The Truth
School counselor Saya Irino was worried. As she was making her daily cup of coffee, she thought about her new friend, Yuu Kotari. Yuu had been a victim of a house fire, and Says felt guilty for accusing her of starting the fire, which killed both of Yuu's parents. Saya was preparing herself so that she could apologize to Yuu, but just then, she heard her door open, and saw Yuu there.
"Hello there, Saya," Yuu greeted, with a blank expression on her face, despite being covered in small bandages. Saya was trying to scan her face, but couldn't detect a hint of emotion on her face. No sadness, no anger, no worry, just…nothing.
"Yuu, are you…alright? Look, I'm really, really sorry! I didn't mean to…" Says started, before Yuu put her hand up.
"Don't worry. It's fine. I just wanted to tell you that this is going to be my last day in this school. After today, I'm moving in with my grandparents, and I won't be able to go here anymore since they live two towns over," Yuu explained. Before Saya could respond, Yuu left her office. Saya went after her, but when she got to the window in her office, she saw Yuu being confronted by the lead bully who often led assaults on her. But, she saw the student give something to Yuu.
"Uhhhh…Yuu…I know we haven't…gotten along. But, I feel awful about what happened to you and your parents, so I…we made you some cupcakes," the girl said nervously, with a few other girls standing behind their leader with awkward looks on their faces. Yuu took the container of cupcakes suspiciously, before glaring at them.
"Thanks," was all Yuu said before turning to leave. Before she could leave, however, the girl grabbed onto her sleeve.
"Well…we were also wondering if you wanted to come and sit with us at lunch? Maybe…to get to know you better?" the girl asked nervously. Yuu appeared to have a disgusted look on her face before resuming her leave. The girl looked sad, but left the other way with her friends.
Saya was suspicious about how Yuu was acting. She was acting too complacent for someone who had just not only lost both her parents in the fire, but was also in the fire at the time. Saya also remembered Yuu acting this exact same way when EMT's were putting her in the ambulance. She had a stoic look on her face, despite everything that had just happened, including being covered in minor burns.
Saya then disregarded that thought, remembering something that she learned in one of her psychology classes; people react to death in different ways. Some people will erupt into cries and tears, some people will not show any emotion at all, and some people may even laugh and smile. So, Saya assumed that Yuu was just reacting to her parent's death in her own way, and decided to go on with her day, hoping to talk with Yuu again before she left.
Later that day…
Saya was in the teacher's lounge, enjoying a salad with Caesar dressing, before hearing the bathroom door next to the teacher's lounge burst open and slam closed two seconds later. A few seconds after that, she heard the sounds of someone vomiting. Saya, worried for the person in the bathroom, ran out of the teacher's lounge, and into the bathroom, before finding the stall where the vomiting was coming from, and kicked it open, seeing Yuu hunched over the toilet, puking her guts out.
"Yuu! Are you alright? What happened!?" Saya said, stricken with panic seeing Yuu getting horribly sick after being the victim of a traumatic experience the day before. Yuu turned her head towards Saya, shaking as violently as she threw up.
"I…I…I don't…know. I was just…eating lunch, when I…felt sick," Yuu stuttered out, before Saya started rubbing her back.
"Don't worry. It's alright. Let's get you to the nurse's office," Saya said, helping Yuu up, and walking her to the nurse's office.
At the nurse's office, Yuu was laying down on a bed, with Saya sitting next to her. The principal then came in, with a worried expression on his face.
"Yuu! Are you alright?" the principal asked. Yuu lifted her head up slightly and looked at the principal.
"Just a little sick is all," Yuu said before she burst into a fit of dry heaving.
"What happened?" the principal asked.
"Well…I was eating lunch, and then I took a bite out of this cupcake that that bi…I mean Misako gave me, and I suddenly felt horrible," Yuu explained. The principal then got up, with a look of determination and anger on his face.
"Yuu, do you think you can stand up. We're going to confront Misako," the principal said. Yuu got up quickly and nodded her head.
'Huh? That was awfully quick for someone who just had major stomach pains,' Saya thought, before noticing Yuu and the principal walking out the door. Saya jogged after them, curious as to what happened to Yuu.
The Principal retrieved Misako from her class, and brought her to the Principal's office.
"Sir, what's going on? Why am I here?" Misako asked.
"Well, Yuu got sick a little bit ago," the principal explained.
"What!? That's terrible! What happened?" Misako asked out of shock.
"Well, according to Yuu, she said she felt sick after eating one of the cupcakes that you made for her," the principal further explained.
"How could that have happened!? Me and the other girls worked on those cupcakes all day yesterday, there's no way something happened to them," Misako defended, her voice rising as the conversation went on.
"Well, you take chemistry classes, maybe you unknowingly put a foreign agent into the food," the principal suggested. Before Misako could once again defend herself, Yuu made her thoughts known.
"I think…she did it on purpose!" Yuu said, pointing an accusatory finger at Misako. Misako looked at Yuu in both surprise and offence.
"WHAT!? Why would I poison you after you just went through a fire!? Misako yelled at Yuu.
"You pick on me practically every day. Maybe this is just a step up for you," Yuu countered, with disgust evident in her voice.
"Yuu does have a point. I have had you and your friends in my office many times about your bullying behavior," the principal said, shocking Misako even more.
"I'm telling you! I'm innocent! You can even look in my locker if you don't believe me!" Misako exclaimed, getting a glare from Yuu in response.
"Yuu, do you have any of those cupcakes left?" Saya asked. Yuu answered by producing a Tupperware container containing four of the cupcakes.
"Alright, Miss Misako, let's see if you have anything to hide," the principal said, leaving the classroom with Misako, Saya, and Yuu following close behind.
When they got to Misako's locker, Misako put in her combination, and opened the locker. At first glance, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, only housing a few textbooks, and a lacrosse stick.
"See? There's nothing in here," Misako said.
"Not so fast, young lady. I need to see if there's anything hidden away," the principal said before moving the textbooks out of the way, and when he did, he noticed a green jar.
"Young lady, what is in this jar?" the principal asked while taking the jar out of the locker so everyone could see it. Misako looked at it closely for a couple of seconds before realizing what it was.
"A jar of copper sulfate? What's that doing here? I put that back once I was done with our experiment," Misako said in confusion, before the Principal looked inside the jar, and saw blue powder.
"Hey, I noticed that exact same blue powder on those cupcakes," Yuu remarked before pulling out one of the cupcakes, and sure enough, it had a thick layer of blue powder on the frosting.
"But…but…but…this can't be. I didn't do it, I swear!" Misako stammered, before being grabbed again by the principal.
"Young lady, do you know how much trouble you're in?" the principal asked.
"I'm telling you, I'm innocent. I have no idea how that got into my locker!" Misako tried to explain, but the principal was having none of it.
"To my office," the principal stated, pointing to the left side of the hallway.
"But…I didn't do this. I may have been a jerk to her, but…" Misako never got a chance to finish her sentence before she was dragged by the principal to his office. When Misako looked back at Yuu, Yuu gave her a smirk, and mouthed 'I win'.
"What was that Yuu?" Saya asked.
"Oh nothing, Saya. It's just good to see people get what they deserve," Yuu answered. "I need to get back to class, Saya. I'll see you after school," Yuu said before walking to her next class, leaving Saya speechless.
After the Final Bell…
Saya was once again in her office, preparing another cup of coffee for herself, and one for Yuu. While she was pouring coffee into Yuu's cup, she overheard Yuu outside. She was about to wave, but saw she was on the phone.
"So…how long until the money comes…Really…Only three days…Alright, I do have a new address by the way, can I send it to you through Email…Alright, I'll send it to you tonight…OK, have a nice day Mr. Hiko," Yuu said, before she closed her phone.
Saya noticed that while Yuu was talking on the phone, she seemed a lot better than she was earlier, despite being poisoned, and she wasn't 100% sure, but she was almost certain that Yuu was talking about an insurance policy.
Before she delved into that thought any further, the door opened, and Yuu came inside, and sat on the couch.
"Hello, Saya. How've you been?" Yuu asked, before taking her cup of coffee. Saya looked over at Yuu, and saw what looked like someone on a normal day. Yuu was acting like nothing had happened. Saya was suspicious, and decided to get to the bottom of this.
"Yuu…tell me the truth," Saya said. Yuu stopped sipping her coffee, and looked at Says, confused.
"What are you talking about? Truth about what?" Yuu asked.
"Don't play games with me, Yuu. The truth about what happened to your parents," Saya said quietly, trembling as she did so.
"What more truth do you need? My Dad dropped his cigarette, and it caused the fire. I got out through a window in my room, but my parents weren't able to get out," Yuu explained, but Saya wasn't buying it.
"Yuu, please. I know there's more to it. You've been acting weird since the fire happened. I'm your friend, and I want to know what happened. I'm on your side, I want to help you, but I can't do that unless I know what happened, and why it happened," Saya responded, leaving Yuu shocked. After a few seconds Yuu took a deep breath, and set her mug down on the table.
"OK. You want to hear everything? You want to know how this all started. I'll tell you everything," Yuu said seemingly with no emotion in her voice. Saya took a sip of coffee before sitting down in a chair facing Yuu.
"Lay it on me," was all Saya said before she laid her mug down on the table.
"Alright, here's what happened," Yuu began.
To be Continued…In Chapter 2