All my life I've always been the bad guy. I mean that's how people look at me. It was as if they wanted me to be like that so they always blamed everything on me. In my eyes most people are rotten. The girls over there were talking behind someone's back, then the guy over there was talking about something lewd, some others just wanted to vent their stress, meanwhile there were the so-called 'kind people' who in reality just pretended not to see me so as not to get into trouble.
My parents rarely defended me. When I was little I once hit a boy who stole my doll. He cried to his parents who then also complained to mine. They scolded me to no end without even trying to listen to my story. My parents are both busy white-collar workers, which is why they tend not to have time for me. If I cause problems they always try to solve it quickly, scold me for a while then go back to their respective activities. I was mostly entrusted to a nanny and if I demanded their attention in various ways, they would scold me again for being too spoiled. Growing up in an environment like that, it was natural that I started looking for fun outside the home.
I often play with the children in my neighborhood. Unfortunately, my bad temper was very difficult to control when I was little, and as a result, I often fought with other children. Thanks to that I got a bad reputation and the other kids started to be afraid of me.
Even though I have a not-so-good reputation, that doesn't mean I never have friends. There was one sickly girl who liked to stick to me after I helped her in elementary school. Unfortunately, the friendship didn't last long. When we were in middle school, my friend betrayed me. The girl I've often helped since forever just turned away from me, and I didn't even do anything to hurt her. This incident made me wonder whether our friendship was fake. Has he been hiding dark feelings in his heart all this time? While she ate with me, played with me, and laughing with me>
It was the incident with my friend that made it difficult for me to trust other people. When I changed schools, my aloof and rude nature tended to make my classmates hate me. As time went by they started to bully me for no apparent reason. They thought I was an easy target to vent their stress. Unfortunately, they were very wrong. If someone tries to intimidate me, I will punch them, if someone messes up my desk, I will threaten the student sitting closest to me to tell me the name of the perpetrator and then beat them directly in class. Even the boys had a hard time stopping me. I was suspended for a week after the incident, but at least no one else dared to mess with me at school.
Of course that doesn't mean my life immediately became peaceful. My reputation started to spread to other schools and delinquents began to come at me. At first, it was just a group of delinquent girls trying to recruit me to join their gang. I rejected them and some of them can't take rejection very well so it escalated to a fight. Of course, I managed to beat them somehow. Because I knew that something like that would happen again, I made preparations by carrying pepper spray and a stun gun every time I left the house. As time went by, even the men started to challenge me, but I managed to fend them off.
Even though I was almost invincible in a fight, my life was getting worse. It's easy for the school to blame me if something happens. Many times I have been accused of doing things I never did. There were even people who accused me of prostitution. Thanks to all that, I often changed schools. In the end, my parents also seemed to give up on me and started ignoring me.
After I graduated from junior high, my father told me to enroll at ANHS. According to rumors, it is a school with a fairly strict system. The students will live in the dorms and remain there until graduation. Is this his way of getting rid of me? Or perhaps this was a final attempt at disciplining me? Whatever. I thought there was no way a school with a reputation like this would accept a girl like me so I applied without expecting anything. I did the entrance test and interview half-heartedly but was unexpectedly accepted. Not that I'm happy about it, but I'm so fed up with my life so maybe this is a good opportunity to get a bit of peace in my life. Unfortunately, I was too naive.
No matter where I go there are hordes of trash looking to mess with me. Starting from a brash senior who tried to threaten me, to three insecure girls who were jealous because their crush probably didn't notice them. Once again I got into trouble even though I never wanted anything other than a quiet life. Once again people are pointing their fingers at me even though I wasn't the one who started it. I'm not the one who caused this, but of course, it's easier for people to blame me. Even the two students who defended me at trial probably only did it for class points and not for me.
Ah, if this is how it happens then so be it. If they want a scapegoat then just expel me because, in the end, I'll just go back to my old life. That's what I thought...until I heard him ask a question.
"It's easy to judge someone based on reputation and background, but have you ever asked what drives them to be like that?" That sentence surprised me. I unconsciously raised my face and looked at the man named Kurose Yukiharu who was representing me at the trial. After that Kurose showed everyone how unfair my situation was, how the other students were just as guilty. In the end, he did something I hadn't thought of. Kurose-kun vouched for my innocence and was willing to be expelled for it. Part of me still thinks that he did all this just because he didn't want his class points to decrease, but would he really go that far just for the sake of points? I could be slandered again and he would be expelled along with it without question. Besides that, I have to admit, he said the words I've always wanted to hear.
After the trial ended I met him. I asked why he would go that far for me. He said he sympathized with me, he knew what it felt like to be betrayed. He didn't reveal any more details, but his face showed that he wasn't lying. He's a strange person, but I have to admit that he has given me the opportunity to change my life, even if only a little. So, should I give him a chance too?
***
This SS took a bit more time to write because I was not happy with how it turns so I decided to rewrite it all over again. More details about Nanahara's past will be revaled later.