CH 12

Chapter 12: From the Other Side of Shining Eyes

I had a dream. A very sad and cruel dream. 

In this dream, Sara never met me. She followed the game scenario and went beneath Aoi’s umbrella.

She wanted to make friends, and have a nice high school life, but a few days after she entered school those dreams fell apart. She was immediately asked out by multiple boys.

The people asking her out were bad ones once again. Most of the boys who’d quickly confess to someone they don’t know, are usually the boys who are confident and the popular types. To be expected with some of those boys, some of them already had girlfriends. And when those girlfriends heard Sara was confessed to by their boyfriends, their ire was turned towards Sara. They’d talk badly about Sara to all their friends, and spread false rumors. Some of them may have only had crushes on the popular boys, yet still fed more into the hate. All with envy and resentment towards Sara, who did nothing wrong at all.

There are few girls in Tsubakigaoka, so there is a strong network between all of them. If the senior students start to add a negative atmosphere around Sara, that habit will infect even the first years. This is especially apparent for students in club activities. No one wants to get along with an outcast who is being actively watched by their senpai. Even if they felt bad for her, nobody wanted to risk feeling their senpai’s wrath.

The fortunate thing is that it never spilled over into physical bullying, but regardless by May, it was total isolation, the time the reunion would happen.

She had high hopes for being in highschool, but they were all betrayed, and unlike when she was in junior high school, she didn’t have her family by her side. 

Nobody to rely on. Her smile disappeared, despair growing from the school days, nobody to talk to. She began to close her heart.

Eventually, she met the girl who offered her the umbrella- – -Aoi.

(“I wanted to see you again!”)

She was shaken by Aoi’s carefree smile. 

She is the same as before.

She will surely betray me.

Trust no one.

She couldn’t let her guard down, despite Aoi’s unbelievably always coming to see her with an innocent attitude. How many people could tolerate the venom she was treated with, she starved her of attention.

Naturally, Sara took Aoi’s hand, and clung on hard. She craved her energetic, cheerful friend. The only good times were with her. All her heart became her’s.

Therefore, Aoi.

(“Sara is so calm, it’s so cool.”)

(“Sara is so levelheaded.”)

(“I want to eat Sara’s home cooking. I’m sure it will be delicious!”)

She always innocently praised Sara’s false appearance. She became afraid to let her guard down. She couldn’t remove the mask of “The cool Sara, who can easily do everything.” She didn’t want to disappoint Aoi.

And Aoi fell in love with the Sara facade.

(“I like Sara. You should go out with me.”)

A straightforward serious confession from her friend, it made her want to cry in despair. Sara wanted a friend, not a lover.

However Aoi was different from those before, those who confessed only because of her looks. She confessed after being involved with Sara, so she couldn’t easily reject her. Despite the fact Aoi only knew a lie. 

But above all that, if Aoi was lost, Sara would be alone once again.

(“- – -Yeah, let’s go out.”)

She had no romantic feelings, but she was too afraid of returning to those lonely days, so she accepted Aoi’s confession.

She doesn’t have the same feelings for her, but she hoped maybe with time she will gradually grow them.

Then- – –

(“You!  It’s all because of you, Aoi-chan. . .! If it wasn’t for youuu aaaaaaah!!”)

She was confessed by Aoi, and then attacked by a neglected Koharu, attacked once again by jealousy. She fell to the blade.

Who would have expected the tragedy that awaited her just from grabbing that hand, not because she was tied to love, but because she wanted to escape loneliness.

She asked why did the world hate her? What did she do wrong?

She was just lonely.

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“Nooo!!!!”

In a dimly lit room I desperately stretched my hand towards the sky. Reality quickly dawned on me. I confirmed I was on my bed. Then gave a sigh of relief after realizing it was a dream.

Looking at my smartphone beside my bed, the time was just past 5 am.

“. . .My heart is racing.”

It was a terrible dream where I couldn’t help. My heart is fast even after waking up from my dream.

However, was that really just a dream? It felt too real just to be a normal dream. It was too consistent. Sara’s personality, Which is different in the game, and her school life, which was not mentioned in the game, was very convincing.

The game is from Aoi’s point of view. She is the main character, and simply meets a beauty from another school, and they get along well. She is attracted to her and falls in love. But on the other side of such a glittering love story, it was not so mutual.

When I think about her in the game, my tears won’t stop. It’s hard to imagine how painful it must have been for a girl who was just 15 years old.

“Ahh, I just want to hit myself for how I was thinking about her. Saying she is a cool beauty, they are the best! While I’m at it, I also want to give the creator a lump.”

However the most frustrating thing is that I wouldn’t have noticed unless Yoko told me. Why didn’t I ever notice it was strange that she never talked about her friends at school.

Wouldn’t I think it was off? How dumb am I?

“. . . I want to do something to help.”

This situation will escalate over time. I have to take action as soon as possible, but  it could get worse if I overdo it. It’s important to adapt.

I have some ideas, but they are all subtle and not quick ways to save her from this terrible situation. And sadly there isn’t much I can do on my part. I can only make suggestions that either Sara could persevere and work on, or we could recruit a collaborator. Not being in the same high school makes this extremely difficult.

Even if it’s not a dramatic grand slam homerun, at least I’d like it to have more effort to lessen the problem. Just get a base. From there, we run another base, and then another. With momentum, we could win the game. I want to change the atmosphere around her, and with that the flow of the match. Of course for the better.

“I hope it works. . .No, It must work.”

I won’t let it be like that dream.

Sara’s desperate face, I definitely don’t want to see it in real life.

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Another chapter done. And now we get the backstory of Sara. This got rid of my theory that all characters were reincarnations. Sara was always lively apparently. But still, maybe she hasn’t awoken yet. Regardless, I do like Sara as she is.