Attentiveness and Refusal

The next day, Ochi Mana went to school as usual.

Slightly different was that Kanzaki Takuya was waiting for her on the way.

“Let’s go to school together.”

“Did you get enough sleep?” Mana asked, concerned.

“No problem, I go to bed at 11 PM sharp every day.”

Looking closely, Kanzaki Takuya’s face indeed showed no signs of fatigue or forced cheerfulness… Mana nodded lightly, relieved inwardly.

Whether it was surveillance, suspicion, or anything else, Kanzaki Takuya was now, to some extent, her friend. She couldn’t let him overwork himself because of her.

“How about you, how was your yesterday?” Kanzaki Takuya asked in return.

“I had a good day.”

Mana smiled slightly, but for some reason, she always felt Kanzaki Takuya knew what had happened afterward when he asked that question.

Thinking back, in front of Kanzaki Takuya, she seemed to have never been able to hide her thoughts well. It was because of this that he… Eh?

‘(Am I trying to absolve myself of guilt?)’

Mana quickly shook her head, tossing the thought that had appeared from nowhere far away.

‘(Indeed, I’m a shameless person deep down… No, this isn’t the time to think about this!)’

Mana quickly adjusted her emotions and expression, but her subtle changes were all observed by the young man beside her.

“…”

Kanzaki Takuya frowned thoughtfully but ultimately said nothing.

The two soon arrived at the station. As it was school time, the train was still somewhat crowded. As a former office worker, Mana was no stranger to this situation, but she was now Yurina, a girl, and had to protect herself with much higher vigilance and attention than a male.

However, maintaining concentration for over forty minutes inevitably became tiring… You might say this was worrying unnecessarily, but it was someone else’s body; if she didn’t protect it carefully, she would feel restless.

But today, she could finally relax a little.

“Thank you.”

Because Kanzaki Takuya was in front of her, shielding her from the wind and rain.

“Why suddenly say that?”

Kanzaki Takuya seemed to intend to pretend he knew nothing, but earlier, an older man had moved closer, trying to grope her. He decisively blocked him, even glaring at the man and scaring him away… Mana was not so obtuse as to miss his attentiveness.

“Nothing, just wanted to say thank you.”

“You’re my girlfriend; it’s only natural,” Kanzaki Takuya stopped pretending, a faint smile on his face.

In human interactions, it often happens that you do something for someone, but they don’t notice at all, or they notice but think you’re meddling, or even believe you have ulterior motives.

At such times, it would certainly be a lie to say it wasn’t unpleasant.

Especially for someone as perceptive as Kanzaki Takuya, if a lover couldn’t even notice what he had done for her, then growing distant was only a matter of time.

Fortunately, Mana was a sensitive person and didn’t think in a negative way.

Only, unfortunately—

‘(Hmm, yes, thank you for protecting Yurina.)’

She would naturally exclude herself from Kanzaki Takuya’s affection.

“…”

Kanzaki Takuya stared at her for a while but still said nothing.

Soon, the two entered the school, and the atmosphere around them suddenly became lively.

“They really go to school together now, they’re really dating!”

“How could this be? What’s so good about that girl?”

“That delinquent girl must have sold her body.”

Some girls pointed at the two, their faces full of jealousy.

Many besides Takashiro and her two friends doubted the authenticity of their relationship, especially a host of failures who had previously confessed to Kanzaki Takuya. They certainly didn’t think they were inferior to Yurina, so they maliciously thought the worst of Yurina.

“You… be careful,” Mana couldn’t help but say, hearing these undisguised remarks.

Of course, she subconsciously ignored some of the “untrue evaluations” about Yurina.

“Don’t worry about me, but if anything happens to you, you must notify me immediately.” Kanzaki Takuya was naturally not omniscient. He hadn’t expected those he had rejected to still have feelings… He couldn’t guarantee what those people, when they lost their minds, would do, which was why he tried to distance himself from them. Now it seemed he had been too naive.

“Mm, I’ll try my best not to give them any opportunities.”

But the most naive was still the girl beside him.

She was so naive that she believed if she was impeccable, no one would get hurt.

Of course, just as a country uses laws to increase the cost of crime and thus reduce it, her approach was correct. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to possess the deterrent power of law, so—

“My shoes are gone?”

After entering the school building, Mana found nothing in her shoe locker.

Kanzaki Takuya frowned, about to say something, but the girl had already taken action.

“I’ll go to the teacher to get a spare pair of shoes. You go to the classroom first.”

After some time, Mana returned. While changing into her indoor shoes, she locked her locker.

“That should fix it,” she said confidently.

“The teacher asked for your class and name, didn’t they?” Kanzaki Takuya said.

Sensui Academy’s shoe lockers were generally not locked, because no one needed that function except those being bullied.

While the school’s approach made it easier for teachers to manage students, it also meant that a student locking their locker was effectively telling others they were being bullied, which was undoubtedly very shameful… Over time, even if they were being bullied, no one would lock their locker anymore.

“Yeah, I hope those people will restrain themselves.”

However, Mana cared more about “her own” safety than about losing face, so increasing the cost of bullying as much as possible to deter the perpetrators was, in her current view, the best method.

Seeing through her thoughts, Kanzaki Takuya found it hard to say anything, but as soon as he reached the classroom, he told his friends about it.

“That’s going too far!” Yamamoto Marina was enraged upon hearing it. “Shizuki-san, don’t worry, I’ll get everyone in the fan club to help keep an eye out… Bullying Kanzaki-kun’s girlfriend? I’ll definitely make her pay!”

“I’ll also have my friends keep an eye out,” Mizushima Seiki said. He was a regular on the football team and had a very wide network in sports.

“This kind of behavior must not be tolerated,” Shimoya Himeko said, sharing their indignation. She had experienced similar incidents herself; although not severe, they had disgusted her terribly.

“Should I mention it to my family?” Watanabe Akino said. She came from a local zaibatsu family, and she had relatives on the school board, making her a bona fide rich young lady.

“Thank you all for your kindness, but you really don’t need to go to so much trouble. I just need to be a little more careful…” Mana was startled by their reaction and quickly waved her hands.

“Don’t be afraid to trouble us, we’re friends,” Kanzaki Takuya said.

“That’s right,” the other four echoed.

‘Friends after only one day?’ Mana sighed, but in the end, she didn’t refuse their kindness.

[Don’t compromise with school bullying.]

After class started, Kanzaki Takuya passed her a note.

“I know.”

Mana knew this kind of thing all too well. Stealing indoor shoes was child’s play; throwing textbooks in the toilet, tossing chairs into the courtyard… she had corresponding memory fragments of all these.

The problem was that not everyone could be so strong.

[Don’t be afraid, fight back bravely.] Kanzaki Takuya passed another note.

Mana smiled, a triumphant smile.

[You guessed wrong this time.]

She had realized that Kanzaki Takuya’s ability to read people was extraordinary, but he wasn’t a worm in her stomach; he couldn’t know everything.

Like this time, he had guessed wrong about what and who she was worried about.

[That’s a good thing.]

Kanzaki Takuya wasn’t discouraged in the slightest; instead, he returned a reassuring smile, seemingly pleased that someone wasn’t entirely thoughtless.

‘What a good person.’

Of course, the moment she realized this, Mana’s heart was once again filled with guilt and self-reproach, and it took a while for her to recover.

‘After resolving this, I’ll confess to him…’ she secretly resolved.

After the first period, Mana didn’t stay in the classroom. This wasn’t her intentionally creating an opening to lure out a snake, but because she had already sent yesterday’s photos to Takashiro and her two friends, and now it was time to hear their thoughts.

Besides, unless everyone in the class hated her, no one would dare to openly cause trouble.

However, the third period’s P.E. class would be a bit troublesome… She couldn’t think of any good preventive measures right now.

“Yurina, you’re quite something, aren’t you?” Matsuura Yuki said acidly the moment they met.

They were not satisfied with the photo’s result, because if Kanzaki Takuya truly hated her, there wouldn’t even be a photo… But if there was no photo, they would further pressure Yurina to do things that would make Kanzaki Takuya hate her.

Once the two officially broke up, they could openly spread the news around school and humiliate Yurina.

“No, she’s completely useless,” Takashiro Rie quickly said, recounting how her shoes were stolen and how she had troubled Mizushima and the others for help.

“Yurina, how could you be so careless?”

“See? It’s not easy being Kanzaki Takuya’s girlfriend.”

Matsuura Yuki and Iwajo Kaori laughed gleefully. Mana also noticed that they weren’t surprised at all when they heard about her shoes being stolen. Takashiro Rie’s emphasis was also on how much trouble she had caused others.

‘Indeed…’ Mana somewhat regretted having Mizushima and the others take action.

“So what should I do?”

Seeing that Yurina still intended to obey them, Matsuura Yuki and Iwajo Kaori were delighted, about to offer all sorts of advice, when Takashiro Rie suddenly said coldly:

“If you’re so afraid of us getting angry, why don’t you just break up with that Kanzaki guy immediately?”

The other two paused, then immediately interpreted her words in a “positive way.”

“That’s right, Yurina, it would be even cooler if you dumped Kanzaki Takuya.”

“He’s always rejecting others. If he were the one being dumped, his expression would be great.”

The best thing would be to provoke Kanzaki Takuya, making him dump her with a slap… Of course, what they still wanted was to humiliate Yurina, as in outsiders’ eyes, Yurina, a delinquent girl with a terrible reputation, had no right to dump anyone in return.

Takashiro Rie frowned slightly and said, “What do you say, Yurina…”

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”

Mana was well aware of the consequences of doing so, and she knew that if she made such a request, Kanzaki Takuya would definitely agree… Therefore, she had to refuse.

“So you’re saying you’re going to break off our friendship?” Takashiro Rie was furious.

“I won’t break off my friendship with Rie-chan,” Mana said sternly.

Takashiro Rie’s body trembled slightly, but her face quickly contorted with anger.

“Then get out of here!”

Seeing Yurina about to refuse again, she angrily turned and left. The other two exchanged knowing smiles.

“Yurina, angering Takashiro has very serious consequences.”

However, Mana ignored the two. After pondering for a moment, she walked towards the classroom.

“How dare she ignore us?”

Although they had long known that their “friendship” was mainly maintained by Takashiro Rie, being truly ignored still greatly angered the two.

“Damn it, that Yurina really thinks she’s an honor student now,” Matsuura Yuki said indignantly. “No way, I can’t just let this go.”

“So, shall we do it again?” Iwajo Kaori subconsciously thought. “But won’t we get caught? I heard Watanabe is also involved.”

“As long as we’re careful, what’s there to be afraid of? Besides, even if we’re caught, Yurina wouldn’t dare to do anything to us.”