The next day, both Tomoya, and Ushio walked together until they had to part ways, with both of them telling each other to have a good day. As Ushio is walking by herself to school, she finds both Nakano, and Sakura, with the three of them happily walking the rest of the way to the school together, smiles on their faces, unaware that today would be the day Ushio would start getting bullied. Both Sakura, and Nakano had stood up to the students that were picking on their friend, by letting one of their teacher's know about what was going on, but this only served to make them targets as well, with the three friends being threatened to not talk about what was going on with anyone ever again, or they would pay the price, with the threat successfully working, as nobody said a word about it to any of the teachers, with the bullying usually happening whenever the teacher wasn't in the classroom. As the weeks went on, the situation didn't improve, if anything, it had become worse, Ushio would be tripped, have her hair pulled, her skirt flipped in front of the entire class, her belongings stolen, things thrown at her, the list goes on, and Sakura, and Nakano weren't safe from being tormented either. It wasn't unusual for Ushio to go to the bathroom so that she could go cry. The Okazaki girl's self esteem was now at an all time low, the light in her eyes was now gone, instead, her eyes have now become dull, and she was now more reserved, struggled to make, and maintain eye contact, she tended to be more anxious and so on so forth, Ushio just felt horrible, and desperately wanted help, but was far too scared of what would happen to her and her friends if she did ask for help. Ushio, who was currently out of the classroom, after getting permission from the teacher to go to the bathroom, had left the class on the verge of tears, barely able to keep it together.
"Poor Okazaki-san, I wish I could do something to help, but, I don't want to end up like her." one of the girls whispered to one of her friends, everyone felt incredibly guilty about not doing anything to help, but were far too scared of what would end up happening to them to try anything. They all saw what the bullies had done when Sakura, and Nakano had tried getting them to stop picking on Ushio. As much as they all wanted to help, their fear was far more powerful, and the bullies were well aware of that.
"We already tried telling a teacher about it but… that only served to make it worse." Sakura thought, looking out the window on her left. "If those jerks find out we told anyone, I don't even want to think what they would do to poor Ushio-chan, she's already in a pretty dark place, and if the teacher does nothing again, and they find out we talked, they'll bring Ushio-chan into even more despair, and I'm scared what might happen to her if they end up doing that." she adds in thought, as she sees the door open, and Ushio walking into the classroom, her head held low, with the girl looking down at the floor, completely silent, she walks to her seat, with it clear that she had been crying, with how her face and eyes looked. Sakura, looking at her childhood friend, just as concerned about Ushio as Nakano was, whispers to the Okazaki girl. "You going to be okay Ushio-chan?" Tomoe asks, with Ushio not saying anything, instead, she just gave her friend a look which probably meant 'I think so'.
"That's it, we need to ask for help, I don't know how much more of this Okazaki-chan will be able to take." Nakano thought, his hands balled in fists, his nails digging into his skin as he looked back at the teacher after glancing over at Ushio. He was frustrated by how Ushio just looked completely defeated, the sweet girl he had befriended was now full of despair.
For the past few weeks Tomoya has been worried about Ushio, the girl has been acting differently for quite a while now, she wasn't nearly as happy as she once was, and most of the time her happiness seemed rather forced, as if she was trying to hold up a strong front, and didn't want to worry her father about whatever was really going on with her. Tomoya had tried talking to both Sakura, and Nakano about it, but, just like with Ushio, they would never give him a straight answer, and he tried asking their parents, but only found out that they've been going through the same thing that he's been going through with Ushio. The man even tried calling Ushio's school, but didn't have any luck with that either, only finding out that Ushio's teachers were just as worried as he was, and that they would let him know if they found out about anything.
"Ushio, what's going on with you lately, what are you afraid of me finding out about?" Tomoya asks, letting out a heavy sigh as he looks up at the blue sky, as he sat on a bench while taking a break. "Nagisa, what's going on with our daughter?" he asks, knowing he wouldn't get an answer for the question he had just asked. Every time he's come home as of late, he's found Ushio hugging one of her dango plushies while crying, or while practically looking depressed. It hurt Tomoya down to his very core to see his daughter in such a state, and he wanted to help her, but Ushio just wouldn't tell him anything. Becoming frustrated at thinking about how he felt like he wasn't able to do anything, lets out a frustrated sigh before taking a bite of the food he had inside of his bento, he absolutely despised how useless he felt in this situation, he wished he knew what was wrong so he could help Ushio, Sakura, and Nakano with whatever the heck they were dealing with.
"What's wrong Okazaki? Don't you want to 'share' your lunch with us?" Naomi Ogasawara asks smugly, Naomi was one of the students picking on Ushio, and the girl had just stole Okazaki's bento, with the hungry girl politely asking if she could have her lunch back, as her stomach growls while Naomi and her friends taunt Ushio, as they eat it in front of her, while two boys were holding Ushio back, preventing her from reaching out to her bento, as Naomi and her group of friends eat every last bite of Ushio's food before returning it to the hungry Okazaki girl. Ushio had planned on eating with Sakura, and Nakano during lunch, but now she didn't have any food left in her bento, and had no money to get food in the cafeteria. With Ushio now free, the girl doesn't say a word as she retrieves her now empty bento and heads to meet up with Sakura, and Nakano, or at least, that was what she was about to do until she heard the bell signifying that lunch was over. Naomi, smugly thanking Ushio for the food, watches as Ushio slowly goes to her seat, blushing as her stomach loudly growls, with Naomi and her crew snickering to themselves as Ushio does her best to distract herself from how hungry she was.
"I'm so hungry… Dad prepared that bento for me and I never even got a chance to eat any of it." Ushio thought, she was really looking forward to eating the bento her dad had prepared for her too, eating the bento her father makes for her always managed to cheer her up a little bit, sure, it was only temporary, but, in a way, it helped Ushio get through the day, especially with all the bullying she's been receiving as of late.
"Hey, Okazaki-chan, are you alright? Did Ogasawara and her friends do something to you while you were on your way to meet up with us for lunch?" Nakano asks, making the distracted Ushio jump, with the startled girl now realizing that her friends were back in the classroom. Nakano looked really concerned for Ushio, with the girl glad he cared so much for her well being, just like with Sakura, Nakano looked out for Ushio, the three of them always had each other's backs.
"Yeah, they took my bento from me and ate all my food." Ushio answers, her stomach growling at the mention of eating food.
"Do you think you'll be okay for the remaining classes?" Sakura asks her friend, she hated seeing Ushio being treated this way, the girl was always like a sister to her. Ushio hadn't even done anything to Naomi, or to her friends to deserve the constant torment she gets from them whenever there's no teacher around, or when the teacher isn't paying attention.
"Yeah, I think I'll be able to manage." Ushio quietly nods, not looking up from her desk, unable to think of anything other than food at the moment. It felt like her stomach was going to eat itself if she didn't eat something soon.
"Hey, Okazaki-chan, um, we were talking while we were waiting for you, and, we both think its time we told someone about all of this, I mean, Ogasawara and her group of friends are making you miserable, even the teachers are worried, and your father is even more worried than them." Nakano tells Ushio, making sure only Sakura, and Ushio were able to hear him, the last thing the three of them needed was for someone to hear what he had just said and relay it to Ogasawara, Nakano would hate to admit it, but given how scared to death their classmates were of Naomi, they couldn't risk being too loud when saying these kinds of things. Everyone was probably thinking both Sakura, and himself were just trying to cheer up Okazaki and nothing more, and Nakano would like to keep it that way.