Apparently the Gal who Bullies me Likes me

Chapter 5.5

True Feelings (Kyoko Tachibana's POV)

Ever since that day Kato has been absolutely avoiding me.

He is even ignoring me whenever I tried to talk to him during class.

Even during recess and lunch break, as soon as the bell rings, he will leave the classroom immediately.

Maybe he is going to the art club for his club activities.

It's as if I've become invisible in his eyes.

It had been a while since we had gathered again in the gym after school.

“Kato, haven't been around lately. Maybe he ran away?

“It pisses me off thinking that he rebelled at the end."

Rina and the others are talking about Kato.

In any case, Rina and her friends will probably just find a new target to bully now that Kato is gone.

I regret tearing Kato’s painting at that time.

That must have been an important painting for him.

The picture on that painting looks exactly just like me.

I wonder why did he draw a picture of me?

Why would he draw a picture of someone that he hates?

Maybe he…

Nope, I don’t that’s the case as how could he like a person that was bullying him.

It has been a week since Kato started ignoring me.

Today, too, when the bell rang, Kato run to the clubroom as soon as possible as if he wants to escape to someone.

I don’t want things to continue this way but I don’t know what to do.

As whenever I’m trying to talk to him, he will just ignore me.

Maybe I could pressure him to talk to me.

What if I charge into the art club?

As soon as I got the idea, I ran out of the classroom and I’m heading for the art club room.

Here it is.

I looked through the window of the classroom door to see what was going on inside.

It seems Kato is preparing something.

And no one else seems to be there.

It's now or never.

I open the classroom door vigorously.

Kato is looking at me in surprise.

He is staring at me as I’m getting closer and closer to him.

If he tried to run away, I'll catch him immediately.

“I need to talk to you.”

Kato looks frightened.

“I’m sorry…… I’m busy …….so I can’t go with you.”

“Huh, no matter how I look at it you are free right?”

“No…., I’m very busy.”
 
“You’re clearly lying!”

That kind of exchange continued for a while.

It seems he doesn’t want to give in to the pressure I’ve been giving him.

He's so stubborn! If he could just shut up and listen to me!

All of a sudden Kato's eyes are looking at the door behind my back.

What is it? When I turned around, I saw a crowd of people entering the clubroom.

Maybe they are the members of the art club.

I ignored them and kept the pressure on Kato.

“Okay, I understand, let's move to a different place."

Finally, Kato gave in.

He took me to the rooftop and it seems we’re the only people there.

“What do you…. want to talk about?” when he said that he looks really determined.

“You've been avoiding me, right?"

“….Yeah”
 
I knew it.

He doesn't like me anymore.

Maybe it’s a given as; I tore up one of his important paintings.

I'll give him this and apologize to him.

“Here…”

I took out a picture from my bag.

I frantically gather up the torn painting and tape it back together. It took a very long time, but I was able to put it back together as best as I could.

“That’s…”

I offered the tattered painting to Kato.

“I'm sorry...it's a bit tattered and Rina threw away all the other paintings..."

“I'm really sorry about that time." I bowed my head after I said that.

I don't expect that this will be enough for him to forgive me.

“Everyone was watching, so I had no choice but to do it..."

I told him the truth as I want to convey my feelings to him properly.

"It’s fine, but did you collect all the pieces of this painting and put it back together by yourself?"

“Yeah…”

Kato is staring at the painting.

I wonder if he painted this picture using me as a model.

He really did a good job of capturing my face, my hair, and my other features.

It was me no matter how I look at it.

But in the gym, he said that wasn't me.

"That painting... that's me right?"

"Yes, it's you."

“Why did you paint a picture of me?”

Why would he draw a picture of someone that he didn't like?

I wanted to know Kato's true feelings.

“That’s…”

Kato then became flustered.

“At first you were also bullying me, right? I want to ask the reason why did you suddenly become so nice to me?"

“Ummm…”

I was suddenly struck by that question and I was perplexed because of  that.

There was no way I could say that it was because I was concerned about him.

And it's really strange that the person who had bullied him before is now concerned about him.

Yes, I should just apologize to Kato.

This is the only chance I have to apologize for bullying him.

“I'm really sorry for bullying you.”

“It’s okay now, you don’t need to apologize anymore.”

I apologized repeatedly to Kato as I didn't think he would forgive me.

I wanted to convey my true feelings to him but for some reason Kato was laughing.

Not a sneer, but an innocent laugh.

“Why are you laughing?”

I laugh along with him.

"Don't ignore me anymore, okay?"

“All right.”

I was happy I’d got a chance to have a conversation with Kato for the first time in a while.

I felt like we have an equal relationship now compared to our relationship before.