Chapter-9
Asuna stood with several other students of the school's disciplinary committee as Sanada briefed them. She hated the disciplinary committee. They made life so difficult for the other students. She never saw the logic why Sanada felt that it would be fitting for her to join said committee. She pursed her lips in sheer annoyance. Sometimes her senpai just wasn't very bright when it came to understanding another's potential.
"Are you even listening to a word I'm saying?" Sanada roared. Asuna snapped out of her trance due to her hurt eardrums and groaned. It seemed that she'd tuned him out for way too long. Sanada sighed. She'd spaced out at the very beginning of the briefing.
"You don't need to go for patrol today. Yukimura needs you for something. Go to him. He's probably in our classroom." And Asuna nearly flew out the door.
DDDDDDDDDD
Yukimura was reading a book when Asuna rushed in. She sat down at the desk across from him and bowed her head gratefully.
"Thank you oh great Buchou! For you have saved me from the tedious job of patrolling. How can I possibly repay you?"
Yukimra chuckled at his kohai's antics. She certainly was a handful. He put a finger to his chin and pretended to think.
"Actually Asu-chan," he began carefully. "I wanted to talk about something. I've seen how you've been acting lately and it's affecting your performance. Would you like to talk about it?"
Asuna thought about it for a while. Yes. She had been a little bit bothered with Fuji lately. Especially since last evening with him hadn't been all that good. She wasn't sure if she could trust her captain with such sensitive and personal information. He was the spawn of Satan, really.
She didn't notice Yukimura eyeing her carefully as she pondered on his offer. He hoped she'd trust him enough to tell him what was going on. It wasn't like was going to use her information against her. Maybe blackmail her a little to get what he wanted. But never against her. Right?
"Maybe you could start by telling me about your evening with Syusuke Fuji." Yukimura suggested. "It was after that that I saw you visibly worried."
Asuna made a face. "Er…I don't know...um…it just didn't turn out to be what I had expected, is all."
Yukimura shook his head. "I don't think that's all Asu-chan. I think you're hiding something from us. I can even tell you weren't completely honest about why you actually left your old school in the middle of the year like that."
Asuna only stared dumbly. Was it that obvious?
"I mean, having a horde of fan girls bullying you constantly over a rumor is not a pleasant thing. But knowing you, I bet you could easily stand up to it. So, what was so bad that you had to leave abruptly?" Yukimura was concerned now. Asuna looked vulnerable. Frightened, almost.
She turned her gaze elsewhere. The memory of it all made her sick. It was a chapter of her life that she didn't want to discuss at all. Let alone twice in the span of two days.
"Asu-chan, if you don't tell me, how will I help?"
Asuna sighed deeply. He will not rest until he'd known the whole thing. "What do you want to know?" she asked.
"The evening before with Fuji. What really happened?"
"It's related to the real reason why I actually left school. I thought he knew about it all. But I only found out yesterday that he really wasn't aware of it. All this time I thought he was just being a jerk to torment me. But I guess he didn't know. It doesn't change anything between us though, if that's what you're worried about. We're done. That's it."
"I'm not worried about that Asu-chan." Well not entirely. No matter how bad it sounds, I'm glad to know you don't want to go back to him, he thought. "But what is the reason Asuna? Why does it seem to worry you so much?"
Asuna didn't want to admit it, but it terrified her. She would still have nightmares sometimes. And her most feared moment would come alive in those nightmares.
Her hand instinctively went to her hair. "Do you know how long my hair used to be, senpai?"
Yukimura wasn't sure how this was important but answered her question by shaking his in the negative. Asuna smiled softly as her hands went down, past her hips, stopping a little above the back of her knee.
"My hair, senpai, was this long" she straightened herself after making sure her captain saw it.
"Why would you cut all your hair off?" Yukimura was beginning to feel that something wasn't right.
The girl gave him a sad smile. "I didn't, senpai. It was Fuji's fan girls. The president of Fuji's fan club along with several others."
"What! Are you serious? You didn't tell anyone? Or call for help?" Yukimura couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"I didn't even know what hit me. I was not too bothered with all the bullying," she admitted. "I didn't even think of shifting schools, to be honest. Especially not in the way that I did. It was about a week before I left school when it happened. As soon as I got to school, a group of girls flocked me. They took me to a quiet wing of the school, taped my hands and legs, and of course, mouth and locked me in some closet for the entire day. I screamed and cried like crazy because it was so dark and I couldn't move. I was terrified. But I didn't know that the worst was yet to come."
Yukimura could only stare. What in the world! What was she doing facing all this all by herself?
"They came back after school, though" she continued. "They dragged me to the girls' tennis clubroom, with me still taped. And there, without any light whatsoever, they chopped off all my hair."
Asuna pulled her now shoulder length hair to one side to reveal a long scar running down the side of her neck. The wound had closed, but it was clear that it must've been pretty deep.
"They cut my hair without any light, and they cut me in the process. There were a lot of cuts. But this one was the deepest." She rubbed said scar and sighed. "They then cut all the tapes and left me there. All alone. This incident alone got me so scared that I changed school within a week."
"It's not a pleasant memory senpai. That's why I don't like talking about it. I hope you wouldn't tell this to anyone either."
Before Yukimura could say anything, though, the bell rang, indicating the end of lunch time. She smiled and said goodbye to her captain and left. Yukimura watched her go. He wanted to snap someone's neck. A certain tensai's neck to be specific.
I will not be fooled. I know you let her get hurt on purpose. I'll make you pay, Syusuke Fuji. Just you wait.
