Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Aia
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 8
We walked along the eerie road of the night.
Since it was darker than usual, I was more careful to ensure Arisu-chan’s safety.
After a while, I heard a loud female voice coming from somewhere.
Arisu-chan and I nodded to each other and we headed in the direction of the voice.
“That fucker! Just die already!”
The park was dark and barely lit.
There, Kushida was on a rampage. She kicked fences and benches and cursed and yelled.
Aah, this was terrible. She said words that would render a radio show unbroadcastable and banned from the station, all in such rapid succession that I was taken aback.
Arisu-chan, with a smile on her face, headed toward Kushida.
“Good evening.”
“…Ah, aah… haah. What?”
“Kushida-san, right? Not like I didn’t know, though.”
“Ahaha, to think I got caught like this… What do you want with me?”
It seemed that Kushida was so surprised by Arisu-chan’s abrupt greeting that her body shook.
Then she glared at us intimidatingly.
Even at the receiving end of that gaze, Arisu-chan didn’t seem affected, and she gradually closed their distance.
“Let’s see, can I ask what happened to Kushida-san?”
“What’s in it for you?”
The park was empty, and surprisingly quiet, except for the three of us.
The sound of the cane seemed especially loud.
“I wonder. Your tantrum just earlier was recorded, so could that be enough of a reason?”
“…So that’s how you threaten me, I see.”
Once she was within a meter’s reach of Kushida, Arisu-chan stopped.
“No, I have no intention of threatening you at all. Let me put it this way, how about I ‘cooperate with you to get Horikita Suzune expelled’? I don’t like her either.”
It was a shocking statement.
Kushida’s eyes widened.
There was a breeze as we waited.
“…Fine. I’ll tell you.”
And so, Kushida began to talk about her past.
Kushida Kikyou was a person who strongly desired approval. Although her appearance was excellent, her abilities weren’t particularly remarkable. From my perspective, anyway, being praised for her appearance should have been enough to sate that desire for approval, but it seemed that wasn’t enough for her.
To make up for what she lacked, Kushida tried to get along with everyone and created an environment where things revolved around her. She thought that, maybe, her communication skills would have delivered and made that possible.
Kushida, who was outwardly beautiful in her appearance and personality, gained popularity in middle school. However, because of the dissonance between her fabricated and real personalities, the stress began to take a toll on her.
As a way to vent, Kushida made a blog and posted bad things about people she didn’t like.
In hindsight, it was a bad move. She was eventually identified and lost the approval she so dearly craved.
When she came under fire from her classmates, she revealed all the secrets she learned during her two-faced charade. And with that, the class broke apart.
The scale might have been bigger than expected, but weren’t things like that a common story?
Excluding the lack of internet literacy on Kushida’s part, it wasn’t particularly unusual for middle school students to get caught up in a dramatic incident.
In a sense, her rampaging alone like this was one way she showed remorse.
Humans were like that after all, right? Such was my thought but…
“Kushida-san, you worked hard.”
“Hah?”
“Even though you did nothing wrong, you’re tormented by guilt.”
“…What are you talking about?”
After listening to the story, Arisu-chan nodded deeply and began to praise Kushida.
“Think of it the other way around, Kushida-san. Did you really do anything wrong?”
“…Come to think of it.”
“All Kushida-san did was state the truth, no lies or falsehood whatsoever. Everyone else was at fault for being too close-minded to accept it. After all, your whole blog would’ve been prevented if they were more respectful to you. The horrible environment they created put excessive stress on such a gentle person like you, that’s the most likely case.”
I was just a bystander who was listening to Arisu-chan.
Of course, I had a lot of things to say, but it was her time to shine.
“So I was not the one at fault?”
“You weren’t. It must be quite painful to continue flattering people you hate. You, who knows how to control your emotions to achieve your goal, are worthy of praise.”
Arisu-chan had declared Kushida’s innocence plainly.
Perhaps Kushida found it shocking because she had completely frozen as she stared at Arisu-chan.
Unperturbed, Arisu-chan closed the distance between them and took Kushida’s hand in hers.
“Think about it. You even made a study group to pull up the defective students around you. Kushida-san is working hard, even now.”
I had no idea how Arisu-chan knew that.
“I am not at fault. I am still doing my best.”
“That’s right. It wasn’t your fault at all, it was all because of the bad environment around you.”
“I see. Yes, that’s right! I’m doing my best after all!”
Arisu-chan drove the point deeper and kept telling Kushida that everyone else was at fault.
This Arisu-chan, who affirmed every single one of Kushida’s thoughts, would heal Kushida’s emotional wound.
Was this really okay?
“You poor thing, you must dislike Horikita-san. Of course you would. She’s so snobby that people around her are uncomfortable. I’m sure she’s proud that she knows about your secret.”
“…You’re right. That Horikita is really beyond saving.”
“Look at the two of you. Because she kept being cold to the people around her, Horikita-san ended up being isolated without a single friend or ally who wants to be involved with her. What about Kushida-san? Because you continued to make an effort to get along with other people, even when you disliked them, you already earned the trust of Class D’s students. Did you ever think how amazing that is?”
“Am I amazing?”
“You are, and it’s not something that just anyone can do. You achieved something that someone like Horikita couldn’t, even if she tried her entire life.”
“So it’s something that Horikita couldn’t do, I see… fufu.”
Kushida gave a dark smile.
She was praised after being compared with Horikita. How pleasurable was that for her?
“I think Kushida-san is trying too hard. We should talk again when you’re stressed. I will accept your everything. I am your ally.”
“Sakayanagi-san is my ally?”
“Fufu, please call me by my name, Kikyou-san.”
“A-Arisu-chan. Can I believe in Arisu-chan?”
“Of course. I want to help you. Won’t you come with me?”
“…Arisu-chan!”
I felt a chill as I witnessed the two’s exchange.
Kushida began to get overwhelmed by emotion and cried. Arisu-chan, who didn’t look bothered that her clothes might have gotten stained, embraced Kushida without hesitation.
I was watching over them from a distance.
But, even though it was the middle of the night, I could also see Ayanokouji, watching a little ways off.
When our gazes met, he raised his right hand. And then he left.
Ah, so that was how it was.
I may have forgotten about it, but Ayanokouji was that kind of person.
…You just sold out Kushida, didn’t you?
We returned to our room with Kushida and sat around the table.
“…And so, here are the past exam questions. By distributing these, Kikyou-san’s position will rise even further. Of course, it would be better if we thought about the timing of bringing it up more than anything else.”
“This is amazing. There’s no way the fools of our class could realize this. So this is the ability of Class A…”
“Ah, rather than the ability of Class A, it’s Arisu-chan herself. None of them realized it, you know?”
The fools of Kushida’s class wouldn’t realize it, but someone in her class would.
Anyway, the past exam questions were passed down to Class B and Class D through this.
I could only see Class A being taken down from the top spot soon.
“That reminds me, you’re here too.”
Kushida glared at me.
I was a little surprised, but it’s too bad that I didn’t even feel scared by this. After all, I had already gained some resistance from Ayanokouji.
“Do you need to shut me up as well?”
“No need. I’m sure you won’t do anything that would go against Arisu-chan’s will.”
That was quite unexpected. I thought she would do something drastic like staging some scandalous scenario to keep me quiet.
“I had no intention to blab about anything to begin with. As long as you take care of Arisu-chan, I have no reason to inconvenience you.”
“…So that’s how it is. I can rest assured.”
Regardless of the circumstances, it ended up like this. There was no benefit in doing anything to her.
Arisu-chan wouldn’t want that either.
“Unlike Ike and Yamauchi, you don’t look at me like some pervert, so I don’t hate you.”
“I see.”
It seemed her evaluation of me was quite high. I thought she would cuss me to oblivion, but it seemed being somewhat cold was good enough for her. Girls sure were difficult.
“Oh my, it’s nearing midnight. We have class tomorrow, so let’s end our talk here.”
“Haah… I feel drained thinking about tomorrow. So this is how it feels to not have to pretend to be someone else. It makes me want to stay here forever.”
“Fufu, feel free to come visit whenever you want.”
“Thank you. Please take care of me from now on, okay, Arisu-chan?”
Kushida said that with a smile.
A pure smile that suggested her real self.
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