Life of the Party ✔️||Hitoshi Shinso|

~Chapter 29~

When I got there I spotted orange hair right away. Reo was sitting on a bench waiting for me to arrive. I was surprised to see he wasn't angry or annoyed at my tardiness. He sat patiently, twiddling his thumbs while glancing around.

I kept walking closer, keeping my head low so it wouldn't seem like I was excited to see him. I wasn't, not in the least, I just didn't really care what happened to me at this point.

"I didn't think you were going to show up," Reo spoke as I neared, "I'm happy you did though. I have some stuff I thought you should know."

I sat down as far away on the bench as I could without it looking purposeful. "Well then talk, what's so important?"

"Well first, I wanted to apologize," he began and my head snapped towards him in surprise.

"Apologize?" I asked, "I thought you enjoyed cheating on me and then rubbing it in my face," I didn't mean for my words to sound so full of malice but I couldn't stop myself. He toyed with me, not in the same way Tony did, but it hurt.

Reo sighed, "I deserve that. I'm not going to lie, I was having fun at first, but only because I liked seeing you all riled up. But I'm not lying when I say I have nothing to do with the shit Tony is pulling. I didn't know he spiked your drink at the party, if I did I wouldn't have been there with Keiko-"

I cut him off, "How am I supposed to know if you're telling the truth?" I spent the whole time trying to read him. He didn't look guilty or remorseful but he didn't seem like he was manipulating me. There wasn't any forced emotion on his face but at the same time there wasn't any genuine emotion. It was just a bland look, a look of thought, a look like he was going back into his memory to keep the story straight.

"How do I prove to you I'm not lying?" Reo asked, "I just want to make things right, the guilt of watching you slowly giving up is killing me. It was fun to mess with you when you fought back, but now you aren't, it's just pointless. After this I'll leave you alone but I'm not done telling you everything. Do you believe me?"

I looked him in the eyes and thought back to when we were dating. What was his tell? He always looked away when he lied.

But he never looked away, he didn't try and hide the things that made him look bad. He was telling the truth and I could say that with confidence. "Yeah, now what did you have to say?"

"Well at the party, when you saw me with Keiko, I remember Tony talking to me about you. I don't really remember what he all said since I got drunk before the party even began, but I do remember that they weren't very appropriate questions to ask someone about their girlfriend, even if they are your best friend," he began and I listened intently. "Later he told me that he spiked your drink but you left before he could do anything, I didn't really do anything though, I was still tipsy and didn't want to start a fight about it since you and I weren't even dating at that point.

"Even after that night, he kept asking questions about you. From if he had my permission to sleep with you or even if I thought he should break up with Hideyo before or after you guys fucked. When it never happened after that second party he just told everyone you guys slept together anyway.

"At that point I didn't think it was my business so I just stayed out of it, but I did think it was really weird that he had Hideyo on his side. I didn't really think much of it at the time, not until a day or so later when I heard you guys were meeting up at the cafe to prove you never slept with Tony at that party where he spiked your drink.

"I realized something that I would never would've thought of until Tony made a comment. That he just had to keep you two angry, then I realized he was using his quirk on you guys. That's why Hideyo doesn't believe you, Tony is keeping her angry."

Then I recalled Tony's quirk. His ability to amplify negative emotions- anger being the strongest of them all. He can even direct who they're aimed at. All he had to do was tell them why.

All those moments when I watched Hideyo battle with herself, the first time she came and apologized, switching from angry to guilty to my best friend again in a matter of minutes, our constant arguing, her adamant refusal not to believe cold hard truth- it was all Tony's quirk.

I couldn't describe the feeling left inside of me as I realized how much we had both lost faith in each other. But I knew I regretted it.

I sat in silence for a moment, "Isn't he your best friend? Why are you telling me all this?"

"Like I said, I just got tired of seeing him mess with people, especially you," Reo stated.

We locked eyes for a moment and there was something in his eyes I didn't see before. Guilt.

"I appreciate the honesty," I spoke genuinely. "But I don't know what to do with any of this though," I laughed a little.

"Don't worry, I can handle that," he grinned. I enjoyed seeing him smile, it had been a while since I've seen a grin like that on his face. "It's not like anyone would believe you anyway, you've been trying to defend yourself this whole time and nothing has been working."

"How do I get Tony to stop using his quirk on Hideyo?" I asked as another spark of anger jolted through me. "She won't believe me if I tell her what's happening."

"I know, but she might believe me, or if worst comes to worst I can always punch him, that might break the affect," Reo suggested.

I gave him a strange look, "You'd punch your own best friend?"

"He's been so caught up in this whole 'manipulating his way into your pants' that he's been treating me and all if his other friends like shit," Reo explained, "I could just say that's the reason, he won't have to know I told you any of this."

I gave a him a small look of approval, "I don't think I've ever enjoyed this side of you until now," I replied. "But what if that doesn't work?"

"Well is there anyway you think Hideyo could break out of it? What's her quirk?" Reo asked.

"She doesn't have one," I responded, "Usually she just dodges the question when it comes around. I'm honestly surprised on many how people don't know."

"Well then let's hope the punch works," Reo spoke.

After a moment he stood up but didn't walk away. I stood up as well and we both stood there for a moment, Reo offered a handshake, "See you around."

I took his hand. His loose grip was something new, before he always squeezed like he had something to prove. "See ya."

I pulled my hand away after a moment and we both shared a mutual nod before walking in our opposite directions.