Guilt stems from actions already taken but regretted. That's what William felt right now.
The ability he shouldn't have used, the ability he should have concealed, he unleashed due to anger.
He felt guilty towards the person he hurt until they fainted. But on the other hand, he didn't want to feel guilty because he thought about what they had done to his little sister.
He looked back and saw his little sister lying helpless without a single scratch.
No one noticed the incident because it happened behind the school building during break time.
At that moment, William realized why Maria, when she left for school, told him to come to the back of the school building during break time. Maria wanted help, Maria wanted her brother to do something, Maria wanted to rely on her brother who always smiled sweetly and kindly at her. Without knowing that the smile she saw all this time was a fake smile.
Maria was too young to understand that her brother was still in a state where his mind was unstable. She thought her brother would take the best path and do something without violence. In the end, she was shocked by what she saw and fainted out of fear.
When she woke up from her sleep, she was already at home and had amnesia due to the shock she received. Her memory of that day's events became very hazy, but she shivered with fear when she tried to remember it for no reason, it was like she was trying not to remember it anymore.
She looked at her clothes, which were no longer wearing her school uniform. Confused, she tried to force herself even though her head still hurt.
Maria woke up from her sleep and went to the living room, where she met her mother relaxing on the sofa. Her mother immediately hugged her tightly with a lot of longing and affection.
"M-mom... What actually happened?"
"Huh? You forgot?"
"Y-yeah..."
"You fell down the stairs at school, don't you remember?"
"Fell down the stairs?"
"You're not amnesiac, are you?"
"N-no! My mind is just a little messed up, don't worry, Mom!"
"Well, that's good, I'll warm up some food for you, let's have dinner together."
"Warm up food?"
"Yeah, Dad is working the night shift this week."
"Oh, I see, where's brother?"
"He ate first, he said he wasn't feeling well, he must be sleeping in his room now."
"O-oh..."
After that, they ate together and Maria smiled, knowing that her mother was holding back on dinner so that she wouldn't be lonely when she was hungry at night.
However, her smile didn't last long, there were many unanswered questions in her head.
After finishing eating, she was told to rest longer and she obeyed, heading to her private room next to her brother's room.
She glanced at her brother's door, which was tightly closed, before she entered her room and slept soundly that night.
In the morning, she woke up and got ready for school. Even though her parents had objected because they were worried. But in reality, Maria was really fine.
She went to school as usual and studied as usual.
But she looked around and felt strange stares from the whole class. All the boys smiled and seemed happy, while the girls looked guilty and scared too.
What happened? Usually at times like this, someone would prank me for a stupid reason.
Don't you all usually bully me because I'm pretty than you all?
What happened?
After the first lesson was over, some girls in her class apologized for being mean to her all this time.
After she asked further, she was told that her actions yesterday made the six girls who bullied her feel touched and regretful of their actions.
They thanked Maria for trying very hard to plead with her brother not to hurt them further. In essence, Maria was treated as a hero who was weak but had a strong mentality and was also very kind.
Since that time, Maria was treated very well by her classmates. It made her happy and smile, for a moment she pretended and followed what was happening. But on the other hand, she knew that there was a very strange anomaly happening.
Her actions, which her friends were talking about, she should have memories of it, but she didn't. It made her have a fundamental doubt about it.
She was very sure that all the answers were with her brother. With the intention of finding out the truth, she looked at her brother's class and witnessed her brother being bullied.
All the students in his class were gathered around William's seat and didn't give him any room to escape.
"Oi, trash! Why are you still brave enough to go to school, huh? Do you have the courage to come to school?" said a boy there, trying to corner William.
"Huh? What's it to you?"
"Ho? You're starting to get arrogant, huh? I don't care if you're an esper or not, but what you did was wrong!"
"Hoo, it seems the news is spreading very quickly," William replied with a smile.
The boy pulled William's collar and said, "Do you think you can go to school peacefully after doing that?"
"If it's true, why?"
A girl in the class suddenly approached William and asked shyly, "A-um... William... Did you really do that?"
"About what?"
"I-it... About using your esper abilities on innocent people?"
"Yes, that's true."
"T-there must be a reason behind it, right? Can you tell us?"
"There is a reason."
"I-if so, can you tell us?"
Suddenly, the boy who was still holding William's collar tightly said, "You still think he's innocent?"
"N-no! That's not it! William is a kind person, he helped me study too, and he's been nice to everyone all this time, right? I just don't want to believe that he did that without thinking first...," the girl replied, even though her voice became weaker over time due to her doubts.
But the boy began to loosen his grip, which was still trying to pull William's collar up. He realized that William didn't look like someone who would do something useless. Moreover, everyone in the class knew William as a quiet, kind and intelligent child.
The boy then looked directly into William's eyes and said, "Tell me what your reason is for doing that? Why were you so cruel to do that to innocent people? And also, why were you so cruel to hurt your own little sister?"
Maria, who heard it from outside the class, was shocked by it. Because from the beginning, she didn't have any injuries on her body. Feeling that something strange was happening, she wanted to go in immediately and prevent the misunderstanding from getting worse.
But before she moved, William said, "It's because they're annoying. If they were pretty, maybe I could have forgiven them. But their faces annoyed me, so I did it. Are you satisfied?"
Maria was shocked to death, but seeing William smiling made her even more confused about what her brother wanted at this time. It made her just stand there and watch her brother start to get beaten up hard by the boys in his class.
She didn't know, she didn't understand, but she didn't want to admit what she saw and heard. She didn't want to believe what she knew. Because of that, Maria made up her mind to try to make things better.
She quickly stood in front of her brother, spreading her arms and shouting, "Stop!"