Ch.426IF Side Story: Seems I’ve Arrived a Bit Early (123)

Strangely enough, in that moment, I assessed the situation before registering the pain.

“Koko, wait.”

I stopped Koko first. No matter what, I didn’t want to see blood at school.

“Kotone?”

Koko’s voice sounded not much different from usual, but I clearly saw the light in her eyes fade slightly.

“Koko, please. Let me handle this here. …Even if you step in, don’t go too far.”

Koko knows how to read a situation.

At the very least, she knows not to kill people.

Because I hate that.

“You, what kind of nerve—”

The girl who had called me a whore and slapped my cheek seemed indignant. She was so outraged that she didn’t even notice Yuu standing right next to her.

She was so angry that she didn’t notice the person she’d been gossiping about had appeared—that’s how furious she was.

I could hear several girls behind her crying out. They seemed to be calling her name.

But before she could turn around,

SMACK!

The sound of a clean hit rang out. It was much louder than the sound of her slapping my cheek.

“…!?”

The girl couldn’t even make a sound. She just turned her head toward the fist that had struck her cheek hard.

Well, she only turned her head, but her body was staggering sideways. She didn’t fall. Grabbing the nearby sink to barely stay standing, her face turned pale when she realized who had hit her.

“…You.”

Yuu glared at the girl and spoke as if just remembering something after landing the hit.

“You said something similar to me before, didn’t you?”

“Y-Yamashita!? Why are you here—”

Why would she be here?

It’s a bathroom, so anyone could be here.

That’s why if you want to gossip about someone in a bathroom, you should first check if all the doors are open. Of course, the best approach would be to not gossip within the same school at all.

“…In middle school.”

“Really?”

When I asked, Yuu looked at me incredulously. Her expression seemed to ask why I was suddenly butting in.

Thud.

“Eek!?”

While Yuu was distracted looking at me, I saw an arm start to move, so I struck the girl to stop her.

“Kotone?”

Koko called out to me.

“Koko, just a moment, ah, right. If it seems like we’re getting beaten up too much, then. Then just use your fists.”

“What are you talking about?”

As I kept trying to reassure Koko, Yuu asked incredulously.

“You all—!”

The girl shouted with all her might as she got up, and both Yuu and I glared at her simultaneously.

She had just been badmouthing the Yamashita yakuza, and while I might not have inherited Yamashita blood, I was still somewhat connected to that side.

“There’s one thing I didn’t mention, I’m—”

Oops. I shouldn’t mention that we’re cousins. Yuu already knew this fact, but I was currently using an alias.

“—Yuu’s friend since we were very young.”

“…”

Hearing my words, Yuu stared at me blankly.

No, that expression makes me feel awkward. It’s like you’re about to deny what I just said.

“…Aha.”

The girl staggered backward. The side where Yuu had hit her was slightly swollen, as if something had torn inside. Covering that area with her hand, she said with tears welling up in her eyes:

“I see, so that’s how it is. You were all in the same class?”

“Forget about classes, I said we were friends, didn’t I?”

I answered with a hint of irritation.

Yuu was still staring at me blankly.

But what I was saying wasn’t simply because Yuu was looking at me after hearing my words.

“…When someone insults my friend, I can’t just stand by, can I? I guess you can?”

“…”

The girl glared at me.

The four or so girls behind her were also starting to look angry.

Numerically, we were at a disadvantage. Well, if Koko jumped in, things would be different, but then we might ‘really’ see blood. No matter what, I couldn’t ask her to keep holding back forever—

“…Fine. If you’re so eager to fight.”

The girl said that and rushed toward me—

“Eek!?”

—only to fall forward.

The floor wasn’t particularly slippery.

I turned to look at Koko.

Koko’s face was rigid.

Her neatly braided hair had come slightly undone.

So, despite my instruction not to hit anyone, she apparently ‘didn’t’ do that. Anyway, the one who fell just fell on her own.

She barely managed to put her hands forward to avoid falling face-first, but her hands hit the floor with quite a loud sound. The girl got up with a tearful expression.

“You!”

No, that’s not my fault.

I’m not going to blame Koko either. I can’t claim she tripped the girl by moving her hair.

I tensed my body and prepared myself. Yuu’s hand also came up again.

But we didn’t end up throwing punches at each other’s faces.

“Yuu~ Kotone~? Are you here?”

A voice called from outside the bathroom.

Before anyone could answer, someone poked their head in from outside.

“Hey, before lunch break ends—”

Harumi, who was about to make a suggestion, froze when she saw the situation inside.

“Kotone?”

And Mako who followed her.

…And Yuka who came after her.

To describe the situation, the only visibly injured person was the girl who had fallen. But anyone could see that the more numerous group had cornered the three of us.

“What are you all doing?”

Harumi’s voice was surprisingly low and threatening.

While Yuu might give off a somewhat playful impression at first glance, she generally has an image of being well-behaved. I know from spending childhood with her that she’s not entirely docile, but it’s understandable that some might underestimate her.

But Harumi is different. She gives off a very playful impression at first sight.

Of course, I know that Harumi’s skin color has been that way since childhood. She did get a bit more tanned from enjoying outdoor activities.

With her hair dyed blonde, she gives the impression of ‘someone who deliberately tanned and dyed their hair.’

“…Um, well.”

“They hit Kotone.”

But before anyone could answer, Koko tattled first.

Koko isn’t completely lacking in social awareness.

And Kagami was somewhat afraid that Koko might face social discrimination. Koko is, after all, a bit more special than us.

So for the past few years, she had been given intensive early education.

Rather than attacking others, first assess the situation and seek help from those around you.

…Koko chose the second option.

“…”

The expressions disappeared from Harumi, Mako, and Yuka’s faces.

“…Really?”

Harumi asked, looking toward Yuu.

“Yes.”

Yuu answered very coolly.

“Ah~ I see. So that’s what happened.”

“No, wait, just listen to our side.”

The girl who had finally gotten up waved her hands frantically, trying to explain.

…Well, kids often let their hands do the talking in situations like this.

Harumi, Mako, and Yuka had absolutely no intention of listening to her explanation.

I mean, I can understand Harumi and Yuka, but…

Mako, you too…?

*

“I just remembered while we were fighting,”

Standing side by side in front of the faculty office, Harumi said.

“Those girls picked fights with Yuu in middle school. There was a huge brawl.”

“I see…”

Despite being at the center of the incident, I was barely injured. I did get hit here and there, but my body heals wounds incredibly fast.

Koko didn’t get hit at all. She dodged the incoming hands and feet with precision, only gently pushing back when necessary.

And that was enough. The other girls probably each got slammed to the floor at least once.

Harumi had a small cut at the corner of her lip, and Yuu had been rubbing her shoulder for a while. Surprisingly, Mako was skilled at fighting and didn’t get hit much, like Koko. The same was true for Yuka.

All of us were lined up against the wall outside the faculty office. Inside, the teachers seemed to be discussing something.

“Well, it’s a bit awkward to say directly, but we were all going through a difficult time back then. I was relatively stable, but honestly, I was too scattered to set the others straight.”

“…”

Not knowing how to respond to Harumi calling herself scattered, I just kept my mouth shut.

“They lost pretty one-sidedly back then, so I guess they held a grudge.”

I exhaled softly.

“…Was Mako like that too?”

“Yeah, well. The sudden transfer might have been shocking. You two were really close, right?”

…It wasn’t just the transfer, I’m sure.

How does Mako remember that incident from back then?

As just a nightmare, or as the time I was actually attacked by a bear?

“All we could do was stick together and hang out, but I guess things are more or less okay now.”

“…I see.”

I responded absently.

So much had happened in between.

If I had been there, could I have helped these kids?

Or would I have become another source of pain?

…Now that it’s all in the past, there’s no way to know.