COTE: Koenji What if

Vol. 1 Chapter 9.3 - False accusation

I left the library and chased after Kushida. I continued searching around. And then I found her. I immediately texted that person of the location, although that isn't completely necessary due to the tracking feature on my phone.

I gently leaned against the handrail and peeked through a crack in the rooftop door.

"Ahh, so annoying!"

Her voice was so low that it didn't sound at all like Kushida.

"She's seriously annoying! God, how irritating. It'd be better if she just died..."

She grumbled to herself, as if chanting the words to some kind of spell or curse.

"Uhg, I hate stuck-up, snobby girls who think they're so cute. Why is she such a harpy? A rotten girl like her couldn't possibly tutor me."

"Ah, she's the worst! She's just the worst, the worst, the worst! Horikita, you're so annoying! You're so damm annoying!"

I had wondered why she continued to work with Horikita despite hating her. Horikita must have sensed this, and was unconsciously repulsed by her. 

I took out my phone and recorded her.

 Good, they have arrived. I signaled them to stay around the corner. They have their phone recording, while staying behind the corner, so only their phone is visible.

I then dropped my phone on purpose.

"Who's there?" Kushida's head immediately snapped back to the direction of the noise. I chose to go down a few stairs on purpose.

"...You." Kushida immediately started closing the distance.

"I got a little lost. Sorry. My bad, my bad. I'll be going now."

Kushida looked straight at me, clearly seeing through my obvious lie. I'd never seen such an intense gaze before.

"Did you hear?" she asked.

"Would you believe me if I said I didn't?" I replied.

"I see..."

She placed her left forearm against the base of my throat, and pushed me up against the wall. Her tone of voice, her actions, everything about her was completely unlike the Kushida I knew. This new Kushida wore a terrifying expression, one that I could almost compare to Horikita's.

"If you tell anyone what you just heard, I won't forgive you."

Her words were ice, and I didn't think they were an idle threat.

"And if I did tell?"

"In that case, I would tell everyone that you raped me," she said.

"That's a false charge, you know."

"That's okay. It wouldn't be false."

Her words had heft and power, leaving me unable to reply. As she spoke, Kushida grabbed my right wrist and slowly opened my hand. I showed a bit of resistance but she then pushed my palm against her chest.

"What are you doing?" I asked. I hurriedly tried to pull away, but she pushed on the back of my hand.

"Your fingerprints are on my clothes. That's evidence of my claim. I can't just let you get away."

"Please let go of my hand right now, I don't want to be expelled. I don't want to be known as a rapist." I pleaded to her.

"If you had kept to yourself, then you would have been fine. I wouldn't have resorted to faking these claims otherwise. Now leave me alone. Your life here is over." She then started to walk down the flight of stairs after letting me go.