Outsider Syndrome | ✓

Chapter 15 (2) - "Inside Identity"

I'd done a lot of crazy things lately. Most, unprovoked. Many in which it didn't make sense for me to intervene.

I acted on my own moral compass. Everything I did, I made sure I wouldn't regret it. So here I was, at the doorstep of yet another predicament I'd once again landed myself into, out of breath and panting for the oxygen my lungs so desperately required.

I barrelled onto the school rooftop. In the act, I'd lost my footing but managed to stabilize myself in time. Part of me hoped to be met with nothing. But, it was wishful thinking. The scene before me cost me my nonchalance.

Several girls towered over Tsumugi and Kiharu who were sprawled on the ground, their arms wound together by skin-tearing ropes.

"She really showed up," one girl cackled.

I gritted my jaw. "What is this, a nasty hobby of yours?"

An ear-splitting smirk spread across her face. "Call it what you will. Miss Hanai ordered us to tie up these nuisances, so we took her literally."

The other girls dispersed and it wasn't until I heard a click did I realize they'd locked the door.

"And now that you've come to keep them company, I'd say the plan worked marvellously."

"Shiina!" Tsumugi mumbled, a veil of tears evident in her eyelids.

"You owe us big time for this, beanstalk!" Kiharu barked as well.

Music blared from the speakers, uncharacteristic of the current mood. Notes. And a voice so powerful it serenaded anyone within a listening radius.

"Ah, Miss Hanai has already started." The girl—Bristly Brows, as I so creatively dubbed—clasped her palms. "I bet the entire audience is mesmerized. What I would give to be front row to the show."

I didn't have time to spare.

"Let them go," I snarled. "This is between us, isn't it?"

Bristly Brows merely lowered her arms. Then stepped forward, the heels of her boots clicking against the floor. She was in my vicinity before long.

"You made such a fuss yesterday," she snootily said. She had presence, proven by the way her icy blue eyes bore effortlessly into mine. "Even though you're the one who stole Miss Hanai's music. You losers don't deserve the right to stand on that stage after that. Yet, Miss Hanai granted it out of the kindness of her heart."

"If she granted it, I wouldn't be here now."

She shrugged. "Exactly like you bestowed her a handicap that had her rehearsing late, we're giving you one, too. What's unfair about it? You should be grateful that's all we're doing."

My nails dug into my palms.

She bent forward. "So sit tight until her performance finishes and your group has to forfeit. All right, you—"

I seized her collar, stifling her words in her throat. "I don't know what kind of impression you have of me, but I'm not afraid to punch that grin off your face. Leave them alone. If not—"

Bristly Brows, albeit momentarily shocked, cackled. Her eyelids peeled further apart. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

My forehead wrinkled. She gestured behind her, at the girls towering over Tsumugi and Kiharu. Both were seized by the hair, and to it, they held scissors ready to snip at any second.

"I'd suggest you behave," Bristly Brows taunted on. "If not, your friends might lose a lot more than their hair."

"Bitch," I cursed.