26 The Hero

"Is that why you didn't tell anyone about it?" Ichihara Midori asked disapprovingly.

"That's right," Ara answered straightforwardly. "I hope you keep it to yourself as well. Don't give her a chance to accuse you of slandering her."

"What do you mean? You yourself heard her that night."

"It's not a proof of her guilt," Ara told her. "I heard her – yes. But there was no proof. I did not record it. I may use it to cut ties with her, but not to discredit her to others. If I tell people about it, who would believe me?"

"But your car was sabotaged. If – "

"Her uncle is the chief of police," Ara interrupted blandly. "That time at the hospital, I told everyone who visited me that my car got tampered with. It would only take a call from her for her uncle to erase any trace of that incident."

"But that's unfair!" Ichihara looked more stricken than she was, that Ara couldn't help but give her a pat.

"It's alright. I told you earlier – a life for a life. Now that I've paid my dues, the next time she makes a move, I will not hesitate to cut her down."

This one time she was letting Okada Koharu off was what the real Ara wanted. She would grant her that wish. But from today onwards, there would be hell to pay for each misdeed done to her person.

Ichihara finally gave her a weak smile after that. A comfortable silence passed between them.

"Thank you. You're a hero," Ichihara said softly and Ara shook her head.

"I'm not a hero," Ara denied, remembering the words Alistair told her a long time ago when she called her brother a hero after killing the minotaur, and she passed it on to Ichihara.

"A true hero is not someone who can save others but someone who can save himself from his own demons and win, and in turn empowers others to do the same. I'm far from defeating all my troubles yet."

As she said that, Ichihara marveled at how cool Suzuki was at that moment. She felt a bit overwhelmed that she couldn't help but shed some tears.

"It doesn't matter. To me, you already are," she said honestly as she sniffed, and they both laughed at how silly they looked.

"Well, we better go back to our rooms. Classes will start soon," Ara said as she stood up, and started to leave, but Ichihara pulled her close to her to give her a sisterly hug. "Aww, you crybaby…"

The two of them were like that when the door suddenly opened, and an angry, handsome young man came rushing in. His eyes darted from Midori to Ara, and when he realized Ichihara had cried, he became more agitated.

"What did you do to her?" he snarled at Ara as he suddenly lunged, attacking her.

Sensing danger, Ara stepped back from Midori to receive the boy's attack heads on. Well, it wasn't really an attack to hurt her but to separate her from the other girl. It just looked threatening because of the boy's bulky body.

They didn't know what happened. One moment, he was about to punch the space next to Ara, but another moment, he was off his feet, and another, he slammed on the floor with a loud thud.

BANG!

"What the hell…" he groaned half disoriented from the impact.

Ichihara Midori quickly came to assist him back up.

"Who in the world is this guy?"Ara asked with a frown.

Hearing her words, the guy's eyes flew wide open and glared at her. "What kind of question is that? Weren't you in love with me?" he demanded, and Ara finally realized who he was.

"You're Sonoda Hiroaki?" she sputtered in disbelief. "Weren't you supposed to have spiky hair?"

At her question, the boy looked totally taken aback, and Ichihara suddenly laughed.

"What's so funny?" he snapped. "I came here because I heard this girl's bullying you again!"

"She did not. I was the one who came to meet Ara here," Midori answered, surprising both Ara and her boyfriend.

Ara?

First name basis?

Finally realizing that he thought wrong, Sonoda Hiroaki transferred his gaze from his girlfriend to Suzuki. "Then what's going on?"

"She just asked how I was because of the accident," Ara told him, and Ichihara nodded her agreement.

"I heard she's back so I came to tell her I'm glad she's okay. It's my fault she got into an accident," Midori said and Hiroaki looked at her in disbelief.

Well, technically, Ichihara was right. She was Koharu's main target. Ara was just the sacrificial pawn.

"How can that be your fault? You even nearly got killed because that girl tried to take you with her to the afterlife because she couldn't have me."

"Ha?"Ara cracked her knuckles. This guy needed a beating.

Ichihara bopped his head. "Ara didn't even recognize you when you changed your hair, never even once tried to see or speak with you before. What made you think she likes you? "

"Because…Okada said she does," Sonoda said, realization on his face, but then he scowled at Ara again. "But this girl attacked you months ago."

"Because Okada pretended to fall, and told Ara I pushed her," Ichihara said. She had never told anyone about what happened that time because she was confused and didn't want to malign anyone without being sure.

"Then why did you say it's your fault she had an accident?" Sonoda was totally confused now. Because he was Ichihara's boyfriend, Ara let Midori tell him the truth.

"That bitch!"

"Calm down. You can't tell anyone about this." Ichihara told him why.

"Oh my God! All this time, I was thinking you're the one who had the hots for me," Sonoda told Ara who blanched.

Oh please, no.

"She doesn't. It's Okada who's madly in love with you. But you can't tell anyone about her connection to Ara's accident."

"Why not?"Sonoda was unhappy.

"Because it's not your call," Ara told him blandly.

"You're not my mom, I can do what I want," Hiroaki retorted stubbornly and Ara was frustrated.

This bullheaded jock.

"Midori," Ara called Ichihara, using her name for the first time. "Why don't you dump this guy, give him to Koharu and find a smarter boyfriend?"

Ichihara laughed out loud while the boy was offended.

"Why you – "he lunged at Ara again but stopped mid-air, remembering who got slammed so hard on the floor earlier.

Ara gave him a grin. "If you want a fight, I can give you one," she said, but the judo athlete who had been whipped by her earlier so easily shook his head no, and suddenly behaved.

As they said, if one's brain was too stupid to learn a lesson, teach their bodies instead. HIYAAAA!