Chapter 101 :: Rabbit Group

Chapter 101 :: Rabbit Group

Sora's POV

Humans lie.

It might sound obvious at first, but think about it properly for a second—

Humans lie.

In other words, no human has ever not lied throughout their lifetime. They're fundamental to our very being and society – even a so-called white lie is no exception; it's still a lie.

It's ironic, isn't it? A world that preaches about truth and integrity is, itself, built upon a foundation of lies.

This school, which aimed to prepare its students for the future, was perhaps attempting to be reminiscent of that with this exam.

All of us within this group should be working towards the same common goal, but the greed, selfishness and lying tendencies of human beings served as our own obstacle.

As always, trying to make the best of my situation, I'd come early in hopes of observing everyone else's behaviour.

A group of Class C girls were the first people to enter. They were chatting loudly, looking like they were enjoying their conversation quite a bit. However, when they saw me, they instantly lowered their voices and sounded disgusted. They made sure to sit a good distance away from me.

My fist tightened.

The hell is with this shit?! If Light, Lelouch or Ayanokōji were here instead of me, you'd all be swooning right now!! Where is my harem?!

Next in was Yukimura, a Class E student. We made brief eye contact, but both of us quickly looked away and he took a seat near me. He seemed to be acting how he always had.

Next came the Class A group, Machida and Takemoto. Morishige came in by himself. Since they'd decided not to discuss anything, they once again sat at the far end of the room, close to the Class C girls.

"Hey, Machida-kun. After we're done here, do you want to hang out with us? The three of us were looking to have some fun."

Double standard!!!

"I see," replied Machida.

Even though Machida wouldn't participate, all the girls noticed him. Apart from Ichinose and Ibuki, they all seemed interested in Machida. And it was unfair! I'd been openly cooperative and helpful so far! Was I doing something wrong?!

In any case, they were probably inviting Machida to hang out because they'd given up on finding the VIP. I highly doubted it was part of some master plan, so...

Machida didn't seem particularly perturbed by the invitation. In fact, he looked pleased.

Next came the other Class E students: Sotomura, or the Professor, and Karuizawa. Rather than coming here together, it looked as if they'd arrived at the same time by sheer coincidence. Karuizawa appeared openly disgusted by Sotomura's presence. After they entered, she quickly moved toward the back of the room.

Why are so many girls openly hostile like this? To me, it makes zero logical sense.

For one, it's only the girls that do it. I've never seen a boy be openly disgusted just by walking near someone before. It seemed to be an exclusively female thing.

For two, it just made them dislikeable to everybody except all the girls in your clique who follow you. Unless you swing that way and they're your target audience, what the hell are you doing? You might as well be asking to make an enemy out of half the student body who don't much appreciate being treated like trash just because their popularity is lower than yours.

For three; you make enemies, sure, but surely you get some compensation for it to justify the behaviour, right? Perhaps acting like this typical bitchy gyaru gets you more status and popularity?

―Except it doesn't, and to prove it, all you have to do is look at the two most popular girls in our year. Ichinose Honami and Kushida Kikyō.

The trait that these two share, which is what contributes to their extreme popularity, is actually the exact opposite of how Karuizawa acts. They're excessively nice to everyone indiscriminately!

It's pretty clear that the key to being liked by everyone is to be cute, attractive and kind to everyone. In other words, if Karuizawa thinks she's gaining status or popularity or something by acting like she does, then she's one of the biggest idiots I've met so far.

That being said, though...

"Hey, aren't you sitting in my seat?" asked Karuizawa. Despite being late, she glared at the Class C girls. After seeing them being so friendly with Machida, she seemed even more frustrated.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. What do you mean, your seat? Just sit anywhere. Any spot should be fine."

"Well, that's the seat I want. That's my spot. Move," urged Karuizawa.

"Huh? I'm talking to Machida-kun right now. He promised to hang out with me tonight," said Manabe.

"Hey, Machida-kun. Could you please tell her that you want me next to you?"

So now he's got girls fighting over him, too?! How wonderful.

Machida, however, did not look pleased by this development. He actually seemed rather troubled, hesitating over what to do and who to pick.

Karuizawa, picking up on his hesitation, quickly inserted herself between Manabe and Machida, and grabbed his hand.

"How about we spend some time together, just the two of u—"

"Pffft—!"

I couldn't help it. I let out a pretty loud snort when I heard that.

I actually found myself amazed that she could say something like that with a straight face, given that she was already dating Hirata.

"Hey! What are you laughing at?" Karuizawa's cold glare set its sights on me.

Oops. Not good.

"Ah, sorry, I'm just impressed that you can come out with stuff like that when you already have a boyfriend," I answered truthfully.

Upon mention of Hirata, some doubt appeared on Machida's face. Curiously enough, as Karuizawa noticed this, a flash of genuine worry formed on her expression.

She composed herself quickly, though, and retorted sharply. "My relationship with Hirata-kun has nothing to do with a disgusting boy like you, Sora-kun."

I actually found myself a little impressed by her. A majority of people would probably panic and stumble over their words trying to come up with a good excuse, but Karuizawa quick-wittedly dismissed my words, keeping the ball in her court.

In other words, she was sharper and smarter than she first appeared. This also gave me a look into the person known as Karuizawa Kei.

Over the past two days where I'd observed her behaviour, I noticed a trend in the way she approaches new environments.

First, it was with the school – she attached herself to Hirata, one of the most popular boys not only within Class E but within our whole grade. She quickly became the girlfriend of the man who had one of the most influential voices and highest statuses in the whole year.

And then again, the pattern repeated within this very group. Karuizawa had scouted out Machida, who seemed to be the most influential and powerful man here, and swiftly moved to take his side.

She was harnessing power and status by using boys as a proxy. I suppose it was easier to target men so that she could use her womanly charm.

As I'd observed, though, Karuizawa was definitely above your average gyaru-type clique-leader girl. So why is it that she purposefully lowers herself to this almost parasitic behaviour?

She had the looks and intellect to become a super popular figure on her own, just like Ichinose, yet she chooses to act like this instead, likely even knowing that she'll make enemies by doing so.

Logically, it makes no sense...

But that's it. Logically it makes no sense. Not everybody is like me, rationalising things using logic from a neutral perspective.

No, the point was that Karuizawa isn't thinking logically. There was some root cause, a mental barrier that was preventing Karuizawa from wielding her full potential.

Mainly due to my own past, I already had a pretty decent idea of what this root cause could be. I didn't want to mentally affirm anything, though, because I'd rather not believe it.

"If you have a boyfriend, you shouldn't be messing around with other boys. Isn't that right, Machida-kun?" sneered Manabe.

"R-right. It's immoral to do such things when you already have a partner. I cannot accept that, Karuizawa." Machida dubiously agreed.

It appeared that, due to my remark, Machida had begun leaning toward Manabe and her friends' side.

I didn't intend to influence the situation and just wanted to observe, but it is what it is I suppose.

"W-wait, Machida-kun—!"

This time, Karuizawa actually wrapped herself around Machida's arm like a cobra would. Wow. She was definitely persistent, that's for sure.

"A-are you really going to choose her over me?" she said in an unexpectedly fragile voice. "It's just that... I thought that we..."

I felt my eyebrow raise on its own. She was really going to extreme lengths for this, huh?

Karuizawa Kei. A girl willing to be hated in exchange for complete superiority. It was unfathomably fascinating to me.

"W-well, I..."

Karuizawa's little scheme seemed to do the trick, and Machida became visibly flustered by her aggressive advancements.

"Oh, please, Machida-kun, can't you see that she's just being a lowlife suck-up? Who'd want anything to do with a cheater like her?" Manabe said viciously.

Karuizawa stared intently at Machida, her arms still clutching his, with an almost puppy-like expression. "Will you toss me aside, Machida-kun?"

"Excuse me, but would you please move? That's the seat Karuizawa's been sitting in." Karuizawa's charms seemed to have won Machida over.

Whoa. Outstanding move.

"Huh? What the hell?" Manabe wined, before glowering at Karuizawa with open hostility. "You're such a bitch. This is a load of bullshit!"

Well, no matter how you look at it, Karuizawa is most definitely cute. And it was obvious that Machida had begun to fall for her – it made sense that he'd decided to protect her.

The three Class C girls spat venomously at Karuizawa, and then promptly got up and left. Karuizawa moved into the now empty seat. Actually, she scooted up so close that she was practically glued to Machida. Seriously, they were right next to each other, their bodies pressed together.

You know, Karuizawa, although you've won this battle, you may have just lost the war. I shifted my gaze over to the three Class C girls, in particular, Manabe.

People don't like it when they're presented with victory, only to have it snatched away at the last second.

The events that transpired just now must've doubled their negative opinions of you – if they didn't hate you before because of all the crap with that pushing allegation, they definitely did now.

"Hello, everyone!"

Ichinose arrived, bringing life into the depressing room. The air in the room was especially heavy today, but I thought it best to try not to further speak carefully.

"Now then. Will Class A not participate this time, either?" asked Ichinose.

"Of course we won't. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves, though. We haven't changed our policy," Machida answered.

Beside him sat Morishige, who had erased all semblance of human emotion from his expression. He reminded me of a certain someone I was friends with.

I had seen him around before this test. According to Class D's wonderful intel-gathering, Morishige was one of the students who'd become a turncoat and switched to the Sakayanagi faction after Katsuragi's defeat during the test on the island.

Under normal circumstances, he probably wouldn't have followed Katsuragi's orders, but Sakayanagi was sick and thus absent from the trip. Without the presence of his leader, Morishige had no choice but to do as he was told.

"Since it would be a waste to spend an hour in complete silence, how about we play cards again?" Ichinose proposed.

After Ichinose had concluded that exam-oriented dialogue was impossible, she'd turned to casual discussion and games instead, opting to play cards with the group.

Ichinose took out her cards immediately. How you approached your goal was a major aspect of this test. She wanted to narrow down the list of suspects through open, honest conversation. On the other hand, Katsuragi aimed for stability by suppressing all conversation. Then there was Ryūen, who wanted to turn everyone into his enemy while taking complete control of his class.

There would be no way to tell whose approach was the best until the test ended, I suppose.

In the end, we became absorbed in playing cards for the hour, and then disbanded.

Even if we did talk, it wasn't as though the VIP was just going to step forward. I watched the order in which all the students left. The Class C students were usually the first out the door, but they hadn't moved. Meanwhile, the Class A students, typically the last to leave, were first out the door. Well, not everyone in Class A had left yet. Machida and Karuizawa were exchanging contact information.

The other two Class E students got up. At the same time, Karuizawa answered her phone and stood. She exited the room, chatting away on the phone, seemingly talking about something funny or interesting. As she walked away, the three Class C girls brushed past me and made their way out.

They gave off a terrifying aura. They looked considerably angry – they were probably severely peeved by the earlier altercation involving Machida.

Ignoring my building anxiety, I peered out into the hallway to see what was going on. I saw the three girls closely following Karuizawa. Being alone, she was at a disadvantage. The situation had me worried. Also, Ibuki, who might've mitigated the other three, wasn't around.

The other two Class E students had already left, which meant that I'd ended up chasing the four girls alone. When I turned the corner, I heard the ka-chack sound of an emergency exit door slamming shut. The elevators weren't even crowded, so it wasn't like there was any reason to use the stairs. There had to be another reason why they'd gone in there. I opened the door a crack and heard voices.

"Hey. Why'd you bring me to a place like this?!"

"Stop playing dumb! You did push Rika, didn't you? Start talking."

"H-huh? I already told you, you've got the wrong person."

The three girls surrounded Karuizawa, forcing her up against the wall. They were preventing her from escaping. However, even surrounded, Karuizawa offered no apologies. She continued to deny what they were saying.

I had a bad feeling about this, though. It seemed that, even if Karuizawa was innocent, Manabe and her friends would still press the accusation aggressively as an excuse for them to expel some pent-up anger toward Karuizawa.

"Look, I have plans later. Can you please move?" Karuizawa asked.

"Okay, let's confirm it right now. I'm going to call Rika. If it wasn't you, we'll forgive you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I'll call the teacher."

"And what will you tell the teacher, exactly? It's not like we're being violent with you or anything. Besides, if you talk to the teacher, we'll tell on you, too. We'll say you pushed Rika. You'll also get in trouble."

Neither side intended to back down. Karuizawa tried to escape, but the girls grabbed her arm and pushed her up against the wall. One of the girls took out her phone, probably to call Rika.

I felt my body stiffen up as I watched the scene. Although I knew it was because it reminded me of some things I'd rather forget, it didn't help unfreeze my body. All I could do was watch as my chest tightened.

"W-wait!" Karuizawa pleaded with them not to call.

"What? Why should we wait?"

"I just remembered something. I bumped into that girl before."

... Seriously? After repeatedly swearing you have no idea what they're talking about, you suddenly remembered? Karuizawa... you're the shittest liar I've ever seen.

"You're a total liar. You remembered her from the very beginning, didn't you? Well, whatever. So, are you going to apologise to Rika properly?"

"No way. She was in the wrong. She's a complete airhead."

You'd think Karuizawa would realise the situation she's in, but apparently not. Although I'm probably the person with the most hate for bullying in the entire school, I still found myself feeling a little angry at this idiot who's done literally everything possible to put herself in this position.

"You're seriously pissing us off. We might've forgiven you if you'd actually apologised to Rika. But now, we definitely won't forgive you."

The girl pressed down against Karuizawa's shoulder.

"Whatever. You probably never planned on forgiving me."

After Karuizawa spat out those words, one of the girls, Yamashita, lost her patience. "Shiho-chan. I've had enough. Karuizawa's unforgivable."

"I know, right? She should understand exactly how Rika felt. Why don't we bully her for real?"

She struck Karuizawa's shoulder with a little extra force.

My anger swelling, I wanted nothing more than to throw the door open and put an end to this. However, my body was still paralysed – I could do nothing but sit here and watch.

Focusing back on the scene, it looked like Karuizawa Kei was starting to change.

"Ahh... ahh..." She panted as if she were having a hard time breathing.

She held her head in her hands as if she were in pain. When Manabe and the others saw her suffering, they weren't sympathetic. The opposite, actually. It irritated them.

"Act as girly as you want, we're still not going to forgive you."

They grabbed Karuizawa's hair and forcefully yanked her head up.

Damn, what the hell? These guys are borderline psychopathic! They didn't even show a trace of empathy.

"I've always hated your face, Karuizawa. I mean, don't you girls think she's just butt-ugly?"

"Yeah, for sure. Don't you just want to cut her face?"

―That escalated quickly―

"St-stop. Stop it."

"'St-stop it', she says. What happened to your big attitude?"

The more you envied your enemy, the more you hated them, to the point where you wanted to strip away their advantages. If we were talking looks, then Karuizawa had them all beat. But Manabe, Yamashita and Yabu wouldn't be satisfied until they'd verbally torn Karuizawa's pretty face apart. Karuizawa trembled, frightened. She was on the verge of tears, still unable to move.

People show their true colours when they're in jeopardy. Karuizawa was beginning to show who she really was. I guess that's also why I'm still just standing here, unable to help in any way, shape or form.

"How about we leave a little punishment on her?" Manabe suggested.

"Yeah! Give her a lasting reminder of the consequences of her actions."

Attempting to do the very least that I could, I shakily pulled out my mobile phone and opened the camera function. I aimed it through the narrow slit in the door and captured a picture.

"Aagh--!"

Manabe yanked Karuizawa's hair brutally, while the other two grabbed each of her arms and locked them in place. The picture I'd just taken was pretty strong evidence, but I didn't know if I'd actually be able to use it to deter Manabe and her friends.

Although it might sound pathetic, I was actually also beginning to feel frightened, even though this had nothing to do with me.

"Please stop..." Karuizawa begged as a tear fell out of her eye.

"What, just like how you stopped before pushing Rika?" Manabe sneered, unrelenting.

I finally resolved myself enough to try and intervene, even though violence was most definitely my biggest weakness. I was just glad Shiro wasn't here. Just as I was about to do something, however, the worst possible voice rang out from behind me.

"Kuku, Sora? What are you doing creeping around the emergency exit?"

Ryūen.

"Uhm, well, I-... it's nothing. Nothing at all."

I tripped over my words as I tried, and failed, to formulate an excuse.

There was nobody else around at the minute. After all, nobody wanted to stick around after the meetings for no reason. As such, the area of the ship we were at was deadly quiet.

Ryūen clearly must've heard Karuizawa's panicked cries, because a sadistic grin formed on his face.

"What do we have here?"

Ryūen walked up to the door, right beside me.

"W-wait—!"

I tried to stop him, but Ryūen simply ignored me and kicked the door open. It swung on its hinges and slammed into the wall with a loud, metallic crash.

As he did so, the entire scene froze, as if it was a TV show paused by the remote.

I froze because I had a dreaded feeling that I knew what was about to happen.

Karuizawa froze because yet another enemy just appeared before her.

Manabe and her friends froze because they were obviously fearful of Ryūen.

Ryūen froze because he wasn't expecting it to be his classmates doing the bullying down there.

Time ticked by at a seemingly agonizing pace. If there were a clock here, every single movement of the second hand would reverberate within my eardrums.

"Manabe. The hell're you doing?" Ryūen eventually asked.

"Ryūen-kun?"

Ironically, the balance of power shifted. Now, Manabe and her friends were also in fear, just like Karuizawa was a moment before. They'd gone from being the dominant party to being at the mercy of Ryūen. Such was the power held by Ryūen Kakeru.

"W-we were just teaching Karuizawa a lesson, right girls?"

"Yeah! She pushed Rika-chan, so we decided to intervene for her, you know? Rika is far too kind to do anything about it herself, so we're just sticking up for her."

The girls explained themselves with anxiety clear in their eyes. Certainly, if Ryūen decided to punish them, they'd probably end up in an even worse state than Karuizawa.

Speaking of Karuizawa, I took a look at her. Her eyes had dried up now, but she was still visibly terrified. She was also glaring at me with resentment in her eyes.

She was probably angry that I had just been watching this whole time. To be fair, I couldn't blame her.

"I see," Ryūen said. "Manabe. If you got caught and our class ended up getting penalized by your idiocy, you know who would be getting the punishment, don't you? You can't do things like this in places like this. We could hear you from out there, you know."

So, Ryūen didn't actually care that his classmates had been blatantly bullying Karuizawa. He was just concerned that they were doing it so obviously. Great.

"Y-yes. I'm sorry, Ryūen-kun." Manabe and her friends lowered their heads.

"Next time, just keep it out of the way, you know? Make sure that nobody is around to see you, like this idiot was." Ryūen jabbed his thumb towards my paralysed form.

"So, we should go to a more isolated place next time?" Manabe asked with a small grin.

"Obviously. And don't leave any marks on visible skin, either." Ryūen advised.

Only Ryūen could give this sort of advice in a situation like this. He was probably the worst possible person who could've turned up.

After saying that, Ryūen turned his attention back to me.

"Still, Sora, I'm surprised that you were just standing out here watching. If you'd stepped in and saved Karuizawa, who knows, maybe she would've given you some 'special thanks'," he said with a vile smirk.

Karuizawa looked equally disgusted, but in her state, she was in no position to retort.

Just then, the situation got ten times worse. Ryūen looked down, and raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't... record anything, did you?" Ryūen inquired.

"Huh? Oh, no..." I answered hastily.

"Then there should be no problems if I check your phone, right?"

Ryūen held his palm out, as if to demand I hand over my phone.

"T-that won't be necessary..." I tried to rebut, but my voice was weak.

"Is that so..."

I've often praised myself on my reflexes and reaction time, which I'd trained over the course of my whole life, but right now my ability must've been greatly dulled, because I barely even noticed Ryūen's hand snaking out and grabbing me by the collar.

"Wait!" I pleaded, but my plea fell on deaf ears.

Ryūen roughly dragged me into the emergency stairs, and closed the door behind us. He carelessly threw me forwards, toward the wall.

Manabe and her friends jumped to the side to avoid being crashed into by me, and they barely got out of the way in time. Instead of hitting them, my back collided with the wall near Karuizawa.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as Ryūen flashed his white teeth in a sinister smile.

"This all could've been avoided if you just stepped in sooner," Karuizawa told me hatefully.

"Well, I'm sorry. I was just a little scared and—" I began to explain.

Despite everything, Karuizawa let out a genuine laugh. "You were scared, were you? Ha, whatever."

I realised just now how stupid that sounds, especially to Karuizawa.

"See, it's nothing personal, Sora, but if any pictures or videos of this little incident were to get leaked, Class C would be in quite a bit of trouble, wouldn't you agree?" Ryūen asked as he stepped toward me.

"Uh, yeah, I guess so." I replied hesitantly.

Ryūen let out a haughty laugh, as if he was enjoying himself.

"You Class Ds are so amusing, I must say. You're just like Lelouch, you know, Sora. When you're all together, actually, no, when Kururugi Suzaku is present, you both act all cocky and condescending. But everything changes when you're on your own, doesn't it? Where are your balls now?"

"Well, that's just a bit of playful trash-talk, you know! It's nothing serious, or anything!" I said in a tone that I realised was unconvincing.

Ryūen stopped right in front of me, and leaned in close, grabbing a fistful of my shirt in his hand. As my legs trembled, I came to the realisation that this was the first time in ages that I'd felt fear.

"Men that are all talk but don't have the gall to back it up themselves are pretty pathetic, you know?"

Just then, as Manabe and her friends were distracted watching what Ryūen was doing, Karuizawa pushed herself off the wall and bolted. She scrambled out of the emergency exit door and took off from the scene.

Manabe turned to chase her, but Ryūen held out his arm and stopped her. "Let her go."

"Huh? Why?"

"If you go chasing her now, then you'll make it obvious you're up to something. You'll have plenty of chances in the future to do whatever bullshit you want with Karuizawa, so just go back and relax for now, yeah?"

I hated that Ryūen, who was so quick to wield violence, was also so smart. Usually, a person who jumps to using their fists could be outsmarted with a bit of thinking, but Ryūen was an exception to that rule.

For me, Ryūen is probably the most dangerous opponent within this entire school.

Heeding his advice, Manabe and her friends all looked at each other for a brief second, nodded, and calmly left. Once they'd gone, they shut the door behind them, and left the two of us alone in silence.

"Now, let's have a little chat, shall we, Sora?" Ryūen said with a gleeful grin.