It felt like the whole world stopped for both of them and they couldn’t believe what unraveled in front of them.

Midoru was taken aback at what he saw and uttered the words. “Why?”

Nanase closed the door behind her and sighed deeply. She shook her head as she walked towards him, wrapping her arms around his stomach, burying her face onto his chest.

“I’m sorry. I loved you so much that it hurts, Middy-kun. I feel like a complete idiot now” She said. “if only I could turn back time and prevent you from confessing to Hagiwara-san. Tell me, can you still forgive me?”

“I-I-I don’t know.” Midoru stammered.

He was at a loss and speechless at what happened. How could everything turn out like this? What went wrong with them?

He thought that he was prepared to face her with an answer to her confession but nothing could’ve prepared him for this.

It was too much. Too much for him to handle.

Midoru thought that everything was going fine between Nanase and him as she seemed to be fully supportive of his relationship with Hagiwara.

They stood motionless for a while and was lost. Their thoughts were scattered and tried to understand what was going on.

He broke her embrace by pushing her away gently and looked at Nanase. His eyes says it all and was close to tears.

“I think I’ll be heading home for now, Nana-chan. I’m so tired.”

“Okay. I’ll see you around then.” Nanase said. She understood that what he discovered today put his mind in extreme stress and needed to recuperate.

With Midoru gone home. Nanase plopped herself onto the bed and bawled her eyes out. She didn’t expect that her one and only best friend would discover this ugly side of her. She thought that she could escape and make it out alive but fate already had something arranged for her and it was this moment.

She only wanted him to leave Hagiwara and continue their days spending time with each other but it looks like that its impossible now.

Nanase also planned to remove all the evidences that might indict her and start anew. However, with Midoru knowing that she is the real mastermind, it didn’t matter anymore now.

_

The next day

Nanase awoke to find herself, a complete mess lying down on her bed. She felt awful and sick from last night. I don’t know if I can make it through school day, she thought.

She got off the bed and headed to the bathroom. After soaking in the tub and staring at the ceiling for a good fifteen minutes. She picked her phone and dialed Midoru’s phone number.

The loud ringing tone filled her ear as she patiently waited for him to answer but to no avail. She hung up the call after staying on the line for five minutes.

Next, she tried calling the committee’s hotline and within a few minutes, she received an answer from the other line.

“Hello, Ogata-san. Why have you called?” a feminine voice asked.

“Yes, hello. I cant make it to school today. I think I’m sick.” Nanase replied with a low voice. “Please tell fuku-kaichou that.”

“That is noted, Ogata-san. I hope you feel better soon. We’ll all wish for your speedy recovery.”

Nanase disconnected the call and placed back her phone on the nightstand.

She then proceeded to sit down in front of her vanity desk and combed her hair. Next, she got dressed in a short sleeve blue striped shirt which is tucked inside a white pleated skirt.

Lastly, she deleted all of the edited pictures on her computer and discarded the hannya mask inside her drawer.

Nanase felt a sigh of relief after she did all that and turned off her computer.

Feeling her stomach grumble, she headed downstairs to cook up something and when she was about to get into the kitchen. A loud pounding knock on the door resounded throughout the house.

She didn’t know who would be knocking at this hour but it didn’t hurt to try and find out who it is.

Upon answering the door in foyer. Risa Hagiwara stood before her, clad in their school uniform along with Midoru who was behind her.

Hagiwara had a sportive smile on her face and her arms were on her hips.

“Good morning, Ogata-san.”

“Hello, Hagiwara-san.” Nanase greeted in return, not shaken by the fact that her childhood friend’s girlfriend was in front of her. “What brings you here?”

“Midoru-kun, told me everything.”

Nanase’s eyes widened at what she heard. Is Hagiwara here to take revenge on her? A trickle of cold sweat dripped down her forehead and onto the cold solid tiled ground.

“Do not worry, I wont hurt you. I just want to talk, Ogata-san.” Hagiwara assured her. “Doing it wont change anything. What happened has already happened.”

_

Hagiwara and Nanase talked over their differences and grievances with each other over breakfast. Their discussion lasted for about an hour until they came to agreement that there will be no hard feelings from now on.

Midoru was relieved that their confrontation ended peacefully. He thought that Hagiwara would storm through the Nanase’s door once it opened but he was wrong.

_

Last night

Midoru lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling of his dark room which was only illuminated by the pale moonlight casting itself on the window.

He didn’t know what to do and was still lost as his mind wandered around.

He wants to forgive her but he is still not sure if its okay to do or not. A sudden thought flashed onto his mind.

Midoru picked up his phone from the nightstand and gave his girlfriend, a call.

The line continuously rang on the other side and after a few minutes, a female voice spoke.

“Hey, Midoru-kun! Don’t tell me that you want to do sexting? I’m a real shrieker.”

“Not that one Hagiwara-san. I have something to tell you.” Midoru said, seemingly annoyed.

“Alright, what is it?”

“I found my childhood friend Nanase was the one behind the erotic magazine circulation and I don’t know what to do.”

“Oh.” Hagiwara chuckled to herself. “So she was the one who started it all?”

“Yeah, I apologize about what happened.”

“Why are you the one who is saying that? It wasn’t your fault. Besides, if you have a hot body like mine. You’ll have a lot of haters.”

“Its just that-“

“I know she’s your friend and you want to cover up for her but it’s so wrong and you’re just dragging her down even further. I want to hear Ogata-san say that word to me. I also want you to accompany me to her place.”

_

Currently at Nanase’s house

“So what will you do now?” Hagiwara asked with a concerned tone. “If this gets out, you’ll be the target for scrutinizing and people will look at you with disgust.”

“I actually don’t know what to do right now and I’m still at lost.” Nanase replied, shaking his head and looked at Hagiwara with sadness in her eyes. “I know I did a lot of horrible things but why aren’t you angry with me? I was expecting that you would slap me.”

“You know, I considered on doing that to you but violence wont solve anything. It will just make things worse for both of us.”

“You’re too kind, Hagiwara-san.” Nanase commented and turned her gaze to Midoru who was sitting beside Hagiwara. “You don’t need to give me an answer, Middy-kun. I’ve already lost and I didn’t want to believe it at first but it’s all clear to me now.”

Midoru flashed a warm smile to his childhood friend and was satisfied with the overall outcome of their meeting.

“To make amends for all of this, I’ll confess to Kaichou about all my wrong doings. I’m sure she wont disclose my identity as the real mastermind.” Nanase stated. “I don’t expect you to forgive me Hagiwara-san but I hope that you’ll take care of Middy-kun and if you don’t, I’ll make you pay for it.”

Hagiwara laughed at what Nanase said and wiped the tears off her eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of him.”