Chapter 12: Bullying

Bullying

“Yayoi, do you have a minute?”

The day after I dumped Kouta-kun.

I was once again behind the gym, just like yesterday, after being called over by Hitomi-chan.

“Hey, Yayoi. I heard from Koutarou-kun. What happened? What’s going on between you two?”

Hitomi-chan looked genuinely concerned about me.

I never knew Hitomi-chan was such a good actress.

Watching her fake concern, I couldn’t stop the anger from welling up inside me.

“Don’t play dumb! You and Hamasaki are the ones who betrayed me!”

“Huh? Betrayed? What do you mean? What did Koutarou-kun and I ever do to betray you?”

“Don’t you dare feign innocence!”

With that, I threw the photos Michiru had given me—proof of their affair—at her feet.

Hitomi-chan picked one up from the ground, and her face turned deathly pale as she murmured, “Wha… What is this…?”

“You still want to claim you didn’t betray me after seeing this? I thought of you as my best friend. I really did. But clearly, you never felt the same. So? How was it? Did you enjoy screwing Hamasaki? I did. I loved sleeping with him. He was amazing. He fit me perfectly. But you stole him. The two of you betrayed me.”

“N-No… That’s not true… We didn’t… We didn’t do anything like that…”

Even now, my so-called former best friend was still trying to make excuses.

“Don’t give me that crap! You’re no longer my friend—you’re nothing to me! Don’t ever show your face again! I hope you regret this for the rest of your life!”

With those words, I turned on my heel and walked away.

Behind me, I heard the dull thud of someone collapsing and the sound of muffled sobs. All I could think was: serves you right.

After school, I went over to Michiru’s place again, and we had se_x like always.

Maybe because I’d finally gotten my revenge, I felt oddly refreshed—almost euphoric.

Afterward, when I told Michiru about what had happened, he scoffed, “Pisses me off. She’s pretending like she didn’t do anything wrong.”

Honestly, he had a point.

I’d punished them for their betrayal, but I couldn’t help feeling like the damage I’d done was minimal.

They were probably still together, right now, acting like nothing ever happened.

That thought alone made my blood boil all over again.

“Should we expose their affair to the entire class?”

Michiru suggested telling Takuma-kun and Misaki-chan, his childhood friends, about what the two of them had done.

I asked if it might be quicker just to post the photos in the group LIME chat, but Michiru warned that could get us sued for defamation or something.

I was honestly impressed—Michiru had actually thought this through.

Still, he said that just talking wouldn’t be enough. He’d show the photos to Takuma-kun and Misaki-chan directly.

He also decided we’d tell them we were now officially dating.

So we made plans right away, and Michiru and I called the two of them to the neighborhood park and explained everything from the beginning.

Both of them were furious at the traitors, and Misaki-chan hugged me tight, crying, “That must’ve been so painful…”

Her kindness touched me deeply. I hugged her back and cried too, whispering, “Thank you…”

Takuma-kun looked serious. “Leave it to me. I’ll make those bastards regret everything.” Then he opened LIME and started sending messages to his friends: [Did you hear? Those two cheated…]

The message spread like wildfire.

Soon, LIME messages flooded in from classmates, all full of concern for me and outrage toward the traitors: [Are you okay?] [Those jerks are unforgivable.]

I figured it wouldn’t be long before the two of them started getting bullied.

Maybe not anything extreme, but they’d probably be ignored—completely frozen out.

I knew full well that’s how it would turn out, and I still agreed with Michiru’s plan.

I didn’t care.

After all, they were the ones who betrayed me. This was their fault.

The next day at school, I saw their desks defaced with graffiti: [Cheaters], [Sl_ut], [Die].

The blackboard had their names written in huge letters, along with the words: [Filthy cheaters.]

I never thought it would escalate this fast.

For a moment, guilt started to creep in.

Maybe they’d be too ashamed to ever come back to school again.

But I didn’t say anything. I just went to my seat like normal—and then Michiru, Misaki-chan, and Takuma-kun came over to talk to me.

A little while later, the traitors showed up—together.

The moment I saw them, any lingering guilt vanished. All I felt was rage.

Their faces turned pale as they saw the graffiti on the blackboard and their desks.

That bi_tch ex-best friend of mine went to erase the blackboard. That ba_st_ard ex-boyfriend grabbed a bucket and rag, trying to scrub the writing off her desk.

It was kind of funny, watching them scramble. But when that jerk prioritized cleaning her desk over his own, it pissed me off.

In the end, they didn’t manage to clean it all before homeroom started.

I thought the teacher might say something, but even when he saw their desks, he just ignored it.

At first, I was surprised. But then I remembered—this teacher always avoided trouble.

Thinking back, it made sense.

He was the type who pretended not to see bullying.

Honestly, what a piece of trash.

But thanks to that trash, nothing came to light, and I was relieved. After that, I felt zero guilt toward those two.

I never bullied them directly, but watching them suffer gave me a strange sense of satisfaction.

When people asked if they could see the proof, I didn’t send them the photos, but I did show them in person.

Everyone who saw them believed me right away. “Those two really are the worst,” they’d say, and then offer words of support.

The two of them became more and more isolated.

At first, they clung to each other like victims, but that only made the class turn on them harder. Eventually, even that stopped, and they just sat at their desks—completely alone.

Meanwhile, I was living my best school life.

With a boyfriend who would never betray me, and new friends I could trust.

With these people by my side, I knew school would finally be fun.

About a week after their bullying started, I invited Michiru to my house for the first time.

I hadn’t told my family yet that I’d broken up with him and started dating Michiru, so they were probably going to be surprised.

But honestly, I didn’t care.

I just wanted Michiru to come over.

I wanted him to become part of my family—unlike those traitors. I wanted him to be someone we could all be close to.

When I brought Michiru home, sure enough, my mom and Mutsuki both looked shocked.

After I showed Michiru to my room, I went to the kitchen to make tea, and my mom and Mutsuki cornered me. “What’s going on? Who is that boy?”

“Michiru is my new boyfriend,” I told them.

Their eyes widened even more.

My mom asked, “But what about Kouta-kun?” and I replied, “He cheated on me with Hitomi-chan. So I dumped him.” My mom’s expression grew complicated. “I… I see. That must’ve been hard,” she said, trying to comfort me.

When I looked over at Mutsuki, she was sobbing quietly.

Well, she was pretty fond of that ba_st_ard. I guess hearing this all at once must’ve been a shock.

But I didn’t bother saying anything else. I just finished making the tea and headed back to my room.

Then, on my bed, Michiru and I made love again and again.

I needed him to overwrite the memories of that ba_st_ard who used to sleep in that bed.

Finally.

Finally, I felt like his scent had vanished completely—and that made me feel genuinely happy.

About two months had passed since the start of the second semester.

Michiru and I were still having se_x all the time.

Just the other day, we even did it on the desk of the guy who betrayed me—right there in school.

The location alone was thrilling, but saying awful things about him while doing it only heightened the pleasure.

The bullying still hadn’t stopped. Sometimes, there’d be stuff scrawled on the blackboard, like: “Scoop! The cheating sc_um were spotted coming out of a love hotel last night!” Who knows if it was true.

To be honest, I didn’t care anymore.

If anything, I just wished they’d stop coming to school and disappear from my sight.

Their desks were still covered in graffiti, and honestly, I was impressed they even had the guts to keep showing up.

“Isn’t today that once-a-month self-study day? Ugh, such a drag,” Takuma-kun suddenly said as we were eating lunch with Michiru and the others.

That’s right—our school had a scheduled self-study period once a month after classes.

Technically, it was “free study,” but we were always expected to work on handouts the teachers gave us.

Basically, it felt like we had a mini test every month.

I hated that time too.

After all, it cut into the time I could spend with Michiru.

Thanks to Takuma-kun’s comment, my mood dipped a little.

I never really got back into the groove, and by the afternoon, I was just zoning out—until that dreaded self-study period arrived.

The teacher handed out the worksheets, then immediately left the room.

As always, our homeroom teacher had zero motivation.

I picked up the printout and prepared to tackle the boring work… but then I noticed a stir spreading through the classroom.

Curious, I looked up—

The two people who’d betrayed me were standing at the front of the room.

I stared at them in disbelief, and that asshole actually said, “We’re going to prove that we weren’t cheating.”

I was speechless.

I looked over at Michiru—his face was tense, a flicker of worry in his eyes.

Huh?

What’s going on?

What are they trying to pull?

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the two of them and their bizarre, incomprehensible performance.