#39 Karuizawa's decision
"I bet you just have a little crush on her...That's the only reason why you protect her!" Manabe said with a mischievous smile. I noticed that even Ibuki who seemed uninterested in the entire conflict, look towards us with a slightly curious expression upon hearing Manabe's statement.
She seems like a person who hates Ryuen but she still hangs around him, I wonder if she will report this matter to him if he already doesn't know about it.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Karuizawa was the first to reply to her provocation with a slightly red face. Fortunately, she blushed only a little or it would become even more complicated. The best thing would be if you could show your disgusted expression, Karuizawa...
"Isn't that a good thing for you, Karuizawa-san? The only thing that's bad is that you already have a boyfriend..." Manabe said to provoke me even.
"Pfft, hahaha" I laughed aloud upon seeing her little provocations.
"What's so funny?!" She asked me with an angered expression.
"You are from Class C, of course, It's only logical that I would choose to protect someone from my Class from you without any emotional reason and even if I had feelings for Karuizawa-san then I don't think you have any say in this matter" I answered with a smile while wiping away tears from my laughing.
Everyone was greatly surprised by my confidence...
I guess normal teenagers are usually embarrassed by these things but I didn't actually agree with her statement either.
"*Is that true, Walker-kun?*" Yukimura came to me and whispered.
"*What? Don't tell me you don't understand the meaning of 'even if' words*" I whispered back while looking weirdly at him.
"*I understand but to just openly say it like that might not have been the best thing to do. You know Karuizawa's attitude to such things, don't you?*" He quietly said with a worried expression.
"1 hour passed, you are free to do whatever you want to until the next meeting time" The announcement came probably at the best time and Karuizawa also realized it.
"I am going!" Karuizawa said and was getting ready to leave but I noticed that the entire matter made her feel uneasy and her legs were shaking. I put my hand on her shoulder before she could leave and she turned around at me in panic.
I calmly stared into her eyes and she did the same for a few seconds before she took a deep breath and with a slightly red face, she started walking towards the exit without any problems like this entire conflict never happened.
"Hey, wait! Damn it!" Manabe yelled at Karuizawa but she never turned at her. She just steadily walked towards the exit and left the room.
"If you are so adamant about defending her then tell her that this matter won't end like this!" Manabe stomped her foot angrily and left with her friends.
What a childish attitude... I thought while watching their backs slowly disappear behind the door.
Ibuki also stood up and left after her classmates...
Will she report this to Ryuen? I guess only time will tell.
I turned back at Yukimura who seemed to have a surprised expression on his face.
"What is it?" I asked him.
"When did you become so close to Karuizawa-san? To think that she didn't even respond to the words you said..." Yukimura seemed to think about it pretty hard, maybe even too hard.
"I guess around 10 years ago" I said in low voice.
"What?!" He shouted in surprise and it attracted Class A's students who were slowly leaving the room.
"It's nothing, sorry to surprise you!" Yukimura quickly apologized to them and then turned back at me.
"*What does it mean, Walker-kun?*" Yukimura started to whisper maybe he thought that I didn't want others to know that fact. What a considerate classmate, he can be serious yet friendly at the same time, he has good academic ability but he isn't aware of his own weaknesses. Well...maybe he is aware of them but he is still rejecting the idea that school isn't only about academic results.
"*It's exactly what I said. I know her from my childhood but we got separated after a while so it took us some time to start talking to each other once again*" I whispered back.
With this, I will know if I can trust Yukimura or not. Either he will tell this information to some of his friends and rumors will slowly form about me and Karuizawa being childhood friends or he will keep this information to himself. It actually doesn't matter to me what will happen, either way, I will profit from both of them.
Rumors will make it easier for me to speak with Karuizawa less secretly. If he will keep it secret then I will know that I can trust him a bit.
After that, all of us left the room and I frowned upon noticing the Manabe's group. Well, it wasn't exactly Manabe's group which made me frown but Ayanokoji who seemed to walk towards their direction. He wasn't walking exactly towards them but there wasn't any reason for him to go there. He was a roommate with Yukimura, yet he walked in the opposite direction. I didn't even notice him taking out his phone so no one sent him a message to meet up there.
When I was wondering whether to follow him or not, my phone vibrated so I took a look at it and saw a message from Karuizawa.
[Can you meet me at the cafe?]
I don't know why but it almost seemed like she typed that message in panic. She is probably still shaken from the entire matter.
*sigh* She started changing a bit by bit after our serious talk during the survival test but the matter Manabe mentioned happened way before it. I perhaps wouldn't care so much about it if it happened after our serious talk but since I already started curing her and she has yet to make any mistake, I will take care of her till the end.
[Anything for you, Kei-chan!] I replied in an idiotic way just to make her feel slightly better.
[...baka] Reply came almost immediately and it seemed that my message helped her to relax a bit.
...
"So? What's the matter?" I sat down in front of Karuizawa and asked her.
"Walker-kun, thank you very much for protecting me back then but what should I do now? They probably won't leave this matter without resolving it." She asked me in a depressed voice, looking downwards while holding her cup of coffee that seemed to be already cold by now.
"So the matter what they talked about is true?" I asked her just to confirm it.
"...Yes" She seemed to be a bit ashamed by her own actions. It looks like she is really slowly changing her attitude.
I would like to help her resolve it easily but if I do everything on my own then she might change her attitude but her trauma from bullying won't disappear. It would only make her more dependent on me.
"Karuizawa-san, I can't always be there to protect you. You have to learn how to protect yourself" I said in a slightly cold tone and she also noticed it. She looked at me with fear visible in her eyes.
"I- I know that b-but-" She was stuttering so I decided to interrupt her.
"I know you are weak but if you won't even have the desire to become strong then there is no need for you to even fight back. You can choose to endure it like you used to do it" I coldly said and stood up, ready to leave which surprised Karuizawa.
"W-wait!" She also stood up and I stopped for a moment and looked at her from the corner of my eye.
"If you only want me to protect you without becoming stronger yourself then I deem you unworthy of my protection. I don't mind you being weak but I hate people without any resolve. If you fucking hate being bullied then do something about it and don't just endure it!" With that said, I started leaving.
This bet is dangerous one but if she will be able to overcome it then it will be her win. If she won't, I will resolve this conflict between her and Manabe but I won't protect her from any other small matters like this one in the future.
I secretly observed her reaction while leaving.
She looked shocked by my words, she extended her shaking hand towards my back as if she wanted to take a hold of me but she still had a frightened expression on her face. After a little while, she bit her lip and showed determined expression which quite surprised me but I didn't stop moving since I wanted to see what she would do next.
She started running towards me which made me frown a bit but I didn't react in any way, still, I was ready in a case she wanted to do something malicious to me. But what she did next totally surprised me.
She actually hugged me from behind in public place, although this location wasn't crowded, there was still a fair amount of students who could see us.
I guess it was stupid to even think that she would try to do something malicious to me...
"I don't want to be bullied ever again! I want to become strong enough to protect myself!" She started crying, making my back wet but her voice was still firm even though she was crying.
"Alright, we can talk a bit more about it but first, I think you should let me go, this is not really secluded location" I used a friendly tone to make her calm a bit.
"I don't care anymore!" She firmly said but her crying didn't stop.
I hope I didn't break her... I looked around and noticed that none of the students were looking at us yet but that could change within a few seconds.
I tried to gently take her hands away but I got surprised how firmly she was gripping my clothes. Of course, I could take her hands away if I used a bit of my strength but her firm grip still surprised me.
"Alright, alright, I am convinced of your determination but you still have to let go of me. If you let other students see you hugging another boy while having a boyfriend, it will become even harder to protect you. Do you understand?" I quickly said and she finally stopped hugging me.
"If that's the case, can you do the same thing as before?" She asked me instantly after I turned around to face her.
Does she mean the time when I carried her to the room 204?
"..." She was looking downwards so I couldn't see her expression.
*sigh* I took off my jacket and put it over her head, even her hair wasn't visible under my jacket so no one would be able to recognize her now.
After she received my jacket she immediately hugged me back and buried her head in my chest.
Great...now even my shirt will get wet but I guess I can let her cry for as long as she wants this time.
After a while even a few students noticed us but they only threw us a weird look before looking away.
I returned the hug and I could feel her fairly big breasts touching me but I was thinking about completely different things.
Why was Ayanokoji walking towards Manabe? I doubt he wanted to help Karuizawa and resolve the matter...
"Kei-chan, if that determination of yours won't disappear any time soon then I promise to help you get stronger" I patted her head and she only nodded in response.
I wonder for how long will I be stuck here... I thought while looking at the sky with a helpless smile.