I waited outside the fight room in anticipation. Now that break was over, everyone was returning to class.

Machida exited the room with his gang, giving me a dirty look as he passed me. Koishi used his shoulder to bump into me on purpose, while Ritaka mockingly smiled at me. I could feel my fist tighten at the sight of his face.

A few moments later, Akihiro left the fight room.

"Akihiro-san."

Even though I tried reaching out to him, he ignored me. He gave a brief look at me before walking away like a zombie. In that moment, I caught a glimpse of his facial expression. It was completely lifeless.

Kawaguchi followed after him. He gave a quick glance at me, then looked away. Before he chased after Akihiro, he mumbled something in my direction.

"I'll deal with him."

Seeing as Akihiro and Kawaguchi were already close friends due to their shared love of Vanguard, I trusted Akihiro's current state in Kawaguchi's capable hands.

However, the cold behaviour I saw Kawaguchi exhibit towards me implied that he doesn't fully trust me anymore. I guess I deserve it, considering the rumour and what he saw me do to Ritaka.

The next pair I saw leave was Nora and Katsumi. When me and Nora met eyes, he rushed over to me. Katsumi followed him, looking exhausted.

"T-Takanori-kun... are you okay?"

"...yeah, I'm fine. How about you guys?"

Compared to me, those two had it worse.

"Um... y-yeah..."

Nora gave a small smile, pretending to be okay. It was obvious that he was distraught and hurt inside though. He was just doing his best to conceal it. Katsumi simply nodded at me. Despite her rambunctious personality, she stayed unusually quiet.

"Katsumi-san, are you okay?"

"Eh...? Ah, yeah..."

She gave a distant response to me. It was strange that this situation shook her up so much, as Koishi never did anything directly to her. He just used his presence to scare her. Surely, this wasn't enough to knock her self-confidence down?

"We weren't able to get through all the training. Sorry."

I bowed apologetically.

"N-no, it's fine! You don't have to do that..."

Some life returned to her voice as she waved her hands frantically at me, trying to get me to stand up straight.

"I'm... gonna go back to class. See you guys... I guess."

Wanting to withdraw from the situation as soon as possible, Katsumi scurried away. Nora frowned, turning to me.

"D-don't take it personally, Takanori-kun... Kou-san's just... um..."

"Her mind's probably a mess right now, huh?"

"In a way... yeah..."

"Do you know why she's acting like this?"

Seeing as Nora and Katsumi went to the same middle school, I thought it would be a good idea to ask him about the underlying reason why Katsumi was acting this way.

For Nora, while he was probably feeling weak and useless on the inside, on the outside he could appear calm due to the bullying he endured throughout here and middle school. From that repeated experience, he's learnt to cope with it by pretending he's alright, so his current behaviour made sense.

For Katsumi, it didn't make sense why she'd be so terrified by Koishi to the point that her personality would drastically alter. I've never seen Katsumi look so weak before. In class, she's always portrayed herself as strong and confident. There had to be an underlying reason for why she became paralysed with fear.

While yes, Koishi is scary, Katsumi had muscles that were equal to or greater than his. If they were to get in a confrontation, it wouldn't be hard for her to kick him around the face like she did with me. She had the necessary tools to fight, yet her body chose to run away. It's not consistent with her projected personality.

"Y-yeah, I do..."

"Do you mind telling me?"

Nora looked uneasy when I asked him that.

"It's... personal to Kou-san... a-and I don't want to betray her... if you do want to know... you should talk to her about it."

So my suspicions were correct. Out of respect for his friend, Nora didn't tell me, since she didn't give consent to it. I didn't mind, but it does mean I'll have to pay her a visit later today.

"You go on ahead. I'm going to wait for Yukina."

"O-okay then... sorry..."

For some reason, Nora apologised as he went back to class. Is this what Katsumi meant by us two being "doormats"?

I saw Yukina leave the fight room with Akari. They were talking to each other about something.

I reached out to get Yukina's attention, but choked up.

I turned around and lowered my head.

My chest tightened as I ran down the hallway.

From the very start... I've always been a self-deprecating coward. Nothing's changed since then, huh?

When the hell did I start acting this way...

Being scared of everything that I cared about. Even though I've cleared up the air with Yukina, I still don't feel satisfied. I still feel uneasy and uncertain about us.

Why did I get so jealous...

To everything that's around me. I told myself that I didn't need things like friends or relationships. All of that was worthless to a loner like me. The only people who could derive pleasure from social interaction were the riajuus.

The same people I felt that deep irritation at.

How did I become a loner...

I don't think it was just Suzune leaving that pushed me to this path. There was something else wrong with me. I realised something was wrong and I didn't know how to deal with it.

I bottled it all up, convincing myself that I was okay by making up a reason to why I felt so torn inside.

Suzune's move was the perfect excuse. It was the reason I gave everyone for why I acted this way. No one ever questioned it. They always took it as fact.

After all, what benefit do I gain from lying over why I became a reclusive outcast? At least I had a reason why I acted that way.

Even if... I pushed everyone away from me. I selfishly cut ties with all my friends and family so I could drown in my own well of darkness.

That isn't the actions of someone who's hurt. That's the actions of an attention-seeking idiot.

That's all my actions ever amounted to.

Trying to get someone else's attention.

I'm pathetic.

I've been living a lie this entire time. I'm nothing like I pretend to be.

Sooner or later, that facade I built for myself would break.

I knew some day, that apathetic and emotionless "Yuuto" would shatter, and the walls I built around myself would come crashing down, forcing me to face who I really am.

I never wanted that day to come.

I didn't want anyone to see who I really was inside.

I refused to show my weakness to anyone else.

That's why I killed that emotional wreck long ago.

Ever since then, I've never felt any emotions.

Partly because I was scared of reawakening the side of me that I buried, and partly because I didn't understand what feelings were anymore.

The exception to this was pain. Unlike the rest, I knew what it felt like to be hurt.

The morning after Suzune left, I truly learnt what pain really was. Those scars have never left me ever since.

That's why I wasn't afraid of being hurt.

At least that way, I knew that I was feeling something. No matter how many times people treated me horribly, I never felt any hatred or resentment.

I was incapable of that feeling. Or that's what I thought at least.

In that moment where Ritaka was about to grope Yukina, I felt something.

It was different to pain.

I recognised what it was.

It was anger.

I lost control of my body.

The ghost of my past had finally caught up to me.

I couldn't hold myself back anymore.

I punched Ritaka.

Everyone got to see first hand just how disgusting I am.

When I came to, I felt something else.

It was disappointment.

Bit by bit, I was experiencing emotions that I thought I got rid of long ago.

Slowly, the world I looked at indifferently regained it's colour gradually.

I didn't understand it fully, but I was overwhelmed.

I couldn't register it all, because it was too much for me.

However, I realised something important.

I care about Yukina.

With caution, I entered the class. Unlike this morning, no one looked at me. To the rest of E Class, I no longer existed. It was the same type of isolation I experienced in middle school too, so I was used to this sort of treatment.

That's why I buried my head on the table. Even if they ignored my presence, I didn't want anyone to look at me, especially after revealing my true self in the fight room.

"Yukina-san, are you okay?!"

I looked out of the corner of my eye as Sakigamiya and her group surrounded Yukina and Akari when they returned to class. Even though they had a falling out earlier, Sakigamiya was willing to push it aside to check her friend's safety.

"Alice-san... of course I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Yukina gave a startlingly calm reply. Just like me, Sakigamiya had a confused expression on her face.

"Are you... sure? I heard about what that creep Ritaka did to you. I know something like that can be traumatic, so please, tell me the truth! I'm... worried about you..."

You weren't worried about her earlier this morning.

"I'm telling you the truth, Alice-san. I'm completely fine. I was a bit shaken up at first, but Akari-san helped me calm down."

Akari threw a peace sign up. Sakigamiya still seemed sceptical about the reasoning Yukina gave.

"That Ritaka guy is a total creep. He tried pulling the same stunt on Ichinose-san, believe it or not. Horny mutt."

Yukina laughed as Akari blatantly made fun out of Ritaka.

Considering the type of guy he was, I could imagine him also trying to grope Ichinose. Though, he'd be unsuccessful at it, as Ichinose had plenty of admirers who were ready to defend her at any given moment.

"It's a relief that you're okay... but aren't you a bit too calm? It's like... nothing even happened to you. You're not hiding anything, right? Did he do anything else to you? Yukina-san, you can tell us the truth. The whole class has your back, you know."

I agreed with Sakigamiya. I don't think you can get over an experience like that within just a few minutes. It was almost as if Yukina was unfazed by it.

"Does it seem that way...? I'm sorry... it's just, everything happened so fast, I didn't really process it all that well. I knew what Ritaka was doing was wrong, but it felt so... surreal. I didn't think something like that could happen to me."

Yukina shyly apologised, bowing. Sakigamiya sighed and hugged her best friend.

"Honestly, Yukina-san can be so naive sometimes... don't look so shameful, it's not your fault."

This public display of affection was something only a riajuu could do. It looked like a panel ripped straight out of a yuri manga. Not like I'd know what a yuri manga looks like, but still.

"Um... Alice-san, about earlier today. I'm sorry for shouting at you like that."

"Water under the bridge. I'm sorry for insulting you too."

In a wholesome twist of events, Yukina and Alice managed to put aside their prides in order to make up with each other. The class's tense atmosphere had gotten lighter as the girls laughed over how ridiculous their falling out had been.

"I swear, when I see that pervert Ritaka, I'm going to punch him in the face!"

Sakigamiya punched her fists together to show how serious she was.

"A-Alice-san, you don't need to do that!"

Yukina waved her hands, trying to calm Sakigamiya down. It was strangely cute.

"Why not? A guy like him deserves all the karma coming his way!"

I couldn't help but feel bitter over the way Sakigamiya was openly talking about punching someone else when she condemned me earlier over a rumour of me doing the same thing. This counted as a form of hypocrisy, didn't it?

"That's a bad idea... we shouldn't be trying to get revenge on other people like that. Yuu's already dealt with him. It'd be unnecessary if you also went to give him a piece of your mind... or fist."

"I guess you're right... wait, Takanori?"

Sakigamiya stopped punching the air, and turned my way. I lowered my head, and kept a low profile.

I was hoping that my unnecessary actions would stay between my group and Machida's group, but it seems like that's going to be impossible now. Sooner or later, word about me punching Ritaka would spread around the school like wildfire.

"Yes, Yuu. He's the one that saved me from Ritaka-san."

"No way, you're kidding! Takanori saved you? What did he even do?"

Sakigamiya launched a flurry of questions at Yukina's way. As I covered my head, I could hear them come closer to my seat.

"Before Ritaka-san could grope me, Yuu made him fall to the floor with a single punch."

Sakigamiya looked at me in disbelief. Underlying her surprise was anger.

"The way he saved me was really heroic. My heart was pounding so fast that moment... ah, Yuu was so cool!"

For some reason, Yukina blushed. I wanted to tell her that there was nothing heroic about it. I couldn't be proud of myself after showing them this violent side of me.

At the same time, I felt happy that she called me cool. For a long time, I've always wanted to appear that way to her. To actually achieve that, but under these circumstances... I felt conflicted.

"Well, it makes sense a woman beater would resort to violence. Poor Shimizu-san, having to deal with Takanori's strength..."

"Alice-san..."

Stubbornly, Sakigamiya crossed her arms and turned away. Even in front of Yukina, she wanted to continue lying about me. However, she was right about one thing.

Before anyone else can get the wrong idea, I'll set the record straight for everyone present in this class.

"Yeah, I resorted to violence. I'm not proud of it."

Sakigamiya looked over her shoulder, not expecting me to reply. I raised my head, and slowly, my body too.

"So go ahead and tell the whole school I hit somebody else. You'd be doing me a favour actually."

I squeezed my fists and gritted my teeth. From the bottom of my lungs, I shouted this at the class.

"But don't forget to mention the reason why. It's not because I'm some sort of violent maniac, nor is it because I have anger issues. I did it to save Yukina. There were no other intentions. That's it. Understand?"

Sakigamiya looked away, biting the nail on her thumb. Everyone had finally acknowledged my existence, as they all turned to watch me stand-up for myself.

"Ugh... why do you want to be the hero so badly?! Just because this time you hit someone for a good reason doesn't erase the fact you hit Shimizu-san!"

"There's nothing to erase, because it simply isn't true."

As if feeling how tense this situation was becoming, Yukina barged between us, holding out her arms to keep us away from each other.

"Stop fighting... you shouldn't let a rumour overshadow what's fact, Alice-san. Kou-san, Akari-san, Nora-chan, Aki-kun, Kawaguchi-kun, some D Class students, and even Machida-san and his friends can all testify to what Yuu did. He saved me. Please don't insult or undermine the actions he took to protect me."

Sakigamiya narrowed her eyes, bitterly looking away from me. She seemed to be conflicted inside.

"Grr... ah, whatever! Takanori, I still don't trust you and it pains me to say it, but... good job."

Quickly running through her words, Sakigamiya stormed off. Yukina breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to me.

I avoided her pure eyes. Once again, I couldn't bring myself to talk to her. I simply stood there, waiting for Yukina's words.

"I never got to say this back then... and I'm sorry I let you get dragged like that by Machida-san... but thank you, Yuu."

When they came, her words touched my heart. It might not be much to someone else, but this "thank you" meant the world to me.

Even though I'm ashamed of myself for punching Ritaka, hearing her appreciation for me made the burden I've been carrying feel a little less painful.

Strangely, I had an urge to embrace Yukina in this moment, but I knew I couldn't do that.

Instead, I kept my hands in my pockets as usual, not letting anyone else see my desires. Slowly, I could now make eye contact with her again.

It wasn't perfect, but I could now face her without embarrassment.

I didn't have to be scared of her judgment anymore. Just like she promised, she was being more open towards me. That's why I felt I had to do the same.

"I'm so glad... really glad, that you're okay... Yukina."