Cruelty

In fact, at the very inception of the Student Council…

The position of “Vice President” was never required.

The Student Council’s mandate was to manage, supervise, and discipline.

Its purpose was to maintain harmony within Saint Tias Academy and prevent the institution’s external glory from being tarnished by lawless elements.

Consequently, its members were endowed with supreme privileges by the Board of Directors.

However, the Board soon discovered the existence of a grave problem.

Its name…

“Pressure.”

Perhaps due to impossibly high expectations and an utterly ruthless selection system, or perhaps because members had already harbored psychological ailments before joining, the dual weight of academics and duty became too much.

The Student Council members accumulated a psychological burden beyond the imagination of ordinary people; their mental states teetered on the brink of collapse.

Thus, the position of “Vice President” was born.

At a routine meeting of the Board, the proposal to establish a “Vice President” was passed unanimously.

This meeting was classified as Saint Tias’ highest secret. What the Board discussed and why exactly they created such a role remained unknown to outsiders.

However…

During that meeting, a concept proposed by one individual gained widespread approval.

He said:

[“In this world, no nation or collective is ever condemned by the international community because the swine it pays to raise has not been granted its proper human rights.”]

[“Therefore, we need only sacrifice one head of swine. That’s right—simply take one person… regardless of their race, language, skin color, or origin, and regard them as a humanoid pig for the benefit of the collective.”]

[“Then, any abuse, suppression, persecution, or even slaughter inflicted upon them shall not be considered an atrocity against human rights, shall it?”]

Clack! Clack!

The bolt cutters in Nair’s hand emitted a terrifying screech. Lilo keenly noticed the bizarre, dark stains at the tip of the blades.

…I see.

Lilo vaguely grasped what the “Vice President’s” duty actually entailed.

Why the Student Council chose an insignificant nobody like himself. Why he hadn’t received a single official task since starting. Why… President Livia looked at him with those eyes.

And…

Why every other member was chosen by a school-wide vote, while he alone was an internal selection.

A lucky winner?

No.

Blessed by heaven?

No.

He was simply the one chosen to be “sacrificed.”

Why, why…

Why…

‘Why did the opportunity for me to be sacrificed come so slowly?’

The black pupils in Lilo’s eyes were incredibly dull and deep, a darkness that seemed capable of swallowing light itself. Livia might not have fully understood Lilo’s character, but she was right about one thing: he and she were of the “same kind.”

Both of them possessed…

The same destination reached by different paths: an extreme, severe self-destructive tendency!!!

“So, Nair, what do you plan to do to me with those?”

Lilo rolled up his sleeves unhurriedly. His flat tone made it sound as if he were discussing something completely unrelated to himself.

“Pull out my nails? Snap my finger bones? Or tear them out along with the muscle and sinew?”

In this school—no, in this entire city…

The vast majority of the people living here were “sick.”

Stricken with an incurable disease.

From the elderly to the children, they were infected with this terminal illness from the moment of birth.

The only difference was that some drifted through life without realizing they were infected, while others suffered an early onset and became hopeless.

Nair was like this. Livia was like this…

Even Lilo was like this.

“Hee hee~”

Nair rotated the cutters in her hand and approached Lilo, her cheeks flushed a deep red. A strange giggle escaped her lips.

“What makes you think that?”

She looked at him as if watching a ferocious beast trapped in a cage. There was no intent in her narrowed eyes to let Lilo go.

“Just a feeling.”

“That’s a shame. You’ll have to train that intuition more~”

With that, Nair actually reversed the direction of the cutters, handing the grips toward Lilo.

!?

“You’ve got one thing wrong, Lilo.”

Nair’s breathing grew increasingly heavy. The tail behind her flickered incessantly as she whispered with excitement.

“The one meant to suffer here isn’t you…”

‘It’s me.’

Nair Naya.

Executive Committee Chair of the Student Council and the ace rookie of the Track and Field Club.

Because of her straightforward personality, her dashing demeanor, and her occasional air-headedness, her classmates affectionately called her “Nana.”

Although her academic grades weren’t ideal, her athletic achievements were daunting.

Before entering Saint Tias, she had already broken into national competitions with her outstanding performance, making her one of the most promising prospects of her generation.

However…

“She doesn’t love running.”

Her middle school PE teacher had remarked candidly during an interview with a private media reporter.

“In fact, she doesn’t even have a talent or aptitude for running.”

Once such a statement went public, it could have severely impacted the teacher’s career.

Her results were witnessed by the entire Empire; anyone making such a comment would surely be considered a short-sighted, incompetent fool.

But that teacher stood by his opinion.

Watching Nair sweat on the field, the PE teacher’s expression grew increasingly dark.

“She is merely…”

‘Torturing herself.’

!?

This left the reporter even more bewildered.

“Torturing… herself?”

“When that girl first proposed she wanted to run, I saw that she had no such thing as a ‘dream.’

Even when she ran until she vomited during training, or when she gasped for air until she was hypoxic—when her lungs felt like they were exploding from the heat—even when she twisted her ankles, fell and scraped her knees, or bit through her lip because of poor form…”

Recalling the Nair of that time, the PE teacher felt only a chill down his spine.

“She was actually smiling!?”

To push oneself to the limit, to keep running when everyone else has collapsed from exhaustion, to drain every drop of stamina and run even at the cost of burning one’s life force—that madness is the true Nair Naya you see on the world stage.

But in my eyes…

‘That child is a demon.’

“Are you saying the girl takes this pain… as a form of pleasure?” the reporter followed up.

Even she couldn’t tell how she managed to stay calm while saying it.

Did such a maniac really exist?

And at such a young age…

However.

“No.”

The PE teacher denied the reporter’s words once again.

“That… isn’t pleasure at all.”

“Please, hurt me to your heart’s content!”

It was a simple smile, yet Nair’s expression was exaggerated to the extreme.

It was as if she were anticipating something—something primal, something rooted in her very core…

This genius athletic girl was, in an incredibly twisted manner, urging Lilo to complete his duty toward her.

“…”

Lilo said nothing. Nair, seemingly immersed in her own world, kept murmuring.

“The night I saw you, I was certain!”

“Deep down, you have an extreme craving to inflict violence on someone, don’t you?”

‘I know that look well.’

‘The look of a beast searching for something, seeking to destroy it.’

‘No matter how hard you try to hide it, you cannot defy your own heart.’

‘Lilo V. Watch.’

‘You… you’re actually a monster of “violence,” aren’t you!?’

‘And what I crave is exactly someone like you.’

“Vice President…”

Nair handed the cutters to Lilo. She then placed her own most fragile pinky finger between the blades. Whether by coincidence or design, the size of the opening matched her finger perfectly!

‘Break me.’

“She…”

The PE teacher looked at Nair Naya as she drifted further away on the field, eventually disappearing. He whispered with a pained heart.

He couldn’t stop her, nor did he have the power to.

He could only allow that girl to walk further and further down a path of no return.

“She seems to take pain as her atonement.”

Until…

‘She dies.’