"Sorry, Misaki-chan. You know why I'm here today, right?" Shouichi gathered up his courage. He deemed it was necessary although he felt beyond awful.
Other thoughts slipped his mind, calling him out, "Coward!" It traumatised him, he bit his lips in self-repulse.
"Y~yes, I know that." Misaki stammered, burying her face with both hands. Her sobs grew louder, filled with an agonising despair.
Straightening himself, "Then Misaki-chan, I'm breaking up with you," Shouichi uttered it loud and clear. He gracefully bowed his head to her.
His words softened yet its message was sharp and piercing, "You can't! I won't let you!" The mournful girl objected, her voice thunderous.
Abruptly, Misaki lunged to grab his wrist tight. Her sharp nails were buried into his skin.
Shouichi's face scowled, "Ahh, you are hurting me, Misaki." The crimson blood was dripping on his wrist. His eyes widened as he saw the fury in her obsidian eyes.
Misaki's face began to distort, "I've fed up with everything you did, senpai." Her voice hardened as if she was someone else, someone demonic, "You think I didn't know about you and Morimura-san." Misaki growled through her teeth, condemning him. Is it furious in her eyes? Or hatred? Or both? Shouichi's thought pondered.
"Wha~what are you saying?" Shouichi blurted, baffled. "She knew? How?" He asked himself.
"That girl showed me a video of her jerking you off," Misaki revealed, her eyes were eerily hollow, endless tears streaming out of them. His stomach churned, his head lightened and spun, and he felt like he was about to vomit.
"You liked it, didn't you? She asked sternly, unblinking.
"I… " Shouichi was lost for words. He was indeed guilty as she claimed. "Ayane… What exactly have you done? How did Misaki know about that?" His mind raced, internally accusing his friend.
"On that Fire festival day, you guys were doing it behind my back too. I could smell her scent all over you, senpai." She pressed him to admit.
"Say it!" She boomed, anger in her glassy eyes.
"It's not true! We've never done it!" Shouichi defended, finally breaking free of her claws. His breathing was getting heavier and heavier, he heaved as his chest raised and fell.
Shouichi wanted to escape and he couldn't take this anymore. He needed to leave this place, the desolation was overbearing to him.
"Sorry… I can't do this anymore, Misaki." Shouichi confessed, the conversation weighted down his mentality. Completely drowned him in the depths of the abyss.
After a few moments that felt like an eternity, "...In the end, we are just destroying each other, Misaki-chan." He eventually spoke his mind.
"B~but listen, I can forgive you, senpai. If you want her, I'll allow it. I, I'll do anything..." The girl snapped, bargaining as her complexion turned psychotic. Her murmuring words no longer made sense.
"I'll call Emi to stay by your side, okay?" Shouichi said, stepping away and rubbing his bloody wrist. Misaki's mind completely went blank, the girl was just sitting there broken as she sobbed quietly. His heart pitied the girl greatly, if only he had the heart to forgive her, maybe he wasn't the good man he thought he always was.
Shouichi ensured that his ex-girlfriend was escorted home safely. It was late afternoon, he didn't feel like going anywhere so he just sat there by the bench on the quiet school ground.
His gaze grew distant as he watched the orange sky, his mind replayed the scenarios over a hundred times, yet the outcome was always ugly and distasteful.
A word echoed in his head, "Coward." He was disheartened by the kind of man he was, still staring blankly into the evening's sky shifting to purple.
In the end, who he hated the most was no one but himself.
The inevitable tears of negativity flooded his face. Shouichi could no longer fight it any more despite biting down his teeth to hold those tears in,
"I'm shattered now..."
The boy wept alone under the dim lamplight, resting both fists on his knees in forlornness.
"Seito-kun?" A female voice was heard beside him. It was his math teacher, Miss. Kobayashi Rinae. The boy quickly gathered himself, hiding his pathetic face in the shadow. He lost track of time idly sitting on the bench.
"R~Rinae-sensei. Good evening." A slight shaking in his voice, but he managed to hide it well.
"Oh! My, you are bleeding." The teacher exclaimed as she saw dried bloodstain on his wrist. Her hand outstretching involuntarily.
"I'm fine. Rinae-sensei. I accidentally fell." Shouichi quickly pulled his hand back, putting out a fake smile.
"No objection, come to the infirmary with me right now." The gentle Rinae commanded him with a stern voice, her order was absolute.
***
After Rinae-sensei finished administering first aid, the boy remained on the campus grounds, sobbing uncontrollably. Under the stark white light of the infirmary, Shouichi could no longer conceal the evidence of his distress.
"Thank you, Rinae-sensei." Shouichi bowed his head to her.
"No worries."
"You seemed to know your way around the infirmary." The boy commented from a quick observation.
"Hehe. Maria is my best friend. So, I help her restock the medical supplies sometimes." The lady clarified, smiling sweetly at him.
"The gloomy nurse, Nakamura Maria-san?" Shouichi gasped in surprise.
"Yep, the emo and lazy Maria, that's her."
Rinae-sensei patted Shouichi's messy black hair. "You know, I'm not supposed to do this to students. fufufu," She carried on.
"But I couldn't care less about the rules, though," Rinae-sensei said, she was more of a non-conformist.
"Hahaha, you are quite sweet, I feel a lot better," Shouichi uttered, feeling at ease and soothing, the teacher consoled him with a pat on his shoulder.
"Right?" Rinae-sensei asked with a warm smile. As Shouichi looked up, he noticed that she wasn't wearing her usual red Boston-style glasses, making the alluring mole beneath her left eye more prominent. Her black, silky hair flowed freely down her back, reaching beyond her waist, and looked even more stunning than when it was styled in her usual flower bun. Her red lips were striking and captivating, attracting his glance every time she spoke.
Rinae's mature and reliable presence could potentially ease Shouichi's pain and sorrow.
"Now it took me back… I meant that bench where I found you." The enchanting teacher began to reminisce. Shouichi noticed her dark eyes grew dreamy.
"Huh?"
"That's a long time ago… You know that Seihei was my school too," Rinae explained and chuckled. "Hehe, maybe I never told anyone that."
"On that very place, where my world shattered to millions of pieces. I never thought I'd see myself in you sitting on that bench." She turned to sit next to him.
"What are the chances, haha?" Shouichi cracked up a little.
"Right?! Maybe it's fate." Rinae patted his hair again as the boy averted his gaze with a red face.
"So… What happened? If you don't mind me asking, sensei." He asked out of curiosity.
"Well… Just adolescent drama. But when you are in the middle of it, it's like falling into the pits with no escape." She described.
"I know you understand what I mean, right? Shouichi-kun." Rinae told the boy as she sprung on her feet.
"I suppose I do." The boy nodded in response.
"Oh look, that's quite late already... Should we go?" The teacher urged, offering her warm and soft hand, which the student wholeheartedly took.