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yansimstorythatiwillnotworkon · 19 days

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#15(.5)

Friday

Horuda was ashamed to walk through the schools after this incident. Rather than just a chunk, her hair had been completely cut into some… atrociously uneven bob. She did her best to avoid the staff and Amise especially. God knows she’d certainly have something to say about this. It was only a miracle that they’d left her front bangs alone. At the very least, she still had some hair to hide behind rather than explaining to her peers what had happened.

She was barely injured, some aching scalp here, perhaps some emotional trauma there, but all in all there were no physical marks left on her body to show that she was, in fact, assaulted. Then again, the horrified look on some of her peer’s faces made her feel like she was badly beaten. Now that the gracious haircut Hoshiko had given her had led to Horuda being noticed even more than usual, Horuda felt… bare.

As if the blanket of ignorance she’d placed over herself for others to… not see was snatched from her. Now she stood alone, with no cover, several pairs of eyes on her. She hated it.

Thankfully, unlike the Horuda from middle school, she had thought of a way to… somewhat fix her problem. Or at least, she sincerely hoped it would. Horuda slowly shuffled outside, her head hung and her long skirt almost making her trip as she trudged past her peers. She looked to the left, to the path that led to the incinerator. That was her plan. They were her plan.

Horuda thought back to the incident that had happened just earlier that day, around lunch.

Thanks to the pain of having her hair yanked and messily cut off, Horuda was showing those ugly tears that her peers hated so much. She hoped that maybe the smile that had stained itself on her face made up for it, but it likely made her look even more horrid than usual.

She was sure that even Hoshiko thought that, even if she didn’t say so.

As Hoshiko knelt down to Horuda, the pair of scissors in her right hand, Horuda instinctively held her hands up to her head, as if that was going to help her in some way. The tiles of Hoshiko’s favorite bathroom felt uninviting on Horuda’s knees. She wished Hoshiko could feel this way as well, but even knelt down, Hoshiko was still above her. As per usual.

Gently, and way too softly for Horuda to feel comfortable, Hoshiko lifted up Horuda’s chin with her free hand. She brushed the thick fringe of hair that covered Horuda’s face out of the way, giving her a kind smile. Horuda hated when people looked at her face. “You look so pretty, Horuda.” Hoshiko said in a soft tone. A soft tone that successfully distracted Horuda from noticing Hoshiko’s right hand lifting up to snag off another piece of hair with the scissors.

“But you have too much hair. Do you know how ugly that makes you look?” Hoshiko asked, her expression changing to one of faux distress and pity. As if she actually felt bad that Horuda was as repulsive as she was. When Horuda fails to answer, Hoshiko shakes her head with a disappointed frown. “Yeah. I feel like if you did you’d put an effort into… anything. I wonder why anyone would like you…”

As Hoshiko thought of some half-assed answer to her own statement, Horuda’s hand reached to Hoshiko’s bag, which was just in her reach. She didn’t know what she was going to do, but she did know the consequences of getting caught. What else did she have to lose, anyway? Any more damage and Hoshiko would surely get in trouble. She knew that. Hoshiko was too smart to get in trouble.

Slowly, Horuda inches Hoshiko’s phone into her hand, and slides it beneath her own skirt. As she did, Hoshiko’s eyes lit up. “Ah, I know… you’d make such a good pet. You know, like those really ugly dogs with some sort of physical disability? The ones that social media influencers have and post about occasionally to remind their following that they’re a great person? I know you know what I mean.. You’d make such a good… dog..”

Hoshiko suddenly picks up footsteps walking too close to the bathroom for her liking. She stands up, slipping the scissors into her bag and lifting said bag over her shoulder. “Consider this my retaliation for finding a new hiding spot. The roof suited you better.” The gyaru says with her usual sweet smile, before pointing to the chunks of hair scattered on the bathroom floor. “Make sure to clean all this up. Your peers will hate you more if you leave a big mess like this here.” She claims, walking out of the room, as usual, scot-free from trouble.

Horuda hardly had a plan. In fact, she couldn’t even call this idea a plan, it could just be her wishful thinking. The weight of her anxiety seemed to slow herself down until she was completely still in front of the incinerator. She’d already gained the attention of the delinquents, who all sent raised eyebrows or glares her way.

“The Hell do you want?” Gaku asked, taking a few long strides towards Horuda. She stiffened at his proximity as he gave her a threatening look, but could barely bring herself to speak.

“...the- ahem… uh, I… i-it’s..” Horuda already thought of several ways this conversation could go. And none of them included her speaking coherently. At least she could predict that much.

“Gaku.” Hayanari called in a quiet tone, urging the red-shirt delinquent to come back. He did reluctantly, and Horuda’s shoulders became less tense.

“Well?” Umeji, the labeled leader of the group, crossed his arms as he asked her this. He was leaned against the chainmail fence of the incinerator area, looking at her harshly but expectantly.

Horuda, still unable to think of any words, shakily pushed her hand into the pocket of her skirt. She took out Hoshiko’s phone, which still had the screen on in order to keep it from locking. She didn’t know the password, so all she could do was keep it plugged in and set her phone so that the screen never turned off automatically. Slowly, she stepped towards Umeji and held the phone up to him, although her gaze remained on her shoes.

Umeji looked at the phone, and then to Horuda’s bowed head. “You’d better plan on saying something.” He grumbled, keeping his arms folded to show that he didn’t plan on taking it yet.

Letting out a shaky breath, Horuda mumbled her response. Umeji still couldn’t hear her, and leaned down to look at her past her bangs. “What’s your tongue for? Use it.” He ordered her, glaring at her.

Horuda immediately turned her gaze away, her face pale. She always did hate eye contact. “..it’s Hoshiko’s phone. Sh…She has a special folder..” She shakily raised the phone to him again. “...in her files… it… it’s about you all…”

Rather than Umeji, Hayanari took the phone, and went to the files in Hoshiko’s phone immediately. After looking through them a bit, he showed the phone to Umeji, while Hokuto leaned over to get a look as well.

Horuda already knew what they’d seen, of course. She took the liberty of looking through it first. Apparently, it was some special file she shared with the other bullies. She had several, all of which she was the host of, that had different bits of secret information and gossip about several students and groups in the school. “The delinquents” included.

“That bitch really..” Hokuto looked wide-eyed at the phone, but went quiet when Umeji elbowed him lightly in the stomach.

Umeji lowered the phone to look back at Horuda, and she immediately stuttered out. “Don–Don’t turn it off… it’ll lock and I… I don’t know the password..” She murmured, picking at her fingers nervously.

After a moment of silence, Umeji hands the phone to Hayanari again. “So, do you expect to get something back for this, or what?” He asks, crossing his arms again.

“Y..Yes…” Horuda nods, before immediately shaking her head, “Not- not like blackmail or… or anything, I- um- I-I want…” She pointed a finger towards the incinerator.

Umeji gave her another judgemental look and she slowly continued. “..the incinerator- uh, well, not the incinerator, but, I- u-uhm…”

“You want to hide in the incinerator area so those girls stop messing with you.” Hayanari speaks up, tilting the phone a bit to show Umeji whatever it was that he was looking at.

If Horuda had to make a guess, she’d guess that Hayanari had found the recent pictures that Hoshiko took while she was cutting off Horuda’s hair. Immediately feeling self-conscious, Horuda lifted a hand to tug on one of the longer chunks of hair nervously. “Yes, please.” She whispers, nodding at Hayanari’s assumption.

Umeji stared at the picture for a bit longer than she would have liked, and she slowly felt herself shrinking into herself. Part of her wanted to say “nevermind” and run away, but the rest of her was settled at the bottom of her feet, weighing her down from moving. With a quiet sigh, Umeji leans back against the fence with a frown. “Fine.” He nods to the opening of the incinerator area. “Don’t make a sound.”

Horuda immediately bows deeply and squeaks out a quick, “Okay!” Before slipping into the incinerator and closing the door behind her. The delinquents could still see her, even as she huddled over on top of a knocked over garbage bin in the farthest corner from them. Still, Horuda finally felt… comfortable here at school. Finally, somewhere where she could sit and be alone. It felt almost like her room, and part of Horuda finally felt more relaxed.

Horuda didn’t have anything to do. She didn’t bring a book, her notebook, and she didn’t have a phone to look at. All she had was herself, her thoughts, and the hushed whispers of the delinquents.

“..you’re just gonna leave her there?” Hokuto whispered in a tone that almost sounded like a teasing scolding.

“The hell do you mean?” Umeji grumbled back, glaring at his companion.

“You know what I mean. Look at her.” Hokuto nodded to Horuda’s huddled up form, which in turn caused all five of the boys to look her way.

She wasn’t doing anything, of course. She was just sitting with her knees to her chest, comfortably. Hugging herself was the most physical contact that Horuda allowed herself to feel, so she felt quite comfortable, even if she was on top of a bunch of trash and scraps.

Umeji shrugs. “She looks content.”

Hokuto gives him a slight shove, coaxing a low grumble from Umeji as he walks into the incinerator area. He begrudgingly made his way over to Horuda and stopped in front of her. She raised her head a bit to show that she acknowledged his presence, but still didn’t lift her head enough to meet his gaze.

“What’re you gonna do on Monday, then?” Umeji asked with no prior context, receiving a snide remark from Hokuto after doing so.

“...huh?” Horuda looked up a little more, but as soon as she caught his gaze she looked back down. “..I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She murmured, pulling on the sleeves of her sweater slightly.

Umeji pauses for a second, before continuing while stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I’m guessing you want to come back here Monday. So, what are you gonna offer, then?” He asks again.

Horuda presses her lips together, before looking back down to her knees. “I’m not sure. What do you want me to do?” She questions quietly, tapping her knees stiffly as a way to keep herself calm.

With one last glance to his group, Umeji sighs and takes a step back. “C’mon.” He says, not waiting for Horuda to get up before walking out of the incinerator area.

Horuda stumbles to her feet and quickly follows after him to wherever it was he was taking her. She realized how fast people walked when she found herself constantly having to speed up in order to catch up to him.

Out of breath but finally stopped, Horuda raises her head to see where exactly Umeji has taken her. As it turns out, it was just… the plaza. The far corner of the plaza, at least. Umeji leans against the wall and folds his arms, likely to remain unnoticed by his peers.

Standing up straighter rather than being hunched over and out of breath, Horuda shuffles up next to him. “Wh..What are we doing here?” She asks quietly, tugging on her sleeve.

“I need some money.” Umeji states under his breath, not giving any more context to that.

“Oh.” Horuda puts her hands in the pocket of her sweater, checking both before pulling out a total of 13 dollars. She holds it up to her, surprising Umeij a bit as he turns his head back to face her.

“Not..” Umeji sighs, putting her hands down. “Not yours. Theirs.” He nods his head to the general area, to the students wandering about and minding their business.

Horuda presses her lips together and furrows her eyebrows. “...you want me to steal?”

“Yeah.” Umeji says blandly, nodding again. “Go on.”

“Mm…” Horuda hums uncomfortably, but does shuffle over to a nearby tree to take a look around.

The first person she spotted was Beshi, who was sitting on a bench and scrolling on her phone. She was somewhat out of sight of the other students, and her bag was set underneath the bench, hopefully enough out of her sight. Even better, she had headphones on that was playing loud music that Horuda could hear from her current spot.

Slowly, Horuda walked over to Beshi, looking around to make sure that she didn’t catch the gaze of anyone else, which she usually didn’t have to worry about. The only reason she was really worrying about it now was because now she was actually doing something guilty. Other times she was accused of doing something bad just for being in the general area, so her best bet to be successful would be to just not be seen at all.

As slowly as she could, Horuda knelt down behind Beshi and reached her hand out to her bag. As she grabbed the strap, she looked around to see if she caught anyone else’s gaze, which she didn’t, thankfully. Another moment to be thankful for her peers’ lack of concern for her.

Even though she had the bag, Horuda didn’t want to risk Beshi turning around and seeing her, so she took a few steps back and hid behind another tree. Quickly, she rummaged through the bag, immediately finding a small bag of money inside. After a quick count, it looked as though Beshi was carrying at least 50 dollars in her bag, which was a lot to Horuda, but maybe that was normal for other students? And if that was normal, then maybe the students who were more notorious for having more money were carrying even more.

With that in mind, Horuda took 30 dollars from Beshi’s purse, and hesitantly put it back. Rather than looking for anyone else in the plaza, Horuda instead went into the hall and headed for the drama club, which was thankfully empty. Inside, Horuda found a few bags, although the one that caught her attention was the more extravagant one on the desk behind the divider. That one was definitely Kizana’s.

As soon as she grabbed it, she heard approaching voices, and hid behind the divider. The voices themselves seemed to belong to Kizana and Kokona.

“..oh, please, Kokona! This was an issue last year, when I suggested you get a different hairstyle.” Kizana hisses, making Horuda stiffen up at the closeness of her voice. She put the bag down and instead walked up to the mask set up, hoping that she could look as if she were admiring the masks instead of stealing from her peers.

“I know, Kizana, but I can’t really afford to change my hairstyle right now. Not to mention, I’m really only used to setting up drills. I-I’m not sure what other hairstyle I would know how to wear.” Kokona replies, her voice hesitant.

Horuda never understood how Kokona, or any of the drama club could handle Kizana’s shrill whining. If she had to hear that daily, she might’ve injured her ears just so she wouldn’t have to hear it.

“Oh, please, anyone can wear their hair down, Kokona. And before you say I can too, just know that I’ve– AAH!!” Kizana was continuing her rant and walking behind the divider when she spotted Horuda. For a moment, Horuda assumed that her very presence was that terrifying, but then she remembered the haircut.

Kokona quickly turned the corner to make sure nothing was on fire, but was only rewarded with the same shock that Kizana was feeling. Although, Kizana was definitely more mortified.

“...hi.” Horuda greeted quietly, but this only seemed to offend Kizana more deeply.

“Did you just greet me?! Looking like that?! I- Oh, my.. I think I feel lightheaded.” Kizana looked around frantically, panic set on her face. “My god, where is my purse?!” She finally spotted it and almost violently ripped out her wallet.

Kizana spent but a few seconds picking through the wallet, internally deciding how much to give Horuda before ultimately just throwing the whole thing at her. “Just-just take it! Take it all! You’d better come back with the most outstanding haircut these eyes have ever seen!” Kizana orders, nearly running Horuda over as she shoved her out of the room. “And do not step foot into my clubroom until you have!!”

With that, Kizana slams the door. This left Horuda somewhat confused, barely embarrassed, and with a lot more money than she planned on taking. Looking through the wallet informed Horuda that Kizana had, in fact, hundreds of dollars of cold, hard cash in the wallet she brought to school. Considering the fact that Horuda can barely take care of herself, she almost felt sick by the amount of money in her hands.

Still, this did complete her little mission for Umeji, regardless of what the end result for her was. Feeling accomplished, Horuda immediately went back into the plaza in order to find Umeji, who was in the same spot he was in when she left. She immediately held up the money to him and smiled nervously. “I-I got you money.”

Umeji lifts an eyebrow, before blinking in bewilderment at the amount in Horuda’s hands. “That… Where did you get all of that? It’s been, like, less than ten minutes.” He asks, folding his arms with a suspicious look on his face.

“Um- Kizana thought I looked ugly so she gave me this much to get my hair fixed.” Horuda says bluntly, not quite minding Umeji’s judgemental gaze, but still not being able to look him in the eyes. “I also took a bit from Beshi… not much, really.”

“...right.” Umeji eyes the money suspiciously, before taking it and shoving it in his pocket. “That’s your payment for Monday, then, I guess.” He nods his head, signaling for Horuda to follow him, which she did.

Horuda hesitantly clears her throat and speaks up as she follows Umeji back outside. “Coul… Um, could I run some errands for the other four? So, like, um… I-I could have payment for all of next week?”

Umeji lifts an eyebrow her way. “You plan on staying all of next week?” He asks, keeping his hands in his pocket as he looks back at her.

“Y-Yes… That was my… plan. For the rest of the school year, if I could. I-I’d do tasks every day if it meant those girls would leave me alone, hehe..” Horuda sweats a bit, not used to talking so much and immediately shutting up with her usual nervous smile.

When Umeji didn’t answer, she felt even more nervous and continued to explain. “I-I also prefer you all over the gyarus. Ahem- be-because you all don’t talk like the girls do.” She swallows thickly and continues her hushed ranting. “They- they like talking because I don’t talk. And because they like making up stories. Like- about how I act and stuff, hehe.. They’re good at that.”

Horuda pulls a hand up to her choppy hair as her face falls into a nervous frown rather than a smile. “But you guys don’t talk. You just sit, and glare sometimes. But you don’t really attack me if I don’t do anything. Which is good. I like not doing anything.” She falls silent, worried that her blabbing made her and Umeji’s walk more awkward.

The rest of the walk was silent, with Horuda genuinely being too scared to actually say anything. Still, in theory, this was way better than any interaction she could have with any of the bullies.

“On the topic of knives, I could probably give you a better cut with one.” Hokuto claims, looking down to Horuda. The next task she was offered was finding a knife for Hokuto. Apparently he was pretty interested in smithing, and wanted to see if Horuda had the guts to get him one. So, he was escorting her through the halls, waiting for her to decide to stop somewhere.

“Cut… oh, like-like haircut?” Horuda asks, for a moment thinking that he was threatening her. That assumption is something that she can definitely blame Hoshiko for.

Hokuto nodded with a brief hum. “Uh huh. I’m not sure how the staff lets you walk around like that. I’m not surprised, of course. They’ve all been pretty irresponsible.” He looks at her hair again, a smug grin on his face. “You look like…” He snaps his fingers as he recalls something. “Yeah, we once saw a badger get hit by a car. It was bent all wrong. Pretty gross.”

Horuda pressed her lips together and furrowed her eyebrows in thought. “...I..I look like a dead badger?”

“Yeah.” Is all Hokuto responded with, leaving Horuda to contemplate how she felt about that insult.

“..at least it’s more creative.” She mutters. Hokuto looks at her with a raised eyebrow, having not heard her and she repeats what she said. “I-I said at least your insult is more creative. Musume just calls everyone dumb, Hashiko messes up my hair and clothes and then insults me… Hana just calls me names that people used to call me in middle school, Kokoro says that she feels bad that I’ll never get a boyfriend, a-and Hoshiko usually just gives me fake, sarcastic compliments.”

“Fake how?” Hokuto asks.

Horuda clears her throat. “Yeah, like- um, when she was cutting my hair she said that I looked pretty but all of my hair made me look ugly- so, that’s why she cut my hair. I think.” She shrugs a bit, “But, I mean…” She holds a hand up to her hair now, showing him that regardless of what Hoshiko said, she still obviously didn’t have any good intentions.

“Hm.” Hokuto gives a short hum, thinking about Horuda’s explanation, but not saying anything else.

Horuda then stops outside of the Cooking Club. She points to the door and mumbles. “I’m- I’m going to go check in here. They probably have plenty of knives.” She says, receiving a brief nod from Hokuto.

Horuda quickly looks around the club room. It was empty and the lights on the dining side were off, likely because most of the club members weren’t at school today. After checking in the lowest draw, she finds a knife that looks as though it hasn’t been cut in a while. It had a little heart cut out of the corner of it. She wasn’t sure where it had come from, but it looked cute at the very least.

As she looked down at the knife in her hands, Horuda suddenly felt someone behind her. She whipped around with a quiet yelp, seeing that it was Akane. “Horuda… what are you doing with that?” Akane asks, her voice low and almost threatening. Despite the fact that Akane was smiling at all, it was clearly very forced. Or maybe a better way to describe it was that she was trying to keep it genuine, but it seemed more… malicious than it needed to be.

“I-I was…” Horuda’s breath almost abandons her completely, but she’s able to continue. “..I’m putting it… back.”

Being caught wasn’t really what Horuda was scared of. She was more so terrified of the thought of Akane doing something to her. Horuda wouldn’t call herself some sort of psychic, but regardless of Akane’s position, her friends, her personality, she’s always seemed so, so suspicious to Horuda. Something about that strange, fake smile just kept Horuda on edge whenever she was around her.

“Is that right..?” Akane’s grin widened, and she tilted her head to the side a bit. “I didn’t see you enter when I walked up, so you must have been in here for a while, right? And where were you bringing it from? There’s only been one Cooking Club member here since the week began and they’re required to put their items away. They haven’t left anything before to my knowledge, so why would they now?” She asked the shorter girl, her questioning hinting that she didn’t believe Horuda at all.

Horuda opens her mouth to respond, but can’t decide which one to answer first. “I–”

“Horuda Puresu..” Akane’s voice seems to deepen as she leans down to Horuda. “...you don’t have the best reputation, do you? How am I meant to know that you’re not causing trouble like usual? And even with a knife. Is that what you used to ruin your hair? Is it for attention?You can’t even give me a straight answer, can you?”

One thing that Horuda hated about herself was her inability to speak when it mattered. Horuda didn’t know, nor did she really care if Akane was internally just another bully or not, but it was nothing if not excess stress on her mind.

“I..” Horuda’s lip quivered, and she could barely bring herself to not cry out of frustration of the whole situation. “..I…”

Behind Akane, Horuda saw Kenko enter the Cooking Club, some form of cut fruit treat in his hand. He gave she and Akane a confused look, but ultimately ignored Akane and walked over to Horuda. “Hello, Horu…” He trails off, noticing her chopped up hairstyle. In the end he decides to just brush it off. “Horuda. Hello. It’s great that you’re visiting. What brings you here?” He asks with his usual smile.

Before Horuda can attempt to answer, Kenko notices the knife in her hand. “Oh, my. I’ve been looking for this for the longest time! Where did you find it?” He asks her, gently prying it from her hand.

“Th…In the, ah… the Home Ec room.” Horuda answers, finally, exhaling in relief. She had to be thankful to more social students. Thanks to Kenko being far more welcoming and less… accusatory than Akane, Horuda could finally find the courage to speak. “I…I saw that it was just on the floor and it didn’t look like it belonged, so I tried to bring it here to see if it went anywhere specific…”

“That makes sense. I didn’t realize it'd been on the floor somewhere, though. Strange.” Kenko shakes his head dismissively and puts it in a drawer just a few higher than the one she pulled it out of. “We’ve been looking for it since the beginning of the year. It was Amai’s favorite. I’m glad you found it!”

Kenko pulls one of the fruit kabobs from the bouquet of kabobs in his hand and hands it to Horuda. “Take this as a thanks. I’m sure Shoku and the others will appreciate this, so thank you!”

Horuda blinked and slowly took the treat. “Thanks… I- um- I mean you’re welcome.” She clears her throat hesitantly, and while trying her best to ignore Akane’s skeptical gaze, she walks over to the door to leave. I-I’m going to go now. Bye.”

Outside of the cooking club, Hokuto waited, looking at his phone. He looked back up, but instead of Horuda he looked at Akane through the window. “Ha. I’m surprised you got away from her.” He says, smirking. “I take it you didn’t get the knife, then?”

With a slow shake of her head, whatever color Horuda usually had returned to her face. “No, but, I, uh- I-I have a back-up idea.” She says, hesitantly standing next to Hokuto. Not too close, of course. “I want to wait for Akane to pass, though. She’s…”

“Terrifying, right?” Hokuto guessed, although he didn’t look particularly frightened himself.

“Something like that..” She mumbles in response, clearing her throat for the nth time. Akane walks past the two, offering them a forced smile before entering the Drama Club.

After another moment of silence, Horuda speaks up. “Um… I could be… wrong, of course, but, uh, you talk as if you know Akane. Do you?” She asks hesitantly, folding her hands together nervously.

“Everyone knows Akane.” Hokuto says with a brief roll of his eyes. Seeing as though his subtle mockery did nothing to really put Horuda to shame, he shrugs. “Yeah. We spoke often. If I didn’t hate her I’d admit that we were friends.”

“Friends with… Akane?” Horuda repeats in a tone of disbelief. “I know she had admirers, but… I don’t even think the other student council members are her…” She goes silent as Akane exits the drama club and enters the occult club, which was Horuda’s next stop. “..friends.”

Hokuto nods in agreement. “Yeah. She depends on those charming looks of hers to get what she wants.” He chuckles, watching as Akane leaves the Occult Club. “And who the hell knows what that is?”

Thankfully, Hokuto was pretty content with the labeled ritual knife from the Occult Club. It did hold a far more unique shape than anything from the Cooking Club, so it definitely fit Hokuto’s tastes.

Next was Gaku’s task. For a while, he was completely against getting any help from Horuda. She didn’t know if it was because he didn’t like her, if he was just stubborn or didn’t want to be indebted to anyone, but with enough pushing from his friends, he eventually agreed.

Apparently he wanted some sort of booze, although Horuda wasn’t sure where exactly she was supposed to get that. It was probably stupid of her to try and ask, but she attempted to anyway. With a nervous mumble, Horuda spoke up, “I–”

“--shut up.” Gaku immediately snapped at her, causing Horuda to go silent instantly.

It’s not like she could buy him one. And it’s not like any students brought any to school. Even Musume wasn’t interested, it was really just smoking that she liked doing in order to impress the others.

Horuda didn’t recall any of the teachers drinking, especially not during the job, but she did hear that the headmaster was a big alcoholic. Even so, he’s usually only out of his office when he’s on his lunch break, so he was likely in his office at this very moment. Even if he wasn’t, how would she know that he even had any alcohol in his office?

Gaku was leaving Horuda to figure all of this out, and was only accompanying her because the others told him to. Maybe it was to watch how she solved her problems? She didn’t know, really.

In a few minutes, they’d reached the headmasters office. Peeking in through the glass of the door proved that he was, in fact, in there. Horuda frowned, trying to think of some reason to get him out. If she made up some excuse he’d likely tell her to tell the teachers or guidance counselor about it. If she came up with something severe that turned out to be false, she’d likely get in deeper trouble than necessary.

Horuda nervously picked at a loose string from her sleeve. She often did, and tried not to pull it too much so that the whole sleeve didn’t eventually come apart. She looked around, trying her best to think of something. Technically this was just next Wednesday’s payment, so she could really do it any time before then. But, still, she didn’t want to make Gaku any more upset by wasting his time.

After one more second of thinking and feeling Gaku’s glare on her back, Horuda thought of something. Rather than the third floor, she descended to the first floor and headed to the drama club. She peeked inside, hoping that Kizana wasn’t still in here, her vocals ready to screech at the monstrosity that was Horuda’s haircut.

Thankfully, she wasn’t, which left Horuda the ability to quickly grab a nearby hairpin and leave the room. After trying to bend it with her fingers, Horuda found that she wasn’t able to bend it into the shape she needed. After a silent sigh, she turned to Gaku and held it out to him. “Can…can you bend this for me?” She asks quietly.

Gaku gives her a suspicious look, but seems to piece together what exactly Horuda was trying to make. Reluctantly, he grabs the hairpin and after a minute, is successfully able to bend it into shape. The only part that really mattered was the zig-zag type pattern that was made out of the hairpin, as that was the main function of a lockpick.

The hairpin hits Horuda’s face as Gaku flicks it back to her. “There.” He grumbles. The shape wasn’t perfect, but part of Horuda was sure that if she fixed it in any way, he’d get mad that she asked him for help and it still wasn’t good enough.

Horuda simply bows her head, “Thank you.” She says, before exiting the Drama Club.

Gaku followed her as she walked past the Occult Club and to the nearby storage room, which usually proved to be locked most of the time. After looking around briefly, she quickly leaned down to the door handle. After a bit of struggling, she begins to get more nervous. If this didn’t work and she was caught, there’s no doubt that whoever caught her would put together that she was picking the lock.

As Horuda bit her lip, she heard an exasperated sigh come from Gaku as he shoved her over. In just a few seconds, he had the door unlocked. He muttered something about her ‘not even being able to pick a lock’, but Horuda expected that much. “Thank you.” She murmurs again, before going inside the room and closing the door behind her.

The reason why this room was usually locked is because it was the only storage closet that held the circuit breaker for the school’s electricity. Reasonably so considering the school held pranksters, delinquents, and, well, people like Horuda.

It was thankfully easy enough to read the labels on the sides of the switches. It really just consisted of labels like “North 1st Floor Outlets” or “North 1st Floor Lights”, with that being repeated for each side of the school and each floor. In addition, there was also the same for the lights and outlets of the hallways.

In this case, Horuda would want to flick the switch labeled “South 3rd Floor Lights”, as that would cut the lights of the 3rd floor classrooms and the headmaster’s office. Hopefully, he would come out of his office and maybe ask some passing staff member about what’s happened with the lights. This would probably give Horuda enough time to rush in, look around the room, and hopefully find a bottle of alcohol laying around somewhere.

After flipping the switch, Horuda quickly walks over to the door again to open it, but finds that the knob is being held in place. She pauses in thought, wondering if Gaku was keeping her inside as some sort of prank. Then again, he and the others didn’t seem like the prankster type. She clearly just spent way too much time around the gyarus. Nonconsensually, of course.

“It isn’t every day that you or your friends are inside the school before classes.” Shiromi’s voice made itself heard when Horuda pressed her ear against the door.

“So?” Gaku sneers down at the girl, or at least tried to, as he was barely taller than she was.

“So, it’s weird.” Shiromi chuckles lightly, tilting her head to the side. “Weirdo.”

Gaku glares at Shiromi, clearly unamused- the polar opposite of Shiromi herself. “I don’t give a damn. You Student Council members are so nosey. You might have the title but you don’t have permission to harass me if you think I’m being weird.” He nods his head to the hallways, leaning against the door of the storage room. “If you’re so bothered by it then go bitch about it to the staff.”

Shiromi squints her eyes, her grin widening as she stares at Gaku in thought. “...hehe. If you say so..” She hums, folding her arms back behind her head before waltzing off with a light-hearted whistle.

Gaku rolls his eyes. “Fuckin’ freak.” He mutters, before opening the door. This nearly causes Horuda to stumble to the ground since she was leaning on the door. She almost yelps out in shock but is able to keep herself quiet.

“..s-sorry.” She murmurs, “Thank you for stalling.”

“Mm.” Gaku doesn’t bother responding much, so Horuda simply bows her head to him and walks up the stairs to the third floor. As she walked in front of the headmaster’s office, she saw that the headmaster really wasn’t in there. The door was left open a crack, though.

Horuda wanted to hesitate, but realized that if she did, it would be less likely that she would be able to get away with this. There was no guarantee that she would even find any alcohol in his office, but she’d already gotten this far. It was really now or never.

Apparently, though, she took too long to steel herself, as, with another loud groan, Gaku grabbed Horuda’s wrist and brought her inside of the office. He shoves her to the left side of the room. “Look over there. I know it’s here.” He orders.

Horuda didn’t hesitate this time. Frankly, she was way better at following orders than she was at taking initiative. So, she did a way better job at obeying Gaku than she did at trying to tell herself to go into the office.

After just a moment of searching, Horuda spotted a large bottle, just barely peeking out from behind the headmaster’s desk. “H..Here..!” She grabbed it quickly, but couldn’t bring herself to hold it for long. Holding this was definitely contraband, and being in the office was trespassing in its own right. There was only so much rule-breaking she could take at the moment.

Gaku grabbed it and immediately dragged her out of the office and down the hallway. They hid away in the boy’s restroom, and Gaku took the time to put the alcohol in his weapon’s bag. “..didn’t think you’d actually find it.” He comments, looking somewhat relieved himself to be out of there without having been caught.

Horuda simply nods with a long sigh of relief. Gaku walks out of the bathroom, not waiting for Horuda, so she had to catch up. “I didn’t think you had it in you to go through all that trouble, so I guess this is your… what, Wednesday payment? Whatever, this still doesn’t make us friends.”

“I-I don’t want to be friends. You don’t need to worry about that.” Horuda says, looking down to her skirt, really just grateful to have gotten out of that flawlessly.

“..good.” Is all Gaku says as he and Horuda walk back to the incinerator area.

“You’re going to steal from Musume?” Hayanari asks, looking surprised that Horuda would willingly go anywhere near the girl considering the suffering her group puts her through.

Horuda nods. “Yes.. She’s really mean but she’s also really… um… well, dumb.” She says, folding her hands together. “I’m sure I can convince her to give them up. Or, I guess just steal them. I’ll try that if the convincing fails.”

“Wouldn’t that just make you a prime suspect? Stupid or not, she’d probably just accuse you.” Hayanari points out, but still fails to make Horuda wary about her plan.

She shakes her head. “I was at home sick for a few days and Musume said I pre-planned manipulating her during a test she failed. She didn’t even fail, she was just anxious.”

Hayanari blinks, before scoffing. “This might be too easy.” He sighs, almost looking bored seeing as though this likely wouldn’t be much of a challenge.

The two arrived on the roof, and they spotted Musume chatting with Fureddo. Hayanari waited by the door, once again just seeming to be there to watch whatever Horuda was doing, like the others. She hoped that she wasn’t going through all of this effort just to end up being blackmailed or something.

Horuda approached the two, and just like others, Fureddo seemed shocked to see her hairstyle. “Did you pay for that haircut?” He asks, although he doesn’t seem to be trying to be rude. “It sort of reminds me of an anime character my friends like. Minus the bangs.” He comments.

He shows Horuda a picture of what looked like a child from an anime. She looked like a mess, which Horuda did as well, but the site he was on at least said that she was a fan favorite. “..right. Um, no, I didn’t do this to my hair.” She says, although she didn’t plan on explaining further.

Rather than giving Fureddo any more context, she walks closer to Musume, or more precisely her bag. “..Musume, I…I wanted to tell you something..?” She mumbles, glancing over at Fureddo, who seemed to get the hint.

“Oh! Okay, see you two!” He waved to them briefly and walked back downstairs.

Musume waves back, before glaring at Horuda. “What? Don’t you have something better to do than bother me?” She grumbles, likely irritated after being interrupted.

“...I think Amise or someone saw you with a cigarette…. I heard the staff talking about checking your bag- o-or, I guess, maybe not your bag just bags in general..? F-For contraband. So…” Horuda trailed off, hoping that she wouldn’t have to do any more explaining.

“Ugh.” Musume rolls her eyes. “What a buzz-killing bitch.” She grumbles, digging through her bag and tossing the box of cigarettes at Horuda. “Hang on to these for me, then. Don’t lose them.” She points a finger at her with a glare before shooing her off.

Horuda nods and bows her head a bit, before scurrying off to the other side of the rooftop, where Hayanari was waiting.

“That was quick.” He commented, taking the cigarettes when Horuda held them out to her. “Do you take things from her often?”

The girl just shrugs, “Not…not really take things. There’s not much of her belongings that I want, but sometimes I do mess with her.” She admits. “She has a crush on Fureddo, so sometimes I get her to do things under the guise that he’d like it. Especially things she hates. Like buy a pet.” Horuda messes with the sleeves of her sweater sheepishly. “She’ll actually buy a lot if it’s for Fureddo in any way. It’s fun because she doesn’t actually ever run out of money.”

“Seems like a lot of effort.” Hayanari says, stuffing the cigarettes in his pocket. “Why bother?”

Horuda replies quickly with an, “I hate her.” She then continues, “W-Well, I hate all of them, but Musume’s the only one stupid enough to actually…like… fall for the stuff I tell her.” She murmurs, “I hate Musume because she’s stupid and acts out for no reason, I hate Hoshiko because she’s cruel and overwhelmingly smart, Hana because she’s loud and can’t mind her business, Kashiko’s pranks are annoying, and Kokoro likes playing victim. They’re all…” She trails off, almost feeling out of breath. “..sorry, nevermind.”

“What about Bea?” Hayanari asks.

In all honesty, Horuda had forgotten that she was technically a part of that group. Musume didn’t really accept her, so she sometimes forgot. “Oh, I don’t. She’s just… um… weird. She’s less cruel and… more of a creep. She’s not really mean to me. Just sarcastic. Which she is to everyone, so… I guess I’m not special to her. Which is good.”

Hayanari actually seemed interested, and even ignored his delinquent facade for a moment to ask. “You know a lot about them, right? The gyarus.” He wondered aloud, to which Horuda nodded. “Umeji probably wouldn’t want you to know this, but I bet giving him information daily about them would help a lot. He’d probably let you stay for a while if you did.”

“Y..You think so?” Horuda asks, trying to bite down on showing too big of a smile. “That’s… great. I-I can do a lot, actually. L-Like, I know which one of them has a crush, a-and that could definitely be used- used for blackmail, I think.” The thought of being able to be away from the bullies in Horuda’s free time was unnecessarily exciting, especially considering that the only payment is whatever she’s already gathered about them.

She tried not to talk too much so that she still had some information to save for later dates, but for once the future was looking a bit more optimistic.

That was, until she was tasked with getting the answer sheets from the faculty room. Dairoku obviously couldn’t do it, but why he thought that she could was beyond her. It was after school currently, and by looking inside, there was really just the gym teacher inside at the moment. It looked like the other teachers were actually still in their respective classrooms, likely still getting work done.

Horuda pulled her fingers up to her mouth, biting her nail nervously. What was she supposed to do? She looked over to Dairoku, who was busy finishing off the fruit kabob that Horuda had given him.

“Do you, uh..” She clears her throat, “...do you have any ideas..?” She asked, feeling even more nervous since Dairoku so severely dwarfed her due to their height difference.

“Nah.” Dairoku simply said, shrugging. “Good luck.” He said half-heartedly. It’s not as if Horuda expected any sort of thanks or special treatment for the fruit kabob, but a little insight would have been a little helpful, at the very least.

Horuda bites her lip as she thinks. She couldn’t even be seen by the staff, or else that would surely lead to her having to explain what exactly happened to her hair. Then again…

..technically, if she told Ms. Kyoshi about her hair, would that serve as a fair distraction? As in, leading her to leave the room for some reason?

Horuda didn’t bother going to her last class, as she desperately wanted to avoid her teacher’s gaze. It wouldn’t be the first time she was late or absent, and she could easily catch up on Monday, so she wasn’t too worried about it.

Horuda inhales deeply and then exhales before hesitantly walking in. “Umm… Ms. Kyoshi..?” She calls quietly, gaining the attention of the gym teacher.

After turning to face Horuda, Ms. Kyoshi blinked in shock. “Oh, Horuda! What happened? Did you do this?” She asked, immediately walking over to look at the girl’s hair from every angle.

“...no. Hoshiko did… I-I wanted to tell you about it… because… I didn’t want her to.” Horuda explains, feeling nervous. If Ms. Kyoshi spoke to Hoshiko about it, Hoshiko would make up some half-assed excuse that wouldn’t get her in trouble as much as admitting that she did it with ill intent. Then, Ms. Kyoshi will ask Horuda about it, Horuda will say that whatever Hoshiko said was true in order to lessen the punishment Hoshiko will inflict on Horuda. While Ms. Kyoshi is gone, Horuda will take pictures of the answer sheet and send it to Dairoku, and that will secure a full week of… “protection” from the delinquents.

It was worth it, Horuda rationalized. It had to be.

After explaining the situation, Ms. Kyoshi sighed, shaking her head. “That can’t be right… I can’t believe she’d show such… horrible behavior.” She folds her arms, “Alright, come with me. We’re going to bring her aside and speak to her about this.”

“Uh- I-I…” Horuda stutters immediately, hesitating to speak properly just yet. “I don’t know if- u-uhm.. Could you just… speak to her first..? I’m…I’m nervous.” She says. That much was honest, but her intentions were still… unfair to put it simply.

Ms. Kyoshi sighs. “Alright, well, stay here, then. I’ll speak to Hoshiko and then bring her here.” She says, leaving after Horuda nods in understanding.

Horuda counted 15 seconds in her head while looking at the papers on each individual desk. Dairoku was in class 3-1, which would be Ms. Hanabusa class. After the 15 seconds, Horuda actively bends down and digs through the files. She tried her best to keep everything in place, but she was in a rush. It was a good thing Ms. Hanabusa was known for being a scatterbrain. Else Horuda might actually be suspected of something.

As soon as she got her hands on the answer sheets, she took several pictures of each page. She rushed to finish putting the images up and pulled up her phone to send the pictures. It’s a good thing she did, too, because Kuroko came in with a stack of papers in hand. She lifted an eyebrow to Horuda.

She couldn’t tell if she was concerned about her haircut or suspicious about her presence in the faculty room without a faculty member in it. “Horuda. What… are you doing in here?” She asked, deciding to go with the latter as the greater importance.

“I’m waiting for Ms. Kyoshi. She’s gonna help me figure out a, uh… bullying situation.” Horuda explains briefly, turning off her phone and looking down in her usual attempt to hide her face.

“Bullying. By whom?” Kuroko places down the stack of papers as she asks this, standing in front of the desk across Horuda. She sorts through the papers and even reaches over to straighten up Ms. Hanabusa’s desk. Apparently this wasn’t uncommon for Kuroko.

“..Hoshiko. But… don’t tell anyone. She’ll get even more mad at me than usual.” Horuda murmurs.

Kuroko hums quietly, thinking intently as she continues working. Once she finishes, she nods. “I understand. I won’t tell anyone for now.” She says, turning to leave the room. “Good luck, Horuda.”

Horuda waves a bit, but the wish of luck only succeeds in making her more nervous.

Hokuto was the first to speak up out of the group of delinquents. He scoffs, although his grin showed that he was impressed. “So in less than two hours, you got your hands on 500 dollars, a knife, the headmaster’s bottle of alcohol, Musume’s pack of cigarettes, and the answers for next week’s test?” He lists, pulling a hand up to his chin in thought.

Horuda didn’t really know if Hokuto expected a response to that, so she hesitates before answering. “U-Um- yes.” She nods, her head hung shyly as she admits what she’d accomplished.

“Damn. I might have you do favors for me more often.” Hokuto chuckles, which really only made Horuda nervous for whatever she had planned.

Umeji stares at Horuda for a moment- a feeling that she could feel on her head as she nervously picked at her sweater. “..So, you can get us information on that group of gyarus, right?” He asks, to which Horuda simply nods in response to.

“They’ll definitely still pick on me, but since they talk so much one of them usually blurts out one of their secrets.” Horuda mumbles, before thinking of something. “Also I- I learned that they actually have a special, um… app. They use it to post pictures of, like… pranks and just… mean stuff I guess.” She pulls her hand up to her mouth and murmurs. “They told me that I’m pretty popular on it.”

Umeji nods slowly. “...don’t worry about payment for now. Just keep looking for information on them and we’ll consider it ‘payment’.” He states. He then digs into his pocket and tosses a little bag of money at her. “Use that to pay for a new haircut, too. You look miserable.”

Horuda picks up the money and bows her head. “..thank you. I will.” It was nearly 5:30, so she started her walk to the front gate. She turns back and waves at them. “S..See you tomorrow..!” She calls in her usual voice, either getting a nod or nothing from the group. The delinquents definitely were not friends of Horuda. Allies was a better word for them, but regardless, Horuda could tell that she would like them way more than the bullies. She looked forward to working with them in the future. This certainly gave her some purpose.

#Horuda Puresu #Umeji Kizuguchi #Hokuto Furukizu #Gaku Hikitsuri #Hayanari Tsumeato #Dairoku Surikizu #Akane Toriyasu #Kenko Sukoyaka #Shiromi Torayoshi #Kuroko Kamenaga #Kyoshi Tachibana #Kizana Sunobu #Kokona Haruka #Musume Ronshaku #Fureddo Jonzu #Hoshiko Mizudori

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