Chapter 12: Guilt

*if you would like to support me, please subscribe to me on Patreon, my username there is InfernoXtreme!*

Ayanokoji POV

After the class had gotten the papers for the exam, it seemed that there was no way for us to have a single set back.

Today was the day that the result of the midterms was revealed

"Well, well, well. This class has shown me something I didn't expect. Several students, more than half of your class actually. Scored perfect 100's, putting your class first in terms of the average score." Miss Chabashira said as the whole class celebrated at the achievement

Even Horikita had a small smile, but I wasn't satisfied yet. There was an eerie feeling coming from Miss Chabashira, her sadistic self probably has bad news as well

"Sadly. It seems that one student has failed." She said as the whole class went silent

Why did I have to be right? Why is our teacher such a sadist

"H-how! This can't be happening!" Hirata yelled out, almost seemingly loosing himself

I got up from my seat and walked to him, surprising my classmates, I held his shoulder and gave him his water bottle

"Relax. Breath and drink some water. Sit down and take deep breaths, alright Hirata?" I said, calmly as Hirata takes a second to collect himself and does as I said

As Hirata sat down and looked down in disbelief at the current situation, I took the time to ask Miss Chabashira

"Who failed and by how much?" I asked her flatly, unsure of how someone could have failed even though they had all the answers. Most likely Yamauchi

"Yamauchi Haruki, failed maths by 1 point." Miss Chabashira said with a smile, ignoring the pain and anger in the students as she took pleasure in seeing their suffering

"I wish to ask ma'am, will we lose any class points if he is expelled before next month?"

"Ayanokoji what the hell man!" Ike yelled as everyone around didn't know what to say

Ayanokoji asked as the rest of the class looked at him in horror, Yamauchi looked at him in complete shock, Miss Chabashira smirks and says

"No. Since he will be expelled today, the points that will be added for the mid terms will not be deducted" Miss Chabashira said as I sat back down and thought about it

Yamauchi isn't what I would call a good person on paper, he is lazy, a liar and most of all, a pervert

If by this characteristics I were to judge, people shouldn't care if he is expelled right?

I looked around the class, seeing that people were uneasy at this revelation, Yamauchi on the verge of breaking down, Kushida trying to calm the situation

I noticed that Hirata was walking towards me from my back, very much furious at the situation. He hits me square in the head, harming himself more than me as the skull is one of the worst places to hit a person as it harms the one who hits more

I look back toward Hirata, not caring about his hurt hand as he uses his other hand to grab my collar

"HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT, HE IS OUR CLASSMATE AYANOKOJI!" He screams at me in rage as I shrug

"He has provided no value to the class, he didn't pay attention to the study sessions and still managed to fail when he had the answers to every question. So tell me Hirata, Why should we keep someone like that in the class?" I asked him out of curiosity

If Yamauchi provided any sort of value, it isn't in this environment. I looked around, trying to find anyone who will defend him

Yamauchi at that point went down on the floor, crying at his apparent reality. A liar, pervert and most of all, an idiot.

Is it possible to change someone like Yamauchi to be better? Is it possible for him to be a better person as well?

I thought to myself as it finally clicked. How hypocritical of me, I am worse than him as a person yet I am trying to be better, if I can try and get somewhere, he isn't an exception.

I mentally sigh at the amount of points we will lose from this, I hope to god that miss Chabashira has mercy and doesn't over charge us.

"Very well, Yamauchi come with me to the office to finalise the expulsion" Miss Chabashira said as Hirata also started to break down, Horikita seemed a little disappointed but not surprised

"Hold it." I suddenly said as Miss Chabashira stopped

"I beg your pardon?" She asked as I pulled out my student ID

"Ma'am, I would like to buy one point on Yamauchi's Math's paper." I said as all the students in the class stared in silence

As the atmosphere continued to grow sullen, Miss Chabashira laughed! Laughed infront of everyone with her whole heart

"Very well, but before that I wish to ask? What lead you to that conclusion?" She asked as I shrugged

"We can buy anything in this campus, a point on a test falls under anything" I said as she chuckled

"Very well, but are you sure you can afford this?" She asked as I mentally noted, this isnt going to be as easy as I initially thought

"How much?" I asked flatly, anticipating her response

"I will sell one point for 100 thousand private points." Miss Chabashira said as the class exploded, yelling about how they had no points

They all looked at eachother, unsure of how to fork up the points

I looked at Horikita and she nodded, understanding what she had to

"Everyone! This is our chance to prove our unity as a class! To save a classmate of ours, so please we can get enough points to save him! I will put in 30 thousand of my own points!" Horikita declared with passion as the class looked at her in surprise, motivated

"I will donate 10, no, 20 thousand to! We have to save Yamauchi!" Hirata yelled out as people slowly started following suite, people started donating 2 thousand and 5 thousand each as finally, about 20 thousand more points were needed but no one could fork that amount of up

Horikita had already used a lot of her points so as she was about to donate more I raised my hand up and said

"Take 20 thousand from me" I said as everyone screamed in joy, Yamauchi cried tears of joy as everyone was happy that we saved him, our classmate

I would imagine some would be unhappy or in disdain because he quite literally brought this upon himself, he was a dumbass who was going to pay for the consequences of his own actions.

But he was saved from that fate just like I was by Matsuo.

"Yamauchi." I looked toward him and spoke as the whole class went silent, my word holding strength as everyone had started to recognise me as someone who held power

"Everyone in the class has sacrificed their own points for you. So don't dare be lazy and mess things up for the class, because I won't come to save you again." I warned as he frantically nodded, thankful that he got to stay

"I will, I definitely will! Thank you Ayanokoji!" Yamauchi yelled through tears as I sighed inwardly

Will someone like Yamauchi ever change? That's for me to wait and see I suppose

I looked toward Horikita who was quite glad at the development and the class had also gained respect for her due to how she took charge and action.

It seems that Horikita had already started to shape up into becoming a leader, it was a small start but she will definitely get there, I will make sure of it.

Kushida might've been upset as she didn't like him, he was a pervert and he made her and another girl, Sakura very uncomfortable

But regardless, he has a chance, if he messes up and tries to do something bad again, he won't get another chance

My thoughts drift away as I look outside the window,  basking in the beautiful scenery, peaceful as ever.

"Ayanokoji!" Hirata exclaimed towards me, looking a bad frustrated

"Yes Hirata?" I asked as he gritted his teeth and said

"Thank you for saving Yamauchi... I was completely powerless and couldn't do anything to save him until you came....." he said as I shrugged

"It's fine, sorry for riling you up at the start, I needed to see how much the class cared for Yamauchi" I explained as Hirata nodded, still a little upset

"Hirata, can we talk outside? It's break so we can sit down and talk somewhere" I said as he looked toward me and nodded

"Sure...." He said as I got up and he followed me to a garden, just beside the school, a 5 minute walk at best.

"Come, sit down and let's talk" I said as he sighed and sat down on the bench there as I did as well

"Do you want to explain why you freaked out and hit me?" I asked as he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth a bit

"I... didn't want to bear the fact that I failed another classmate and.... I took the anger out on you...." He explained, regretful of his actions as I sighed

"Yamauchi's fate was decided by his own sloth, you had no part in it and you had done nothing wrong, why is it your concern?" I asked him out of curiosity

"No! I..... I could have helped..... I could have noticed...." Hirata exclaimed, a little defeated.

Powerlessness is the greatest motivator one can feel, once you are powerless and have been picked up either by someone or yourself, you can only look up and get better, there is nowhere else to go afterall.

"Then you are right, you didn't help Yamauchi. You failed in the standards you have set for yourself." I said flatly as Hirata looked at me in disdain and hopelessness as he looked down, unsure of what to say

"Hirata, you can't expect yourself to be a hero and save everyone. You are a human and you make mistakes to, you have forced this moral code on yourself that only harms you. I reckon that you stop, take a step back and relax. Don't bother with what has happened and how you failed, bother with what you can do moving forward" I explained to him as his eyes well up, getting watery

"I had a classmate in middle school... he wasn't treated well by anyone and in the end he... he chose to end it..... I was right there, I could have helped him, yet I didn't. It was my fault wasn't it?" Hirata said, tears slowly dripping down his face

"Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Hirata, it had already happened by the time you felt the regret for not helping. You can no longer do anything about that person. You can only make sure that something like that never happens again to the people around you" I said as Hirata looked at me in shock as tears increase in number, he was about to speak as I continued

"Hirata, you can't go on living in guilt over something, you have to repent, bury that person in your heart and move on to be a better person for your sake and of those around you. So please, try to keep yourself grounded and work on your emotional health, you can talk to me if you ever need someone or just want to vent ok?" I offered him as Hirata cried looking down, but the tears weren't the ones of guilt I saw before

Hirata seemed to have accepted his past, albeit only partially. It was a start and a start that I am glad for.

I hope to see a lot from you Hirata Yousuke, I really do

"Thank you... Ayanokoji!" He said as tears fell from his eyes, he gave a small smile as to show his appreciation

We spent the rest of the break on the bench, talking about things as we slowly became actual friends.

Good job Hirata, you've taken the first step, now go on and walk the ladder till you reach its end.