I was talking with Tsūmen about a new manga I started reading a few days ago. It was a romantic manga, and the protagonist reminded me of him, so I was very keen to recommend it to him.

Ever since that day, Yasurouka has been avoiding me. Even though the number of times we both accidentally stare at each other is a different scenario. I think my progress with her was going good but after that day it has been downhill.

Even though all I did was tell her the truth, maybe she couldn't accept it. But I still didn't know the reason for her to think of herself as inferior to Kizhashi. I mean by looks, it's true that Kizhashi is quite cute but Reina isn't too bad either.

I don't understand why people feel the urge to compare themselves with someone and then feel bad about it. Even though it might affect her directly, it will at some point. Maybe it will affect Kizhashi's and her friendship.

But to be honest, I already saw this outcome and knowing how Yasurouka is, her guilt will abide her talk with me one way or the other. She isn't obnoxious enough to not realise her own mistakes.

But I'll have to be more careful with each move. I'm really close to checkmating this vessel.

I glanced over at Yasurouka's desk and noticed her talking with Kizhashi. She was smiling while telling her something, which Yasurouka was listening to with a baffled look on her face.

Looking at Kizhashi reminded me of yesterday's incident. The way she is acting and smiling genuinely makes it feel like nothing out of the blue happened. It's not like she was ganged up by three and was assaulted mercilessly or something.

I also noticed something which caught my attention. Kizhashi was wearing her full sleeved shirt. Now it wasn't odd for her to wear a full sleeved shirt. What was odd was the fact she was wearing them without folding the sleeves.

Generally, she wears her full sleeved shirts with sleeves folded till her forearm. The thought which came to my mind was that maybe I'm overthinking stuff because I saw something like that happen to her.

Then, I realised that I was actually not overthinking about this matter. I remembered Isobe and Uyeno kicking her in specific spots on her body. It was her stomach, shoulder, waist and her shin bone.

The thing common between all those spots was the fact that no one could see the bruises there. It's always covered with clothes, no matter what Kizhashi does, she won't be able to show her bruises without taking off a piece of cloth.

Looking at her side which she showed yesterday, I wonder if she even had the thought of playing a victim to frame them in the first place.

I also didn't expect Uyeno and Isobe to be this smart and hit her in concealed areas. They were well aware of the consequences if their action got revealed. That explains why they didn't even slap her once or punch her in the face.

Though, I remember Uyeno grabbing her arm with much force, so maybe that left some mark there, and that's why Kizhashi is wearing a full-sleeved shirt to hide them.

I'm also quite impressed because she even came to school after that horrifying experience. I'm pretty sure that anyone would stop coming to school after this kind of treatment. Does that mean Kizhashi is quite a strong-willed person?

Also, the fact she didn't start crying until it was quite a lot for her to bear and she broke down. Though I'm sure that it wasn't the fear or the pain that caused her to cry. Maybe something else. The way she was crying was so empty, but I could tell that her grief was real.

And the way her void eyes were staring when they finally stopped. It looked like she was dead from inside. But looking at her right now, she again seems so lively. It was like her soul was trapped in a body which wanted to give up surviving.

Anyway, it doesn't concern me in any way, so I don't care about it.

It was quite a boring day at school. Well, all we did was study and nothing else, so it makes sense. It was the last period now, and fortunately the teacher got busy with something. So it was a free period for us.

The bell rang as the final period was over, too. I got up from my chair and headed towards the door. As I was about to turn around, someone came running from the opposite direction and bumped into me. I looked at the figure and it was Yasurouka.

She was out of breath, panting and had tears on the edge of her dark coloured eyes. She raised her head and looked at me through her teary eyes. I stared into her eyes without saying a single word.

She quickly averted her eyes and ran past me into the classroom. I turned around to take a look at her and noticed her rubbing her eyes with her hands.

It was the first time I saw her crying. But because of the situation between us, I couldn't approach her at that moment. I was a bit confused and curious, too. She doesn't look like someone who'll cry over something.

I looked in the direction she came running from and between the crowd; I noticed Gaisen and Kizhashi walking towards the class. They were holding hands and Kizhashi's face was slightly tinted in red.

I looked back at Yasurouka and finally realised what her problem was all along. I understood why she always compared herself with Kizhashi. My intuition was correct from the day I saw her talking with Gaisen.

I was all making sense now. All I need right now is a proper plan and act accordingly to it. What a unexpected turn of events.