CH 12 – Isamu Ishikawa. I’ll reveal your secrets, no matter what.
[Chiaki Inoue's POV]
Humiliation.
It felt like my heart dropped, the moment the bags fell out of my hands and splattered on the floor, revealing the cute frilly clothes that I so desperately tried to hide from the outside world.
'NO!'
I scrambled for the clothes, trying to quickly hide them and stuff them back in the bags, but alas, even if my mind was in denial of the situation, I instinctively knew that it was already too late.
Was I that afraid?
Afraid of showing this side of me to the outside world?
It felt like my whole body was just wiggling and squirming, as if a monster took control of it. Darkened eyes, pounding heart, chattering of my teeth.
Hidden behind my bright, easygoing, "idol" mask, was just... plain old me.
Desperately trying to make an excuse, I tried talking to the stranger, pretending that it was for my imaginary sister, even if the stranger didn't know who I was.
It seemed that in the end, it didn't matter who the person was - I didn't want to reveal this part of me to anyone.
Yet.
I looked up.
There stood a man with an aggressive glint to his eye, his sulky eyes pondering upon me. A few piercings on his pale earlobes, not to mention the wild aura that he gave with his messy hairstyle and surprisingly handsome face.
When I first registered his figure in my mind, the first thought that came, was:
'Scary.'
He seemed to recognise me, as his eyelids shifted upwards, before furrowing into a displeased scowl.
Even though I felt embarrassed, the feeling of shock and annoyance overcame me.
No matter what position I was in right now, wasn't it kind of rude to immediately show hostility to me?
I wasn't trying to boast here, but I was considered gorgeous and a drop-dead hot beauty by the people around me - Yet, this random person, whom I've never met before, was clearly showing that he did not like me.
It was like he was rejecting the very mask that I made which was regarded as a "perfect" human being by my surroundings, like as if he was mocking my own hard work and efforts that took years into building it.
But, I knew that it was just my own delusion.
So, I let go of my anger.
However, the man felt familiar to me.
I felt like I had seen him before.
Then it clicked.
It was the boy who was recently being chased around by Mei.
I inquired him, hoping that it would open a conversation. But instead, it escalated into the boy screaming and pretending that I was the bad guy.
'Crazy. This guy is crazy.'
After dragging him away, he finally calmed down.
To be frank, I had many questions.
Primarily, questions about him and Mei.
If I was to be completely honest, I didn't trust him. Although I did say I trusted him because he saved Mei, that was a lie. All the boys were the same in my eyes. Perverts, animals, molesters, things, that could never change.
Instinctually, I wanted to monitor him.
In the end, my real question was how him and Mei became so close in such a short amount of time? Even if he did save that Ice Princess, was that enough for her to immediately switch from Touma to him in one single day? He must of done something. It didn't make sense eitherwise.
I watched Mei's frozen heart melt due to Touma, albeit quite at a snail's pace. It took at least 3 months for her to finally open up, yet this person did it in one day.
It was too fishy. He must of decieved her.
So, I decided to watch him.
I needed a reason to bind him close to me.
So, using the excuse of my passion for cute fashion, I winded him in to rate my clothes.
I knew he was going to say no, so I did something that I... I didn't really want to do.
Blackmail.
He may of started it first, but in the end, the severity of the method I chose still stayed the same.
And the method I chose, was impaled in my heart. It resurfaced memories and emotions that felt like it would suffocate me. My hypocrisy truly made me loathe myself.
But in the end, I decided to assure myself that it was the for the sake of Mei, the person who surprisingly became my best friend, although we were rivals.
Isamu Ishikawa.
I'll make sure to reveal your true nature.
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A/N: Sorry for the late chapter, I've recently been pretty damn tired, so I decided to take a lil break. The following chapters will be based on Chiaki's POV. I'm going to focus on her interaction with Isamu, just because I want to fully flesh out her character and relationship with him, so I hope you guys won't be too disappointed or bored for the following chapters. Once again, thanks guys.