Back in his room, Ren downloaded a simple editing software to his laptop. As a wilderness survival enthusiast, he was a passable ventriloquist, a skill useful for luring or frightening animals. Imitating human voices was well within his capabilities.
He carefully dubbed only the fragments he had actually heard, using muffled sounds and static to cover the gaps. It didn't need to be perfect. Based on the snippets alone, anyone would conclude that Karuizawa was threatening Hirata. That was enough.
The work took less than fifteen minutes. With the "evidence" prepared, he found Karuizawa's contact info in the list from Kushida and sent a simple text.
To: Karuizawa Kei
Karuizawa-san, you don't want others to know what you said to Hirata, right?
After her meeting, Karuizawa returned to her room and was soaking in the bathtub, playing on her phone, when the message arrived. She opened it.
Her body went rigid. Her hands trembled, and the phone slipped from her grasp, plopping into the bathwater. "Aah!!!" she shrieked, fumbling in the water to retrieve it. After a frantic moment of wiping it dry with a towel, she nervously pressed the power button. The screen lit up. The phone, a high-end model provided by the school, was waterproof.
But her relief was short-lived. The message was still on the screen. And the sender's name felt like a hammer blow to her chest: Ishikawa Ren.
Why? How does he know? she thought, her head in her hands, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Did Hirata-kun tell him? Already? Does Hirata trust him that much? I told him I was scared of Ishikawa! Why would he send him after me?
Ren's guess about her conversation with Hirata was almost entirely correct. She had asked Hirata to be her boyfriend. She had "threatened" him using the words "bullying," "danger," and "fear." And Hirata had agreed.
But Ren's guess was different from the actual situation in one crucial, catastrophic way.
The victim Karuizawa had spoken of—the one who would be bullied, who was in danger, who was afraid—was not someone else.
It was herself.
Ren had been right once before, in a fleeting guess he had quickly dismissed: Could it be that Karuizawa is actually a strong, fierce hot girl on the surface, but secretly a weak, cowardly soft girl?
The truth was, her strength was a disguise, an elaborate suit of armor built to hide her profound weakness and terror. The only reason her acting was so convincing was because the image she projected—that of a fierce, terrifying bully—was the very thing she feared most. The images of the people who had tormented her, who had nearly killed her, were burned so deeply into her mind that she could replicate them perfectly.
And Ren's eyes... his "predator" eyes... they had been exactly the same.
Karuizawa's disguise was born of a desperate survival instinct: If they see through me, I will die. But this act, while protecting her, also isolated her and attracted hostility. She knew her facade was fragile. A single, determined push from someone hostile could shatter it, revealing the terrified girl underneath. She needed a shield. She needed someone strong to protect her. She had chosen Hirata.
She hadn't planned to approach him so soon, but Ren's daily, piercing glares had terrified her. She felt her performance starting to crack under the pressure. She had to act.
This was the full version of the conversation Ren had only partially heard:
Karuizawa:Hirata-kun, you said you would help everyone, right?
Hirata:Yes. Is there something I can help you with, Karuizawa-san?
Karuizawa:Someone is trying to bully me.
Hirata:Who?
Karuizawa:I don't know for sure... but I know that if you're not willing to help me, I will be bullied soon. It's always been like this. People think I'm easy to bully, so I act like I'm not. But it's a fake! I'm not strong at all! This act just makes some people angry, and if they try to challenge me, I won't be able to fight back, and they'll see the truth... I don't want to be bullied!
Hirata:Then I'll tell everyone to get along with you.
Karuizawa:No! Just talking is useless!
Hirata:Then how can I help?
Karuizawa:Hirata-kun, I need you to protect me. Can you be my boyfriend, in name only?
Hirata:Why as my girlfriend? Isn't that deceiving everyone? I can't agree.
Karuizawa:You're popular. If you're my boyfriend, people will see us as a unit. They won't want to offend you, so they won't dare to bully me! Please, just agree. I think Ren Ishikawa has been displeased with me for a long time. He always glares at me. The day before yesterday... the look in his eyes was so scary. I... I was almost bullied to death in the past. They held me down... they stabbed me with a utility knife... I almost died. The look in their eyes... it was the same as his. I was so scared...
Hirata:No, I don't think Ren-kun is that kind of person. He's actually a good person.
Karuizawa:If you don't agree to be my boyfriend, someone will eventually try to bully me. My disguise only works with words. If they get physical, I'll be exposed. Once they bully me, they'll see how easy it is, and then they'll become more aggressive. I'll be in danger! Hirata-kun, help me! I'm so scared!
In her meeting with Hirata, Karuizawa had been recounting a past she desperately wanted to forget, pleading for his help. But because she was so terrified, she had subconsciously maintained her strong, aggressive facade. Her tone, meant to be a request, had sounded like a demand. This was the primary reason Ren Ishikawa had so catastrophically misunderstood her intentions.
Crouching in her dorm room, Karuizawa imagined the miserable future that awaited her now that her secret was out. After a few minutes of panicked despair, she suddenly realized she'd overlooked something important.
Wait! I've read his text message. I need to reply! she thought, a new wave of fear washing over her. If he sees that I've read it but haven't replied, he'll think I'm disrespecting him! He'll get angry! He'll bully me!
What conquers fear is often a greater fear. Spurred by this new terror, she snatched up her phone. She clung to a sliver of hope that perhaps he was bluffing. She decided to maintain her usual strong attitude in her reply.
To:Ishikawa Ren
What do you mean? Don't understand. Don't bother me.
Ren received her reply. He didn't waste time with words.
To: Karuizawa Kei
The phone's reception isn't great, so I couldn't hear everything. But I still recorded some interesting content.
[Video Attachment]
It was over. After seeing the message and the attached video clip, Karuizawa's last hope vanished. It wasn't the video itself that terrified her, but the fact that it existed at all. The shaky camera meant a person had been filming. If a phone could pick up that much of the conversation, then the human ear of the person holding it must have heard much, much more.
He knows, she thought, her blood turning to ice. He knows I'm weak and easy to bully. And now he has proof. What does he want from me?
To: Ishikawa Ren
What do you want?
From: Ishikawa Ren
Come out and talk.
Ten minutes later, they met by the lakeside, the same spot where Ren had thrown Hirata into the water. Karuizawa was already there when he arrived. She rushed toward him.
"You... you called me out here. What do you want?" she asked. She tried to maintain her strong front, but knowing he held all the cards, her voice stuttered, her confident posture faltering.
Ren, however, completely misread her fear as a pathetic attempt to feign weakness. He had no interest in playing games. His plan was simple. Three steps: lure her in, cut off her escape, and make her his pawn.
"Karuizawa-san, stop pretending," he said, his voice cold. "I already know what kind of person you are. If you don't want me to tell everyone about you..."
His words were a hammer blow, but they were striking two completely different targets.
He meant: I know you're a blackmailer who threatens good-natured boys.
She heard: I know you're a weak, pathetic victim who just pretends to be strong.
"...I want you to be my girlfriend," Ren finished.
Before he could add the crucial qualifiers—"fake," "in-name-only," "shield"—Karuizawa's mind shattered.
"Let me be your... girlfriend!?" she gasped, her thoughts instantly flooded with the most horrifying plots from the darkest corners of fiction. This was it. This was the bullying she had feared her entire life, but a new, terrifying kind she had never even considered.
Her strength evaporated. Her body went limp, and she staggered back a few steps until her back hit an ornamental tree. She slid down the trunk, collapsing onto the ground in a heap.
"Why?" she sobbed, the sound torn from her throat. "Why can't I escape being bullied, even when I came to a new place?! Wuwuwu..."
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