_Chapter 41~ Humiliation_

          "I cannot believe you right now, Reina!"

          Gulping down what was remaining of my water bottle, I trained my gaze onto Erika who was frowning at me with such disappointment in her eyes. She was dressed in the colours of white and red—as was I—and hadn't looked exhausted in the least despite the game of volleyball we had just fervently played—and lost.

          Badly, might I add.

          "What?" I said in defence, dropping my arms by my sides. "We may have lost the battle but we can still win the war."

          "We could've won this game if you put in the effort," she hissed at me. "If you just received the ball we could've kept it going and won!"

           "Hey, I don't approve of you pinning the blame on me like this."

           "It's because I can! How could you not touch the ball even once?" Erika nearly exclaimed. "You told me you at least knew how to play!"

          "That's because I do." Defensively, I puffed out my cheeks. "Haikyuu!! has taught me all that I need to know."

          Exasperation evident in her features, Erika merely face-palmed. "This is my fault for asking you to team up with me."

          A small smile spread across my face. "Oh c'mon, relax a little bit. The students participating in the other events have yet to play."

          Though she shook her head in defeat, Erika's dejection didn't seem to pass much. I could only shift my focus onto the surrounding students filling the gymnasium, all dressed in various colours symbolizing their classes.

          Currently, our class, 3-1, was losing to class 3-2 but if we secured the win for the next few games, we were sure to win. Luckily enough, my classmates turned out to be rather athletic this year.

           The annual Sports Festival was typically an event I'd muster up whatever excuse I could to make my parents let me stay at home but this year due to Erika's pleading, I was forced into coming. Surprisingly, she was a little big on the whole sports thing—volleyball being her favourite. And although I hadn't given it much effort during the volleyball game Erika and I had signed up for, I admitted this had to be the first time I could honestly say it'd shaped out to be pretty worth it.

           Seeing two teams of boys raid the gym after all the volleyball nets were taken down, my gaze found itself on Ryu in the distance, dressed in his gym clothes and dribbling a basketball.

           "Well, now that we're done with our event, they're getting ready for the basketball match," Erika noted, peeking downwards at her watch. "What do you want to do? Watch it?"

          I barely even registered Erika's question. Eventually, Erika appeared by my side, looking over my shoulder to catch a glimpse of what I was so fixated on.

          "Hmm~" Her voice infiltrating my nearby ear made me flinch, lurching away from her. When I looked at her, only a mischievous grin danced upon her face.

           My heartbeat which had grown unsteady in my chest made it hard for me to swallow. "Wh-what?"

           "Nothing," she cooed. "You were just so focused on a certain someone I was wondering why you didn't answer my question. So, I take it you want to watch the game?"

           Warmth filled my cheeks before I could stop it. Aware she was trying to hint towards Ryu, embarrassment succeeded in washing over me. I averted my gaze to the floor, and timidly bobbed my head.

           Accordingly, Erika grinned like an idiot, only flustering me further.

           "Wh-what!" I eventually cried, unable to handle her smugness. "I just like basketball okay!"

           "Basketball or a certain someone?" Erika prodded, waggling her brows suggestively.

           Blushing harder, I shoved her away and towards the stands. "B-basketball! It's only basketball!"

            Erika only erupted into a fit of laughter, making me want to smack her upside the head for it. We reached the stands soon enough which was already filled with a staggering amount of other students, and soon, the game between the two classes began.

           And when it did, I was in utter awe. I shouldn't have been, considering I'd seen just how amazing he was during that one game last year, but it still caught me off guard due to how great a player Ryu really was. Passing, shooting—even his ball handling—he carried the rest of the 3-1 boys towards a high point count before the 3-2 class even had the opportunity to realize what was occurring. And when they did, it became a very heated match. One team would score followed by the other. It was intense, and seeing Ryu try so hard snatched my fancies entirely.

           "Whoa! A three?" Erika whistled, clapping as Ryu made it down the court back to defend. "Damn, your boyfriend is good, Reina!"

            "Yeah, Iwasaki's really—" I stopped once the term Erika used to address Ryu hit me. Flushing beet red, I nearly toppled backwards. "Wh-wha—I mean, no! What the hell, Erika!"

           Tittering at my yell, Erika smirked. "Aww, I got so close to making you admit it."

           "A-admit what?" I stammered, my voice shaky as I went on, "St-stop coming up with things!"

            "But I'm not coming up with things," defended Erika. "It's bound to happen eventually. Don't worry, I'll even support you. Ask me for whatever advice you need!"

            "I-I don't need advice! I'm not even sure if I like him that way—"

            I gasped to stop myself from continuing but I apparently hadn't stopped soon enough considering it had caused Erika to burst out into a series of squeals.

           "What! Oh my God! Oh my God! You've been considering it! Ahh, that Iwasaki's so freakin' lucky!" Swinging her arm around my shoulder, Erika placed her hand over her mouth and screamed so loud the entire gymnasium could hear her, "Reina Kikuchi officially declares that there's the potential she really likes Iwasaki—"

             I screamed to halt her outburst, basically drowning in utter mortification. The cheers around us fell silent and immediately so did Erika and I. Dread overwhelmed me as I turned to see the outcome of the game only to find that the game was still in motion, though we had successfully distracted Ryu. My eyes met his widened ones and almost immediately, it felt as if my heart dropped in my chest. My bright red face that only continued to warm didn't seem to help with my situation in the least, more so, when an apparent blush grew across his own cheeks.

            My eyelids shot upwards but Ryu immediately averted his gaze back to the game ahead of him, continuing to dribble the ball in his right hand. Despite handling it so well earlier, for some reason, this time, he fumbled. The other team instantly swooped in to steal the ball and made a made dash towards the net and scoring a basket.

            But to Erika, that outcome was lost knowledge to her.

            "Oh my God, was he blushing right now? Reina, he was blushing!" she squeaked, jumping up and down and not caring about her octave level. She hadn't learned the first time.

            I literally wanted to grab her neck to choke her but held myself back. I hadn't wanted to get charged for murder.

            So I settled for repeatedly smacking her arm instead. "I hate you! I hate you so much!"

             "Oh come on, I was just helping a friend out!" Erika laughed, nudging me away from her. "You should be glad you managed to distract him."

            "Why would I be glad? That's not a good thing!" I shouted at her. "The other team's winning now! How about if we lose?"

            "We won't." Startling me, Erika's voice on a serious essence and she pulled away from my attacks to send me a warm smile. "He's a good player, isn't he?" she went on, jostling my side. "And besides, with his precious Reina watching him, I doubt he'd want you to see him lose."

            Just as the words left her mouth, the crowd exploded in a series of mirth and whistles. Both Erika and I directed out attention onto the game. My eyeballs nearly bulged from their sockets once they landed upon the scoreboard which displayed our team already winning by five points. Another wave of cheers filled the air as Ryu hit another three-pointer. Without even looking her way, I could already hear Erika beginning to yell out in cheers from beside me, which made me break out into a tiny smile.

            Although I hadn't wanted to consider it, Erika ended up being right. Ryu put in so much more effort than he did in the first half of the game, and ended up dominating the other team with a 70–43 victory.

* *       *

          Cleaning up was always so taxing. You'd think after doing community service for a few months I'd have grown neutral to the idea but that was anything but the case. If only messes could clean themselves up, seriously.

            Heaving a sigh, I dragged the track and field equipment in my hands Erika had told me to take towards the shed behind the school. By the time I'd encircled the entire building, I was already drowning myself in her another pool of humiliation. Despite the events already ending for the day, my mind continued to rerun the basketball game this morning like a broken recorder.

            Why would Erika blatantly embarrass me like that? I hadn't done anything wrong to her, had I? Did everyone just love to embarrass me? First Aki, now her... Agh, they were acting like they knew best but I was the one in the most turmoil!

            They couldn't just label off that I... liked him like that. If I were to somehow have grown to possess a crush on the guy without even realizing it, wouldn't that be obvious to me? Then again, I admit I was quite oblivious...

              But liking... Iwasaki? My heart fluttered in my chest caused a frown to flit upon my face. I shook my head from side to side. Ugh, ever since I started to get to know him better why did he have to be so... appealing?

            As the term flooded my mind a new wave of embarrassment fell over me. As I was inwardly squirmed, I accidentally dropped the hurdles and lurched out of the way before they could dare hit my feet. My heart which had leapt to my throat in surprise began to pick up its beat as I put a hand to my chest. Jeez, I needed to focus!

             Leaning over once more, I clasped onto the heavy equipment. As I did, I definitely wasn't expecting for tattered sneakers to fill my ray of vision. Blinking slowly, I craned my neck upwards to find the source, and at the exact same time, the male turned his head and met my eyes.

             My body immediately went frozen. Terror sucked all the breath I had out of me, more so, when Raidon Tsuki only narrowed his eyes in the form of a scowl.

             What! What was he doing here? Of all the places, here?

              As I was having an internal conflict with myself, Raidon Tsuki didn't say a word. My heartbeat thudded erratically in my ears as I tightened my grip around my equipment and brought it up from the ground. All my hope had now disappeared when I saw that Aki, nor a nearby student nor teacher was present anywhere in the vicinity of us to potentially save me from his wrath. There wasn't any cameras either. It was just the two of us.

            If he killed me right now there wouldn't be any witnesses to testify what had gone down.

            Swallowing hard, I avoided his eyes and tentatively shuffled my feet towards the shed so I could drop the equipment there and make a quick getaway. Just before I could reach it though, Raidon's gruff voice shouted after me.

            "Hey!"

            My lungs caved. Why was he talking to me? He shouldn't have any reason to! Withholding the trembling of my limbs the best I could, I whimpered, "Y-yes?"

            "You forgot to take this." Raidon's footsteps were audible as he walked towards me, quaking me with every step. I turned just in time to see that he had picked up one of the hurdles I dropped, with one hand to boot while I was here struggling to carry the other with both hands. My eyelids had grown wide as he extended it out to me and I somehow found a way to accept the heavy thing.

          But even then, his look still hadn't lifted. Scrutinizing his bronze eyes, Raidon's slightly scarred face only added to his emanating menace.

            I couldn't find it in me to speak. Luckily, I didn't have to because after raking my body over, Raidon seemed to come to his conclusion.

           "You're the chick that's always around him," he finalized. My eyebrows rose in bafflement as the corners of his lips quirked upwards. "Yeah, Aki also tells me you're a riot. You should put on a show for me."

            My tense shoulders stiffened further. He knew me?! "H-huh? A-a shoe?" I squeaked. "I can do shoes! I-I mean, shows! I can so do shows!"

             Raidon seemed to disregard my stuttering—he must've been used to people unable to speak to him straight considering the many he'd terrified in his lifetime. "You can?" he asked in amusement. Stuffing his hands into his pockets of his gym shorts, Raidon nodded. "Then, what are you waiting for? Put on a show for me."

           My jaw fell. "R-right n-now?"

           My response must've not been the right one because he immediately glowered. "You just said you can do shows."

           My voice got caught in my throat as dread overcame me. What the heck! I was just saying whatever to get my butt saved but he took me literally! A show? How did I put on a show? What kind did he expect?

            I had a distinct feeling in my gut that if he didn't like the show I put on for him, it'd be the end of me...

             After a few seconds turned into a minute of utter silence, Raidon grew more and more exasperated. "Are you gonna do it or—"

             Running a sound at the top of my mouth, I began to slowly retract my jittery limbs, putting on my best robot. Raidon's eyes definitely widened but they settled back to its regular state as he stared at my impression in boredom. Ridding myself of my swelling mortification, I spoke in my best monotoned voice, "This is my impression of a robot... having a dance off."

             As the words left my mouth, I proceeded to do the robot with my arms, even going so far as to hum a disco tune under my breath. After a couple seconds, I heard Raidon yawn. This little... And here I was casting aside what little dignity I ever owned too...

            The slight distraction of my thoughts allowed for the equipment I kept propped against my thighs to slip. This time, I wasn't able to move out of the way in time allowing it to collapse and stub my toe. I fell to my ground, hissing in pain, and for the first time since I began, Raidon clapped. My hissing stopped for a moment. Wait, did he enjoy my pain? I grounded my teeth as I began to gingerly rock my toe. This guy was so...

             Mustering up whatever courage I had left, I did as he wanted and continued to embarrass myself by inflicting pain upon myself. I 'accidentally' tripped over the equipment (ouch), told him mortifying stories of my childhood I promised I would bring with me to my grave (double ouch), and even put on an erratic one-woman soap opera that required humiliating actions and references (triple ouch). And by the time I was done and bearing exhaustion, Raidon—who had looked so immersed at my continuous actions of embarrassment—appeared quite repulsed.

           "Wow..." he began, stepping away from me with a blatant grimace. "Even I don't hate myself that much."

            His words hit me like a painful arrow to the chest. Not only did I feel anger in the torrent emotions that swept over me, but more than anything else, I wanted to just kill myself right then and there to put me out of my misery. How dare he look so disgusted when he was one that made me put on this form of entertainment that would disgrace even the race of humans?!

            Agh! The guy was so freakin' ruthless! I covered my burning face with my hands. As every cliched anime girl would say: how would I get married now?

             It was to my surprise when a snort originated from Raidon. I hadn't even wanted to face the guy anymore but his words had allowed me to go against that.

          "Satoru's seriously got a weird taste in women." Raidon shook his head, meeting my eyes as I raised my head in confusion.

          "Satoru...?"

          "Oh, he goes by 'Iwasaki' now doesn't he?" Raidon corrected, ruffling his dark hair as he did. "Well, at least if he's got someone bizarre enough to hate on more than himself, no wonder he's been able to cope."

          My heart rate picked up in my chest as I stared at Raidon with wide-eyes. I knew it was crazy, but my mind couldn't help but formulate an answer from the memory regardless.

          "Anyway, on top of the obvious Raidon Tsuki, there's also Satoru to be feared of, too."

          From the corner of my eye, I caught Ryu and Miyabi tense from their seats. I blinked slowly, taking in the familiar name.

          "Satoru?" I asked. "Wait, isn't he that delinquent you once told me about?"

          Daichi nodded. "Like I already told you, I witnessed something I shouldn't have. I was coming home from a short meeting with Ms. Osaka when I stumbled upon it. A bunch of delinquents ganging and and beating an innocent boy."

          I stiffened. His lips met in a thin line.

          "They were delinquents from another school, but I felt bad and discreetly got involved to scare them off. The reason they were beating him up in the first place is because they were after a delinquent named Satoru who crossed them in the past. Apparently, in middle school, he was a monster. He stood on par with Raidon Tsuki, and nobody messed with him. Then, come high school, he mysteriously vanished. Rumours say he's enrolled at Akelius Academy but so far nobody's been able to identify him. It's probably because he skips all the time like Raidon Tsuki."

          I couldn't stop my trembling. On par with Raidon Tsuki? He was as scary as him? And he—

          "—goes to Akelius?"

          My heart dropped in my chest. I whipped my head in Miyabi's direction. Unlike the typically nonchalance he emitted, this time, his expression was nothing but hollow. His voice was unbelievably low as well.

          He narrowed his eyes at Daichi. "Is that true?"

          "Based... off what I heard around, yes." He gulped. "Miyabi, you good, man?"

          As if it was never there in the first place, his lips peeled back in his trademark grin. He airily chuckled, "Fine. I've heard about him, is all. Midnight black hair, piercings, and a glare as cold as ice... Since his disappearance, this entire time I was assured he quit being a delinquent and attended a regular school in the city. But he doesn't, huh? That's very scary knowing he goes to our school."

          He played it off with another laugh. My shoulders sagged in relief. Seeing Miyabi anything but cheerful was definitely unnerving. It gave me chills. But considering even Miyabi lost his cool about it... just how scary was this Satoru?

          No way.

          I had to be wrong.

          Was the Satoru that Daichi mentioned that day... really Iwasaki?