Encore 15 — The Rumour (I)

"Today, we'll have another transfer student."

"Huh?!"

The whole class exclaimed.

I mean, it is to be expected. We had two transfer students this week, one of them being in my class. I'm talking about that boy heartthrob, Kurokawa.

I see him staring at me sometimes, which is slightly disturbing.

Then there's the other transfer student, Ameri Goldengate from England. I don't want to get ahead of myself but... I think she likes me. That conversation we had is still lingering in my mind.

"Come in."

Ms Kin said.

The door slid open and the majority of the class tried to peek at the door.

It was a girl. She was short with a mean look in her eyes. She was more of a cool type of girl.

"She's Mei Zhing-Hua. A student from China. She can speak Japanese due to her father. Treat her nicely."

Everyone then looked at the girl.

She seemed slightly distant.

"Yo."

She said, looking away.

Distant is an understatement. She looks pissed off but it's probably just her permanent scowl.

Well, well, well, aren't these transfer students friendly?

·———·

"This is the cafeteria."

"Yeah."

Wow.

Why am I stuck with showing her around?

I don't think it's because she's Chinese and not Japanese, but she's not speaking. She's saying what she has to say, the minimum.

"Oi, why don't you also do something, Hoshi-san?"

I asked the girl who was assigned to do this too. She was on her phone the entire time.

The blue-haired girl glared at me with a disgusted scowl.

"Shut the fuck up and die."

Harsh.

I don't know what I do to deserve this treatment from girls. It annoys me so much. Is it because I'm ugly? I'm not, am I? Ameri said I'm not...

Gah, I didn't care before, but now I do since Ameri said I'm good-looking.

"Why are you twisting your hair?"

Zhing-Hua asked me.

"N-no reason."

"Tch. Fucking pervert."

I heard Hoshi-san whisper under her breath as we continued walking.

I'm so confused as hell, right now. As far as I know, there's no reason why girls should hate me specifically.

One would think it's because I talked to Ameri or something but it's been like this with, almost, every girl I talk to since the start of this semester.

I wonder why they hate me.

I looked at Hoshi-san as she led the group.

Maybe I should ask her...

·———·

"Now, we're done with the tour. Meaning that we head straight to Magic Theory."

Hoshi-san said, glaring at me.

Does she feel that uncomfortable around me? Usually, the others attempt to hide it, but, I guess she's not good at concealing her emotions.

Guess I can ask her now.

"Ho—"

"Hey, why're you so mean to Shiba-san?"

The one who managed to ask wasn't me but Zhing-Hua. She was scowling at Hoshi-san with her soft, yet sharp violet eyes.

"Uh, uh, what'd you mean?"

For the first time in the last hour and a half, Hoshi-san had a softer expression in an attempt to lie and deceive.

"This whole time, whenever Shoya attempts to talk to you, you start scowling and cursing at him."

Honestly, I'm more impressed at how good her Japanese is and at the fact that she doesn't realise how scary she looks right now.

"That's because..."

She tried to make an excuse.

"You... you assaulted a girl."

"Hah?! I've never done that."

I told her. For some reason, Hoshi-san became progressively madder at this.

"Don't lie! You assaulted her!"

"Who?!"

I was ultimately confused. I let out a slight groan, trying to understand what she was referring to.

"And so, he said he never did it."

Zhing-Hua said, nonchalantly.

Can't help but wonder why she's helping me. This definitely goes towards never judging a book by its cover.

"All the girls know it though! It's true!"

She exclaimed.

"What is?"

I asked.

"Uh, well..."

She suddenly became reluctant to explain once more.

"How about you tell us, Hoshi-san?"

The red-haired girl asked.

"R-right..."

There was something weird about what she said. I'm talking about Zhing-Hua. I just can't put my finger on it.

"At the start of the school year, last year, a rumour spread about the school."

A rumour?

"How comes this is my first time hearing about it?"

"Well, that's because it was a rumour which only circulated through girls..."

The girl told me.

A rumour only the girls knew. Well, I can see how that would be problematic. It still doesn't explain how I never heard anything about it.

"That doesn't make sense."

The Chinese girl started, holding her chin.

"If so, then at least one girl would've told a boy and the rumour would've spread even further. So then, why did it not?"

The girl finished.

She's good at deductions.

"That's because..."

"Spit it out!"

Hoshi-san straightened herself as she heard Zhing-Hua's booming voice.

"Uh, yes! It's because Kisaki-senpai told us not to say anything!"

"Kisaki-senpai..."

Honestly, I'm relieved to know the reason why the girls in my year hate me. I didn't really care until now. I always saw their behaviour as something natural. That's why I didn't care but...

Knowing that an old friend of mine, Kisaki-senpai, put me in this situation kind of makes me mad.

I clenched my fist and gritted my teeth to contain my anger.

"What else did she say?"

I asked her with a tense expression.

"She said that you assaulted her in her third-year of middle school and she barely escaped you. She said to spread the rumour among girls and not to tell any boys because if any boys are told, you'd assault the girls who told them too."

This is the reason she's been avoiding me in Interblade too. Due to this rumour. I swear... I'm so...

I launched my fist at the pillar near me.

"Shouldn't you stop that?"

I heard a voice and stopped. Turning, Zhing-Hua was staring at me.

"If you break that pillar, you'd have to pay compensation with Yen and that would just add to your pile of frustrations."

She said.

"You're right,"

I replied.

This exchange I just had with Zhing-Hua felt weird. Who is she?

"Anyway, I'll ask, you did nothing to this Kisaki person, right?"

I nodded at her.

"Then this is false accusations."

The girl pondered.

"W-wait, you're saying that everything she said was false?"

Hoshi-san asked, looking slightly dejected.

"Did you believe her at first?"

"Well, she didn't tell me. One of my friends told me. It seemed to have already spread by the time I heard it last year."

"That should've been the first red flag."

For some reason, Zhing-Hua looked extremely invested in this situation. It was like she was trying to help me.

"Hey, both of you."

"Hm?"

"..."

"'𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘥𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.'"

She said in Chinese.

"Huh, what? What did you say? That didn't sound like Japanese."

"Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War.' But why quote him all of a sudden?"

When I asked her, Zhing-Hua began walking all of a sudden.

"Where're you going?"

"There's still one place that you haven't shown me to on this tour."

Hoshi-san and I exchanged unsure glances.

"Where?"

The blue-haired girl asked.

Then, suddenly, Zhing-Hua grinned.

"To the principal's office."