Shin2 Dan: Chapter 22: Unknown Grudge (7)
“I, Irie Jingi, am the culprit!” The boy exclaimed as he breathe heavily, “You caught the wrong person.”
Everyone became silence as he said those words. The three Shin2 dan members look from one to another, confused at the turn of the event. Sakuraba Nanami stares at the boy, but not before long, her face changed to a smile as if given a safety float in the middle of the boat-less sea.
“That’s right!” Nanami said, causing all eyes to turn to her, “I don’t know what you guys are talking about. You probably did catch the wrong person. I’m just here to breathe the cool air.” As she was about to leave, Fukuda quickly stop her.
“Not so fast.” Fukuda said as she tried to grab Nanami’s arm, “Isn’t this a little far from your house to get a breath of cool air? Sempai?”
“I don’t have time to play your stupid detective game.” The older girl said, her eyes narrowed, she quickly yanks her arm out of Fukuda’s hands. “I just want to visit Eita-sensei and Horikita-sensei to see how they are doing. After all, I heard Eita-sensei fainted. And look!” Nanami pointed to Jingi, “You got your culprit right there.” With that she quickly steps toward the door.
“Aren’t you curious?” Yamada’s voice stops Nanami in her tracts.
“Curious?” Nanami turns back with a hesitant smile, “About what?”
“Since you are so worried about sensei’s conditions,” Yamada takes a step forward, “I’m sure you would want to know the reason why they were attacked, am I right?”
“I’m sorry. I’m not a kid anymore.” Nanami gave them a laugh, “Getting curious over things like this.”
“Curiosity is a natural human emotion.” Yamada smiles coolly, “You are welcome to joins us. After all, if you leave now, it just seems like you are just trying to run away. And that just make you even more suspicious.”
“That’s right.” Kamiki added, “Why don’t you stay to clear your name?”
Not given much of a choice, Nanami could only utters “Fine.” and reluctantly take a seat on the bench. With the watchful eyes of Fukuda still on the older girl, Yamada walk toward the nervous boy.
“Now, what evidences did you say that you are the culprit?” Yamada asked.
“Lo… Look at the videos from the school camera!” Jingi stuttered, “All of them should be me. I tried using a wig in order conceal my face from the camera.”
“Why did you want to hurt Horikita-sensei?” Kamiki quickly asked.
The boy take a quick glance at Nanami before he says, “It’s because I like Nanami-chan.”
“Huh?” Nanami asked, shocked at his words.
“The other day, Nanami-chan confessed to Miura-sempai and was rejected.” The boy blushed, “It was only because Horikita-sensei was there that she was rejected. So I just want to give her a scare, that’s all. But I didn’t know that it turned to this.”
“Why did you do that for?” Nanami exclaimed, “My love life has nothing to do with you.”
“What did you do to scare her?” Fukuda asked, ignoring Nanami’s comment.
This time, Jingi looks at the ground for a bit in confusion and glances at Nanami’s direction.
“Didn’t you know?” Nanami quickly cut in, “I heard they a pot fell on them.”
With Nanami’s help, Jingi’s face brighten as he nods, “That’s right! I got one of the flower pots from the rooftop and threw it down when she came near the building.”
With his last words uttered, Nanami’s face turned pales as Fukuda and Kamiki turns to each others with a smile.
Noticed Nanami change in expression, Jingi quickly knew he said the wrong thing, “Wait, what I meant is that I grabbed a flower pot from the ground and brought it up to the rooftop.” He quickly tried to fix what he had said, but the deed was already done.
“Irie-san,” Kamiki turns to him with a triumph smile, “Didn’t you know? It wasn’t a flower pot. It was a pot of mint leaves.”
“And even if you did say mint leaves,” Fukuda added, “The pot was actually taken from the green house at the back of the school. What you just tell us clearly showed that you weren’t actually at the scene of the crime. Everything was a lie in order to prevent us from catching the real culprit.” With this, she quickly turns to Nanami.
“This is getting stupid.” Nanami quickly stood up and get ready to leave, “You have no proof. Jingi-kun already admitted to it, why do you still want to pin the blame on to me?”
“Obviously, Irie-san just wants to cover for you.” Fukuda retorted, “The way you called each other, ‘Jingi-kun’ and ‘Nanami-chan’, I can’t help but think that you guys are actually quite close.” Her words caused the aforementioned to look at the ground guiltily.
“I guess I was right.” Fukuda smirked.
“But that still doesn’t mean I’m the culprit.” Nanami exclaimed, “Where are your proofs?”
“Before we came here,” Kamiki said, “We went to the president of the gardening club to ask about the pot that was at the scene of the crime. She said it was yours.”
“But someone else could just take my pot.” Nanami shakes her head, “To put the blame on me or something.”
“That did cross our mind.” Kamiki smile, “But Yamada-kun send us the message that you sent to sensei to lured her out.”
“I did a check on it and got the phone number.” Fukuda smiles as she held out her keitai, “If I call this number, the person is the culprit.” She quickly pushed called on her keitai and instantly there was a soft tune playing signaling a call. All eyes turned to Nanami, expecting the tune to come from her, but the girl just gave them a smile as she pulled out her own keitai.
“You mean this?” Nanami asked as she showed the keitai to them, no sound was coming from it.
“It’s mine!” Jingi exclaimed excitedly as he pulled out his own ringing keitai.
Both of them turned to the three members with smiling face, as if they had already won the battle. The three Shin2 dan members look at each other and turned to the pair.
“Well, this showed that it wasn’t me that did it.” Nanami gave them a smug smile, expecting the trio to become devastated on unable to catch her, but Fukuda just giggles causing both of them to stares at her strangely.
“You are so silly.” Fukuda laughs gradually got louder and louder, “It was obvious that something like that can be easily exchanged. Do you think we would use that as our conclusive evidence?”
“What do you mean?” Nanami stared at the younger girl.
“When you showed us your keitai,” Fukuda smiles, “You also showed us your phone strap or rather, your lack of ornament on your phone strap.” Before Nanami can check her phone, Fukuda quickly take it from her hand and handed it to Kamiki. In the watchful eyes of everyone, Kamiki quickly takes out the small glass pig that was found earlier on the rooftop of their school building.
“It fitted.” Kamiki said and handed both the phone and the glass pig to Fukuda.
With the items in her hand, she showed it to Nanami with a smile, “We found this pig on the rooftop today, behind the railing, at the same spot where the pot is fallen from. Surely, this can’t be a coincident, sempai.”
“I might have dropped it a few days ago while I was up there.” Nanami stammered, trying her best to think up of an excuse.
“But to drop your phone so far on the outside of the railing, what were you doing there?” Fukuda asked, wearing a smug smile, “Perhaps finding the perfect place to drop the pot?”
“No, that wasn’t true!” Nanami shook her head.
“Using your own friend to take the blame for something you did,” Fukuda’s face darkens; frustration could be heard in her voice, “Doing something like this just because Miura-sempai rejected you. Then, hurting someone to the point of hospitalization and not admitted to it, you are the worst.”
“It’s not true! It’s not TRUE!” Nanami cried in anguish, taking out something sharp from her pocket, she quickly runs toward Fukuda with great speed. As everyone noticed the sharp object on her hands, Fukuda could only stares at her, too shocked to move.
“MAMAYU!” Kamiki shouted. Like a slow motion movie, he plunged forward between the two girls and spread his arms out as if protecting Fukuda. Fukuda could only stare at his back in surprised. Seeing this, Yamada swiftly ran toward Nanami and kick the sharp object toward the ground as Jingi quickly grab her from behind. The item spins and lands on the ground after a few bounces near them with a small sound. For a while, everyone became quiet.
“Nanami-chan,” breaking the silence, Jingi muttered as he holds the girl close, “Why don’t you just stop this?”
With his words, Nanami finally falls to the ground and broke down crying. Her fists hitting the concrete ground in anguish.
“It’s her fault!” Nanami said between her sobs, “It’s all Horikita-sensei’s fault. She’s always fawning around, acting as if she’s sweet and all that, but she can’t be trusted. My brother was fooled by her sweet exterior! He died because of her. Just because she want some stupid flower, she made him went out to buy it. He was hit and killed in a car crash. Never once did she felt any remorse about it. Never once did she come to the funeral. Never once did she visit his grave. Never once did she apologize. I hate her! I absolutely despise her. I don’t want Miura-sempai to have to go through what my brother in heaven went through.”
“That’s why you tried to kill her?” Yamada asked.
“I didn’t want to kill.” Nanami shook her head as droplets of tears fell to the ground. ”I… I just want to scare her. That’s all. Why would I commit murder and ruin my life for that woman? I just don’t want anyone to be fool by her anymore.”
“That’s not true.” A voice behind them spokes. From the confusion earlier, they did not notice the student body president standing there with a bouquet in his hand.
“Miura-sempai?” Nanami asked.
“That’s not true, she did regret.” Miura gave the girl a gentle smile, “I asked the flower shop keeper near the place that your brother died. Every year, on his death anniversary, Horikita-sensei always comes to the shop and bought flowers to leave it at the site of the accident for him. Perhaps, she knew that you and your family hated her for what happened to your brother, that’s why she didn’t want to show up at the funeral.”
“That’s not true!” Nanami cried, “That’s a lie. A LIE!”
“No, it’s true!” Yamada nodded his head, “If you seen her state when Eita-sensei was hurt because of her, you’ll know. It must have reminded her of what happened with your brother.”
Unable to say anything else, Nanami begins sobbing louder and Jingi quickly bends down to hug her. Only the sound of her sobs could be heard. After a while, Miura slowly walks toward them, stoop down and gave the bouquet of flowers to Nanami. She looks up at him in confusion.
“Why don’t you take responsibility of your actions?” Miura smiles, “Apologized to them. They will understand.”
Slowly, Nanami nodded her head. With the help of the caring Jingi and Miura, they quickly left. But before following the two, Miura turns to Yamada with an amused grin.
Suddenly remember still in the dress, Yamada’s face darken as he stomp his feet angrily, “Mamayu!” The boy turns to the girl, about to tell her off for making him wear an embarrassing outfit in front of Miura, hating to hear what the boy is going to say to him the next time they meet, but Fukuda’s face was covered by her hair.
“Why?” She simply asked, causing both boys to look at her.
“What’s wrong?” Kamiki asked as he stood in front of her.
“Why” Her red eyes glare at him in contempt, “Why did you shield me?”
“It’s because you’re in trouble.” Kamiki quietly said, his eyes turning to Yamada with questions, but Yamada just shrugs.
“I don’t need your protection!” Stepping forward, Fukuda begins to pound on Kamiki’s chest.
“That hurt.” Kamiki grimaced each times her fist made contact, but he didn’t step away.
“Baka… baka!” with each pound, she utters again and again, “I don’t need your, or anyone’s protection!” Seeing this, Yamada was about to stop her, but stop short when he noticed the tears on Kamiki’s shirt. After a while, the pounding became slower and slower, until Fukuda finally relaxed her fist and continued cried as she holds on tight to Kamiki’s shirt, “You could have gotten hurt and it would be my fault.”
Yamada gave a small smile and was about to walk toward them, but in that instant, Fukuda’s knee begins to wobble. She almost fell if not for Kamiki swiftly hold her up.
With a weak gaze she smiles at Kamiki and quietly whispered, “And you finally called me ‘Mamayu’.” Fukuda then closes her eyes and enters the world of unconsciousness despites the calls from her friends.
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Author's Note: I also realized how hard it is to write redeemable characters. Not only do they need to have a sympathetic past, the reader must also be able to identify with the character. Because life isn't just about black and white, or love and hate, that's why the line between right and wrong can easily be shifted. Perhaps it's my dislike of violence nature that I preferred to allows the culprits to continue on living while trying to change their life for the better. It's easy to write a detestable character, but I think it's not reality. Everyone need a chance to redeem themselves. We learn to better ourselves through our own mistakes.
But from here on, I don't know if I can write anymore redeemable characters. =___=;;
Everyone became silence as he said those words. The three Shin2 dan members look from one to another, confused at the turn of the event. Sakuraba Nanami stares at the boy, but not before long, her face changed to a smile as if given a safety float in the middle of the boat-less sea.
“That’s right!” Nanami said, causing all eyes to turn to her, “I don’t know what you guys are talking about. You probably did catch the wrong person. I’m just here to breathe the cool air.” As she was about to leave, Fukuda quickly stop her.
“Not so fast.” Fukuda said as she tried to grab Nanami’s arm, “Isn’t this a little far from your house to get a breath of cool air? Sempai?”
“I don’t have time to play your stupid detective game.” The older girl said, her eyes narrowed, she quickly yanks her arm out of Fukuda’s hands. “I just want to visit Eita-sensei and Horikita-sensei to see how they are doing. After all, I heard Eita-sensei fainted. And look!” Nanami pointed to Jingi, “You got your culprit right there.” With that she quickly steps toward the door.
“Aren’t you curious?” Yamada’s voice stops Nanami in her tracts.
“Curious?” Nanami turns back with a hesitant smile, “About what?”
“Since you are so worried about sensei’s conditions,” Yamada takes a step forward, “I’m sure you would want to know the reason why they were attacked, am I right?”
“I’m sorry. I’m not a kid anymore.” Nanami gave them a laugh, “Getting curious over things like this.”
“Curiosity is a natural human emotion.” Yamada smiles coolly, “You are welcome to joins us. After all, if you leave now, it just seems like you are just trying to run away. And that just make you even more suspicious.”
“That’s right.” Kamiki added, “Why don’t you stay to clear your name?”
Not given much of a choice, Nanami could only utters “Fine.” and reluctantly take a seat on the bench. With the watchful eyes of Fukuda still on the older girl, Yamada walk toward the nervous boy.
“Now, what evidences did you say that you are the culprit?” Yamada asked.
“Lo… Look at the videos from the school camera!” Jingi stuttered, “All of them should be me. I tried using a wig in order conceal my face from the camera.”
“Why did you want to hurt Horikita-sensei?” Kamiki quickly asked.
The boy take a quick glance at Nanami before he says, “It’s because I like Nanami-chan.”
“Huh?” Nanami asked, shocked at his words.
“The other day, Nanami-chan confessed to Miura-sempai and was rejected.” The boy blushed, “It was only because Horikita-sensei was there that she was rejected. So I just want to give her a scare, that’s all. But I didn’t know that it turned to this.”
“Why did you do that for?” Nanami exclaimed, “My love life has nothing to do with you.”
“What did you do to scare her?” Fukuda asked, ignoring Nanami’s comment.
This time, Jingi looks at the ground for a bit in confusion and glances at Nanami’s direction.
“Didn’t you know?” Nanami quickly cut in, “I heard they a pot fell on them.”
With Nanami’s help, Jingi’s face brighten as he nods, “That’s right! I got one of the flower pots from the rooftop and threw it down when she came near the building.”
With his last words uttered, Nanami’s face turned pales as Fukuda and Kamiki turns to each others with a smile.
Noticed Nanami change in expression, Jingi quickly knew he said the wrong thing, “Wait, what I meant is that I grabbed a flower pot from the ground and brought it up to the rooftop.” He quickly tried to fix what he had said, but the deed was already done.
“Irie-san,” Kamiki turns to him with a triumph smile, “Didn’t you know? It wasn’t a flower pot. It was a pot of mint leaves.”
“And even if you did say mint leaves,” Fukuda added, “The pot was actually taken from the green house at the back of the school. What you just tell us clearly showed that you weren’t actually at the scene of the crime. Everything was a lie in order to prevent us from catching the real culprit.” With this, she quickly turns to Nanami.
“This is getting stupid.” Nanami quickly stood up and get ready to leave, “You have no proof. Jingi-kun already admitted to it, why do you still want to pin the blame on to me?”
“Obviously, Irie-san just wants to cover for you.” Fukuda retorted, “The way you called each other, ‘Jingi-kun’ and ‘Nanami-chan’, I can’t help but think that you guys are actually quite close.” Her words caused the aforementioned to look at the ground guiltily.
“I guess I was right.” Fukuda smirked.
“But that still doesn’t mean I’m the culprit.” Nanami exclaimed, “Where are your proofs?”
“Before we came here,” Kamiki said, “We went to the president of the gardening club to ask about the pot that was at the scene of the crime. She said it was yours.”
“But someone else could just take my pot.” Nanami shakes her head, “To put the blame on me or something.”
“That did cross our mind.” Kamiki smile, “But Yamada-kun send us the message that you sent to sensei to lured her out.”
“I did a check on it and got the phone number.” Fukuda smiles as she held out her keitai, “If I call this number, the person is the culprit.” She quickly pushed called on her keitai and instantly there was a soft tune playing signaling a call. All eyes turned to Nanami, expecting the tune to come from her, but the girl just gave them a smile as she pulled out her own keitai.
“You mean this?” Nanami asked as she showed the keitai to them, no sound was coming from it.
“It’s mine!” Jingi exclaimed excitedly as he pulled out his own ringing keitai.
Both of them turned to the three members with smiling face, as if they had already won the battle. The three Shin2 dan members look at each other and turned to the pair.
“Well, this showed that it wasn’t me that did it.” Nanami gave them a smug smile, expecting the trio to become devastated on unable to catch her, but Fukuda just giggles causing both of them to stares at her strangely.
“You are so silly.” Fukuda laughs gradually got louder and louder, “It was obvious that something like that can be easily exchanged. Do you think we would use that as our conclusive evidence?”
“What do you mean?” Nanami stared at the younger girl.
“When you showed us your keitai,” Fukuda smiles, “You also showed us your phone strap or rather, your lack of ornament on your phone strap.” Before Nanami can check her phone, Fukuda quickly take it from her hand and handed it to Kamiki. In the watchful eyes of everyone, Kamiki quickly takes out the small glass pig that was found earlier on the rooftop of their school building.
“It fitted.” Kamiki said and handed both the phone and the glass pig to Fukuda.
With the items in her hand, she showed it to Nanami with a smile, “We found this pig on the rooftop today, behind the railing, at the same spot where the pot is fallen from. Surely, this can’t be a coincident, sempai.”
“I might have dropped it a few days ago while I was up there.” Nanami stammered, trying her best to think up of an excuse.
“But to drop your phone so far on the outside of the railing, what were you doing there?” Fukuda asked, wearing a smug smile, “Perhaps finding the perfect place to drop the pot?”
“No, that wasn’t true!” Nanami shook her head.
“Using your own friend to take the blame for something you did,” Fukuda’s face darkens; frustration could be heard in her voice, “Doing something like this just because Miura-sempai rejected you. Then, hurting someone to the point of hospitalization and not admitted to it, you are the worst.”
“It’s not true! It’s not TRUE!” Nanami cried in anguish, taking out something sharp from her pocket, she quickly runs toward Fukuda with great speed. As everyone noticed the sharp object on her hands, Fukuda could only stares at her, too shocked to move.
“MAMAYU!” Kamiki shouted. Like a slow motion movie, he plunged forward between the two girls and spread his arms out as if protecting Fukuda. Fukuda could only stare at his back in surprised. Seeing this, Yamada swiftly ran toward Nanami and kick the sharp object toward the ground as Jingi quickly grab her from behind. The item spins and lands on the ground after a few bounces near them with a small sound. For a while, everyone became quiet.
“Nanami-chan,” breaking the silence, Jingi muttered as he holds the girl close, “Why don’t you just stop this?”
With his words, Nanami finally falls to the ground and broke down crying. Her fists hitting the concrete ground in anguish.
“It’s her fault!” Nanami said between her sobs, “It’s all Horikita-sensei’s fault. She’s always fawning around, acting as if she’s sweet and all that, but she can’t be trusted. My brother was fooled by her sweet exterior! He died because of her. Just because she want some stupid flower, she made him went out to buy it. He was hit and killed in a car crash. Never once did she felt any remorse about it. Never once did she come to the funeral. Never once did she visit his grave. Never once did she apologize. I hate her! I absolutely despise her. I don’t want Miura-sempai to have to go through what my brother in heaven went through.”
“That’s why you tried to kill her?” Yamada asked.
“I didn’t want to kill.” Nanami shook her head as droplets of tears fell to the ground. ”I… I just want to scare her. That’s all. Why would I commit murder and ruin my life for that woman? I just don’t want anyone to be fool by her anymore.”
“That’s not true.” A voice behind them spokes. From the confusion earlier, they did not notice the student body president standing there with a bouquet in his hand.
“Miura-sempai?” Nanami asked.
“That’s not true, she did regret.” Miura gave the girl a gentle smile, “I asked the flower shop keeper near the place that your brother died. Every year, on his death anniversary, Horikita-sensei always comes to the shop and bought flowers to leave it at the site of the accident for him. Perhaps, she knew that you and your family hated her for what happened to your brother, that’s why she didn’t want to show up at the funeral.”
“That’s not true!” Nanami cried, “That’s a lie. A LIE!”
“No, it’s true!” Yamada nodded his head, “If you seen her state when Eita-sensei was hurt because of her, you’ll know. It must have reminded her of what happened with your brother.”
Unable to say anything else, Nanami begins sobbing louder and Jingi quickly bends down to hug her. Only the sound of her sobs could be heard. After a while, Miura slowly walks toward them, stoop down and gave the bouquet of flowers to Nanami. She looks up at him in confusion.
“Why don’t you take responsibility of your actions?” Miura smiles, “Apologized to them. They will understand.”
Slowly, Nanami nodded her head. With the help of the caring Jingi and Miura, they quickly left. But before following the two, Miura turns to Yamada with an amused grin.
Suddenly remember still in the dress, Yamada’s face darken as he stomp his feet angrily, “Mamayu!” The boy turns to the girl, about to tell her off for making him wear an embarrassing outfit in front of Miura, hating to hear what the boy is going to say to him the next time they meet, but Fukuda’s face was covered by her hair.
“Why?” She simply asked, causing both boys to look at her.
“What’s wrong?” Kamiki asked as he stood in front of her.
“Why” Her red eyes glare at him in contempt, “Why did you shield me?”
“It’s because you’re in trouble.” Kamiki quietly said, his eyes turning to Yamada with questions, but Yamada just shrugs.
“I don’t need your protection!” Stepping forward, Fukuda begins to pound on Kamiki’s chest.
“That hurt.” Kamiki grimaced each times her fist made contact, but he didn’t step away.
“Baka… baka!” with each pound, she utters again and again, “I don’t need your, or anyone’s protection!” Seeing this, Yamada was about to stop her, but stop short when he noticed the tears on Kamiki’s shirt. After a while, the pounding became slower and slower, until Fukuda finally relaxed her fist and continued cried as she holds on tight to Kamiki’s shirt, “You could have gotten hurt and it would be my fault.”
Yamada gave a small smile and was about to walk toward them, but in that instant, Fukuda’s knee begins to wobble. She almost fell if not for Kamiki swiftly hold her up.
With a weak gaze she smiles at Kamiki and quietly whispered, “And you finally called me ‘Mamayu’.” Fukuda then closes her eyes and enters the world of unconsciousness despites the calls from her friends.
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Author's Note: I also realized how hard it is to write redeemable characters. Not only do they need to have a sympathetic past, the reader must also be able to identify with the character. Because life isn't just about black and white, or love and hate, that's why the line between right and wrong can easily be shifted. Perhaps it's my dislike of violence nature that I preferred to allows the culprits to continue on living while trying to change their life for the better. It's easy to write a detestable character, but I think it's not reality. Everyone need a chance to redeem themselves. We learn to better ourselves through our own mistakes.
But from here on, I don't know if I can write anymore redeemable characters. =___=;;