Chapter 6: The strangely ordinary vengeance

Mako and Suzuna started arguing again. Seriously, these two can't be left behind. I ignored them for the time being because I saw something that caught my eye. On the other side of the hallway, I saw Mimi carrying papers, all the while being bullied by the same girl who pushed her during skirt measuring.

The girl shoved on Mimi's shoulder, causing her to drop the papers.

"Whoops! Oh, you're so clumsy!" The girl said.

Mimi didn't reply back. In fact, she didn't do anything as a response. She simply picked up the papers while waiting for the girl to leave.

"You're so pathetic!" the girl exclaimed to Mimi.

Obviously, I couldn't leave Mimi be, so I helped her pick up the papers.

"T-thank you..." she said.

"Don't mention it."

After what I just saw, I wanted to know why that girl kept on teasing her.

"Does it happen often? The bullying?"

"Yes." she said with no hesitation.

"Then why won't you stand up for yourself? Aren't you the school prefect?"

It just seemed odd that the prefect was the one being bullied. Usually, it's the prefect that stop it, but I never really thought about her situation. If she was being bullied, then who'd help her but herself? Concerned, I decided to help, to reach out.

"If you get pushed around, tell me."

She paused for a while and reacted, "Eh?!"

"I can't let you suffer alone. If anything were to happen to you-"

Suddenly, Mako called for my attention, completely breaking the mood, "Kura! Come here!"

After helping Mimi with the papers, I went to where Mako was, but not without leaving her a smile. I once again turned my attention to Mako, who was still arguing with Suzuna. In order to break them up, I gave them each a task:

"Find anyone holding their skirts down."

"Why?" Suzuna asked.

I passed on my reply to Mako, "Because it shows that they're hiding something underneath."

"How would you know that?" Mako asked me.

"It happens a lot in anime."

"What kind of anime are you watching?" he asked.

"That's besides the point. We have no leads or anything that could tell us who the pantyless student is."

And so, we searched the whole school for anyone suspicious. It was better than having the two fight. I mean, I know of the conflict between exorcists and demons, but I didn't know it applied to everyone. Anyway, I took advantage of their abilities. I asked Mako to use charms to conjure winds that can flip skirts. It was efficient, but it backfired on me when they saw me looking at their underwear. Suzuna had her own tactic: she tripped on any girl she passed by and had them expose their underwear. Again, it backfired on me because they couldn't blame Suzuna for it. I just couldn't catch a break.

Lunch break had ended, but we still haven't found ms. commando. All we ended up doing was flipping skirts and acting like perverts, which lowered my reputation even more. But still, I had never seen so many designs before... Maybe I was a pervert... We decided to try again after school and went back to class.

In the middle of classes, Mimi entered the classroom and apologized, "I'm sorry for being late!" I had committee work to do!"

I knew she had other plans, but the teacher excused her anyway. She took her seat and listened to the discussion, as if she'd been there the whole time.

Meanwhile, my focus was on something else: Mimi's arm. It was bruised. Her school badge hid it, but I knew what it was. Where could she have gotten that? I wanted to ask, but I hesitated because I didn't want anyone else to find out by doing so.

Then as the teacher discussed, the girl from before appeared and pointed at Mimi, "Don't you go running away!"

The whole class panicked, it was a senior. The teacher scolded her, but she ignored it and looked at Mimi viciously. Then she grabbed Mimi by the wrist and dragged her out. I wanted to stop her, but I hesitated because... well, a girl took her, so... I watched them as they left.

"H-hey!" the teacher exclaimed, "Come back here!"

I sat there, frozen. I wanted to help her, but that would mean facing the senior. I already had a bad reputation as is, going after her would only make things worse for me. Plus, what would I do? With my Parthenophobia, I couldn't even get hear her. Unconsciously though, I stood up and left the classroom.

"Where are you going?!" the teacher asked, "We haven't even solved the-"

"The answer's x=4!"

It was a simple problem, so it only took me a few seconds to solve it. Anyway, I chased after them all the way to the rooftop. Stair after stair, I ran towards them until they stopped on the rooftop, meeting up with the senior's crew.

The senior pushed Mimi down and grinned, "Did you really think you could get away?!"

"You got a lot of nerve!" her friend said.

They didn't notice me come in, so they were unaware of my presence. Or maybe they were just ignoring me. Anyway, they continued teasing her, saying, "So when are you gonna give it back?"

Mimi had no idea what she was referring to, "I don't..."

"Don't act dumb, bitch!" the girl replied, "I know you took it!"

It looked like Mimi didn't really know anything, but the girls kept forcing an answer anyway. She couldn't even stand up for herself. How did she become a prefect with that personality?

"Well, if you won't give it back..." she said as she flipped Mimi's skirt and attempted to pull down her panties, "We'll just take yours!"

Mimi struggled to keep it up, but the girl overpowered her. Her friends laughed the whole time, enjoying the shaming in front of them. And as I watched, the desire to help her ascended within me. Then like before, all my negative energy burst out once again and I lost consciousness.

When I came to, the first thing I saw was Mako's charm. Holding the charm was Mako, who sealed my negative energy temporarily.

"W... what happened...?"

"See for yourself." he said, pointing at the senior who was shivering in fear.

"P-please! Have mercy!" the bully pleaded along with her friends.

The girls had teary eyes and sweaty faces. It was as if they just saw a monster or something. Also, they were clustered up together, holding each other's hands.

"I-it happened again..."

"Yep." Mako replied, "but this time, it wasn't your fault."

He pointed to the other side, and when I looked there, I saw Suzuna with a vicious look on her face. I couldn't see it, but I could feel that she had transformed into her demon fox form. Behind her was Mimi, hiding from the bullies.

"Don't touch Mimi again!" she addressed to the thugs.

"Y-yes!" they answered.

Then Suzuna, Mimi, Mako and I left, leaving fear-stricken girls alone. Mimi went home first, thanking us for saving her.

"How about a kiss as a reward?" Suzuna told her.

Mimi was surprised, "Eh?

Then Mako hit her head and said, "Don't listen to her. See you tomorrow!"

She smiled at us and left the school. She was finally safe from those bullies. Then just as Mako and I were about to leave as well, Suzuna stopped me and reached out her hand.

"I don't usually trust monsters like you, but I guess for now..." she said while giving me a photo, "I'll cut you some slack."

I looked at the photo she gave me and saw the girl from before, shamelessly exposing her naked butt. The photo didn't really bother me that much. That's what happens when you've seen enough skirt flips. But why did it look like the girl in the photo was forced to do it?

"Oh, and don't mind the details!" she said, "Let's just say I had some 'fun' with them a bit."

I didn't want to know what she did anymore. I simply nodded to her, as my sign of thanks. After she had left, Mako and I went straight to Kinbaku's place and gave the offering.

He appeared in front of us and said, "Where did you get this?!"

"You don't wanna know..." Mako answered.

"Okay then..."

He began the purification, and the sensation I felt the last time was the same sensation as now. Could it have been just a coincidence? Perhaps. Either way, I still had a portion of my miasama dispelled.

The next day, when I went to the PMC room, I saw Mako & Suzuna arguing over who would take the center seat.

"I'm taking this!" Mako declared.

"No! That's my seat!" Suzuna argued, "I'm the most important person here!"

"Swing out!"

"Why you...!"

I cut in and asked Mako what was going on.

"We're joining the committee!"

That took me by surprise. I never imagined both school idols to join the PMC. But...

"Who invited you?"

"I did." someone from behind answered.

I turned around and saw Mimi, acting tough once again. It was as if the shy Mimi never existed.

"We need more members to ensure that every student follows the school rules!" she said.

"And I can see Mimi any time I like~!" Suzuna added while salivating.

Then Mimi hid behind me , staying away from her. How ironic, she was hiding behind her just the other day. I guess there was still more about her that I had to figure out. But as long as the PMC is here, we won't let anyone hurt her or any of the students in Kirihana high!