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 51: Sumie Fudo - Extra Edition: Because of Love... 1/8

Chapter 51: Sumie Fudo – Extra Edition: Because of Love… 1/8

This is the main and climactic story of the Extra Edition. As the author, I was torn until the very end on whether to place it before or after the epilogue. It will be an 8-part series.

I would be glad if you stay with me until the end.

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

“Hey~, Sumie~! Aunt Youka and Kenichi are here!”

I could hear my mom calling from the entrance… Today was supposed to be a precious day off… After all those days of tennis practice, I was exhausted…

(Can’t I just sleep a little longer…? Wait, Aunt Youka’s here? But it’s still morning… Geez…)

Still in my pajamas, I left my room and peered down the stairs to the entrance. I saw Aunt Youka and next to her was a boy…

Thump Thump Thump My heart pounded so loud, it felt suffocating…

I was drawn to that boy… I wanted to know more about him… I wanted to touch him…

While I was fidgeting, the boy nudged Aunt Youka, and they both left the entrance.

I hurriedly opened the curtains in my room and watched the boy walking alongside Aunt Youka until I couldn’t see them anymore.

[Click] 

“Oh, Sumie, you’re up? I called you, but you didn’t come down… Aunt Youka and Kenichi were just here.”

“Kenichi…?”

“Ah, that’s right. You probably don’t remember him. The last time you saw him, you were two years old. Kenichi was only three back then, so he probably doesn’t remember much either.”

(Kenichi… Kenichi… Kenichi… Kenichi Onii-san… Kenichi-kun…)

From that moment on, at school or wherever I went, other boys seemed to fade into the background…

It was love at first sight…

But after that, I never had the chance to see Kenichi-kun again, and my feelings for him just kept growing.

A few years later, I heard that Aunt Youka had passed away after being hospitalized due to illness… I wanted to say goodbye to her… or at least that was the excuse…

(I have to fill the sadness and loneliness left by Aunt Youka… I have to…)

However, Uncle refused our attendance, so we couldn’t go to the funeral… (If I’m not there… Kenichi-kun will…)

When my dad went to pick up my mom in the car, I saw Kenichi-oniisan through the window, sitting on a chair with his head down. That image burned into my heart.

(Ahhhh… I’m the only one who can fill the emptiness Aunt Youka left… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…)

Tears welled up in my eyes… I kept staring at Kenichi-oniisan until he disappeared from sight… My mom was saying something, but I couldn’t hear her.

Not long after that, when I came home from tennis practice like usual, I overheard my parents having a shocking conversation in the living room.

“It seems my brother-in-law is going to remarry… It hasn’t even been six months… And the woman has a daughter too, so she’ll probably become Kenichi’s stepsister.”

[Thud, Clang, clang] 

I dropped my tennis racket and sports bag to the floor in shock.

“Oh? Sumie, you’re back?” 

“Mom, what do you mean remarriage!? What’s going on!?”

“Oh, I was just telling your dad about it. It seems Uncle Komada is remarrying.”

“I don’t care if Uncle Komada is remarrying! What about the stepsister!?”

“Ah, yes, I think her name is Kotone? I believe she’s your age.”

My vision went dark… Kenichi-kun is really going to have a sister… And she’s the same age as me…

“Sumie? Where are you going? What about dinner?”

I rushed back to my room and punched my pillow with all my might.

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! You pest! Filthy bug getting close to my Kenichi-kun!”

Jealousy, frustration, hatred… I kept punching my pillow, tears spilling from my eyes, over and over again.

“My name is Kotone Komada… I’m transferring to this class starting today… Nice to meet you all…”

Was it just a coincidence, or a cruel trick of fate? The annoying pest who stole Kenichi-oniisan transferred into my class… She didn’t look bad, I’ll admit, but she couldn’t compare to me.

Of course, on her first day, no one was rushing to talk to her like in novels or manga, so she just sat there with her head down. I put on my best smile and spoke to the bug.

“Hey, can I call you Kotone-chan? I’m Sumie Fudo. If you’d like, we can be friends!”

“W-What?! Really?! Y-Yeah, sure! Let’s be friends from today on… um… Fudo-s—”

“Sumie♪”

“Sumie-chan!”

And so, I decided to pretend to be friends with this despicable, hateful, and envious little thief… all to get closer to Kenichi-kun.

Kotone quickly got along with my other friends, and she started making more friends at school as well.

One day, while Kotone and I were playing at the park, some middle school boys nearby were playing soccer. One of them kicked the ball into the sandbox, destroying the castle we had just built.

When the boy came over to pick up the ball without even apologizing, my jealousy and irritation toward Kotone got the best of me, and I lashed out.

“Hey! You just destroyed our castle, and you’re not even going to apologize!?”

Kotone joined in, backing me up, but the boy sneered and said, “You’re so full of yourselves!” Then he kicked down the rest of our sandcastle. I was so frustrated, tears started streaming down my face.

“Hey! Don’t bully my little sisters!”

Out of nowhere, my beloved Kenichi-kun appeared and quickly knocked down the three much bigger middle school boys. They ran away, crying and wailing.

“Are you okay? I’ll protect you two!”

That dazzling smile made my heart tighten, and before I knew it, I was hugging Kenichi-kun…

After that, there were a few more chances to hang out with Kenichi-kun alongside Kotone. But I realized something… To him, I was just one of his stepsister’s friends, and he still hadn’t even remembered my name.

One day, Kotone asked if I wanted to come over to her house, and I instantly agreed. I couldn’t help but feel a bit thankful to Kotone at that moment.

“Sumie-chan, I’ll go get some tea. Feel free to read any manga you like.”

With that, Kotone left me alone in her room. Honestly, I didn’t care about the manga. Kenichi-kun’s room was right next door… Maybe I could pretend I entered the wrong room by accident and barge in…

Just as I was thinking that, I heard voices coming from the room next door…

“Ken-chan, you’re feeling lonely lately because Kotone-chan hasn’t been playing with you, right?”

“Yeah, but I’m fine because I have you, Shizuku.”

“Oh, stop it! Don’t say embarrassing things like that!”

Huh? Who’s Shizuku? Is there another girl besides Kotone trying to get close to Kenichi-kun!? And… “Yeah, but I’m fine because I have you, Shizuku.”

(That’s the kind of thing Kenichi-kun should be saying to me!!)

I was so furious at this mysterious “Shizuku” that my anger turned into something far darker—hatred.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Sumie-chan… huh? What are you doing by the wall like that?”

“Oh? Ahaha, nothing much~. But, by the way, in the next room… Onii-san’s room… Is someone in there? I can hear voices…”

“Oh, yeah, it’s Ken-nii’s childhood friend, Shizuku Himeno-chan. She used to play with me a lot too.”

Trying to hide my shock, I asked Kotone calmly,

“Oh, I see~. They seemed really close. I could hear a bit of their conversation~.”

Kotone gave a slightly sad, awkward smile.

“Yeah… Shizuku-chan is Ken-nii’s most important friend, and he really likes her… Even though I… about Ken-nii…”

“He really likes her…” That one sentence hit me like a hammer, as if my head had been struck. My eyes widened, and I could feel the tears threatening to spill over…

“S-Sorry, Kotone! I just remembered my mom asked me to do something, so I’ll head home for today!”

Saying that, I brushed off Kotone’s attempt to stop me. As I glanced toward Kenichi-kun’s room, I quickly put on my shoes at the entrance and ran out…

(No… No… Nooooo!! I’m supposed to be Kenichi-kun’s number one!!)

After that, Kotone invited me to her house a few more times, but the memory of that day haunted me, and I made up excuses to turn her down…