It's been 4 months since my precarious meeting with Kyouko-san.
In the meantime, the atmosphere around the school had changed drastically. What was just wildfire rumors had taken shape to form a farce at school. Hina Satomi, the most well sought out student of Sekkito High School, was dating a peasant. That's how it was. They know me, yet none of them even knew my name.
Though Ms. Ice Queen here never budged for a bit, while always hanging out with me, Saishi and Haru. The four of was were officially a well-known group now. But only I knew what we were, a group of maniacs.
Saishi was so preoccupied with his own problems that he barely had a life at school, so he didn't bother about what was going on around him. It's not like he would have even cared about it, in the off-chance that he wasn't that lost. Truth be told, if I had to count a dime for every time he actually cared about this stuff, or anything about high school seriously, I would still be broke.
Next, Haru. What started to be an off-hand random conversation ended up being something we were fond of till today. Haru's pretty much an airhead, in some aspect, as well as a nervous case. But she was kind, and always took care of us. In a sense, she's the binding force of this group, even though she's relatively new to our group. She does have her own family circumstances, and inner demons to deal with. And that's why 'Ms. Do it all' took it upon herself to protect little Haru. At first, I was a little worried about this development. Taking an obsolete existence like Haru, and suddenly amplifying her popularity all while shining a spotlight on her, it had bad news written all over it.
That's one of the reasons why, I, Naofumi had, on obligation decided to take matters into my own hands. Protecting wasn't a pretense, and I think I understood it very well. As much as Hina says she could handle it, that approach was naive. Plus, Hina's being targetted, not just on the streets, but even at school as we speak of now. All the more reason why I had to step in!
Haru, unlike me, Hina or Saishi, was a good, diligent and caring girl. She was being bullied, but still, she has managed to come this far on her own. That being said, things are going to heat up pretty soon. Why? Unlike before, she was involved with us a lot now, meaning she would share the spotlight that was cast on us. The eyes that followed us everywhere, noting down our every single action and movement, waiting for us to slip up, and tear us apart, for their joy, this situation was feasible for us three, but that wasn't the same for Haru. She couldn't rub it off like us. She would get provoked, try to fight back, and in the end, burn out and hate herself. The three of us knew we had to be by her side because she had something the three of us could only ever wonder what it's like to still have it.
TRUE SELF!
Each of us, had somewhere lost ourselves and we don't remember who we were anymore, but that's not the same with Haru. That's why Hina chose to protect her, and why I stepped in to watch over Hina. Which meant, I was even looking after Haru.
And then, it's time for the main cast.
Hina. She more or less had always set herself apart from the crowd, by not being the ideal sought-after kid as you see. Diligent, honest, and abiding by the rules. She was quite opposite of it. And yet, the teachers looked up to her, in the hope that she would turn a new leaf, and be the ray of hope that they were seeking from her.
This felt like deja vu. But I don't know why? More importantly, it gave away the vibe of a bad omen. I didn't meddle any further than I needed to. Why? For starters, our two worlds are the stark contrast from each other. There was only so much we could understand about each other's situation, and we respected the boundaries, without prying any further. Secondly, even if I tried to do something, the consequences would be pretty bad, as there's no guarantee that people would lower down their expectations placed over her. In fact, that would only add fuel to the fire, that I was the root source of all evil, and I had her in my cusp. Soon, they would start to accuse me of drugging her, brainwashing her, and taming her to be my pet, dancing to the tunes I play.
If this world felt someone was deserving of something, they would use all means necessary. And I'm all for it. I have no issue if I had someone to walk by with, or else if I was walking alone. At the end of the day, we will remain alone. That's the basic root of our life.
We are the smartest parasites on this planet. We live by depending on one another, using others as our source and nest, and once the job is done, or the host is rendered useless, we move on to the next target, till we one day are the target. But that doesn't stop there. Unlike other creatures, we have our dark emotions. Vengeance, Hatred, and Greed will take over us, and possesses us until we watch everything we've ever envied burn down to the ground. And all that remains are ashes.
And that's the path Hina's headed down. All the people that envied her saw this moment as an opening. They wanted to break us apart, conquer us with the bitter feelings we had accumulated towards each other, and destroy us.
But sadly, they were already too late. Because...
I'M THE ONE THAT'S GOING TO END IT ALL!