When I reached school the next morning, Shunsui and Gōjun were arriving just yet. Catching sight of them from afar, where they were getting down from the car, I ran up to them to greet them, cheerfully, 'Ohayō!'
'Ohayō!' Shunsui greeted me back, with a smile, however, I received a very different greeting from the other male. Gōjun's expression became execrable as he looked at me and without giving any warning, he started to pull at my cheek mercilessly to punish me for something.
'It's all because of you!' he shouted at me, angrily.
'Ouch! Ouch! It hurts! What did I do?'
'What did you do?! You have the cheek to ask me this question?! Your cat didn't allow me to sleep last night either! I'm fed up of you, and your bag of fleas!'
'Yare! Yare!' Shunsui told him, putting his hand up at him pacifically. 'Don't go too hard on our Hime!'
Releasing my cheek, he turned onto Shunsui to shout him, 'And you, can you tell me why it's not you, but I who has to take care of her cat?!'
The reddish-brown-haired young man cupped his chin to look upward, thoughtfully, replying, 'That's right! Why is that?'
I thought Gōjun would explode at that moment.
On my side, I was rubbing my cheek with my hand and sniffling. It was still stinging.
'But, Gōjun,' Shunsui pointed out to him, then, putting his forefinger up at him and giving him a large smile, 'technically speaking, Yamcha is not really Hime's cat anymore. When you accepted to take it in, it has become your companion! It's about time you start considering it in that way!'
I nodded in approval. Even if I share a special relationship with the small ball of fur- an indestructible link connecting our hearts to each other- it was Gōjun who was her everyday companion.
'That's the problem!' Gōjun snarled. 'I never ACCEPTED to take it in!'
'My! My! You're all really very energetic this morning!' a familiar female voice declared, suddenly, and we all turned around to look at Natsui who has arrived behind us, with Yūsei Nishoji.
My heart swelled at the sight of the ginger-haired girl. She looked so happy. Last night, she had called me immediately after her mother had showed up at the apartment, and I had passed on the message to Shunsui and Gōjun. I had never seen her like this before! Her face seemed to be glowing with joy! I felt so happy for her!
'What are you talking about?' Shunsui contradicted her, with a cocky smile. 'We're always energetic!'
The girl covered her mouth with her hand and chuckled. 'That's true!'
The bell started to ring at that moment, announcing the start of classes, and we all hurried for the gate of the institution.
As we entered the yard of the school, however, it was to see that all the students of the school were grouped in front of the notice board, looking at each other's face and talking amongst themselves, instead of heading for their respective classes.
'What's going on?' Shunsui wondered, with a frown.
The moment the students caught sight of us, they all stopped talking for a minute to look at us- or rather, Natsui- in a peculiar way, before they started gossiping with one another again, this time more loudly, with some of them giggling, others smirking, sniggering or even sneering.
My heart accelerated in my chest.
Did something happen?
They were all talking at the same time so much that it was impossible to understand anything of what they were saying, but we managed to pick out Natsui's name and the mention of pictures of her in their conversations.
Immediately, Shunsui wounded his way through the crowd, and we tagged along with him, only to jerk to a stop, petrified, as we arrived in front of the notice board.
'No! It's not possible!' Natsui cried, her knees giving up under her, as she stared at the notice board, frantically.
The board was covered with erotic pictures of her, each one with a different man, some with several men at a time! On one of the pictures, she could be seen entering a no-tell motel with a man having twice her age, while most of the others pictured her in full action!
'It's not me on these pictures!' Natsui croaked, covering her mouth with both her hands, tears gushing down her cheeks, her body wracked with tremors.
Breaking out of our trance-like state, Yūsei and I got down on the floor by her sides to hold her, feeling completely distressed for the girl.
Who could have done this?!
My mind was working at a thousand miles per second by now; my heart seeming to want to claw its way out of my chest.
Just at that moment, all the students of the school- including the five of us- received a video on our cellphone, and instantly, we opened it to find that it was an erotic video picturing the ginger-haired girl with a man in a hotel room, together with several fancy women!
My whole world shook.
'It's not me!' the ginger-haired girl cried, pulling at her own hair, completely devastated.
'Oh, is this what girls from poor background do to earn money?!' one of our fellow classmates- a girl- sniggered at her. 'You prostitute yourselves?! What a whore!'
Everyone started to laugh mockingly.
'Stop it! It's not Natsui on these pictures and video!' I exclaimed, jumping to my feet, shaking with anger and pain for girl. 'They are montages!'
'Oh, you shut up! Of course you're going to defend her, since you're friends with her!' another student- a male one- snapped at me, before he suggested to the others, in a sneer, 'But maybe, if she's defending her, it's because she's exactly like her!'
My breath caught.
'You come from the same background as her, don't you?!' he sniggered, and everyone started to laugh mockingly again. 'Do you prostitute yourself too, Kirigakure? How much do you take for one night? Is this why you hang out with Shigeizumi and Shoran?! Do you ask them to pay you?!'
'Shut the f*** up, you as*****, if you don't want me to kill you!' Gōjun snarled at him, abruptly, slamming his hand over the young man's mouth to smack the latter's head backward against the notice board, his fist stopping right in front of the young man's face, his eyes murderous.
'Gōjun!' I cried, and reaching out for the hem of his shirt, I tugged at it, desperately.
'I won't tolerate another word against Hime!' he stated. 'And it's the same for her friends!'
Oh, Gōjun...
Everyone had taken an involuntary step backward now, gasping in shock, while the young man who had verbally aggressed me, trembled with fear.
When Gōjun lowered his fist and released him, the young man fell to the ground, but he managed to pick himself up immediately to run to the side of his friends, completely cowed.
'I want everyone to throw their phones on the ground! Now!' Shunsui ordered, and I almost jumped at his tone.
Never before had I seen him this furious. He too looked like he could kill.
'If I see any one of you with his phone in his hand, I'll have him expelled on the spot! And never mind if I have to expel each and every one of you and get the school closed down!'
Everyone looked at each other's face, clearly intimidated, and swallowing hard, they all dropped their phone on the ground.
'Gōjun, go close the gate! No one is leaving the school premises!' the reddish-brown-haired young man declared. 'Hime, help me collect all the phones to put them in a bag!'
We both nodded, and did as he said.
While Gōjun left to close the gate, the other scholarship students stepped forward to help the reddish-brown-haired young man and I collect the phones. They were the only persons who seemed to be sympathizing with Natsui. The latter had covered her face with her hands by now, and was sobbing frantically. Yūsei remained by her side until Gōjun returned, after which the two males began to take the pictures off the notice board.
Yūsei, Shunsui, Gōjun and I had an idea of who could have done this to Natsui. Only one person's name came to our mind. Hiyori Miyatsu! And we all glared at her, where she was standing in the crowd, smiling twistedly. However, we had no proof against her.
Just as we had finished collecting all the phones, the director appeared at that moment, together with our teachers.
'Mizoroge-kun! What does this mean?!' the middle-aged man snarled, testily. 'You are expelled! EXPELLED!'
My heart skipped a beat.
'I have just convoked all our teachers for an urgent meeting, and we have decided that there is no place for people of your specie in our respected school! Shame on you, my girl, for-'
'Oi, the old man!' Shunsui cut him off, abruptly, in a fierce tone, gripping him by his tie and seeming to be ready to punch him one. 'Will you shut your big mouth?!'
I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand.
The man broke into cold sweat.
'Do you really think that she could have done something like this?!'
'W-Well...' the man stammered, his expression uncertain.
'But you don't give a damn about what the truth is, do you? As long as you can save the reputation of the school, as well as your own! But, will you just think beyond yourself for a second?! Do you realize that you might have had a daughter of her own age today?! What would you do if somebody did something like this to her? Because the truth is that it's all a montage, understood?! And I can prove it! I'm going to call in an expert!'
My heart skipped another beat.
Shunsui...
Flinging around, the reddish-brown-haired young man ordered to everyone, 'I want all students and school personnel to diverge towards the gymnasium IMMEDIATELY! I want to clear this matter today itself! Refuse to obey and you shall see the worse of me!'
***
Sometimes later, in the school gymnasium…
'These montages are very good. The pixels are quite excellent. But, it is not only mirrors that show reflections. The person who has done this montage should have paid keener attention to all other objects of reflection in the room,' the man asserted. 'If you look more properly at this picture, you'll see that the reflection of the girl that the clock is showing is not that of your friend!'
At this, Shunsui, Gōjun and I looked at the picture in question more closely, before we looked at each other's face, gasping in shock. In effect, the montages were now absolutely perfect!
'I can affirm with all my certainty of expert that these pictures, as well as the video, have been tampered with! They are montages!'
Instantly, we looked at Natsui, where she was sitting on west edge of the stage, crying, with Yūsei by her side, the latter comforting the girl.
We could now prove that it's not her on the pictures!
'Did you hear this?' Shunsui demanded, turning to face the students who were grouped in the gymnasium. 'It's an expert who has spoken!'
'Huh? And how can we be sure that you have not paid this guy to tell us what you want us to believe?!' accused one of the students, and everyone started to talk amongst themselves, seeming to approve.
My heart shook.
What's wrong with them?!
I looked at Shunsui and Gōjun's face, then at Natsui's distressed expression, my stomach twisting.
'Young man, are you accusing me of bribery?!' the expert demanded. He was a man in his mid-forties, clothed professionally, with tanned skin and a shaved head. 'Be careful! I might sue you for defamation! If you look at this picture-'
Shunsui stopped the man by grabbing by his shoulder from behind, as the latter was about to advance further onto the stage where we were standing, to address the students more directly.
'It's useless!' the reddish-brown-haired young man told him, watching the crowd, blankly. 'They won't listen to you. It's not that they're not ready to believe you. They simply don't care about whether these pictures and video are montages!'
My eyes went wide at him, my breath catching.
What?!
'And so, even if you bring all the proofs in the world to put in front of their eyes, they will still continue to believe what they want to! Because for them, it is important to have someone whom they can make the subject of their mockery!'
Shunsui…
As I looked back at the students, I realized that, in effect, no one was really prepared to listen to what the expert had to say.
My heart clenched.
'I don't give a damn about whether you want to believe it or not! For me, these pictures and the video have just been proven as being montages!' Shunsui declared at the students, in a raucous tone, and turning to our professors and the director, he stated, coldly, 'And you, are you going to believe it or not?! No matter what, Natsui Mizoroge is not leaving this school! If anyone of you tries to get her expelled, that person will be the first one to go! I'll have him sacked and make sure that he is unable to find work at any other school!'
Oh Shunsui...
Speaking to both the students and school personnel then, he told them that all classes are canceled for the day and no one shall leave the gymnasium until he has told them to.
'If I see any one of you step out of this building or trying to get his hand on a phone or computer, I'll make him regret his life!' he added, threateningly, before he started to make his way down the stage with the expert.
'Come, Natsui!' I murmured to the ginger-haired girl, helping her to her feet, and together with Gōjun and Yūsei, we tagged along with the reddish-brown-haired young man, our feelings agitated.
***
After a while…
'All the pictures and video come from the website of the school. Somebody has hacked the system at a distance to upload them, and send you the video. However, I'm unable to find out who it is. On this, he committed no mistake. He left no trace.'
We were now in the computer lab of the institution. We had been able to connect to the server of the school.
'I've been able to remove all the pictures and the video from the website. I have also deleted them permanently from the phones of the students and school personnel. Do you want me to close the website as well? The person who has done this might hack the system again to re-upload them!'
'No,' Shunsui answered, and Gōjun and I looked at his face in puzzlement.
The reddish-brown-haired young man was holding himself behind the man, bending into the computer screen, his eyes fixed on it.
'Don't close the website. On the contrary, it's going to be very useful to us,' he stated, with a cocky smile. 'There's something that I want you to do.,'
Gōjun and I looked at each other's face now, deeply intrigued.
What does he intend to do? What is he planning?
My eyes shifted onto Natsui.
The ginger-haired girl was sitting in a ball on the chair by the side of the door, with her knees drawn up to her chest, her face hidden in her arms, as she sobbed. Yūsei had kept a hand on her shoulder to support and comfort her, his expression filled with affliction for the girl.
Oh Natsui…
Moving up to her, I put my hand down onto her head to caress her hair gently, and bending down slightly, I whispered to her, 'Natsui! Everything will be alright!'
She lifted her head to look at me, her eyes red and swollen.
Tears came to my eyes too.
'Natsui Mizoroge, I swear to clear your honor! You can trust me!' Shunsui declared, at that moment, and we both looked at him, our hearts swelling.
Sending her arms around my waist, the ginger-haired girl pulled me in a hug, crying harder.
Thank you for reading!