When they were face to face, Katsura Kotonoha was too shy to say much to Hayashi Maki. So when he struck up a conversation on the train, she mostly fell silent—he did most of the talking, and she just nodded along like a deer in headlights.
But once they'd added each other as contacts and switched to chatting by phone, it was like someone opened the floodgates. With Hayashi Maki's praise and gentle prompting, she soon—unknowingly—told him almost everything about her home life.
So Hayashi Maki learned a few things:
Kotonoha currently lived with her younger sister in a high-end condo. Their mother, Katsura Manami, was a workaholic who could go months without coming home. She was strict, too—had enrolled Kotonoha in all kinds of cram classes from a young age, and when there was free time it was kendo practice.
Hayashi Maki actually approved of that. A beautiful girl who knows kendo is a bit safer. But remembering that Kotonoha is, in "that" kind of story, the heroine… that kendo tends to be as good as useless. And her fragile heart and tendency to "blacken" under pressure were her biggest weaknesses.
All in all, she was a gentle, nurturing "big-wife-type" girl worth cherishing. The fact that his wish-sense triggered to let him hear her longing meant her mental stress had built up too much. If she suffered a blow now, she might snap in an instant and become a yandere.
The bell rang.
Kotonoha reluctantly put away her phone. A top student wouldn't be caught on her phone in class. But she was still too eye-catching. Her excited, glowing look as she texted someone was noticed by a few girls—led by Kanroji Nanami.
When class ended, Nanami—jealous of Kotonoha's looks and figure—rounded up her friends and started making snide remarks.
"Hey, did you see? That girl is flirting again. Who knows which guy she's trying to seduce this time—grinning at her phone like that."
Tall and assertive, Nanami was popular in class. The girls around her—Obuchi Minami, Koizumi Natsumi, and Mori Kumi—formed a little clique with her as the head.
Where there are people, there's a "groups." High school is just a small society. Even the "song of innocence" comes with power plays. These years are when people start showing their true colors.
Nanami's jealousy of Kotonoha partly came from the fact she herself was dating a senior. One day she passed by, and her boyfriend's eyes were glued to Kotonoha's face and chest, practically drooling like a wolf. Nanami decided that Kotonoha must be deliberately tempting him. She began spreading rumors.
"Don't let that cute face and great figure fool you—behind the scenes she's definitely doing compensated dating! Those attention-grabbing huge breasts—who knows how many guys have touched them? They're probably 'rubbed' bigger."
Once that rumor spread, Kotonoha's introverted personality kept her from explaining—and even if she did, no one would believe her. At that point… whether she "died" or "was covered in filth," she couldn't win.
Because of the rumors, Kotonoha fell from admired honor student to someone everyone avoided and ostracized.
Now, as Nanami sneered, Obuchi—automatically backing her friend—piled on.
"I think so too. Look how happy she looks—such a flirt."
Some girls might look alright (this is 2D—no ugly girls, after all), but behind people's backs, some speak very dirty.
"Exactly—there she goes, flirting again," Koizumi Natsumi added with a loud voice, pointedly glancing toward Kotonoha so others would follow her gaze.
Feeling the strange looks, Kotonoha hunched her shoulders, not knowing how to respond. Gentle by nature, she couldn't muster a retort. She'd be lucky if people didn't pile on.
Her shrinking silence only emboldened the bullies—and in her classmates' eyes, "confirmed" that she was indeed flirting.
Sad to say, not one person stood up for her. The boys just ogled, eyes glued to her face and the uniform straining around her chest, thinking only one thing: "If Kotonoha's that kind of girl, maybe I can get a turn."
Human ugliness, on full display.
Put simply: if the popular clique targets you and the class isolates you, you're about to face bullying from everyone. Most people have a herd-and-spectator mentality; watching drama is human nature. With Nanami's status, one word from her and plenty would chime in, unleashing a torrent of verbal abuse and isolating Kotonoha.
Compared to Asada Shino's case, Yukino's approach really did seem "more correct." Well—not necessarily "correct," but certainly effective: uproot the rumormonger entirely, beat them down so they can't hurt you again.
Kotonoha hunched her neck. Shy to begin with, she had no courage to speak up about being misunderstood. And who would she explain it to? With no friends, her inferiority told her no one would believe her anyway. This school only brought her pain. If only she could transfer—say, to Hayashi Maki's school.
Her grades weren't bad; transferring into Hakuō Academy mid-year wouldn't be a problem. Money wasn't an issue, either. But her mother was always busy, and whenever she wanted to bring it up, the words died in her throat.
Kotonoha's silence only made Nanami more brazen. She swaggered over and plunked herself onto Kotonoha's desk, speaking like a mini delinquent:
"Katsura-san, tell me—who's the one flirting?"
Kotonoha flinched and was about to speak when her phone buzzed. Reflexively, she took it out. Compared to being bullied and accused, reading Hayashi Maki's message was more important.
"Hand it over," Nanami said smugly, snatching the phone and opening the email thread. "Oh? Flirting indeed. The guy says he's worried about you running off, so he's planning to come pick you up after school. Hah! How long are you two planning to do that thing?"
"I… I'm not—Nanami, please give it back."
Kotonoha trembled with anger, her full chest shaking with her breath—making the boys watching swallow hard.
Nanami's mood worsened. She knew Kotonoha wasn't doing compensated dating; she just enjoyed picking on her—especially since that girl was so pretty and so well-endowed. It made Nanami's own "little buns" feel eclipsed.