The next few days were followed by even more discrete bullying by the rest of the classroom against Hikaru. Her table was vandalised with profane words and drawings, telling her to leave the school, and the same was done to her locker, with someone having badly dented the front of it, causing the lock to break. Her sport shoes were missing and so were other items she had placed in her locker, replaced by thumb tacks that stabbed at her fingers as she reached in.

Despite all this, Hikaru stayed silent about the unfair treatment she was receiving. If you looked at her, you wouldn't even know she was getting bullied, except for the slightly sad look on her face which she was doing a good job at concealing.

Aya glanced over to her side at the badly vandalised table of Hikaru's. Most of it had been rubbed out, as Hikaru had been arriving to school early to rub it off herself, otherwise the teachers would had noticed.

Aya bit her lower lips, thinking about what to do. She didn't know the full extent of which Hikaru was being bullied, but she knew something was going on.

That stupid Fumiko! Does she think I'm an idiot? Of course, I can tell that Hikaru is getting bullied when you're that obvious!!

She sighed, glancing out at the window besides her desk. Why do I have to do something...? Isn't it fine like this... Maybe she'll leave and I won't get these feelings anymore...

But still... it hurts me to see Hikaru getting bullied...

This was unusual for Aya, as she had seen countless people being bullied before Hikaru, and she had never once given them a second thought. After all, there were so many unfortunate people in this world. If she was to feel sad about every single person that was sufferring misfortune, then she would be sad all the time!

"For the exam we had yesterday..." Mr. Abe was standing at the front of the classroom, holding a stack of paper. "I've got the results."

Excited mutterings occurred around the classroom, and people perked up to their seats curiously. Such was the school that was known as the top school in Tokyo.

"Firstly, I just want to let everyone know who got first place in this exam." Mr. Abe continued, his face glowing with pride. "This person has managed to achieve the top rank in the school for this exam."

The students in the classroom already knew who the person was. It was the same person every single time.

"Aya Kuramoto!" Mr. Abe announced, then glance over at Aya. I'm going to get another raise this year, thanks to this girl... I've been blessed with so much luck to be teaching this class... "Congratulations!"

Aya smiled politely from her desk. She didn't mind the attention of the classroom. She was used to it, and although she dressed and made herself look modest. She was far from it. She loved being showered with praises.

"It's nothing, really, Mr. Abe." Aya said, pretending to be embarrassed.

"You should be proud of yourself!" Mr. Abe said, not knowing that Aya was completely full of herself. "Don't talk down your achievements like that!"

Aya laughed, and the faces of the boys in the classroom went red.

From the corner of her eye, Aya could see Hikaru staring at her with admiration.

Wah, this girl's so smart! Hikaru thought to herself. I can't believe I'm sitting next to such a smart person!

Ah... Hikaru is staring at me...! Aya's cheeks went pink, and she tried to keep her eyes off Hikaru.

"Hey, are you okay...?" Fumiko blinked at Aya.

"Anyways, I'll start handing papers back now." Mr. Abe said, satisfied with himself with what he thought was helping Aya get more self-confidence.

Mr. Abe started calling names of students, and they rose up from their desk to collect their paper. Until finally...

"Uh..." Mr. Abe stared down at the last paper that he was holding, then glanced up at the room. "Hikaru...?"

Hikaru got up from her desk with a cheerful smile. It was an innocent smile, like that of a child.

As Hikaru reached the teacher's desk, Mr. Abe muttered something to her, then she nodded, her smile falling, and they left the classroom together.

"I'll just be one second." Mr. Abe said, before he left the room with Hikaru.

...

The classroom started chattering amongst themselves.

"Hikaru must had done really poorly for Mr. Abe to take her out of the room like that!"

"Can't she just go back to the country side! She's obviously not suited for Hibiya High!"

"She's ruining our class average!"

...

Aya glanced around at the conversations that were taking place around her, then bit her lower lips anxiously. It was like a new habit of hers now. She couldn't help it! Hikaru was making her worry all the time!

Noticing this, Fumiko stared at Aya.

"Aya... are you sure you're okay...?" Fumiko said. "You've been... acting differently..."

"Huh, me?" Aya caught herself, then quickly stopped biting her lips. Dammit! How could I be so careless? "Oh, I'm fine... thanks Fumiko..."

"I think Hikaru did pretty badly in the exam..." Sana said from behind Aya. "I saw her guessing some of the answers..."

"W-well, that's because she only just transferred here." Aya found herself defending Hikaru. "Anyone would do poorly if they only got one week to study."

Fumiko glanced at Aya strangely. "Didn't you say that Hikaru was annoying the other day...?"

"Yes." Aya shook her head. "But it doesn't make sense to make fun of her grades when she just transferred here."

"..."

Fumiko continued looking at Aya.

"I agree with Aya." Sana said. "I don't get why everyone's so mean to her..."

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Fumiko had no choice but to agree too. "Yeah, you're right, Aya."

Mr. Abe returned back to the classroom, and the classroom went quiet again. Hikaru followed after Mr. Abe with an embarrassed look on her face and she avoided the stares of students as she quickly went back to her desk, hiding her paper inside her bag.

It was obvious from her reaction that she had done poorly.

Ugh, Hikaru! Why do you have to be so obvious for?! Aya winced inside her mind. Now, everyone's gonna know you did poorly!

Mr. Abe coughed, drawing the attention of the room, and resumed teaching.

----------------------------------------

I've been at this school for an entire week, and I haven't made a single friend! Hikaru sunk deeper in her seat. I want to just go back to Takayama... The country side is so much better than Tokyo... Why am I so unlucky...?

Hikaru sighed. She had never wanted to come to Tokyo in the first place. Her parents wanted her to come here, spending all their money to send her to Hibiya High, a school known for its prestige. She had tried really hard in the entrance exams for her parents, and managed to actually gain admission, but inside the school...

She glanced down at her bag. She had gotten 41% in her paper, a mark that was incredibly low for Hibiya High, and especially for the class that she had entered. Mr. Abe had told her not to worry as it was the first week of her being in the school, but still...

She shook her head, trying to not let herself feel down. Even though, everything seemed to be going against her, she wanted to make her parents happy. She couldn't bare to see the look on their faces if she was to leave the school that they had spent so much money for her to enter. That was why she didn't tell anyone about the bullying.

Glancing at her side, Hikaru saw Aya laughing with Fumiko and Sana. The three of them were so pretty, but Aya was easily the prettiest. Aya had immaculate skin, and a face that was model-like with a pair of beautiful hazel eyes, surrounded by dark long lashes.

Besides her angelic face, Aya had a well developed body, sculpted with curves at all the right place. She also had a perfectly sized chest compared to Hikaru...

Hikaru stared down at her flat chest with a red face.

I wish I was like Aya...

She sighed again, then gazed around at the classroom which were filled with people talking to one another. She was the only one with no one to talk to. She glanced back at Aya's group.

I just want some friends... even just one would be good... Hikaru thought, then mustered her courage, puffing her face. It was lunchtime after all, and that meant everyone was talking to one another. It's not weird for me to talk to them... right?

"...And then, my dad said we will go to Europe for vacation!" Fumiko said, trying to entertain Aya.

"Europe?" Aya said. "I've been there so many times, isn't it boring after a while?"

"Ah, I've also gone to Europe." Sana said. "My parents took me there a few times because they had to go to a conference."

"It's fun! No one gets to go to as many vacations as you do, Aya." Fumiko laughed.

"E-Europe..."

A fourth voice coughed, drawing the attention of the three girls as they turned to look at Hikaru. Hikaru's face was red, and she was nervous to join their conversation. "...What's Europe like...?"

"You..." Fumiko stared at Hikaru with a blank look. "You've never been to Europe?"

Hikaru shook her head in a cute way, turning more than necessary.

She's so cute!! Aya stared at Hikaru, a blank look on her face too. I want to pat her head...

"Europe is really fun!" Sana said. "You should really go, there's a lot of interesting things to do!"

"R-really?" Hikaru said. "I-I want to go, but my parents can't afford it..."

"Your parents can't afford it?" Fumiko bit her tongue, trying to not laugh. "How are you even at this school?"

"H-hey Fumiko..." Sana said.

"They spent all their money to send me here..." Hikaru said. "My parents are fishermen..."

"Fishermen?" Fumiko snorted. "What? Come on, Hikaru. Please don't joke around like that!"

"I-I'm not joking..." Hikaru said, confused.

"Really? Fishermen?" Fumiko raised her voice, and the rest of the classroom was starting to giggle too. "You're too funny, Hikaru!"

Hikaru's cheeks reddened, hearing the classroom giggling.

"Don't worry." Fumiko was still chuckling. "No one is going to judge you here. We're all your friends."

"Oh, okay..." Hikaru felt comforted by Fumiko calling her a friend.

"You do know about Aya, right?" Fumiko said, and Aya felt herself tensing. She felt awkward when Hikaru was looking at her.

"Aya's family owns the Kuramoto bank! The biggest bank in the country! Surely, even you've heard about that, right?" Fumiko said proudly, placing her hands on Aya's shoulders. "The Kuramoto family comes from a long heritage of financial experts and bankers!"

"Ah, stop it, Fumiko..." Aya laughed, but this time she was actually being genuinely modest. Usually, she liked to let people know about her background on purpose in a subtle way to feed her ego.

"Sana's family, the Hirata group are famous academics in the science field! And my family owns the JMC network! One of the largest telecommunications company in Japan!" Fumiko announced. "It's nice to be acquainted with you, uh... fishermen Hikaru."

"Come on, that's enough..." Aya forced a smile, trying to stop Fumiko from saying more. Jeez, this girl is almost like me inside, except she doesn't care to hide it. Probably because she's too stupid.

Seeing that Aya was telling her to stop, Fumiko restrained herself from saying more, although she wanted to continue to tease Hikaru. "Anyways, we'll let you eat your sandwich in peace!" Fumiko said. "I'm sure you don't want it to go stale!"

"Ah, okay..." Hikaru nodded, not knowing that Fumiko was teasing her. She felt happy that Fumiko was calling her a friend.

With that, Hikaru turned to her sandwich, eating it by herself while reading her notes.

"That was too much..." Sana said, looking at Fumiko.

"What?" Fumiko laughed playfully. "I was just trying to be nice."

"..."

Sana didn't want to call Fumiko out. But she knew that Fumiko wasn't 'trying to be nice'.

"Do you guys... think that Hikaru is really cute...?" Aya said.

"Huh?" Fumiko blinked. "I mean..." She glanced over at Hikaru, then back at Aya. "Sure... but you're way better looking than her, Aya."

"She is cute. I agree." Sana nodded.

"I mean... do you guys ever want to just pat her head..." Aya continued.

"Um... no." Fumiko couldn't see where this conversation was going. "She's cute, but that's normal... there's heaps of cute girls at this school."

"Uh, yeah. I don't really feel that way..." Even Sana was backing out. "Do you want to pat her head, Aya?"

"No!" Aya snapped, her face red. "I was just asking! That's all!"

"Ah, okay..." Sana said.

----------------------------------------

At the end of school, Fumiko excused herself from Aya and Sana, saying that she had to go to volleyball practice. It was true that Fumiko was an excellent volleyball player, but that wasn't the real reason she had disappeared. She had really gone off for a different purpose.

After making sure that Aya and Sana had walked off, Fumiko waited at the end of the school with a group of other students. Kenzou was amongst these students.

"Hey Fumiko!" The students greeted Fumiko cheerfully.

"Fumiko." Kenzou nodded, seeing her. "Did you make sure Aya has gone off first?"

"Yeah, I did." Fumiko said with a wink. "Of course."

A tall guy with black hair and a handsome face emerged from the group. It was Eito.

"So... where's this girl that has been bothering Aya recently?" Eito said, his face showing hints of anger. Who is it that has been annoying the love of my life? I need to help Aya ease her mind. And then maybe we could...

Eito's face reddened at his thoughts. No! The beautiful Aya wouldn't do such an indecent thing with someone like me... I must calm my thoughts, Eito...

Fumiko gave Eito a disgusted look, seeing him deep in his thoughts, then sighed. "She should be coming any minute now."

Waiting for a while more, they finally spotted the person they were looking for.

Plain, black hair and a pair of innocent brown eyes. Hikaru was walking out of the school and towards the gates with a cheery look on her face.

"There she is." Fumiko whispered to the group.

As Hikaru approached closer to the gate where the group was waiting, Fumiko stepped in front of her way with a playful smile.

"Heey, Hikaru~!" Fumiko sang. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, hi Fumiko!" Hikaru was slightly surprised to see Fumiko stopping her at the gates. "I'm just going home." She laughed nervously, seeing the group gathered next to Fumiko's side. One of the guys, a tall boy with black hair was glaring at her angrily. There was about fifteen people with Fumiko.

"Going home already?" Kenzou walked next to Fumiko, joining her in stopping Hikaru's way. "Why don't you come play with us first?"

Ek! What's going on? Hikaru glanced at Kenzou with a frightened face. That's the boy that took my sandwich the other day...

"I-I have to get home..." Hikaru said. "My mum is waiting for me..."

"I'm sure she won't mind if you're just a tiny bit late." Fumiko laughed, grabbing onto Hikaru's hand. "Come on, we're friends, right?"

...

Hikaru stared down at Fumiko's hand that was grabbing onto her. Friends? She felt more at ease, then she smiled weakly up at Fumiko. "I-I guess I can stay for a bit..."

"Great!" Fumiko said. "Let's go this way then!"

Fumiko started dragging her back into the school, and away from the exit.

"A-are we going back to the school?" Hikaru asked.

"Yes!" Fumiko said, as her group followed the two of them. "Trust me. We're friends!"