The next day soon arrived. While I was in school, I didn't really talk to anyone. Though that wasn't really out of the ordinary. Even when I made it to class, I decided not to greet Haruka as I realized there was no more point in pursuing her. So when I noticed that she wasn't in her usual seat, it kind of made me glad.
I took my usual seat, before looking out of the window. In my head, I wondered if what Dejin said was true. Would those guys actually not hurt me? They seemed like they would. But on the opposite hand, why would he lie? Wouldn't he want me as scared as possible so that I'm more eager to get the money? "Good morning." I heard Harukas voice from beside me. When I turned to look in that direction, I saw her standing next to me with a smile.
The girl with the glasses had seemed to look up at Haruka with a blush as well.
While looking up at Haruka, I didn't know if I should respond to her. "Uh- hey.." I responded in a bored tone, before turning my head back towards the window. The tone of my voice had dropped Harukas smile, and made her look confused. Regardless, she took her seat in front of me without saying anything else.
If I could cry right now, I just know tears would be streaming down my face. I did it. Any chance of her ever wanting to be with me is now gone. Are you happy now Dejin?
Even in my class time, I didn't talk to Haruka despite her trying to talk to me at times. Even when I really wanted to engage with her, I could feel Dejin stare at me from across the room each time. Not only did I not want Haruka to get hurt, I also realized that a girl like her would never get with a guy like me. She sees me as a friend. If you could even call it that.
As I blew her off a few times, I started to feel weird about it. It began to feel wrong. But I thought that I was ultimately doing the right thing.
Once the school day ended, I quickly got out of the class to avoid any interactions with Haruka. Because of how quick I ran, I hadn't realize her try to speak to me. Once she saw me quickly run out of the door, her face had grown more saddened and defeated. "Are you okay?" The girl with the glasses asked Haruka, while she looked towards her with a worried face.
Haruka looked towards the girl with the glasses, before looking down towards my desk. "Uh- yeah. Yeah it's nothing." She responded, before looking back towards the girl with a smile. "Thanks for asking." She responded.
Meanwhile, next to a staircase of the school, where it was relatively dark, me and Dejin stood with eachother. "You know how you're gonna get their money?" He asked me, while he stood over me in an intimidating way.
I looked up at him with defeat all over my face. In response I didn't say a single word, all I did was shake my head. The response obviously made Dejin angry. I could tell by how he grabbed me by my collar and effortlessly lifted my feet off of the floor.
Despite the action by him, I wasn't too worried. I continued to look down at the ground, with my dim eyes and hair hovering over them. "You know what's gonna happen if you don't pay them? I'm gonna take Haruka away from you. Do you want that?" He said to me with gritted teeth, and a grip that tightened around my collar even more.
"Take her." I muttered from my lips. As I said those words, he looked at me with shock, but surprisingly disappointment as well. "She would never get with a guy like me. So go ahead." I say to him, before looking back up towards him.
As we looked at eachother, he let go of my collar, which dropped me down back to my feet. He proceeded to look down at me without saying a single word. Behind his eyes, I couldn't tell what he was feeling. "How about this. Get them the money, or I give them something else to replace it." With his threatening tone, I had to look up at him to see what he meant.
"What do you mean?" I asked while looking at him.
"Haruka..If I let those guys have their way with her, they'll treat that as you paying them." Once Dejin said those words, I realized something. This is not just some jealous bully of some romcom, this guy is evil. "She's a beauty, and there's not many girls that look like her, so she will do." He said to me.
I quickly leaned up towards him with a desperate face. "You can't do that! You want her so why would you do that?!" I asked him with confusion and anger.
"I want her. But I also don't want to get killed if you don't give them the money. If you don't give it to them, then they'll look at me for it. And since I don't have it, I'll have to pay in another way. Desperate times call for desperate measures man." He said to me with a egotistical smile, as he patted me on the cheek. He then walked from the staircase. Just before he was about to leave, he looked back at me over his shoulder. "Let me know what you're gonna do by tomorrow." He left me with those words.
As I stared in shock, I felt my heart sink to the ground. Slowly, I slid down the wall so that I was in a sitting position. While sitting, I could feel the anger inside of me start to boil up. Nothing was going right. As that anger unleashed from within, it came out in the form of me screaming and hitting the stone walls beside me. I even got up from my sitting position
"Koyoko?" I stopped once I heard that voice from behind me. My eyes had widened, and I slowly turned around to see Haruka standing there with a worried expression. "What's wrong?" She asked me, while I stood in shock.
Even though I don't need to pursue her, I knew that she was in danger. "Whatever Dejin tells you, don't listen to him..if he ever tells you to follow him somewhere, don't listen." I said those words to her in a worried way, however she was very confused.
"What do you mean? Why not?" Haruka asked.
Would she believe me if I tell her? Would she believe me over the cool guy? With that question in my head, I didn't know how else to answer her question in a way where she'd actually believe me. "Just don't, okay?" I said, before walking past her, and leaving.
"Koyoko!" She called out to me, but even so, I left.
When I got home, I realized that I needed to make money some kind of way. While I was trying to figure out what I could sell, I realized that I didn't even know how much I needed to get. Even so, I gathered anything that I could find. Snacks, my Nintendo, and even my PlayStation 5.
After gathering stuff, I basically stayed up for the entire night. I realized when the sun started to come up just how long I was gathering my belongings to sell.
Afterwards, I made my way to school like usual. While I walked to my class, I felt someone grab my arm. Realizing that it would be Dejin, I turned around to see him. Though when I saw who it actually was, I felt confused.
It was the first girl that I approached with one of my lines. She blew me off by reminding me that we were in a hallway, and not a room. As she stood over me, I realized that she was actually taller than me by a few inches. "You need money right?" She asked me.
I quickly questioned in my head how she even knew that I needed money. "Huh?" I responded.
"I can help you get some." She said to me while looking down at me with a serious expression.
Despite her serious expression being very intimidating, I knew that if I didn't get the money, Haruka would be hurt. And I didn't know if the stuff I already accumulated would be enough. Because of that, I only had one answer for her.