Chapter 26: Difficult Turn VII

"When I returned after sending you guys off, this is what I heard," Luca said.

He pulled out his phone and showed them the footage of what transpired between Harmony and Patricia. When he arrived, Harmony had just begun confronting Patricia, meaning he had witnessed the entire conversation.

"Woah," Kenneth and Justin exclaimed, clearly amazed by what they saw.

There was no physical confrontation, but Harmony completely dominated Patricia during their exchange. In contrast to how they had known her, the person in the video was something else entirely.

"Such dominance, it's unexpected," Justin complimented.

"I was shocked myself, wondering if I was seeing things, or if that was really the person I knew—or, in our case, barely knew," Luca said, putting his phone away.

"Then I guess we no longer need the witness. With the footage and this testimony, we can prove her innocence and restore her tarnished reputation," Gabriel said seriously.

"I plan to play this video school-wide tomorrow morning if she comes in without any remorse," Luca added, still holding his phone.

"Your choice. We'll follow along," Gabriel replied.

"Hmmm, you don't seem to be shocked about it being the president," Kenneth commented, seeing how calm Gabriel has been in comparison to him and Justin.

When they got the evidence, the two of them were in shock that it was their president, yet somehow, Gabriel did not react as strongly.

"I always felt her words seemed off. Even when we needed to refocus after finding out about the incident."

"I did not notice it at all," Justin tilted his head to the side.

Gabriel simply shrugged

...

The next day, Patricia arrived with puffy eyes, drawing sympathy from the rest of the class.

"What happened, Miss President?" one student asked immediately.

Patricia shook her head.

"That doesn't look like 'nothing.' Your eyes wouldn't be so puffy if it was," the student insisted.

Patricia subtly glanced at Harmony, who was wearing headphones. Seeing this, most of the class's anger flared up.

"Just as I thought, she was the one I saw after we left yesterday. Did she threaten you?" one student demanded.

"This is no longer a small issue. We should—"

'I don't care what you all do, but I can't have you taking these kinds of actions for too long.'

'Miss President, I don't know about your grudge, but I think you are going too far with this.'

'And drop that act. It doesn't suit you.'

'If you wanted to be the lead in the play, you could have raised your hand back then. I'm pretty sure—'

'Disgusting.'

'What… do you mean by that? If you heard what we were talking about a while ago. I'm sorry, but I'm not a saint. I can't be considerate to you.'

'Even Satan would be embarrassed to be compared to you.'

…

'You know exactly what I'm talking about. I did indeed walk up those stairs in my gym uniform, but that was the day before Miss Falcon was pushed off them. Two of those pictures were taken the day before the incident, and the other two were taken on the day of the incident.'

'Are you accusing me right now?'

'I'm not accusing you. I'm saying it was you. You're the one who pushed her and then blamed it on me. Getting my notes was easy because I left them out in the open.'

'You have no evidence of this. This is defamation.'

'No. You have no evidence.'

'…'

'We are students in this school. This school is known for keeping quiet about a student's background. Do you think you're the only one who can silence a few teachers? Do you think you are the only one who can do something?'

…

'If you want to play a game, you should be prepared to bet everything. I was planning to finish high school quietly and return to my peaceful life after the play. But you chose to challenge me…'

'…You should stop trying to wake a sleeping tiger.'

'Also…'

'Why am I not seeing any remorse from you when a life was endangered because of your greed? I may seem indifferent, but are you aware how much it angers me that you act so nonchalant after causing such an incident?'

'What I hate the most is someone who disregards life.'

'Stop this act. Stop dragging me into your schemes. You really wouldn't want me to act.'

'My last straw was you causing me injury. I have my own reasons for not letting it pass.'

…

'Don't act nonchalant about what you've done. That was a life. Keep that in mind.'

Patricia turned completely pale as the situation unfolded. Her classmates initially enraged with Harmony for what seemed to be a malicious act against Patricia, began to sense that something was off as the conversation progressed.

"I heard, Luca stepped out of the building while holding her hand," one classmate said.

"Yeah, my friend from the other class mentioned it too," another added.

"But…"

"What if…"

Patricia's gaze shifted to Harmony as she overheard her classmates. She had no idea Luca was there yesterday. Was she aware of his presence? Did she orchestrate everything?

"You should control your expression. Miss Thomas has nothing to do with this," Justin, her seatmate, said as he leaned back in his chair, watching the video.

"No… Uhmmm… I…" Patricia stammered, trying to defend herself, but Justin ignored her completely.

Initially, they did nothing to help, not because Harmony didn't need it, but because they were doubtful. A small part of them felt anger towards Harmony for causing the incident as Patricia orchestrated.

But as Harmony had stated in the video, life was on the line. Their anger grew towards Patricia, who purposely shifted the blame. The thought of her integrating into society and potentially causing more harm was infuriating.

Patricia rushed towards Harmony, unsure of her next move. Justin shook his head in frustration, she still did not show any remorse.

In a fit of desperation, Patricia yanked her headphones off with unnecessary force.

Harmony slowly turned to face her with an indifferent expression. Patricia, filled with rage, suddenly felt uncertain about her actions.

"You… You set me up," Patricia accused, though her voice was weaker than she had intended.

Receiving no response or reaction from Harmony, Patricia's face grew even paler. Before she could act further, another video began playing. This time, it was silent.

"No…" Patricia whispered in disbelief.

The video from the convenience store security camera, which had previously been shown as still images, now played in full. It was paused at a moment when Patricia's face was clearly visible.

"The juice stain," Kathrine noted, drawing horrified looks from the rest of the class toward Patricia.

Overwhelmed, Patricia slowly sank to the ground. She glanced at Harmony, whose gaze seemed to pierce through her with an air of superiority, reminiscent of yesterday when she had looked down on Patricia.