National Treasure High - The senior who betrayed me

The air in the library felt a little colder than usual. In the quiet of after-school hours, Yuuma stopped in front of the bookshelves. He couldn't find the book he was looking for. Even after checking the terminal, it was supposed to be in this section. He let out a small sigh and crouched down. It was on the bottom shelf. That was when it happened. "What are you looking for?" At the voice that fell from above, Yuuma felt his heart leap. He hurriedly looked up. Standing there was a female student he didn't recognize. Platinum blonde ringlets. Skin as white as porcelain. Cold blue eyes. Her red lipstick looked strikingly vivid in the quiet library. She was looking down at Yuuma, smiling. "Ah, um, sorry. I was just looking for a book..." Yuuma stumbled over his words. Just being spoken to by an older female student like this made his voice shrink. He could tell that her presence had completely transformed the atmosphere around them. "Is it this one?" She slowly crouched down and knelt beside Yuuma. A sweet fragrance softly tickled his nose. "Ah, yes, that's it." Before Yuuma could reach out, her slender fingers pulled the book from the shelf. "Here you go." "Thank you." Just as he was about to take it, she suddenly leaned in close. "...You really are quite adorable, aren't you?" Whispered into his ear, Yuuma froze. Her body was pressed close, at point-blank range. Her chest was at a distance where it might or might not touch his arm. In the stillness of the library, the sound of his own heartbeat seemed abnormally loud. "Uh, um, what are you—" "I'm Shirase Inori. Third year. Did you know?" "N-no, not really." "Hehe. I see. Then remember it. My name." Her fingers glided softly over the sleeve of Yuuma's uniform. "Yuuma-kun. Say, Yuuma-kun. Won't you give me the rights to your genes?" At those words, Yuuma caught his breath. Gene provision rights. In this world, the most valuable asset a man possessed. And she had demanded it from someone she'd only just met. "W-what are you saying—" "I'm interested in you. Very much so." She continued, pressing her body against him. Yuuma's back was pushed against the bookshelf; there was nowhere to escape. The allure of an older woman accelerated Yuuma's panic. "I-I mean, I don't really get that kind of thing—" "You don't need to understand. Just do as I say." Her blue eyes captured Yuuma and wouldn't let go. But then, it happened. Yuuma suddenly felt something was off. Her gaze wasn't looking at him. No, she was looking at him. She was looking at him, but something behind those eyes felt hollow. Like she was appraising him. Sizing him up. The eyes of someone looking at an object. (This person... she doesn't see me as a person.) A chill ran down his spine. Before he could voice that unease, she slowly pulled away. "Let's meet again." She smiled elegantly, then turned and walked away, her skirt swaying. For a while, Yuuma couldn't move from that spot. --- The next day. Inori appeared again. During lunch break. Her visit to the classroom was so glamorous it felt out of place. The girls in his class buzzed with whispers. A third-year—and a young lady of the Shirase Group at that—had deliberately come to a second-year classroom. Everyone was straining their ears, trying to figure out her relationship with Yuuma. "Yuuma-kun. Sorry about yesterday, being so sudden." "Ah, no, it's fine." Noticing the stares around him, Yuuma's voice grew quiet. Inori, as if enjoying his reaction, deliberately closed the distance. "There's something I want to talk to you about today. Will you come to the library after school?" "Talk about what..." "About Hikami Sumika-san." Yuuma's movements stopped. "About... Sumika?" "What she's hiding. Don't you want to know?" Her lips whispered into Yuuma's ear like a devil. "That she's not just a pretty girl." Yuuma found himself at a loss for words. "The rest, after school." She left with a smile. The classroom air immediately buzzed with noise. "Who was that? What's her relationship with Arimura-kun?" "Didn't she mention Hikami-san's name?" Yuuma sat frozen at his desk. What Sumika was hiding. A side of his childhood friend he didn't know. He wasn't sure if he wanted to hear it or not. --- After school, the library. Yuuma was waiting for Inori's words. "You came. I'm so glad." Inori was sitting on the sofa by the window, idly flipping through an art book. When she noticed Yuuma, she tightened her red lips into a smile. "Is it true what you said—that you know about Sumika?" "Yes." "What is she hiding?" Inori closed the book and sat down beside Yuuma. "Your Sumika-san once pushed a girl down the stairs. You didn't know, did you?" Yuuma felt his entire body go rigid. "Th-that's a lie. Sumika would never—" "I saw it happen. That girl, Sumika, pushed a girl who was trying to get close to you down the stairs." Her voice was low and clear. "And it wasn't just an injury. That girl left the school." Yuuma's mind went blank. Sumika had hurt someone. For a long time, Sumika had always acted to protect Yuuma. The meaning of that now weighed on him heavily. "Why... why would Sumika—" "To protect you. She did it to eliminate other girls. That is the true nature of your Sumika-san." There was clear intent in Inori's voice. To corner Yuuma. "You're making a face that says you wish you hadn't known." She gently touched the back of Yuuma's hand. "But you needed to know. Don't you think?" Yuuma pulled his hand away. "...How do you know about Sumika?" "My family has been in this city for a long time. So all kinds of information gathers with us." Inori's smile didn't waver. "Is that all?" "Who knows. I'll leave the rest to your imagination." Yuuma sensed something cold behind her smile. --- He had to confirm the truth. Yuuma left Inori and headed for the rooftop garden. The rooftop garden of Seirei Academy was one of the few places that male students could use freely. Planters with small herbs, and an old bench. The setting sun dyed the town in madder red. Sumika was there. "Yuuma-kun. I'm so happy you called for me." She smiled as always, her waist-length straight black-purple hair swaying in the wind. A small crescent-shaped scar at her neck. Her gentle eyes sparkled in the evening light. "Sumika, there's something I want to ask you." "What is it? You're so formal." Yuuma exhaled and spoke. "You... a long time ago... pushed a girl down the stairs. Is that true?" Sumika's smile froze. "Who told you that?" "It doesn't matter who. Is it true?" "...It's true." Sumika's voice changed. A tense atmosphere fell over the rooftop. "I would push anyone down the stairs to protect you." Her voice was eerily quiet. Not her usual gentle voice, but a freezing, monotone voice. "Sumika..." "That girl tried to lay her filthy hands on you. So I eliminated her." Her lips twisted into a strained smile. "It's fine. I'll protect you above all else. I will never hand you over to anyone." Yuuma felt the blood drain from his body. This was Sumika's true heart. A terrifying confession spilled from his childhood friend's lips. "...No." Yuuma shook off Sumika's hand. "Yuuma-kun?" "You thought doing something like that meant you were protecting me? Hurting people—" "Yes. Even if I have to hurt someone, I'll protect you. What's wrong with that?" A mad light dwelled in her eyes. "You can't survive without me, Yuuma-kun. So I have to protect you." Yuuma stepped back. "That's wrong... You can't call that protecting someone." "I am protecting you." "Sumika!" Yuuma shouted and ran from the rooftop garden. --- The next day. Inori appeared in Yuuma's classroom. "Yesterday seemed rough." She wore an elegant smile and perched on the edge of Yuuma's desk. "What do you want?" At Yuuma's curt response, Inori's smile only deepened. "Don't you want to know what happened between you and your Sumika-san yesterday? ...That was a joke. I came today because I have a deal to offer you." "A deal?" "Do you want to cut ties with Sumika-san? With that madwoman?" The classmates around them buzzed. Inori paid them no mind. "If you do, I'll help you. Give me your gene provision rights. If you become mine." Anger surged up inside Yuuma. "Why can someone like you badmouth Sumika? You just see me as a tool." "Oh? Is that wrong?" "It is wrong. Why are you both like this? Why do you treat me like an object?" Yuuma's voice wavered. Inori tilted her head slightly. "Because you're a man. Nothing more, nothing less. For the sake of my family, I need you. That's what I've been taught." Yuuma realized he was hurt by the coldness of those words. (She's serious. She seriously thinks of me as nothing but a tool.) "I won't let you escape, you know. Shall I expose Sumika-san's past?" Inori's threat. If Sumika's past spread through the school, Sumika would undoubtedly be isolated. That—that alone. "Wait." "The deal is tonight. Come to the garden of the Shirase estate, near your house. Then I'll consider it." She stood up. "What if I refuse?" "Then the truth about Sumika will become known to the entire school." Inori smiled. "The choice is yours." --- Night. Yuuma stood in the garden of the Shirase estate. A corner of Midorigaoka, the luxury residential district. Only moonlight illuminated the vast garden. Passing through a magnificent arch of roses, the Western-style mansion of the Shirase family loomed with an eerie stillness. "You came." Inori appeared from behind, dressed in casual clothes. Her white skin stood out against a black dress. Her faint smile looked even more alluring under the moonlight. "Let's get straight to it. Tell me your answer." "...I want to save Sumika." "Then you have no choice but to become mine." Inori reached toward Yuuma's chest. Her slender fingers traced the buttons of his shirt. "Yuuma-kun. Cast Sumika aside and become my partner." Yuuma firmly grabbed her hand. "Stop." "...What are you—" "I won't become anyone's tool." Inori's movements stopped. "Becoming your puppet to protect Sumika—that is the one thing I will never do." Yuuma's voice was trembling, but he didn't look away. "Even if you expose Sumika's past, I will never do what you want. Even if Sumika gets hurt because of it, I will never forgive you." Inori's fingers trembled slightly. For the first time, her eyes widened. "...According to the plan, you were supposed to become mine." "That's not something you do by plan." At Yuuma's words, Inori looked caught off guard. "Shut up. As if you could ever understand how I feel." She raised her voice. Her expression had lost its elegant mask. "For my family, I was raised as a tool to bring down men. You were just prey. And now that's starting to crumble... impossible." "Huh? What are you—" "Shut up!" Inori shouted and stepped back. "...Fine, then I'll expose it. Sumika's secret. The whole school will crush her. Be satisfied with that." "Are you really okay with that?" "I am! This is who I am!" Her voice echoed through the night garden. "...Yuuma. The fact that you look at me like I'm not a tool—that just pisses me off even more." With those words, Inori turned and walked back toward the mansion. Her retreating figure looked terribly lonely somehow. Yuuma stood rooted to the spot. Sumika's sin. Inori's threats. Both were more than Yuuma could handle. Even so. He wanted to protect Sumika. That confession on the rooftop. An obsession that could only be called madness. But behind it, he had seen something. He should have seen it. That moment when Sumika had briefly shown a face that looked like she was about to cry. To protect that. Yuuma clenched his fists. In the distance, the wind rustled the trees. The moonlight continued to quietly illuminate the garden. Yuuma gazed for a while in the direction Inori had disappeared. But in his mind, only Sumika's face remained.

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Episode 4

Name: National Treasure High
Author: Novelia

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