Yuno Gasai landed a fatal blow.
Sen Getsusa gave her an exasperated look, and after swallowing a small piece of seaweed, her fingers scratched at Yuno's waist like claws.
"You've really learned to be bad now."
"Blehh."
Regardless of what was said, she maintained that giggling appearance, even though the perpetrator herself didn't think this was her true expression—that poisoned and cold heart was thumping at all times to remind her.
This was the cute side she reserved solely for Sen Getsusa. Although it was disguised... no, as long as the rose is beautiful enough, who cares how filthy the place it grew from was?
The two of them leisurely finished their lunch and packed up their lunchboxes. Sitting on the bench, they both unconsciously closed their eyes, feeling the wind blowing from the edge of the rooftop.
Yuno Gasai spoke softly about what she had seen and heard while she was away, and Sen Getsusa also chatted about recent events.
Inevitably, Kasumiko was mentioned.
"Eh? A novelist?"
Sen Getsusa nodded and corrected, "A novelist full of potential."
She thought very highly of Kasumiko's Love Metronome.
Currently, the manuscript had been sent back by the editor for revisions, only because the author's descriptions of some emotional details weren't vivid or deep enough. This was a matter of life experience and didn't change the fact that the author was exceptionally talented.
At the very least, Sen Getsusa believed that even if Love Metronome didn't become a massive hit, it would still be an outstanding work.
"Tsukihime's evaluation is that high? That's rare."
Yuno Gasai opened her eyes and tilted her head curiously. "Now I really want to read this novel."
"The author sent it to me privately," Sen Getsusa said with a smile. "The outline shows it's a love triangle."
Naoto, Sayuka, and Mayu.
Yuno Gasai listened quietly as Sen Getsusa briefly touched upon the problematic areas—a good reader points out issues, but solving them still relies on the author herself.
"I thought you would egg the author on to make the two girls fall in love and join forces to ditch the male lead."
Yuno Gasai looked around the empty rooftop and giggled.
Sen Getsusa didn't respond.
Her gaze passed through the wire mesh at the edge of the rooftop and drifted down to the playground below. A dozen or so Boys who had quickly finished their lunch were gathered together, scrambling for a ball.
A few girls were walking hand-in-hand around the track, quietly glancing toward the sweating Boys while they chatted.
However, the Boys were completely oblivious.
They only cared about the soccer ball at their feet.
"No, I won't. I hope the author can publish 'normally'."
A certain word in Sen Getsusa's sentence seemed directed at herself. The afternoon breeze stirred her long, seaweed-like hair, a strand of which hung over her cheek, looking hazy and graceful in the light.
A few sparrows landed on the protruding edge of the building, and the air carried a faint scent of flowers.
Yuno Gasai stared blankly at this scene, remaining silent.
After a dozen seconds of stillness, Sen Getsusa suddenly turned her head and flashed a brilliant smile at Yuno Gasai; it was as if a rose had suddenly bloomed.
"Hey, it's easy to act up when you're full."
She stepped through the light, leaned down in front of Yuno Gasai, and picked up the lunch box bag.
"Let's go."
The iron door closed from the outside, and the rooftop returned to silence.
Shortly after, the rustling sound of pages turning and paper rubbing reappeared.
Kasumigaoka Utaha sat on a bench behind the corner, intently reading a novel.
She stayed on that page for a long time... During lunch break, there was almost no one in the classroom.
Nakajima Saki walked in leisurely with two other girls.
They observed the door for a while until only Hayami Mari was left in the classroom.
Well, Miss Fun was waiting for her.
Hayami Mari still looked the same as she did this morning, with messy hair and old clothes. At this moment, she was using a fork to pick up a piece of potato from her lunch box—there were only two pieces of potato and a few small leaves of vegetables inside. The worn-out lunch box held a meal that wouldn't even satisfy a Child.
Saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth, making a'slurp' sound as she ate, and mixed with potato scraps, the saliva slowly seeped into Hayami Mari's collar.
A complete mess.
Nakajima Saki saw this scene as soon as she entered.
She gave the girl a disgusted look, then turned and quietly signaled to her two lackeys—
Lackey was a rather important term in Nakajima Saki's World.
It was often used for students who were happy to follow her orders after seeing her and her wealthy family background.
At this moment, the two lackeys looked hesitant.
"Hurry up, bring it here. Don't you think it's interesting?"
She urged them, calling out the two girls' names. "I said, didn't you both agree just now?"
"The teacher... the teacher will find out." One of the short-haired girls seemed to want to back out; she didn't want her parents to be called in right after starting school.
"Of course not. Even if they find out, can't you just blame it on me?"
Nakajima Saki didn't care at all. She went to the door and closed it tight. When she turned back, she walked up to Hayami Mari and casually toyed with her hair. "Even a fool shouldn't be this slovenly, right?"
Hayami Mari sat there like a wooden doll, a potato in her mouth, staring blankly down.
"See? It's fine."
Nakajima Saki showed off her results to the two lackeys, even grabbing Hayami Mari's hair and swinging it around, as if she were manipulating a pet on a leash.
The girl felt a sharp pain, and her voice was intermittent: "Hair, not stupid."
Nakajima Saki brushed her hands off in disgust, pouted, and sat in Sen Getsusa's seat. She reached out to take the item handed over by the lackeys—
It was a feminine hygiene product.
It was unclear who had used it, but this long white cotton pad was covered in a large amount of wet blood, with the sticky substance gradually seeping down.
Nakajima Saki pinched one end, carefully placed it on the desk, and then patted Hayami Mari's face with alternating hands. "Stupid, do your parents not like you?"
Hayami Mari's vacant eyes looked over. "...Like?"
Nakajima Saki lowered her voice, her tone full of temptation. "He definitely doesn't like you. Look, you're not pretty at all."
"Who would like an ugly Child?"
Hayami Mari's narrow eyes were dull and lifeless. She anxiously scratched her hair, her hands moving restlessly as if they would become conspicuously in the way if she didn't find something for them to do or somewhere for them to stay.
She looked like someone with ADHD, her arms raising and lowering irregularly. "What to do, Mari isn't pretty... not pretty... Mama likes... doesn't like..."
Nakajima Saki snapped her fingers. "So, I'm going to help you."
The girl pulled an eyeliner brush from her exquisite makeup bag, held it in her hand, and tilted her head up.
"You have to beg me properly. After the lunch break, I won't help you anymore," she said.
Hayami Mari grew anxious. She wanted to grab Nakajima Saki's arm but was a bit timid.
After hesitating for a long time, neither advancing nor retreating, she only lightly tapped the back of Nakajima Saki's hand with her fingers—
Her eyes were filled with fawning and pleading.
"Beg..."
"Remember, you're the one who begged me."
Nakajima Saki had a wicked grin, her upturned eyes matching her current mood. Turning back, she beckoned the two lackeys to come over.
Then, one person held up a phone to film while the other handed over tools.
Nakajima Saki thrust the eyeliner brush into the wet, dark blood in the center of the pad, swirling it around like a brush being loaded with ink.
A strange smell emanated from it.
Then, that brush full of dark blood was smeared onto Hayami Mari's face.
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