viii. a mean girl's coming of age

"Students," the teacher began on a cold morning. It had rained last night, and the courtyard from where Yui could see was wet. "I would like to congratulate you on completing your entrance exams!"

At that, everybody cheered. Some actually threw their books in the air, while others merely put their arms up in delight. Yui reached down to pick up her book, while Aoi and Iwaizumi lowered their hands. Finally—it was over. It was the mark of the end of a chapter in their life, and the upcoming graduation ceremony would be the beginning of the next. For now, though, the third years could simply relax, spending the last two weeks of school in languid bliss.

"We did it!" Yui cried, leaning across her desk to hug Aoi. "Exams are over!"

"No more math!" Aoi practically sobbed.

They waited for Iwaizumi to chime in, but he never did. Instead, he was resting his head on his palm, seemingly deep in thought.

"Iwaizumi-san," Yui suggested, "Why don't we all go out this weekend? To celebrate! We'll bring Oikawa-san and his girlfriend along, too."

That snapped him out of it. "Are you sure?" Iwaizumi said. "Oikawa... he can be a handful, even with Naoko there."

"Of course! We should all hang out together."

He agreed, and three of them discussed times and places to go to on Saturday until the bell rang.

Today was not a good morning for Yui. She woke up late and rushed out of the house, only to find that she needed to do a tremendous shit on the way to school. Her face almost turning purple, she staggered toward the school gates. Come on, she coached herself, strained. We're almost there!

Standing at the vending machines in front of the school were Beppu Marina and Akizuki Sakurako. The two girls gossiped and giggled to themselves, speaking only of other people's business.

"A confession in the snow?" gushed Marina. "Oh my god, Sakurako-chan, that's sooo dreamy! Naoko-sama is so lucky!"

"I know right? But," Sakurako frowned, "Can you stop calling her that? It's not like she's any better than us..."

"Naoko-sama's eyes are so dark and mysterious."

"Bee-chan! Seriously!" It was then Sakurako noticed Yui coming their way. Smirking, she nudged her best friend. "Hey, look. It's her. That slut who had the audacity to sit with Oikawa-san. Why don't we mess with her a little bit? Put her in her place."

"We'll show her not to mess with Naoko-sama's man," agreed Marina.

"Oi!" Sakurako marched up to the girl, who was looking down at the floor. "Who do you think you are, huh, bitch? Did you think we didn't notice you drooling all over Oikawa-san like that?" She raised her hand to maybe shove her around a little, but Yui caught her wrist with terrifying ease. "Huh?"

Then Yui peered up at her with the promise of a painful death in her eyes as she pushed her arm away. "Oi. I'm about to blow. Get out of my fucking way."

Sc-scary! Marina and Sakurako thought at the same time, stepping back.

Cowed, the two girls let Yui—radiating an intense and dark aura—pass without anymore trouble.

"Bee-chan," Sakurako sniffled later on. "Why does it feel like we never win?"

Akizuki Sakurako was the kind who walked all over people. But she knew where she stood, and never caused trouble with those who were of higher social standing than her. She had sailed through high school as a mean girl, but lately...

Okabe Yui had been showing up all over the place.

And Sakurako hated her.

Hated her for sitting with the boy she liked. Hated her for laughing and eating with him.

I'll show her, she vowed bitterly. I'll show all of them!

And so she went to see Yui in her class—went to lure her outside and have a few words with her. She didn't bring Marina with her—her best friend was too busy stalking Makoshima Naoko to go along with her this time.

But to her surprise, Yui stood and greeted her with a smile before she could even get any words out.

"Ah! Akizuki-san! Just the person I wanted to see."

Sakurako almost broke out in cold sweat as she remembered this morning. She shook her head. No! That was just a one-time incident! I won't let her walk all over me again!

The two girls walked out to the hallway and to the front of a lesser-used bathroom. Many alpha girls had cornered their prey here before—and if Sakurako was going to have it her way, it would happen again.

Sakurako sneered. "Listen, you—"

But Yui talked over her, stretching out her hand. "I wanted to give you this."

Sakurako blinked down at the bottle of medicine. "Huh?"

"I see you around a lot," Yui admitted truthfully. "You're always in the bathroom gossiping with Beppu-san, but... I never actually see you go into any of the stalls."

"Wh... What are you saying?"

Yui pointed at the inconspicuous bottle she had given her. "These are laxatives. You'll have nice, normal shits for the rest of the week instead of being constipated. I'll see you around, Akizuki-san!" With that, she skipped off, humming a jolly tune under her breath.

What... Sakurako looked down at the bottle. Now that she thought about it, what had Okabe Yui ever done to her? All she had was something that Sakurako could never obtain... She hadn't actually done anything wrong. She squeezed the bottle. Okabe-san...Tears ran down her face. She's so kind! What the hell?! I haven't shat in a week!

Without wasting anymore time, Sakurako disappeared into the bathroom and did not emerge until the end of school.

When she finally came out, jaws dropped.

Never had anyone seen Sakurako look so light and refreshing, her mouth curled up in a pretty smile instead of her usual sneer.

"S-Sakurako-chan," Marina stammered as the bell rang to dismiss the students. "What happened to you?"

"Today is a beautiful day!" Sakurako sighed dreamily. "I haven't felt this light in so long! Everyone is beautiful! Woohoo!"

Iwaizumi gave Yui a fondly exasperated look as they walked out of the gate together. "Why do you look so smug today?"

"Oh, nothing," Yui said innocently. "I just helped a fairy who couldn't go to the toilet."

"... Huh?"