1

His trust on Shiki was never misplaced.

It was a tough battle regardless, but his friend managed to bag the win in a photo finish to the cheers of the crowd.

However, in the midst of the celebrations and the preparations for the awarding ceremony, his mind was on something else.

When the incident in the finals happened, Kazuki had this eerie feeling creeping up on him. Looking around the field and the stage, he saw that Reijy Ishida had disappeared.

There was no way to mistake something that his Awakener intuition had taught him all this time.

Their suspicions were proven true, and something happened with Ishida and Mu prior.

It was then that he saw people crowding around another side of the field and his clique members pushing others away.

"Excuse me, I'll be off for a while. Give me... twenty minutes?"

Chouno looked at him with a perplexed expression.

"The crowning ceremony is now, though. Don't want to celebrate your first win and hold that trophy up high? It will be a waste if you miss it."

You didn't have to guilt-trip me.

"It's fine. Shiki's the MVP anyway. I'm cool with him taking all the spotlight," he said, rubbing his still-slightly sore cheek.

"Hmmm?"

The blue-haired senior's mature voice had a tint of mischief in it, but she quickly relented.

"If that fall's still bothering you, I can help you."

"Nah, it's something else. Sorry."

She pondered a bit before giving him a smile of approval.

"Alright. Make sure to come back."

Kazuki wasted no time running out of the field.

As he weaved through some of the cheering audience and the nearby food stalls, multiple thoughts filled his mind.

The least of all would be relishing the victory. Standing in the middle of the stage with his teammates barely interested him now. The celebrations were for his teammates, especially Shiki, to be deservingly recognized for their excellent performance.

It's never going to be about him who only provided some assists.

Furthermore, post-match celebrations bore little importance to what his gut told him right as the match ended.

All doubts were erased when Ishida stormed off and his senses tingled. He shook his head, wondering if he did things wrongly. Should he have thrown the match? Should he have waved Fujiwara's support off?

No.

His answer to himself was firm and certain. It would have been a complete disrespect to his teammates, Shiki in particular, if he had done those. He would have hurt the supportive junior and spat on her effort, and he would never forgive himself for doing something like that.

Not after his realization at Tenka Peak, and not after all the big talk he gave to both Uehara and Kimura at some points the past few months.

In the sea of people buzzing with excitement, he should not have too much difficulty seeing the signature black jacket. If not for those, he can also look for the long, red ponytail and a petite frame because it was all but certain that the two would be together.

However, those two would have likely gone off somewhere far from the crowd. As he pondered what to do, he felt an arm wrap around his shoulder, an act that caused him to impulsively shove it away.

"Shiki? Shouldn't you be at the awarding ceremony?" he said with a mix of surprise and irritation, only to meet a mischievous wink on the side.

"Someone's out playing hooky."

"K-kimura? What are you doing here? Don't you have a performance in like thirty minutes?"

"Is that how you greet a friend that you haven't seen for a month? Ain't that right, Darling?" the girl with neon hair said affectionately, poking his cheek.

"S-sorry. But you're still playing that fake relationship card?"

"I told you at the hospital that we'll be seeing each other again. Besides, that was your first kiss, right? It's mine, too, for your information. It's really a memorable experience, teehee."

"T-that..." Kazuki felt a slight blush before turning away to the sound of a giggling girl.

"Oh, look at you. I missed you, nerd. We haven't even had a chance to talk yet, and seeing you go off on your own again, I couldn't resist following. We'll make it back before call time, and I'll make sure to give you a front-row seat."

"Thanks for the concern, Kimura, but—"

"Say, where should we go for our date? We don't have all day, you know? We have thirty minutes, and there's only so much that we can do in the few hours we have after that. Show me the best places around your school, would you?"

"Sorry, but now is not the right time, Kimura. Normally, I would take up your offer and all, but not today."

"Ehhhh?!"

"P-please understand. There's something urgent that I have to do. That's why I left on my own and—"

"Keeping secrets from a friend?" interrupted the girl once more. "For the record, you're one of the only people I opened up to and had a heart-to-heart with, you master duper."

Kazuki fell silent. All of a sudden, an idea popped up in his head. Kimura's an Awakener like him, so she can definitely understand and be of help.

"Actually... Can we talk about this in secret for a moment?"

2

She had been sensing it, but she never stopped nor turned back in her hurried walk. Past the crowds, past the stalls, all the way until the crowd noise dissolved into intelligible background noise... she walked on.

Walking past the cheerful crowds soon led her to a dead end marked an indent on the road. The girl finally stopped, finding herself in the shade from an umbrella of flowering trees.

The early afternoon light seeped through the leaves, illuminating her.

At this exact location, couples often met in secret. It served as the perfect place for some intimate talking with how hidden away it was, not to mention the lively fragrance thanks to the nearby vegetation.

It also held a certain importance to her. It was the spot that they had agreed on in meeting up after his messages last night.

She did not need any more cues to know that the person in question had caught up to her.

"Reijy, what were you doing? I know what you and your pals did. And you still lost."

Akane Fujiwara took a deep breath before finally turning around. The foreboding presence had been lingering, and she heaved, no longer having to fight the urge to just talk him down outright. It was not easy having to wait until they were out of the public eye before confronting her childhood friend.

The break also bought her time to prepare her heart for it. However, no amount of preparation could have softened the blow when she saw the miserable face in front of her.

She tried her hardest to hide the sorrow on her face at the sight of what her childhood friend had become. In a span of a few weeks, the driven, confident, and occasionally awkward friend of hers had been consumed. Something had been eating away at him from within, and it finally overcame him.

He had become aggressive, controlling, and paranoid. This was a vicious side that she never thought she'd see from him. She had always tried to see the good in this person, and she still held that deep faith in him.

These two days alone had done their job in making that as hard as possible.

An inkling within her knew that this all had to do with his company or family. That was the sole reason. She did not know what it was, and she felt more than confused as to why it would eat into Reijy this much.

Given the social status of her childhood friend, she never thought that there could be a setback that would drive him to the brink like this.

Perhaps his old friendship with Arata could have helped, but it seemed that in trying to tap into that, she had made things worse. Knowing that turn of events and her ultimate decision a while ago made her feel all the more remorseful.

She had supported her childhood friend's ultimate rival and the person he looked down on. Doing so in such a full-blown manner was a decision that would be impossible a week or two ago, yet seeing a more complete comparison of the two boys, she had made her stand.

If there's one thing that she learned from Arata and Amagi, it was the fact that one had to face the facts and confront adversity head-on.

"What you did was despicable, Reijy. Why did you spike the drinks? You were even being extra physical? Were you so desperate to get one over Arata when you just took everything in stride before? You would always just belittle him, but he's gotten into your head now, didn't he?"

"Why have you allowed that guy to turn you against me? Have you truly taken his side now?"

As expected, he did not answer the question.

"I know what you tried to do, and that's horrible! Your recent obsession with him has to stop!"

She shook her head.

"I just saw how he is as a person, and he's not like anything you told me about. Seeing you suffer like that made me sad, and he was the one who gave me a listening ear. Weren't you friends before? Maybe you can recall those days and find a way to de-stress."

"No one told you to meddle in our affairs!"

Fujiwara felt her heart skip a beat at the sudden outburst. "Reijy, stop..."

"You should have minded your own business, Akane. I never asked for anyone to intervene with my problems. Maybe if you did not spend so much time worrying, you could have focused on something more important. You know, like your big competition next week?! Truth be told, you weren't doing too hot recently, and a few more third place finishes would seriously put my spot in Father's eyes in even more jeopardy!"

Reijy started taking steps towards her, and she cannot help but shiver.

His unfocused eyes threatened to bulge out, and he advanced in a lanky, unbalanced motion. She already saw part of that depravity in the competition, but he managed to hold it in for a while.

Now, it's been unleashed.

The deranged boy, with his vibrating hands, was like a psychopath, and Fujiwara felt smaller and smaller as the boy ominously towered over her.

She had mentally prepared to face Reijy, but she never expected it to turn out like this. Never before did she feel this amount of malice from him, and it had only begun to sink in to her as to how much he took her actions in.

"Reijy..."

She squinted while Reijy continued to mutter under his breath.

He would not hit her nor harm her, right? It was something that she was confident about prior, but given how unreasonable Reijy seemed to be now, that seemed to be as farfetched as it could be.

"I-I just wanted to help," whimpered her. Her voice failed her, and she tried to squeeze herself in.

"Aren't being a bit too much of an asshole there, Ishida?"

Before anything can further escalate, the voice caught both of their attention, bringing a sudden break to the action.

"I know you have some family problems and all, but that's no reason to take it out on someone else. Especially not the person who, for all these years, supported you with all her heart. One meaningless contest, and it escalates to this?"

"Go gloat with your teammates, Arata!" shouted an enraged Reijy. "Savor the last piece of victory you'll have before reality comes knocking, and you'll realize how pathetic your life is!"

Kazuki uncharacteristically snickered.

"Is that why you're so upset? Having spent so much time hustling only to have your dreams come crashing down on you? Meanwhile, the peers you looked down on for not choosing that 'correct' lifestyle of yours are doing fine for themselves."

"You shut up! Stay down like the worthless loser that you are, Arata!"

"No one talks to him like that! Only I have the right to call this guy a nerd, a loser, or anything like that!"

In stepped a fourth person, and Fujiwara's eyes widened at seeing Yui Kimura.

With four of them in one place, tensions had boiled into an all-time high.

This turn of events seemed to have made things worse. Fujiwara's body shivered upon sensing what could only be described as a murderous aura coming from the person nearest to her.

"Y-y-you! It's your fault! If you did not mess up in your concert--!"

"Excuse me?!" angrily retorted Kimura while placing her hands on her hips.

"I hate you, Yui Kimura. If it wasn't for that stupid event of yours, who knows what could have happened? I may not have fallen from grace!"

Such a blunt response seemed to have shocked the idol enough to block off any response. Much like what he did at the hallway yesterday, Kazuki stepped in between her and Reijy.

"That's enough, Ishida. If you need someone to take your frustrations out on, I'm here. Go ahead. Throw a punch, and let's see what happens."

"Suit yourself, Arata."

Reijy clenched his right fist in response, and he bent his knees slightly, looking like he prepared to charge towards Kazuki.

He likely meant to deliver a punch, but he growled as he found the arm held back.

The moment Fujiwara grabbed hold of the arm, she pulled it down as hard as she could. She was not sure whether that would do any good, but she just cannot let this escalate even further. She closed her eyes as her ears were assaulted with a bloodshot scream of frustration.

"Don't do it, Reijy!"

Her world shook when the powerful force of his right arm forced her to releas her tight grip.

"T-this is bad!" Kazuki shouted, a strong hint of alarm in his voice, a sudden contrast from his confident remarks seconds ago. Fujiwara wondered what could have happened.

"Ishida, stop if you know what's good for you!"

"Hiyaaaaa!"

Fujiwara opened her eyes upon hearing Kimura's fearful scream, and she herself gasped at what she saw.

In front of her stood her childhood friend in an uncharacteristic pose: arms spread out and yelling profanities in between screams of hatred. The ground began shaking up and down with each step she took towards him, and with the sight of Kimura losing her balance, she quickly learned that she was not alone in the dilemma.

"Reijy, stop it. Please!"

She begged and begged, but none of it seemed to go through. With desperation, she flung herself at Reijy and locked her arms around his waist. Even as she felt a powerful gust threaten to send her whole body flying, she held on.

Instead of giving in to despair, she continued calling out to him.

Having called his name out for the nth time, she shut her eyes and succumbed to the unpleasant sensations.