Chapter 110: Bullying Scene Repeated
Though the second discussion was livelier than the first, as Hikigaya expected, it yielded no useful information.
Class A's stubborn refusal to engage dampened Ichinose's enthusiasm. With everyone already wary of inter-class suspicion, if even someone like Ichinose started losing patience, the Rabbit Group's situation would only grow more difficult.
Hikigaya thought of Horikita's mention of Koenji Rokusuke. He couldn't help but admire the guy's decisiveness.
To make such a swift judgment, Koenji didn't just have terrifying insight but unmatched courage.
He wasn't afraid of failure and wouldn't fail, a true powerhouse.
Classes B and D strongly suspected the Rabbit Group's VIP student was in Class A, which was good for Hikigaya. If suspicion stayed on Class A, they could avoid scrutiny, letting Karuizawa secure victory.
Though it felt a bit unfair to Ichinose's initial plan, it was a valid path to victory.
In the end, with almost no progress, the second discussion concluded.
How far had the truth progressed? What useful information had Ichinose gained from these two meetings?
Hikigaya didn't dwell on it. As he left, he noticed Manabe and her trio approaching Karuizawa again.
If he hadn't lingered at the meeting room, he might not have seen this.
The three Class D girls, led by Manabe, followed closely behind Karuizawa. When she noticed them trailing her, she quickened her pace in a panic.
Manabe's group, alert to her movements, dropped their pretense and chased after her as she sped up.
Unfamiliar with the cruise ship's layout, Karuizawa intended to flee to a crowded area, but at this time, most students were either in exam rooms or resting in their cabins. Hardly anyone was out.
Moreover, in her haste, she forgot to check the signs and couldn't navigate the ship's corridors.
In the end, cornered by the trio, she ran into a dead-end alley.
With no way forward, Manabe slowed her steps, approaching her prey.
Manabe: "Where do you think you're going? Don't you know how hard it was to track you down?"
Yamashita Saki: "I'm more convinced now you're the one who knocked Rika over. We confirmed with her yesterday, she said it was a blonde ponytail girl. If it wasn't you, why run so fast?"
Karuizawa backed away, her body trembling. "W-What are you talking about? I just needed the bathroom, so I walked faster. I didn't expect to end up in this dead end."
Komiya Kyogo: "Oh? Really? We passed several bathrooms, and you didn't go in. Too scared to even notice them, huh?"
Karuizawa kept retreating until her back hit the wall, her heart lurching.
But her face showed no fear, only a calm retort: "What do you want?!"
Manabe: "What do we want? I think you know without us saying it."
Before Manabe could finish, Komiya pulled out her phone, snapping a photo of Karuizawa with a few clicks.
The familiar flash sent a wave of fear through Karuizawa, collapsing her mental defenses. She looked at the three helplessly, unable to muster any resistance.
Komiya: "I'm sending this to Rika now. It won't take long to confirm if you're the one who knocked her over."
Karuizawa summoned her courage, shoving Manabe aside and trying to break through their encirclement.
The sudden force sent Manabe tumbling, but Komiya and Yamashita grabbed Karuizawa back.
Untrained in any martial arts, resisting three people was impossible.
Manabe regained her composure, stood up with one hand, and looked at the fleeing Karuizawa. She raised her hand.
Slap!
The slap drained all of Karuizawa's resistance, leaving a red handprint on her otherwise attractive face.
It felt like a dream, yet painfully real. This slap shattered her new high school life, as if the endless darkness of her past had returned.
She felt cursed. Why did these things always happen to her? Why was she always the one bullied?
She wanted to scream for help but didn't know whose name to call. Pinned by the two, she couldn't even see the light outside.
Though the trio wasn't tall, in her half-kneeling state, they loomed large, silencing her.
Hirata, Machida, or Hikigaya…
It didn't matter who.
Manabe: "This is how you knocked Rika over, right? Damn you, acting all high and mighty. Do you know how disgusting you are?!"
Komiya: "Think you can run? I've sent the message and our location to Rika. Soon, she'll reply and come see you like this."
Yamashita: "The legendary Karuizawa is so pathetic. Don't blame us. There are cameras all over the corridors, yet you ran into this dead end. We didn't want to do this, but you should know, actions have consequences."
Karuizawa: "It's not… it's not like that…"
"It wasn't me… it wasn't me…"
[Horikita's Class…]
[Ike Kanji: "How can they do this? This is straight-up school violence! They'll get expelled for this!"]
[Shinohara Satsuki: "Yeah, Ryuen's class is getting more lawless. They forgot about Ishizaki's trio getting expelled so soon?"]
[Yamauchi Haruki: "Karuizawa, don't be too scared of them. They'll get what's coming to them."]
[Though her classmates tried to comfort her, only Karuizawa, seeing this familiar scene, knew how despairing it was. Like her past self, once bullied, people would keep coming for her.]
[In the end, she'd lose her place in this school entirely. Photos and videos would spread among her classmates, a painfully familiar experience.]
[She couldn't speak, feeling suffocated, unsure what to say. She didn't know why it had come to this, despite her efforts to avoid it.]
[Sudo Ken: "They really think our class is an easy target, huh? Think we won't fight back?"]
[Hirata Yosuke: "Sudo, fighting is wrong. No matter what, it's wrong. If this happens, we need to talk it out properly."]
[Sudo realized his impulsiveness. Though the school valued ability, fighting with evidence against you was half a step toward expulsion.]
[Karuizawa: "Talk, talk, talk, that's all you know, Hirata! Don't you get it? Those people can't be reasoned with!"]
[Hirata: "But this could've been settled with an apology back then."]
[Karuizawa, rebuked by Hirata, was speechless. If she'd known it would come to this, would she have been so stubborn?]
[Karuizawa knew her pride had gotten in the way. Clinging to Hirata's status, she'd looked down on those below her. But Hirata couldn't protect her forever, and her mistakes would eventually catch up.]
[In the class, though Karuizawa was a central figure, much of that was due to her fake relationship with Hirata. After it was exposed, she lost most of her influence. Her personality already made many dislike her, seeing her as a mere decorative vase.]
[Now, she'd truly lost everything, the proud her, the influential her, Hirata's girlfriend, all gone. She was just a bullying victim.]
[No one protected her anymore. Even those speaking up for her in class dwindled, with more choosing silence.]
[This was the final straw that broke Karuizawa. If she had any faith left, she might've held on, but now, that faith was gone.]
On Hikigaya's side, the cruise ship was massive. He wanted to follow the trio but feared being noticed if he moved too boldly, so he trailed them cautiously. After a turn, he realized Karuizawa and the three girls had vanished.
"Do they have to move that fast…?"
Thus, Hikigaya embarked on a side quest to find them. He wasn't leisurely about it, sensing the trio was likely out to trouble Karuizawa.
He didn't search aimlessly, that would waste time. Since they disappeared instantly, they had to be nearby.
And if they were causing trouble, Manabe's group would avoid cameras, a basic skill everyone in this school had.
With this in mind, he kept searching.
On Manabe's side, to make Karuizawa pay for her earlier actions, she didn't wait for Rika's reply. She grabbed Karuizawa's hair, the searing pain scattering Karuizawa's focus.
"You're really stubborn, huh? I hate people like you, useless, only good for clinging to others."
"You think someone will help you unconditionally? Those people went extinct in ancient times. Anyone like that now is probably an idiot."
"What makes you special? Your face? Your body? It's just ugly."
Manabe's words cut like knives, piercing Karuizawa. This familiar torment dragged her back to her past hell, where darkness was her only home.
She'd forgotten how many times she'd been insulted and mocked like this. To everyone, her body was filthy, her spirit ugly.
Perhaps her recent life had made her forget she came from the bottom.
As Manabe yanked her hair, her clothes were pulled up, revealing a scar on Karuizawa's abdomen, a stark mark that couldn't be hidden once her clothes were lifted.
Manabe, as if spotting something amusing, gave a chilling smile. "Oh, so you're hiding something, huh? Looks like you've got quite the past."
Manabe signaled Yamashita to hold Karuizawa down while she crouched before her, slowly lifting her clothes until only her undergarments remained.
Manabe stared at the scar on Karuizawa's abdomen with relish, licking her lips and placing her hand on it, stroking it repeatedly.
The calm look in Karuizawa's eyes had completely vanished, replaced by fear and unease, her pupils trembling. "No… please, not there… I'm begging you."
Manabe, with a meaningful tone, said, "Looks like you were bullied before, huh? I know your type all too well. Reopening pain on an indelible scar doesn't just hurt the body…" She let out a maniacal laugh, echoing through the corridor. "Hahahahahahaha!"
"That's true mental torture. I'm too familiar with it, far too familiar!"
Komiya checked her phone and gave a faint smile. "Rika confirmed it's her. She's on her way now. I sent the location."
Karuizawa had lost all traces of her earlier demeanor, reduced to endless pleading. "No… I'm begging you, I'll apologize… I really will."
"Apologizing now? A bit late for that, don't you think?"
Her hair was yanked again, the familiar pain enveloping her once more.
She knew, no matter how much she begged, it was useless. It was the same in the past, and it was the same now.
Yet she couldn't stop her pleas, it was as if they were etched into her bones, an unchangeable instinct.
Manabe slapped Karuizawa again, sending her collapsing to the ground, but even that wasn't enough to satisfy her.
She wanted to truly break her.
Manabe already despised Class C's students, especially someone like Karuizawa, someone with no real ability, just pretending to be superior. Thanks to Hikigaya Hachiman alone, their class had risen to a height they didn't deserve, which disgusted Manabe, now stuck in Class D.
She loathed this behavior and hated the girl in front of her.
She seemed to have forgotten Ryuen Kakeru's warnings. In this moment, all three girls had lost control. Since they couldn't target Hikigaya, they'd go after those around him.
No, that wasn't right…
Targeting his allies would only lead to the same fate as Ishizaki. But Karuizawa was different, she had no real connection to Hikigaya. They'd even witnessed their conflict firsthand.
They refused to believe Hikigaya would let go of their feud to help her. They refused to believe he was the kind of person who'd instinctively help others out of pure kindness.
From birth to now, they'd never seen such a person and didn't believe such people existed in this world.
So, Manabe relentlessly attacked the collapsed Karuizawa, hurling personal insults.
With her clothes stripped down to her undergarments, the red, swollen marks on her body became even more glaring.
Manabe felt it wasn't enough. She told Yamashita Saki to find something sharp, anything. Yamashita pulled a nail clipper from her pocket.
The other side of the clipper had a small, sharp blade. Manabe took it and pressed the blade against Karuizawa's scar.
Karuizawa's heartbeat raced inexplicably, memories flooding back, robbing her of thought. This was a shadow she could never accept, a past she couldn't forget.
Manabe, smiling, slowly pressed the blade into the scar.
It swelled red, then came the pain, the trickle of blood…
Karuizawa lost all resistance. She collapsed to her knees before Manabe, tears and snot streaming uncontrollably as she muttered, "Let me go… let me go…"
The familiar flash of cameras lingered in her ears and eyes. Blood filled her vision, and boundless fear made her tremble. She couldn't make a sound; her throat was hoarse.
Manabe leaned close to Karuizawa's ear. "What's that? Speak louder. It's no fun if I can't hear your begging."
Karuizawa: "Please… please… please…"
The mental torment made her want to vomit. Her hoarse throat could barely produce a sound. She watched Manabe continue to hurt her, targeting the scar from her past.
In that moment, what was she thinking?
Nothing. She let Manabe hurt her.
Maybe earlier she'd felt regret, shame, or pain, but now she felt nothing, only fear.
Boundless fear and inescapable despair.
Rika arrived, startled by Karuizawa's broken state. Frail as she was, she'd never seen such a scene.
But urged on by Yamashita and Komiya, she approached Karuizawa. Seeing her lifeless eyes, Rika lightly slapped her cheek.
Manabe scolded her for being too gentle.
Slap…
Slap, slap…
After Manabe, Komiya, and Yamashita demonstrated, Rika gathered her courage and struck Karuizawa's cheek with all her strength.
"Hahahahahahaha…"
Another burst of laughter echoed through the corridor.
Rika, perhaps lost in her own thrill, kept hitting and kicking Karuizawa. With her shirt already removed by Manabe, Karuizawa had lost her last layer of protection. Coldness enveloped her as she lay on the ground.
Her body was covered in swollen marks, and Karuizawa seemed to have lost consciousness, lying still.
Only when Manabe pressed the nail clipper's blade against her scar did she react instinctively, clutching her head and crying for help.
Manabe: "You're really something. I prefer your defiant side."
Yamashita: "Thought you were tough, huh? Just another bullied girl who dressed herself up, thinking she could rise above."
Manabe: "Hahahaha, exactly! Acting all high and mighty when you're just an ugly nobody. Why do you keep pretending?!"
Saying this, Manabe, still unsatisfied, kicked Karuizawa's stomach, leaving her clutching it in confusion.
Komiya: "It's over. She's no fun anymore, just cowering and begging."
Manabe: "True. Rika, had enough? Let's go."
Rika: "Just leave her here? What if she snitches?"
Manabe: "No one saw, and she has no proof. Bullied kids don't snitch, that just brings worse bullying. I know them too well."
Manabe's trio had been bullies since junior high.
Rika: "Then let's go."
"Leaving now? Isn't it a bit late for that…?"
Hikigaya Hachiman slowly emerged from the corner. Though he'd only just arrived, his phone had recorded their actions.
With this, they could be expelled from the school.
(End of this chapter)