I Was Blackmailed Into Accepting Bullying Using My Childhood Friend as Leverage, But When I Found Out My Friend and Bully Were Together, I Abandoned All Compassion and Swore to Take Revenge with Everything I Had - Chapter 15: Scum File - Shizuku Himeno - Exposure and Severance

Chapter 15: Scum File – Shizuku Himeno – Exposure and Severance

Note: This work contains depictions of violence and sexual content, but it does not promote any of these actions.

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Himeno Shizuku – Exposure and Severance Arc

When I got home, the first thing I did was take a shower. Since Ryusei had finished inside me, I carefully washed everything off. My mom, noticing something seemed off, called out from outside the bathroom, “Shizuku? Is everything okay?” I lied, saying I had run home and was just sweaty.

The next day, I tried to push the memory of the classroom sex with Ryusei out of my mind. Arriving at school later than usual, I found the classroom in chaos. Pushing my way through the crowd of onlookers, I was confronted with an unbelievable sight.

There was Ken-chan, calmly sitting in his chair, while Ryusei and his cronies lay on the floor, beaten.

“Ken-chan! What is this!? What happened to Iketsuki-kun and the others!?”

Ryusei, who had clearly been punched multiple times, smirked at me and spoke to Ken-chan.

“Hey, Komada! You know what’s going to happen, right? After doing this to us, you really think you can—”

Ken-chan, however, didn’t pay Ryusei any mind. Instead, he turned his gaze to me, and I felt a chill. His eyes were cold, empty, devoid of any emotion as he looked at me.

“Hah… you two have already been together, right? Besides, whatever happens to my former childhood friend doesn’t concern me anymore.”

His words shook me. Does Ken-chan know about my relationship with Ryusei? And why is he saying “former” childhood friend?

“W-What do you mean, Ken-chan? Why are you saying that Iketsuki-kun and I are together? And what’s this about the ‘former childhood friend’…?”

Before I could finish, Ken-chan cut me off.

“Oh, I came back to the classroom after school yesterday. That’s when I saw you and Iketsuki screwing on my desk. Don’t bother with excuses—I took videos and photos.”

Did he really see me having sex with Ryusei yesterday… here, in this classroom!? No way! And he even recorded it? What should I do… what should I do…

“N-No… this can’t be…”

As I trembled, he leaned in and whispered in my ear.

“Well, it doesn’t matter anymore, but you two really made a fool out of me, didn’t you?”

His voice was filled with a coldness that felt like a mix of resentment and anger. I couldn’t take it—I ran out of the classroom without looking back.

“Hey, hey, what’s the class rep doing skipping out early like that? Haha,” Ken-chan’s mocking voice chased me as I fled.

I don’t even remember how I made it home.

Before I knew it, I was standing in front of Ken-chan’s house. I’d visited so many times before, but now, the gate felt strangely narrow.

Memories of my childhood with Ken-chan kept flashing through my mind. 

I had known for a while that Ryusei was bullying him, and even before I found out about the diary, I had a feeling that Ken-chan had feelings for me.

But as my feelings for Ryusei grew stronger, I became indifferent to Ken-chan’s suffering.

(Where did I go wrong…)

After a while, Kotone-chan returned home from school. She noticed something was off with me and told me to come inside and wait, but I refused.

“That jerk made Shizuku-chan feel like this! How dare he! I won’t forgive him!”

Without listening to my protests, Kotone-chan stormed into the house.

Not long after, I saw Ken-chan coming home, walking faster than usual. He ignored me and tried to enter the house, so I called out.

“W-Wait! I need to talk to you!”

“I’ve got nothing to say. Actually, who are you?”

The way he now saw me as nothing more than a stranger made me tremble in fear.

“W-What? That’s so harsh… How could you say something like that?”

“Harsh? You’re with the guy who bullies me, you knew why I was getting bullied, and yet you just watched. I’m the one who should be asking how you felt about that.”

I couldn’t respond to Ken-chan’s words. I just stood there, shaking uncontrollably.

“I-It’s not like that with Iketsuki-kun… it’s not…”

As I desperately tried to think of an excuse, Ken-chan cut me off.

“Not like that? Then what is it? Friends with benefits? A mistress? Whatever it is, I don’t care. It’s got nothing to do with me.”

Hearing that, I clung to Ken-chan’s waist, begging for forgiveness.

“No, it’s different! I… I…”

I wanted to say something—maybe that I liked him, that he was important to me—but I couldn’t find the right words. No matter what I said, it wouldn’t be enough to excuse what I had done.

“Oh, right. If you want to go back to being childhood friends, why don’t you return my diary to how it was before? Then, maybe I’ll think about it.”

His words brought back the memory of yesterday, and despair washed over me. I had ruined something precious to him, despite knowing how much it meant. I was the worst kind of childhood friend.

“Until you bring it back, don’t bother talking to me. And from tomorrow, Iketsuki’s going to have a rough time, so whether you’re his girlfriend, FWB, or mistress, make sure to support him, okay? Haha. Goodbye~”

With a smile, he waved and disappeared into the house.

I collapsed right there, crying, unable to move for a long time.

Eventually, Kotone-chan came out of the house, grumbling about Ken-chan and trying to comfort me. But I knew I didn’t deserve it.

I apologized to Kotone-chan and went back to my own home.

“Shizuku, come to the living room for a moment.”

My mother and father, who had just returned from work, were sitting at the table. The atmosphere felt tense, and I realized this was serious. I quietly sat down, and they placed a USB drive in front of me.

“M-Mom, what is this?”

My mother’s eyes were red and swollen, as if she had been crying recently.

“Check it yourself later. Ken-chan… no, Komada-kun gave this to us on his way home.”

Komada-kun?

“He handed it to me and said, ‘I’m cutting ties with your daughter and your family from now on. Thank you for everything up until now.'”

“!? N-No…”

Just as I began to sink into despair, my father spoke harshly, showing no mercy.

“Shizuku, you weren’t dating Komada-kun, nor were you engaged, so you’re free to pursue relationships. But to engage in sexual acts in a place of learning, at school… do you have no sense of decency at all?”

My face tightened at the angry voice of my father, who usually praised me and was always kind.

“And from what I hear, the person you’re involved with is the one who was bullying Komada-kun, isn’t he? You knew about it, yet at school, you pretended to help Komada-kun while secretly being with this boy… Iketsuki-kun, right? On top of that, Komada-kun accepted the bullying because he was threatened by Iketsuki-kun, who said he would hurt you if he didn’t comply, all to protect you.”

“!? T-That’s not true! Ryusei… Iketsuki-kun would never say something like that! This must be a story Ken-chan made up!”

My father shook his head, while my mother, looking disappointed, tapped the USB drive in front of me.

“If you don’t believe it, you can see for yourself later.”

“Either way, you were involved in that bullying. You betrayed a childhood friend who trusted you, in the worst possible way.”

“I-I need to talk to Ken-chan one—”

[SMACK!]

My mother, with tears streaming down her face, slapped me hard across the cheek.

“What a disgraceful child you’ve become! You betrayed and abandoned your precious childhood friend! What excuse do you think you can offer to Komada-kun now?”

“Didn’t he tell you? ‘If you can restore his diary to the way it was, I’ll forgive you.’ Do you understand what that means? Once something is torn and defiled, it can never be returned to how it was!”

Without even taking a bath, I went to my room and checked the contents of the USB drive on my computer. There, I saw a recording of the entire incident in the classroom yesterday, including the moment we defiled Ken-chan’s precious diary.

In another file, there was audio of Ryusei clearly threatening Ken-chan multiple times, saying he would hurt me if Ken-chan didn’t comply.

From Ken-chan’s perspective, the person he was trying to protect and the one who was threatening him must have seemed to be working together to betray him. Realizing this, I felt nothing but despair.

After a restless night, I got up in the morning. As I cleared away breakfast, my mother spoke to me.

“You are never to have anything to do with Komada-kun again. I promised him that.”

“…”

With heavy steps, I headed to school. As I walked into the classroom, my classmates looked at me as if I were something filthy. Avoiding their stares, I made my way to my seat, but I couldn’t help but notice Ken-chan. He didn’t even glance in my direction.

From that day on, his revenge began… and for me, it would only bring even greater despair…

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Author’s Note:

To post the remaining four chapters from this perspective in one go, I’ll do my best to edit and post two more chapters as soon as possible.