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Chapter 82 – The Poisonous Needle’s Case
Every new beginning comes from another’s end. Therefore, there was no such thing as starting from zero in real life. (T/N: Quote by Seneca the Younger, a Roman philosopher.)
That was a quote from a certain famous philosopher that I ripped off but that wasn’t important. What I was trying to say was the winter break finally ended and I had to start going to school again.
I knew that if I didn’t wake up earlier, I would have a hard time on the first day of school, but I let my guard down. I stayed up late last night and overslept.
My uniform felt more stuffy than normal. Well, this was natural because I had only been using my loose casual clothes for the past few weeks. After I finished changing and headed out toward the door, Ugin stopped me and fixed my crooked tie. I was impressed by her actions. Has she finally returned to the proper path?
In no time, I went to the school and arrived at the classroom. The classroom I had always been going to since last year.
Normally, after summer breaks, there would be plenty of my classmates who had darker skins due to tanning but that didn’t happen after winter breaks. They just got paler instead.
I took my seat and threw my textbooks and other things into my desk. Seeing those textbooks gave me a sense of melancholy. They had been accompanying me for the past year and I had to say goodbye to them soon. I felt reluctant to let them go, even though they brought me nothing but headache. You thought I would feel that way? No way, I wanted to burn them now if I could. F*ck those waste of papers.
In a year, everyone in my school year would graduate, start to go on their own paths and gradually drift apart. The majority of us wouldn’t be able to see each other after graduation.
It was at times like this that I realized how valuable and miraculous my school life was. Makoto, Tsuru, Arina and the others, if things went on a bit differently in my life, let alone getting along with them, I wouldn’t even be able to meet them.
If I were to enter another school for example, I wouldn’t be able to meet them but instead, I would meet and get along with other people, maybe I would even join a club, have a group of friends I would always hang out with and spend my youthful life. Well, that would be the best case scenario.
Let’s imagine that a button that could rewind time existed and you get to choose whether you’d keep your memories or not when you press it, would you actually do it?
Some people might do it without hesitation, probably to save a loved one that died in an accident or to remember some lottery numbers to make it big. Whatever the reason it was, they would press the button, try to attain what made them happy and live happily ever after.
What if they chose to erase their memories?
That meant, their past relationship, circumstances, physical and mental traumas that they had, everything they built on their lives up to that point, all would return to nothing. They would lose their memories, meaning that they wouldn’t even be aware that they had come from the future. They couldn’t even pretend to be a soothsayer and god knows if they would repeat the same mistakes leading to the same regret or not.
Now, if you asked me if I wanted to push that button or not, my answer would be, even if you were to give me a hundred million yen, I would never do it. I treasured my relationships that much, after all, those people were simply irreplaceable to me. Like I said, meeting them was like a miracle. I doubt that I could be reunited with them if I were to return to the past.
Since this would be the last year for us to be together, I should cherish it properly.
“Happy New Year.”
The riajuu, Makoto, greeted me. He looked sleepy for some reason, which was unusual for him.
“Happy New Year. What’s up? Not enough sleep? Some sleeping pills could fix it, just don’t get addicted to it.”
“I won’t take them, jeez. I couldn’t sleep well last night, too nervous for school…”
“What are you? Preschool students?”
“Treat me like a middle schooler at least… Anyway, what about you? You look sleepy… That’s normal for you though…”
“My brain needs thirteen hours of sleep a day, that’s why I’m like this. I’ve been racking up debts to my brain because I can’t pay it these days. I feel like I’m going to get bankrupt soon.”
“What’ll happen if you get bankrupt?”
“I’ll die.”
“What are you doing here, then? Go to sleep!”
“Well, I’ve been paying it slowly on weekends, it’s within the controllable range.”
Well, let’s stop thinking about my sleeping schedule for a second, that wasn’t important. Arina’s matter was way more important. I hadn’t heard anything from her ever since that day. I had been trying to contact her several times but I always ended up a button away from calling her. I felt embarrassed to talk to her, but at the same time, I was also afraid of the worst possibility.
Right before homeroom started, I left my classroom and went to Arina’s.
“Phew…”
I let out a sigh of relief after seeing her.
She was wearing her uniform with her scarf hiding half of her face. Her hands were inside her pockets and she curled her body like an armadillo. She really was weak to the cold, huh?
“Yo. Feeling cold?”
“Why do I have to look at your face this early in the morning?”
“Since you can still say something like that, I assume that everything is alright?”
“What do you mean alright? Are you blind? I’m freezing to death here. How could you still act normally in this kind of cold? Is it your fur? Are you secretly a furry?”
“What kind of nonsense are you spouting this early in the morning?”
“You can tell me the truth, I won’t judge.”
“Face reality, you’re just weak.”
“Say that again, I’ll actually break your femur.”
Her threatening words were reduced to mere mutterings because her mouth was hidden under her scarf, her hands, which she normally used to punch me, were hidden inside her pockets.
She tried to act intimidating but that just made her look cute.
“So, what happened?”
“What do you mean?”
“…The thing with your dad…”
“Oh, he never came back. What, are you worried about me?”
“Of course I am! Well, I’m glad nothing happened.”
“You’ve been acting like a proper sl*ve these days, I’m impressed.”
“I’ll backstab you one day, wash your neck and wait.”
I felt relieved.
Her venomous tongue comforted me since it was a sign that she was doing well. If she were to sound weak like last time, I didn’t know what I would do.
Just right when I was about to return to my classroom, someone grabbed my left shoulder and pushed me away. A boy stepped in between Arina and I. I’ve seen him around in the hallway but I’ve never actually talked to him before and his sudden rude behavior made me feel uncomfortable.
“Arina-san! I’ve always liked you since the first year!”
He started a public confession out of nowhere, which was quite rare in this day and age. Only hot-blooded youth would do it because you pretty much risked rejection and public embarrassment.
After he said that, the classroom went silent. His voice was so loud, so loud that I wanted to shove his mouth with something.
Meanwhile, the recipient of the confession, Arina, didn’t budge even after hearing it.
“You’re so noisy. I’m talking to that guy over there, don’t bother me. Didn’t your parents teach you common sense at all? You’re like a cow, go back to your pen and eat your hay quietly.”
Of course this would happen, so sad. Imagine being treated like a cow by the girl that you adored. Well, if he was into that, he might enjoy it but it seemed like he wasn’t.
His face immediately soured. It seemed like her words hurted his pride.
“What’s so good about this guy?! This lowly!… As expected, you guys are dating, aren’t you?!”
Sheesh… That really hurted his pride.
I heard Yuri’s laughter from behind me. I turned around and gestured to her to step in and calm the guy down, but she completely ignored me.
“Now, now, calm down, have a coffee or something, that would probably calm you down.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Sakaki! You don’t deserve Arina at all!”
“I know, I know, you don’t need to tell me. Well, if that’s all, I’m going back to my class.”
I gave him a light pat on his shoulder to pacify him, trying to imitate what happened in the foreign TV dramas.
In response, he forcefully brushed my hand away and pushed my chest. If I had been a girl, this would be the moment where I moaned in response, but I doubted that anyone would ever want to hear my moans.
It appeared like this guy actually thought of me as his enemy. I was caught off guard and failed to counterattack, but it wasn’t like I wanted to do that. You’re great dude, you win against me, now kill me.
Then, a crisp sound echoed through the classroom.
Arina stood up and slapped the guy.
I repeat, she slapped the guy and not me.
She didn’t slap me, the outlet for her violence, but that guy in front of me.
I was surprised that she didn’t slap me.
Once again, the class turned silent.
The guy’s eyes fluttered as he rubbed his swollen cheek meanwhile Arina looked down at him, who had crumpled from the force of her slap in contempt.
“F*ck off.”
Said Arina in a chilling voice. The boy then walked out of the classroom with a lifeless expression.
Yuri, Shiona and Ran were all surprised to see Arina’s outburst. It had been a while since they’ve seen her like this, so it was understandable. After that, the class started buzzing, it seemed like they were trying to restore the worsened atmosphere.
In the midst of all this, Arina went back to her seat, let out a sigh and fixed her scarf.
“What was that guy’s name again?”
“Huh? I don’t know… It was Ichi-something I think?”
“Haah… What a pain in the *ss…”
“Are you going to mark him for revenge?”
“Why would I? I have to write his name on the note.”
“Huh?”
“…Jeez…”
She scribbled something down.
[By the note I meant the confession list.]
“Ah, I see…”
She was recording everyone who confessed to her in that note for the other Arina.
Since she was in a bad mood and it was about time that my homeroom teacher would arrive, I decided to go back. I excused myself and apologized for the trouble I caused to the rest of the class.
“Well, I’m going back. Calm down, okay?”
She closed her eyes, wrinkled her brows and nodded.
*   *   *
“Why are you having lunch with me again?”
Lunch break eventually came and Makoto scurried over to me like it was the most normal thing to do. Why was he here and not acting lovey dovey with Ruka? Who knows.
“Things are awkward between us…”
“Huh? Why?”
“I didn’t call her even once back at the winter break…”
“Is that so? Let’s dig in.”
Honestly, I stopped caring about his love life. Well, I cared about how far they have gone in their relationship but nothing more. If I was actually that close to Ruka, I might have cared, but I wasn’t, so yeah.
“Also, I heard a rumor…”
“There’s a lot of rumors going on in this school. Seriously, people have too much free time, spreading random rumors like that…”
“I heard that Arina beat the living hell out of you.”
“She didn’t.”
“Really? Well, you seem alright, so I guess the rumor was false…”
“Who started that dumb rumor? This Sakaki Sui won’t go down that easily. What a conspiracy!”
“I heard that she got into a fight though?”
“Yes, with someone who confessed to her. Dude was the one who got slapped, not me.”
“When was that?”
“Earlier this morning.”
“I see…”
I could remember the slap vividly. It was so powerful that I felt his pain even though I was just a bystander. I didn’t know how that slender body of hers could produce that much force and if I were to try to understand it, I felt like it would be a waste of effort.
“There’s also another rumor.”
“Another one?”
“Akakusa-sensei might be transferred away.”
“Huh?”
Akakusa-sensei would be transferred?
Transferred?
Moved?
How far would she be moved? Three meters away?
Or probably was he talking about her moving out of her current residence?
Or was he talking about a well? (T/N: Transfer (異動) and well (井戸) has the same reading)
Akakusa-sensei wasn’t secretly a well, right?
Transfer? Transfer? Transfer?
Afterwards…
Apparently, I froze on track with my chopsticks still holding on to my egg rolls.