Since he still had that mission ‘Help Masao regain back his confidence’ pending, Hiro couldn’t help but wonder about the reason behind the absence of Masao. Curious about Masao’s absence, Hiro then asked Rin about Masao.
“Do you know anything about Masao?” Asked Hiro while turning his gaze towards Masao’s empty seat.
As if Masao was an invisible person, almost nobody in his class cared even a little about his absence.
In the back seat, Masato and his gangs were acting as if nothing had happened. Chatting and joking, they all had big wide smile on their faces.
“I don’t know much but I’m sure Masato and his gangs knows about it.” Spoke Rin while striking his chin.
“I heard that fox face Kitsu talking about Masao in the restroom about few days ago.” Continued Rin while looking at one of the guy in the back.
“But they’ll probably ignore us if we ask them.” Spoke Hiro sounding somewhat disappointed.
“Ahh right!! I heard that there are also other students from Himawari Elementary School in our school. If you’re that curious then we can ask them as well. But why are you so curious about him?” Continued Rin.
‘So he studied in Himawari Elementary School.’ Thought Hiro after hearing the name of the school which Masao studied before.
“Since he’s our classmate, we should at least try to find out the reason behind his absence. Don’t you think so?” Spoke Hiro sounding somewhat concerned about Masao.
His eyes sparkling and his voice sounding excited, Rin spoke while staring at Hiro, “I never knew that you were this considerate Hiro.”
‘Although I am concerned about him. But I’m simply asking about him because of the mission.’ Thought Hiro while trying to avoid locking eyes with Rin.
Talking such,they continued their conversation until the start of the class. And only when the homeroom teacher entered the classroom, they stopped their conversation.
**** ****
During the lunch break, Hiro and Rin went to other sections to talk to the students who were familiar with Masao’s past.
Although Shun and the other guys did come to his class to fetch him, he declined their invitation to find out about Masao that day. Since he couldn’t stay at the school after the end of the school and had to head to the hostel right after the school, lunch break was the only free time he got during his time at the school.
“Is there anyone from this class who studied in Himawari Elementary School?” Shouted Rin while standing at the door of the class 7-D. 𝙚𝙙𝙣𝒐𝙫𝙚𝙡.𝙤𝙧𝒈
A fair-skinned meek looking guy with glasses, rose his hands above his head, meekly.
“Perfect!!” Rin spoke to himself and waved his hands while gesturing Hiro who was waiting outside the classroom, to enter the classroom with him.
Since a lot of students in the classroom had gone outside to eat their lunches, there weren’t much students in the classroom at that moment.
“Isn’t he that guy who plays football really well?”
“Yeah!! He’s that same guy who plays football with the seniors.”
“Looking up close he indeed looks damn handsome.”
“I heard that even Minami the school goddess is chasing him.” The students in class 7-D started to gossip as he entered the classroom.
Since all of the girls in that classroom had gone to the football ground to watch him play football, only some boys were present at the classroom at that moment.
“Can we talk for a while?” Questioned Rin after walking close to the guy with the glasses.
The guy with the glasses nodded his head.
Rin then shook his head around to see if anyone was spying on him. He then cautiously leaned closer to the guy with the glasses and whispered in his ear, “You said that you studied at Himawari Elementary School. So do you happen to know anything about Masao? Masao Kurimoto, the chubby guy?”
Listening to Rin’s questions, the guy hesitated to answer anything.
Noticing the hesitancy of the guy with the glasses, Hiro couldn’t hold back himself. Thus he then while frowning his brows, asked the guy with the glasses, “Look we’re his friends. And he hasn’t come to school for almost about a week now. So we’re only worried about him.”
Noticing Hiro’s expression, the guy then finally opened his mouth, “Even back then, Masao used to be introverted. He was often ignored by other students in the class because of his body language and shyness. And even back then in school he was often bullied by the students in the class.”
“But why was he getting bullied?” Interrupted Hiro.
Hearing Hiro’s questions, the guy with the glasses frowned his brows. His face darkened as beads of sweats started forming over his forehead.
Seeing the expression of the guy infront, Hiro could tell that the guy was somehow involved. But still he didn’t put pressure on him to reveal the reason.
“It’s alright if you’re not comfortable with sharing the reason with us.” Hiro tried to reassure the guy.
Gnashing his teeths, the guy with the glasses then squeezed some words out of his mouth, “No…. I must confess.”
“Although he was fat, he used to be a gentle kid. Unlike some of us, he didn’t study with us from the beginning. During our 3rd year at the school, he transferred to our school from some other school.”
“And before he transferred to our school, I was the one who used to get bullied because of my glasses, appearance and skinny body. Even though I did nothing wrong to anyone, the strong kids in my school often bullied me because of my attire and appearance.”
“Unlike most kids of my school, I come from a poor family. And because of that I couldn’t afford fancy school accessories like the rest of them. And due to that reason I was always left out. The students in the class often mocked me for carrying same school bag, wearing the same worn out shoes and untidy uniform.”
“At first I only got mocked. However once when I couldn’t take it any more of their mocking behaviour anymore, I stood up to them. But I was too powerless to fight against those strong kids. They beat me up real bad.”
Hearing his story, Hiro and Rin, both of them gritted their teeth and clenched their fist. Rage bubbling within them boiled like burning tar. Still Hiro continued to listen to his story without interrupting him.
Even though they had approached him to inquire about Masao, they just couldn’t ignore another person who had suffered through a lot.
Since Hiro himself had gone through such painful experience once in his previous life. The mocking comments made by others, the mocking gazes he felt after losing his abilities, he could never forget those experiences.
Although Hiro was holding back himself, the same couldn’t be said to Rin. Unable to control his anger any further, he burst out, “Why didn’t you complain to the teacher or your parents?”
Naive as he was, he blurted out the most practical thing one would do in that kind of situation.
“I complained about the bullying to our teachers. But since we all were kids, they only gave them warning. After that the bullying got even more severe. Everybody I went home with a swollen face.”
“But despite that I didn’t want to worry my parents. So I always made excuses and lied to them about my injuries. But how long could I lie? They eventually saw through my lies and went to school to complain about my injuries.”
“However, do you know what they did after receiving the complaints from my parents?”
“They threatened us instead. Since I was studying on scholarship. They threatened us that they’d cancel my scholarship if we reveal about the bullying to other people. And they said that they’ll also sue us for damaging their reputation. Since they could afford a lawyer and we couldn’t, our lost was inevitable. So we dropped the complaints.”
“Although after the complaints, I didn’t get beat up like I used to. I was still bullied by Masato and other kids.”
“And around in the middle of the year, Masao transferred to our school. For some months, he couldn’t interact well with other people in our class. And I to maintained my distance with him. But despite that he stood up for me when I was getting bullied my Masato and others.”
“And that was the biggest mistake he did.” After saying such, his voice started to shake all of a sudden. His eyes filled with guilt, he struggled to speak.
“And after that they changed their targets. And they started to bully him instead, right?” Questioned Hiro while looking at him.
The guy with the glasses only nodded his head without uttering anything.
“He helped you. Then why didn’t you help him?” Exasperated Rin.
“I couldn’t. I know I was being selfish. But somewhere in my mind, I was glad that I could finally get rid of them.” Shuddered the guy with the glasses