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Chapter 8

The Falling Pedestal

Everything around her went quiet. For a time her mind had trouble registering his words. Then she blinked, blinked again, then blinked several more times.

"W-What?" finally came her reply.

"I'm asking you to marry me, Yotsuba," Fuutarou repeated, "Is it a yes or no?"

She could only stare at him. When she finally realized he was being dead serious she burst out laughing.

"Uesugi-san!" Yotsuba had difficulty trying to smother her giggles, "What do you think you're doing? That's not very funny!"

"I'm being serious, Yotsuba," he grounded out, sounding irritated because he wasn't getting an answer.

"Can you stop for a moment and think about what you're saying?" she was now holding her stomach, "Don't you think you're rushing things?"

"No, I'm not," he answered directly.

She shook her head, "You're doing things backwards, Uesugi-san. You don't just throw out a marriage proposal after just one date. I may not be an expert on these things but even I know that much. It just simply isn't done."

He made no reply.

"Besides", she carried on, "even though I do want to be with you it's too soon for us to get married. We haven't even figured out yet what we'll do after we graduate. We should wait a little longer, until we're older, maybe go on a few more dates before-"

"No."

Yotsuba looked at him, startled to see that scary expression from earlier again.

"But Uesugi-san-"

"No," he said again, this time more sharply, "I don't want to wait that long. We don't have to get married right away, but I still want you to be my wife. I just want an answer from you right now."

A long moment of silence passed between them. The laughter inside Yotsuba immediately died and she looked at him closely. He really was serious. He really wanted to marry her. But why? And why so soon?

"Why do you want to marry me?" she finally asked.

He stared at her in disbelief, "You're seriously asking me that?! Shouldn't that be obvious?"

"Uesugi-san," she kept herself from stepping back in fear, "One of the reasons why we do dates is for couples to get to know each other more. To know what we want in life and what we want in each other."

"I already know I want," he said impatiently, "Do I have to remind you why I chose you?"

Yotsuba looked into his eyes again, her face starting to turn into a frown.

"Maybe you should, Uesugi-san," she calmly replied, "Why don't you tell me again?"

"Ugh," Fuutarou slapped his palm into his face, "Look, I told you that you helped out a great deal back then, right?"

"Yeah."

"And I want to support you, but I need you to support me."

"That's it?"

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Fuutarou threw up his hands, "What more do you freaking want?! I swear to God! Ever since that night all of you have been acting weird! You guys wanted me to make a choice! Well, I've made my choice! Why are you still going on about it? Don't you guys realize that the finals are coming up? We should be focusing on that instead or wasting our time with this damn romance business! I promised that I would have you girls graduate together and I'm not about to let this stupid thing interfere with that! I did what you guys asked! Let that be the end of it! Now, for the last time Yotsuba, will you marry me?"

If Fuutarou thought that his little outburst would intimidate her he was dead wrong. In those few sentences Yotsuba started to see a new side of him. The side Takebayashi had warned her about. She should have been frightened, but she wasn't. She wasn't ever sad or even angry. She was just disappointed. Not just with him, but also at herself. Finally accepting the reality she took a deep breath. It was time to ask that question.

"Before I answer that, Uesugi, there's one more question I have to ask you. And I need you to be perfectly honest with me."

She saw him rolling his eyes and she wondered if he even noticed she was no longer using the honorific she'd always called him by.

"Fine," he growled, "What is it?"

Taking another deep breath, she locked her gaze on him.

"Why couldn't you have dated any of my sisters?"

His expression went blank. The question had clearly caught him off guard. He looked utterly confused and off balance. Yotsuba, feeling braver than she ever felt before, patiently waited. She wasn't sure what would happen next, but now that she had taken the plunge there was no going back. Fuutarou's answer would be the deciding factor of how she would view him from now on.

"Excuse me?" he seemed to be having trouble understanding the question.

"Why couldn't you have dated any of my sisters?" she casually repeated.

Now he was annoyed, "What brought this about? What kind of question is that?"

"It's a very simple question, Uesugi," she calmly replied, "Except for Itsuki you knew as well as I did that my sisters were in love with you. You haven't really spoken with them since that night. You tried to with Nino, but you haven't said a word since."

"So? Why does it matter?"

"It matters because it means a great deal to them. They all tried to win your affection and you haven't given them a single thought since then. I want to know why."

"Oh, my God," Fuutarou groaned, "I thought we were passed this already!"

"Uesugi, if you expected things to go right back to normal after that night then you haven't been paying attention."

"God damn it! I don't have time for this!"

"Then answer my question and then I will give you my answer," when he didn't reply right away she immediately challenged, "Is it that difficult for you?"

"Arrgh!" Fuutarou nearly yanked out his hair and she saw him grit his teeth, "Alright, fine! I couldn't date your sisters because it would have been too hard. There! Does that satisfy you?"

Everything went quiet again as she repeated his words.

"Too... hard? What do you mean by that?"

"Look," Fuutarou heaved a huge sigh, "I told you before that I love your sisters. I truly do, but any relationship with any one of them would never have worked."

Yotsuba's eyes suddenly narrowed into shards, "What do mean it wouldn't have worked?"

"Based on what I've read about relationships and what I know about them individually, a good relationship with them would have been impossible."

"That's not an answer, Uesugi," she was suddenly getting very angry, "Explain yourself."

"You're really not going to let this up, are you?" exasperated, Fuutarou started pacing back and forth, "A relationship is built around trust and who you're most comfortable with. For me, I want someone who I can depend on, someone who won't argue with me all the time and create a bunch of drama. I can't stand problems, you know that. If I had chosen one of your sisters would only end up being one problem after another. Take Ichika for example. After what she pulled back in Kyoto, how can I trust someone who tries to play dirty? Miku's okay but she's trying too hard to be someone she just isn't. Itsuki is just too controlling. She and I would just get into one dumb argument after another."

Yotsuba could not believe what she was hearing. How could he say those things and not feel like a jerk?! He wasn't exactly wrong but he was treating them so unfairly! All of them have come such a long way since they had met him. Then she realized he had left out one last quint.

"What about Nino?"

She saw him hesitate, "What about her?"

Her eyes flared, "What about Nino? She was the one who pursued you the most! Have you nothing to say about her?"

Fuutarou snorted, "Nino is nothing but trouble. It's always back and forth with her. Nothing about her makes sense. Every time I think I finally understand her she turns around and surprises me again. To this day I still can't figure her out. First she hated me, tried to get rid of me, then she says that she loves me, and from that point on she constantly throws herself at me. I don't understand her at all. How can I be with someone I don't fully understand and doesn't want to cooperate with me?"

Her hands were starting to form into fists, "So you coming to her defense didn't mean anything to you?"

He blinked, "Pardon?"

"Nino and I overheard you talking with those girls during the festival, the ones who were asking you about who she liked."

"Oh, that," he just shrugged carelessly, "I only said that to get them off my back. It was no big deal."

"To her it was! Do you have any idea of what she's going through right now? She thought that you really cared about her when you said that!"

"I do care about her. I care about all of you! How many times do I need to repeat that?!"

"Then how come you haven't tried speaking with her again? How come you keep avoiding her?"

"Because I don't know what she so upset about! But you know what? I don't care anymore! If she can't accept my decision that's her problem, not mine. If she wants to be that way then the hell with her! I'm not going to waste my time explaining every single thing I do."

It had getting to be too much. Her fists were now fully clenched and she was seething with rage. She had never been so angry, so furious, in her entire life! And Fuutarou still hadn't noticed. He just stood there quietly as though everything was perfectly normal!

"So..." she grounded out through gritted teeth, "you only chose me because I was the one who never gave you any kind of trouble like my sisters did. Is that what you're trying to say?"

"Well, in a word, yes. You're easy to get along with, easy to talk to, and you never disagreed with me about anything. You're perfect for me."

Her anger was now at the breaking point.

"Like I said, you guys wanted me to choose one of you and I've done that. I don't know why you still want to argue about it. Now that I've answered your question will you please... ugh, you know what? Let's just wait until tomorrow. I'll give you some time to think it over. It's almost eight o'clock so let's head back. We got a lot of studying to do tomorrow and-"

A loud crack shattered the silence of the night, followed by a big crash as a trash bin was knocked down by someone trying to catch himself from falling. Anyone who might been close by could have mistaken the sound for a gunshot, but in that little park a significant turn of events had just occurred.

Yotsuba had finally snapped, and in her anger she had given Fuutarou what he rightfully deserved.

Fuutarou didn't know where he was. Everything was dark and his ears were ringing. He had no idea what was happening. Slowly he began seeing patches of light, but he couldn't make anything out of it because they would disappear right afterwards. Whatever he did see was blurry and distorted. On top of that the world seemed to be spinning.

His memories began to come back to him. He had been talking to Yotsuba when something had struck him across the jaw. Everything had gone white and he had only caught a glimpse of the concrete sidewalk closing in on him. His hand had lashed to grab onto something before he fell. His left shoulder had painfully collided with something before his right hand caught the armrest of the bench.

Then, like a crack of a whip, his senses came back at once. The first thing he saw was that he was staring straight at the concrete ground, a piece of trash lying there, having been knock out of the overturned trash bin. The next thing he noticed was that he was hanging onto armrest of the bench and that his knees were growing cold from the damp walkway. Then he heard someone next to him who was breathing heavily. No, it was more ragged than heavy and it sounded like an angry wild animal.

Finally it all came back to him. His first thought was that some night crawler had hit him and that Yotsuba was in danger. But he heard no signs of a struggle, no sounds of anyone screaming or yelling, or anything else to suggest danger. All he did hear was someone breathing very raggedly. His mind went into a panic. Someone was strangling Yotsuba to death! He had to get back up! He had to help her before it was too late! He had to-

"How... dare... you..."

He froze, and the memories quickly returned. He heard those words once before, spoken by another girl, but this time he recognized the voice and at the same time he didn't. It sounded like Yotsuba, but at the same time it didn't like Yotsuba. Then he felt the pain in his jaw. With a shaky hand he placed his fingers on the spot where it hurt most and nearly fainted when pain shot through his head like a bullet. Then he tasted blood in his mouth. It was only then he finally realized what had just happened.

Yotsuba had hit him. The very girl he had just proposed to had just hit him.

It wasn't even a slap. It had been a full punch to the jaw. She had punched him hard enough to knock him right off his feet. Hard enough to nearly knock him out cold. Her strength was simply that amazing.

"How dare you!"

Fear consumed him right away, but he didn't have the courage to run. Gathering what courage he did have he slowly turned his head towards her.

What he saw made him recoil in horror.

Yotsuba stood no more than a yard away from him. Her fists were tightly clenched and her entire body shook with rage. Blood dripped from the very fist that struck him and it was skinned around the knuckles. The menacing aura surrounding her was so strong he could feel it seeping into his skin, his bones, his very soul, but it was her face that terrified him the most.

The cheerful, always smiling face that he knew so well was gone, replaced with one that resembled a raging beast that was out for blood. Her innocent and lovely features were contorted, her teeth bare, and her eyes were filled with such a blaze Fuutarou was certain she would have burned him alive if she could.

The sweet yet clumsy girl called Yotsuba was no longer there, and for the first time ever he feared for his life. Yotsuba looked like a savage monster who wanted to tear him limb for limb with her bare hands, and he had little doubt that she would do it if given the chance.

"Is that all my sisters are to you?! Nothing but nuisances?!"

She took one step towards him and he impulsively crawled backwards in desperation. He wanted to run but he was too terrified to even stand.

"Is that all I am to you?! You little precious servant who never disobeys her master?!" her hands formed into claws and they reached for him.

"Yotsuba!" he held out a palm while still crawling away, "Stop! Please calm down!"

She did stop, but her anger didn't reduce. It only magnified.

"Calm down?" she was practically foaming at the mouth, "How can I be calm after what you just said?"

"Yotsuba! Please! I don't understand! Why are you like this?"

Her eyes blazed even more, "You just don't get it do you?! How can you speak so lowly of my sisters and not feel ashamed?"

"You asked me why! I only told the truth!"

"I don't care if it's the truth! You can't just say those things and expect everyone, me most of all, to be okay with it! What is the matter with you? Have you no sense of dignity or any kind of respect for my sisters?"

"I told you! I couldn't date any of them because-"

"Of some stupid book you read? You didn't believe it would work out because they were all too difficult to handle? You didn't even try! You never gave them a chance! You just pushed them aside like they were nothing and went straight to me! Because I was the easy the choice, just as you said."

"It was the right choice!"

"It was a selfish choice! Completely unfair to them!"

"You girls were the ones who made me make a choice!"

"You didn't have to agree to it! No one was forcing you! You could have made the choice not to go through with it and it would have shown us that you were standing up for yourself. Yeah, we would have hurt, but we could have lived with it. Instead you did what we asked without question!"

"If I didn't do it it would have made me look like a jerk!"

"Oh, is that so? Well, guess what? You ended up being a jerk anyway! So you made your decision and just expected things to go back to normal? We then go on one date, where you completely ignore me, and after it's finally over you have the gall to stand there, propose to me, and expect me to agree to it? You son of a bitch!"

She had managed to get close enough to kick him on the last word, making Fuutarou yelp as her foot connected with his ankle.

"Isn't that what you wanted though?" he yelled back, "Didn't you say you wanted to be with me?"

"What I wanted was you! You and you alone! That was all I wanted!"

"Then why-"

"You know what pissed me off today? I just wanted to spend the day with you. Just one freaking day! Just with you! But you couldn't even give me five seconds of your time! I watched you the entire time and not once did you ever look my way. Your entire attention was focused on something else. This!"

She suddenly crouched down. At first he thought she was going to attack him again, then he saw his flash notes lying on the ground. In his desperation to get away they had fallen out of his pocket. Before he could react she snatched them up, crushing them in her fist.

"This was the only thing that mattered to you! It was like you couldn't live without it! When I tried taking them away from you got so upset you all but assaulted me to get them back! Do you have any idea how hurt I was at that moment?!"

Fuutarou swallowed, "Yotsuba, please. You need to understand-"

"Understand what? That your studies were more important than me? Than us?! Well, you certainly made that clear! You say these notes are important to you, to me they're like a thick concrete wall between us!" she started laughing hysterically, "You know what's really funny? Remember our conversation back on bus when I asked you if your studies were really that important? Your response was that you couldn't afford to fail! You had to be number one! That's exactly how I felt back in my old school. Look where it got me in the end?"

She laughed again until she dissolved into sobs, "I just wanted to spend the day with you. That was all I wanted! I never asked for anything else, but you just couldn't put your studies aside for once, could you? Studying is all you live for! These stupid note cards is all you cared about! Here! You can have them back! Maybe you should marry these instead!"

She threw the notes back. Fuutarou held up his arms and they bounced harmlessly off him, but it was enough to make him wince. When he lowered his arms he saw Yotsuba still standing there. Her rage had simmered down but her body was still shaking. She was now crying, the tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

"What happened to you? What happened to the boy I met six years ago? Where is he?"

Fuutarou could only stare in silence as she continued to sob.

"All this time I thought you were a great guy, but I now see you're just a clueless self-centered idiot who can't figure out the simplest thing despite being so smart. You can't even look at yourself to see what you're doing wrong. You've always had to rely on someone to explain for you, but even then you still don't learn anything from it. You think you're right about everything, but the truth is you don't know a damn thing at all!"

Her tears came down in streams and she looked ready to collapse.

"I didn't want to believe it, but now I see that it's true. You never did care about us, or our feelings. You just went along with our demands because you didn't care. You just wanted to get the whole thing over with so you could get back to studying. That was all that mattered to you!"

"No, that isn't true, Yotsuba!"

"Is it?" she looked at him sharply, "Tell me, Uesugi. Do you love me?"

"W-What?" he looked at her blankly.

"Do you love me?" when he still didn't answer her anger flared again, "Come on, Mister! You should be able to answer that right away!"

"O-Of course I do! I told you! I love you all!"

"I'm not asking about my sisters, damn it! I'm asking about me! Personally! Do you actually love me?"

When he still couldn't answer she sniffed.

"You can't answer, can you? Why can't you? Are you just incapable of love?" she sobbed again, "You're not in love with me. If you were, it would have been the first thing you said to me that night. Instead you just asked me how I felt about you and then just thanked me for always being by your side. You didn't want my love. You didn't care about my love. You just wanted my undying support for you," she wiped her eyes, "Your old friend was right. Your decision wasn't based on love, it was all based on your own selfish desires. You didn't want a girlfriend. You just wanted someone you could lean on all the time. You treated me the exact same way you did with Hatsuka."

At the sound of that name Fuutarou froze, the complete memory of that event coming back to him like a cold ocean wave.

"Hold on," he gasped for breath, "How do you know about her?"

"I ran into your old friend Takebayashi the other day and we had a long talk about you," Yotsuba explained, "She told me everything. About the day when you rejected that girl. She even told me what you said when it came to your type. Remember when Miku asked you? You gave the exact same answers."

"I don't..." Fuutarou was now in a state of shock, "Why would she..."

"Before you get angry with her, know this. She gave me the opportunity to walk away. I could have just turned and left but I didn't. You want to know why? Because I realized that I didn't know anything about you. None of us did. We've all told you about our own past struggles and such but not once did you ever talk about yourself. Now I know why. You were too ashamed of it," she wiped her tears away again, "I didn't want to believe her. I didn't want to believe you could that be cold, but I had to know the truth for myself... and for my sisters. I wish I never learned it, for I now see you for who you really are. What an idiot I've been. I can't believe I actually fell for someone like you."

She turned and walk away, finally causing Fuutarou to come out of his daze. In a panic he got to his feet.

"Wait! Yotsuba!" he sprinted after her, hoping she wouldn't start running, ""Please stop! Let's talk about this-"

She whirled around and pinned him with a murderous glare while raising her fist. He skidded to a halt, almost falling down again.

"We having nothing to talk about, Uesugi," she hissed at him, "And if you try to stop me I swear to God I will hit you so hard you won't be getting up. At all."

He stared into those eyes and felt a chill go down his spine. He had no reason to doubt she would actually do it. Never in his life did he imagine that Yotsuba, the most cheerful and kind of all the quints, would be like this. He had seen the others get mad before, but Yotsuba was by far the scariest.

"Yotsuba... please," he begged, "Don't leave me like this. Tell me what I need to do to make it up to you."

She stared at him in disbelief, then she laughed. Cruelly. Insanely.

"You know, I asked your friend for the same thing," she grinned maniacally, "The advice she gave me turned out to be very helpful. I'll have to thank her the next time I see her, but you're not getting any help from me. You didn't get it the first time, so why bother explaining it now? You're so smart. Figure it out yourself! Have a good night, loser!"

With that she left a petrified Fuutarou behind. He could only watch as she disappeared into the night.

Yotsuba stormed down the streets, not caring where she was going or how far she went. Those she passed quickly got out of the way when they sensed the angry aura surrounding her. At one time a pair of street thugs tried to stop her by flirting, only to back off quickly when they saw the menacing fire in her eyes followed by her deadly threat. She was so angry she wanted to smash anything that got in her way.

Never before had she been so upset. For him to speak so lowly of her sisters, to treat her so disrespectfully, she just couldn't control herself anymore and the next thing she knew she struck Fuutarou, sending him reeling to the ground. She should have been shocked by her action, but she was too angry to even care. She just couldn't stand by and let Fuutarou get away with it.

What an moron she had been! She believed in him! Trusted him! Gave him her heart and all her love! And this is how he repaid her? By asking her to his support model for life without any regard to her feelings? Or her sisters? Just how stupid did he think she was?! She may not have the brightest of the bunch but even she had some sort of pride!

She finally came to a stop at a traffic light, but when the signal came for her to cross she stayed where she was. She just stood there, gazing unseeingly into the night. Her anger finally faded away and she started sniffing loudly as new tears came.

Because... she had done the same thing. To her sisters. She had disrespected her sisters just as he had. She had punished herself for no reason and she had turned Fuutarou into a cold heartless bastard. All because of a stupid childhood promise. She had ruined everything. How could she face her sisters now? Especially Nino? Once she learned about Fuutarou's true nature it would completely destroy her. The thought alone scared Yotsuba more than anything else.

What should she do? What can she do?

"Yotsuba?"

Her head snapped around. At first she thought Fuutarou had caught up with her, for it sounded very much like him. However, it wasn't Fuutarou who stood there.

It was Maruo, her stepdad.

He stood beside his car at the sidewalk, his driver and secretary Ebata right behind him, looking stern as always.

Ever since the events at her previous school Yotsuba had always been afraid of him. She sincerely believed he resented her for the embarrassment she'd caused when she failed to pass the exams. But at this moment she was absolutely relieved to see him.

"Wha-What are..." she tried to say, but her voice was too weak.

"I went to the penthouse because I wanted to speak to all of you, only to discover that you were on a date with Uesugi," he approached her, not noticing her distress, "Yotsuba, I've put up with you and your sisters' defiance over the months, but I do not approve-"

He never finished his sentence for Yotsuba suddenly flung herself at at him. Clinging tightly to his suit, she started crying uncontrollably into his chest. Maruo stood there stunned, and even Ebata was surprised.

"I'm sorry!" she wailed, "I'm so sorry!"

Finally recovering from his shock, Maruo instinctively closed his arms around her and held her gently. He instantly forgot about what he was going to say. His stern expression was gone, replaced with genuine concern for his stepdaughter.

"Hey, hey," he soothed, mindless that his shirt and tie were growing damp, "What's the matter? Are you hurt? Did he do something to you?"

She rapidly shook her head, "I don't wanna talk about it right now. I just... I just... Just get me out of here! Please!"

"All right," releasing her, Maruo took off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders, "I'll take you straight home-"

"No!" she cried, "I can't want to go back there! I can't face my sisters right now!"

Maruo frowned for an instant but immediately wiped it away, "Okay, that's fine. We'll go to my place then."

Fuutarou made his way back home after stopping at a convenience store to buy some ice and a plastic bag. His jaw ached and it was swelling despite his efforts. Thankfully it hadn't impaired his speech. By tomorrow there would definitely be a bruise. He hoped it would have gone by the time the weekend was over and he returned to school.

However, that was the least of his problems. He had no idea how he was going to face the quints when he saw them again. By now Yotsuba would have arrived home and she would be telling her sisters everything that had happened. None of them were going to be happy.

He himself was at a complete loss. The day had been a total disaster. His plans were all in disarray. He never imagined that Yotsuba could lose control like that, or deliver such a devastating blow to his jaw. He winced as he thought about it, amazed that his jaw wasn't actually broken. What was he going to do now?

"Fuutarou..."

He stopped in his tracks and jerked his head up.

"Chihori..."

His childhood friend stood there. Suspciously, she seemed to have a not too surprised look of her face. Beside her was another old classmate he recognized. Sanada. Both were dressed nicely and Chihori's arm was wrapped around Sanada's.

So they're dating after all, he thought, remembering that time from six years years when she seemed to have taken an interest in Sanada during the bus ride.

He had to admit, she looked very beautiful tonight. Then again she had always been a pretty girl. It was not hard to see why he had a crush on her back then. She looked completely different from the street clothes she'd worn when she came to see him at the festival. He would have praised her, if he wasn't so angry right now.

She seemed to have noticed, for she leaned up and whispered something into Sanada's ear. He looked at her, then sharply at Fuutarou, before looking at her again. He seemed hesitant, but when his girlfriend spoke to him again he reluctantly left her side. He placed himself a good twenty yards away and stood guard, reasonably out of earshot but close enough to step in if he needed to.

Fuutarou suspected that he had also sensed his anger towards Chihori and was ready to come to her defense if he decided to take it out on her. Much as he was tempted to, he wouldn't get any answers that way. The fact remained, however, that Chihori had stuck her nose into his business.

"I see you're a couple now," he said.

"Yes," she confirmed, "We've been dating since the beginning of high school. We went out for dinner at a nice restaurant tonight. We had a very good time."

His chest tightened and his fists clenched, but he kept his composure and forced himself to say, "I'm happy for you both."

"Thank you," she took a moment to scan his face.

The cold ice pack had started dripping in his hand, but he didn't bother to hold it up to his jaw again. He saw her looking at it before lifting her gaze to him. She seemed to have a pretty good idea of what had happened earlier.

"From the looks of it, your date didn't go so well."

His eyes narrowed into shards, "So you did speak with Yotsuba the other day."

She didn't deny it, "I did."

"And you told her about Hatsuka?"

"I did."

He gritted his teeth, "Why? Why did you tell her? You had no right to do such a thing!"

"You're right, I didn't, but she wanted to know."

"That's not an excuse!" he screamed unconsciously took a step towards her.

Sanada instantly became alarmed and started to close in, but stop when Chihori held out a hand behind her. Fuutarou made no further attempt to get closer.

"Do you know what you did to me tonight?" his breathing had turned ragged, "I just lost the very thing I wanted because of you! Do you have any idea how important Yotsuba was to me?"

Unfazed by his anger she stared directly into his eyes.

"If she was that important then you wouldn't have treated her the way you did. And don't pretend that you were the only one keeping secrets. She was too."

"You knew nothing about her!"

Her eyes narrowed, "I knew more about her in one hour than you did in two years! And I know more about you in ten years than those girls did in two."

"Then why? Damn you! Why?! Just what were you hoping to gain by telling Yotsuba about my past? Was it revenge for rejecting Hatsuka?"

"Oh, please," Chihori rolled her eyes, "I may be harsh and even mean but I've never been that petty."

"Then tell me why, damn it! You told Yotsuba something she didn't have to know!"

"I gave her the chance to walk away, but she wanted to know the truth, Fuutarou, and I told her nothing but the truth," her face suddenly fell, "The only thing I didn't tell her... was the ending of that story."

"Ending?" Fuutarou frown and somehow he forgot his anger, "What are you talking about?"

Chihori closed her eyes and gripped her harms tightly. Her body shivered and her face twisted. She stood like that for a while before opening her eyes again.

"Do you know what happened to Hatsuka after you rejected her?" she asked.

A heavy lump suddenly formed in his stomach, "N-No, I don't. Why? What happened?"

"Her life never got better. It only became worse and worse as time went on. And now..." she took a breath and said, "She's dead now."