Chapter 73: Interlude: Our Middle School Has a Princess (Ange’s Story)

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Certain Student POV

Our middle school has a princess. No, she's so beautiful that even a princess might run away barefoot.

It was the morning, during our commute to school. From a distance, I spotted her bright blonde hair and hurried over.

“Good morning, Uemura-san!”

“…Morning.”

Uemura-san didn't even turn around when I greeted her from behind. But she rarely responded to anyone, so just getting a “morning” was enough to make me happy.

This classmate, Uemura Angelina, is stunningly beautiful, almost unreal for a middle school student. Her natural blonde hair already made her stand out, and on top of that, she had enchanting heterochromatic eyes. Her looks were straight out of a fantasy novel written by an over-imaginative middle schooler.

I walked alongside her.

—

When I transferred to this boring, rich kids’ school, Uemura-san’s seat was in a back corner, usually unnoticed.

It was like a different world.

Despite her looks, which could easily place her at the top of the social hierarchy, she showed no interest in her classmates and often spent her time alone, looking at her phone.

Our classmates were divided into those who watched her with fascination and those who glared at her with jealousy. I was, of course, among the fascinated ones.

“Uemura-san has been like that since she transferred here in the second semester of her first year,” a kind classmate told me. I sighed, realizing how different she was from me—another transfer student without any special features.

Two weeks after I transferred, having not yet made friends, I was cornered after school by Oda Miho and her friends, who seemed to be at the top of the class hierarchy. They called me out to the stairs of the cultural building and surrounded me.

A timid new transfer student like me was the perfect target for bullying. I had sensed the bad vibes but didn't expect them to be this blatant. Even in a fancy girls’ school, bullies exist everywhere.

“Did I do something to deserve this?” I asked, knowing it was futile, as bullies target the weak without reason.

“Ah, you just piss me off,” Oda sneered.

“Yeah, you’re always so timid,” another girl chimed in.

As expected, they’re just being mean. I knew resisting would only make things worse, so I stayed quiet.

“And you always glance at Uemura, like you want to be friends with that fake princess. It’s annoying.”

“Yeah, two fake princesses wanting to be friends. Hilarious,” another girl laughed.

Surprisingly, Oda became more talkative, revealing her true feelings.

Ah, so it's just jealousy of Uemura-san's beauty. They're irredeemably petty.

I was exasperated but couldn't fight back, having no friends yet. So, I glared at Oda with slight contempt.

“What's with that look? Do you think you can look down on me? Want to get bullied even more?”

Her twisted personality made her sensitive to being looked down upon.

“Screw you!”

“You deserve this. With an attitude like that, you’ll get bullied more. It's all your fault.”

Oda and her friends kept piling on their twisted logic, making my face turn pale.

“Bullied ones have a reason for it. From now on, you’re our slave.”

“Look forward to it; hell awaits you.”

“Please, have mercy…..”

“Why should we? If you don’t want to be bullied, strip and m********e right here. We’ll record it and maybe let you off.”

I felt hopeless when…

“I got the bullying recorded.”

A voice, like an angel’s, came from behind.

“Uemura?!”

“Oda-san, still at it? What's fun about ganging up on someone? I can't understand the level of stupidity it takes.”

Her cold, sharp voice sounded like the kindest melody to me. Holding up her phone, Uemura-san stepped closer, and Oda and her friends froze.

“Shut up! I’ll mess you up too!”

“Mess me up? Like using your brother’s name to threaten people again?”

“Wha…?”

“Remember when your idiot brother almost got beaten up, ran into the street, and got hit by a car? Is that moron still around? If he'd died, he'd have contributed to preventing global warming.”

Uemura-san was on another level. Calm, composed, and unafraid. Oda had no chance against her.

I didn’t understand why Uemura-san was here, but…

“Shut up! You think you can get away with this? I’ll kill you!”

Oda, cornered, shouted out in desperation. I almost laughed at how pathetic she was, but Uemura-san silently put her phone away, picked up a nearby fire extinguisher, and…

“Fine.”

She swung it down at Oda's head. Oda barely dodged it, the extinguisher hitting the ground with a loud thud.

“Wha-what are you doing?!”

“Why dodge? If it hit, you’d join your brother in the afterlife painlessly.”

“Don’t kill us off! Are you really trying to kill me?!”

“Who said they'd kill first?”

Wow. If Oda hadn’t dodged, Uemura-san would've become a murderer. And those eyes—she was completely serious.

Oda, realizing she couldn't win, fled with her friends before Uemura-san could swing again.

I was left there, rescued but shaken.

“Thank you so much.”

I awkwardly thanked Uemura-san in formal language. She didn't respond; she just put the extinguisher back and didn't even look at me.

Feeling a bit uneasy, I tried again, louder.

“Why were you here, Uemura-san?”

“I just happened to be.”

“…”

Happened to be? In the cultural building after school with no apparent reason? And at the perfect timing?

“Heh.”

I couldn't help but laugh. Uemura-san must've been worried about me and came to help.

She’s definitely an angel. No doubt.

“You were about to get seriously hurt, and you're laughing? If you have that much energy, be prepared to fight back. Being weak only makes bullies escalate.”

“Y-yeah.”

Such strong words. She possesses the strength of a princess from a fantasy story.

I wonder if she's always been this strong or if she had to become this way out of necessity. Perhaps someone taught her what it means to be strong.

—And maybe she's trying to teach that to me too.

My curiosity about Uemura-san grows even more.

“By the way, you're the transfer student, right? Sorry, I don't remember your name. What is it?”

“Uh…”

It’s been two weeks since I transferred, yet it stung a bit to realize Uemura-san still only saw me as the “transfer student.”

But the fact that Uemura-san, who never seemed to get along with anyone, was asking for my name felt significant.

She's interested in me.

That alone made my anticipation grow.

“Uh, my name is—”

I just knew we could become friends. Such a hopeful thought.

—

A year has passed since I transferred.

I think I’ve grown closer to Uemura-san, though when we walk to school together, we mostly remain silent. Usually, I do all the talking while she just listens and occasionally responds. 

But today, Uemura-san initiated the conversation.

“Hey, I have something I want to ask.”

Just that made me happy.

“Sure! Ask me anything! What is it?”

Without thinking, I answered enthusiastically.

“Okay. Do you know what kind of pumpkin pants make men excited?”

“…”

I don't know. I'm sorry.

I apologized silently in my mind.

Princesses sure have their mysteries, I thought to myself.