"You infuriate me," he mumbled, raising his voice to repeat, "You infuriate me! I had to come to this stupid, worthless city because Yamato had to go and make a scene at Jindei. And, do you know what happened when I got to Keisetsu? Huh?"
"Something that doesn't matter, I'm sure."
"Shut the fuck up!" the blonde shouted, pressing the knife to her throat, "Everyone always fawns over me! But the second I get to that stupid school, it's all about (Y/n) and 'Hashi, (Y/n) and 'Hashi! 'Oh my god. Did you hear about (Y/n)? She got first place in the national aptitude test'. 'Wow. 'Hashi's so amazing. He's friends with everyone because he's so good-looking and nice'. You, too. You'd rather fawn at his feet than mine."
"I don't know you."
"You were supposed to!" A pause as the male tried to cool himself down, "Do you know why people call you 'princess'?"
"...the list."
"That's right. The guys at school seem to think unanimously that you are the most attractive girl. Everyone thinks you're gorgeous, (Y/n), but you're a different breed. People like you, who don't have money or social status don't even seem human to people like us. You don't seem human to us."
"I've noticed."
"But somehow, someway, some pathetic little thing managed to get into a school like Keisetsu. You're the only one. For guys like us," A pause, "it's a hell of a fucking fantasy."
That much was true. People saw the (h/c) haired girl at school and instinctually knew she was different. They pictured a poor, vulnerable thing and their minds began to tick. All they would ever know were put-together, well-bred young ladies. Those would be the kind of people they would marry and form connections with. Everyone knew girls like that were modest and full of virtue, so when they saw a rare specimen like (Y/n), they thought the opposite of her. Their minds went to foul places.
"It's only natural you ended up on the top of that list. What was it called again? 'The top ten girls at Keisetsu who are begging for it', or something like that? They make you out to sound like such a slut."
(Y/n) said nothing.
"My first day at Keisetsu - No, my first class, even - I got handed a copy of a lovely little story. Apparently, it's all over the school. No one knows who wrote it. Do you know about it?"
Again, nothing.
"Someone with a great talent for writing chose to write about you. I've got to say: it was the hottest thing I've ever read. My only regret was that it was too short. It had all sorts of nasty little details about you that some bastard fantasized. Had you bent over a bed, taking it like a champ. I could almost hear the little moans it said you made."
The younger girl narrowed her eyes. She'd known about the story, but there wasn't anything she could do about it. It followed the narrative of an unnamed male who found a beautiful girl at his school. Of course, it was her. The story said her name about twenty million times, going in detail to describe her. There was a heavy focus on her body, especially her naked body, mainly because the story was a piece or pornography.
The main character saw past her "filthy" background as a commoner, the male the only one to give her a shot. Though, that only entailed the rest of the story, an in-depth fantasy about hooking up with her. The male did just about everything to her in incredible detail, but she was made out to be insatiable for a man. According to the male populace of their school, the best thing about it was the fact that they could see themselves as the male protagonist.
The title of the story was "Pillow Princess", likely because she had everything done to her but did not reciprocate in the story. Either way, the name "princess" spread like wildfire. Everyone called her that. And, even if they didn't understand it at first, the teachers did, too. Narahashi fought for her. He did. And people liked Narahashi very much but only when he was smiling, so they didn't listen.
Keisetsu valued her as a student, knowing she was very largely responsible for their recent renown for all her achievements. But they did nothing. She was still just a commoner and they were a for-profit school. The principal, especially, didn't want to risk angering their students by taking away the story. They tried to explain it by saying that it was good their students were expressing creativity and that "rumors would fade away soon", but they never did. And now, according to Rei, the story was given to new students to further spoil her.
"What do you want?" the girl asked, her voice breaking a little.
"Like I said: it was right up my alley. Almost hit all my kinks, too. I thought it was based on a real thing someone had with you, but I guess not. I just wanted a shot. But now...," the male scoffed, gritting his teeth, "now I'm all pissed off. All you've done since I've started pursuing you is push me away."
"Just let me go. I'm so tired of this."
"You're going to regret ignoring me."
"I wouldn't...," the girl choked up, biting back tears, "I wouldn't have ignored you if you had just..."
As (Y/n)'s tears started to get in the way of her speech, the blonde tightened his grasp on her. What? If he had just...what? He so desperately wanted to know. This girl, who had pushed him to the side in favor of a no-name politician's kid, was now expressing interest. Was that it? Or, perhaps, it was something else. Either way, he was not content being left in the dark. Shaking her, he demanded to know.
"What?!"
"If you had just stopped acting - "
"What are you talking about?! I was being sincere! I told you that!"
"Of course you weren't! You were wearing some stupid mask! I knew...I knew that wasn't the real you. I knew this was you."
Rei scoffed. What was that supposed to mean? She couldn't have possibly known who he was. No one did. He was the perfect little prince in everyone's eyes, enough to get people to love him without trying. She was just bluffing. There had to have been another reason. The only way she could say something like that was because he was revealing his true colors now. If he hadn't, she would have kept believing he was who he wanted her to think he was.
"Please! You're saying you would have been sincere with me if I was acting like this? Like some fucking asshole?!"
"Yes," she sobbed, "I don't care how horrible of a person you are."
"Yeah, right!"
"Is it really not believable? After everything that happened because of this story and that list, don't you think I would prefer someone to act like a piece of trash to my face instead of doing it behind my back? At the very least, only one person will be demeaning me that way."
"T-Then, why did you even agree to go on a date with me if you knew - "
"You and Haru were screaming in class! I-I just knew...there was another rumor coming. A-Another story! Do you know who you two are?! The two richest people at Keisetsu, fighting with me in the middle of it. What do you...What do you think they would have said if I hadn't stopped you?"
Rei's eyes shrunk. It made sense. She was telling the truth. The girl had been so hurt by other people that she knew how to read them. In fact, she could read them so well and had the foresight to predict what would come to hurt her. She even had the understanding to act before it happened. Even though she knew he was planning on acting like a jerk, she was willing to accept it if it resulted in the least pain for her. He choked on his own breathing.
"You really wouldn't have cared?" he asked quietly, "About how evil I can be?"
"No. I just wanted someone to be sincere with me. B-But I don't know what I was thinking. It can't ever be like that...can it?"
(Y/n) was quick to use a self-defense technique to get out of his hold. It wasn't hard, considering he had lost most of the strength in his body from the shock. She was long gone by the time he had snapped back to reality. Rei felt a surge of guilt. It wasn't an emotion he felt frequently. On the contrary, he loved hurting other people. It was his greatest joy to bring them torment. So, he was having the toughest time figuring out why she was different.
Then it hit him. She said she wouldn't have cared. No, she had proof she wouldn't have cared. All she wanted in return was sincerity. Surely, that was something he could provide her. And, in return, someone would finally see him as he was. The thought filled him with delight, only for him to realize he had devastated her. She had run away in tears because of what he had said. He could have ruined his chances. But, what could it hurt to try?
Another realization came to him. There was a way to make all of that better. Clearly, the blonde could do something to erase the situation for her. If he could do that, wouldn't she have been more amenable to trying again with him? Yes, that was right. With a grin, the male got back on his motorcycle, bolting back to his house to put everything into motion. It was time to see if she was "being sincere".
As he arrived back home, he was quick to throw the keys to one of the servants, demanding they take good care of the bike. He then stormed upstairs, not at all surprised to find Akari laying on his bed like it was his own. The younger male glanced up, giving a reserved wave, before returning to writing in his journal. Rei didn't seem to pay his best friend much mind as he rifled through the closet.
"For the love of fuck!" he shouted, "Where is your computer?!"
"Mine?" Akari chuckled, "Probably on the roof."
"Why is it on the roof?"
"Don't remember."
"Well, go get it! Right now!"
The younger male didn't really question his playmate. He just did as he asked. Before long, he had come back down to the second story, presenting him with the laptop. Though, he did have to help Rei figure out how to log in and pull up the school website. Then he had to stick around beside him just to make sure he could answer questions immediately. Rei got mad when he didn't. It wasn't that Akari was great with technology but he was better than him, so it was his job to fix any problems he was having.
"This fucking school!"
Akari glanced over at the screen, trying to figure out what his friend was trying to do, exactly. It definitely wasn't because he wanted to make friends. And it probably wasn't because he wanted to mess with Yamato somehow. Usually, when he was doing that, he was in a better mood. The younger male then just watched, occasionally glancing down at his camera and scrolling through the pictures he took.
"It was you. It was you who had us come here, Akari!"
"Well, we had to change schools. Yamato - "
"I know what he did!"
"Are you not happy with Keisetsu? Wanna switch again?"
Rei was about to answer but ended up holding his tongue. The reaction was fascinating, especially since the blonde usually knew what he wanted immediately. His mixed reaction about the school intrigued the younger male. It wasn't that Rei loved Jindei, but he did enjoy the fact that he'd made a name for himself there. It attracted a lot of international students, after all, so he had his own little army of Vethelan minions to do his bidding. Then again, it wasn't all that different from anywhere else.
"We'll see," the older of the two huffed, aggressively scrolling down on the school's newsletter, "I doubt one person will weigh against the rest of the place, but she'd better. Ugh! Fuck this!"
"My computer...," Akari mumbled somberly, noting the now smashed electronic, "Now I have to ask Haru for a new one."
"That's it! You're a genius!" A pause. "Well, you're not, but you get the point."
"I almost had a compliment from you," the younger male smiled purely, rocking back and forth, "This is a pretty good day."
"All of your days are good. You're with me."
"Yeah!"
Rei rolled his eyes. The younger male was always like that. Really, he was an airhead. He was actually quite surprised that Akari got into Keisetsu in the first place. Despite the fact that it was for the rich, they did have some standards when it came to entrance tests. At Jindei, the blonde's grades were abysmal. His GPA was barely 1.5. Rei was fully prepared to pay a bribe to let him into the school, but, somehow, Akari managed to pull it together to pass the entrance test. Wonders never ceased.
"Haru," the older blonde murmured, directing the greeting to the brunette on the other end of the phone, "I know we don't get along great, but I need a favor."
"My computer," Akari whined, trying to get the message to the male by acting like a ghost, "Broken...Need...New...One...Yay..."
"Shut it. No, not you, Haru. Well, kind of. Just - ," Rei paused the moment the brunette hung up on him, furiously calling him again, "You little brat! Try that again and I'll - " Another pause as Haru hung up on him again. "I mean it! It's important that you - "
Once again, the brunette hung up on him. It wasn't uncommon. Haru really disliked Rei sometimes. And though Rei also returned those feelings, he needed him at the moment. In fact, the whole reason the brunette kept picking up the phone was because he expected someone else to call him. After the third attempt, he had presumably blocked his phone, a fun little message playing for Rei that told him he was not welcome. So Rei had to snatch Akari's phone right out of his pocket, the younger male begging him not to break it, too.
"(Y/n)!" Rei finally exclaimed, hoping that would get his attention.
"I'm not (Y/n)."
"Don't you think I know that? No, don't hang up again. I want to talk about (Y/n). Don't you like her?"
"Yeah. She's fun. I'd like to talk to her...but I don't want to talk to you," the brunette grumbled, hanging up a fourth time, only for Rei to try again.
"(Y/n) needs help! So, just listen, Haru!"
"Well, why didn't you say that?"
The blonde tried to bottle up all his frustration. He knew he would want to kill someone the moment he called the brunette. Rei shot his eyes over to Akari, wondering if he would do, but, in the end, he just huffed. Akari probably would have liked it, to be honest, and that wouldn't have been any fun. Focusing, the blonde tried to think about the best way to phrase the situation in a way Haru would understand.
"Do you know about 'Pillow Princess'?"
"One second," Haru mumbled, the sound of him turning around and asking someone audible through the phone, "Oh. Yamato says that's what Akari is."
"No, he's the opposite," Rei hurriedly scoffed, rolling his eyes before getting back on track, "But I'm talking about the story that's been going around Keisetsu."
"No. We don't know it."
"Alright. I'm going to send you...No, Akari is going to send everyone some pictures of this story. It's about (Y/n). I'm going to need all of you to read it, okay? Call me back when you're done."
Rei threw the phone back to the younger male, proceeding to rifle around in his school bag. After grabbing out his folders, he tossed the small stack of papers to Akari, instructing him to take pictures and send it to everyone else. The blonde did just that, ensuring they were in focus before sending them. After, he was told to read it, too. Rei watched his reaction, but it wasn't like what he was expecting. He looked sick to his stomach, sure, but he also looked terrified.
"It's all made up, apparently," the older male clarified, "She's not...like that."
"This story," Akari paused, dropping it to the ground before abruptly leaving, "has a lot of errors."
Shota seemed to think so, too, harping on the child-like word usage. Rei thought the grammar and vocabulary was pretty good for some deviant high schooler's imagination, but he kept that to himself. The others were furious, Shota and Yamato being the most vocal about it. Takuya was quiet, but, when he did add input, he sounded very concerned for (Y/n). Haru was the only one who didn't mind. At least, he didn't until Rei made it clear the story was fabricated by someone else.
"That's bad," the brunette simply frowned, not knowing what else to say to express his anger.
"Bad?! This is a crime!" Shota shouted, "Who is responsible for something like this?! And how is this still being shown to people?! A-And why didn't she tell me about this?!"
"Sick pervert," Yamato growled, "As if she didn't have enough problems on her plate already!"
"We shouldn't focus all our attention on the writer," Takuya mumbled, "With something like this, we should help (Y/n). She probably...feels very..."
"Bad," Haru helped him finish.
"Exactly," Rei remarked, "We need to do two things. Firstly, we need to punish everyone involved in this. And secondly, we need to help her feel better."
There was a pause that followed the blonde's comment. It wasn't that they disagreed. Of course, they wanted to rip apart whoever was responsible for making the (h/c) haired girl so miserable. However, they found that sentiment suspicious coming from Rei. He wasn't exactly the type to care about other people. It made them wonder what he really planned on doing with the girl.
"Shut up, all of you," he huffed despite none of them saying a word, "I'm being 'sincere'. Really. You've all convinced me that she's a special person. I plan on seeing just how special she is. And you can point fingers at me, or you can help me help her."
No one disagreed with that. On the contrary, they were very motivated to help the younger girl. Having Rei around just helped all the more, so they decided to trust him for the time being. Promising to meet up before school started the next day, they all hung up, each of them theorizing who could have done such a horrible thing to the girl. They would be shocked to learn it was someone close to her.