In the dead of night, the emergency lights in the school hallway cast a pale, ghostly halo in the darkness. Kikyo Kushida stood before the iron door leading to the rooftop, the hem of her uniform skirt swaying with her violent movements.
"Horikita... Horikita... HORIKITA!"
With each utterance of the name, her kicks grew stronger. The metal door groaned with a dull thud, the sound jarringly loud in the silent hallway.
"Die... die... just DIE!"
The words squeezed through her gritted teeth, her normally sweet voice now twisted into a savage tone. "It happened again today... again!" Kushida threw her head back, snarling at the mottled ceiling. "What gives that pretentious woman the right to look at me like that? What right does she have to ignore me? Is winning a swimming race such a big deal?"
"Haruki Yamauchi... Kanji Ike... they were looking at me with those disgusting eyes again today!" She chewed on their names as if tasting something vile. "If it weren't for maintaining my image, I wouldn't even bother with you! You two pieces of trash with nothing but filth in your heads, why don't you just go home!"
She panted heavily. A few minutes later, Kushida took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, as if expelling all the frustration from her chest. The savage look on her face gradually faded, and her twisted lips once again formed a gentle curve. Kikyo Kushida lightly patted her skirt and tidied her slightly messy hair.
"Phew~ That feels better!"
Her voice returned to its usual sweetness, the ends of her words lilting upwards with a girlish lightness, as if the hysterical, door-kicking, cursing person from moments ago had never existed. Right now, she was once again the lovable Kikyo Kushida—gentle, cheerful, and understanding. No one would ever guess that just seconds before, such intense malice had been churning within this body.
"Sorry for lying to you, Kiyomizu-kun~" she suddenly stopped, playfully sticking her tongue out at the empty hallway, her tone as light as if she were sharing a harmless little secret. The boy's question from a few days ago seemed to echo in her ears—"How do you usually relieve stress, Kushida-san?"
(This is my answer.)
The dull thud of her kicks against the iron door, the vicious curses squeezed from between her teeth, tearing off her mask in the darkness where no one could see—this was her unique way of de-stressing.
(When did this start?)
Fragments of memory suddenly surfaced: her dark past being exposed in middle school, the flood of abusive comments on her social media, the rainy night she was forced to delete all her accounts. Then there was the opening ceremony, Suzune Horikita's indifferent profile, Rokusuke Koenji's careless smile—that feeling of being completely ignored was more suffocating than direct malice. That night, she had wanted to get some air on the rooftop, only to find the iron door locked. The long-suppressed emotions had burst forth at that moment. When her first kick landed on the door, a strange, twisted pleasure had welled up inside her.
(So I've had this bad habit since then.)
So, whenever things didn't go her way, this dark corner would become her venting ground. In the darkness, where no one knew, the perfect Kikyo Kushida could temporarily take off her mask and let the real, ugly her breathe.
Just then, a faint vibration came from her pocket. Kushida's slender fingers slipped into her pocket and took out her phone. The cold light of the screen illuminated her face, making her expression look particularly gloomy. "Who is it now..." she muttered, her tone laced with impatience.
To maintain her "class angel" persona, Kushida had not only added everyone in Class D (except that detestable Suzune Horikita) but had also added many boys and girls from other classes. Just replying to all the boring greetings every day took up two or three hours of her time. It was even more exhausting than dealing with those two idiots, Yamauchi and Ike.
(Especially at this time of night...)
Kushida pouted, her mind immediately picturing the meaningless drivel sent by Yamauchi and Ike: "Good night," "Drink more water," "Get some rest~." Every time she saw these, she wanted to block them immediately, but in the end, she could only grit her teeth and reply, "I'm going to sleep," or "I'm going for a shower."
(So annoying... why don't those two just drop out!)
She took a deep breath, forced a smile, and unlocked her screen—only to freeze when she saw the friend request.
[Yue Qing (Male) has sent you a friend request.]
(A stranger?)
The ID had a somewhat artistic flair and looked like a girl's at first glance, but the profile indicated the user was male. Her fingertip hovered over the screen, hesitating for a second.
(Don't tell me it's another bored guy who found my account...)
However, the note attached to the friend request made her finger pause.
[I want to tell Kushida-san from Class D an important piece of information.]
[Aren't you curious why the upperclassmen always look at you with a hint of contempt?]
The words on the screen were like a fine needle, accurately piercing her sore spot. Kushida's nails unconsciously tapped against her phone case. It was true. These past few days, she had deliberately run into seniors in the hallways and cafeteria, greeting them with her sweetest smile to build a good relationship, only to catch the meaningful curve of their lips as she turned away. The whispered snickers, the condescending gazes—they clung to her like a persistent disease.
"So infuriating... how does this person know... is he a Class D student?" she muttered, her thumb trembling over the decline button. But a mix of unwillingness and curiosity ultimately made her press the green accept button hard.
Her phone chimed with a "ding." At almost the same instant, her screen was flooded with a long message. Kushida's eyes fell on the first line, and she couldn't look away.
This school uses a tiered class system, dividing students into four levels based on their entrance exams and certain criteria: Class A for geniuses, and Class D for defective products.
...
A few minutes later, Kushida had read the entire message word for word. She had to admit, the information was shocking—the truth about the class assignments, Class D's rating, the mechanics of the class point system... But for her, none of that was the main point.
"If I reveal this information to the class tomorrow..." a faint smile touched her lips, a calculating glint in her eyes, "...I might be able to completely surpass Yosuke Hirata and become the true power holder in Class D. Then, everyone will look at me with that adoring and dependent gaze..."
Kikyo Kushida suddenly let out a sweet, soft laugh. "Hehe... I really have to 'thank' this anonymous netizen."
-------
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