CH 8

[Mio Pov]

I don’t feel like I slept. It’s always the same these days. My body is lazy every day due to lack of sleep. Among those, today is especially bad.

But this is a natural retribution. I have hurt Taiga deeply. No matter how many excuses I make, it doesn’t change the fact that my behavior hurt him.

Anyway, I want to meet Taiga and talk to him. I wonder if he heard my voicemail yesterday. I tried calling and messaging him many times yesterday, but he never answered. I thought about going to see him in person, but I didn’t have the courage to do so.

The more time goes by, the more I lose the courage to do so. But what should I say to him? What is the right thing to say?

I knew that if I told him the truth, he would blame me even more. But if I try to deceive him, he won’t believe me anymore.

That is the only thing I am afraid of.

I will be there for him, I will support him, I love him, and of course those feelings haven’t changed. I never lied when I said those words at that time.

（I would never hurt someone I care about without thinking about it. Please come to school! I want you to come to school…)

I rang his intercom on my way to school, but no one answered.

I was about to cry, but I was going to school, hoping that he was already there.

I have a younger sister. I know her well, and even though she is in her first year of high school, she is still a cheeky, troubled girl who has yet to get over her love of mischief. She has always been a little bit of a nuisance to me, but I love her very much.

A few days ago, I found out that she was being bullied by her classmates because I was defending Taiga.

My resistance was futile, and it is now common knowledge among the students at the school that Taiga is a “scum” who still stays at school despite committing sexual crimes.

I, who protect him, am now treated as a freak at the school. People who look at me are somewhat sympathetic, and they probably think of me as a “poor crazy kid who is still being used by a nefarious person”.

If I was the target, I could still bear it. But sadly, I had become popular not only in my own class but also in the whole school. I am not egotistical by any means, but I am also not stupid enough not to realize it.

Protecting criminals is unthinkable and unforgivable, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t or won’t do it.

My sister was chosen as the outlet for their anger towards me.

My sister is a very nice girl, but she is childish, impudent and not very good at socializing with others. She didn’t seem to mind, but I knew that she had never had many friends in her life.

It was probably because of this personality that Yuzuki was chosen to be my younger sister.

For a few days, I failed to notice anything unusual about my sister. Yuzuki is a gentle girl who puts up with a lot of pain, and I think she thought she would only worry me if I talked to her about it.

She is always cheerful, but I felt that she was a little down, but I just let it slide.

I was able to notice when Yuzuki had a bruise on her face that looked like someone had hit her. She didn’t want to tell me that she had fallen down, but I couldn’t see how it could have been caused by a fall.

[Hahaha! Everyone is a little overconcerned! We just had a fight, and we’ve already made up!]

My parents and I questioned and demanded, and finally my sister said just that and laughed.

But I didn’t miss the way Yuzuki’s face clouded over for just a moment.

And my bad premonition came true. During recess, I went to the first grade floor and found Yuzuki surrounded by several of her classmates.

One of the girls was about to raise her hand in the air, when I shouted out to her and her hand stopped.

[Onee-chan….. I’m sorry … I couldn’t say anything. But please don’t tell Taiga, okay? He’s an idiot, he’ll definitely blame himself more. I’ll be fine. You’ve become lovers, right? Leave me behind. Fufu, it’s a lie, right? You mustn’t let go of his hand, okay?]

Who could leave her like this, the kind sister who jokes and cares about me even at a time like this?

Of course, I told her to talk to an adult about it, but she stubbornly refused, saying that our anxious parents would try to get her to quit school, that she should stay with her sister, and that if she told the teachers, they would definitely tell her parents, and she should quit that, too.

In the end, I forcefully convinced my sister that if things were to get any worse, I would not hesitate to turn to an adult.

Taiga and Yuzuki are both very important people to me. I desperately thought of a way not to let go of them both without consulting anyone.

If I told Taiga, he would blame himself even more, as Yuzuki said. I can’t do that to avoid overstepping my sister’s wishes.

Even just for the sake of it, Taiga has been strange lately. He does not respond well when I talk to him, and he has been pondering something all the time. His friends betray him and look at him with white eyes every day, and he can’t bear it any longer.

After talking to Yuzuki’s classmates, I found out that Shuri Aizawa, the girl who was apparently the leader of the group surrounding his sister, has an older sister.

The sister’s name is Rurika and she is in the same second year, in the same class as me, and I know her because we are classmates, too. I want to think it’s just my imagination, but there have been times when I’ve felt like she doesn’t like me.

I am aware that I am popular, but of course not everyone likes me.

Sometimes when our eyes meet, she stares at me or makes me feel like she’s talking s**t to the girls around her in her little voice, and to be honest, she’s a little bit of a pain in the a*s for me. Even on the day that Taiga’s false accusation was born, this person was looking at me in a mocking way.

Since Rurika, the younger sister, did not take me seriously, I willingly asked my classmate, Aizawa-san, to stop her sister from committing the act.

[You’re the school’s idol, and you’re asking me for a favor? Well, I can think about it if you quit defending that piece of s**t, okay?]

This person, smiling wickedly and waiting to see how I would react, didn’t seem to like me, who was always pampered by others.

I don’t want to betray my boyfriend, but I also want to protect my sister.

I tried my best to appeal to her by deliberately making small remarks in public when he was not around, while being very careful not to let Taiga know. I thought that by always being by Taiga’s side, but saying bad things about him as soon as I was away from him, I would let everyone around me know that I had finally grown tired of him.

It seemed to have worked, and I began to realize that the reaction of the class to me was gradually changing.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Taiga is distracted at the moment and does not seem to notice the small changes in me or the people around me.

If he does realize something, I will tell him that I love him from the bottom of my heart and tell him not to worry about what others say.

This way, I can protect my sister. That’s what I thought, but Aizawa did not allow me to be so naive.

That was yesterday. She broke my keychain, a cat keychain that I treasured as a memento of my relationship with Taiga.

[Hey, you know what? Can you stop acting creepy?]

[Maybe……. If you really don’t care about him anymore, why don’t you throw away that thing that you always seem to cherish so much?]

No, absolutely not… this is my treasure… But I have to do it.

Yes, throw it in the trash and pick it up again after they are satisfied. Now I have no choice but to give in to this woman.

[Huh? What’s wrong with that scary face? If you really don’t care, why don’t you try laughing? Fufufu]

Rurika Aizawa starts laughing with her cronies when she sees me puzzled. I will never forgive these scum. But now…

I acted and laughed as much as I could. I threw my precious things into the trash.

It was at this moment. My eyes met Taiga’s at the worst possible moment. I noticed this and immediately ran after him, but no matter how hard I ran, my legs couldn’t catch up with him. I called out to him, but he didn’t turn around.

When I returned to the classroom on unsteady legs, I found that my cherished cat key chain had been mercilessly knocked to the floor and broken.

There was no doubt in my mind. It was their work.

I carefully picked up the pieces one by one. My hands are dripping with tears.

What am I doing? I tried to protect them all, but I couldn’t protect any of them.

Nothing is getting protected. No matter what I do, it all backfires.

[I’m sorry…I’m sorry Taiga…I’m already……. But my feelings for Taiga haven’t changed. The words I said are true. I’m begging you, please contact me.’

I left a voicemail with my voice trembling with tears.

No reply was received that day from Taiga.

(Taiga..!!)

The classroom was crowded and noisy for some reason. I went inside to push it away and looked for him.

(Not here…As I thought…..there is no way….eh…? What?)

Taiga is not there. Instead, I saw something I never expected to see.

[I know everything. Rinto Kirishima, Rena Saito. The time of your judgment has come.]