Ongoing Cycle

14

     Kuro really did join [Y/N]'s language arts class. He came into the room with an easy smile that could win any girl and had sauntered straight to a desk in the back. Girls right and left had their eyes on him with a dreamy gaze...and it wasn't hard to notice that Miku had her eyes set on him as well. Meanwhile, [Y/N] was shocked and felt terrible. Sure, he did tell her that he was joining her class, but she kind of thought he was lying or something. But he wasn't. This was going to make the situation between her and friend worse. Not only that, the two of them were going to have to present in front of him. He could figure out the reason to her crying.

     Sitting at her desk, where it was nearest to the windows, she stared out of one and watched the green meadow laying there in front of the school. Feeling butterflies in her stomach and her nerves going haywire, she was already anxious about the presentation. It made her want to go back to that place Kuro showed her.

     The next two people went to present their project and they went up there confidently. As they presented, she barely listened and could only think of the way her cold, clammy hands feel beneath the small table. She hated it. Hated it. Hated it. She hated waiting for her name to be called and have all of her classmates flash their eyes towards her way.

     At least Kuro brought her to that special place, so she wasn't a teary mess anymore. He had done something right for once.

     Though it didn't stop the heavy pang in her heart every time she glanced at her friend, who was sitting at the next desk over. Sometimes Miku would also glance her way, and in her beautiful eyes, [Y/N] could see hurt.

    Before she knew it, the presentation was over and people were clapping politely. Blinking a few times, she hesitantly joined in on the clapping, and her wet palms hit one another. 

     Then the one thing she dreaded had happened. "Miku and [Y/N]? You're next on the list," called out Ms. Nishida, their teacher. Feeling her face going pale, she pushed herself up with her trembling arms. Miku did the same, but she appeared calm and confident, easily hiding her true feelings. [Y/N] watched her in awe as she made her way up there with a small smile on her face.

     [Y/N] followed, not appearing as confident with her head lowered and her cheeks red. The two got up in front of the class, with everyone's expectant eyes on them.

     Their presentation projected on the screen, and the two of them knew who was going to go first. The pretty dark haired girl opened her mouth and began to introduce the project. "I am Miku and this is [Y/N]. We both read the book titled, "Poison Weed", and today we're going to explain the symbols and meanings we've found in the story."

     The screen behind them went on to the next slide. It was now her turn to speak. Her mouth going dry, she opened it and forced words to come out of them. "B-before we begin with, um, the symbols, um, w-we'll need to explain the storyline first," she stuttered. She could feel the gazes of her classmates burning into her and though she knew she was supposed to make eye contact with them, she was avoiding it at all costs. "I-it is about a t-town that had these evil scientists that created these weeds to plant around the town. Um, because of these weeds, it began to poison, um, t-the water and in effect, the people as well."

     Miku took charge and went to explain the rest of the story. It let her take a few deep breathers as she listened to what her friend was saying. "As people kept on dying because of the unknown poison substance, three teenagers, Linda, Mattie, and Sean had to find out who was behind of all this chaos. As they did so, Linda also found out she was alone in this, because Mattie had backstabbed her. Mattie had left her and had chosen the boy over her. In turn, her friend was becoming the weed poison too."

     Well....didn't that sound similar to something happening in her life. [Y/N] frowned as her heart squeezed tight at the similarity between the book and real life. This was only making it more difficult for her to keep herself composed and not have an entire mental breakdown in front of the class. Her life was seriously some kind of sick joke.

     It seemed the explanation of the story had hit Miku hard too, because the smile on her face had fallen and she gulped. Her eyes even darted back and forth from Kuro and [Y/N], the raw pain in them shown.

     Seeing it only made [Y/N] mad, for how could her friend even be willing to debate between a player and her life-long best friend? Had she always thought that lowly of her? Could she really not choose between her and Kuro?!

     Before [Y/N] could stop herself, she continued the presentation....but it wasn't following the presentation order. They were supposed to explain the symbol of the scientists' lab coats, but she had jumped straight to the broken mirror. Making full eye contact with everyone in the classroom, especially with the boy sitting in the back with the beautiful, blue eyes, she told the next part loud and clear. "In the end, after Mattie had gotten heartbroken by Sean, she saw a broken mirror on the ground in the damaged scientists' lab room. She picked it up and looked at herself in it. It represents her as being the weed because like the connected cracks in the mirror, she spread and hurt everyone. The cracks are also unfixable, which symbolizes how she broke the trust of her best friend, Linda."

     Everyone had widened their eyes in surprised by the newfound courage she showed. But they didn't know the full reason for that. Her challenging and angered eyes on Kuro, he stared back thoughtfully and analyzed her curiously.

     She then turned to Miku and saw the dark-haired girl shrinking away, as if she had just been slapped.