I knew the day was going to suck the second I opened my locker and saw the blood.
Not actual blood, obviously. Just... potential blood. Mine.
The inside of my shoe looked like a hedgehog had exploded in it. Thumbtacks. Dozens of them, glittering in the morning light like tiny, metallic middle fingers pointed directly at me.
"...You've gotta be kidding me."
I stood there for a second, holding the shoe with two fingers like it was something diseased. The hallway noise rolled around me—chatter, laughter, footsteps—but none of it got close. There was this weird empty circle around my locker now. Like I was hazardous waste.
Fine. Maybe I was.
I tipped the shoe over the trash can and watched the tacks pour out in a little silver waterfall. It made a stupidly pretty sound. I shook the last few out, slid my foot in, and hissed when one stray bastard dug into my heel.
"Of course," I muttered. "Can't even bully me properly, huh?"
No one answered. No one even looked. The few who did just quickly turned away, whispering to their friends.
"Is that him?"
"Yeah, that guy."
"Gross."
A week ago, I was "kind of funny Joro" who'd help with homework if you asked nicely enough and share his fries at lunch.
Now, apparently, I was radioactive trash.
The rumors had gone from zero to nuclear overnight. I'd lied to the two school idols. I'd toyed with their feelings. I'd tricked the baseball ace, my "best friend," just to make myself look better. Depending on which idiot you asked, I was either a manipulative womanizer or a creepy stalker.
Spoiler: I was neither. I was just stupid.
I left the locker and walked down the hall. Conversations dipped when I passed. Some people got out of my way like I might touch them and give them whatever disease I had.
Home sucked. Now school sucked. Congratulations, Joro. Full combo.
Outside, someone bumped my shoulder a little too hard. I staggered, caught myself, and turned. Two guys I barely knew looked back at me with matching smirks.
I stared at them. They stared at me.
I thought about saying something clever. Something sharp.
Instead, I just felt tired.
"...Whatever," I muttered and kept walking.
⸻
The week crawled by like that.
Lunch alone. Desk covered in trash. A bucket of water "accidentally" knocked over me behind the gym. Laughter echoing off concrete. My uniform sticking to my skin, my hair dripping into my eyes.
I crouched near the drain, water pooling around my shoes, and let out a rough laugh that sounded more like a cough.
"This life of mine just keeps getting prettier, huh?"
Home wasn't better. I still hadn't told anyone there anything. Not that they'd notice if I did. At least at school people were actively avoiding me. At home they were just... absent.
So yeah. Pretty great all around.
The only person who still messaged me was her.
Sumeriko Sanshokuin. Pansy.
The girl who watched me get verbally executed in that classroom and then decided to finish the job by dropping the final bomb herself.
The girl who also said she liked me.
I still didn't know which part pissed me off more.
One afternoon, I sat on a bench out back, staring up at a sky that was way too bright for how crappy I felt. My phone buzzed.
I almost ignored it. Then I saw the name.
Pansy: Come to the library after school today.
I snorted.
"Of course you want to see me. Everyone else is treating me like I'm contagious."
Another buzz.
Pansy: I'll tell you why I did what I did. My true intentions.
That made my fingers twitch.
True intentions, huh?
I stared at the words a moment, jaw tight. The scene from before replayed automatically: her calm voice, her glasses catching the light, the way she'd exposed me in front of everyone with surgical precision.
She'd said she loved me, then ripped what was left of my reputation into confetti.
What kind of "true intentions" were you supposed to have after that?
The phone buzzed again.
Pansy: If you don't come... I'll do something really bad to you.
"...Seriously?"
I leaned back against the bench, covering my face with my arm.
"Do something bad, she says. What else is left?"
Still... my thumb moved on its own.
Me: Fine. I'll come.
I hit send and stared at the sky some more, feeling my stomach twist.
I told myself I was only going because if I ignored her, things might somehow get worse.
I did not tell myself that some stupid, pathetic part of me really wanted to see her.
⸻
After classes, the hallways thinned out. My shoes squeaked faintly as I walked toward the library. I half-expected someone to jump out and dump another bucket over my head, but the corridor stayed empty.
I pushed the door open.
"Good afternoon, Joro-kun."
She was there behind the counter, like always. Braids, glasses, that faint little smile that never told you what she was actually thinking.
For a second, something in my chest loosened. Then I remembered the classroom and it snapped tight again.
"Afternoon," I said. "You called. I'm here. So, what—"
"Before that," she cut in smoothly, "could you do something for me?"
Of course.
I exhaled slowly through my nose. "I'm not really in a 'favor of the day' mood."
"It's not difficult," she said, like she hadn't heard me. She raised a hand and pointed toward the shelves near the back. "There's a book I'd like. We Are All Cats. Could you bring it to me?"
"That's it?" I stared at her. "You dragged me here to play delivery boy?"
"That's not all I dragged you here for," she said, faint amusement in her voice. "But yes. I would like the book."
Unbelievable.
I clicked my tongue, turned on my heel, and headed for the shelves anyway.
Because apparently even when I'm public enemy number one, I'm still doing errands for a girl.
"Pathetic," I muttered under my breath.
Finding the book wasn't hard. I ran my fingers along worn spines, the smell of old paper wrapping around me. I wasn't really a library nerd, but this place had a weird calm nothing else in school did.
Or used to, anyway.
"There," I said quietly when I spotted it. We Are All Cats. What kind of title was that, anyway?
I slid it out, holding it in one hand.
As I turned back toward the counter, a voice froze me in place.
"Good afternoon."
Sun-chan.
My grip tightened on the book.
I took a half-step forward out of reflex, then stopped. No way was I walking out there now.
Quietly, I backed up and slipped into the gap between two tall shelves, pressing my shoulder against cool wood. From here, I could just barely see the counter and the chairs near it through the cracks.
Pansy sat in her usual spot. Sun-chan—Ooga—stood across from her, rubbing the back of his neck like he always did when he was nervous.
"Good afternoon, Ooga-kun," Pansy replied.
My chest did that annoying little twist again.
Right. She'd told me earlier in the week:
"Ooga-kun confessed to me. I turned him down."
She'd said it in that flat voice, like she was telling me the weather. I'd shrugged it off at the time, made some dumb joke. But it stuck in my head anyway.
He likes her. Of course he does. She's pretty. She's smart. And under that deadpan, she's... something else. Something only I've seen.
Or thought I'd seen.
A part of me had been stupidly proud that she rejected him. Proud, like that meant anything.
Now I was hiding behind a bookshelf like a creep while the two of them talked.
Great upgrade, Joro.
Sun-chan shifted his weight, then suddenly pulled out the chair across from her with a clatter and sat down.
"So, uh," he said, voice a little too loud, "how's it going?"
Pansy blinked once. "It is going," she said.
"O-Oh. That's good!" He laughed, high and awkward. "Hey, did you know my grip's really strong? I can crush an apple with one hand. The guys on the team always freak out when I do it."
I dragged a hand down my face.
"...Seriously, dude?"
Pansy nodded politely. "That is... impressive."
"Right? And, uh, I always make sure to sleep at least eight hours. Good rest is important if you want to be strong for baseball."
I bit back a snort.
This was some next-level awkwardness. Watching the school's golden boy flail like this should've been funny. A week ago, I would've been dying.
Now it just left a weird hollow feeling in my chest.
He was trying so hard.
For her.
"Sun-chan," Pansy said calmly.
"Y-Yes?" He straightened so fast his chair creaked.
"I'd like to ask you about some things."
"Oh! Sure! Ask anything, seriously." He flashed that bright smile everyone loved. "I'll answer whatever you want."
From my hiding spot, I frowned.
Ask him about what? Baseball? Dumb cat books?
"Um... is that really Sun-chan?" I muttered. "Why's he acting like a puppy on a leash?"
Pansy adjusted her glasses. The overhead lights glinted off the lenses, hiding her eyes for a moment.
Then she tilted her head slightly, expression gentle, voice as soft as ever.
"...Ooga-kun."
"Y-Yeah?"
"Why," she asked, "did you lie to Joro-kun... and set him up?"
The words dropped into the quiet library like a block of concrete.
My breath caught.
For a second, I thought I'd misheard her. That my brain, fried from a week of crap, had just decided to start hallucinating.
Lie? Set me up?
Sun-chan's smile froze halfway. The color drained from his face.
"What...?" I whispered.
My pulse thudded in my ears. The book in my hand suddenly felt heavy.
Lie to me? About what?
He was the one person I'd thought... No. I didn't think he was perfect. I knew better than anyone he could be selfish, or moody, or stupid.
But use me?
My stomach twisted.
The library was dead silent. From my narrow view between the shelves, I could see Sun-chan's hands curling slowly into fists on the tabletop.
Pansy just looked at him, calm and unblinking, as if she'd asked him something simple like "What time is it?"
The back of my neck prickled.
What the hell is going on?
I pressed my shoulder harder against the wood, knuckles whitening around the book, and waited for Sun-chan to answer.
Because suddenly, I really, really needed to know.