Chapter 41: The Cruelty of Love

Chapter 41: Chapter 41: The Cruelty of Love

Shion’s monologue, POV

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"...." Nanami remained quiet, it was getting harder to read her at this point.

"You think you’ve figured me out," Nanami murmured, her light brown eye looking straight at me.

"But you’re risking a lot by making an enemy out of me up here, Shion. If I tell Junpai you attacked my character, the friction will fracture your little club. "

"You sure you want to risk that?"

"....." I didn’t replied but listened.

"Oota will have to choose a side. Are you sure your social standing can handle that?" She immediately added noticing my sudden silence.

I chuckled a little, i was trying to hold it for a while.

"You can try," i said softly.

"But you won’t. Because to play that card, you’d have to admit to Junpai that we had this conversation."

"You’d have to explain why I suspected you. And the moment they look at the discrepancies in your story, your entire carefully constructed social profile at this school collapses."

"You won’t be able to keep deceiving us any longer"

"Now I should be the one to ask you...are you sure you want to risk that?"

Nanami opened her mouth to reply, to find a logical counter, but the words stalled in her throat. She must have came to a realization and stop midway.

The silence returned to the pod, but it was no longer comfortable.

Nanami leaned back against the glass, her posture not losing its rigid perfection, her eyes tracking the slow descent of the wheel back toward the platform.

She looked out at the boys waiting by the fountain below.

"Enjoy the rest of the ride," i said, my voice returning to a casual, pleasant tone as i leaned back, looking out the window as if nothing had happened.

"We have a movie to catch later, after all."

The Ferris wheel pod began its steady, mechanical descent, the concrete plaza below growing larger by the second.

I glanced down at the fountain where Junpai, Aki, and Oota were waiting. Then, my eyes shifted back to Nanami.

The girl in question was still leaning back against the glass, her posture tense, her fingers tightly interlaced. Nanami had lost her cool, but she was still trying to maintain a composed facade before the doors opened.

She will still act like nothing happened the moment we step out...

If she goes back to the group and plays the victim or subtly distances herself....

I’m not letting this fake get close to my Oota...

I carefully subtly reached for the strap of my own shoulder bag.

"You know, Nanami-senpai," i said, my voice dropping into a quiet, deliberate whisper that caught Nanami’s attention.

"Sorry"

Nanami frowned, her eyes narrowing. "What are you talking about?"

With a sudden, violent movement, i gripped the collar of my own pastel sweater and pulled, intentionally snapping a decorative button that rolled across the floor. In the same fluid motion, i threw my own shoulder bag against the steel door of the pod, letting the contents spill out across the bench cosmetics, keys, and coins scattering loudly.

"Stop it...what are you doing?!" Nanami gasped, instinctively leaning away, her hands rising defensively.

I didn’t answer. I grabbed my own wrist, squeezing hard enough to leave a sharp, red mark on my pale skin, another om the same spot for realism. Then, i aggressively ran a hand through my pigtails, intentionally disrupting my perfectly styled hair so it fell wildly around my face.

This was necessary.

The pod gave a slight shudder as it finally locked into the lower docking station. The mechanical release valve hissed. The heavy steel door began to slide open.

The bright sunlight flooded the cabin, along with the immediate sound of Junpai’s excited voice. "Hey! How was the view from up-"

Junpai’s words died in his throat.

I stumbled backward out of the pod, my breath coming in short, erratic gasps. I kept my head lowered, my shoulders trembling violently as i clutched my snapped collar.

My hair was completely disheveled, and i deliberately held my reddened wrist close to my chest while gently hiding the red bruises.

To anyone standing on the platform, i looked like a girl who had just been cornered, grabbed, and physically shoved in a tight space.

"Shion?!" Oota blurted out, stepping forward instantly, his easygoing demeanor vanishing as his eyes locked onto my disheveled state.

"What happened?!" Aki demanded, his muscular frame tensing as he looked past me and straight into the pod.

Inside the cabin, Nanami stood frozen, her hands still raised in shock, her face pale.

The setting was completely damning, my belongings were scattered at Nanami’s feet, a button was rolled near her shoe, and Nanami looked entirely panicked.

She must not have been expecting me to be so direct with it.

Life is cruel isn’t it?

But you deserve this, slut.

You brought this upon yourself.

He’s mine, my everything. I won’t share.

"I-I’m sorry..." I choked out, my voice a perfect blend of fear and embarrassment, i darted past Junpai, burying my face against my sleeve as i moved away from the platform.

"It’s nothing... just... don’t worry about it."

"Nanami..." Junpai’s voice trembled, but this time it wasn’t from romance. It was pure, unadulterated confusion and heartbreak.

He looked at his date, the perfect upperclassman he had idolized all morning, now standing over the ruined remnants of my things.

"Did you... did you do this?" He asked.

"No!" Nanami answered, her voice dropping to a slightly desperate tone though was still calm.

"She did it to herself"

"It must be a misunderstanding, She’s lying!" Nanami defended herself sharply, stepping out of the pod. But the baseline of her voice was frantic, stripped of its effortless grace.

She shouldn’t be able to say anything to point me since will involve our previous conversation.

To the boys, it sounded like a guilty suspect panicking under scrutiny.

Anyone in her position would feel betrayed, I’m sorry.

The tension on the concrete platform was thick, punctuated only by the distant, mechanical clank of the Ferris wheel gears and the rushing sound of the nearby fountain.

I kept her head lowered, a few tears spilling over my cheeks as i held my marked wrist tight against my pastel sweater. My shoulders shaking with a delicate, fragile cadence.

It would seem that this immediately triggered the protective instincts of everyone around me as they began to react accordingly to what I had be expecting.

"Shion," Oota said, his voice dropping into a low, worried register as he took a half-step closer. "Talk to us. What happened up there?"

I couldn’t lie to anyone in situations like this. The Lex Veritas Protocol indicator and rules were a problem to deceptions.

I swallowed hard, looking up just enough for my tear-streaked eyes to meet Junpai’s completely shattered expression.

"I... I didn’t want to say anything at first," i choked out, my voice trembling with a heavy, emotional vulnerability.

"But I saw how much effort Junpai-senpai was putting into today."

"I noticed how Nanami-senpai was looking away whenever you wasn’t paying attention. I felt so bad for you... I just talk to her, to comfront her and ask if something was wrong."

"But..." I paused for a moment before continuing.

"But when I told her I knew she was going to hurt him... she just went aggressive. ’My’ arm grabbed tighly and shoved me away."

Mataguchi’s eyes shifted to me for a moment, I don’t know if he noticed the misconception in my wording.

"That is....." Nanami retorted, her voice tightening as she stepped fully out of the pod. The flawless, graceful mask she had worn all morning was completely gone, replaced by the sharp, defensive panic of someone who realized the terrain had completely shifted beneath her feet.

She wasn’t ugly like I expected her to be, but remain attractive just frustrated.

It was strange, I finding her expression attracting. I must be broken in more ways than one apparently.

"Junpai, look i...." she tried explaining but it was useless seeing all the eyes infront of her and the sudden crowd of people eavesdropping as they walked passed us.

For the second time, It must had been embarrassing in position.

Junpai looked between us, his chest heaving, caught in a agonizing deadlock of confusion. He knew I wasn’t lying, well not entirely on the surface since the camera’s and system haven’t flagged me.

He was constantly reading my expression and behavior patterns to find the truth.

People stared at the commotion, some whispering among theirselves, questioning what was happening.

Even for me it starting to get overwhelming and embarrassing.

"I knew you wouldn’t believe me," I whispered softly, my hand trembling as i reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. The file name Voice000002025.

The record had stopped a while back, it was time to put it to use.

"So I kept my voice recorder running when the conversation started getting strange. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t crazy."

"So you just so happened to have a record running at that time?" Inosuki asked. His eyes staring at me, he was finding it difficult to believe.

"I-I know it’s sounds stupid. I knew she wasn’t interested in Junpai but kept it to myself. I was worried"

"If I had to tell Junpai later about the situation, to save him. Would he believe me if i had no proof?"

"I didn’t want to be the one to get in the way of their relationship, I swear I wasn’t thinking of it like" i added sounding more desperate as more tear fell from my eyes. It was a trouble scene to watch. I was like a child.

"You guys should stop!" Aki said trying to protect me. Someone finally reacted.

"I’m sorry..... I didn’t mean it like that" Inosuki replied his tone saddened.

Oota bent down near me, and hugged me. He was trying to comfort me.

I slowly calm down and regain a bit of my composure. It was silence for the rest as they watched Oota pat me.

I know it was strange but for a moment I felt jealous from Nanami eyes which were gazing at Oota not me.

Why?

"S-so the record, I need to hear the record...." Junpai muttered, his voice broken and strained.

"Please.." He muttered going silent.

I pull away from Oota slowly and tapped on the screen of my phone. The file Voice000002025 starts to play.

The speaker crackled with a slight hiss of wind resistance from inside the glass cabin, but the voices were unmistakably clear.

"The trial was just a way to get close without actually being attached... cause you don’t feel anything."

"Even if that were true, social accommodation isn’t a crime. It keeps people happy. Junpai is enjoying himself. Why ruin his illusion?"

The audio cut off with a sharp click. It was short but it was all I needed.

Junpai mind already had guilt from Inosuki last interference.

I feel sorry about it but I couldn’t stop either.

The silence that followed was absolute.

Junpai staggered back a step, his face draining of all color. The pop-culture facts, the polished denim jacket, the frantic adrenaline of the morning all of it collapsed inward. He looked at Nanami, not with anger, but with a profound, quiet heartbroke expression. His eyes widened completely while his mouth opened slightly from shock.

"An illusion..." Junpai muttered, his voice barely audible over the distant park music.

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"Love is not primarily a feeling to a specific person; it is an attitude, an orientation of character."

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