Chapter 11: The Collapse of the Fortress
Translator: Soafp
I realized something was wrong on Monday morning.
The moment I walked into the classroom, the air felt different.
Normally Sakamoto would raise a hand and go, “Yo.” Tanaka would crack some stupid joke and make me laugh.
But today — no one looked at me.
No, that's not it.
They looked for a second, then quickly looked away.
More than one person did it.
“…Morning.”
I walked over to Sakamoto's desk and spoke to him.
“Ah, yeah. Morning.”
He answered. But it didn't have its usual lightness.
His eyes were wandering.
“What's wrong? The atmosphere's weird.”
“No, it's nothing—”
“Sakamoto.”
Tanaka cut in from a seat farther away.
His face — was dark.
“You should tell him.”
“…Tell me what?”
Sakamoto let out a small sigh.
“Sota, sit down. We need to talk.”
What Sakamoto told me — was the worst.
The group LINE.
All the trash I'd been posting about Fujimiya. About Rin.
It — had been spread around as screenshots.
“Huh… who did that?”
“No idea. But someone in the group sent it to another group. Looks like it spread from there.”
My head went completely blank.
“Spread — how much?”
“…I think about half the grade has seen it.”
Half.
Half the entire grade.
“Did Rin — did Himuro see it?”
Sakamoto lowered his eyes.
“…Probably. It reached Class Two.”
The ground disappeared beneath my feet.
That LINE chat.
The things I wrote.
All of it — all of it was still there.
‘She acts like that with everyone. It's just that she's not honest — she only treats me differently. She's just bad at handling things, clumsy lol'
‘Fujimiya seriously has no standards. He goes after anyone. Rin's probably annoyed by him.'
‘He only turned down that first-year because he's aiming for Himuro. So gross.'
‘I asked Rin to walk home and she turned me down. She's been so cold lately. Well, she always was lol'
All of it — words making fun of Rin. Words looking down on her. Words talking about her like she belonged to me.
I told myself it was just hiding my embarrassment. Just guy talk.
But once it became text, cut out of context, turned into screenshots — it was nothing but slander.
“…Who the hell did it? Who leaked it?”
“I told you, we don't know. But Sota, more importantly—”
“I'm asking who! That means there's a traitor in our group, right!?”
My voice got loud.
People around us started staring.
Sakamoto grabbed my arm.
“Calm down. That's — not something you get to say.”
“…What?”
“You're the one who wrote it, Sota. No matter who spread it, you're the one who wrote it.”
— It felt like getting punched.
Sakamoto looked straight at me.
Not with anger.
Something closer to sadness.
“Me and Tanaka told you over and over to stop. That it was too much. That it was hard to listen to.”
“…………”
“But you didn't stop. No matter how many times we said it. So — this is what happened.”
Tanaka stayed silent.
The other group members — none of them defended me.
The ten minutes before first period felt as long as a lifetime.
Inside the classroom, I was completely alone.
Because they'd seen me talking with Sakamoto and Tanaka earlier, everyone seemed to understand.
No one spoke to me.
When I walked down the hall, students passing by kept glancing at me.
“That's him.”
“The LINE guy.” — fragments of whispers.
My name, along with what I wrote.
That I kept badmouthing Fujimiya.
That I called Rin “that girl” and made fun of her.
That I talked about my childhood friend like she was my possession.
All of it — true.
I wrote it.
My words.
But.
I didn't mean it like that.
It was just complaining. Just joking with friends.
I didn't really think badly of Rin.
My hostility toward Fujimiya — was just because I didn't want him to take her.
I didn't mean it like—
…Didn't mean it like that?
Then what did I mean?
I laughed and called her “clumsy,” made a joke out of her being “cold,” put her down as “inefficient.”
What was I trying to protect?
Rin?
No.
My pride.
To maintain the illusion that “Rin and I are fine,” I looked down on her, tried to eliminate Fujimiya, and sought agreement from my friends.
All of it — for myself.
Lunch break.
I didn't want to be in the classroom, so I sat on the landing of the stairs leading to the roof.
I looked at my phone.
The group LINE wasn't moving. No — it probably was, just in another group without me.
I was alone.
When was the last time I'd been this alone?
Rin had always been by my side since elementary school. In middle school I got close to Sakamoto and Tanaka. It stayed that way in high school.
I'd never had trouble with relationships.
I shouldn't have.
And yet.
I destroyed it all myself.
The stairwell was dim, and I could hear the laughter of students from the hallway below.
It sounded — far away.
The door opened.
It was Sakamoto.
“…So you were here.”
“…………”
“Did you eat?”
“No.”
“Thought so.”
He sat down next to me.
He had a convenience store bag in his hand.
“Here. Onigiri.”
“…I don't want it.”
“Eat. You're hungry.”
“…………”
I took it.
Salmon. The one I always buy.
“Sakamoto.”
“Yeah?”
“…Aren't you mad?”
“I am.”
An instant answer.
“I'm mad — but I don't hate you. That's different.”
“…………”
“But this is as far as I can cover for you. What you did — you have to deal with it yourself.”
I know.
I know, but — I don't know how.
“Do you think — I can see Rin?”
“I don't know. But if you do — do it properly. No excuses.”
“…………”
“You know what your worst habit is, Sota? You try to wrap everything up with ‘I didn't mean it like that.'”
— It hit me.
“You didn't mean to talk trash. You didn't mean to hurt anyone. But that's what happened. If you don't admit that, nothing starts.”
I took a bite of the onigiri.
I couldn't taste anything.
Fifth period.
When I went back to the classroom, I saw Rin's seat.
She was listening to the lesson with her back straight, just like always.
She didn't look at me — even once.
During class, I watched her from the corner of my eye.
She didn't look angry. She didn't look sad.
Just — the same as always.
The same as always.
That was the scariest.
It would've been easier if she got mad. Easier if she cried — then there would be something I could do.
But “the same as always” meant — I was already outside the range of her feelings.
Not even worth getting angry over.
Not even worth being sad about.
Just — someone whose absence changed nothing.
After school.
Rin left the classroom.
I had to go after her. If I missed today — I felt like I'd never be able to talk to her again.
“Rin.”
I called out to her in the hallway.
She stopped.
When she turned around — she was still the same as always.
No anger. No sadness. Just quiet eyes.
“Did you see the LINE?”
“…………I saw it.”
“That was—”
I almost said “I didn't mean it like that,” and stopped.
Sakamoto's words came back. That my worst habit was trying to excuse everything that way.
“…I wrote it. All of it. My words.”
“I know.”
“I didn't mean to — say bad things about you. But—”
“Sota.”
She cut me off quietly.
“It doesn't matter what you meant. You wrote it, didn't you?”
“…………Yeah.”
“‘Clumsy.' ‘Cold.' ‘Inefficient.' That's how you see me.”
“That's not it. I was just embarrassed—”
“So you can say anything if you're embarrassed?”
I had no words.
“I always wondered — what you say behind my back.”
“Huh—”
“I knew you talked badly about people in front of your friends. I just thought you wouldn't do it about me.”
Her voice was flat.
Not angry. Not sad.
Just confirming a fact.
That — hurt the most.
“Rin. I — I've always—”
“You're going to say you like me.”
She said it first.
“I know. I've known for a long time. I also thought — because we're childhood friends — that someday it would become that.”
“Then—”
“But — I can't be with someone who makes the person they like into a joke behind their back.”
Quietly. Clearly.
“If you liked me — I wanted you to treat me as someone important. It didn't have to be words. In your actions. In your attitude. But you took being next to me for granted — and did nothing.”
“…………”
“You talked badly about me to get laughs, wrote trash about Fujimiya to protect yourself. That — is your answer for these ten years.”
No tears came.
That stage had already passed.
I just felt the strength leave my entire body.
My knees were shaking. I couldn't speak.
“Rin — I'm sorry.”
“…………”
“I'm really — sorry.”
She was silent for a moment — then let out a small breath.
“I accept your apology. But — we can't go back to how we were.”
“…………”
“I'm sorry.”
Rin — apologized to me.
I was the one who hurt her, and she was the one who said “I'm sorry.”
That single line — weighed the most.
She turned her back and walked away.
She didn't look back.
I stood in the hallway, unable to move.
On the way home.
I walked alone.
The usual road. The road I'd walked hundreds of times with Rin.
No one was beside me.
I looked at my phone.
There was only one message in the group LINE, from Sakamoto.
‘Get some rest today. See you tomorrow.'
…Sakamoto.
You're the only one still talking to me like this.
I typed a reply.
Deleted it over and over — and in the end sent just five characters.
‘Thank you.'
I put my phone back in my pocket.
I looked up at the sky.
Cloudy. No moon.
I — did all of this myself.
I was the one who wrote those things about Rin.
The one who treated Fujimiya as an enemy.
The one who ignored everyone's warnings.
The one who took being next to Rin for granted and made no effort.
No one else's fault.
Not Fujimiya's.
Not Rin's.
All of it — the result of my choices.
I finally — admitted that.
Even if I admit it, nothing comes back.
My relationship with Rin. The trust of my friends.
The ten years I thought I had built.
But — I finally remembered the taste of Sakamoto's onigiri.
Salmon. Salty. Warm.
Maybe — not everything is over yet.
Probably.
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