I, Who Am Somehow Only Liked by Yanderes, Tried Transferring into a Class Full of Yandere Girls - Chapter 34: The Spider's Thread

I met Hanazono Mari-san during my first year of high school.

During a seat change, I ended up sitting next to her in early summer.

At our previous high school, students were allowed to wear casual clothes, and while most students wore uniforms, Hanazono-san attended in what could be called a landmine-fashion style.

Naturally, she stood out significantly.

Hanazono-san wasn’t sociable, and others treated her like a sore thumb, so she was always alone.

During breaks, she would fiddle with her cracked smartphone.

Her figure seemed oddly lonely.

So, before I knew it, I found myself talking to her.

“Your outfit is stylish and cute.”

I was aware that I tended to be liked by girls who were a bit different.

I also knew that getting too involved could end painfully.

But I couldn’t leave her alone.

Looking back, I might have liked different girls as much as they enjoyed me.

Or maybe I just couldn’t abandon them.

When I spoke to her, Hanazono-san happily responded.

That’s how our interaction began.

At first, it was good.

We talked at school, exchanged contact information, messaged each other, and hung out in the city after school.

The distortion began once we became fairly close.

Day by day, she became more possessive, her emotions more unstable, and she started calling me late at night more frequently.

When I said I couldn’t because I had plans, she would fly into a rage, threatening to end her life.

She even started to self-harm just to get my attention.

It was like living with a slow-acting poison.

Eventually, I couldn’t keep up and tried to distance myself. I told her I couldn’t continue our relationship.

Realizing I was serious, Hanazono-san responded with a dry, cracked smile before her eyes widened.

“If Aiji-kun won’t accept me, then you’re not the Aiji-kun I know. If you don’t love me, I don’t need you.”

Her gaze was as piercing as gun barrels.

Then, I was stabbed in the stomach.

After that, I hovered between life and death, barely surviving, and by the time I was discharged from the hospital, Hanazono-san had disappeared from my life.

I heard through the grapevine that she had been transferred to a juvenile detention center for girls.

I thought I would never see her again.

And yet—

☆

Running frantically from the fountain plaza in front of the station, I ran as if escaping from the past.

As if fleeing from fear.

Even as my breath ran short, my knees wobbled, and my chest felt like it was about to burst, I never stopped running.

When I finally reached my house, I turned around with determination, ensuring she was not in sight before diving into my room.

I locked the door, put on the chain, and then slumped against the door.

I couldn’t believe it.

I never thought I would encounter Hanazono-san again.

Wasn’t she supposed to be in juvenile detention? Had she been released? If so, why did she come to this town?

The moment our eyes met.

Hanazono-san had murmured.

“I found you.”

She had come here to meet me.

For what purpose?

It was obvious.

To take revenge on me.

She had come to finish me off this time for not loving Hanazono-san and fleeing from her in fear.

“I thought I had forgotten…!”

Hanazono-san’s obsession with me hadn’t ended.

It continued.

There was no escape.

My teeth chattered, my heart rate soared, and a mantle of anxiety and fear clung to me, refusing to let go.

I was afraid. Terrified—

Just then, the doorbell rang.

“――!?”

My entire body bristled, and my heartbeat surged.

Was she following me!?

I thought I had shaken her off, but had I not?

The doorbell rang again.

Should I just hole up here and wait it out?

Maybe she would give up and leave.

But knowing Hanazono-san, she would likely try every means possible to enter forcefully.

The doorbell rang repeatedly.

What should I do? What can I do?

While tormented by the fear that the door might be forcibly broken down at any moment, I was pondering my next move when—

“Aiji-kun?”

A familiar voice came from outside.

…That voice, it’s not Hanazono-san?

Tentatively, I stood up and peered through the door’s peephole.

Standing in front of my room was Tsukimiya-san.

—Saved.

With a deep sense of relief, I opened the front door.

“I’m sorry for coming by at this hour. I made too much stew and thought I’d share some with you.”

Seeing my expression, Tsukimiya-san asked with concern.

“What’s wrong? You look very pale.”

“Actually…”

Before I knew it, I was confiding in Tsukimiya-san.

About going to the arcade near the station after school.

About encountering a former classmate from my previous school at the Fountain Plaza on my way back. And that it was Hanazono-san, a person from my past with whom I had a complicated history.

I was at my limit dealing with it alone.

“…Are you sure it was her?”

“There’s no mistake. That was Hanazono-san.”

It wasn’t just someone who resembled her.

Moreover, when Hanazono-san and I locked eyes, she smiled deeply.

She had murmured, “I found you.”

“…I see. That must have been scary for you. You must have felt so anxious.”

“Hanazono-san has come after me. To finish me off for good this time. She still harbors resentment towards me.”

Hanazono-san’s smile still lingered in my mind.

“Always, always being pursued by Hanazono-san. There’s no escape. What should I do…”

I asked Tsukimiya-san, almost pleadingly.

Knowing she might not have an answer, yet feeling so cornered, I had no choice but to ask.

Then, a gentle fragrance wafted through the air.

Tsukimiya-san, still in her uniform was softly embracing me.

“It’s okay. I’ll protect you.”

Tsukimiya-san whispered in my ear.

“I won’t let anyone hurt Aiji-kun. So you don’t have to worry about anything. Just leave everything to me, Aiji-kun.”

Tsukimiya-san smiled at me, saying, “Okay?”

Before I knew it, I found myself nodding.

Like a spider’s thread dangled into the depths of hell.

Her words shone brightly to me.

That’s right. It was simple.

As long as she was by my side, everything would be okay. If I cling to Tsukimiya-san, if I entrust myself to her, I can forget all the anxiety and fear I’m holding onto.