Outsider Syndrome | ✓

Chapter 10 - "Meant to be Alone"

Kamakiri didn't return.

By the time the zombie escorted me out of the attraction and even offered to buy me a drink, him and his friends were long gone.

Being the numbskull I was, I waited by the exit. Praying I was mistaken, and that maybe Kamakiri and his friends didn't mean any harm. That maybe they had honestly gotten separated from me and wanted nothing more than to reconcile.

I was so stupid.

When faced with the facts, my mind the clearest it'd been in a while, my eyes no longer watered. In fact, part of me was relieved.

Princes didn't exist. It was something I'd always known. Daisuke Kamakiri, although handsome, wasn't the exception.

I fell for a guy because of some flowery words and fake smile. Looking back on it, I was probably falling for what I wanted Kamakiri to be. I reflected my ideals onto a guy I barely knew, just because he'd given me the time of day. Just because I desperately wanted somebody in that school to treat me like a normal girl.

This wasn't anything new. This wasn't the first time somebody from Hoshizaki treated me poorly.

I'd be fine.

"You really are an idiot."

My fingers curled into tight fists but that didn't stop them from trembling.

I'd be all right.

✧༝┉┉┉┉┉˚*❋ ❋ ❋*˚┉┉┉┉┉༝✧

Hoshizaki Academy's hallways were remarkably animated. Laughter as well as trivial conversation pooled around me, but somehow, it grated in my ears. It felt menacing—as if they were pointing their amusement towards me. I knew I was overreacting, but that didn't stop me from reflexively picking up the pace and bunching the fabric of my sweater vest.

My classroom was quiet, only because it was early and not many people had arrived. I hastily took my seat, hooking the strap of my bag underneath my desk where it belonged. It was after I straightened my posture that a yell boomed across the room.

"Shiina! Thank goodness! I was worried you wouldn't come until after the bell!"

As if it were rehearsed, Hachi barrelled into the classroom, arms outstretched, face stained in crocodile tears. Before I could make sense of what had brought this on, or why he was dashing towards me, I was tackled.

"I'm so, so, so glad!" he exclaimed, rubbing his cheek against mine. "If you weren't here I wouldn't know what I'd do! He would've killed me—"

Hachi's ear-piercing scream was muffled against a hand that'd smacked over his mouth. He was brutally shoved head-first into my desk.

"If you want to die so badly, I'll get it over with right now."

Hachi flailed for freedom, genuine waterworks begin to prickle the corners of his wide eyes.

Shell-shocked, I mutely craned my neck.

Jin Narumi, the class representative alongside Hachi, stood scarily apathetic. His honey blond hair framed his chiselled features, chilling turquoise eyes narrowed into slits. It was the look of a murderer—one who'd dragged countless souls to the underworld without the slightest remorse.