Editing Kamisu Reina:Volume 2 Yukimi Mitsui (section)

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Sakura Kawai acted faster than expected—two days after our confrontation, there were only enemies around me.

Thrown into the slicing and piercing machinery that is our classroom during lunch break, only wearing standard clothes instead of an armor or a shield, I keep showering blows from all sides.

People are strong in groups. Naturally.

In reality, there are very few people who can defend themselves like heroes who swipe away hostile troops on the TV. <!-- Super Sentai reference gone lost --> If the attacks are not of physical but of mental nature, however, then there is nothing you can do about it. You have to swallow the collective attacks.

Exclusion, blatant slander, mockery, dirty looks... much more than it is sly bullying, you might say that there is a law here that works toward excluding me; as a consequence of everyone denying me, the place is filled with a mood that stimulates further denial and that keeps tormenting me. Children and girls tend to be very sensitive to such peer pressure, and what I fear most is that I end up being led into denying myself by that air.

That is the law that Sakura Kawai has set in the Junseiwa School.

I keep being cut into pieces on the chopping board.

<i>Chop, chop, chop.</i>

Until yesterday, I would have probably already given up fighting back and instead decided to live with it.

However—

I look at Kamisu-san. Noticing my glance, she <u>smiles at me</u>.

<u>She's my ally</u>. An ally <u>who does absolutely not reach out to me.</u>

I do have a goal now. A strong aim is barely holding me together like glue, keeping me from breaking into pieces.

It's time to carry out—my experiment.


People are strong in groups.

However, that is a result of the group being strong as a whole. It doesn't imply that the individual members are strong. Therefore, not all members are as strong as Sakura Kawai when they are not with the rest of their group.

I'm a sheep. I'm the prey, not the wolf. But as long as we're among sheep, it should be possible even for me to attack other weak sheep who strayed from the pack.

"Haha..."

I may be only armed with a rusty paper knife that can't even cut paper anymore, but it still acts as a good weapon against a sheep that is completely unarmed.

I enter the corridor. "Isn't she creepy?" an underclassman says with her finger pointed at me. Her friends agree. Ah, I think I've seen her before. She's a member of the student council, which has degenerated to Reina Kamisu's personal protection force. I think her name was "Fuyuki"?

All right. I found my sheep.



"Hey you, you are making fun of me, aren't you?"

I press the sheep against the wall of the restroom. The lunch break is already over and classes have started. However, there are only special purpose rooms in the vicinity of this restroom, and these are all empty right now.

"W-What do you want from me?! Stop it please!"

As expected: she's not a predator but prey.

She's trying to appear firm because it's me, but alas, her eyes are giving away that she's scared and only add fuel to my urge to trouble her.

I'm good at finding this kind of person. After all, I'm talking with Yoshino every day.

"Is it fun mocking me before my eyes?"

"Stop it...! Let go of me!" she shouts, struggling with a pale face to break free instead of replying. Her resistance is weak, however, because she fears to anger me. "I-If you do me any harm, y-you will be treated even wor—"

Ah, look, this is a characteristic for prey: they immediately rely on others. They don't even try to find a solution by themselves.

"I don't care. Attacking me some more or some less won't make a difference."

But I crush her hope right away.

"D-Don't put on airs—EEK!"

I slap her face. It didn't put in much strength; there's no way she could get hurt by my rusty paper knife.

However, the fact that <i>I used actual violence</i> finished her off.

"How about an apology first?"

The ashen sheep nods pathetically and repeats, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Now she can't defy me anymore. That was easier than I thought.

"Look, I don't mean to hurt you or to vent of my anger on you."

Fuyuki-san nods repeatedly, although I don't know if she's really listening.

"In fact, I'm actually trying to make your dream come true."

"...my...dream?" she asks confusedly.

"Yes. You're in the student council, right?"

"...Y-Yes... I'm the secretary."

"But in truth, the student council is just the fan club of Reina Kamisu, isn't it? Sakura Kawai being the prime example."

Fuyuki-san moves her head in an awkward way that could be taken both as nodding and as shaking.

"Don't dare deny it!"

"Y-Yes... it is true that we all have great respect for Reina-san..."

Hmph, I sneer and grab her chin. A short shriek escapes her lips because of the sudden touch, proving that she's even more scared.

"And so do you, right?"

"Y-Yes..."

My mouth distorts to a grin.

"If that's the case, then you surely wish for her to be all yours, right?"

Her eyes open widely.

"What? Why do you react like this?!"

"U-Um... I'm not seeing Reina-san in that light... like, I don't want her to be my lover or anything, you know..."

I think I know what Fuyuki-san is getting at. Reina Kamisu is far, far beyond anyone's reach and seems to be impossible to capture. She's just too grand to be deal with as a common person. Even if, purely hypothetically, someone were to win her heart, the law of exclusion would work even harder against that person than it does work against me. That person would be constantly attacked by everyone; and maybe even driven into death.

That's how hard it is to "capture" Reina Kamisu.

Besides, Reina Kamisu is not someone to make a relationship with, but someone to admire; one might be inclined to keep her near oneself for that purpose, but considering the effort required to maintain that state, it is much better to watch her from afar. Likewise, it's much better to watch elephants in a zoo rather than trying to keep it as a pet in a small house.

So, I'm sure Fuyuki-san is being honest with me. However—

"You. Surely. Wish. For. Her. To. Be. All. Yours. Right?"

—I don't care.

I press her chin a bit harder as I repeat my question word by word, all the while scowling right in her eyes.

"—Uh..."

She clearly thinks otherwise, but I've threatened her enough to keep her from disagreeing with me.

"You can't tell me that you have no such desire <i>whatsoever</i>?"

"—Uuh..."

Right. Somewhere, Fuyuki-san, too, <u>feels the desire to keep Reina Kamisu near her.</u>

People like Fuyuki-san, who were pampered all through their lives, tend to be very bad at telling lies. As a result, she has trouble denying my claim that has a grain of truth in it, all the more because she's scared on top of that.

"Hehe... I'll help you," I say with a distorted smile as I let go of her chin.

"...Help me with what...?" she asks anxiously.

"Hm? Isn't it obvious?"

I clearly state my intent.

"—With your love confession."

I'm very sorry, but you can emit as much despair as you want, I'm not going to change my plans.

But I know for certain that you won't escape. Not because you're so scared of me. You've been <i>craving</i> for this, haven't you?  For an excuse to confess your love to Reina Kamisu; for a permit that frees you of all blame in the improbable case that you win her over.

—For that bewitching masterpiece that is going to ruin you.



After school, I asked Kamisu-san to follow me to the back of the gym, which is the—admittedly cliched—place I'd chosen for the confession to take place. While I was talking with her, the other girls around her kept frowning at me with blatant hostility.

Needless to say, their hostile attitude hurt me, but fortunately, my goal is of much higher importance to me right now, so I don't have time to think about the pain... but I'm sure that this scratch is going to open once I'm back home, turning into a gaping wound.

Kamisu-san's surroundings urged her not to listen to the request of someone they had deemed a dangerous person, but she adhered to her promise of being my ally (for now), and followed me.

Perfect, looks like I can conduct my experiment.


"Mitsui-san?" Kamisu-san asks as we walk. "Is it that you want to come back to our conversation the day before yesterday?"

"...No, that's not it."

"I see... I thought that you wanted to consult me about a way to improve the situation."

"Would we find a solution? After all, there's no bullying or violence. I'm just being hated by everyone. Even if the situation improved superficially, the actual hostility wouldn't disappear."

"Do you think so? I am convinced that this artificial hate would disappear with time once we took care of the problem on a superficial level. After all, it is just the peer pressure that is influencing them."

"..."

She has a point. Most likely, those superficial feelings wouldn't persist long when the general mood changed.

...But then again, is their hatred against me superficial? Isn't it possible that I have made myself those enemies before this incident and was only left alone because their hostility hasn't been united? Judging from the speed at which they assembled, they must have taken issue with me outside the incident with Sakura Kawai.

"Besides—" Kamisu-san continues, seeing that I'm at a loss for words.


"—I can take care of their hostility deep down, too."


That she says with stunning ease; and it's nothing but a truth.

She <i>does</i> have the power to do just that.

Actually, I wanted to discuss this matter some more, but we reached the back of the gym where Fuyuki-san is already waiting. On noticing her, Kamisu-san gives me a brief look. She remains silent, but I'm sure she has grasped the situation.

I scowl at Fuyuki-san so that she won't give in to her nervousness and escape. Kamisu-san seems to have noticed, but she doesn't say anything—<u>as I expected</u>.

"Sorry for... calling you out to such a place," Fuyuki-san says reluctantly.

"No, I do not mind at all," Kamisu-san replies in a casual manner. Apparently, they know each other pretty well, since she's a member of the student council.

"Um... Reina-san."

"Yes?" Kamisu-san asks with a friendly voice and expression.

After much wavering and hesitating Fuyuki-san then eventually said:



".........I love you."



She must have drafted a much longer confession than that—with adornments and pretty clauses, with reasons and excuses; her head must have been full of them—but in the end, those were the only words she could muster in the face of Kamisu-san.

"...I love you," she repeats.

Those are words of courage, of sincerity. No matter if it was a forced confession or not, the underlying feelings are real.

In response to that—

"Thank you, but I am sorry..."

—Kamisu-san <u>smiled sadly</u>.

"Gh..." Fuyuki-san groans as she drops her gaze. "...Thank you...for your time..." she mutters in a hardly audible voice and ran off without raising her face once.

Out of the corner of my eye, I observe Kamisu-san looking after her.

—<u>It's just as I thought.</u>

"Mitsui-san?" she says after directing her eyes at me.

"...Yes?"

"Why did you force her to confess to me?"

"Ah, you noticed?"

"That I did," she says. "Fuyuki-san is... not someone who would confess of her own."

"I only gave her a little push because she didn't seem to have the courage!"

"What is it that you wanted to observe about me, taking advantage of her?"

That's Reina Kamisu for you; she can easily see through all my intentions. Hahaha.

"Also—"


"—Why are you looking at me like this?"


Right, you also noticed <i>that</i>, didn't you?

"Well, you said that you stayed on my side, didn't you?"

"I did, yes."

"Even if I look at you in this manner?"

"...Yes."

"That's what I wanted to hear. You know, I noticed something when you promised to stay on my side. And just now I confirmed my assumption through a little experiment."


"Reina Kamisu, you <u>do not have a soul.</u>"


Even after I said so, her expression hardly changed. Probably—<u>because she did not know how to.</u>

"...No soul? What do you mean?" she asks.

"Oh come on... Kamisu-san, you're just a pretty shell without any content inside. You can't react in a differentiated manner to our behavior."

Reina Kamisu puts on a wry <u>smile</u>.

"It's true that I forced Fuyuki-san to confess to you, but her feelings for you are without a doubt real," I explain.

"Yes, I know."

"But you shooed her away."

"Shooed her away? Indeed, I was sadly unable to give her my consent, but I think I have replied to her sincerely. Or do you think that I should have beaten around the bush and told her a sweet lie instead, Mitsui-san?"

"No, that's not what I mean."

"What do you mean, then?"

"Looks like you really don't understand. Alright, listen, Fuyuki-san was serious. Do you have the slightest qualms for turning down her honest feelings for you?" I ask.

"I do."

"On the surface, that is, right? After all, your sad expression vanished into thin air the moment she left."

Kamisu-san remains silent, probably feeling forced to acknowledge my point.

"You only managed to bear feelings for a heartfelt confession at the moment when it occurred. The very instant you looked at me, your interest in Fuyuki-san died out!"

"You are over-interpreting things... no?"

"Over-interpreting, you say? No, not at all. You <i>couldn't care less</i> about others. Whether I hate you or not, whether Fuyuki-san and Sakura Kawai idolize you or not, you simply do not care. Right? Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to treat everyone as equals."

"...I never intended to treat everyone equally to begin with."

"That's a flat out lie. You're perfect. <i>Everyone</i> will react the same when they see you: admiring your beauty and deeming you perfect. That's how everyone views you."

"You are exaggerating!"

"Oh, don't give me <i>that</i>. You're prefect, absolutely perfect, and in order to maintain that state, you abandoned your content; your soul. You realized that it's the soul that makes us all decompose physically and mentally! You do not deeply socialize with anyone, and if someone gives in to the temptation and comes too close to you, you bite them and corrode them with the perfectness that is you, propagating it in the process. That's how you maintain your state of perfectness."

"...You seem to have lost touch with reality, Mitsui-san... I admit that I might have a certain tendency to lack interest in other people, but that is all there is to it."

"No."

"Mitsui-san..."

"I mean, just look at all the power you have gained already. Who else apart from me at this school is <i>not</i> your subordinate?" I ask.

"That is exactly what I meant by 'over-interpreting.' Or do you perhaps think that every single student at this school would obey if I told them to commit suicide?"

"They would."

"..."

Even Kamisu-san is left speechless in front of my straight answer; but surely not because she thinks I'm crazy, but because she doesn't know how to counter my argument.

After all, someone like Sakura Kawai would readily follow an order as simple as 'commit suicide,' and Kamisu-san is aware of that.

"I don't know what you plan to do at this school—maybe nothing at all—but I just want you to know that I realized that you're not normal. You're irregular. And you're aware of that more than anyone else. Yes—"


"—You can't be human."