37. An Incident Occurred

By Lyfe April 2, 2022

“Kinoa? What’s wrong? why are you in such a hurry?”

Kinoa Itsutsuji is Kuze’s younger cousin, who is very fond of me. Because she is one year younger than me, it was unusual for Kinoa, who is a middle-schooler, to come to the high school.

And with the way she was panicking, something must have happened. I had a bad feeling about this and hoped nothing strange happened.

“Well…Maria, please stop doing that kind of thing!”
“That kind of thing?”
“No matter how many pictures like that are circulating, trying to force Asami to get expelled is…”
“Wait, Kinoa, I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

I didn’t expect Asami’s name to come out from Kinoa’s mouth. Even though I haven’t gotten involved with her yet, I wondered why?

“What do you mean by pictures? Also what do you mean by trying to get him expelled?”
“Eh…? Well, about the recently circulated pictures of Asami and Tengenji hugging each other.”

What? I looked over at Tengenji, who seemed to be quite surprised about it and stiffened.
What are the pictures of the two of them hugging each other? I don’t know about such a thing, and how does it lead to me cornering Asami?

“It’s this.”

What Kinoa showed me was a close-up of the top half of Tengenji and Asami, who appeared to be hugging each other.

Ah…I think I remember this. In the original story, this was circulated and it was rumored that Tengenji liked men, and Maria was furious that Asami Kanade had tarnished Tengenji’s name, and then the bullying heated up.

To get Asami Kanade to quit by any means necessary. The original Maria told the girls that she would mediate for the person who could do it to get into the Flower Princesses and in turn encouraged them to get Asami expelled.

“W-We’re not! I was just catching him when he almost fell! It’s a misunderstanding!”
“Oh, is that so?”

If I remember correctly it was one of those love happenings according to the original work.

But wait, if Tengenji blushed there, it would be even more suspicious. Except for a few people, no one knows Asami’s true gender, denying a picture of men hugging each other with a red face would just cause more of a scene.

“Mr. Kumoruiwashi, why do you suddenly look so depressed!?”
“Do I…?”
“Well…Yes you do.”
“More importantly, why did you come to me about this?”
“More importantly!?”

Leaving the blushed Tengenji aside, I was more interested in what Kinoa had said.
Kinoa looked a little frightened and spoke with a trembling voice.

When the middle school girls found out that Maria was going to let someone into the Flower Princesses if they could get Asami expelled…They called Asami and took him away.

Ugh, when did I say that? Nevertheless, the middle-schooler’s were moving in accordance with the original story in general, but it was still weird. I’m sure I didn’t say or do anything to seem to hate Asami at all.

“Do you know where Asami was taken to?”
“Uhh…according the conversation I heard, they were talking about taking him to the pool while they were gathering in the hall for the end-of-term ceremony.”

I see. The teachers don’t take roll call, so they won’t notice even if some people are missing. Besides, now that people are disappearing quietly, there’s less chance of someone seeing them, so they probably thought now was the time to do it. Right, this development was also in the original story.

“Miss Maria…Please stop this kind of bullying behavior!”

Kinoa’s voice trembled as she appealed with moist eyes. Her voice was loud and clear, and people in the hallway seemed to hear it all, the stares from the people who looked back at me hurt.

Kinoa might have liked Maria and Kuze. She was quiet but had a strong sense of justice unexpectedly, or rather, she had the personality that clearly said something that is wrong is wrong. In the original story, she once came to stop Maria when she found out about her bullying. But Maria didn’t listen to Kinoa.

Anyway, the situation was the worst. Even though it was less crowded than before, people still might have misunderstood and thought I was bullying. I hoped they didn’t start any more strange rumors.

“You, are you saying that seriously?”

It was the first time I had heard her quiet angry voice since the flower party.

Sumire, who was passing by our class on her way to the hall, seemed to have just overheard the conversation. Hitomi next to her also frowned and gave Kinoa a cold stare.

“Do you really think that Maria is bullying people?”
“Besides, it’s obvious that Maria bullying is just a false rumor. if you’re close to her, it’s not good to say something that humiliates her. She is a Flower Princess after all.”
“I-I didn’t mean that…”

The overwhelmed Kinoa replied “I’m sorry” weakly with tears in her eyes.

It’s not surprising for Kinoa to think that way. What Kinoa knows is the arrogant Maria before the memories of my previous life came back, and she doesn’t know much about the new Maria because the middle school and high school are separated.

Besides, there was a rumor going around that I was suggesting that Asami should be expelled from school. Well, if that was the case, then I felt like she should come to check the truth sooner or later.

“More importantly, you have to go soon.”

I exchanged glances with Amamiya, who had whispered to me. Right, I needed to prevent the development after that.

“Kinoa, we’ll talk again later. I’m going to the pool.”

The crowd was thinning so I thought I could make it there then. As I start running, I heard multiple footsteps behind me. Apparently, Sumire, Hitomi, and Tengenji also came along.

Amamiya seemed to be on the phone with someone, he nodded when our eyes met. Perhaps he has his own ideas.

“Mr. Kumoruiwashi…my leg!”
“Sumire, are you okay?”
“Wow.”

I heard a sound like something falling, and when I turned around again, I saw Sumire had fallen down spectacularly.

“Maria, go! Step on Sumire’s corpse and go head first…ugh…”

Sumire, if I stepped on your corpse, I’d have to be running backwards though. If you say that, it would be crossing over the corpse.

Well, Sumire had Hitomi with her, so she would be fine. Leaving that aside, I had to hurry to the pool.