Chapter 34:

For example, when two male classmates were fighting over him, he was clearly present, but he didn't offer any intervention. Instead, he fanned the flames, saying,

"Defeated 'trash' has no right to approach me."

With that, the two fiercely engaged roosters intensified their fight, culminating in one man smashing the other's head with a thermos.

This scene must have been unsatisfying for Amamiya, as he simply remarked, "Useless thing," and then walked away, surrounded by the crowd.

Perhaps sensing Naoko's gaze, his gaze passed through the crowd, resting on her as she watched the scene, and a faint curl of his lips curled up.

...was he feeling smug?

That evening, she received a message from Amamiya:

[Did you find out everything?]

It seemed like a nonsensical sentence, but Naomiya knew what he meant.

[Once I've eliminated these 'rats,' Kawase Naoko and Amamiya Tomie will be together forever.]

[Are you crazy, Amamiya?] Is that so ?

But this was the best plan Amamiya Tomie could come up with.

If you hurt our Naoko, I'd feel pain involuntarily.

This is the only way I can protect you, Naoko.

I don't understand what you're talking about. Before you make any serious mistakes, you should do something human.

Stop talking like a couple on the brink of death.

Amamiya didn't reply.

The next day, Naoko heard in the classroom that Amamiya was looking for a dance partner.

Seeing her approach, several classmates couldn't help but ask,

"Hey, Kawase, have you and Amamiya-kun broken up?"

Amamiya wasn't there, so the students' questions were particularly arrogant.

"...Probably."

At this answer, they immediately let out a look of gloating, "Oh, is that so? That's great."

"So, you won't compete with us for the chance to be Amamiya-kun's dance partner anymore?"

Kamikawa Academy had a tradition of holding a formal dance party near the end of their senior year to encourage and relieve pressure on the students.

Come to think of it, the high school student era is almost over.

Before she could answer, several people answered on their own: "But even if you compete, Kawase, you don't have this opportunity."

"Do you know what everyone talks about you in private?"

"The 'loser' who failed to seduce Amemiya-kun."

They covered their mouths and laughed, while looking her up and down with sharp eyes.

Is this actually a derogatory word?

She didn't want to get close to the current "Amemiya-kun" at all.

Whatever.

"This is a good word to describe Kawase." Amemiya's voice was lightly interrupted, like a stone suddenly thrown into a calm lake, which immediately broke out a large ripple.

"Hey, it's Amemiya-kun!"

He leaned forward to join the others, showing a charming smile without hesitation: "The person who can be my dance partner will definitely be among you. "

Naoko couldn't help but warn him with her eyes: Hey, stop it!

He glanced at her sideways, as if to provoke her. Although he didn't look back, the hand hanging by his side drew a circle on her palm very accurately.

It was so disgusting.

She couldn't help but get up and walked out quickly.

Behind her, there were the sounds of men and women laughing and Amemiya's voice fanning the flames, hoping that the world would not be in chaos.

In the deep night, Naoko felt like she was being suppressed and couldn't breathe.

She took a deep breath and suddenly woke up.

"Did I wake you up?"

Naoko couldn't help but look up.

A tall black shadow stood beside her bed. The dim light outlined his straight and beautiful figure. At this moment, he was looking down at her.

"Amemiya-kun? What are you doing here in the middle of the night? Wait," she screamed, "are you climbing in through the window again? "

She decided that she must find a time to seal the window.

He sat down beside her bed, his tone asking for a beating: "I suddenly missed you, Naoko, at night."

"Go away..." She wanted to raise her hand to push him away, but she didn't know what she touched, and he groaned strangely.

Through a few rays of moonlight, she saw the broken half of Amemiya's arm. The wound was covered with dense granulations as long as fingers, which were dancing slightly in the wind.

Sensing her approach, they began to stretch towards her desperately.

Was she seeing it wrong?

She moved her body mechanically, and was about to raise her hand to turn on the bedside lamp. But before she could move, her eyes were suddenly covered by Amemiya.

"I wanted to spend a perfect high school life with you, but now it seems a bit tricky.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I'll be the winner, and then I'll be entangled with you to death, Naoko."

"Who wants to be entangled with you to death..."

He whispered to her ear, interrupting her with a lover's whisper: "The dress for the prom is on the table. Naoko, you have to go beautifully."

Before she could retort, she slipped into the darkness.

If it weren't for the beautiful gift box containing the dress lying on the table, she would have thought she was dreaming.

To express her dissatisfaction, she deliberately didn't bring the dress to school; but halfway through, she suddenly regretted it and ran home, covered in dust, to take the gift box with her.

...Never mind. Even if Amamiya-kun was hateful, he was still Amamiya-kun, wasn't he?

Kamikawa Academy was decorated beautifully today for the prom.

As night fell, boys and girls in all kinds of dresses wandered around, almost blinding the eyes.

Naoko lingered in the dressing room and retrieved the dress.

It was a very beautiful fishtail skirt, with a pure white body, inlaid with sparkling sequins and broken diamonds.

The measurements were neither too big nor too small, just fitting Naoko's figure.

Standing in front of the mirror, she turned around with great effort and tried to zip up. When she was distressed, suddenly a hand stretched out from somewhere and helped her zip up to the top.

"... Thank you, thank you... Amamiya-kun?! Why are you here? Are you crazy? This is the women's locker room! You peeping pervert!"

Amamiya smiled and took her by the hand and spun her around: "Naoko, you are too arbitrary to put on such a big hat. It looks very good. It looks as good as I imagined."

"Are you crazy?! Get out of here!"

Even after being pushed back, he didn't get angry. Instead, he glanced at her. "But you're planning to go to university in Kyoto, right?"

She was alarmed. "...What's wrong?"

Actually, it wasn't Kyoto, but Tokyo.

"We're going to the same university, right, Naoko?"

She couldn't help but feel lucky she hadn't let anything slip. Her wonderful university life couldn't be completely ruined by Amamiya-kun.

As he spoke, Amamiya hugged her from behind, resting his chin on her right shoulder, observing her in the mirror.

Naoko then noticed that he was also wearing a white suit today, and at first glance, they looked quite compatible.

Thinking back to last night, her eyes involuntarily fell to his left arm.

But it looked intact, nothing strange.

He sniffed her neck with fascination, and for a second, Naoko felt something warm and wet lick his skin.

"Are you really a pervert?" She pushed his head away from her shoulder.

"Maybe."

Voices calling for Amemiya-kun echoed in the corridor. He then slowly stood up, leaned against the door frame, and took one last look at her:

"Naoko looks very beautiful today. However, I have to leave. I'll come to see you later."

It's better not to look for her.

Let her be alone in peace.

She couldn't understand why Amemiya did such a weird thing.

The bell rang, and Naoko walked into the auditorium with her skirt lifted and her mid-high heels tapping.

Amemiya must be standing in the center.

Although she couldn't catch his figure through the layers of people, people's enthusiastic gazes would not lie.

She took a cake, chose a seat in the corner and sat down to eat slowly.

The dance had just begun when several of Amemiya's suitors fought for the chance to dance with him first, and it was forced to be interrupted.

He stood among the crowd, grinning, observing the farce with a cold gaze. "Who's winning?"

Everyone could see he took pleasure in their internecine violence, and the fight escalated, some even raising glass bottles at their companions.

However, before anything serious could happen, the school security arrived and separated the raging men.

— Naoko had called the security, of course.

Using his charm to trick students into wielding knives—Amamiya-kun was simply insane.

Amamiya, furious, glanced through the crowd to Naoko in the corner. The corners of her lips, which had just risen slightly, curved downward, and her expression hardened.

She was certain that Amamiya would never do anything to her, no matter what. Such was the arrogance of childhood

friends. To prevent any further horrible behavior, the school had ordered security to cordon off the auditorium, inside and out, and intervene if a quarrel arose.

The plan, prepared for so long, was ruined. Amemiya's face turned pale, and he exerted a little pressure with his fingers, nearly shattering the goblet in his hand.

Now that the matter was resolved, Naoko had no reason to stay at the ball. She turned and left the auditorium, preparing to find a cooler place for a while.

The playground was empty without Amemiya. She sat on the stairs, lost in silence for a while.

"Naoko, you ruined my plan and are you just leaving?" Amemiya gritted his teeth, pressing his hand to the top of her head with a little pressure.

"Why are you here? Where are the others at the ball..." Logically, he couldn't have gotten away unscathed.

"Of course I took care of them. It seems you haven't grown up yet, Naoko. I still have to clean up the mess you left behind."

"I think I should be the one saying this."

Amemiya leaned over, took her hand in his, and placed it on his lips for a kiss. "Let's not talk about this anymore. Today is a special day. Do you want to have your first dance with me?

" "Because they suddenly started fighting, I haven't danced with anyone yet." "Naoko, you are still the first one."

What the hell, who has the mood to dance now?

Before she could say no, she was pulled up and spun around.

A familiar force pinched her waist: "You seem to have gained some weight without me. It's really annoying. But this is the charm of our Naoko...

"It's because you never take anyone seriously that you seem so attractive..."

In fact, she was a little thinner.

But Naoko didn't refute.

She was not very good at dancing, but she learned even this kind of mediocre dance from Amemiya, so he skillfully avoided all her mistakes.

When the atmosphere was just right, she heard him curse under his breath: "Damn it, why did you pick such a bad place."

Following his gaze, she could only see two shadowy black silhouettes on the rooftop.

They pushed and beat each other, entangled in pairs and pressed against the concrete fence.

Naoko shuddered subconsciously: "Are they crazy?! What if..."

"Don't bother with irrelevant people like this." He took her hand, "Let's go, let's find a quiet place."

She looked up and stared into his eyes: "Is this what you call 'cleaning up the mess'? Do they have to die?"

"This is all to protect you, Naoko... In short, it's complicated to explain, just pretend you don't know."

She was so angry that she shook off his hand and ran towards the rooftop, but before she had taken two steps, a scream that broke the air came from the front, and two figures entangled and fell, and fell to the ground like broken plastic bags.

Dong, Dong.