C10

Chapter 10: The Truth Exposed in the Classroom

Monday after school.

The classroom, right after homeroom ended, was filled with the usual pre-departure chatter. The sound of desks being pushed back, the zip of bag closures. The trivial conversations exchanged among friends. An ordinary after-school scene, unchanged by anything.

Amidst that.

"Tachibana-kun."

Hearing a familiar voice, I looked up. Suzumura was standing there—a sight that had been rapidly becoming ordinary lately. From an outside perspective, it might already look like a natural occurrence.

"Let's walk home together today too."

"Yeah."

Lifting my bag—the usual flow, the usual conversation.

...Or so it should have been.

Except.

Today was just a little different. Suzumura's expression as she walked beside me was somewhat stiff. She was smiling, trying to act like her usual self. But at unexpected moments, her gaze dropped. A face that looked like she was deep in thought.

(...Is it about time?)

I figured that if it went on for a few days, the other side would eventually make a move. I didn't know the exact date or time, just that something would happen soon. That was about the extent of my awareness.

"Alright, let's head home."

Kokona smiled faintly, and the two of us headed for the classroom exit.

That was when it happened.

"Tachibana."

A voice rang out from behind. A voice that carried well across the classroom, the ace of the soccer club. A guy who always had people gathered around him.

Renya Kujo.

I stopped my feet and turned my gaze toward the source of the voice. Kujo was standing near the center of the classroom. Around him were several classmates. It wasn't the bright atmosphere from before. He was smiling... but another emotion was mixed into that smile.

"Got a minute to talk?"

With those words, Kujo slowly closed the distance. Someone stopped the hand holding their bag. A girl chatting by the window, a boy about to leave the classroom—they naturally halted. Gazes gathered, and the after-school murmurs gradually quieted down.

"......What?"

When I asked, Kujo smiled with just the corners of his mouth.

"Well, you see."

Kujo looked around his surroundings. As if making sure everyone present could hear him.

"You've been looking awfully happy lately, haven't you?"

A few people reacted to those words.

"Lunch together, walking home together, and plus..."

He paused for a beat.

"You even went to the arcade, right?"

The exact moment he said that. Kokona's expression changed.

"Kujo-kun...?"

She called his name softly. Her voice was laced with clear panic. But Kujo didn't stop.

"Hey, Tachibana."

He stepped in closer.

"Did you seriously believe it?"

The air in the classroom shifted slightly.

"......Believe what?"

"Come on."

Kujo chuckled amusedly.

"The thing with Suzumura."

At those words, the blood drained straight from Kokona's face.

"Wait—"

She immediately cut in with her voice.

"Kujo-kun, hold on—"

"What?"

Kujo turned his gaze toward Kokona.

"It's not like it's something to hide."

"No, that's not it..."

Kokona searched for words. Rightly speaking, she had intended to tell him with her own mouth today. In private. She had meant to apologize properly. Yet—

In a place like this, with the entire classroom watching. Not framed by laughter or curious stares...

...And yet.

"It's better to just spell it all out."

Kujo cut off Kokona's words.

"Tachibana needs to face reality already."

At that moment, Rinko Takamiya furrowed her brow.

"...Renya?"

It was her usual casual address, but a hint of bewilderment bled into her voice. In Rinko's mind, things weren't supposed to go this way. Kokona would tell him it was a fake confession in private at the very end. After surprising him a little, it would end with a laugh—Rinko thought it was just that kind of minor affair. Yet Kujo was speaking now so that the entire classroom could hear.

"Hey, Tachibana."

Kujo continued.

"You..."

"Did you actually think you were dating Suzumura?"

The classroom fell silent, and a few people exchanged glances.

"...Eh?"

Someone let out a small gasp. Kujo pressed on regardless.

"I mean, obviously, right?"

"Talking every day, eating lunch together, walking home together."

Every time he stacked those words. The gazes of the people present converged on the two of them.

"Don't tell me."

"You actually thought Suzumura chose you?"

Unable to bear it any longer, Kokona stepped forward a single pace.

"Kujo-kun, stop it already!"

This time her voice was sharp and clear. Panic, confusion, and the urge to stop him were all tangled together.

However.

Seeing that expression, Kujo interpreted it in a different way.

"Look."

Kujo turned his gaze toward Tachibana with an expression resembling a sigh.

"Suzumura's troubled, see."

Kokona's eyes wavered.

"No..."

She muttered softly... but that voice didn't reach Kujo.

"Because you took it seriously, right?"

Kujo wore the face of a man speaking absolute truth.

"Just because Suzumura is kind, don't go taking everything for real."

The atmosphere in the classroom changed... Several students were beginning to realize the meaning of the words Kujo had been stacking up.

And then—

"......Eh?"

"It's a lie?"

Small voices spread. Kujo slowly looked around. As if getting intoxicated by the sensation of the room's air shifting under his words.

"That's how it is."

And then.

Kujo uttered the definitive words, loud enough for everyone present to hear.

"Tachibana and Suzumura's relationship—it's been a complete lie from the start."

For a split second. The next moment after sound vanished from the classroom. As if frozen time had started moving again, small voices arose.

"......For real?"

The air throughout the classroom rippled all at once. Shocked voices leaked out here and there, and faint whispers spread like ripples.

At the center of it—

Kokona Suzumura stood frozen with a pale expression.

◇

"It's a complete lie from the start."

The moment Kujo's words dropped, the atmosphere in the classroom inverted completely. A space that had just been a pre-departure lounge transformed into a venue exposing someone's secret.

"......Eh?"

"A lie, what do you mean?"

Several people exchanged looks. One of the boys who understood the meaning twisted the corners of his mouth.

"......You've gotta be kidding me."

At that voice, a boy sitting next to him reacted.

"So, all those attitudes Suzumura was showing Tachibana were just acting?"

"Well, I mean, obviously if you think about it normally."

Someone's soft chuckle—it slowly expanded. The ones who reacted most were the boys who had held feelings of favor toward Suzumura. The sights they had been forced to witness until now. The sight of them sitting next to each other during recess. The sight of eating bento together during lunch break. The sight of walking side by side after school. There were people who had found those things unpleasant.

"Honestly, I was shocked, man."

One boy whispered to his neighboring friend.

"Asking why the hell it was Tachibana."

"I know, right."

The returning voice was mixed with a bit of laughter.

"I thought Suzumura was way out of his league anyway."

"They were together every day, so I really thought they were dating."

That conversation wasn't loud enough to be intentionally fed to the targets. Even so, in the narrow confines of a classroom, even voices meant to be restrained inevitably reach your ears, whether you want them to or not.

The girls also exchanged glances.

"So it was true after all."

"I did think it was a bit unnatural."

Whispering voices overlapped.

At the center of it.

Meiko Kano had dropped her gaze to the smartphone she had been holding since slightly before the uproar began. The screen already displayed an indicator showing recording in progress. What Kujo would say, what kind of reaction Tachibana would show—she had intended to watch it from the very beginning.

Rinko Takamiya noticed that movement.

"...Meiko, that."

Lowering her voice.

Meiko Kano didn't even turn her face, staring fixedly at the smartphone screen as she replied flatly.

"What?"

"I mean... are you recording?"

"Because it's fun."

Kano said it as if it were nothing, never breaking her eyes from the smartphone screen.

"Stuff like this, if you look back at it later, it's hilarious, right?"

There was no confusion or guilt in that expression. What floated there was a cold curiosity that relished even the moment someone else got hurt.

"Kujo-kun."

Kano curved her mouth amusedly while watching the screen.

"Since we're at it, shouldn't you say it all the way to the end?"

With those single words, Kujo gained even more momentum.

"True."

He turned back to face Tachibana.

"Hey, you."

"It was the same at the arcade, wasn't it?"

At those words, Kokona's shoulder jerked.

"......っ"

"Acting like you were protecting Suzumura."

Kujo laughed.

"Making that whole boyfriend face."

"She's my girlfriend," and all that crap.

Kujo looked like he was having fun. It was the face of a man who had finally managed to spit out words he'd kept bottled up inside his chest for so long.

"Man, I really thought it was amazing."

"Why the hell'd you believe so hard that you were chosen?"

Kokona's expression twisted.

"Kujo-kun, you've got it wrong—"

...Her voice trembled.

"That's not what—"

Kujo turned his gaze toward Kokona.

"What is?"

"Talking like that..."

Kujo kept piling words on as if to scold Reo Tachibana.

"Kujo-kun, stop it already."

It was a voice squeezed out desperately.

(Why, why is Kujo-kun talking like this...)

Yet Kujo right now wouldn't stop.

"Look."

Kujo turned his gaze to Tachibana with an expression of exasperation.

"Suzumura's just being nice."

"Even now, she's shielding you so you don't get hurt."

"You, who delusionally convinced yourself you were the chosen one."

A few people in the classroom caught their breath. The tip of those words was aimed entirely at Reo Tachibana. ...As if. As if to say the one who got tricked wasn't the victim, but the fool who let himself be tricked.

"H-Hey, Kujo."

That was the first time Sugisawa spoke up. It wasn't his usual light tone. A somewhat bewildered voice, but Kujo didn't look back. Sugisawa didn't continue any further, either. The atmosphere of the surroundings, Kujo's momentum. He didn't have the resolve to cut into that.

Meiko Kano pointed her phone camera and said flatly,

"I mean, if you think about it normally, you'd figure it out."

She directed a condescending, cold gaze toward Tachibana.

"Did you honestly think you could date Kokona for real?"

"She's a model, super popular."

She chuckled softly.

"There's no way a girl like that would suddenly pick a guy like you."

At those words, small laughs leaked once more from the boys who had envied Tachibana. Kujo smiled with satisfaction.

"That's how it is."

"Wake up to reality, Tachibana."

Kujo's words dropped into the classroom. No one spoke up immediately. The laughter, the whispers—they stopped for a split second.

The destination where gazes gathered. Reo Tachibana didn't talk back at all. He didn't shout, nor did he glare back at Kujo. He just looked at Suzumura.

"......Is it true?"

It was a small voice. Even amidst the classroom murmurs, only those words were distinctly clear. Kokona's expression distorted; she opened her mouth as if trying to say something. But. In the end, all that came out were short words.

"......Yeah."

Giving a small nod.そのまま, she lowered her gaze.

"I'm sorry......"

The exact moment. Tachibana's expression froze. As if it required time just to comprehend the words he had just heard. A little late, his gaze slowly drifted downward. Tension entered his clenched fist, his fingertips trembling. As if to hide it, his other hand moved slightly. It looked like he was enduring something. Tachibana, who rarely showed emotion outwardly. Right now, he couldn't hide it anymore.

He inhaled a few times. He tried to raise his face, but couldn't. You could tell he was putting force around his eyes. He seemed to be desperately holding something back.

A few people in the classroom stopped their laughing faces. Surely... this is... It was an expression that made them think that.

"......I see."

A little while later, Reo Tachibana muttered softly. It was a raspy voice. Kokona stepped in a single pace closer.

"Tachibana-kun..."

Bewilderment and regret were mixed into that voice. But Tachibana shook his head slightly.

"......Sorry."

That was all.

The next instant, Tachibana grabbed his bag and headed for the classroom exit.

No one could stop him. It was a fleeting event, so brief that they even lost the timing to call out to him. The door opened, and Tachibana's figure vanished. From beyond the closed door, only footfalls faded away into the distance.

◇

The classroom left behind was enveloped in an odd silence. The laughter that had echoed until moments ago vanished, and everyone stared briefly at the other side of the closed door.

The one who broke that silence first was Meiko Kano.

"......Got it on video."

Checking her smartphone screen, she smiled with satisfaction. Reflected there was the back of Reo Tachibana rushing out of the classroom.

"Are you an idiot for actually believing it?"

Meiko muttered softly. Contained within that voice was an unambiguous emotion of contempt.

Amidst that atmosphere, Kaho Kitayama remained hunched over, unable to move. What lingered deep within her chest was a cold sensation—that things had gone past the point of no return.