Chapter 45 – Preparation (6)
It’s said that Yuna wasn’t always a stuttering recluse.
Despite being a Zainichi Korean, she was apparently quite popular due to her unique sociability and pretty face, closer to an “insider” than anything else.
She was even open-minded, often talking to her otaku friends and sharing various nerdy information.
Thanks to that, she had many friends in middle school, and many people confessed their feelings to her.
Of course, she wasn’t interested in dating at the time, so she didn’t accept any of them.
However, she did have one problem.
“Ouch!”
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
She was what you’d call a “lucky pervert” type.
She’d trip and fall, only to end up buried in the chest of a handsome ikemen in front of her.
-Thud.
“Ah. Sorry.”
“U-Uh. It’s okay.”
Or a handsome guy would trip and end up doing a wall slam on her. She had that kind of “lucky pervert” constitution.
This wasn’t much of a problem in middle school.
It was a small neighborhood school, and since there weren’t many people, most of them were her close friends. They all knew about Yuna’s constitution since she was little.
The problem started after she became a high school student.
When her other friends went to nearby schools, Yuna, who was among the top students in her grade, went to a high school with a high academic deviation value (Japanese version of the 9-grade system).
Yuna originally wanted to go to a school nearby, but her parents strongly opposed it.
“You can go to a higher place.”
“Honey, it’ll be much easier to become a lawyer or a doctor if you go there. So, okay?”
Her parents saw their child as a trophy, not as an individual.
But even that was okay.
She still had many friends at her new school.
About half a year after she became a high school student, things went wrong.
Strange rumors about Yuna started circulating at school.
Rumors that she deliberately crossed her legs or fell into men’s arms to seduce them.
At first, Yuna ignored these rumors. It was a common thing at the school she used to go to.
Usually, these rumors would die down if you just stayed quiet.
And it was similar in this case.
Only the people who disliked her were spreading the rumors, it wasn’t the mainstream opinion.
The problem was what came next.
There was a senior who was famous for being handsome at school.
He was dating someone in Yuna’s grade. But suddenly, he broke up with that person and confessed to Yuna.
The only interaction Yuna had with him was when he helped her when she almost fell.
It was already strange enough, but the senior’s confession was even more ridiculous.
“I felt destiny with you!”
He said he felt destiny after helping her just once and confessed to Yuna.
You might think this is impossible in real life. But reality is often a cesspool.
Naturally, Yuna rejected him.
She thought that was the way to calm the situation.
But it wasn’t.
Maybe because of the senior’s ex-girlfriend, some people started spreading rumors again, saying that Yuna’s “lucky pervert” actions were all to seduce men, and that she had actually seduced a few.
The difference was that this time, the rumors were more malicious, with deep-seated resentment and purpose.
Naturally, Yuna acted similarly this time.
She smiled as usual, said the rumors were all fake, and quietly went to school.
It was natural. She had to remain a good daughter at home. She couldn’t cause a fuss.
So she hoped things would pass quietly, but sadly, her wish wasn’t granted this time.
In middle school, she had friends who had been close to her for a long time, but not here.
She had become an outcast.
When she arrived at school, she had to check her shoes in the shoe locker. Last time, she just wore them and got pricked by a pin.
And when she got to class, she immediately went to the bathroom to get a rag and wipe the desk that was defaced with graffiti and insults.
Her locker was filled with all sorts of filth.
Yes. She had been branded as a [toy] in the school society.
But even so, she quietly went to school.
Even though she was treated like air, she still diligently attended classes, took quizzes, and maintained her top grades.
Those who still held a grudge against Yuna because of her reaction started spreading unspeakable rumors, and rumors that crossed the line started spreading about her.
For example, rumors that she was involved in compensated dating, or that she was selling her body to men, or that she would sleep with anyone if they wanted.
Again, Yuna thought that if she just stayed quiet, these baseless rumors would die down.
But reality was even more of a cesspool.
While Yuna kept her mouth shut, she became the school’s public rag.
Does that make sense?
Well, seeing as it’s not much different in South Korea, Japan wasn’t much different either.
The bigger problem was that Yuna heard these words from her former friend while hiding in the bathroom.
From then on, Yuna didn’t speak much, and her speech became awkward in front of others.
The duality of humans had traumatized her.
And then, an incident occurred that ended her school life, which she was already seriously considering dropping out of due to the rumors and incidents that were close to personal attacks.
While quietly reading in the study room to avoid people’s eyes, she was discovered late at night by some delinquent seniors who were rumored to be connected to the Yakuza.
“Hey. How much do you charge for compensated dating?”
“Yeah. Yeah. Let me have a go too~”
“Hehe. Hey. Are you guys the only ones using her? Let me use her too!”
The delinquent seniors grabbed her and dragged her to a secluded place, urging her to give them her body.
“U-Uh…I, I don’t want to!”
No. Actually, they weren’t urging her, they were forcing her.
“Hey. We’re being nice right now. Do you think you can refuse?”
“Wow. She’s so innocent~”
“That’s why you should have managed your reputation better.”
“Kyaa-Ugh! Ugh!!”
“Aha. It’s no fun if you make noise like that.”
They covered Yuna’s arms and mouth and tried to assault her.
Fortunately, Yuna wasn’t assaulted by them.
“You guys! What are you doing there!!”
A strict physical education teacher, famous for being rigid, found them while patrolling the school.
After that, Yuna was able to return home safely, but her heart was completely broken.
Yuna was now afraid of men. To be precise, she was afraid of everyone, but especially men.
So Yuna locked herself in her house.
No. Actually, she couldn’t even lock herself in. Her parents called her a coward for running away from school.
Instead of comforting her, Yuna’s family scolded her for damaging their reputation and told her to go back to school.
She hated her parents so much that she went to live with her uncle and aunt, who used to dote on her.
And thanks to her uncle, who was a talented programmer, she was able to learn programming.
She spent several years there, learning how to program and how to get work, and after saving enough money, she became independent and reached where she is now. That was Yuna’s life story so far.
“Hic…Because of this constitution, I’m just causing trouble for others…and making you worry for no reason…”
I listened to Yuna’s words for a moment and then snapped my fingers.
-Snap.
I saw the life drain from Yuna’s face, who had been on the verge of tears, and sighed deeply.
“Haa…”
Honestly, Yuna’s story was hard to believe from my perspective.
In my case, I had to drop out of high school, almost forcibly, in my first year, or rather, at the beginning of the semester.
Even when Haruka had a similar experience before, I couldn’t empathize for the same reason.
Is high school really a place full of bullying?
I thought it was supposed to be full of dreams and hope?
Well, parents can be like that.
If not, there were two possibilities. Either both of them were special cases, or…
‘They’re lying.’
Personally, I don’t like interrogations like this, but I still need to know the truth.
If they lied to me…
‘I’ll go back to the old ways…no. I’ll just leave it alone.’
There’s no need to act like I used to, even here. I’ll just think I stepped in shit.
So I asked while she was under hypnosis.
“Yuna, is there not a single lie in what you just said?”
“Yes…”
“I’ll ask again. Lua, is everything she said true?”
“Yes…”
Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any lies in what she said.
‘Haa…okay. It’s a relief if it’s true.’
I was relieved for a moment. But then it made even less sense.
‘Then why did she apologize to me?’
Why would she apologize? It didn’t make sense.
She hadn’t actually done anything wrong.
The only thing she did wrong was react lukewarmly to the rumors.
If it were me, I would have used the tradition of South Korean politics and covered it up with another bigger issue.
“Yuna. Why did you apologize to me?”
“I thought it was all my fault for showing you such an ugly sight because of my strange habit…”
“Did you feel the same way when you were bullied by those high school friends?”
“Yes…”
I didn’t know if I should call her a pushover or a saint.
I pondered while she was still under hypnosis.
[TIP 2. If you empathize with her and comfort her, she will be saved…]
The tip window was giving me this advice, but to end it with just this?
Would that really be true salvation? I thought for a moment, but…
“That’s not for me to decide.”
That was something the person herself had to decide.
If it wasn’t her own choice, then it would all be meaningless.
Right now, I just had to complete the mission given by the screen.
Maybe, if I released her from hypnosis and empathized with her, she would be saved on her own.
‘But.’
Even if the mission failed, there was something I wanted to tell her.
I released Yuna from hypnosis and said.
“To be honest, I can’t say that you’re completely blameless in the story you told.”
“Y-Yes?”
“At least when you left school, you should have punched the guys who bullied you in the face.”
“Eeh?”
“If someone hates you for no reason, you should give them a reason, and if someone hits your right cheek, you should punch them in the jaw, and find the reason for hitting them in the other person, not in yourself.”
“U-Uh…Yes…?”
Yuna didn’t seem to understand exactly what I meant.
So I told her directly.
“So, even if someone hates you, don’t blame yourself, blame the person who made you that way.”
Yuna seemed to understand what I meant then.
“B-But, that would be a nuisance…”
“It’s okay to cause that much trouble to the guy who hit you in the face.”
“R-Really? Is that okay?”
“Yeah. At least to the guys who are giving you trouble.”
“R-Really?”
I nodded several times to Yuna’s repeated questions.
“Hic…R-Really. Really? Is that okay? I thought I should just stay quiet…”
Hearing my words of affirmation, Yuna seemed to have released the pent-up emotions in her heart, and I could see tears welling up in her eyes, which were hidden by her hair.
I carefully brushed the hair that was covering Yuna’s forehead back and said.
“If you stay quiet, the world will see you as a pushover and hit you on the cheek again. You have to slap both of their cheeks before that happens.”
“Puhuhu. W-What’s that…”
Yuna, who had been crying, cried and laughed for a long time at my blunt words, and then seemed exhausted and was half-dozing off, so I laid her down comfortably.
As soon as she lay down on the bed, Yuna, who was already sleepy, was almost asleep, and before she fell asleep, she said to me.
“T-Thank you so much…”
With that, a screen appeared saying that the side episode was complete, but more than that, I hoped that Yuna would rest comfortably.
After leaving the room where Yuna was sleeping, I said to Miharu, who was sitting there.
“Let’s go now.”
“Yuna is…”
“She’s sleeping peacefully, so don’t worry.”
Miharu’s eyes widened at my words, and she carefully opened Yuna’s door, checked that Yuna was sleeping, and then looked at me with a relieved expression again.
‘No. Am I really that untrustworthy?’
I thought that as I headed to the entrance to leave Yuna’s house with Miharu.
“So that’s why…women are drawn to him…”
Before leaving Yuna’s house, I heard Miharu’s small mutter, but it was probably just my imagination.
