Ch.273If Side Story. Tokyo Slayers: Final Chapter (11)

“Are you okay!?”

Nanami quickly ran over to her and asked.

She didn’t particularly pay attention to the other girls who had fallen around them. Souta understood that feeling, though.

While it was somewhat concerning, it didn’t seem like an extremely serious problem had occurred.

Feeling strangely relieved, Souta quickly approached the blonde girl sitting there.

“I’ll look after this one.”

Nanami said.

“Souta, you check on Kurosawa.”

“Ah, okay.”

After all, Souta was the person who communicated best with Kurosawa in this situation.

As Souta quickly approached Kurosawa, he noticed a box cutter lying nearby. Had she used that?

Until he got very close to Kurosawa, he thought the situation wasn’t as bad as expected, but once he was right next to her, Souta realized that Kurosawa’s condition was worse than he’d thought.

Hanakawa High School’s uniform is black.

In other words, it meant that if something got on it, it wouldn’t be very noticeable.

And something was on Kurosawa’s uniform. Only when Souta got close did he realize that Kurosawa’s sleeve was wet.

“Kurosawa!?”

When Souta shouted like that, both Yuka, who had been looking at the fallen girls, and Nanami, who had been watching the blonde girl sitting on the floor, turned to look at Souta at the same time.

Souta quickly lifted Kurosawa’s left arm and rolled up her sleeve. He didn’t think about whether it was appropriate to do this to a girl. He could see that the sleeve of her uniform was quite wet.

Glistening, with something dark in color.

There was also an incomprehensible tattoo on her wrist. Could this also be related to those girls?

When he rolled up the sleeve to the elbow, he saw scratch marks starting from the inner elbow. They weren’t deep cuts from a box cutter, so they weren’t severe enough to be called serious injuries, but they must have been quite painful when they were made. Considering that blood was seeping from the wounds and the surface of the wounds was somewhat rough, they seemed sufficient to leave scars.

“……”

Seeing those wounds made his body stiffen.

What should he call this emotion?

A feeling that could be described as both anger and pity.

He hadn’t known Kurosawa for very long. Naturally, they weren’t close enough to be called friends.

Yet Kurosawa had asked Souta for help. Not other classmates, not teachers, but Souta.

That meant there was no one around Kurosawa who could help her. Not just unable to help because they didn’t know, but intentional neglect.

Why?

Had Kurosawa been continuously bullied for over a year? While Souta was enjoying school life with his friends in the classroom right next door, just on the other side of the wall.

Without receiving help from anyone. No, without even receiving sympathy.

“Kurosawa……”

And Kurosawa was quietly looking up at Souta as he felt such pity.

Her expression was still blank. Her face was like that of a robot who didn’t know how to express emotions.

But the red eyes visible through her hair seemed to be feeling something.

What could he say to this girl?

Although he didn’t know, wasn’t Souta also one of those many bystanders? Even after getting to know Kurosawa, he had only played with her briefly after school and hadn’t given her any other consideration.

“…You all.”

Nanami said, looking at the fallen girls.

The girls who had seemed momentarily unconscious were slowly regaining consciousness, but they showed no signs of getting up.

The part that had been hit the most was the face. But that didn’t mean other parts hadn’t been hit.

“Do you know what you did? A box cutter? What were you thinking? Did you think you could just get away with doing something like that?”

“…We did it because we thought we could get away with it.”

The blonde-haired girl, who had also been sitting down but had recovered some strength, stood up.

There was a sound like teeth grinding.

“Girls like her are all the same. When they see someone they think they can bully, they bully them without any reason. They’re no different from toys.”

Souta turned his head.

The blonde girl strode toward a girl who had just opened her eyes and was raising her head with a twitch.

“Hee, heee……”

Making a whistling sound as if her teeth were broken, the girl squirmed backward.

Seeing the blonde girl’s foot rise, Yuka quickly got up and grabbed her shoulder.

“Wait.”

“Let go.”

“If you do more, it’ll be trouble. This much is already a big deal.”

“…What does it matter? It’s fine if a few girls like these die.”

At the mention of death, the girl began to cry.

“…It’s actually better that she pulled out a knife. If things go too far, then you’ll be in trouble too. Especially if it’s murder.”

“……”

At Yuka’s words, the blonde girl slowly lowered her foot.

Then, looking at the katana in Yuka’s other hand, she said incredulously:

“Aren’t you the one who came running with the intention to kill someone?”

Yuka couldn’t answer. Souta couldn’t say anything either. Of course, if Yuka had known they were people, she wouldn’t have drawn her sword. The opponent might have been hit with the scabbard, though.

Perhaps because she saw Yuka like that, the blonde girl’s expression lost some of its hostility.

“Well… fine.”

The girl scratched her head, then turned toward Kurosawa.

And she limped a bit as she walked in that direction.

“Hey.”

Souta wondered how to react to the girl calling out to Kurosawa like that.

At least, judging by how she had saved Kurosawa, she didn’t seem likely to harm her, but her attitude was so rough that he couldn’t help but worry about things beyond that causal relationship.

“……”

After approaching right in front of Kurosawa and staring at her face, the girl sighed deeply.

“You, your name was Kurosawa, right? I remember.”

“Do you know each other?”

When Souta reflexively asked, the girl turned her gaze toward him. After looking him over briefly, she shrugged.

“We were in the same class last year.”

“I see.”

After hearing that, he again didn’t know what to say.

If they knew each other, and if their relationship wasn’t that bad—

Well, that’s just hindsight. Even Souta, who had been walking home with Kurosawa after school these days, hadn’t been able to protect her.

“…Mako was so worried about you.”

Kurosawa looked up at the girl as if hearing such a story for the first time. The blonde girl stared down at Kurosawa for a while, then sighed deeply again.

“Right, what am I going to say to you? It seems like you didn’t even consider us friends.”

Kurosawa didn’t say anything to that either.

The girl, who had been staring at Kurosawa, suddenly reached out and grabbed Kurosawa’s collar.

“Wait!”

Souta grabbed her arm, but the blonde girl, without even looking at Souta, brought her face close to Kurosawa’s.

“I don’t like you. But, she was trying to be nice to you in that situation. It was because of what the teacher said, but still……”

The girl said.

“Couldn’t you have felt a little sorry for her? Couldn’t you have at least pretended?”

But Kurosawa’s reaction to those words was as if she didn’t understand what they meant.

The blonde girl stared at Kurosawa for a while, then, as if giving up, let go. Souta also released her arm.

The girl stood with her head bowed for a moment, then turned around and walked away.

“W-wait!”

Souta called out. The girl pretended not to hear and continued walking forward.

Souta grabbing the girl’s arm was a very impulsive action.

“Why? Worried the police will come and you’ll be in trouble? I don’t care. If you don’t want to get tired, just leave as is. You came because of her anyway, right?”

The girl said that and looked toward Kurosawa.

“She probably won’t be particularly grateful no matter what you do for her. Even if you were murdered in front of her at the last moment, she wouldn’t care at all.”

Only after hearing that did several assumptions form in Souta’s mind.

“Don’t tell me, you.”

“That’s right. That incident last year. I’m a friend of the girl who died then. She… well, not a friend, but the girl she was helping at the time. Because the previous teacher asked her to when he was still normal.”

Hearing that, Souta’s grip tightened.

“Hey, could you let go of this? It’s starting to hurt. It’s where I was hit.”

“Ah, sorry.”

Only after hearing that did Souta quickly release her arm.

Whether her claim of pain was sincere, the girl touched her arm while alternately looking at Souta, Yuka, and Nanami.

“Is there something you want? Should I stay and testify?”

The atmosphere seemed to have eased just a tiny bit from before, so Souta quickly spoke up.

“Do you know… what kind of situation Kurosawa is in?”

“……”

The girl’s eyes narrowed.

“Why? You want me to tell you about that? Can’t you see for yourself? She’s taciturn. No, more than that, she doesn’t say anything even when people call out to her. She acts like she’s just tossing attention your way. You can see it, so is there really anything to say?”

“……”

At that hostile attitude, Souta paused briefly before speaking again.

“Still, I want to hear it.”

At Souta’s words, the blonde girl closed her eyes.

Then she opened them again and stared at Kurosawa.

“Even if you hear it, it’s not particularly interesting.”

“Okay.”

“You’re persistent. I don’t like men like that.”

It was the kind of remark that Nanami would probably have disliked if she had heard it, but given the atmosphere, Nanami was just watching cautiously without making any retort.