The air in the school had drastically shifted since we discovered we were in the worst class. Being the establishment of failures, we were harassed daily by other students because of our ranking in the hierarchy.
Even though our student lives have worsened, some students still try to find the good from it all. This morning, I had taken the bus to school with Yukimura and Mitsuba, who for once were also up at the same time as me.
For Yukimura, he was waking up earlier to exercise around the block, but for Mitsuba, it just so happened he stayed up all night doing some perverted activity. I think Mikazuchi-sensei taught us this once, but I don't remember any of it.
Since it was still early, Yukimura decided to swing by to the cafeteria to buy a buttered croissant for breakfast. I was surprised that he still had points to spend freely. That left me and the sleep-deprived Mitsuba to go to class.
As we made our way up the stairs, Mitsuba looked like he was about to collapse at any given moment. I felt a little bad, so I bought him an iced coffee from the vending machine that was close by. It might've been a waste, but it was weird seeing Mitsuba act tired.
"Thanks... Takanori-san..."
Even his voice became lifeless. It was scary to see just how badly Mitsuba was affected by no sleep. He cracked open the can and drank as much as he could to get a hit of caffeine.
"You feeling more awake?"
"Definitely. I got carried away last night."
I doubted he wouldn't repeat the same mistake twice. He was definitely stupid enough to pull another all-nighter. I just hope I won't have to babysit him like this again.
Slapping his cheeks a couple times, he came to his senses eventually, and started to converse in his usual upbeat voice.
"Did you see the post Sakigamiya-san made during the weekend?"
"No, I haven't."
In all honesty, I haven't checked the school forums in ages. I've been preoccupied rereading TOP ever since Yukina came over my dorm room.
"Then I'll show you it, because there's a huge mystery over the girl in the picture."
A girl in the picture? What kind of post was this anyways?
We stopped in the middle of the stairwell as Mitsuba took out his phone. Going to his saved posts, he brought up the one he was referring to.
It was Sakigamiya-san saying she did a makeover on a friend with some attached images. She did a really good job, since I couldn't recognise who the student was.
She had short light brown hair and glasses, which was fairly common, but the difficult part was trying to discern it from roughly sixty-two students, assuming the gender split in our year is equal.
From our class, there were two girls with brown hair, Jomko and Misogi. However, the girl in the photo doesn't look like either of them at all. Jomko had long brown hair, and Misogi didn't wear glasses.
"Hmm... and everyone's been trying to find out who this is?"
"Yep! We nicknamed her the mysterious Cinderella! We were talking about it in the group chat."
I haven't checked that place either in a long time. Me and Mitsuba continued to walk up the stairs.
"Maybe it's a girl that's not from our class?"
"It seems likely. Though, it's become harder to find out who she is ever since the revelation."
I opened up my phone to examine the girl further. Her glasses seemed familiar, like I've seen them somewhere before. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
"Oh, you should see the comments. It's hilarious! Tanaka-san made a really funny one."
I checked Tanaka's comment. It was really gross. No wonder John's comment was so upvoted.
"At least you can see her body in this photo. She doesn't have big boobs, though, which is a shame since she's so cute."
In the end, Mitsuba only cared about breasts. I felt disappointed to be friends with him. Even more disappointed after I realised I spent scarce points on that guy.
I opened the door to the class and blinked.
Cinderella was sitting in our class, reading a book.
Mitsuba gasped, mimed a scream, and pulled me away from the door.
"H-hey..."
"I-it's her! It's Cinderella! She's in our class! Since when did GEN accept transfer students?!"
Mitsuba was breathing heavily, freaking out over this as he slumped to the floor.
"I don't think it's a transfer student. I think she kept the makeover that Sakigamiya-san did to her."
"Then who is it in our class?! Misogi-san or Jomko-san?!"
That, I couldn't answer. Me and Mitsuba took a peek at her again. The way she was quietly reading, so early in the morning... it felt nostalgic in a way.
"Let's just enter class and talk to her."
Mitsuba didn't want to sneak outside the class not doing anything. I felt like a stalker doing this, so I had no objections. However...
"What the hell are you two doing outside?"
"Shhh! Shhhhh!"
Yukimura was chewing on his breakfast as Mitsuba freaked out and made Yukimura hush.
"Cinderella. She's in there."
Mitsuba pointed inside the classroom. Yukimura gulped and rushed over, taking a peek. He looked at the two of us with wide eyes.
"Holy- She was in our class this entire time?! Who is she?!"
"Let's go ask, the earlier we make our move, the less likely Matsushita-san will steal her from us!"
Yukimura nodded at Mitsuba's logic, and the two stormed into class bravely. I sighed, following them into the classroom that had no one inside, except Cinderella.
As we got closer to her, I realised something. She was sitting in the seat in front of mine. Normally, the person sitting in front of me is Nora, and he usually gets to school earlier than everyone else, and reads a book during that spare time.
...just like the girl.
Actually, those glasses looked familiar, because they look like Nora's glasses. They both wore a square frame with rounded edges. Not to mention, Nora also had short brown hair.
...just like the girl.
I stopped dead in my tracks, slowly putting the pieces together. It was unfathomable. Even I doubted my outlandish judgment, yet I was so sure this was the truth.
...our Cinderella wasn't a girl at all. It was a boy. It was our own friend, Nora Takayuki.
However, Mitsuba and Yukimura already jumped in, without me able to warn them. I pray for their safety.
"Hey cutie."
Mitsuba sat on Nora's chabudai, putting on his best ikemen voice. He even messed his neat hair to appear cooler.
"Yo."
Yukimura put his hands in his pockets and greeted her. Then, his expression stiffened.
Could it be, Yukimura realised what was happening?
"C-cutie?"
Nora timidly looked up from his book to see Mitsuba wink at her. What is he doing...
"Of course. I'm Mitsuba Jun, the ikemen of E Class. Welcome to our school, beautiful."
"Umm... I already knew that, Mitsuba-san... but, i-ikemen? I guess you're cooler than usual..."
"I'm always cool, my darling."
This guy was even mixing in broken English with his Japanese. I never want to see Mitsuba try to seduce a lady, or a boy, ever again.
Yukimura's eyebrow twitched and his jaw dropped. Yeah, I think he's realised.
"Umm... i-is there something the matter, Yukimura-kun? You're looking at me... weirdly..."
"Yeah, why are you looking at Cinderella weirdly like that? Disrespectful gentlemen! Wait, how did you know his name?"
"C-Cinderella?!"
Nora was genuinely surprised by that nickname. I guess he doesn't check his SMS often either.
"Mitsuba, you idiot! Don't you realise who this is?!"
Yukimura went in full blown panic mode. Mitsuba was stupefied.
"What? Do we know her?"
"I-if you forgot about me... I don't b-blame you... I-I mean, I'm a forgettable person in the class..."
Mitsuba blinked.
"W-Wait, that stammer..."
"Look at where your "Cinderella" is sitting, dumbass! That's no girl!"
Yukimura and Mitsuba looked at each other with concerned faces. They screamed together, just when Ayano opened the door to the class.
He stood at the doorway for five seconds, then closed the door. I think he walked away in embarrassment and shame.
"W-W-W-WHO ARE YOU?!"
Mitsuba was on the verge of crying. It was like his whole life was a lie, and everything was crashing down on him.
Nora scratched his cheek and looked away.
"U-um... N-Nora Takayuki...?"
That was the final nail in the coffin. Mitsuba collapsed to the floor, rolling on the tatami mats in despair.
"HOW COULD THIS BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!"
He was sobbing real, actual tears. I didn't understand... I couldn't understand... I felt bad for Nora.
"E-Eh? M-Mitsuba-san?! A-are you okay?!"
"...I have so many questions..."
Yukimura dropped to his knees, slamming the floor with his fists.
"U-um... K-Kou-san and her friends... they did it."
"YOU EVEN HAVE NAIL POLISH! WHY WOULD THEY TRICK US THIS BADLY?! WHAT SICK PRANK IS THIS?! WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!"
Mitsuba crawled to his desk and buried his face in it. I mean, he had a good eye for the small details. I didn't even notice the pink nail polish on his fingernails when I gazed at Nora.
"A-ah... Hono-san said it'd look good on me... I-I kind of like it..."
"Please don't tell me, you've become a girl... you're a man... aren't you?!"
Yukimura grabbed Nora by the shoulders and shook him.
"Y-yes! I'm still a boy!"
"A man! Nora, you're a man, act like it..."
Yukimura began sobbing too, falling to the floor.
"Y-you two... is my appearance that bad, T-Takanori-kun...?"
The way Nora looked at me with those soft, glistening eyes managed to rock my heart. To a girl, this must've been the cutest boy alive.
"No. I think it suits you."
"R-really...?"
"Really. Just ignore Yukimura-san and Mitsuba-san, they're being silly."
I sat down at my seat and noticed that Nora was also reading TOP. He nodded timidly.
"Which volume are you on?"
"Umm... volume 8. Y-you also read TOP, Takanori-kun?"
"Yeah. Yukina-san does too."
"K-Kazuraba-san as well? W-wow!"
"I've read the entire series. I think volume 8's one of the weaker ones."
"I agree! The plot for this one focuses too much on the side characters... I want to see the main character progress."
Yukimura got up and staggered over to his desk. He sat down at it, putting his head down like Mitsuba.
Ayano opened the door and looked at the now peaceful classroom. However, instead of sitting at his seat like he usually does, he walked over to Nora.
"Nora-san."
I wonder what business Ayano has with Nora. I've never seen Ayano interact with anyone else in our class. He had a more mature voice than I imagined.
"Y-Yes, Ayano-san?!"
Nora panicked and closed the open book.
"Just a word of advice. You should go back to your old looks. This new one is ugly."
With those scathing words, Nora was paralysed. He couldn't utter a single word. He just sat there, looking at his lap with a broken expression.
"O-okay..."
He managed to choke up a response, nodding at Ayano's unfiltered comment. It was the first time I saw him go out of his way to insult someone. Just as Ayano was about to leave, Yukimura stormed over to him.
"Oi, Ayano. What the hell did you go and do that for?"
An ugly confrontation between Yukimura and Ayano was about to go down. Ayano, still looking apathetic to everything, answered Yukimura in a matter-of-fact way.
"It's just my opinion. Nora-san can do with it however he likes."
"Why the hell would you say it to his face though?! Sakigamiya and the other girls worked hard to make him look better! Don't say that stuff so easily to discourage him!"
It was true that Ayano didn't have to say it so harshly. Nora looked happy when I complimented his new appearance, and the way he reacted to Ayano's words, it's clear this meant a lot to him.
"Earlier, you were screaming like a pig about it. Are you sure you're one to try and morally grandstand me?"
"I was screaming because I realised it was Nora. I never said it looked bad, unlike you!"
Though, Yukimura never said it looked good either. The way he acted made Nora think it was bad, which made him ask me for reassurance.
Personally, I didn't care, since it was Nora's choice, and not mine.
"Am I no longer allowed to voice my opinion?"
"Why the hell should your opinion matter when you never say it in the first place! Suddenly, when Nora changes a little, you want to say something?! Screw you!"
That was a strong point. Due to Ayano's passiveness, he never commented on anything. It was strange that he wanted to say something regarding Nora's appearance now. Did he have an ulterior motive?
"I seldom comment on matters that I am invested in."
"So you're invested in the way how Nora looks? Oi, do you have some kind of boy crush on him or something, ha?"
"Not at all. However, I am being considerate to other students, including Nora-san himself. You should think about it."
I don't see how his opinion would benefit Nora at all. If anything, it shattered his confidence.
"Buddy, I've thought about it, and I came to the conclusion that you're a lying bastard! Who are you being considerate to, other than yourself? You're just a bully like the rest of them, aren't you?!"
"I'm trying to prevent the "bullying" you love to use as a defence so much. Simply put, if the D Class delinquents see Nora-san has become more girly, they'll use it against him. It's easy to torment and tease someone for being different."
Yukimura flinched. Ayano's argument was a solid one. With his new appearance, they would have a lot easier time making fun out of Nora.
"Well... I'll stick up for him! Just like how I'm doing now!"
"What if you're not there? What if none of Nora-san's friends are there to help him? If you want to minimise his pain, work on ways to reduce how they can target you."
"You're speaking nonsense. Nora, don't listen to this guy. You look good just the way you are."
Ayano looked away bitterly. I'm surprised he managed to think like this, considering he seems like a person similar to me. We're both quiet people who don't have much of a presence in the class, so I thought we would have similar thought processes.
However, he managed to see things I couldn't. I can't tell whether this could be an exceptional man, the type Hiden-sensei hinted about, or a person who has too much experience in these sorts of situations.
"Nora-san, just go back to how you used to look. It'll hurt less that way."
Nora looked completely zoned out from it all. He couldn't face either Yukimura or Ayano in the eye, and just nodded to both of their responses.
"Don't listen to Ayano. You look better this way, for real."
Yukimura tried to cheer up the distraught Nora. He sat by his desk, preparing to defend Nora from anyone else who dared insult him.
Ayano sat down at his seat, and Mitsuba raised his head from the desk. He also pulled his zabuton by Nora's desk and down next to him with a slightly guilty face.
"Yeah man, I like this better than your old look. It suits you."
Nora quietly went back to reading his book as Yukimura and Mitsuba did their own thing. Mitsuba finished his can of coffee, and pulled out some packs from his pockets to crack them open.
"Gacha gods, don't screw me over..."
As it was now 7am, more students began pouring into the class. Due to his makeover, Nora became the centre of everyone's attention.
"I got screwed over! Only one RRR and a RR..."
Mitsuba wept as not even these high rarity cards could satisfy him anymore. Just how much did he love shiny cards?
"Isn't that... a good thing?"
Before Mitsuba could reply to Nora's innocent question, Matsushita walked over with his blessed smile.
"Morning everyone. Nora-san, I still can't believe that's you."
Nora bashfully nodded.
"Awesome. You look great, by the way."
"T-thank you..."
If this was a BL story, Nora and Matsushita would make the perfect lead couple.
"Go away." Yukimura said.
"Ha ha, I don't plan to stick around for long, don't worry. Oh wow, Mitsuba-san, is that Mighty Bolt Dragoon?"
Matsushita noticed Mitsuba's lucky pull.
"Yeah..."
"What can I trade for it? I'd love to upgrade my Narukami deck."
"I don't do trades, my friend. I only accept cold, hard private points."
I heard that Mitsuba recently went down to 12 points somehow.
"Ah, I see. How much do you want for it, then?"
Despite being a sleazy businessman, Matsushita was ready to accept Mitsuba's deal.
"3000 points."
That was a quick decision... Matsushita looked a bit hesistant, but checked his phone.
"Hmm... okay."
Even Yukimura was surprised Matsushita was ready to accept that hefty price for one card. I could understand, since not even I had Mighty Bolt Dragoon in my deck.
"Seriously?! Transfer the points, you can have the card!!"
Mitsuba forced the card into Matsushita's hand. Matsushita laughed and transferred the points over.
"Thank you! Thank you so much, Matsushita-san!"
"No problem. Thanks for the card."
As Matsushita left, Mitsuba was ecstatic for getting a payday despite E Class having 0 Cl. Yukimura punched him in the arm.
"Ow! What was that for?!"
"Grr..."
"Yeesh, business is business. I don't care who the customer is as long as I get points. Don't worry bro, ikemen like him will someday fall. Their glory days will be over when the true ikemen, Mitsuba-sama, comes to steal their girls!"
Please don't remind me of that dark time he tried to seduce Nora.
"Whatever, man."
Yukimura really didn't like Matsushita for some reason. Despite having most of the boys in the group chat, Yukimura didn't include Matsushita.
"Yo, is that Cinderella?!"
Kawaguchi ran towards us. Nora waved at him slightly and Kawaguchi grinned.
"Hey, nice to meet ya!"
"You don't have to introduce yourself. Cinderella is Nora."
When Yukimura said that, Kawaguchi blinked, and his mouth dropped open.
"...seriously?!"
"Totally serious."
"Wow, that's... insane! Sakigamiya-san and the others are scarily good at this..."
"U-um... does it look bad?"
Nora reached out for Kawaguchi's opinion. Kawaguchi laughed, putting a hand on his hip.
"Why would you ask that? As long as you like it, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, right?"
"W-well..."
As Nora fiddled with his fingers, Yukimura sent a dirty look at Ayano's direction.
"That bastard Ayano had the balls to say it looked bad on Nora."
"Eh? Ayano-san actually spoke for once? Then it means your new look is definitely worth something."
"What kind of twisted logic is this, Kawaguchi?"
Yukimura looked irritated. Mitsuba went on his phone, drooling over the increased number of private points in his account.
"Well, if you got a quiet guy like him to talk about your appearance, then it's like... a good thing, isn't it?"
Kawaguchi scratched his cheek, unable to convey his point properly. I think what he meant was Nora's transformation was so surprising and out of nowhere, it got even passive people like Ayano to talk about it, so Nora should take pride in his appearance.
"I dunno, Ayano's opinion just wrecked his confidence instead."
Yukimura said it intentionally loud so Ayano, who was on the other side of the class, could hear it. Ayano ignored Yukimura's obvious taunt and continued to write in his notebook. Matsushita looked over to us, wondering what was going on between his classmates.
"Is everything okay between you two?"
"Matsushita, shut up and stay out of this. This ain't your business."
Yukimura sharply cut Matsushita off. Kawaguchi, who noticed Yukimura's bad mood, decided to withdraw. He didn't want to add to the cinders in Yukimura's heart it seems.
As Kawaguchi went to his seat, he fist-bumped Akihiro who had just entered the class. Akihiro saw our weird group, and smirked.
"Oh, you guys found the mystery girl."
"The mystery girl is a boy, Nora."
Yukimura quickly told Akihiro the truth. Akihiro's expression didn't change much, he was still smirking.
"Nora? For real?"
"Y-yes... umm... d-does it look bad?"
It seems Nora was adamant on asking everyone this. Although, his lack of confidence meant he asked the question quietly.
"It's gonna take some getting used to, at least. I guess it suits you better than before though."
Akihiro's words could've been interpreted as saying he preferred the old Nora. However, he quickly back-pedalled and said it suited him. It was contradictory.
"O-okay... thank you."
It seems Yukimura noticed Akihiro's strange opinion, as his fist tightened.
"Oi, Ishima. Today at football practice, you better not mess up. If you do, I'm gonna hurt you."
It was a silent threat for trying to discourage Nora, framed in a way that it related to their own personal matters. Yukimura and Akihiro were both on the football team, but played contrasting positions.
Yukimura was a striker, while Akihiro was a defender. Yukimura looked down on defenders, but their relationship in the football club seemed to have eased slightly since the school revelation. From E Class, Yukimura, Akihiro and Matsushita were the only people in the club, and I've seen students get removed from clubs due to their E Class status.
For example, it became public knowledge that Sakigamiya was removed from her club, the tennis club, for being an E Class student. She didn't mind too much since she wasn't a regular member, but it was ruthless in this school. It was lucky that those three were able to stay in the football club despite their status.
Seeing as Yukimura hated Matsushita, he only had Akihiro to rely on, to survive in a club that would try and do everything to ruin them. Not to mention, Yukimura wasn't popular among the boys due to his violent and angry nature. At the very least, Akihiro had protection from A Class due to his sister.
"Don't worry man, I've been practicing in my spare time some more."
"I swear, you're just like Mitsuba sometimes."
Yukimura huffed, venting his frustration at both of their obsession with Vanguard. Even now, Akihiro was more interested in what cards were pulled from Mitsuba's pack than Nora's appearance.
"See ya guys during break."
After finishing his discussion with Mitsuba, Akihiro went to his seat to play on his phone. Yukimura let out a low scowl, before his eyes flared with anger.
Approaching us now we're the gyaru of E Class, Fujimura Shouko and Suzuki Mayuri. However, unlike harassing us like they usually do, they seemed stricken over Nora's new appearance.
"Mayuri-chan, look, look! Nora-san's become so cute!"
Fujimura was the first to make her move. She shoved Mitsuba to the side and grabbed Nora by the shoulders. Facing him, she smiled widely, looking genuinely happy.
"I can't believe I've never noticed until now! We definitely need to go out today together!"
These words seemed ironic considering she once forced Nora to give her points. She threatened and harassed him until he paid up, just like me. Now that he looked differently, she wanted to be friends with him instead.
Even though she was a gyaru, it seems Fujimura loved cute boys. Suzuki just stood around, looking disinterested at everything.
"U-um, F-Fujimura-san?!"
"Cafe Yuzu's fine, right?"
"Oi, Fujimura, get your slutty hands off him."
Yukimura jumped in, slapping Fujimura's hand away. Mitsuba looked agitated that Fujimura had just moved him aside like he was garbage.
"Ow! You didn't have to hit me, Bakamura."
"Nora, don't bother with a bitch like her, she's just trying to humiliate you."
Yukimura and Fujimura hated each other. I heard that Fujimura made Yukimura so angry once, he tried to violently beat her.
"Ignore that idiot. Is today good with you? Me, you and Mayuri-chan. What do you say?"
"I-I... Umm..."
Nora was caught way off-guard by Fujimura's sudden proposal. Despite her terrible personality, Fujimura was honestly quite attractive and popular. Being friends with her would definitely climb Nora up the social ladder.
"Yeah, it'd be fun! I'll pay for the drinks, so you don't have to worry about it."
Suzuki tried to coerce Nora into it, even offering to cover for him. I think I'm learning that, just by changing their appearance slightly, someone can dramatically shift someone's perception of then.
Under this intense pressure, Nora didn't know how to respond. He just looked shocked, and maybe even a little afraid. Yukimura hit the table, and grabbed Fujimura by the collar.
"Ew! Get off me, you pig!"
Fujimura grabbed Yukimura's wrist. Although, despite her attempts to stand strong, her legs were shaking.
"Leave Nora fucking alone. You're pissing him off."
"He doesn't look angry. If anything, you're the angry one, Bakamura. Are you still upset over the time Mayuri-chan tripped you up in the hallway?"
Fujimura had reverted to her mean gyaru personality the moment Yukimura got confrontational with her. She giggled, teasing Yukimura over an embarrassing moment.
"You know what you're doing, you bitch. Once you get Nora wrapped around your finger, you're just going to use him like a slave!"
"Ew, why would I do that? That's gross, you weird pervert."
"That's what you did with Tanaka, didn't you?"
"No, Tanaka chose to help me out since he was a desperate, dirty, fat piggy. Though, he quickly changed his mind and ran away to you, didn't he? I didn't like him anyways, so like, you can keep that gross otaku pig."
Yukimura raised his hand, ready to slap Fujimura. Before he could bring swift judgment to her face, Fujimura screamed in real terror. I couldn't tell if she was acting or not.
"Yukimura's trying to hit me!!"
"YOU'RE ASKING FOR IT, YOU BITCH!"
As Yukimura's hand came down, Matsushita leapt from his seat and grabbed Yukimura by the wrist.
"What the hell are you doing, Matsushita?!"
Yukimura let go of Fujimura's collar as Matsushita held Yukimura back. Fujimura scrambled, hiding behind Matsushita, trembling.
"Yukimura-san, let's not use violence. What happened?"
"M-Matsushita-kun! Yukimura tried to hit me because I asked Nora-san to play with me..."
Obviously, since Fujimura was a popular girl, she had a good relationship with the most popular boy in class.
"Liar! You had ulterior motives, I can tell!"
"She just wanted to spend time with her classmates, jeez. Why are you so overprotective of Nora-san? Just let him make his own choices."
Suzuki came in to defend her friend. Personally, I wanted to retreat from the situation really badly, and Nora probably felt the same.
"Ugh, I can't believe I'm saying this, but Matsushita, you know how these gyaru are! They treat others they don't like as dirt!"
"I like Nora-san, so of course I'd be friendly with him. I don't like you, though."
Fujimura's response was flimsy. There were multiple instances where she and Yamaguchi collaborated together in order to bully Nora. She was only nice to him today because he changed his looks.
Yukimura wasn't ready to respond calmly, instead, he still wanted to lash out at Fujimura.
"In the first place Yukimura-san, you shouldn't be hitting anyone."
Matsushita firmly told him that while holding onto his wrist.
"Let go of me you—!"
Yukimura got out of Matsushita's grip and went to punch him.
"S-stop!!"
Nora shouted from the bottom of his lungs, holding his head.
"Just... stop..."
Yukimura froze, looking at Nora's distraught face that was stained with tears.
"Oh, look at that. You made him cry, Bakamura. Good job."
Fujimura decided to throw in one last jab.
"C'mon Mayuri-chan, let's go, this isn't worth it anymore. Nora-san, we'll be waiting at Cafe Yuzu for you after school."
She blew him a kiss and the two girls went to take their seats. Matsushita sighed, before receiving a blow to the arm from Yukimura. Matsushita flinched, rubbing his arm in pain.
"Y-Yukimura-san, are you-"
"Die quietly for me, would you?"
Yukimura, who couldn't face Nora anymore, got up and left to go sit at his seat. Matsushita took out a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to the crying Nora.
Mitsuba got up from his seat and wandered over to Yukimura, talking to him. Sakigamiya and her troupe rushed over to the crying Nora.
"Isogai-san, what happened?!"
Sakigamiya looked at Nora with a worried expression.
"I'm not sure what happened to get him so emotional, but I think it might have to do with either Yukimura-san or Fujimura-san."
"Good morning, Yuu-kun."
Yukina was there too, shooting me a greeting. I was surprised by this and tried to respond properly.
"You... too."
Once again, I failed to socialise with her by giving a stiff response. She was also concerned about Nora, it seems.
Nora was wiping away his tears with the handkerchief while everyone was trying to console him.
"I think we should give him some space... crowding around like this won't help him."
Sakigamiya suggested that, and the girls agreed.
"I hope you feel better, Nora-chan."
"Don't let this stuff get you down."
"You'll be alright."
As they began to leave him alone, Yukina and Katsumi lingered.
"Takayuki-kun... do you wanna talk about it later?"
Nora nodded at Katsumi's offer. As she went to her seat, Yukina moved in, sitting down beside him.
"It'll be okay, Nora-san. I haven't been able to tell you yet, but I like your makeover. Alice-san and the others must've worked hard to make you look this good."
As she complimented him, I started to look away.
Even though it didn't involve me, it felt like my chest was being shoved around. I tried to ignore what was happening in front of my eyes, but my morbid curiosity kept me looking back and forth.
"There, there... you don't have to cry anymore. You'll be okay."
Yukina reached out and patted Nora's head while his tears dried up. His cheeks were turning warm as Yukina calmed him down. Sakigamiya and Katsumi were watching, smiling at her kind actions.
"Do you want a hug to feel better?"
I needed to go to the toilet, so I left the classroom. On my way there, I passed Chabashira-sensei in the hallways.
"Takanori-san, you should be heading to class. Homeroom is about to start soon."
I looked at her briefly, and she raised her eyebrows.
"I need to go the toilet, sensei."
"Then be quick."
I nodded and sped-walk to the toilets, which were the furthest away from E Class.