Extra chapter for reaching 250 Power Stones.
...
6th of June.
Monday.
The classroom was loud.
The usual morning chaos filled the air.
Sound of scraping desks, the low chatter of kids talking about their weekends, the rustle of textbooks.
It was all normal.
Then, the classroom door opened, and all the noise just stopped.
It was like someone had pressed a mute button on the entire room.
Everyone's head turned to see what was going on.
Haruya Sumeragi walked in.
That was normal.
But beside him, a person who had become a ghost in their own classroom, walked Shouya Ishida.
The two of them, side by side.
The sight was so crazy that for a second, a lot of people probably thought they were seeing things.
Only a month ago, Haruya and Ishida had that huge fight, the one that ended with Ishida getting put in his place.
People suspected that it was what had sealed Ishida's fate as a total outcast, not knowing that it was due to the rumors spread by Ishida's former friends.
And yet, here they were, walking into school together like nothing had happened.
Ishida moved like a shadow.
His shoulders were slumped, and his eyes were glued to the floor.
He had gotten really good at being invisible.
The empty space around him was his new home.
The only reason anyone could even tell he was there was that he was standing next to Haruya, who had this kind of confidence that just filled up a room.
They were total opposites now, and they were standing right next to each other, like it made perfect sense.
Haruya and Ishida walked over to the corner where Haruya and Nagisa sat together and where Haruya's group always hung out.
Nagisa, Hazuki, Tamao, and Yuma had been chatting, but they all went quiet the second they saw Haruya and Ishida.
Nagisa's mouth made a perfect little 'o' of surprise.
Hazuki's eyebrows shot up.
Tamao and Yuma just stared.
But it was Shouko Nishimiya who really mattered.
She was sitting at her desk, with a notebook open on top of it.
She had been taking notes on what she had been reading last night, but she stopped the second she saw them.
Her gaze locked right onto the two boys.
Her face was hard to read at first, a mix of surprise and the kind of carefulness she had learned after a lot of hard lessons.
She was no longer as naive as she once was.
Now, her trust wasn't an easy thing to get; it had been broken a lot before, and now, thanks to her friends' teachings, she guarded it like a shield.
But even with all that, a tiny flicker of something else was there, and Haruya saw it.
It was a complete trust in his current action.
She knew he wouldn't do anything to hurt her.
She was sure of it.
Haruya could feel everyone's eyes on them.
He spoke first.
His voice was calm, and it cut through the silence. "Hey, everyone. I want to introduce you to someone."
He put a gentle, but firm, hand on Ishida's shoulder.
The touch was a quiet order, and Ishida flinched a little.
He wasn't used to it now, but he didn't pull away.
Instead, he slowly lifted his head.
For the first time, he saw their faces without the blurry, isolating X's he had mentally drawn on them.
He saw Nagisa's worried look, Hazuki's open curiosity, Yuma's thoughtful face, and Tamao's friendly stare.
They weren't just generic people anymore; they were individuals.
Then, his eyes found Nishimiya.
His heart started beating like crazy, a frantic, desperate drum.
She was the catalyst, the one who was the target of his cruel joke when she was new.
The shame he felt was so heavy, like a suffocating blanket.
It made it hard to breathe.
"Ishida-kun has something he wants to say," Haruya said, stepping back a little to give him some space.
He wasn't going to do this for him.
Ishida had to take this step himself.
Ishida's throat felt like he had swallowed sand.
He looked at Nishimiya, his stomach churning with nerves.
He had practiced the words a hundred times in his head, but now, with her sitting right there, they felt impossible to say.
Taking a deep, shaky breath, trying to force air into his lungs, but his jaw felt locked, his mouth dry.
He glanced at Haruya, a desperate look in his eyes, but Haruya just gave him a quiet, reassuring nod.
The message was clear: "You can do this."
Finally, Ishida looked back at Shouko, and with a huge effort, he forced the words out. "N-Nishimiya… I-I'm sorry. F-for… everything."
The words were shaky and barely audible, but they were there.
A painful, honest apology. More real than the one he had done on the spot in the past.
He looked down, unable to meet her gaze, his shame felt like a 100kg barbell that pressed him into the ground.
Shouko's eyes went wide.
For her, the apology now sounded more authentic.
She watched him, seeing his shoulders tremble, his fists clenched at his sides.
Compared to his former self, he looked so small, so defeated.
She remembered the time he had mocked her, she had been so clueless.
Perhaps if not for Haruya, it would've become a worse situation over time.
But she also remembered seeing him at the fountain that day.
Haruya and Ishida didn't know.
Having returned to pick something up she had forgotten at the playground, he saw the full confrontation between the four boys.
Ishida was drenched and broken, and she had seen the pain in his eyes that day.
A pain that looked a lot like her own in the past.
With great care, Shouko lifted her hand and began to sign, slowly and deliberately.
Haruya watched her, his sharp eyes translating her movements easily. "It's… okay," she signed, her face held a gentle expression. "I... forgive you."
Then, she spoke. It was faint, but the words were clear. "Ishida-kun... I truly f-forgive you."
Ishida's head snapped up.
He stared at her, tears forming around his eyes.
Yes, he had apologized before.
But it was due to the pressure from Haruya.
This time was more genuine and heartfelt.
He had expected anger, bitterness, or maybe even her just ignoring him.
The heavy, suffocating feeling he had carried for weeks began to lift, as if a great weight had just been taken off his shoulders.
The invisible X he had drawn on her face vanished completely.
He finally saw her for what she was: a kind, forgiving person.
Nagisa, who had been watching the whole thing, let out a soft sigh of relief.
She smiled warmly at Ishida.
"Well, that's great!" she said, her voice a cheerful break in the tense silence. "I'm Nagisa Kubo. It's nice to officially meet you, Ishida-kun."
The X on her face, which had been his symbol for her silent judgment, dissolved.
He saw a kind, friendly girl with a warm smile.
Hazuki Kudou was next.
He walked up to Ishida, a little awkward, but smiling.
"Hey. Hazuki Kudou. You're… you're a good person for apologizing."
The X on Hazuki's face crumbled.
Yuma Sudo, always the quietest in the group, gave him a small, understanding nod. "I'm Yuma Sudo. Nice to meet you."
His response was just an introduction, but for Ishida, it was more than enough.
The X on his face also disappeared.
Tamao Taira, with her usual easygoing and cheerful vibe, stepped forward.
"Tamao Taira, nice to meet you. Don't worry about it too much. We're all in this together now."
She clapped Ishida lightly on the shoulder.
The last X on Tamao's vanished.
Ishida felt a feeling he hadn't felt in a while.
It was relief, sure, but more than that, it was the feeling of being seen, of being accepted again.
The X's on their faces had been a wall he had built himself, a prison of his own making, and in just a few short minutes, they had all been torn down.
The whole classroom was buzzing.
The whispers rippled through the room, a constant, low sound of pure shock.
It wasn't just that Ishida was being talked to; it was that he was being talked to by Haruya's group.
The most popular, kindest, yet seemingly hard to approach group in the school.
Their kindness was a powerful thing, a force of nature, and now that force was being used on him, the former bully.
From their desks at the back, Kazuki and Keisuke watched everything.
Their faces were a mix of disbelief.
Keisuke was a nervous wreck, his eyes darting between the scene at the back of the room and Kazuki's clenched fists.
Kazuki's face, which was usually emotionless with a smug smile, was not frowning.
This wasn't part of their plan.
Ever since Haruya had warned him to stay away from Ishida, he had no choice but to comply.
However, he wasn't going to back down so easily.
His master plan had been to make Ishida pay for getting them in trouble, to make him an outcast, and it had been working perfectly.
Kazuki had been happy to just sit back and watch from the shadows, letting the rumors he'd spread do all the work.
Ishida's isolation was his victory, a quiet, cruel revenge.
But now, his whole plan was falling apart.
Haruya had not only humiliated them, but he was now taking their puppet and making him a part of his own group.
He was upset, but knew that he could no longer do anything about it.
They couldn't do anything to Ishida now.
Any move they made would mean another run-in with Haruya, and that was a line they would not want to cross again.
Not after last time.
Meanwhile, at their desks near the front of the class, Kawai Miki and Naoka Ueno had their own opinions, which they whispered under the cover of their textbooks.
"I can't believe it," Naoka muttered, her eyes narrowed as she watched the group.
"He just waltzed in. After what he did, he's just forgiven? It's not fair." Her gaze moved from Ishida to Shouko, who was now signing something to Haruya, a small smile on her face.
A bitter taste filled Naoka's mouth.
'How can a deaf girl like her get a chance to be with them?' she thought to herself.
The thought was so full of hate that it was a surprise she didn't say it out loud.
It was a thought she would never say in front of other people, but it burned inside her like a hot fire.
She had been here first.
She had been in this class since the beginning.
She was pretty, popular, and outwardly kind.
And yet, she had never gotten the kind of attention and real support that Shouko Nishimiya was getting.
It was so unfair.
Then, her eyes landed on Miyoko Sahara, who had just entered the classroom.
Miyoko's face, ever since she'd started talking to Shouko more, had this quiet happiness about it, a soft glow that Ueno found totally annoying.
She saw Shouko and the group, and a bright smile instantly lit up her face.
Sahara walked right over, her hands flying in sign as she greeted Shouko and the others.
She and Shouko started giggling about something, and Naoka's blood boiled.
Naoka leaned in toward Kawai Miki, her voice low, in order not to be heard by others.
"Look at Sahara," she whispered, her voice full of bitterness. "She's not even hanging out with us much anymore. It's like she prefers a deaf girl over her own friends."
Kawai's eyes went wide, and she put on a shocked face.
She put her hands up to her mouth like she was stifling a gasp. "Naoka-chan, don't say that!" she said, her voice hushed, but with a tone that made it sound more like she was sharing a juicy secret than scolding her friend.
"That's so mean. Maybe she just feels pity for her... I mean, you know, because of her condition. It's only natural to want to help someone in need, right?"
Her words were supposed to sound kind, but what she was really saying was a cruel, backhanded comment that seemed to put Nishimiya in a position of inferiority.
Kawai's perfect little smile never changed, but her eyes held a flash of judgment that Naoka didn't even notice.
Kawai wasn't really trying to stop Naoka; she was just agreeing with her while keeping her own image of being a kind and nice person.
Naoka didn't answer right away.
She just watched the whole scene play out at the back of the room.
She saw Ishida, who had been a complete outcast, getting welcomed into a group that she desperately wanted to be a part of.
She saw Sahara, her so-called friend, laughing happily with Shouko.
And she saw Shouko Nishimiya, the girl she had always looked down on, slowly becoming the center of a group she was so jealous of.
A dark thought began to slowly form in her mind.
This wasn't over.
...
POWER STONE GOAL - 1 EXTRA CHAPTER WHEN REACHED:
50 POWER STONES (✔)
100 POWER STONES (✔)
150 POWER STONES (✔)
200 POWER STONES (✔)
250 POWER STONES (✔)
300 POWER STONES (X)
350 POWER STONES (X)
400 POWER STONES (X)
450 POWER STONES (X)
500 POWER STONES (X)