"Why are you sitting over there?"
I could hear the annoyance in Kitagawa-sensei's voice.
"I always sit here." Why is she asking me this when we are allowed to sit wherever we want to?
"I thought I told you to sit on that seat over there." She shoots daggers at me as she points to the seat next to Akane.
"That was yesterday when there were no other seats available. There are empty seats so I can sit here, right?"
"Wrong, I don't remember saying it was only for that day."
Before I could say anything else her cold gaze turned into icicles which made it clear that this battle can not be won, it's how much damage I take that will change.
I choose to surrender before my pride takes any serious damage. Also I think I know why she's this persistent, those three must have come in contact with the age-deceiving devil and convince her to torture me this way until their plan of me talking to Akane works.
As I sit on the throne of attention, the cold icy daggers have now joined forces with red fiery knives coming from Akane's direction.
"Why are you here again? I thought you said it was only for yesterday?" Akane said as if looking down on me, but she wasn't really looking down. Her expressions hadn't changed. It was like looking at a robot talking, if not for her voice expressing what she's really feeling it would have been impossible to read her, even for me.
"I was forced to do it too. In fact, I'm the victim here. I was living my life happily being alone. I had actually made my seat my friend and now look how sad it looks."
"Creepy. Just how lonely are you to make an inanimate object your friend?"
"Well at least I have something to call my friend. How many of those have you got?"
"I do not have the need of friends."
"That's what people say to cope with having no friends."
"That is nothing but an effect of being as pretty as I am. Not like you will know anything about it."
Well someone is conceited. Though it is true that only someone who doesn't know anything about beauty will disagree with her being pretty. Her bright red eyes complementing her pale skin, her long red hair which undoubtedly have been cared for a lot, her always calm almost expressionless face makes her seem like she was frozen but there's also a fire within her. A fire covered within a beautiful frozen statue.
"Can you stop staring at me with those criminal eyes of yours, it is really creepy."
Crap, I totally spaced out.
"Please do not think of me in your creepy fantasies. I already have a boyfriend."
What's with this girl? She called me creepy like three times. She has already started to see me as a punk without even knowing anything about me.
"Yeah, yeah, you've already told me that. Why do you keep repeating that?"
This is the first time I saw her expression change. Her eyes widened at first, which she tried to hide by jerking her head down, her bangs now covering her eyes, but her shivering lips and clenched fists are too hard to hide. It is the first time I can read Akane Sawatari so easily, and yet I want myself to be wrong this time.
Akane Sawatari is sad.
I have no idea why she reacted this way to my question. Something is clearly wrong. Something with her and the mentioned boyfriend. The only possibility that comes to my mind is - she also knows about that girl which Haruma saw that day.
"Look, I think I know Kitagawa-sensei is acting that way." I tell her trying to get attention. "I don't wanna sit here anymore and you clearly don't want me here and the only way that's gonna happen is if Kitagawa-sensei stops caring about where I sit."
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Akane turns back into her cold self.
"I may have an idea, but you'll have to help me."
"What are you planning? Unlike you I have self respect."
She definitely gets pleasure from hurting people. Now I understand why Watari is giving his time to someone else."Whatever image you are making of me in your head is wrong. You might even enjoy this."
***
As the teacher leaves the class, Akane shoots up from her seat and starts to walk away. Seeing this I get up after her, "Hey you gotta listen to me." my voice shaking. Right as I am about to catch up to her, she turns back.
"You think it is right to talk about someone in that way?" she snaps, her voice is louder than usual. I bet even people in the back can hear her.
"I am just saying what I saw."
"Please do not talk to me after what you have said."
I take a step forward, Akane, in response, pushes me back. I hit a table behind me and fall down. From the ground I look around the class, everyone is looking at us. "Look, just liste-"
"Do not say another word." Akane sees around the class then looks at me before leaving.
After a few moments of silence I hear a few people approaching me. "You okay, Youhei?" Haruma extends his hand to help me up. Erica and Kenshi are standing around in a circle with me in the center.
"What happened?" Kenshi asks, leaning back on the table that had been the cause of my fall.
I take Haruma's hand to get back up, "Well, that went as well as I expected. People really don't like it when you say something about the people they like." I pat myself to clean any dust off me. Neither of them can say anything, "Why are you guys looking so sad?" I said with a smile on my face.
"We just, you know, feel bad." Kenshi finally says hesitantly.
"It's nothing to feel bad about. Sawatari-san would forget about anything related to me."
"But everyone saw…" Erica mumbles with her head down.
"And… Why does that matter? Are you worried about embarrassment? Oh please, something this small won't embarrass me. Most of the people don't even know me."
"Bu-"
"This whole thing will be forgotten within a week. Anyway-" I started to look through my bag, "-I am hungry. I'll go have my lunch." I start walking without looking up once. I usually have my lunch alone in a place only known to me so I knew they wouldn't come after me, especially after this incident.
***
As I walk through the hallway I come across the stairs that lead to the west side rooftop. Without thinking much I start climbing, eventually reaching the door to the rooftop.
The door was unlocked. As I had expected.
I walked through the door to find a student standing alone with their back to me.
"I knew I would find you here." I smile.
"If you would have forgotten an information this small I would have serious concern for you." the student says in a calm, almost robotic tone.
"I think it worked well. They all bought it."
"Why wouldn't they think it's real, afterall I was involved in it. My acting talents are bewildering." The student turns towards me, allowing me to her face with a faint smile. "Even someone as worthless as you would be worth watching in my presence"
"I get it that you feel pleasure in making me hurt but you didn't had to push me that hard."
"I only pushed you with enough strength that it felt real. You were too weak to even stand on your own feet."
"That table hurt bad, I lost balance."
The girl puts her hands on her mouth and starts laughing. "You really are weak. I thought I wouldn't be able to control my laughter when I saw you falling down."
That's the first time I've seen Akane laugh and I am the reason for it, but unlike how every guy says that making a girl laugh makes you feel better, I don't feel any better, after all this girl enjoys my pain.
"As good as it is to know that you have a sense of humor, can you at least not laugh on the face of the guy who just lost all his respect?"
"To lose something you must first have it."
"Thanks to today I'll be known as the guy who hurt Akane Sawatari."
"You shouldn't build yourself on the foundation of others." said Akane after having the laugh of her life and once again turning her back towards me.
"I had no plans to build anything for myself. You can thank Kitagawa-sensei for today." I end up walking next to her.
"Speaking of her, do you think she'll let you go now?"
"Yeah if my suspicions are right and she was doing this because of those three, then after today those three may ask her to let everything back to normal."
"And in the case it does not work?"
"That would leave me with the option of just asking her directly. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that." if she's not doing it because of those three that would make this whole situation a mess. There's no reason for her to do this. If amusement is the reason, why choose me over anyone else? Just a coincidence? It's possible since I was the only one without seat yesterday, but then why not have fun with the extras that were added on that day. This is not something I can figure out right now.
I'll just have to hope this special attention on me was because of those three and after today they'll see that their plan didn't work. If they don't give up after today they will be much bigger sadists than both Akane and Kitagawa-sensei.
"It truly is a good feeling to dispose of a bug."
"Sawatari-san, you couldn't possibly be talking about me as the bug, right?"
"Oh my, what would make you think so? Do you see yourself as a bug? I have heard of people who get offended for something else if they see some part of that thing reflected in themselves."
"I'm definitely not gonna miss getting belittled by you."
"You misunderstand, showing someone who they are is not the same as belittling them." Akane laughs again.
A high pitched ringing sound pierces my ear.
"I guess it's time to go back. You go first, if we go back at the same time our plan wouldn't work. And remember you are still angry at me."
Akane nods then walks back to the class. While it was true that if someone from our class saw us together it would have ruined our plan, that wasn't the reason I stayed back.
Everyone has a side to them they don't show to others. The Akane Sawatari I knew didn't laugh, didn't joke, she was always serious, her expressions never changing. No matter how I looked at her she was someone who was far above me, but that is nothing but the ideal pushed on her. Akane Sawatari laughs, jokes, gets sad, her seriousness is just what she wants others to see. The real Akane is someone different, someone I saw glimpses of. Which Akane does Watari see?
It doesn't matter.
I did what was best for everyone. Everyone should live how we've chosen to live so far. She didn't want someone like me around her and I refused to get involved in her life. Everything should go back to how it was. It's time for me to step back. I don't have to step out. I'll stay where I've always been and everything else will work out.
Everyone will stay happy that way.