Chapter 38: Yumiko Miura Arc: Incident V

"Okay, tell me what happened?" Hiratsuka-sensei asked.

For once, Yumiko Miura wasn't her confrontational self. She looked at the other two who were there in the room with her. Hikio had a grave and solemn looking expression on his face and it had been like this for the past couple of days. He had taken the news well, all things considered and even dealt well with the after math and the rumours which were circulating around campus.

However Shouko Nishimiya wasn't doing so well. She was a right mess. Blaming herself for what happened, not getting a wink of sleep, staying awake at night, not taking care of herself in the morning, crying all the time, isolating herself from others and searching for ways to punish herself because in her mind she could never even dare to seek for forgiveness for what she did.

"Look, we have been over this before. I am not asking you to point fingers or blame each other but the administrators want to get to the bottom of this. Attempted suicide is not something you can sweep under the rug." Hiratsuka-sensei said. "For God sake, Ishida is in the hospital, battling for his life and his girlfriend, Naoka Ueno has gone to the police authorities, claiming this was an act of attempted murder or some kind of conspiracy to make it look like a suicide."

"...Have they thought about this as a simple accident?" Hikio offered. "I mean, Kindaichi and Kudo from Detective Q did let it slip that Ishida was drunk that night. Even his supposed girlfriend Ueno said that the two had gone out together to some bar, then a hotel, where they slept together and he had left afterwards without notifying her."

"Yes Hikigaya, I know what happened. Detective Shinya Kogami as well as the rest of the police force who came to campus did inform the entire staff about the circumstances involved in this ongoing investigation." Hiratsuka-sensei said. "But like I said, they are looking at this from the suicide angle. Ishida did had too much to drink, but it can't be argued that he jumped from a building."

"He didn't jump from the roof though." Miura said. "I mean the men's residence is a high rise building and the roof is accessible at all times."

Hiratsuka-sensei looked at her. "What are you trying to say, Miura?"

Yumiko Miura didn't want to say it, but she had to because otherwise Hikio would say it and he would end up in a world of trouble. The police and the trainee detectives from the campus were already suspecting him. She couldn't let him be arrested for something he didn't do, something he could never do.

However, she on the other hand, well it was time to take responsibility for her reckless actions.

"I'm saying if Shouya Ishida really wanted to kill himself, he could at least have jumped from the roof."

"Miura!" Hikio looked horrified.

"What? What?" Miura glared at Hikio. Was he being dumb on purpose, didn't he realize she was doing this to save him from getting into more trouble. It was better to share the blame, than let him take the fall for this whole mess and if she could destroy the image of Shouya Ishida as some kind of victim, all the better.

Yumiko Miura turned to Hiratsuka-sensei. "Sensei, do you know who Shouya Ishida is?" She would tell her everything, all the things she learned on that fateful sunny day, when he came into their lives while begging for forgiveness from Shouko Nishimiya and making himself unforgiveable in the eyes of both Hikio and her.

No matter what happens, whether he lives or dies in the hospital, Miura didn't think she could be able to forgive him. She knew Hikio felt the same too. Now she had to make an attempt to bring Shizuka Hiratsuka-sensei to their side and paint a picture which makes Shouya Ishida become the villain of this story.

"I know about his history, Miura. I know more about him than you think." Hiratsuka-sensei threw a file open on the table. "I asked him to come over for counseling a couple of times before. He didn't like the idea much. He's a piece of work like you, Hikigaya."

Hikio stayed quiet. Perhaps like Miura, Hiratsuka-sensei expected him to crack a joke, make some sort of sardonic observation and pass a sarcastic remark. He didn't, which showed he was more affected by this then he would like others to think.

After all, despite what Miura liked to think, he shared some of the responsibility for what happened. It seems Hiratsuka-sensei was also of the same opinion and she wanted to capitalize on his guilt and make him confess to his deeds, come clean about his actions.

"Did you know he was bullied in elementary school?" Hiratsuka-sensei asked.

It had the needed effect she desired. Hikio looked like he had swallowed something vile. He kept both his hands on top of his knees, fingers curled into fists, knuckles turning white. His breath came out heavy, uneven, and fitful in rage. "Do you know he bullied, Nishimiya?"

Yumiko Miura didn't like Shizuka Hiratsuka. There was nothing wrong with her as a person. She was a chill teacher. But when she put on the labcoat and stopped smoking cigarettes and started to really get in your head and force you to see reason amidst all the chaos and come to terms with your own self and action, she really did a solid number on your and messed you up.

She had heard some interesting stories and rumours and it looks like she lived up to the famed standards. Plus she was a woman who never felt the need to say more. She thrived on listening to others. And she made it work even with someone like Hikio, who was a tough nut to crack.

Hiratsuka-sensei also seemed to have done her homework because she didn't look the least bit phased when Hachiman told her about the bullying which took place in the past.

"Is that why you punched him?" Shizuka Hiratsuka asked. "Repeatedly."

Hikio didn't seem to hear her. He went on about what they learned on that fateful day by the lake when Hikio kicked the ever loving shit out of Shouya Ishida. And like that day, he couldn't dare to look at Shouko Nishimiya in the face, see the disappointment glisten in her eyes as tears.

He just couldn't.

So instead, he looked ahead at the amethyst gaze of the woman who was supposed to understand him, the woman who was supposed to be on his side, even though she was a teacher and it was not in her job description to play favourites. In the end he was left to justify his own actions. "He made her completely deaf in one ear. She doesn't wear a hearing aid on her left ear because it's completely useless. Look at her, look at her ear." Even while he said it, he didn't dare look at her out of fear. "She has a scar in her ear. It's been there since she was a little kid in elementary school. It won't heal, ever! Why you ask? Because some kid decided it was funny to snatch out her hearing aid and throw it out the window, over and over and over-"

"I get the point, Hikigaya."

"-and over again. It was a game to him back then. A children's game." He sighed. Then almost to no one in particular he asked. "Why are kids so damn cruel? Kids are supposed to be innocent, nice. That's what the parents say, that's what the neighbours say, that's what the teachers say." He chuckled darkly. "But then you have monsters like him."

"Is that why you did it?" Hiratsuka-sensei asked again. "Because you thought he hasn't changed."

"I did it because I know he hasn't changed."

Hikio looked at her like she was being purposefully dumb. Miura had been there. She had heard what Shouya Ishida had to say. She had watched him beg for forgiveness, damn near grovel on his hand and knees for the woman he had wronged. It had been going well so far, but then he had to open his mouth and say the dumbest thing she had ever heard.

In her book, it was okay to ask for forgiveness because the act of forgiveness itself doesn't necessarily have to mean that all that was done in the past, the wrongs, the mistakes, they need not be forgotten. Forgiven yes, but not forgotten, never forgotten.

Personally, if all the things Shouya Ishida had done to Shouko Nishimiya were done to her, she couldn't even have the courage to face him. In that aspect Miura held the other woman at high esteem. She had dealt with a painful character from her past and she had faced it with dignity and the right amount of gravitas the moment warranted.

However, Shouko Nishimiya couldn't handle the strain through to the end. And that's when Hikio had stepped in, literally with a kick to his gut, followed by a series of punches. Perhaps, Hiratsuka-sensei didn't know about the kick. It was only one, measly kick. A good one, but she was pretty sure it was the punches which counted for most of the violence that took place on that day.

"What do you mean, Hikigaya?" Hiratsuka-sensei asked. "I never had reports of bullying with his name on it."

"Forcing yourself on others doesn't count as bullying, sensei." Hikio said in a dead pan voice.

Hiratsuka-sensei's eyes widened. "You mean -"

Hikio realized his verbal gaffe rather quickly. "Not like that!" He said, while also realizing that he was suddenly coming to the rescue of Shouya Ishida's image on campus. But whatever his crimes certainly be, he wasn't a rapist and he shouldn't be depicted as such. However it didn't make up for his other mistakes.

"Then what do you mean?" Hiratsuka-sensei asked.

"He said he wanted to be friends with Nishimiya." Hikio said.

Hiratsuka-sensei waited for him to continue and further elaborate on this, but he didn't say anything.

"That's it." She said, unimpressed.

"What do you mean, that's it? That is most definitely it! I had to let him have it." Hikio said, temperamentally. "He wanted to be friends with her. After all he did, after he apologized, after he gave her money for all the hearing aids he destroyed, which mind you, didn't sit well with me, at all. It felt too much like he was buying out her past troubles and all the mental trauma he put her through. But let's put that aside, shall we? How dare he think he could just waltz back in to her life and start hanging out with her and be her friend all of a sudden, when the last time you met, you caused her nothing but pain and suffering. And then when she had her back turned on him, he made to grab her arm." He paused. Then, "I saw red."

Miura decided Hikio had dug his hole a little too deep and it was time to throw in the rope. She looked at Nishimiya-san for support and out of common feminine instincts, the two of them shared a nod and committed themselves in to saving him.

"He grabbed, Nishimiya-san, sensei." Miura said. "When he was done apologizing and after he paid her the amount he owed, he said something about wanting to be her friend. But I think, and Nishimiya-san is going to back me up on this," Shouko nodded at this. "She didn't really feel like being his friend. But she went with it because she wanted him gone. And he really tried to grab her arm from behind. It really surprised us. I would even say it looked a bit threatening. Nishimiya-san actually yelped." She looked at Nishimiya-san again. "Isn't that right?"

Nishimiya-san nodded.

Hiratsuka-sensei sighed. "You are really not hearing yourself talk, Miura. All you said and all I heard makes you sound really guilty. But not as much as him." she took out a cigarette and used it to point at Hikio. "He could be in real trouble. I mean, apart from the injuries he sustained from his fall, there's also the old bruises on his stomach and face."

"I already confessed to the police that Shouya Ishida and I got into a physical altercation." Hikio said unafraid and unapologetic. "He lied there on the ground and I beat him senseless."

"Hikio!" Miura shouted.

Did he really want to be arrested, she thought.

"It was my fault."

Shouko Nishimiya started speaking in her garbled way. She could have used sign language and asked the university to provide an interpreter, but the guilt had been eating her from inside. She could have asked for Hachiman's help, but she was certain he wouldn't let her say these words.

She only hoped her words were intelligible.

"What makes you say that, Nishimiya?"

Hiratsuka-sensei was really accommodating. She was a really great teacher, far better than the one she had back in elementary school. If only things were a bit different, if only something in her past didn't happen, maybe they wouldn't end up being here.

"I told him, I couldn't forgive him." Shouko continued, even though her throat protested at the garbled and difficult speech, even though she couldn't hear herself talk.

"Who?"

Someone asked, she didn't know who.

Shouko didn't hear anything. She just had to get this weight off her chest and take responsibility. It was not Hachiman's fault for thrashing him. It was not Miura-san's fault for berating him while he was explaining to her there past and the need for him to apologize

It wasn't even his own fault and how could it be, now that he had paid the ultimate price, with his life hanging in the balance and his body stuck to the hospital bed.

No, there was only one person to blame.

"I told him," Shouko Nishimiya said with a note of finality, ending her garbled speech. She didn't look at Hachiman, she couldn't dare herself to look at him. Neither could she look at Miura-san. Her eyes only seized the purple gaze of the guidance counselor who wanted her to come clean and confess to what she actually believed to be true.

"I told him, I couldn't be his friend." Shouko Nishimiya said.

A/N: So, Shouya Ishida decided to commit suicide because he thought Shouko Nishimiya couldn't forgive him and be his friend – this is a bit similar to my plot for the deleted "CROSSOVER" fic. Only in that story, I would have Ishida at the hospital, in a coma, already having committed suicide because he wasn't able to find Shouko again.

Okay, now here are the options for the next chapter:

Option 1: Miura x Hachiman x Shouko Nishimiya (Continued)

Option 2: Miura x Hachiman x Hayasaka.

Option 3: Miura x Hachiman x Haruno.

Option 4: Miura x Hachiman x Eru Chitanda.

Option 5: Miura x Hachiman x Rio Futaba.

Please pick any of the above options or suggest a character in the review.

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Hope everyone enjoyed reading this chapter.

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Won't betray your dreams.