Today was a mess.

Ever since the incident with Sado and Fuyunagi-san, it turned out that my friend Majima Takuma had been secretly dating Fuyunagi-san behind everyone’s back. This shocking new fact came to light.

After this revelation, Fuyunagi-san’s immense popularity, which had spanned the entire school, plummeted. She was now seen as a cheating girl who was dating two boys—one publicly with Sado and one privately with Majima.

When such a popular person like Fuyunagi-san approached me directly, I couldn’t help but be scared.

At the time, the class was entirely consumed by the fact that Sakurada-san, who had been one of the leading members of the popular gyaru group, was being bullied by some unknown person.

Fuyunagi-san had come to me with a proposal for cooperation to solve this issue.

But I didn’t want to get dragged into something so troublesome, and since I had no real connection to her other than being the friend of her boyfriend, Majima, the fact that she asked me in the first place honestly just felt creepy. So at first, I turned her down.

“At first, you see… I thought I’d have Taku-chan to take the lead, but I thought if you really are Taku-chan’s friend, maybe you could take his place for him.”

“Me…? Take Majima’s place?”

“We’ve caused so much trouble that I don’t want to attract any more public attention, you know? I don’t want Taku-chan to stand out in a bad way anymore either… And since you’re his friend… you’ll take on a bit of the troublesome role for his sake, right?”

“… .”

I told her I needed time to think about it and left.

Honestly, I didn’t want to get involved at all.

Even if it was for my friend’s sake, the risk was way too big. And more than anything, I didn’t want Fuyunagi-san thinking I was some handy tool she could use.

They say beautiful flowers have poison, and she was the perfect example of that.

Her gentle smile, delicate appearance, charismatic charm that draws people in… her figure that stimulates a man’s instincts. Such sweet honey lures you in and then drops you into hell…

Since Sado’s incident, Fuyunagi-san had stopped hiding behind a mask and showed me one side of her true self.

Honestly, my wish to be with such a girl was crushed like dust.

But Majima managed to keep control over her. He was quite the monster himself.

I realized how dangerous she really was.

If she thought I could be useful, that’d honestly be way too dangerous, right?

So at first, I refused.

However… in the end, I was pushed into a situation where I had no choice but to take her hand.

“You did this!! We all saw you!!”

“You’re the worst!! Acting all high and mighty normally, but secretly bullying people behind their backs? You’re seriously a horrible excuse for a human being!”

“How many times do I have to say it!? I didn’t do anything like that!! I’m telling the truth!!”

“Huh? Three of us saw it! How can you still deny it?! Are you kidding me?”

Kashiwagi and the two others had determined that Natsume Kano, the class president, was the main culprit behind the bullying.

I couldn’t believe it. She was strict with everyone, including herself. As a result, she hated any deviation from rules more than anyone else. I admired her for being so pure and honest.

It wasn’t romantic feelings; it was probably something like admiration.

I never told Majima about this feeling. It was something I kept to myself.

Natsume Kano as the main culprit?

Impossible… I was sure it wasn’t true.

Then…

That witch approached me with sweet honey dripping from her lips.

“Don’t you want to help Natsume-san? You like her, don’t you? If you cooperate with me, we can save her.”

“N-No, I don’t like her or anything like that…” 

“…Hmm~. But you do think she’s nice, right? There’s nothing wrong with that. Liking someone isn’t something to be ashamed of… I, too, only realized how wonderful it is to care about someone after I met Taku-chan. You feel the same, don’t you?”

“……What should I do?”

“Hehe, smart boy.”

Surprisingly, she knew who the real bully was, how many there were, and she even had unrefutable evidence to expose them.

Her skills were impressive, making me realize just how scary she really was. Something inside me told me not to make her an enemy.

My job was simple: use the “evidence” she gave me at the right time.

And that opportunity came unexpectedly.

After homeroom, our teacher foolishly held a mock trial and publicly condemned Natsume Kano like a witch hunt.

The way he flatly dismissed everything she said, shutting her down without listening and insisting she was at fault—it was enough to make me sick. This was a teacher? This was the homeroom teacher responsible for us? It hit with a kind of force that made me want to give up on believing in adults altogether.

And as for Natsume-san, who was actually at the center of all this… how hopeless must she have felt? No one could possibly know.

That’s why I let my anger take over and stepped out onto the stage myself.

Momentum really is a powerful thing.

And as you can see, the main culprits, Kashiwagi and the two others, along with our teacher, were still in the principal’s office after Natsume was released.

After everything was over, Sado headed straight for Sakurada-san. He hurried over to her with that usual refreshing energy of his.

Just as I was about to head home myself—

“Kato-kun… would you mind taking a walk?”

—that’s what Natsume-san said.

So the two of us stopped by a nearby park and started chatting casually.

“First of all, thank you for helping. If it weren’t for you, I would have been labeled as the main culprit, called the worst kind of person, and forced to live my life under that stigma.”

“Th-that’s… kinda exaggerating, isn’t it…?”

“It’s not an exaggeration at all… That whole thing was overflowing with malice. If you hadn’t been there, I… truly would have…”

“… .”

“But I’m very grateful. But more than that, I’m impressed!”

“Huh? Impressed?”

“Your skills were amazing! Kato-kun!!”

“…Huh?”

“The way you cornered the real culprits… it was flawless. Going in with unrefutable evidence that made any excuses impossible, yet holding it back until the very last moment to see how they would move… Truly impressive.”

“…Uh… huh?”

“Though there is one thing you could improve. You should have anticipated that the teacher would lose his temper and go out of control. If it were me, I would’ve arranged for a few other teachers to be waiting outside beforehand. But aside from that, Kato-kun, your handling of the entire situation was remarkable!”

“O-Okay…”

“Anyway, thank you. Without you, I’d be in a terrible situation right now.”

“D-Don’t worry about it… Yeah.”

And like that, after chatting for a bit, we went our separate ways.

But… man, this is a problem.

All I really did was take the evidence Fuyunagi-san handed me and reveal it at the right moment. If someone called that a simple task, I wouldn’t be able to argue with them.

I didn’t do anything that deserves that much praise.

Well… whatever.

Natsume-san is a complicated girl.

There’s no way someone like me is going to keep interacting with her from here on out… yeah.

Surely… probably… maybe…

And then the next day…

Even after everything that happened, school went on as usual, and the classroom was filled with the same kind of everyday chatter from my classmates.

But there was one clear difference from yesterday. Sakurada-san, who had been absent, was back, and Sado was with her.

Meanwhile, the three girls who were the culprits of the bullying, Kashiwagi and her friends, didn’t show up at school.

I thought about going over to talk to Majima, but he’d been whispering about something with Fuyunagi-san since morning, so I decided against it.

And then…

“Good morning, Kato-kun.”

“Huh? Natsume-san?”

Natsume-san greeted me…

“Thanks for yesterday… I wanted to thank you properly.”

“Oh… That. Don’t worry about it…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

What’s going on?

She’s glaring at me and it’s scary. Did I do something wrong?

“…Sigh… Even if you say not to worry, that’s not possible.”

“Huh?”

“To put it bluntly, what you did for me was enough that I could call you my lifesaver without exaggeration. And my pride won’t allow it to be unpaid.”

“Th-that’s… kind of an exaggeration…”

“It is not an exaggeration!!”

She slammed her hands on my desk and leaned forward to explain.

“It’s pathetic, but… I had no way to resolve that situation on my own. Suddenly labeled as the main culprit, I couldn’t come up with any convincing reason in my head. No matter what I said, it would only be a weak excuse. And when everyone was against me, I couldn’t even speak out due to my immaturity!”

“Oh…”

“But you presented irrefutable evidence at just the right time and resolved everything… So not only am I grateful, but I admire you too!”

“Uh… yeah…”

“That’s why I’ve made up my mind! I’m going to repay the debt I owe you, and at the same time, I’ll treat you as someone I should learn from, as my mentor!”

“…Right… Wait, what? Huh!? Are you serious…?”

“I’m completely serious!”

Seriously?! Jesus Christ!

What do I do now… The evidence was from Fuyunagi-san, not me…

I can’t just blurt that out now…

It feels like I’ve gotten myself into a situation with no way out…

And just like that… the whole situation turned into something I can’t take back anymore.