Ruin
Tachibana’s PoV
I was so angry that I accidentally aimed my slap at Hayashi-san. I thought I had made a mistake, but there was nothing I could do to stop it.
I could see that the people around me were in an uproar.
All eyes were on me.
“Violence is not allowed! Tachibana-senpai?!”
I heard a man’s voice. He was forcefully pulling my right arm. Pain and fear surged through me. A slap against Hayashi-san was prevented just in time, and I lost my balance and stumbled.
Somehow, I managed to stay on my feet, but my unbalanced body collapsed.
“Imai Satoshi?”
I don’t know much about this man who stopped my slapping. But I only knew his name because he was a friend of Eiji-kun's, and we had seen each other several times.
“…It’s all over now. You… just now, it’s as if you confessed everything. Even if you excuse yourself by saying that Hayashi-san is lying, the evidence has already piled up. It’s useless. Let’s stop resisting. It’s ugly.”
A provocation clearly aimed at me. The humiliation of being despised and mocked by someone I’ve almost never met is burning in my heart.
“That’s right, you’re one of Hayashi-san’s people, aren’t you? No, who sent you? Eiji-kun, the teacher, or Mitsuda-kun? Tell me, who is trying to trick me?”
I shouted loudly, trying to change the situation somehow, but the people around me just looked at me strangely, and no one took my side. In fact, I could see them laughing at me like fools in their little voices. That’s strange. My plan should have been perfect. But no one seemed to trust my words.
“This is a normal reaction. Manager Tachibana. You were jealous and afraid of Eiji’s talent and tried to ruin him. Isn’t that the truth of the bullying case against Eiji?”
“Don’t say your delusions!!”
Only words strongly deny it. But …
“What she said before doesn’t sound like a lie, does it?”
“She was angry and hit her, so I guess it must have been true.”
The audience was cold as if to say it was all my fault.
“This is the humiliation Eiji experienced because of you. Eiji, who was bullied because he was falsely accused, experienced deeper despair. Did you understand a little? How cruel you were to him.”
Unable to say anything back, I fell down with my head in my hands.
“No, no, no.”
I keep denying it. But no one is on my side. Even some of them are filming the scene with their cell phones.
“You can do that forever. Because soon the teachers will come. Many students will testify. What did you say to Hayashi-san? Now, you see, you were defeated by people who thought they were a tool. You use the people around you as much as you can, and then you cut them down mercilessly. You are the opposite of Eiji. Eiji helped me and Hayashi-san. There are many people who were saved by Eiji. Those who trusted him continued to trust him without being influenced by cowardly rumors…”
“…”
I looked at Imai-kun. Any more words will destroy my dignity. Therefore, I do not want to hear them at all. But he continues without hesitation.
“But you continued to make everyone around you miserable. And in the end, you were ruined by it. Eiji made his friends happy. But for you, it is the exact opposite. It’s not just the novels. You are not as good as Eiji in every way. No one will reach out to you when you are in trouble.”
My self-esteem was torn to shreds by those words.
If I don’t get out of this situation, I won’t be able to stay in school. I would lose everything. But I couldn’t say anything back.
All I could do was break down and cry.
Soon after that, Takayanagi-sensei came. I couldn’t see because of my tears.
“Now, what will you do Tachibana-senpai?”
I slowly climbed the thirteen steps leading to the death chamber.
I have no excuses. As I endured the humiliation of being defeated by my junior in every way, I cursed my future fate of social annihilation. Hell had just begun.