"Nana-chan, did you run into someone you know?"
The stylish boy with meticulously styled hair and a tasteful earring—Kobayashi Tetsuya—subtly appraised Kani Nayuta with a flick of his eyes before turning to his new girlfriend with a casual, performative curiosity. His tone was light, but his gaze held the calculating coolness of someone used to being the center of attention.
"Mhm, you could say that." The girl with light golden-brown wavy hair, Takasaki Nana, offered a sweet smile to her boyfriend before her expression shifted. When she turned back to Kani Nayuta, it was with a transparently false friendliness that quickly curdled into open mockery.
"Well, well. If it isn't Honda-san. It's been a long time. I never expected to run into you in a place like this." Her eyes slid sideways, raking over Kasumigaoka Touji with deliberate slowness. "And who's this? Your latest… project? My, my, Honda, you haven't changed a bit. Still so… talented at attracting male attention, aren't you?"
Her voice was pitched just a little too loud, a calculated move meant to draw an audience. It worked. Several nearby tourists and families glanced over, their expressions shifting from curiosity to mild discomfort at the scene.
The response she received wasn't the flustered shame she seemed to expect.
WHAP!
The crisp, sharp sound of a slap echoed in the open space. Kasumigaoka Touji's hand had moved faster than anyone could follow, striking Takasaki Nana squarely across the cheek with enough force to snap her head to the side.
Silence fell for a beat, broken only by the ambient hum of aquarium filters and distant chatter.
Kasumigaoka Touji's face was a mask of icy calm. He stared down at the girl, whose cheek was already blooming an angry red, her eyes wide with utter disbelief and the first sting of tears.
"Apologize," he said, his voice low but cutting, carrying through the sudden quiet. He stood a full head taller than her, and the cold intensity in his gaze as he loomed over her was genuinely intimidating. It choked the reflexive stream of curses and insults in her throat, leaving her sputtering, her lips trembling, eyes watering with a mixture of pain, shock, and cold, impotent rage.
Kani Nayuta, who had been drawing a sharp breath, her own anger rising like a tide as she prepared to retort, fight, or even brawl if it came to it, froze mid-motion. She turned her head, her wide blue eyes fixed on Kasumigaoka Touji's profile. A profound, warm light quickly ignited in their depths, melting the icy anger.
He… he stood up for me. Just like that. The realization was a balm. She wasn't alone in this confrontation anymore. Someone had immediately, without hesitation, placed themselves between her and the ugliness. Her clenched fists relaxed slightly, the violent tension in her shoulders easing.
In contrast, Kobayashi Tetsuya's handsome face darkened instantly. That slap wasn't just against his girlfriend; it was a direct affront to his pride and status. How could he possibly save face now? His reputation as the 'popular, capable guy' was on the line.
"You're the one who should be apologizing!" he barked, stepping forward and trying to seize the moral high ground. He pointed an accusing finger at Touji. "How low can you get, laying hands on a girl? You're a real piece of work!"
Having slapped the 'cowardly bully' label on his opponent, Kobayashi Tetsuya saw his opening. With a practiced, vicious speed, he launched a side kick aimed straight at Kasumigaoka Touji's midsection.
Let's see you handle a kick from someone with a second-degree Taekwondo black belt! A nasty gleam flashed in his eyes. His plan was simple: beat this pretty-boy interloper into submission first, and teach him a lesson about respect.
The ideal was plump, but reality was a gaunt and unforgiving skeleton.
Kobayashi Tetsuya, who had just committed to his attack, found his own stomach suddenly caving in under an impact he never saw coming. A pained "Oof!" was punched from his lungs as he doubled over, eyes bulging, before stumbling back and landing hard on his rear on the polished floor.
Scrambling up, pride screaming, he tried to lunge again—only to be swept off his feet by a swift, precise kick to the back of his knee, sending him crashing back down onto his hands and knees this time.
Kobayashi Tetsuya's brain went numb.
This isn't right! The guy looked lean and intellectual, not like some street brawler! How was he so damn fast and ruthless?
It hurts…!
"Tetsuya!"
The other boy in their group, the one with a carefully tousled perm, stared in shock. He knew his friend had been practicing Taekwondo seriously for years and was no pushover. Seeing him so utterly outclassed was staggering. Without thinking, he hurried forward, wrapping an arm around Kobayashi Tetsuya's shoulders in a show of support, while throwing a wary, nervous look at Kasumigaoka Touji.
In his friend's embrace, Kobayashi Tetsuya made a token effort to struggle, more for show than anything else, before settling into a posture of wounded defiance. He clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and glared up at Touji with as much hatred as he could muster.
Lose the battle, but not the spirit! He couldn't back down completely, at least not in front of everyone. Unless he was beaten into the ground…
Feeling the throbbing aches in his stomach and knee, Kobayashi Tetsuya cursed his girlfriend to the deepest pits of hell in his mind. Couldn't we just have had a nice, normal date? She had to go picking fights, and now I'm the one getting my ass handed to me. Damn it!
In every sense of the word.
Kasumigaoka Touji looked at the boy putting on a brave face but clearly shaken to his core and internally scoffed. Pathetic. His gaze then shifted to Takasaki Nana, whose expression had morphed from shock to one of deep humiliation. Perhaps she was mortified that her supposedly impressive boyfriend had been neutralized so easily, as she made no move to help him up.
An even bigger piece of trash, Touji thought.
"You two really are a match made in heaven," Kasumigaoka Touji said, his voice dripping with icy sarcasm that carried clearly. "One is a shameless bitch who comes out of nowhere to spread vicious rumors and slander my girlfriend. The other immediately resorts to violence and tries to put me in the hospital. Tokyo really does have all kinds of trash these days."
His words were like gasoline on a fire. Kobayashi Tetsuya and Takasaki Nana flushed with rage, but were too cowed or humiliated to retort effectively. The surrounding onlookers, who had been watching with rapt attention, now began muttering among themselves, their expressions shifting from neutral curiosity to clear disapproval directed at the instigators.
"Hey, man, that's going a bit too far," the perm-haired boy spoke up, trying to defend his friend's honor with a weak attempt at diplomacy.
Kasumigaoka Touji shot him a look of pure disgust. "Who's your 'man'? You run with this crowd? That says everything I need to know about you. You're cut from the same cloth."
The perm-haired boy's face stiffened, rendered speechless and awkward.
"Now," Kasumigaoka Touji's attention snapped back to Takasaki Nana, his face like winter frost. "Apologize. Right now."
The command brooked no argument. His earlier suspicion had solidified into cold certainty. This girl was directly linked to the pain in Kani Nayuta's past.
Under his piercing, hostile gaze, Takasaki Nana felt a prickling sensation crawl over her scalp.
"Takasaki…" Kani Nayuta's voice, cold and clear as crystal, cut through the tension. She stepped forward slightly, her delicate face a mask of deep-seated disgust as she stared at her former tormentor. "You will apologize to me."
She took a breath, her words aimed not just at Nana, but at the listening crowd, reclaiming her own narrative. "I have never 'seduced' anyone. Last year, when Yayu-kun confessed to me, it was his decision alone. I did not like him. I rejected him, clearly and directly. Your rejection by him… that is not a license for you to gather your friends and spend months bullying me, spreading lies, and making my life hell. It never was."
You vile creature! So it WAS you!
Kasumigaoka Touji's gaze towards Takasaki Nana turned murderous, a surge of protective fury so intense he briefly imagined consequences far more severe than a public shaming. You're the one. The main culprit who helped drive her into her shell.
Kobayashi Tetsuya's face underwent a series of violent twitches. He slowly turned his head to stare at his girlfriend, his expression a mixture of disbelief and dawning, sickened comprehension.
So… all this drama, this pathetic bullying… was because you were jealous over some other guy? And then you dragged me into it? What does that make me? The realization that he'd been used as a prop in some petty, year-old revenge scheme was a devastating blow to his ego. His face darkened into a storm cloud.
The perm-haired boy winced, glanced from Takasaki Nana to his humiliated friend, sighed quietly, and gave Kobayashi's shoulder a commiserating pat. His own girlfriend looked similarly uncomfortable, shifting her weight away from the unfolding disgrace.
Hearing Kani Nayuta's calm, damning explanation, the court of public opinion in the aquarium gallery turned decisively. The whispers grew louder, the looks directed at Takasaki Nana now filled with open contempt and scorn.
I didn't expect you to be such a horrible person!
What kind of family raises someone like that?
The weight of the crowd's silent—and not-so-silent—judgment pressed down on her, a tidal wave of disdain threatening to drown her where she stood.