***

When I finally got to the rooftop after Mr. Horikita's consultation with me, I saw that it was empty.

"No way! I missed such a juicy moment of Kakeru being confessed to by twins at the same time. It's all because of that stupid Mr. Horikita." I complained bitterly to myself.

"Sigh. I wonder how it went in the end. Oh well, let's just go to the club room for now."

I sighed with disappointment and left the roof top. On my way there, I passed by several students walking in different directions. Some looked happy while others appeared sad and depressed. When they saw me, they started murmuring something.

"Oh, isn't that 'Crazy Yuu'?"

"Oh, that's right, it's that blockhead. What is she up to now?"

"Hey, did you hear? Apparently she made the transfer students that recently came to our school, join her silly club."

"'Supernatural Research Club'. What kind of nonsense is that even? Does she think anyone would believe that?"

"What is she even doing, troubling Shun like that?"

"Right? She even started calling him 'vampire, vampire' all the time. It's really disgusting!"

"Is her head really alright?"

"It gets worse. There was this rumour spreading among us girls that she does all this because she likes him or something."

"Ech?! Isn't that like, super gross? Why would a guy like that fall for someone like her?!"

"She is probably threatening him somehow. Or maybe blackmailing him with something. Who knows...?”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Some of them laughed mockingly, while others frowned and shook their heads. They glared at me with disgust. But despite all this negative attention, I continued forward. It made my chest hurt a bit, but I ignored them and continued to walk toward my destination. My legs felt weak and unsteady. Something inside me told me I should run away from here, fast. However, I forced myself to keep moving forward normally.

When I was alone again I realised I was before the club room door. But I didn't open it. I just stood there motionlessly, staring at the door in a daze.

The voices of the people I passed by earlier echoed faintly in my ears.

"*Sniff, sniff*"

Before I knew it, tears were already falling from my eyes without warning. Crying silently on the spot, unable to stop it. Tears flowed freely down my cheeks. Droplets landed onto my shirt. Wetting it with each passing second.

"W-why? Why it's always like this...? *Sniff*"

My heart ached terribly. No matter how hard I tried to control my emotions, nothing changed. My whole body started to tremble violently. More tears streamed down my face. I crossed my arms tightly across my chest.

I felt so lonely and desperate. So helpless and hopeless. As if no one understood why I was crying. I wished I could find someone who truly cared. Someone who would understand what I was going through. To comfort me and console me. Instead I found only contemptuous stares and mocking laughter.

"How unfair."

"W-why is this happening to me?"

"What did I do wrong? *Sniff, sniff*"

Then I heard the sound of door opening before me.

"Ech? Shun?"

Looking up I saw a familiar figure standing in the doorway. He wore his usual serious look on his handsome face.

"Hey, you idiot. What are you standing there fo..."

Then, when he saw me, his expression changed. His eyebrows raised in surprise and confusion at my crying face.

"...hey... what happened to you?" he hesitated. "Did... did someone try something on you again?"

His voice sounded concerned and worried, but it also felt scary somehow.

"N-no. It's nothing. Nothing happened." I turned around to hide my face from him.

Then I heard others voices approaching behind him.

"Hey, Yuu, what happened, are you crying?"

"Brother what happened to Yuu?"

"Yuu~?"

Shun and Mika, my little brother Kakeru and Luna, they all surrounded me suddenly. Their faces showed concern over me.

"I-It's nothing, *sniff*, I... I just tripped that's all. Ha, haha. *sniff*" I managed to smile back at them. But it wasn't convincing enough. They still had doubt in their expressions. I wanted to explain everything to them. Everything that happened today. But I couldn't bring myself to talk about it.

They kept asking questions, but I pretended to answer none of them. Finally, I calmed down and we entered the club room.

***