In the school at night, the emergency lights in the corridor cast a pale glow in the darkness.
Kushida stood in front of the iron door leading to the rooftop, her school uniform skirt swaying with her intense movements.
"Horikita... Horikita... Horikita!"
Each time she uttered that name, her kick grew heavier.
The metal door let out a dull thud, particularly harsh in the silent corridor.
"Go to hell... Go to hell... Go to hell!"
Her voice was squeezed out from between her teeth, her sweet tone now twisted into something hideous.
"It's like this again today... It's like this again!" Kushida looked up, growling at the mottled ceiling. "Why does that pretentious woman look at me with such eyes? What right does she have to ignore me? Is winning the swimming competition so great?"
"Yamauchi Haruki... Ike Kanji... They looked at me with those vulgar eyes again today!" She chewed on these two names, as if tasting something disgusting. "If it weren't for maintaining my facade, I wouldn't bother with you two! Two pieces of trash with brains full of waste, why don't you just roll back home!"
She panted rapidly.
A few minutes later.
Kushida took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, as if to release all the pent-up emotions in her chest.
The hideousness on her face gradually faded, and the twisted corners of her mouth curved into a gentle arc once more.
Kushida gently patted her skirt, tidying her slightly disheveled hair.
"Phew~ I feel refreshed!"
Her voice returned to its usual sweetness, the end of her words slightly rising, carrying the unique lightness of a young girl.
It was as if the person who'd just been hysterically kicking the door and gnashing her teeth in curses had never existed.
—At this moment, she was still the beloved Kushida Kikyo.
Gentle, cheerful, and understanding. No one would've guessed that just a few seconds ago, such intense malice had surged within this body.
"Shimizu-kun, I'm sorry~ I lied to you." She suddenly stopped, playfully sticking out her tongue at the empty corridor, her tone as light as if she were sharing a harmless little secret.
The young man's question from a few days ago still seemed to echo in her ears—"How do you usually relieve stress, Kushida-chan?"
'This is my answer.'
The dull thud of her toe kicking the iron door, the vicious curses squeezed from between her teeth, tearing off her disguise freely in the unlit darkness—this was her unique way of relieving stress.
'When did it start?'
Fragments of memory suddenly surfaced: the black history exposed in middle school, the overwhelming insults on social media accounts, the rainy night she was forced to delete all her accounts.
Then, at the entrance ceremony, Horikita's cold profile, Koenji's casual chuckle—that feeling of being completely ignored was more suffocating than direct malice.
That night, she'd intended to get some fresh air on the rooftop, but found the iron door locked.
The long-accumulated emotions burst at that moment, and when the first kick landed on the door, a twisted sense of pleasure suddenly surged through her.
'So that's when I developed this bad habit.'
So whenever things didn't go her way, this dark corner would become her outlet.
In the unseen darkness, the perfect Kushida Kikyo could temporarily shed her disguise and let her true, ugly self breathe.
Just then, a faint message vibration came from her pocket.
Kushida's slender fingers reached into her pocket, fumbling for her phone.
The cold light from the phone screen reflected on her face, making her expression appear particularly gloomy.
"Who is it again..." she muttered softly, a hint of impatience in her tone.
To maintain her persona as the "class angel," Kushida had not only added everyone in Class D (except for that annoying Horikita) but also saved many contact details for boys and girls from other classes.
Just replying to those boring greetings every day took her two or three hours—this was even more exhausting than dealing with Yamauchi and Ike, those two idiots.
'Especially at night like this...'
Kushida pouted, and immediately, the meaningless nonsense sent by Yamauchi and Ike flashed in her mind: "Good night," "Drink more hot water," "Get some rest early~."
Every time she saw these, she wished she could just block them, but in the end, she could only grit her teeth and reply, "I'm going to sleep" or "Going to take a shower."
'So annoying... Why don't those two drop out of school!'
She took a deep breath, forced herself to smile, and swiped open the screen—but froze the moment she saw the friend request.
{Tsuki Ao (Male) requests to add you as a friend}
'A stranger?'
This ID had a touch of literary flair, appearing like a girl's name at first glance, but the profile showed it was male.
Her fingertip hovered above the screen, hesitating for a second.
'Could it be another boring guy who found out my account...'
However, the note accompanying the friend request made her fingertip pause.
{I want to tell Kushida-chan of Class D some important information.}
{Aren't you curious why the upperclassmen always look at you with subtle contempt?}
The words on the screen were like a fine needle, precisely piercing her sore spot.
Kushida's fingernail unconsciously tapped lightly on her phone case.
Indeed.
These past few days, she'd deliberately "coincidentally" met upperclassmen in the corridors and cafeteria, greeting them with her sweetest smile, hoping to build good relationships, but always caught the meaningful curve of their lips when she turned away.
Those whispered giggles, those condescending gazes, clung to her like a persistent illness.
"How infuriating... How does this student know... Is he a student from Class D?" she murmured to herself, her thumb trembling above the reject button.
But a mix of unwillingness and curiosity ultimately made her firmly press the green accept button.
The phone immediately emitted a "ding" notification sound.
Almost at the same instant, the phone screen was filled with a long message.
Kushida's gaze fell on the first message and couldn't move away.
{This school implements a tiered class system, dividing students into four levels based on their entrance exams and certain criteria: Class A represents geniuses, while Class D consists of defective products.}
A few minutes later, Kushida finished reading every word of the entire message.
She had to admit, this information was indeed shocking—about the truth of class assignments, the rating of Class D, the mechanism of class points operation...
But for her, none of that was the main point.
"If I reveal this information to my classmates tomorrow..." The corners of her lips curved into a subtle arc, and her eyes shimmered with cunning. "Maybe I can completely surpass Hirata-kun and become the true leader of Class D. By then, everyone will look at me with worshipful and dependent eyes..."
Kushida suddenly let out a sweet chuckle. "Hehe... I really should 'thank' this online acquaintance I've never met."