Chapter 205. Ran Returns to School. (1/5)

After Wisteria’s departure, I returned to attending high school on a daily basis. I could avoid a big shot like Angela at university this way for some time.

The first day I showed up in the second semester, Mr. Oz was pleasantly surprised to see me. He asked with a welcoming smile, “Is your chronic illness under control for the time being?”

I gave a short, to-the-point response, “Yes, it’s calmed down to a certain degree, but there’s no telling when it may flare up again.”

“I see, it came as a shock to suddenly be informed that one of my students had such a chronic illness. If you’re ever feeling sick, please don’t force yourself.”

“Thanks, I won’t.”

The other students seemed to have been informed of my ‘chronic illness’ as well. For some reason, there were a lot of sympathetic eyes directed my way even. It felt… extremely uncomfortable to receive such a welcome back.

What the hell? So as soon as someone pulls the chronic illness card they get better treatment?

Was it something like, ‘That poor guy, no wonder he looks gloomy all the time. His time is cut shorter than everyone else’s and he’s fighting every day just to survive. He’s just misunderstood. No wonder he doesn’t want friends, he doesn’t want to leave them behind one day feeling sad if he suddenly disappeared.’

Look, the only chronic illness I had was poverty. Do you understand? Poverty.

I don’t need your sympathetic looks, it burns.

Rosa, who noticed the mood in the classroom, looked like she was cracking up. She had her head down on her desk holding her stomach with her shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

Jass and the guys in the class who noticed her condition went over to console her thinking she was fighting back tears of sorrow because of the appearance of her childhood friend who’d been diagnosed only a month ago with a chronic illness.

It seemed the lie I’d spun had spiraled out of control in a direction I hadn’t anticipated. I might be forced to live with some form of special treatment from now on which I found to be extremely inconvenient. I don’t want such a thing, just leave me alone and forget about me altogether you fools. That is, unless you’d like to donate some money to solve my chronic illness known as poverty.

There was no way I could really go and say something like that though. As such, I was forced to bear the repercussions of my actions.

When lunchtime came around, I somehow became the center of attention when all I wanted to do was not stand out. I suppose I looked like a rare breed of endangered species that could die at any moment now that people were convinced I had some sort of mysterious chronic illness.

I kept my head down while I was forced to answer a bunch of monotonous questions about this bullshit chronic illness I had. Fifteen minutes into my interrogation, Jass actually stepped in and took on the role of my savior and said, “Guys, can’t you see he’s exhausted? Everyone’s putting a lot of stress on him like this. What if he falls ill again? We should treat him just like everyone else. He obviously doesn’t like all the attention he’s getting and doesn’t want any special treatment.”

What the hell? Isn’t this guy actually a really great guy? His words sound like the lord himself. I was just about ready to stand up and prostrate before this holy savior of mine.

“Jass, aren’t you just worried that Rosa’s got a thing for him after her reaction just now?” One other nuisance in the class who also had their sights set on Rosa tried to shoot him down.

“Wha! N-No, it’s nothing like that! I’m just concerned because everyone’s suddenly treating him like a caged animal in a zoo.”

Yes, thank you! You are the only one who understands me Jass… even if your intentions are impure and meant to get in Rosa’s good books, you’re still a saint.

“Jass, when are you going to give up man? Isn’t it clear Rosa just isn’t into you? It should be clear to you by now after she already rejected you, but you just don’t take the hint and keep gunning for her. Just step aside man, it’s sad to see.”

What the hell? Screw you. Who do you think you are talking to the great holy savior Jass who’d even throw a lifeline to a starving man in the desert like me? This man is spitting facts about the gospel and spreading salvation to a pitiful loner like me who wants nothing more than to be ignored. Take his words more seriously, you bastard.

“This isn’t about Rosa.” He peeked at Rosa from the corner of his eye, but she had her forehead down facing the desk on top of her left arm. She was holding her stomach with her right arm, fighting back laughter again.

Bitch, don’t laugh, take this more seriously, help this poor man out!

“Not about Rosa, huh? It’s quite a coincidence you’re doing this one week before the Valentine’s Day school dance, don’t you think? Were you hoping to get chocolate and thinking of asking her to the school dance?”

Huh? School… dance? I couldn’t care less for the chocolate… but… the school dance… I’d completely forgotten that awful event was around the corner. Uh oh, I’ve got to be careful around Alicia for the next week.

Who knows what she’ll try. Rosa too, she’ll definitely be plotting against me on Alicia’s side.

Damn it, why’d I forget about this cursed day for lovers? I should have delayed my return to school by another week. Well… I could randomly skip school on Monday next week. That should avoid the potential worst-case scenario where I’m forced to dance.

I suddenly shivered in fear when I remembered a certain trump card I was helpless against. I abruptly sat up in horror and looked over at Rosa. She noticed the disturbance beside her and peeked at me.

She squinted her eyes happily like she knew exactly what was on my mind.

She conveyed her words through her eyes, ‘You let your guard down too early and forgot, didn’t you? Heheh, there’s no escape now that you’re back, thanks for the coupons.’

I had no way to run nor hide. We lived together after all. Even if I skipped out every day from today onward, she simply had to redeem one of her meet-up or date coupons when we were at home or work to drag me here on Monday.

My girlfriend had become too powerful and adversary with those coupons. They came back to bite me at every turn. They would no doubt haunt me for a long time to come. I’d surely begin to have nightmares about these cursed coupons.

“Ran, what’s wrong, man? Is your chronic illness acting up again?” Jass asked.

“Huh? Uh… yeah, sorry about that. I’m feeling a bit sick again. Like you said earlier, it’s all the eyes on me treating me like a rare animal at the zoo. You’re not wrong. I said this at the beginning of the school year long before I was diagnosed with my chronic illness that I enjoyed my alone time, I wasn’t kidding then. I’d personally prefer if everyone just treats me like air the way they did in the past.”

“See? I was right. It is bothering him.” Jass took the opportunity to launch a counterattack against the other guy in the class who’d been giving him a hard time.

“Ran’s only saying that because he doesn’t want others to get hurt by getting close to him. He was probably vaguely aware of his chronic illness on an instinctive level even back then before he was diagnosed with it.”

Come on man, give me a break! I don’t give a shit about other people’s feelings. I just want to remain the loner without friends I’ve always been. Take the hint, you’re a pain in my ass!

“No, I wasn’t aware of it at all. I’m just an irreconcilable asshole who detests busybodies like you who think you understand me. If you really want to know what I think, I think you are a giant pain in the ass and I sincerely hope you would stop flapping those useless decorations on your face that keep incessantly spitting out rubbish so I can relax.” I blurted that ruthless string of dialogue out when I finally snapped.

The room suddenly went silent.

“He’s trying to make everyone hate him so nobody gets attached. He’s so self-sacrificial.” Some girls whispered such a thing to each other while closing their tearful eyes and looking away. The undesired response made me put my head back down and lightly bang my forehead against my desk.

Why was it so difficult to make people hate someone with a chronic illness? Do I have to get up and take a shit on everyone’s desks before it gets through their thick skulls?

“Ran, we really misunderstood you this whole time. To think you were such a caring guy.” Even the guys had that sort of response.

Why! Ahhhhhhhh! I’m going to lose my mind.

The banging of my forehead against my desk intensified.

“Ran, it’s okay, we understand, it hurts you saying such scornful words. It’s okay to stop hurting yourself.”

Kill me. End this worthless life of mine which is incapable of communicating my true feelings to these insufferable idiot children no matter what I say.

The more I say, the more their misunderstanding deepens and their impression of me improves. I can’t win.