Chapter 7: Fish, Prawns and a Squid - Part 2
Back in the dorms, I took a pretty long shower.
**
The next day, I arrived at school early as usual. As I entered the cold, quiet classroom, I noticed that someone was already seated.
"Hey, Mizuhara!"
The happy-go-lucky, carefree girl greeted me from her seat.
"Hi, Fujiharu."
I wasn't really expecting her to be here already. I guess she noticed my daily schedule and decided to match me by arriving early as well. It was getting much more convincing that she was, in fact, the 'seatmate bully' that some people call her. There was no way that this could have been a coincidence.
Suddenly, she grabbed a book out of her bag.
"You know, since you were reading it, I thought it'd be interesting."
Turns out she also had a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird; not only that, judging by the appearance of the book, it was definitely brand new. It wasn't a library copy or an old copy; she likely went out and bought it a little while ago from a bookstore.
"Ah."
"Hehe, aren't we matching now?"
"I guess."
I took my seat beside her and placed my bag on the floor. I grabbed my copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and began reading it. I had done a significant amount of reading the previous night, so I was only several pages from the end. When I flipped to the page that I had left off, Fujiharu glanced at me with a perplexed look.
"You're already that far in?"
"Yeah, I did some reading last night."
As if taking it as a challenge, she quickly flipped open her copy and began quickly reading it. She seemed to have quieted down as a result, so I wasn't too fussed.
I brought the book up to my eyes and began reading through the final few pages. The father-daughter relationship between Scout and Atticus was just reaching its narrative conclusion, and all the loose ends were being tied up.
There were still around twenty minutes before more students generally arrived. In that time, I finished the book and placed it down on the table in front of me.
Fujiharu looked over.
"You're done already...?"
"Yeah."
"Ah... but I've just started."
"That's fine, have fun reading."
"N-no... that's not wh..." her words trailed off.
I wasn't dense enough to be unable to tell what was going on. However, I still couldn't decipher the true intentions behind all of her answers. It just didn't seem to make sense. Was everything coincidental? Was she deliberately trying to make me fall for her?
Well, it didn't really matter that much.
Class doesn't start for another 25 minutes. In that time, I decided to go to the library and borrow another book. As I got up from my chair, I noticed that Fujiharu was still avidly reading the novella. I made my way out of the classroom and over to the school library.
As I entered the large haven of literature, I looked around and contemplated what I was going to read next. I decided to make my way over to the contemporary section and find another novel. I quite liked mystery novels, so I looked through that section. After a few moments, a novel caught my eye. It was Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. It was another relatively old novel, but it seemed to be quite interesting.
After flipping through the first pages, I took it up to the counter and passed it to the librarian.
The librarian scanned the books and my library card. I returned To Kill a Mockingbird and made my way back outside.
As I walked back into the classroom, I noticed that several other students had also entered. Fujiharu was still quietly reading To Kill a Mockingbird, and I took my seat next to her. There were still a few more minutes until class began, so I decided to read through the first few pages of my new novel.
A few minutes later, I looked up at the teacher, who was fiddling with some television cables. Apparently, she was trying to connect her laptop to the TV, but it wasn't working. A few students helped her, and before long, the television lit up with the contents of the lesson.
I looked over at Fujiharu, who was still reading the novella even though the class had started.
It seemed she was trying really hard.
"...the helper t-cell then activates the naive b-cells which undergo clonal expansion. After that, the b plasma-cells produce antibodies which bind to the pathogen..."
As usual, the lesson was relatively uninteresting. It wasn't really anything I hadn't learnt before, and a few days prior, when I was completing the homework, I managed to learn everything she was teaching right now anyways.
I decided to just sit back in my seat and listen to the lesson. I looked around me at the students who were frantically taking down notes, with some scribbling down every word the teacher was saying, to others who were busy choosing which colour of pen to use.
I wonder if life was more fun for them.
Obviously, nobody liked to be under stress. But maybe something even worse than stress was boredom.
The class went by without much hassle, and after setting us some work to do, the teacher then moved on to the next lesson. Turns out the next lesson was chemistry.
"Alright, everyone, did anyone struggle with the homework I set yesterday?"
There was a uniform answer of yes.
It seemed that the homework last night must have been quite hard—I didn't have much issue with it last night, but I guess I mustn't have found it as difficult as the others.
The teacher sighed and pulled up a digital copy of the homework on the television.
"...in the redox reaction, you have to balance the charges on both sides of the equation..."
As she explained the answers to the homework, I noticed that Fujiharu was still fully concentrating on reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Her eyes were glued to the pages like they were gospel, and page after page, she read through them without any break.
Honestly, I couldn't understand her.
I remembered that I needed to tell her something.
"Fujiharu, is it fine if we postpone the visit to the cafe? I have something I have to deal with after school today."
"Huh?"
Chapter 8: Fish, Prawns and a Squid - Part 3
The bell rang, and I began making my way down to my locker.
There was a decent commotion this morning as a result of the seafood-locker incident. It seemed the student whose locker I used as bait was from another class. The school didn't put out a public announcement which was to be expected. Especially with no method of determining the perpetrator, the school was likely discussing possible options.
The flow of students slowed down as more time passed. Everyone was packing their bags and heading home for the day. Eventually, the entire locker area was empty, and the eerie atmosphere of silence consumed the room.
Almost thirty minutes later, in the distance, I saw a girl walk back into the school. She took a quick look at the security camera and noticed that it hadn't been cleaned. She also glanced around to see if there was anyone nearby. I quickly hid behind cover in order to avoid letting her know of my existence.
Ah.
As she got closer, I finally recognised her.
Emi Tachibana.
She walked over to my locker and plopped her bag onto the floor. In the front pocket, she grabbed out a pair of bolt cutters and clipped off my lock. She caught my lock in her hand and quietly placed it on the ground. Then, she opened my locker.
I had placed several of my useless books in my locker as bait.
Out of her bag, she grabbed several pens.
I see what is going on now.
She held the pens over my books in my locker and cut off the tips with the bolt cutters. As a result, deep, dark ink leaked all over my belongings. The ink flowed all through my locker, seeping into my book and the wood.
Finally, I decided to show myself.
Slowly I walked towards her, not making a noise.
"Hey now, why have you done this."
She suddenly jolted around in shock and dropped the bolt cutters onto the ground. The collision echoed throughout the halls, filling the room with a sharp, clanging sound.
She was silent, so I decided to continue speaking.
"Why have you done this... Tachibana Emi."
All of a sudden, her face showed no fear... only anger.
"Tell me, why have you come to this school?" she asked.
"Why do you want to know."
She kicked the lockers, sending a loud thump through the halls.
"Y-you! Even this many years later, you still let my father's words control you?"
"Who says his words control me."
"You have so much power, yet you simply listen to a dumb mission and follow it naively like a stupid little duckling!"
"Tachibana, you understand just as much as I do."
[Illustration]
"The Ideal Human Project was years ago! It's in the past. Just forget about it." She took a deep breath, "I fucking hate you. Stay away from me! I don't give a shit whether it's your mission or not!"
Tears were beginning to form in her eyes.
"Tachibana, you don't seem to understand. The reason I follow my mission is not because of any affection I have for you."
"Fuck you! You're a pervert, a dumbass, a bitch."
She raised her arm.
I grabbed her wrist and slammed it into the lockers.
"Tachibana, you're not going to change my decision."
She looked at me with pure rage.
"...Let go of me."
I released her arm.
"Why... why are you here... I thought, finally, I could be free by coming to this school. I even had Uncle implement special measures. I don't understand..."
"Tachibana, you don't get it."
"Shut up! Leave this school. Never come close to me ever again."
I looked down at her.
"...What do you want from me... Is it my body? Is it my hand in marriage?!" she continued.
"You know that I don't care about you at all."
She fell silent.
"I would prefer to live my school life in peace. I would appreciate it if you would stop making such large commotions."
"...you, you want peace? You want fucking peace?"
Tears were flowing freely from her eyes.
She grabbed the collar of my shirt.
"I'll stay away from you as much as possible. In return, I want you to leave me alone as well." I offered.
"No... no!"
"I don't see the problem. We can both have the freedom we desire."
"If you want freedom, then piss off and forget about your stupid mission!"
"You don't understand. Without my mission, I would also lose my freedom."
"Who's going to stop you? Who's going to punish you?!"
"There was never anyone who would punish me. However, I willingly chose to accept it. It's something that only the Outcomes would understand."
She was very sensitive to the word.
"You dare talk about the other Outcomes? They were my friends. They were my happiness... and you... you..."
"Tachibana, the one clinging onto the past is you."
She pulled my face closer to hers. The emotions on her face showed something less of anger; instead, it was more of sadness, of despair.
"Ayato... I'll accept your offer for now, but I'll never forgive you."
It's okay. I never wanted your forgiveness.
She marched off into the distance, picking her bag up and leaving through the entrance.
For personal reasons, I wasn't going to report her. Although, I should get a stronger lock.
I looked inside of my locker and saw that ink had already flooded it. There was such a great quantity that it was beginning to drip out of my locker, even with the door closed. I took some tissues out of my bag and tried to clean it up as much as I could.
It was lucky that my useless workbooks soaked up most of the ink. I grabbed them and threw them into the nearby bin. Some ink dripped onto the ground, but there was nothing I could do about it. I cleaned up my vandalised locker as much as I could before deciding to head back for the day.
I wonder where I'd buy a new lock. I guess I could ask the school to provide me with another.
Knowing the type of person Tachibana was, I doubted that she'd try to do this again. However, I likely wasn't off the hook just yet.
She will likely never forget the incident, with me and the other Outcomes of the Ideal Human Project.
As much as I try to pretend as if it didn't happen, guilt still sits at the bottom of my heart.
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