Re: Life In The Original World From Zero [A Re:Zero Fiction]

Chapter 61: Modern Day Life Lesson Forty Four

"Those photos all have dates on them, and some are long before now! We all know for a fact she's been quite close to Hihara Yuuto for a while!! How do we know she hasn't been doing those stuffs with him since then???" The second guy shouted. "There's been rumors going on saying she never stopped seeing Hihara when he left!! Now we saw those photos with our own eyes! There's no point continue speaking for her, Natsuki!!!" Yet another guy shouted. "Yeah! She's been betraying you all this time!!" This time, a girl shouted. An uproar started again, and Subaru looked around the crazed faces that were closing up to them again.

At that moment, he understood everything at last. On the day Iwasaki Iris came back to school, she made her gang of loyal followers, the guys most crazy about her, spread these false stories about Emilia. The rumors' power was even strengthened by the fact that Emilia really had been close to Hihara for a while. He and the girls knew that she was forced to do that by Hihara's magic, but the others wouldn't know that. And now, she suddenly made the video show up on the screen and announced to everyone that she had been the victim in all of this. This was especially convincing to some because Iwasaki Iris was the only girl that was seen around Hihara Yuuto at all time and considered to be his girlfriend. Combining everything, the fake photos, the things seen in the past, and her withdrawing suddenly, she made everything look like Emilia was the intruder in her relationship with Hihara Yuuto and further framed her with the indecent things shown in the photos.

Subaru's heart was pounding in fear at his chest. This went way out of his imagination. Hihara's torment on him was one thing, Iwasaki's determination to break Emilia was another. He never thought that there was someone more evil than Hihara Yuuto, and the situation now proved him wrong. He underestimated the damage Hihara Yuuto had left behind, and he underestimated the twisted insides of Iwasaki Iris even more. Trembling, he looked back at Emilia, who was now screaming at the top of her lungs to make herself heard again. "No!! That's not true!! All of this!!! All of this is not true!!!" Emilia shouted, tears glittering at the corner of her eyes. "How so?? You've been caught now, what else could you say to convince us??" The girl shouted, raising her fist at her.

"Everything you are seeing now never happened!!! I swear!!! It really never happened at all!!!" She shouted, and before anyone could shout back, she pressed on. "You want to know about why I was spending time with Hihara Yuuto at school! I will tell you! That was all a deal I made with him! He's been bullying Subaru all this time! You all know that!! I only agreed to be around him because he promised me he would stop bullying Subaru and his friends if I do so!! That's the truth!! I did that for him!! For Subaru!! Because... Because..." She gulped and threw a quick glance at Subaru. He caught her eyes that were now full of tears and in pain. "Emi--" He reached out his hands at her, but she felt so distant.

"Because...!! Natsuki Subaru is the person I like!! The only person that I don't want to see getting hurt again!!!!" She shouted, her loudest shout yet, panting heavily and trembling. The Great Hall went silent again, and all movements stopped as well. The only thing moving was the screen displaying the pictures. Subaru's mind was buzzing really loudly and he couldn't quite process anything Emilia said just yet, but he felt many pairs of eyes fall upon him now, including Emilia's. Emilia gazed at Subaru, hoping to see some reactions from him, but like his brain, his whole body seemed frozen too, rigid and motionless. She looked back at the crowd, still feeling scared and anxious but hoping that now, after she had said everything, people will come to sense.

"That's convenient." Another girl said, breaking the silent. Everyone looked at her, and Subaru realized she was one of the three girls who were always around Iwasaki. Emilia stared at her. "W-What...??" Emilia muttered, her lips trembling. "You deaf? I just said it's convenient, you indecent woman!!" She shouted, spit flying out her mouth. "You said everything is fake just because your precious first love is Natsuki Subaru?? Anyone could tell that this's just an excuse for you to get away with all this!! What're you trying to do now?? Ruin Natsuki and your sister's relationship just like you ruined Iris-chan and Hihara Yuuto's???? Save your tears, you freaking liar!! Your acting won't work on us!!!" She shouted, glaring at Emilia.