Chapter 49 Too Cool

Too Cool

“Ah. Amane-kun. Can I talk to you for a moment?”

The first class is over, and it’s time for the first break.

After preparing for the next class, Mizuki goes to Sou’s classroom to find out why the information about the bullying spread. Of course, Sou had something to do.

Then she happened to see Sou walking down the hallway and called out to him.

“Oh, Nakatani-san. What’s up?”

Turning around, Sou replied as usual. Though not as close as Haruki, the conversation is smoother than before. This is proof that their relationship has at least deepened.

“I want to ask you something… Is that okay?”

Clenching her right fist in front of her two voluptuous br🬀🬀sts, Mizuki asks, her glossy pink lips trembling slightly despite her usual gentle tone. It might’ve taken some courage for Mizuki to ask.

“Eh? I don’t mind though. What kind of thing?”

Sou tilted his head curiously. He couldn’t predict what Mizuki would say next. Without thinking about it, he answered reflexively.

“Um… It seems that information about my bullying is spreading in the school. Did Amane-kun do it?”

Mizuki looks at Sou’s face. No longer in her usual fluffy mood, she makes a serious face as if to confirm.

“Ah~ I see… Maybe you heard something from Yakumo-san?”

Awkwardly scratching his right cheek, Sou looks away from Mizuki. To be honest, it was something he didn’t want Mizuki to know.

He wanted Mizuki to continue her school life without knowing.

After all, Sou had only acted out of meddling.

“…Yeah. Haruki-chan said I should ask Amane-kun. She didn’t tell me anything.”

“Oh. Yakumo-san, you did a good job. There’s nothing to worry about. Even though it was my order, it was you who spread the information.”

Sou mumbles at a volume that Mizuki cannot hear. For him, it was not very convenient that Mizuki knew so much.

“Hey! What do you mean?!”

While he was struggling to find the right words, Maruyama suddenly appeared with a pale face and a loud voice and tried to grab Sou.

“Oh, it’s you. What’s wrong? Your face and eyes are so red. Your eyes are so bloody, you know?”

Recognizing Maruyama’s obvious irritation, Sou reacts coldly, in stark contrast to his attitude towards Mizuki. He is distant and cold.

“Don’t play dumb with me! It’s you! You’re the one who spreads the information in the school! That’s not what you promised!”

Maruyama’s angry shout echoes through the hallway.

The eyes of the students in the hallway are focused on Sou, Mizuki, and Maruyama. Regardless of their gender, the students’ eyes are all on them at once.

“What? A promise? Did we make that? I don’t remember. I don’t remember promising not to spread the information.”

Sou answers calmly, his posture unchanged. There was no smile on his face, and he was expressionless like a Noh mask.

“N-No way. No way! Don’t mess with me!! What should I do then….”

Then he shifted his gaze to the floor of the hallway and whimpered as if complaining.

Upon closer inspection, Maruyama seemed a bit weak. To prove it, from time to time he would gently press down on his stomach or back, which were covered by his uniform, as if to relieve the pain.

“I don’t know. You’ve done so much. From now on, try your best to have a peaceful school life.”

With a cold voice, Sou spoke to Maruyama with ruthless, heartbreaking, sharp words, as if to give him advice.

“You… Are you really saying that? That’s… that’s… crazy….”

With sweat running down his face, Maruyama stares at Sou as if he’s looking at a monster.

“I will say these exact words back to you. I think that people who b🬀lly others for revenge, out of spite for being rejected, are much crazier than me. Am I wrong?”

Ignoring Maruyama’s state of mind, Sou directs his unreserved, pointed, blade-like words at Maruyama. It is a deliberate word and action, completely thought out and executed in his head.

“…That, that can’t be….”

Maruyama looks around as if asking for help, for sympathy.

However, the students around him easily and willingly disappoint Maruyama’s expectations.

“Indeed. That’s right. Maruyama, you’re the crazy one.”

“Really! Bullying someone to get revenge on them for being rejected. I can’t believe you’re that kind of person.”

“That’s the worst. You’re the sc🬀m of humanity.”

The students around him start spewing out heartbreaking insults one after the other. They just don’t know when to stop.

They must think they’re doing the right thing to punish evil.

“Such a thing… no way….”

Realizing that everyone around him is his enemy and that no one is on his side, Maruyama collapses to the floor of the hallway with a look of despair on his face.

He falls so hard that both his knees hit the floor.

“Oh, and please tell those three girls what I said. Please.”

Leaving that behind, Sou looks back at Mizuki.

“So, to continue our earlier conversation….”

Leaving Maruyama out of the loop, he changes his attitude and tone to his usual one and tries to continue the conversation he left off.

But things take an unexpected turn.

“So, so cool. Amane-kun, that is too cool.”

With both cheeks flushed and a dreamy look on her face, Mizuki blurts out an answer that is no answer at all.

With tears in her eyes, she just looks at Sou’s face.

Of course, what Mizuki said reached Sou’s ears. So.

“Eh?! What?”

Sou involuntarily asked back at Mizuki’s answer, who ignored the flow of the conversation.