The Brink of Despair
4/14/16
Yuki, per usual, was heading to the rooftop to eat lunch. She found the classroom far too noisy and filled with whispers regarding the rumors about her, about Shiho’s absence the day before, and about Sakamoto. (Go figure; apparently every girl in the entire school was lusting after him; she couldn’t really see why herself, apart from that brief moment of infatuation the first time she met him).
She was too busy thinking that she didn’t look where she was going. “Ahhh!”
She and another person collided, falling down on their butts. Yuki was a little dazed, but she remembered, she bumped into her. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!”
Shiho groaned before muttering, “It’s fine. I should have been looking where I was going as well.” She then looked at Yuki. “You don’t look familiar… are you perhaps the transfer student?”
Yuki laughed nervously. “That’s me…”
Shiho raises an eyebrow. “You know, it’s kinda weird how you share that same name with that idol who recently went on hiatus. However, she never would have dyed her hair like this, or even cut her hair the way you did. How did the Principal even sign off on that?”
Yuki continued to laugh nervously. “To be honest, I’m not really sure exactly how. Wait, you’re Suzui-san, correct?”
Shiho looked bashful. “Yeah… I guess you might have heard about me from all the rumors and stuff.” She then looks at Yuki. “You know, Ann has been talking about you a lot. She apparently called you some choice names, but I’m going to ask you if you can forgive her, as her friend.”
Yuki waved her hand. “Water under the bridge. She may act tough, but I know she’s putting on an act. She probably needs to act tough to not allow other people to mess with her.”
Shiho absently nods. “An act… yeah, she’s certainly an actress all right.”
Yuki looks around before whispering, “Don’t let them get to you, all right. You have friends, right? Ann, Ryuji… they’re supporting you in this.”
Shiho snaps out of her stupor. “I should get going now. You should probably get to eating lunch. It was nice talking to you.”
Yuki smiles. “Nice talking to you too.”
Shiho left; Yuki leaned against the wall and contemplated. So far, every event has followed a different timeline, yet they still occurred. If that’s the case, then… tomorrow will be when she tries to commit suicide. When, though?
Shujin
After School
Shiho was just getting out of class when one of the male volleyball members rushed up to her. What was his name? Ishimoto? Yeah, that’s right.
Shiho nervously asks, “Ishimoto-san, what’s the matter?”
Ishimoto nervously gulps. “Kamoshida-sensei wants to see you in his office.”
Shiho’s face paled, and her hands begin to slightly tremble. “Oh? I was actually about to go find him to talk to him about something. I guess he also had something to talk to me as well.”
Shiho walked all the way to the Practice Building, to Kamoshida’s office on the 2nd floor. She hesitated in front, before knocking on the door.
Kamoshida opened it. “Suzui. You got my message. Please come in.”
Shiho was slightly scared at the vibe Kamoshida was giving off but she walked in.
Click.
Shiho was slightly panicked. Kamoshida locked the door; of course, she didn’t know why, but it didn’t matter. All the rooms in Shujin only locked from the inside; it didn’t set off any alarms in Shiho’s head. “You see… Kamoshida-sensei, I actually had something to tell you.”
Kamoshida gave her a smile, one she knew was as fake as his supposed kindness. “What is it?”
Shiho gulps but managed to say it. “I-I-I’m quitting the volleyball team.”
Kamoshida gave her a blank look. “Excuse me?”
Shiho’s skin crawled; her senses screamed Danger. “Kamoshida-sensei, I want to quit the volleyball team.”
Kamoshida leaned against the wall. “It is your decision after all; can’t I get you to reconsider?”
Shiho shook her head. “N-No. I gave it a long thought; my passion for playing volleyball has disappeared.”
Kamoshida was silent. Shiho took the opportunity to leave. “Mr. Kamoshida, I must get going now. If you’ll excuse me.” She turned towards the doorway. Just then she remembered; he locked the door, but all the doors in the school only lock from the inside. She should be fine to get out.
She barely took one step before she felt a strong hand clamp on her wrist. “I don’t recall ever telling you I agreed with your request.”
Shiho is surprised but prepared. “Kamoshida-sensei, let go of me!”
Kamoshida shook his head. “For not showing up to school yesterday and missing practice, you’ll be given punishment.” His eyes glinted.
Shiho screamed, “Someone who can hear this, help me! Kamoshida-sensei is…” That was all she managed to do before Kamoshida uses his other hand to clamp her mouth shut. Withdrawing his hand he was using to restrain her as he was firmly grasping Shiho by the face, he rummages for a tape roll in the office. He then slams her into a wooden chair and then restrains her with his brute strength as he uses a piece of thick tape to muffle her, freeing his other hand.
Kamoshida got up, admiring his handiwork, as depraved as it gets. Shiho was staring at him murderously. “You… you bitch, you’ll never get to defy me. Now… for the punishment. I’ll make you regret ever defying me.”
He comes closer and closer.
Shiho tries to scream but it got muffled. “MMMmmmmmmm!! Mmmmmmmm!”
Kamoshida got in front of her. He towered before her as he reaches to unzip his pants.
Shiho could only watch in horror. Her mind blacks out, unable to digest the scene that is unraveling before her.
Mishima, at the same time, was trying to find Ryuji to share what he managed to capture the other day. The only problem: Ryuji was nowhere to be seen.
Mishima sighed. “Where could he be? This is tantamount. I need to share this with him.”
Ito-san, one of Ryuji’s fellow co-workers in the Student Council, sighed. “He’s giving a report to the Principal. He should be back in a little bit. You can wait here or I can pass along what you intend to say to him.”
Mishima groans. “I don’t have that much time to waste, so I’ll stay here for a bit. If he takes too long, I’m leaving. I’ll entrust you to tell him that I wanted to talk with him.
“Sakamoto-kun, how are our new transfer students adjusting to Shujin?”
Ryuji looks at Principal Kamoshida with thinly veiled disgust. “Amamiya-san and Yoshizawa-san both seemed to have adjusted well enough to Shujin. However, I keep hearing unsavory rumors about Yoshizawa-san, and worry that it might affect her.”
Principal Kobayakawa leaned forward. “It is a shame. We recruited her and her sister to enroll at our school as honors students in exchange for their effort to represent Shujin in gymnastics. I feel sorry for Miss Yoshizawa considering what happened to her sister, but time marches on. The world moves forward even in the midst of such tragedy, and the surviving twin will still need to prove herself to the school, even though she must be grieving inside.”
Ryuji protested, “Principal! Yoshizawa-san’s--”
Principal Kobayakawa snapped. “Sakamoto-san, I don’t want to hear another word out of you. It’s already bad enough we need to expect that her grieving will hinder her gymnastics performance in the near future, but the world does not care if you’re grieving. As I said, the world moves on from tragedy with or without you; if she does not recover from this, then what is the point of not cutting dead weight the moment we found out her twin sister is hospitalized in a coma?”
Ryuji held his tongue. “I’ll do my best then to lend Yoshizawa-san critical support then.”
Principal Kobayakawa nodded. “I can only expect this of you. Niijima-san would have been the first person I would have turned to, but her fragility combined with her absence has complicated matters further. Now, as for Miss Amamiya, I mandate that you keep a close watch on her on the school grounds as a further part of her expected guidance.”
Ryuji raised an eyebrow. “Principal Kobayakawa, why?”
Principal Kobayakawa sighs. “It’s on a need-to-know basis, and you certainly don’t possess the qualifications to be designated as someone who needs to know. Let’s just say her parents have a vested interest in keeping her safe and out of harm, and they have connections in Japan. Additionally, I believe I filled you in prior on her situation, although that has far less significance to your duty than the other reasons.”
Ryuji stomached a cough of disbelief. More like, Amamiya’s parents scared the living hell out of him and/or bribed him.
Ryuji just inclines his head. “Wouldn’t that be an invasion of her privacy?”
Principal Kobayakawa scoffed. “We’re responsible for all of our students’ safety. It only stands to reason that their sense of personal space is limited due to the Ministry of Education’s directive that we look after our students. Of course, her parents also factor into this too; they hold connections to parts of the government and the media. Not to mention, Miss Amamiya herself is a bit of a public figure, being part of such an illustrious family.”
Ryuji nods and exits. As soon as he closed the door, his face soured. Principal Kobayakawa was as rotten as they come; it was clearly apparent that Principal Kobayakawa only cared about himself and his position as Shujin Principal; it was bluntly out in the open that all else paled in importance, except for anything that may threaten his own standing.
He walks back to the Student Council office, sighing. He was in there for quite a while, it seems. He walks in, surprised to find Ito-san, one of his colleagues, still there. Usually, the other members would be done by now, when they were mandated to come in, anyway. “Ito, I’m surprised you’re still here. Usually, you’d left by now.”
Ito turned around. “Sakamoto, Mishima wanted to talk with you. Said it was something really important. However, you’ve been gone for quite a while, so he left. He said he was going to come by tomorrow to talk with you then since you haven’t come back yet. As for why he couldn’t tell me…”
Ryuji shrugged. “Maybe because he thinks he feels comfortable with me since I somewhat know him, even though we never really talked that much before. Or maybe because I’m now the Acting Student Council President, and made a name for myself as someone approachable. Who knows. Anyway, I’m locking up. I’m already done with all my paperwork. You should also get going, Ito.”
Shiho went straight to her room as soon as she got home; she felt too disgusted with herself. The first thing she did was take a shower; however, she found herself not enjoying the shower she drew for herself. She couldn’t even bear to touch herself; it took her a bit to overcome that hesitation to scrub and scrub she did, furiously. She scrubbed to rid herself of any and all signs that despicable man left on her if any.
That man… Kamoshida… he made her feel unclean. Shiho refused to even think about what he did to her. She couldn’t even bear the implications of it; she was going to get ridiculed and mocked for even reporting it. Kamoshida would squash her report, the school would only point fingers at her, and she’d be left the worse for it. Even Ryuji couldn’t help her one bit when Kamoshida held so much sway as the volleyball star coach in Shujin.
Her parents weren’t even home when she got back; on the other hand, she didn’t even know if it was necessarily a bad thing. Her parents would have not even believed her; even worse, they might call her a liar for slandering someone who has indeed partially helped her in honing her volleyball talents.
When she was all done with her shower, she crawled into her bed and assumed the fetal position.
Ann, what should I do? I can’t live with myself because of this; even if I report, Kamoshida will only squash it and I’ll be left feeling ridiculous, and everyone will only ridicule me.
She knew that there was no feasible way she could ever get Kamoshida to feel legitimate guilt and turn himself in when she reports the assault. Indeed, he will only laugh and use his status and connections to shield himself from prosecution, along with making her out to be the type of person who wants attention.
She shed tears; just what can she do? It feels as if everything and everyone is against her. She wept as she fell asleep, whispering an ominous line.
What else can I do but… that?