Chapter 4 – Student Council Distraction

Ayano's POV

"S-Seriously?! Kyouko's in therapy?!"

"That's what she told me. I was shocked too when I heard that."

It was Monday morning at school and I was wondering why Kyouko hasn't shown up yet. When I asked Yui what happened, I was surprised to hear her response.

"You sure it isn't another one of her plots to skip school?" I asked.

"I thought that as well, but when I went over to her house this morning to ask her mom, she just gave me this note that Kyouko wrote."

Yui handed me the note and I began reading it aloud.

"Dearest friends,

It took me a lot of guts to say this, but…

I AM A JERK!

AN ANNOYING SELFISH UNGRATEFUL & HOPELESS JERK!

I know you all have been telling me this from the very beginning, but was too much of a blonde idiot to even listen for a few damn seconds! I wish it didn't take Akari permanently losing an eye for me to notice, but that's what you expect from someone like me huh? Well, not anymore! I plan to rid myself of this horrible personality of mine and become a better person! Not just for me, but so that everyone can be safe from my deadly forgetfulness.

Signed,

Kyouko.

"W-Woah. Th-that's deep." I said in shocked. "Totally not like Kyouko."

"Yeah. I nearly cried after reading that." Yui said.

"Kyouko must be feeling real remorseful for her to willingly go to therapy." Chitose said.

"It's actually shocking." Chizuru added. "For once, I actually care about her."

"How long did she say she'll be gone?" I asked.

"She said she'll be going everyday this week. After that, it'll be every other day." Yui explained.

"sigh. Great, now we have two friends to worry about."

"Speaking of which, how's Akari doing?" Chitose asked.

"She's…well…improving…physically." Yui stuttered.

"What do you mean physically?" Chizuru asked.

"Well…from the outside, the only thing wrong with her is that she's constantly bumping into walls and stuff, but inside's a lot worse. She's hiding the fact that she's depressed about the whole thing, but her selflessness is making her blame herself for everything. She even said that what happened to her was the universe's way of telling her to go kill herself."

"WHAT?!" The rest of us yelled.

"And that she's okay with it."

"THE HELL?!" We yelled again.

"I already talked to Akane about it and she's noticed it, too. Though she haven't found anything that could help."

"Holy crap…" I said, stunned out of my mind.

"The fact that it's Akari saying this is…unreal." Chitose added, just as stunned as me.

Chizuru didn't say anything, but I could tell from her face that she couldn't believe what she was hearing either.

"Well, where is she? Did she come to school?" I asked.

"She's here, but it took me and Chinastu a ton of convincing to have Akari let us walk her here." Yui replied.

"Oh, dear." Chitose said.

"Are you three going to the clubroom?" I asked again.

"No. It's been blocked off from the school once we told the teachers we weren't an official club."

"Well, you guys can stop by the student council room if you want. We could use the help."

"Yeah, but Ayano, I'm more worried about Akari than the student council work." Chitose wined.

To be honest, I was too. But If I don't get this paperwork out the way, then I won't hear the end of it.

"You sure we won't be a bother?" Yui asked.

"Not at all. In fact, the only person that will be a bother is…"

I stopped for a moment and did a small facepalm on my head. It didn't take long for the others to quickly realize what I was about to say.

"Right…" We all said.

It was then that we remembered that the only bother we knew was going to be gone for a week.

I don't think I can get used to this.


After all our classes have ended, I went straight to the student council room as I normally do. Chitose came with me and we opened the door to see what we usually see every time we come here:

Sakurako and Himawari arguing over nothing.

"GAH! YOU'RE SO USELESS, SAKURAKO! WHY IS IT THAT YOU DON'T DO ANYTHING AROUND HERE?!"

"WELL, I WOULD BE ABLE TO DO THINGS IF YOUR BOOBS WEREN'T IN THE WAY!"

"MY BOOBS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT!"

"OF COURSE YOU SAY THAT, BOOB MONSTER!"

Yep. Totally over nothing.

"Hey, Chitose. Just how exactly are these two in love with each other?" I whispered to her.

"You just don't see it, Ayano." Chitose whispered back. "I've got 20/20 lesbo vision. It's never failed me once."

"That's because you read too much Yuri manga."

"Not just manga, Ayano. I also watch a ton of lesbian porn every day. It gets me off every time."

Why is that the two people I care about the most are perverts?

I shook my head trying to get the image of Chitose masturbating to lesbian porn out of my mind and yelled out to the other two girls in the room.

"Hey! Sakurako! Himawari!"

The two looked over to see who called their names and were surprised to see me.

"O-Oh hey, Ayano. N-Nice day isn't it?" Himawari stuttered.

"W-We totally weren't fighting just now." Sakurako stuttered with her. "R-Right, Himawari?"

"Y-Yep! Totally not fighting."

"Heheheheheh." They both did a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah. Sure." I'm pretty sure they know that I don't believe them. "Anyway, you two better be on your best behaver! The Amusement Club members are going to be staying with us for a while."

"Really? How come?" Himawari asked.

"Their own clubroom got blocked off because of the accident. Now no one can use it." Chitose explained.

"I see. That's too bad."

"But do they really have to come here?! I'm still mad at Kyouko for what happened to Akari!" Sakurako wined.

"Well, you don't have to see here, at least for a week. She's doing therapy." I said.

"TH-THERAPY?! KYOUKO?!" They both shouted.

"That's what I said."

"Geez, I never would thought Kyouko of all people would go to therapy…she must really feel bad about what happened." Himawari said.

"Yeah well, I'm still mad at her." Sakurako said.

Just then, we heard a loud band against the door, followed by a bunch of smaller bangs like someone was trying to find the entrance to something.

"Akari, just let me open the door." We then heard Yui's voice from the other side.

"No, wait! Hold on! I think I got it!" Akari said.

"You just past it like 5 times already." Chinastu said before opening the door herself.

"But I was close, right?"

"Y-Yeah. S-Sure, Akari." Yui said.

"Hey, Akari. Welcome back." Chitose greeted her as the trio walked in the room.

"Thanks, Chitose. Glad to be back." Akari said.

"You doing okay since then?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's been great."

"No it hasn't." The other three younger girls said.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"When I brought Akari to class this morning, people kept starring at her with looks of disgust." Chinastu said.

"They were talking crap about her right in front of her face!" Sakurako yelled.

"And Akari kept denying it all, just like she is now."

"I kept telling you guys I'm fine." Akari wined.

"Akari, you were crying from your one eye." Chinastu claimed. "I sit next to you, I saw it."

"W-Well…I had something in my eye."

"Akari…" We all said.

"Okay, fine alright! It did hurt! But they didn't even noticed me back when I had two eyes! What they're saying might be total crap, but at least they're paying attention to me for once!"

Akari was crying full tears from her eye at this point. The tears themselves looked more powerful than normal due to being only one tear duct.

"All I wanted was for people to stop ignoring me. Now I'm getting attention, but it's the kind nobody wants! So now my life is worse than before, and I lost an eye! Why does the world hate me?! What did I do to deserve this?! WAAAAAAA!"

I watched as Akari cried as hard as she could from her eye as Chinastu gave her a hug as a way to cheer her up. What she said…it almost made me cry myself. It's true that only hang out with her whenever Kyouko's around, but I've never seen her so miserable before in my time knowing her. I'm starting to believe that Yui was right, and that Akari really is going through severe depression.

"Hey, guys. I'm just gonna take Akari home now." Chinastu said. "She's had a long day."

"Yeah, I think it's best too." Yui said.

"Bye, Akari." Chitose, Sakurako, and Himawari said while waving.

Akari didn't say anything but did wave back as Chinastu guided her out the room. Once they were gone, slumped back in my chair in a sorrow state.

"Man, that was hard to listen to." I said.

"I know, and it just keeps getting worse." Yui added.

"Isn't there something we can do?!" Sakurako asked. "I hate seeing Akari like this!"

"But what can we do? None of us know anything about depression and how to deal with it." Himawari said.

"Well…her birthday is coming up…" Yui claimed.

"Her birthday? Oh yeah, next week's July isn't it?" I asked.

"Hey, let's throw Akari a huge birthday party!" Chitose suggested. "That ought to cheer her up!"

"Yeah, but who knows how long that happiness would last? Especially with the condition Akari's in." Yui said in sorrow.

"Then we'll just have to make it one that Akari will never forget!" Sakurako said with a fist in the air.

"That almost sounds like a threat…" Himawari said.

"W-Well, you know what I mean!"

"Actually, I think Sakurako's on to something." I said.

"See? Ayano gets it!"

"Really, how?" Yui asked.

"If we can throw a party for Akari, showing her that we care for her and life can get better, it may cheer her up. Maybe even getting her out of her depressed state."

"You mean like an intervention?" Chitose asked.

"No, nothing like those. They never work."

"Yeah, Ayano's right. They only make things worse." Himawari added.

"So, what do guys think?"

"Hmm. That could work." Yui thought. "We should keep it a surprise for Akari, but not act suspicious at all. It'll only make her feel worse about herself."

"Right!" The rest of us said.

" Let's meet back here tomorrow and start planning. I'll let Chinastu know and convince her not to tell Akari."

"Right. See you guys tomorrow then." I said.


After everyone left the room (including me), I began spacing out on it came to this. One of my friends depressed over losing an eye and another in therapy because she's the one who caused it. It was all getting too much for someone like me too handle. With me being constantly busy with student council work and everything.

That when my phone begun vibrating in my pocket. I checked to see who it was and was really happy reading the message.

First day of therapy complete! Sorry I didn't tell you before, Ayano. I just really want to become a better person. But don't worry! Once that happens, I'll make sure you're the first to know! See you soon!

I chucked after reading the message and placed the phone back in my pocket.

Get well soon, Toshino Kyouko.

A/N: Chapter 4 complete! Sorry it took longer than usual. The best way to explain is when you own the only computer in the house, your family tends to borrow it a lot. And it sometimes dies on them too, so there's that wait time as well.

That's all I have to say. Feel free to review, favorite, and/or follow the story. Just another reminder, this and a second story I'm currently working on will be updated at the same time. So there's going to be a wait for the next part. Hopefully not as long as this, though. Until then, thanks for reading.