Life at school had been hard for Shidou and Ai for the last couple of weeks. Mai and Mii hatefully spread all kinds of rumors about Ai(naturally, they were false) and told everyone that she had the hots for a certain azure-haired teen -though that part wasn't necessarily untrue. It's been taxing on both duos. Shidou now had the self-given responsibility of protecting the blonde from all the ridicule and harassment that she'd been getting recently gained notoriety in the school because of it. Meanwhile, his defending her only escalated the belief that the two were dating.
"I heard this is her fourth boyfriend in the past week! What a slut."
"Well, we all know how messed up that Shidou kid is, they're the perfect match."
"She's got looks, brains, and athleticism. She's just using 'em for the wrong things, so misguided..."
All these insults pelted her from all directions, rendering her too scared and embarrassed to open her mouth even once at school. Shidou(also known as skullcracker at this point) had to walk around while holding her hand just so that no idiots would attack her out of the blue -that's what happened the first five minutes of the school day after the fight. One day in the cafeteria, a banner was put up just above the stage. It was a string of insults from kids all around the school, and dimmed lights followed. Then, a schedule appeared on the big screen. It was a list of entertainment options for hating on the couple, ranging from stand-up comedy to parties, from skits and acting to sports tweaked to give players a common hatred of them. There were even two 15 minutes-long speeches that were well planned out to brainwash everyone into hating both of them. Ai, who was just at the double-doors, saw everything and sprinted away crying. Shidou followed her until he saw her stop at an oversized tree. She went into the shadows on the side of the tree that was facing away from the school, went into the fetal position, and cried her heart out silently.
"I... I don't want to do this anymore..." Ai pleaded, worn out and sullen. Her former best friends had made living simply depressing for her. For the first time in her life, she wanted to give up. Shidou sat next to her and stroked her hair.
"I'm sorry... this is all my fault..." He kept repeating, his voice shaking and his face streaked with tears. "I'm gonna make this right. Go home, I'll tell the teacher that you felt sick. Walk to school alone tomorrow, everything should be normal then..."
"Shidou-kun, what're yo-"
"Don't call me that tomorrow. In fact, don't even mention my name until someone asks about me. Then use Itsuka-San and say yes to all of their accusations of me. Ok?"
"But why-"
"If you want your school to not be a living hell, then please just do as I say..."
"...Ok." Shidou smiled blankly, waved and sent her on a wind current to her home.
"Ok, now or never." Shidou steeled himself and barged into the cafeteria, making as much noise as possible. The laughter ceased and everyone stared as he literally threw the person behind the mic into the crowd. He then jumped down, everyone clearing a patch for him, and walked up to a random girl.
"Hmm, you're cute... Want to become my property?" He asked, maliciousness in his tone.
"YAADA!" The girl screamed and slapped him. Shidou's face was forcefully turned to the side and had a red hand print on it. He hissed evilly.
"That was what Ai did too. I don't blame you, most girls do, but don't worry. One night at my house will change all of that...When I'm done with you, you'll be a good, obedient little girl..." He moved the girl's chin and forced her to face him. This time, pure fear was in her eyes. The crowd gasped, followed by all the men who were in the football and martial arts clubs coming after him. After promptly(although he vowed never to forgive himself) beating them all up without one of them so much as scratching him, he asked:
"Who else wants to get in my way? All women belong to me, got that?" Okamine-sensei shivered as she remembered what he said to her in the beginning of the year. She couldn't believe that she almost took him up on his offer. But then again, he's very different now for some reason...
There was silence for a good 20 seconds. Shidou laughed evilly and hysterically(like Accelerator) for all of it. Then Mai stood onto the stage.
"You monster! You forced my friend to do all of that!? Now I may never get the chance to make up with her because of you!" The brunette accused before convincing the crowd to jump him. So they did. Only this time, he didn't defend himself.
"For Ai... For Ai..." He kept repeating to himself internally. After a good 10 minutes of kicking him while he was down, everyone cheered triumphantly and threw him into the trash. Mai went the extra mile and kicked the container down the hill and into the lake. Shidou simply teleported out after watching the assailant(who came to personally watch him sink to the bottom) go about her business. He never came back to school.
The next day, Ai noticed that everyone was nicer to her. They started talking to her normally, and the trash talking had ceased. However, everyone pelted her with questions about how horrible Shidou must've been. Ai, following Shidou's instructions, answered yes to all of the questions and pretended to be extremely shaken up. It wasn't long before she got back together with Mai and Mii and school life went back to normal. If Shidou drifting in the hallways skipping class, hitting on girls, and getting beat up on a daily basis was normal... He'd made sure to tell Tohka and Kotori to go along with it. They decided it was too painful to watch without doing anything, so both of them stopped coming to school. This escalated the situation, as rumors spread that he was doing something to the only two people that they knew could still hold affections for him. Ultimately, the Itsuka household was broken into within a month and he was arrested. Shidou didn't resist, hell he forced himself past the police offers into the back seat of their car and said:
"I'm guilty."
As the spirits came running from the residence, Kotori was being held back by one of the police, and Ai sprinted over, they all saw that Shidou's face had a look of utmost depression and solemness plastered on his face. Kotori, after the police drove off, promptly walked over to Ai, letting her hair cover her eyes.
"Yamabuki..."
"I-" She didn't have a chance to respond as an uppercut quickly connected with her jaw.
"You did this to him!" Ai laid there on the floor, speechless and shaking. How weak she'd become...
"I'm sorry..." Then, Kotori gruffly picked her up by her shirt.
"If you truly give a damn, then you're going to help us get him back!" The angry redhead then threw Ai back down to the ground. The blonde got up and got into a stance.
"It's his fault we were in that predicament in the first place!" She said as she charged with a flurry of lightning fast jabs. Kotori expertly dodged them and then countered with a back kick, sending her attacker skidding a couple of feet.
"It was you who said you wanted to become a spirit! Plus, who was the one who didn't evacuate during that spacequake!"
"I never wanted that to happen!" Ai launched a roundhouse at Kotori's ribs, only to have it ducked by the agile target.
"I don't give a damn about what you wanted! YOU MADE THIS ALL HAPPEN!" Kotori sweep-kicked the blonde, knocking her off her feet. Then, she landed a crushing axe-kick on Ai's stomach.
"The only reason I became a spirit is because I met him!" After coughing up some blood, she recovered quickly with capoeira, landing a diagonal kick to Kotori's collar bone.
"YOU'RE ONLY ALIVE BECAUSE YOU MET HIM! QUIT BLAMING YOUR PROBLEMS ON OTHERS AND FACE IT!" The redhead back-stepped while clutching her shoulder in pain. She then dashed forward, faked a low kick and landed a rising knee to Ai's face once she fell for it. Kotori just pulled Ai back in and repeated the kneeing process. She then finished with a roundhouse kick to the side of the shin -a crack sound was heard over a large radius- and a spinning back kick to the ribcage that sent the target flying.
"Because you like wallowing in your own depression, hundreds of people are going to suffer or die!"
"W-what?"
"Shidou is our best and safest approach to the spacequakes caused by spirits. If he's restrained, then the problem will persist and people will die!" Kotori began shaking Ai wildly at this point.
"Because you like wallowing in your own damn depression, you're putting people at risk and hurting the one person who loved you! OPEN YOUR EYES!"
"Loved? He... loved me?" Ai had no idea. All the other spirits face-palmed and Kotori slapped her across the face. How dense was she!?
"Of course he did! He wouldn't even go through all of that for me! When he teases you, it's just so he can hang out with you while saving face! He had no trouble kissing you too! He even complained to me about how he wanted to savor it!"
"Could've done without that last sentence..." Kotori pulled Ai in and looked into her eyes with deadly seriousness.
"How do you feel about him?"
"I only think of him as a fri-"
"DENIED!"
"You blush around him and you always talk to yourself distantly about how you can never think correctly when he's around you." Natsumi jumped in.
"I DO THAT!? WHY DIDN'T YOU GUYS TELL ME!?" Ai screamed.
"That's besides the point. You even told me that you get this weird feeling in your chest and stomach when you see him with Tohka." Kotori added, recalling that one girls' night they had a couple of days ago.
"Fine. You win. I'm crushing on Shidou, happy?" Ai gave up. Everything they said was irrefutably true.
"If you care about him, then you're going to help us free him and then you're going to apologize to him. Got it?" Kotori stated; even the last part was more of a command than a question.
"Yeah." Ai nodded with newfound determination. Man, she really needed that. Kotori stood up and stretched her hand out, followed by the floored blonde taking it and standing up. The loser of the battle stumbled and fell almost immediately due to all of the fractures. Kotori then spread her blue flames over to Ai and her wounds began to heal. As the two walked, they passed the spirits.
"Let's rescue Shidou. Take care of him." Tohka said.
"Looks like this'll be fun." Natsumi and Yoshinon said in unison while smirking.
"I-I'm ready when you are..." Yoshino added, her face clearly showing her resolve. Kotori took the lead:
"Alright everyone! Let's go get Shidou back!" She shouted with charisma.
"YEAH!" Everyone cheered while fistpumping into the air. They weren't gonna let Shidou get away with his choice of actions.