All I could do was sit in my seat and slump my shoulders.
“That’s why we have to call for help personally. That’s how it is. Do you get it now? Masa, omi, -kun?”
Mizuno-san bit her lip at Mutsuki-san’s derisive words.
“……Yeah, I got it.”
I poured water on the burning flame inside me and suppressed my irritation.
“Now we can finally get down to business. Your information has now caught up with us, so please come up with a slightly better opinion.”
She plays with her bangs.
It seems like a sign that she doesn’t have high expectations for me.
“There are two options. One is to stay at school and call for help. The other is to escape from school and seek help. Based on the discussion we had just now, it was decided that the trend was firmly in favor of the escape proposal.”
“I agree. There’s no guarantee that someone will come to help us if we stay here. Besides, we need to take action ourselves to get things started. I really hate being passive.”
“So, that’s the plan. Does anyone have any objections? If not, we’ll proceed in that direction.”
The conversation was about to come to an end.
The student council president has become so forceful that it has become impossible to raise any objections or questions.
During that time, I noticed something.
“I am so, so sorry. Just one more thing.”
The student council president glared and nodded, allowing me to speak.
“I don’t mind running away from here. I agree with that too. But――”
I can’t help but put strength into my fist.
“Are there no more survivors in the gymnasium?”
The student council room falls silent.
Should I say that the movement of the people in the room had stopped?
“What’s the point of you asking that?”
“What do you mean……if there are survivors, shouldn’t we help them? Before we run away or wait for help or anything like that.”
“I see. That’s true too. Then you can go help.”
An eerie light dwells behind his glasses.
“However. That’s only if there’s someone who agrees.”
I looked around.
“It can’t be”
Kazuki was grinding his teeth in frustration, Kana was still smiling every time we made eye contact, Mutsuki-san was blatantly turning her head away, and Mizuno-san was looking down and clutching her skirt.
“……You’re kidding, right?”
As for the student council president, it looks like he’s trying to burn me to death with his burning eyes.
“What about your friends? Your classmates? They should all be friends you’ve lived with up until now.”
I stand up. Emotions come alive again.
“They might be alive, they might be asking for help. It would be wrong to leave them behind and run away!”
I look around and make appeals as if I were campaigning.
“There might be someone hiding somewhere, waiting for us to come and save them! You won’t know that everyone was killed by the monsters until you go help them!”
I look back at Kazuki.
If it’s Kazuki.
“Hey, Kazuki! Don’t you think so?”
“Masaomi……”
I felt like I saw a ray of dawn there.
“Masaomi…sit down.”
“Kazuki! Even you!”
The atmosphere is different.
“Think carefully about what you’re saying.”
“Think…… carefully?”
Kazuki hesitated whether to say anything or not, then opened his mouth gravely.
“You…… ran away, didn’t you? That time…… before thinking about saving someone else, you escaped, right? As proof of that, you were going to abandon Mizuno-san. If I hadn’t called out to you, wouldn’t you have abandoned Mizuno-san and Kana? Am I wrong?”
“That was……”
A spider came out of the teacher’s mouth and I was somehow saved by Kazuki.
However, a huge fear drove me to flee.
It never occurred to me that Mizuno-san was lame.
“Why are you now trying to help others? Even though you tried to quickly run away, can you really save someone else? You’re talking about saving others but, Masaomi, when one of us is in danger…… can you really help that person? Can you say with conviction that you won’t run away by yourself? I think you’re saying something cruel…… Sure, I also want to help them. I painfully understand what you’re trying to say. However……”
“Then!”
“You, turn this way.”
Mutsuki-san’s voice made me turn around.
――However, my vision turned completely white the next moment.
My cheek is hit.
I didn’t understand what had happened, and it took me a few seconds to even realize the pain.
“……A hypocrite like you shouldn’t get so emotional.”
I fell on my butt from the surprise attack and hit my back against the wall.
“It makes me sick. Listening to people like you talk like this.”
“I feel the same.”
The student council president’s cold words pierce my heart.
In addition, the pain of Mutsuki-san’s hit and the words she spat at me cut deep into my heart.
In both cases, the pain was so severe that I almost started crying.
“Masaomi, are you okay?”
Kana got up from her seat, sat down next to me, and gently stroked my cheek.
“What a pathetic man.”
Mutsuki-san spits out.
“You must have been brought up indulgently .”
Mutsuki-san’s every word keeps hitting the mark, and my heart aches every time.
“There, there. Pain, pain, fly away~.”
Kana was the only one by my side smiling and trying to comfort me.
I didn’t have the masculinity to shake it off or the will to force myself to retort.
On the contrary, I’m even driven by the impulse to want to be spoiled by Kana’s kindness.
“I don’t understand why any woman would sympathize with a man like this.”
I look down at the floor.
I can’t see anyone’s gaze right now. It felt like everyone in this room was staring at me with contempt.
“Mutsuki, don’t do any more than that, it’s a waste of time.”
I can’t even shake off the disparagement myself, so someone else has to step in and stop her.
I find myself becoming more and more miserable.
“B, Bad news. We’re gonna get killed!”
Satou, who should have rushed outside, rushed inside with the force of kicking down the door.
“What is it?”
Kazuki and the student council president sense something abnormal and leave their seats.
Satou seems to be having difficulty breathing and is having a hard time getting his first words out.
“What happened?”
Kazuki grabs Sato’s shoulder and tries to find out what’s wrong.
“Everyone…… is coming out…… of the gymnasium!”
“Impossible!”
The student council president loses his cool and storms out of the student council room.
“No way, how can something like that……”
Mutsuki-san follows suit.
Satou glanced at me, unable to understand what had happened.
However, when I immediately realized that I couldn’t make a comeback, I hurriedly followed the student council president and went outside again.
“Masaomi, you got hurt. Don’t worry, I’ll heal you.”
After Kazuki confirmed that Satou had left, he approached me.
“Masaomi, I’ll say it clearly.”
Kazuki spoke in an unusually serious tone.
“I…… believe that saving you and Kana are enough. You two are my very precious treasures. That’s why, I don’t care what happens to other people. However, I will protect you and Kana even at the cost of my life. That’s why I can’t agree to your plan. I can’t put you in danger. Please understand.”
Kazuki patted me on the shoulder and started leaving the student council room to check on the situation.
“Mizuno-san…I’m sorry. I’m that kind of person.”
Kazuki’s voice was filled with sadness.
“Okay…… I understand……”
Mizuno-san smiled at Kazuki with tears in her eyes.
“Kazuki-kun is…… actually a good person, I know that much.”
Kazuki gave a peace sign and tightened his mouth.
“Leave your treasure to me.”
Mizuno-san also responded with a peace sign.
“I trust you. Oops, you’re over here, Kana.”
“I will always stay by Masaomi’s side.”
She whines.
“Forget it, I can’t protect you two by myself.”
Kazuki’s footsteps move away from the student council room as he forcibly pulls the reluctant Kana.
Mizuno-san and I were left alone in the student council room.
