CH 10

[Mio PoV]

What on earth is this? This voice is definitely Rinto. There’s no way I could have heard it wrong.

Then what about our friendship as childhood friends, was our 10-year bond a lie? We have always supported each other, haven’t we?

Rinto… what on earth were you thinking?

And why did Momoka-chan keep quiet for a month when there is such clear evidence that Taiga was falsely accused?

I know you have your reasons. But it’s too late. If you had told it sooner, Taiga wouldn’t have been hurt so much.

I would have felt the same way…….

I can’t help but feel anger toward Momoka, who has been a good friend to me as well as a junior.

“No doubt about it! It’s the same voice I heard in the video shown to me! I’ll never forget it once I hear it! I can’t believe they used me for such a terrible thing. Oh no…. Is it because I was too embarrassed to check it thoroughly…? Then it’s my fault Yagami-kun…?”

The sudden discovery of the real culprit had everyone here in shock, but it was the president, Tachibana-san, who spoke up before anyone else.

“Certainly, I couldn’t hear a man’s voice… There wasn’t a single photo that clearly showed a man… I… I…”

The president is blaming herself for the situation. I think she is really just a victim who was taken advantage of.

But blaming her is just plain wrong. Everyone around her defends the president.

“The president did nothing wrong! If you say that, I’m the same. Without looking at anything, we just took her word for it…”

“That’s right! I too have been convinced that Yagami-kun is to blame until now…”

While everyone was feeling guilty for having caused an innocent person to suffer hardship, one physically gifted boy stopped the atmosphere. I believe his name was Sanada-kun.

“Oi. Wait a minute. That’s not right, is it? You can blame yourself as much as you want later. The two people we need to be angry at right now are those two jerks who turned our friend into a criminal!　If they didn’t do this, we wouldn’t be here….Right everyone?!?!”

Sanada-kun pointed his finger at Rinto and Rena Saito, who was pale and shaking.

The air in the classroom changed drastically.

Really, that’s right……. Don’t be ridiculous. Why are you being so cowardly?

I had been desperately trying to suppress the anger and hatred inside me because we were childhood friends and best friends, but I had reached my limit.

The students came back to their senses and hurled abuse at the two of us one after the other with hatred in their hearts.

“Scumbags! You took advantage of people’s goodwill!”

“Rinto! I thought you were Taiga’s best friend! How can you betray him with a cool face, you heartless b*****d! You two come to school together like a pair of bums!”

“Rena is such a real scum! Worrying about you was a waste!”

“I seriously don’t even want to look at either of you anymore. You are the worst.”

In the midst of a torrent of abusive language, Reina Saito finally burst into tears on the spot.

“I… Rinto is the most important thing to me… and…”

she tried to say, but the cutting words showed no sign of stopping. On the contrary, it seemed that her words only fueled the fire, making everyone’s faces even more stern.

I couldn’t help but feel no sympathy for her.

“What’s so important about him?! Everyone has someone important to them! But no one else does such stupid things! And besides, weren’t you friends with Taiga too?!”

“Are you thinking that crying in this situation will make everything okay?! It’s because of you guys that we hurt Taiga for a whole month! We can’t just let it go like that, can we?!”

Surprisingly, Rena Saito seemed to be fragile and was already gasping for breath as she listened to the words.

Then, Rinto stood in front of her protectively. The whole class was filled with ridicule as they saw his actions.

“Oh, the knight has arrived? It’s funny that two villains get along so well.”

“The face that I used to think was handsome, now I find it completely disgusting.”

Rinto didn’t flinch at their intimidating actions, but instead sneered at his classmates with hatred.

“You guys are really stupid.”