After crying a lot, I took a couple of days to feel ready to go back to school... after all, I feel like now I don’t have a reason to go back to that nasty place... not now that there is nothing worthwhile for me.

Or that’s what I thought the first few days, because deep down I know that even though my little brother and my boyfriend have died, there are still many things I must do in this life.

“Mom, dad, I’m leaving...”

“Are you sure about being okay, darling?” My mother had a slightly worried expression.

“You don’t have to force yourself... going back there must be something traumatic for you Yukiko... you can take a few more days off, we won’t blame you if you want to wait some more time” standing on both cupped palms of my mother, my father tried to persuade me.

“No… really” I denied, forcing a smile in my face. “It’s okay, I can handle this.”

Although my mouth was saying one thing, my swollen eyes and my numb heart said something else entirely.

Hitting the tip of my shoes with the floor to adjust them to my feet, I saw the palm of my hand where two people should be like the rest of the days I left for school, a pressure dominated my chest. Sighing deeply to keep from crying, I shook my head briefly and opened the door.

“I’m leaving...”

My stiff smile disappeared as soon as I turned my back on them and changing to a sour expression, I got on my way.

***

As soon as I stepped foot inside the school building, the entire place was filled with a thick mist accompanied by a pungent smell so intense that I almost avoided coughing. I wasn’t able to identify what kind of smell was this... but more importantly... nobody else seems to feel the mist or smell, everybody walk with their faces full of energy in their lively teen and youth filled lives of high school. Am I the only one who can see and smell this?

Now that I remember... it appeared for the first time just when I found the bodies of Masashi and Seiichi... does this have something to do with it?

However, my attention is so distracted from my surroundings and my spirit so subdued that I decided not to continue paying attention to it; filling my lungs with the unpleasant smell that I could only describe as “disgrace”, I changed my shoes for the indoor slippers and headed to my classroom where classes were about to start.

Paying the minimum necessary attention to the path so as not to crush some micro student while walking, I ignored anything other than that.

Upon reaching my classroom, I took a seat ignoring everyone and everything and resting my head on both arms on the table.

It wasn’t long before I heard a familiar voice reach my ears, a voice that clearly belonged to a micro… a voice that I had hoped I wouldn’t have to face today.

“Yukiko…”

I opened my eyes as wide as I could as soon as I heard her, lifting my head, I saw a tiny body standing in front of me on my table. That body and that voice belonged to no one but my best friend, Nakahara Kana.

“K-Kana-chan...”

The manner and tone she used to refer to me left me cold, feeling strangely distant since Kana always used the ‘chan’ to address me.

“Never call me that way again...”

Oh no…

“K-Kana-chan… liste-!”

“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR YOU!”

Despite being sparse in terms of size, Kana’s scream managed to focus some of the gazes in the classroom on us, something I wanted to avoid at all costs at this point. The stridency of her scream made me react by opening my eyes in shock again and sitting upright, as if I was being scolded by an imposing old man.

“Dad… dad, mom and I entrusted my brother’s life to you… you… you promised that you wouldn’t let anyone hurt him… you swore you would protect him…” As she spoke, Kana’s voice had highs and lows, breaking occasionally while tears spilled from her eyes that had a sad expression at first. “BUT NOW MASASHI IS DEAD!” And now they were filled with hatred, with exemplary rudeness and strength that were shot like flames at me.

Having internally understood Kana’s state, I decided not to reproach her for anything and just let her vent to me by nodding slowly… after all…

“AND IT’S YOUR FAULT!!”

Aaah... she said it...

Nodding silently once more and trying to erase any emotion from my face, I looked like a robot shaking my head up and down as Kana spat venom at me.

“IT’S YOUR FAULT THAT MASASHI DIED!”

I nodded.

“YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD PROTECT HIM, BITCH, YOU’RE A LIAR!”

I nodded.

“Are... aren’t you ashamed? HOW CAN YOU SHOW YOUR FACE HERE AGAIN?!”

I nodded again.

“YOU’RE A MONSTER”

I nodded once more.

“YOU HAVE NO IDEA OF HOW I FEEL!! WHY DO YOU KEEP NODDING?! DAMN!!!”

And I continued nodding.

Her exasperated voice let out an almost animal cry, dropping to her knees in front of me as she cried out loud. Still, I didn’t stop nodding.

Yes, you’re right... I don’t know how you feel, someone has taken the life of your dear brother... I... I have no idea how you feel...

Yes…

Because I don’t have the slightest right to reproach or contradict you... since I am a lying monster.

One of our normal sized friends approached with a nervous expression seeing the commotion that was taking place on my table.

“C-come on Nakahara-chan… calm down a bit… Miyashiro-chan also went through a lot…”

Ignoring her completely, Kana continued crying as if her life depended on it.

“Miyashiro-chan… do you want me to take her to her place?”

Silently, I nodded once more seeing the friendly girl a little taller than me with a stiff smile on her face.

“Well... come on Nakahara-chan...” Taking her carefully, Kana who despite being taken without her permission, doesn’t seem to have given it much importance in the midst of her misfortune.

Everyone in the room went about their business as if nothing had happened... naturally, not only because those who died were practically unknown to them but they were two micros... who cares about a couple of micros that died in a grotesque way? After all... in this school the death of micros is something daily and normal, is not like that can cause a great commotion, at most it will serve to have a topic to talk about when there’s nothing better to discuss.

“Hey, do you already know? A couple of micros died the other day”

“And what’s so special about it? It happens every day!”

There’s no sense... on thinking about it.

***

“Nakahara-chan… I think you went too far with what you said to Miyashiro-chan earlier…”

“I went too far!? Because of her… because of her my brother is dead!”

The classroom had only been left with a small group of people at lunchtime, among whom a group of girls was talking about the same subject, “the discussion between Kana and Yukiko.”

“You don’t know the whole story… do you?”

“Huh...? What are you talking about?”

“Ehm…” Another of the girls in the group put on a complicated expression when she decided to explain to Kana the big mistake she had committed. “You may have been a little wrong when you told her that she doesn’t understand how you feel...”

“But is tru-!

“Nakahara-chan… your brother wasn’t the only one who died that day…”

After swallowing, another girl spat out the terrible words.

“Her little brother, Miyashiro Seiichi was found dead next to Nakahara-kun…”

“H-huh…?”

“Apparently the scene was quite grotesque and unfortunately it was she who found them… the truth is that I feel bad for Miyashiro-chan…”

Kana felt a sudden pain seize her stomach, a pain that told her that she had done something terribly wrong, it was her conscience that made her feel terribly guilty.

“I asked a teacher and that’s what he told me… it was a really complicated case, that’s the reason because she was absent these last few days. In fact I thought she would be absent for longer, I was surprised to see that she returned to school so soon...”

Kana’s heart trembled, a lot of emotions vibrated roughly inside of her, her expression remained perplexed and her body immobile for the rest of the conversation, only nodding or specifically answering certain questions that were asked.

After a few minutes, the girls who were with her decided to go out for a drink, Kana decided to wait in the classroom while they returned. However, they weren’t the only ones to leave, most of the students at this point had already left the room, leaving the micro girl alone with her guilty thoughts without even being able to apologize since Yukiko, like the others, had left the classroom a while ago.

“I… I shouldn’t have said that…”

Amid her regrets, a shrill feminine voice sounded from her left, turning to see who it was, Kana froze in place.

“Trash should know its place... doesn’t talking to a human like that seem ridiculous, dwarf?”

Two fingers approached at high speed and held the fragile body of the tiny girl without any care, her previously numbed heart began to beat like crazy as the breakneck speed brought her in front of the gigantic girl’s face with a wicked smile.

“Muraoka-san!”

“You know... I hate micros... but you know I hate more?”

They were both silent for a moment until Muraoka Yumiko finished her sentence with a sinister voice tone.

“Little trash like you who thinks it’s at our same level...”

Terror seized Kana, with nothing she could do, only destiny was able to decide her fate.

***

The thick unpleasant mist does not disperse... the smell is still there as horrible as usual, I would say that I was lucky to be able to eat without vomiting while the pungent smell of death filled my nostrils, my rest time, being hardly a rest came to its end once I decided to go back to my classroom.

In no mood to keep wandering around, I opened the sliding door of my classroom to find only one undesirable person whom I have decided to ignore most of the time in my school life. Muraoka Yumiko, her unpleasant personality makes her arrogant but that’s not the worst, it’s her terrible behavior regarding micros. Many micro murders are attributed to her, of which she always manages to get away simply due to lack of evidence... it is like that most of the time with all the psychopaths in this school. The same will surely happen with Masashi and Seiichi murderer.

Crossing through the empty room, I arrived to my place and tiredly fell on my seat, exhausted from this day and from this suffering, I just wanted to rest a little...

*Sploch*

“...”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

A strange sound came from my seat when my butt made contact with it, it was then that my heart stopped, at the same time a disgusting laugher came non-stop from behind me.

Getting up slowly from my seat, I turned to verify the origin of the sound... the moments that took me turning felt uncomfortably long but when I turned around and took a look...

A red stain on the seat ended my rational thinking while the mocking laughter went on and on and on.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT WAS SO EASY! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.”

My face tightened, even so I felt that I was not making any facial expression, looking up at the place where the laughter was coming from, I felt as if my vision darkened and my thoughts stopped.

The last thing I remember was her face of terror and fuzzy screams suddenly appearing.

“STOP, MIYASHIRO!”

“MIYASHIRO!”

“STOP IT, NOW!”

An impact.

Two hits.

Three and four…

Five.

The impacts didn’t stopped.

The eventual damp sensation on my knuckles felt so gratifying… as if it released all that tension that the last few days have produced in me.

This flow of violent emotions that overflowed inside of me consequently can no longer be stopped.

I forgot the rest of what happened then.

***

After the incident between me and Muraoka Yumiko, I was suspended from school for a whole month for the serious offense I committed.

A couple of days later, my parents went out for work while I remained locked at home as is now customary for me, hugging my pillow with my mind in the clouds.

It was approximately 3PM when I heard knocks coming from the apartment door. Getting off the bed, I left the room and headed for the entrance but what I found when I opened the door froze me.

A couple of tall guys standing in front of the entrance looked at me as soon as I finished opening it. Without understanding what was happening, I just stood there staring back at them.

“Miyashiro Yukiko-san?”

“T-that’s right...”

“We need you to come with us for now.”

“W-who are you...?”

“Police” said one of them as he took a badge from his pocket and placed it in front of me. “You’re under arrest for being a suspect in the murder of Miyashiro Seiichi and Nakahara Masashi.”

“What...?”

“For the murder of Nakahara Kana...”

My vision is distorted.

“And for attempting against the physical integrity of Muraoka Yumiko.”

“This... has to be a joke...”

One of the subjects took my arms and put handcuffs on them, the cold metal and the sound of the chains hit my consciousness, sending me to a parallel world inside of my mind.

Is it possible... that the tears keep coming out of my eyes?

Is this my punishment for what Kana told me before she died?

***

In a solitary cell, I lay in the middle of the cold night without even a blanket to cover me.

Convincing myself of the guilt that I deserve for the afternoon and the rest of the night, I remained in fetal position in a corner watching my bare and trembling feet, the tears that dried in my eyes no longer came out and my heart was reeling in agony filled with pain I couldn’t describe as physical.

I think that was when something definitely started to change… no, the correct thing is to say that something broke inside of me.

***

The Nakahara family… or what was left of it, blamed me for the murder of their children, Nakahara Masashi and Nakahara Kana. On the other hand, Muraoka Yumiko’s parents brought charges against me due to the deplorable state in which I left their beloved daughter.

However, midway through the trial, it was stated that someone who “testified on my behalf” was found. Apparently a girl in my class saw how everything happened when I assaulted Muraoka...

From the looks of it, this Muraoka girl took Kana ahead of time when her group left class and placed her in my seat before I arrived with nobody else close to look. The girl felt so scared that she was unable to intervene until she saw I started hitting Muraoka. It is unknown if Kana’s silence even when I was about to sit on her was due to her being unconscious or dead as such, so I will never be certain if it was I who killed her.

Additionally, thanks to the fact that my father knew the judge from their high school days and they were very good friends, the trial went in my favor, everything resulting in a ‘terrible accident’ witnesses also appeared saying that I was not guilty of the death of my brother and my boyfriend... I really don’t remember so much of the case but the only thing I can remember clearly is the crying of Masashi’s parents when I was declared innocent.

They kept telling me things like “monster” or “demon”... not that I can blame them after all the suffering I caused to their family.

In the end, I never knew for sure what would happen to Muraoka since she ended up being held responsible for the murder of Nakahara Kana but I don’t know if thanks to what I did to her, her sentence would be lightened or something like that.

I seriously think that I should have been found guilty that day, if that way I had made them happy after all the pain they went through... I think I would have been more satisfied with that result...