Angel of Music…”
“Yes. Have you heard of it?”
He slowly let out a breath and unlocked his fingers, then looked at me apologetically.
“No. I wasn’t that close with Mito. But I’ll ask the musicians I know.”
“Thank you very much.”
I bowed my head.
“Oh, Ms. Shoko Kagami from Shirafuji said to ask how you were doing.”
Mr. Mariya broke out into a grin.
“Oh, you met her? She’s beautiful, isn’t she? All the boys around me yearned for her. She has a strong, forceful voice, and she got typecast in roles like Carmen.”
“Yes, she’s very pretty. She said that you used to be a rising star.”
“Ha-ha-ha. She’s exaggerating. I’m nothing that special. I’m much better suited to teaching here casually,” he countered lightly, his cheerful voice spilling over with brightness.
His breezy smile was so noble it made me feel wonderful.
“When things settle back down, we can come help again.”
“I’ll be here.”
We gave our words of farewell, and then I left the room.
I was meeting up with Kotobuki in the library after that.
I closed the door to the music room and was walking down the hall when suddenly a hand shot out from around a corner and grabbed my shoulder.
I jumped and felt goose bumps rising at the sensation of fingers digging into my skin through the material of my uniform.
When I turned around, I saw that a boy of about my height with glasses and colorless hair was glaring at me with a biting gaze.
It was the boy who had called me awful in the library before!
The world around me suddenly darkened, and I stiffened as if a maniac with a knife had appeared.
“Hey! What were you talking to Mariya about?”
“Who…are you?”
“That doesn’t matter. Answer me. What did you say to him?”
I scowled at his imperious tone and shook his hand off.
“I don’t need to answer to someone I don’t know.”
I turned my back on him and started to walk briskly away when a cold voice stabbed into me from behind.
“What a heartwarming scene.”
The low voice was like the moaning of the wind that I’d heard in the stairwell, and the dark, bone-chilling gaze I’d felt that day came back to me, and all at once my skin prickled. When I turned around, jet-black eyes were glaring at me hatefully.
“Getting close to Mariya—I bet you get along. You’re both hypocrites.”
“What…are you talking about?”
“About you and Mariya. You’re both living in pretty little worlds and glossing over things with your smiles. You hurt others so you don’t get hurt yourself.”
I was staggered by this surreal situation, being relentlessly criticized by a stranger—I didn’t even know his name—and my breathing grew more strained. His pointed gaze crawled over my face like a snake.
“You’re always like that. You act like you’re obtuse about Kotobuki, too, but aren’t you really just playing off the fact that you’re not into it? It’s not that guys like you don’t notice. You just don’t want to know. You hate getting dirty, so even though you don’t feel that way at all, you act nice and build up expectations, and I call people like that hypocrites.”
Why did he hate me so much? Did he like Kotobuki? Did he dislike me because he had the wrong idea about us?
The thought crossed my mind, but the knives of his words overpowered it as they sliced into my chest, and the pain sent me reeling.
I was a hypocrite? It wasn’t that I didn’t notice. I just didn’t want to know?
Even though I don’t feel that way, I was acting nice and jerking Kotobuki around?
His words spun me around me like a pitch-black cutting wind and sliced into my flesh, sending up a spray of blood.
The back of my brain burned as if there were a fire pressing against it, and several times a lump rose in my throat, but it was uncontrolled and didn’t form into words. I couldn’t decide how to respond to his animosity—should I be angry, should I run, should I laugh it off?
Impaled by his
“Yes. Have you heard of it?”
He slowly let out a breath and unlocked his fingers, then looked at me apologetically.
“No. I wasn’t that close with Mito. But I’ll ask the musicians I know.”
“Thank you very much.”
I bowed my head.
“Oh, Ms. Shoko Kagami from Shirafuji said to ask how you were doing.”
Mr. Mariya broke out into a grin.
“Oh, you met her? She’s beautiful, isn’t she? All the boys around me yearned for her. She has a strong, forceful voice, and she got typecast in roles like Carmen.”
“Yes, she’s very pretty. She said that you used to be a rising star.”
“Ha-ha-ha. She’s exaggerating. I’m nothing that special. I’m much better suited to teaching here casually,” he countered lightly, his cheerful voice spilling over with brightness.
His breezy smile was so noble it made me feel wonderful.
“When things settle back down, we can come help again.”
“I’ll be here.”
We gave our words of farewell, and then I left the room.
I was meeting up with Kotobuki in the library after that.
I closed the door to the music room and was walking down the hall when suddenly a hand shot out from around a corner and grabbed my shoulder.
I jumped and felt goose bumps rising at the sensation of fingers digging into my skin through the material of my uniform.
When I turned around, I saw that a boy of about my height with glasses and colorless hair was glaring at me with a biting gaze.
It was the boy who had called me awful in the library before!
The world around me suddenly darkened, and I stiffened as if a maniac with a knife had appeared.
“Hey! What were you talking to Mariya about?”
“Who…are you?”
“That doesn’t matter. Answer me. What did you say to him?”
I scowled at his imperious tone and shook his hand off.
“I don’t need to answer to someone I don’t know.”
I turned my back on him and started to walk briskly away when a cold voice stabbed into me from behind.
“What a heartwarming scene.”
The low voice was like the moaning of the wind that I’d heard in the stairwell, and the dark, bone-chilling gaze I’d felt that day came back to me, and all at once my skin prickled. When I turned around, jet-black eyes were glaring at me hatefully.
“Getting close to Mariya—I bet you get along. You’re both hypocrites.”
“What…are you talking about?”
“About you and Mariya. You’re both living in pretty little worlds and glossing over things with your smiles. You hurt others so you don’t get hurt yourself.”
I was staggered by this surreal situation, being relentlessly criticized by a stranger—I didn’t even know his name—and my breathing grew more strained. His pointed gaze crawled over my face like a snake.
“You’re always like that. You act like you’re obtuse about Kotobuki, too, but aren’t you really just playing off the fact that you’re not into it? It’s not that guys like you don’t notice. You just don’t want to know. You hate getting dirty, so even though you don’t feel that way at all, you act nice and build up expectations, and I call people like that hypocrites.”
Why did he hate me so much? Did he like Kotobuki? Did he dislike me because he had the wrong idea about us?
The thought crossed my mind, but the knives of his words overpowered it as they sliced into my chest, and the pain sent me reeling.
I was a hypocrite? It wasn’t that I didn’t notice. I just didn’t want to know?
Even though I don’t feel that way, I was acting nice and jerking Kotobuki around?
His words spun me around me like a pitch-black cutting wind and sliced into my flesh, sending up a spray of blood.
The back of my brain burned as if there were a fire pressing against it, and several times a lump rose in my throat, but it was uncontrolled and didn’t form into words. I couldn’t decide how to respond to his animosity—should I be angry, should I run, should I laugh it off?
Impaled by his
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