to endure? What will happen if I answer? Malice would spill over the edge. Exactly, answer him. No. I’m always angry. Why am I being beaten, why?

And I will be okay with it? Why? Why do I have to endure this garbage that just infuriates, infuriates, infuriates, infuriates, infuriates, infuriates, infuriates, me.

I rested both my palms on the ground and tore my face from it. My palms got covered in dust. The blood rushed back into my brain, and the picture before my eyes flickered and brightened, this is how the consciousness clouds in videogames. I was mad. I saw the smirk on Fushimi’s face. He infuriated me. Fushimi put the knife into his pocket and clenched his fist again, and then, as soon as I somehow got to my feet, he came up close and drove his fist into my stomach.

But the pocket, in which he put the knife, was right by my right hand.

My hand.

At that moment my mind cleared and time stopped.

I.

Took out the knife and with all my might drove it into Fushimi’s right leg. All, that I was feeling with my right hand, blocked out everything else, even muffling the dull pain in my stomach. The formal trousers tore, and the knife protruded from the leg of the monster that angered me. The blade turned out to be dull and therefore did not break through the flesh, but rather just pierced a hole in it.

When I loosened my grip on the hilt, from the small wound, which, it seemed, couldn’t even hold the knife in it, gushed out blood, forming a stain on the trousers. The stain slowly grew, and soon a thin band stretched from the fabric.

Fushimi stiffened and shivered convulsively. He tried to lower his head. On the contrary, I, slowly lifted his - and saw that Fushimi’s face expressed horror. I perfectly understood him, and so the corners of my mouth rose. In the depths of my mind, muffled hands clapped. When I took the knife out, Fushimi desperately started looking for it in his own pockets. He idiotically turned out his pockets and, finding no weapon there, grimaced as if he were about to howl. Fushimi didn’t notice, that I’m holding the knife, right under his nose.

However, he could suddenly notice the loss of his own smartphone. Anyway, I couldn’t leave it at that. I lifted the hand with the knife over my head. Sent it down. Fushimi tried to dodge, and the point of the knife struck his belt.

The knife bounced back and fell with a clatter. In an attempt to pick it up, I lost my balance and collapsed back onto the ground. My head was incredibly heavy. From the corner of my eyes, I noticed that Fushimi fled.

My body didn’t move. There was no one around, and I was completely exhausted. My hands and legs didn’t move. Everything mixed up in my head. I only had enough strength to turn face up, just so dirt wouldn’t get into my mouth.

Now I was annoyed by the clouds of dust, dancing around in the wind and trying to get into my eyes.

I scratched the ground with my fingers.

Useless.

In my field of view, I only saw the school’s slanted building, a tree with wide leaves and a cloud-covered sky.

My head completely emptied.

The pain in the beaten places gradually increased. Once I tried to get angry again, I heard approaching  footsteps. My head lay on the hard ground, and the sounds were delivered straight to my skull.

“Uh… hey… I-Dzono… kun, how are you?” I heard from above.

I was looked at by a student, who was used as a punching bag.

“Ah, Hara.” He must have followed me. “Give me your hand. I can’t get up.”

I raised my left hand, and Hara pulled it on himself, but weakly and sluggishly, so I stood on my feet and nearly fell back again, and Hara had to support me.

“Sorry.”

“N-no… I-it’s fine, let’s sit somewhere.”

Hara, whose height was around a hundred and sixty centimetres, literally dragged me on himself. Without his support, things could’ve ended much worse, this way I at least won’t die here. I felt completely broken, but somehow I kept walking. Having stumbled over to the school with me, Hara headed for the club building.

What club is this guy in? I can’t remember for the life of me.

We slowly walked up the hallway on the first floor and stopped at one of the rooms. The sign on the door read “Literary Club”. Understood, it’s the very thing for Hara. He turned the handles and pushed the wooden door.

It opened with a nasty creak.

Inside was a pretty surprised Minato.

***

“What… Idzono-kun, there’s no living place left on you… are you ok?”

A shabby long table, rust-covered chairs made of iron pipes, a crumpled metal rack with books, formed the whole atmosphere of the literary club. And from the people there were only Minato, Hara and I. In short, the room had a simple interior, and to be honest - it was tasteless and battered.

“You’re… what, in a literary club?”

“No, not at all. Instead tell me about yourself, how are you?” Minato asked with such an expression on her face that I couldn’t tell whether she was worried or not.

“I’m exhausted.”

“It doesn’t look like you’re just exhausted. What happened?”

I was called out of the school, got beaten up, my attacker fled, and before that I cleaned out his pockets right in school.

I wonder what’s interesting enough to tell? Except for the fight.

“I don’t even know where to start…” I glanced at Hara telling him to explain what happened.

“Ah, that, I’ll…go…get the first aid kit.”

He ran away. Hara disappeared behind the door, which was used unusually often recently. A fluorescent lamp, which dangled from the ceiling in a room that was hungry for sunlight, was covered in a layer of dirt and therefore shone very dimly on us.

“Well, it’s not really ‘what did I do?’ More precisely, it’s ‘am I really still whole?’”

“You were beaten for no reason?”

“Why these questions?”

“No, just wondering. Oh, yeah, what’s with the phone?”

Having remembered about the smartphone, I took it out of my pocket. I clicked on the Home button of the aluminum case of the fashion device with an apple sign, and waited until the screen lit up. A password request popped up.

“Oooh.” Minato got up from her chair and approached me. Without much difficulty she took away the smartphone from my exhausted hand and ran her finger across the screen. For some time, the girl was messing around with the device.

“You did well.” Saying so, Minato patted my head from behind while I was sitting.

"Pain, pain go away! Eheheh!"

Come to think of it…

She didn’t say these things for nothing. She forced me to steal it with threats, and if you untwist the logical chain, she became the main reason that I was beaten by Fushimi. But with all this Minato kept stroking my head, as if calming down a child. She did not apologize and didn’t show a single bit of worry about my wounds. She probably thinks that I’ll just forgive her. Or she just doesn’t care, that I’ll get angry.

Pain pulsed in the beaten places, and it was as if the places that Minato touched were getting numb.

“Oh, this Fushimi-kun.” Minato wrapped my head in her palms. “Let’s beat him up.”

Exactly. It seemed to me that this sounded quite good.

Minato, who was still standing behind me, put her left hand on my head, and her right on my shoulder. I don’t know what expression she had on her face, I couldn’t see. She was probably smiling. When Minato stabbed Tanabe’s hand, the corners of her mouth raised slightly. Then, she was smiling for sure.

10

Hara brought a first aid kit from the medical point and placed a compress on my swollen bruises.  Had it been effective? I don’t know, I guess it did something.

“Well, where shall we start?” Minato asked.

Hara had a mysterious air to him. I also wanted to ask a lot of things.

“We won’t start from somewhere, just say everything at once. Why were you here and Hara there?”

“Oh, just...”

“Oh, I just…” They began saying in chorus, and simultaneously falling silent.

“Mi… please, can you…”

“Oh yeah? I wanted to give you the spotlight.”

“Oh, that… well, you were the one who brought me here…”

Understood.

“And what am I supposed to talk about?”

“Ah, well, you know… You saw it too, didn’t you, Idzono-kun?” Minato poked her finger at the stolen smartphone.

“I didn’t.”

“If you see it, you’ll freak out.”

I caught the phone thrown up in the air by her.

“Uh…” Hara saw it first. Interested, I also looked at the screen.

“Uh…” We had the same reaction. Whether it was good or bad, when I saw what was on the screen, I was speechless.

The photos showed sex.

Just like that. The screen showed rows of small photos. And on all of them, two people were joined. Fushimi and Tanabe. Crotch to crotch, crotch to mouth, and there were also such where Tanabe spread her legs with her knees up. And no pixel censorship.

What was happening seemed absurd, wild, and extremely crude.

“What is this bullsh*t?”

Shocked, Hara stayed silent.

“What you see. It’s all what you see.”

“Not that.”

The thoughts in my head spun in a whirlwind, and I forgot what I wanted to say. Even my tongue began to falter. But in the far corner of my mind, a clear idea began to form. It immediately looked like a crutch for me, where I could push off.

What if we destroyed the settled relations in our closed society, and then the air in the classroom will no longer strangle us? Until now, I thought these thoughts were just stupid dreams.

“Hara-kun, do you want to be persecuted everyday?” Minato asked. Hara didn’t answer.

“Idzono-kun, do you want to have to put up with it everyday? Minato asked. I didn’t answer.

“With the help of this we will break Fushimi-kun and Tanabe-san. We will crush these annoying, nasty creatures.” Minato announced. Hara and I didn’t answer.

“We’ll be able to break whoever we want. Let’s beat them in advance.”

Minato’s pompous speech seemed to me like “cold-blooded thinking”, like a citation from a manga, as if the actress tried to add some realism into the story. But the proposal sounded too tempting, leaving me no choice.

Exactly, well of course….

“That… I never thought of doing anything like that…”

The person who did not share my enthusiasm, ruined such a wonderful moment. Exactly. I should have guessed what kind of rag ge was.

“What? Hara-kun?”

“W-well, Minato-san, what are you up to..?”

“How do I say this, at first we must crush Fushimi-kun’s and Tanabe-san’s closest relations.”

This girl spoke these statements so simply. She could do anything. She moved forward towards her goal, and if she met with some obvious resistance, she would fight and destroy the ill-wisher.Her behaviour was completely different from the behaviour of most other people, who avoided argues and put up with it.

“C-crush who?”

“Well, at first let’s try to fight for the fun of it?”

“F-fight?”

“Understand it like that.”

“They’ll give us payback.”

“Let’s try to be the first.”

“And what happens next?”

“If we’ll be able to make it before they dare to answer us, it would be enough.”

Hara could not do this.

He was chased naked around the class, beaten up like a punching bag, was forced to bear all kinds of nonsense, and all he did was put up with it. He could’ve easily broken the vicious circle. When he was forced to run some errands, he could’ve poured something into their drinks. If some ill-wisher rode a bicycle, he could’ve pierced the wheel with a nail. And for the bully - a punch straight in the face.

But Hara couldn’t do this.

“I-it won’t work! And what if we fail?”

If we fail, we will be persecuted even more. I was twisted from this thought.

Thinking that he was still far from the bottom, he didn’t notice how he had fallen to the very bottom. He tried to protect his long-gone dignity. Simply speaking, being dumb. But the dumb always infuriated me.

The idiots, who are ready to live their entire lives crawling on all fours, are better to be ignore.

But.

“Fall even in further, if you want.” I heard my own voice as if from the side. “I’m always angry. At you, at Fushimi, at the whole class. I’ll just look and immediately rage. I’ll just hear the sounds - and my insides twist.”

So if they all suddenly get into something and die at once, I will be only glad. This is the dumbness I wished for.

I was wrong in the most important thing.

I wasn’t supposed to wait for “something”

Interesting, how come I never noticed something so simple?

The conditions were the most favourable.

I can crush Fushimi.

And no one will stop me from attacking him.

And there was no point in being scared, that he will strike back.

Fushimi was a piece of sh*t, who mocks people without a twinge of consciousness.

His mobile was in our hands. The moron left a whole tone of goods in the form of pornography in his own performance and not only, on his phone. On some, he just f*cked, on others he poured alcohol into himself - and pleasantly showed this from angles. What to take from this - he’s a moron, and his behaviour matches.

If I choose the right time, I’ll be able to crush him. I will crush him to the point that he’ll smell fried.

I stood up from my chair and went to Hara.

“Come on,” I said only two words, looking at him. He, as usual, twitched convulsively and blinked frequently. But he had to act. This he understood, though he kept silent. I opened my mouth again, “Or will you commit suicide, like the girl, last year?”

I remembered the face of the girl, who had to suffer bullying, and eventually died. That gloomy individual sat on the spot, that Minato now occupied. I remembered how she was not let out of the class until she pissed, and then cut her hair with scissors. How pathetic she looked.

And now the bullying that led to one death, began again. My head was full of clapping hands again.

“Answer.”

My unclear anger began to take a distinct form. The person before me didn’t say anything. We could stay silent forever, until the end of time. But what we had to do was break the vicious circle. We had to make a choice.

“Answer.”

“...”

Hara began to twitch, just like when he was getting bullied in class.

“Well, answer.”

Silence.

“Answer!” I grabbed Hara by the collar. “I’ll beat up Fushimi?! I’ll continue to be bullied?! Or should I decide for you?!”

Hara’s legs pulled away from the ground and twitched in the air. And my own legs, beaten by Fushimi, began to ache, but I didn’t unclench my hands.

“I-it hurts.”

“What will you choose?! Answer! Make a decision!”

“I’ll do it… I’ll do it…”

I opened both my hands, Hara fell to the ground.

“Of course. How else.”

“I’ll do it… I’ll do it…”

“You’ll answer Fushimi. Oh how you’ll answer him.”

“Yeah…”

“You said it three times. Don’t you dare. Ever. Even think of running away.”

Without looking at Hara, I headed towards the exit of the room, and when I opened the door, some people stared at me in surprise, perhaps - members of the literature club.

***

Some raindrops fell outside, the sky was covered with heavy clouds, and the warm dampness of the air seemed to envelop the skin.

“Idzono-kun, wait a bit,” someone called from behind. Minato stood there, holding Fushimi’s phone in her hand.

“Return it.”

“And how?”

“It doesn’t matter. Drop it in his table.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Don’t oh yeah me, let’s go.” Minato pointed at the school building and went there, so I decided to follow her.

“You behaved yourself so cooly. Why so suddenly?”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t know what to say. I myself didn’t understand what I had done today. My ability to avoid conflicts didn’t work today.

“By the way, how would you put down Fushimi and Tanabe?”

“Huh? Well, you know… I think I already suggested.. We can go to the place where the two f*ck.”

“But you wouldn’t know, when they’d be there again.”

“No, Fushimi-kun, is a complete fool. To all the photos attached geotags, with them it is easy to figure out their location.”

“Geotag, what’s that?”

“Information by GPS. Where the photo was taken, is saved on the phone, the date and time too. I think that if I sort out the data, I’ll be able to find the day of the week and the specific time.”

It sounded promising. Some Sherlock Holmes. Holmes, who is investigating the case of the pornographic photographs. Some disgusting detective.

“Well, there is nothing worse, it’s just the thing to threaten Tanabe-san with.”

How clever, thought I, and didn’t notice how I smiled.

“What happened?”

“No, nothing.”

The hand beaten by Fushimi hurt. And the pain gave me motivation. I began to whistle, and the melody came out as something similar to “Amazing Grace”, I heard it in a series, which I played on the tv a few years back.

“Idzono-kun, chin up.”

“How else”

My whistling and the sounds of our footsteps echoed down the corridor. Our shoes clinked on the ground. We finally crawled to out cage numbered 2-4 and opened the door.

It was already past five, but there was still one person inside. He worked with a dispassionate face on his laptop, but suddenly our eyes met. Right, he was called Shibata.

“Idzono?” Shibata said glancing at Minato beside me. “You’re dating?” Shibata asked. Usually I don’t talk with him. I almost asked whether he was an idiot.

“Oh, no.”

All I did was give Minato a helping hand and steal Fushimi’s smartphone.

“What’s with the content?”

“I figured out the online repository, it’s alright.”

“Your skills are frightening.”

Having made a few last steps to Fushimi’s desk, which turned out to be full of random rubbish, I threw in the smartphone decorated with an apple sign. It dully struck the wood. But Shibata didn’t take his eyes off me.

“Idzono, what’d you put in there?”

“A mobile.”

“Whose?”

“Fushimi.”

Why do you have his phone?”

“I accidentally found it, by accident.”

Shibata looked at me with obvious distrust.

“And how did you know, that it was lost by Fushimi?”

“Huh? W-well.” I hesitated and answered truthfully. “I dug through it.”

I glanced at Minato, who was walking out of the class, and tried to move the chair back to Fushimi’s desk. And then from behind me came:

“You’re up to something yeah?”

Shibata continued clicking with his mouse in anticipation for an answer. I gestured for Minato to keep going forward. The girl opened the door into the hall.

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t understand yet, but… something… just something.”

“What is this something? Listen.”

Amazing insight, just amazing.

“Are you aware that people are interested in you?”

“Who?”

“The girls in the class.”

“I’m popular?”

“Pff. They’re ready to kill you out of hatred.”

I don’t care.

“What’s wrong with you? This doesn’t look like you. And in general… you tried not to get into anything, you tried to be invisible. In short, you behaved yourself differently.” Shibata suddenly began to analyze my character.

This guy was forever stuck in his laptop, and no one tried to talk to him. Shibata joined us a year ago, and at first I thought that with such a character he will be persecuted. He chose the image of a botanist who doesn’t part with his laptop, and so was the ideal object for persecution.

After a few months after his entrance, some knucklehead broke his laptop. Shibata demanded from the parents of the knucklehead a compensation and forced them to pay either several tens ot hundreds of thousands of yen.

Then I didn’t know, whether his actions were approved or overdid it. Perhaps the eternally silent Shibata felt a relating soul in me.

Because of this I said:

“I hate this class.”

“I completely understand you. I am the same. I just look at out idiots - and want to die right away.”

“Die? Not kill?”

“If I kill, I will be arrested.”

“Then they can simply be beaten up.”

“Then I want to beat them up.”

“Let’s beat them up.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. I’ll be made into another Hara.”

“I see.” I smiled slightly.

Everything constantly infuriated me. I was like wet gunpowder. But now I finally ignited.

“I will succeed.”