Real teaching, hypocritical gray life

But...why would Ryuen know about the connection between me and Kiyotaka? No one else would know about that except the two of us. Kiyotaka wouldn't take the initiative to cause trouble for himself, so I have no reason to do that.

what is this?

"When you were being bullied by Manabe and the others on the cruise ship, did you receive help from X?"

X............This is used to refer to Kiyotaka. This kind of thing——

"Huh? That's not the case."

"It will be useless to hide it now. I have more than one piece of evidence in my hands."

"............evidence?"

What is that, how can there be something like that... No, I think I know.

I felt my shaking hands and swaying skirt being [caressed] by the sharp words, and my pores instantly closed.

"Don't you know how the X behind you protected you from Manabe's clutches?"

"That's not the case. I wasn't bullied. X didn't even... "

"X filmed Manabe and the others' weaknesses. He said that if you don't want the fact that they bullied you to be exposed, you have to behave yourself... It seems like this is how he silenced them. But this will also bother you. If you continue like this, you are afraid that the bullying will be exposed sooner or later."

“…I didn’t say that.”

"Is it my imagination? Your eyes are very shaken~"

As he said this, Ryuuen gave me a playful look.

The field of vision gradually narrows and the focus cannot be fixed.

The vision began to distort.

I lowered my head slightly.

"In addition, X was not satisfied with just this. He also used this to make Manabe and the others leak information at the sports festival. They were used like spies. Of course, what I meant was that they would not expose the fact that they bullied you."

"What? I don't understand anything you just said......"

"............It seems that this is the first time you have heard about the sports festival. It seems that you are just a pawn to be used at that level."

Ah, what is this? I have no idea about this matter.

Why was it at the sports festival? What happened then?

"Originally I had no interest in you, and to be honest I didn't intend to take advantage of that little bit of bullying. What I really wanted to attack was the X hiding behind you, so... don't you think it would be a wise choice to tell me your true identity honestly?"

"I've already said I don't know. No matter how many times you ask, the answer is this... Is that enough? I want to go back. It's about to rain... "

"I wouldn't mind it too much, but I don't want to go back soaking wet. So, don't you want to end this conversation and go back?"

"............I have nothing good to say at all."

"Are you sure? If so, you can leave. Of course, in exchange, I can also expose all your affairs. That's it."

"......"

Ah, ah, ah, this must not be allowed to happen.

If that were the case, I knew my heart would not be able to bear it.

Not only will I change, but those who are willing to treat me gently and live in harmony with me will look at me with different eyes.

There is no way I could endure such a cruel time with my absolute heart.

No one would have helped me at that time. Not even my junior high school, which knew the truth about me being bullied but still did nothing to help me. The only thing the school could do for me was to tell me about the existence of this school.

This way I can live in a completely new environment where no one knows me.

But why?

This is really annoying.

Why did things turn out like this again?

Why have things come to a point where we have to remain silent no matter which direction we are attacked from?

Well, ah, no matter which option there is, there will be no suitable ending waiting.

That's right, you can't do anything by relying on your own abilities.

Ryuuen took a step forward, and my thighs trembled and I staggered.

For a moment, I wanted to surge forward with a stronger momentum and no longer be afraid of my past. In fact, I can use my past experiences to win the sympathy of others! If I act more naturally, I might become the object of everyone's love!

But——why can't my body move according to my thoughts?

Why is this?

With a sad heart, I pondered this matter secretly.

I wish I could be alone crying now, but the fact is that I am intimidated by more than one person.

"Even if you rack your brains, basic useless ideas are meaningless. Now is not a situation that can be solved by just thinking. The choices you can make are obviously very limited. However, at least among the options you can choose, you can choose the most correct answer - reveal the name of the person behind you. That's all."

"............If there is really someone behind me as you said, then you can't guarantee that the name I said here is correct. Do you have a way to confirm the truth?"

"Just like Karuizawa said, we have no way to confirm it, Ryuen-san............"

Ishizaki's interruption gave me hope, but it was extinguished the next moment by Ryuuen's eyes.

"If I knew you were lying, I would tell you about your past. What would you do if I said that?"

"this--"

"The only way you can be saved is to tell the whole story."

Is this really the case?!

I held my hands, trying hard to tighten them, but they continued to tremble.

fear.

fear.

fear............

My breathing started to become shallow again.

I lowered my head.

I know that if I scream out loud now, I will feel a little better, and I really want to do that. But one thing after another presses on me, and I have no choice but to be pushed to the other side of the world.

I don't want to talk about that time in junior high school.

Because I wanted to avoid everything, I could never face it on my own. Holding my breath, I hoped I would faint.

Even so, I still have to face the reality. I was pulled out by the other party with absolute force, and I have to face it alone.

I forced myself to raise my head and eyes to refute.

"I'm not stupid. No matter if I tell the truth or a lie now, you will threaten me again sooner or later. I don't want to be used every time something happens."

"Haha, that's true. Just like Manabe and the others were used by X, there is no guarantee that I won't use you. But what are you going to do in this case?"

"I will neither say that someone exists nor that someone does not exist, nor will I randomly name someone. In other words, I will not answer you anything."

At times like this, just keep silent.

Because I can't do anything.

Because I can't do anything.

"What if I say that if you remain silent, I will be exposed?"

"You think there's someone behind me. But since you can't get close to the true identity, you came to contact me. In this case, I don't think you will give up this opportunity easily."

"I see. If I reveal your past before I find out, you won't have any reason to confess. Maybe it will take me a while to find the X I'm looking for."

"That's it."

I said this even though I knew my resistance was futile.

Then he looked away.

This is all I have left.

Chapter 27 I don't know where to go

[Recommended to read together with the next chapter]

(Karuizawa Megumi's perspective)

"For me, even if I can't get X's true identity out of you, it won't be a problem. Because as long as I am willing to spend time on this matter, it will be fine. It seems that you have not taken into account that I will have many opportunities to clarify X's true identity in the future."

"But the premise of this matter is that you plan to cause trouble to that person in the future. If you find the true face of the person you are looking for, it should be natural to be careful not to reveal your true identity rashly, right?"

After I said this, Ryuuen thought about it with great interest, and finally smiled fearlessly after I pretended to be strong.

I knew long ago that he wouldn't care about that.

"............I see. You made the final choice. Although I don't want to admit it, [Silence] is not a bad option, and to be honest, it's hard to say it's the best option, but it seems that it's not completely without reason that you were favored and used by X."

"You must have thought carefully about how to protect yourself before you dared to come here alone."

"In that case, you should understand. The best outcome is to let me go, right? I won't dwell on it too much."

How does it feel? Not bad, I guess.

This is my final reasoning on a day when everything is fine and the wind is gentle.

But, will this really happen?

"......"

Ryuuen ignored me and glanced at his phone screen. Probably because no one contacted him, he muttered to himself.

"It seems that the other email has failed, so I will take the risk and move to the next stage... This is not my fault, this is all your fault, X............"

"............I don't want to stay with you any longer. I have to leave first."

The door to the rooftop was only one step away from me. The next thing I should do was to calmly turn around and leave this place of trouble.

Although my thoughts were clear, I couldn't even do such a small thing.

Ryuuen once again gave me that sinister smile, and the unique pressure it created in my heart made me unable to move again.

"Anyway, as long as I can force you to tell me X's true identity, that'll be fine, right? Judging from your appearance, you probably know X's true identity, so asking him here is the best option."

"I've already said before that I don't know, what else do you want?"

"If that were the case, you wouldn't have any extra words."

Ryuuen believed that I knew about Kiyotaka's existence.

I swallowed in panic.

"............Threats are useless. How do you want me to say it?"

"Is there even any need to say this? You yourself said before that I would let you go. Now that I have caught a lamb that is already in deep trouble, how can I let it go easily? Even making a trap is not easy for me. So... torture has been the custom since ancient times to force a confession."

"Hey, Ryuuen, it's not a good idea for you to attack directly like this, right? This woman will fight to the death, right?"

"It doesn't matter. Ibuki, hold Karuizawa for me."

"Huh? Did you hear what I just said? And why do you want me to do it? You can handle this kind of thing yourself."

Ibuki stood there and struggled with Ryuuen. At this moment, it would be great if the two of them had a conflict. Then maybe I could save myself......

But it really is impossible.

Ryuuen narrowed his eyes.

"I said, do it."

"............I won't participate. It's an overly dangerous gamble no matter how you think about it."

"You've failed so many times and yet you're thinking of pretending nothing happened and quitting. That's really lame, Ibuki. This is one of the few opportunities you have. You can bully me or have fun. The important thing is, how are you going to regain my trust in you? I don't think you want to be treated as a [traitor] by me."

Ryuuen grabbed Ibuki-san's arm and threw her in front of me.

"I will take full responsibility, don't worry. So don't hesitate to do it."

“…Tsk.”

Then, Ibuki approached me while smacking his lips.