Something terrible started happening. It was often, but not every day. In a way, it was even worse than if it just happened daily.

“Nakamura-san, would you come with us?”

She never knew if she would be led behind school and laughed at again. Perhaps some of those girls had clubs, which was why they couldn’t harass her each day.

Himawari never took the eyepatch off. If it was torn off by them, she put it on again just after they left and wore it to school the following day.

However, she never talked to herself at school ever again, even when she was alone. Those girls most likely still were in possession of the embarrassing recording, which was why Himawari was additionally scared before telling anyone that they were harassing her.

At some point, she became too scared to even leave school. That’s why instead of heading downstairs with everyone, she went to the toilet once classes were over, and played games on her phone for about half an hour.

And at first, it worked perfectly.

Once she waited enough time shut in the toilet, she hesitantly headed downstairs and looked around. There was no trace of them left.

She changed her shoes and left the building. Nobody was in sight.

At last, she reached the gate. They weren’t there.

She started doing the exact same thing every day, but it didn’t ease her of her worries. After all, she was certain that they would realize it and either stand there waiting or even go look for her in the toilet.

But for the first few weeks, nothing happened. It wasn’t like they stopped bullying her—they still stole her notebooks and lunch, bothered her whenever possible, but at the very least, her eyepatch was in place.

“Fufufu. Have I finally beaten them?” she was so happy that she couldn’t resist talking to herself, shut in a toilet stall.

Did they get bored of this? I just hope they don’t find me here…

Most importantly, while it was way better than being harassed, she still didn’t like having to go home thirty minutes later.

But… this unexpected voice made everything clear.

“Nakamura-san? Are you here?”

“…!”

She froze midair. She knew that she mustn’t make any sounds so that they wouldn’t find her.

“Huh? Is someone inside?” the voice was terrifyingly clear. That girl was undoubtedly standing before the door.

“…” Himawari covered her mouth so not even her breathing could be heard.

However, it still wasn’t enough.

“Hello? Why is the door closed if there’s no one inside?“ she knocked the door.

It was just as if that girl already knew Himawari was inside and was just teasing her.

“Okay. I’ll open it myself, there’s nobody inside after all~”

Himawari heard those words clearly. It wasn’t a movie—there was no way she could escape. Her only chance was taking the girl by surprise and hurriedly running out the moment she opened the door.

First, she stood up trying not to make a sound—but it was impossible.

“Oh? I think I just heard something. Is Nakamura-san inside?”

“…!” in surprise and fear, she couldn’t resist uttering a sound.

“I knew you were there! Now, will you open the door for me? I hope you didn’t forget about that.”

She was, obviously, talking about the recording, and Himawari realized it immediately. If she angered the bullies, she would be humiliated.

“Be a good girl and open the door. I won’t do anything bad if you do it! You know that you can’t escape now.”

Himawari was terrified. She knew that she had no choice, so she just opened the door as the bully was telling her to.

What surprised her a little was that there was only one girl, and it wasn’t the strong one. Where did the others go? Were they perhaps performing a search for her through the entire school?

Himawari, having opened the door, looked down with that single eye of hers.

“…”

Without as much as a single world, the bully barged inside and shut the door behind her. That, obviously, not only startled but also terrified Himawari.

Being pushed inside, Himawari tripped and fell with her back on the toilet. The situation was definitely weirder than usual—she had no idea what was going to happen.

“Now, would you listen to me, Nakamura-san? Please stand up.”

The stall was quite cramped, but she had no choice but to obey her. After a few seconds of hesitation, she stood up. Again, she had no idea what the girl was planning to do with her.

“Great. Now, if you would lift the toilet seat up.”

Himawari recalled something. She had seen it on TV, but she wouldn’t have ever expected that she would experience it herself.

She was now sure what the bully was going to do to her. Of course, she didn’t want that. That’s why none of her limbs would move. She knew that the girl could always use force on her as she was exceptionally weak, but her body refused to obey her either way.

“Hey, are you listening?” the girl repeated in a falsely polite voice.

“…” Himawari stared at the wall, immensely intimidated.

She kept thinking. Was there a way she could just run away from there? Like, make a surprise attack on that girl by pushing her and running away?

No. There was no way she could do that. At the very least, she didn’t believe that she was strong enough. She probably wouldn’t manage to push the girl out of the toilet stall, and even if she somehow did, she wouldn’t be able to run away from her. Moreover, she was pretty sure that those girls were scattered around school and hunting for her.

In other words, there was no hope for her. She had no choice but to obey the bully.

Tentatively, she turned around and bent over to lift the seat up as she was told to. Perhaps the water was clean, but it still was a highly humiliating and traumatizing experience.

“Great. Now, listen closely. If you obey me, nothing bad will happen. Understood?”

“…” Himawari didn’t even utter a sound.

“Haha. Nakamura-san, you will take that eyepatch off and flush it straight down the toilet~” the girl sounded happy as she worded it slowly.

“…!”

Himawari didn’t expect that. Was it better than having her entire head flushed? Either way, it still was quite humiliating and traumatizing.

Of course, she didn’t want to do that. She had promised that she would never take it off again, but she was now forced to. Moreover, she didn’t have any spares, so her eye would be left uncovered for a few days. After getting used to seeing the world with one eye, it wasn’t easy to return to normal.

But…

She didn’t have a choice.

“Hello? Nakamura-san, I’m waiting for you. I won’t leave you alone until you do what I say.”

Of course, she was cursing that girl, that entire group of girls. She wished for them to suffer, burn, get run over, fall from a roof, etc. but her thoughts were empty. They would never face any consequences for what they were doing to her. She would be left with a grave scar, and they would only laugh at her.

That’s exactly why she hated this world so much.

“…”

Her trembling hand reached her head. She grabbed the eyepatch, but she didn’t pull it away. The hand wouldn’t move. She didn’t want her left eye to see this ugly world ever again, but everything was destroyed by those girls.

“…!”

She might have been upset, but she had no power to show it. The only thing she could let the anger out on was only she herself.

No one was going to rescue her. She realized that, and of course she wasn’t happy with that. Who knew if there was something more the bully girl wanted her to do?

But…

Slowly, she closed her left eye and pulled the eyepatch away.

“Great. Throw it into the toilet now, quickly”, the voice coming from behind her was annoying.

With her right eye, she looked at the eyepatch in her hand. She had to flush it down the toilet. In other words, she would lose it forever. She could buy a new one, and she was going to do that, but it still would be a different one.

And each time she put it on in the morning, she would be reminded of how she lost the previous one. How unfortunate.

She couldn’t toss it just like that, so she bent down again and placed it gently in the water. It certainly was a hilarious view for the girl watching her from behind.

Truly annoyed and on the verge of tears, she extended her quivering arm and with great hesitation, flushed the toilet.

“…” that sound had never been so painful.

With her right eye, she watched as the eyepatch disappeared in the water. It was such a miserable view… in a way, it was worse than having her entire head flushed.

“Hahaha”, seeing it, the bully only laughed.

“…!”

Abruptly, she turned around, opened the door, and broke into a run. The bully just watched as she left—apparently, she was satisfied with only that. But who knew what would happen next time?

•

The girl just ran. It appeared that nobody was chasing her, but she didn’t stop. Soon, she reached the school gate, but she kept running. If they wanted to, they could catch her easily, so she could only hope that they wouldn’t run after her.

Her left eye was uncovered. She tried to keep it closed, but she often forgot about that amidst the tension.

She held onto her bag, but it felt like it could fall off anytime. She was at a loss of breath as she ran down a familiar street. She passed by the same houses as every day, but she never took notice of them. All that mattered to her was reaching home as soon as possible.

It didn’t matter that nobody was chasing her. She was extremely humiliated, so she didn’t want to be seen by anyone. She just wanted to shut herself in her room like always and cry in silence.

“…” in fact, she was already crying.

Her legs were about to give up. It wasn’t like she had to keep running—again, nobody was chasing her—but she didn’t want to be outside anymore. She could possibly break down unless she reached her shelter.

At last, she arrived home. Breathing heavily and drenched in sweat, she used the last remains of strength to enter her room and jump onto the bed, exhausted.

“I-Idiots… every one of them.”

She opened both of her eyes and looked forward. Then, she extended her hand—the same one that held the eyepatch and threw it into the toilet. Without any apparent reason, she stared at it for a while.

Ah… why can’t something horrible happen to them? They deserve punishment, don’t they? And yet… I am the only one suffering. If I don’t do it myself, they will never face consequences.

She closed her eyes and stared into nothingness as she thought slowly.

But I can’t do it. I will be the one punished. Because the ones judging me will be the same utterly stupid, worthless, and filthy humans.

This recording… this me was supposed to be a secret, but I don’t care anymore. After all, I’m too uninteresting for anyone. Even if it’s revealed, it will be forgotten quickly.

Those humans may be worthless, b-but… they are stronger than me. I can’t stand against them. I am powerless.

Then, what am I doing here? If I’m not supposed to exist in this world, where should I go? But it’s not like I can go anywhere…

Maybe… I am even more worthless than those humans.

Sometimes letting just a small sobbing sound out of her, without as much as changing her clothes, she fell sound asleep as she lay down on the bed with her belly down in this windy afternoon.

From then on, she stopped taking care of herself, or rather, she didn’t care about it anymore. She didn’t clean her uniform every day, and her hair was always disheveled, which was quite eye-catching because of its length. She grew a strand of hair that hid her left eye almost completely, so it wasn’t obvious at first sight anymore that she had an eyepatch there.

Himawari always appeared apathetic. Her voice lacked spirit, whether she was called out by a teacher, or a classmate randomly asked her for something (which almost never happened, by the way). It wasn’t like she was involuntarily lonely anymore; it was like she wanted to be left alone.

Those girls, obviously, didn’t stop harassing her. But Himawari didn’t appear to be affected by it anymore. As long as they didn’t use force against her, she ignored them with a cold face. And when they did… she tried her best to seem cold so that they would finally give up at some point.

Of course, that made them angry, and the recording was made public. It was embarrassing, but Himawari kept believing that there was nothing interesting about her. That’s why she didn’t care what people thought of her. She was already seen as someone who lived in her own world, perhaps had some mental issues, but most importantly, nobody wanted to talk to her. And nobody did. Most people thought of that recording as interesting, at most. She earned lots of uneasy stares, but they had no effect on her.

Because inside, she only laughed at them all. Fufufu.

But it was Lumiya’s laugh. Himawari didn’t like it. She didn’t want to be alone. Realizing that she had no choice, she fell into deep slumber and let Lumiya take control of her body. But she was still alive.