Bonding Over Homework C7

Chapter 7 - Bullies

Trigger Warning: Swearing, Violence

Many people with communication disorders have a disposition which does not allow them to join their friends when they see them with someone whom they don't know.

And the emotion they feel…

Is something that others might call jealousy.

—————

Onemine had explained the events at Nakanaka's house to her mother. She stayed silent. Onemine was fearful, waiting for her reaction.

"You're telling me, you got your nose broken, tried assaulting a girl and you also got home late when I told you not to?" said Onemine's mother.

Onemine nodded.

Her mother's face softened. "Listen Nene, I'm in a good mood, so I'm not going to ground you. I just want you to thoroughly apologise to her. Falling out with people sucks. Like-"

Her mother paused for a couple of seconds, then continued.

"Like what happened with me and your father."

Onemine looked at the floor, staying silent.

"Even if you already have said sorry, just please tell her on Monday again and invite her somewhere. Now, let's go get your nose properly fixed up," her mother finished, smiling.

"Ok, mum."

Onemine's mother patched up Nene's nose using her first aid knowledge.

"Ok, just don't touch it and it will be fine. Also, I will be gone on Monday evening, make dinner for your siblings, ok?"

"Sure, love you!" she said, walking up the stairs to go to bed.

—————

8 AM, Monday

The sun shined brightly through Onemine's curtains, waking her up. Pulling over her quilt, she got out of bed and started getting ready for school.

"Bye mum!" she shouted, walking out the door.

"Don't forget to apologise!"

—————

At School, Homeroom

Onemine walked through the door of her classroom, placed her bag down and sat on her chair.

"Good morning, Onemine-san!" Tadano called out.

Onemine was a seat in front of Tadano who sat next to Komi.

"Should I apologise now? Or when it is just me and Komi-san?"

She decided to not do it yet and wait until she could talk to just Komi.

"Good morning Tadano-kun! You too Komi-san," Onemine replied.

Not soon after, the homeroom teacher walked into the class. "Ok, good morning class. The only notice for today is a reminder that the sports carnival will be next week Wednesday. That's all for today."

"I completely forgot about the sports carnival, huh," thought Tadano.

—————

A Couple of Hours Later

It was now lunch and Tadano, Komi, Otori, Onemine and Nakanaka were all sitting at a lunch table together. Tadano and Komi had brought lunch from home while Otori ate the bento that Onemine gave her. Nakanaka bought some food from the cafeteria.

Due to her making a bento for her siblings and herself every morning, Onemine had decided to make her best friend's bento every day since 4th grade.

"Your bento is really nice as always, Nene-chan!" Otori cheered.

"Thanks, Kaede-chan," she responded.

"Oh, do you make Otori-san's bento?" Tadano questioned.

"Yeah, since 4th grade. It's not much extra work because I already make four of them for me and my siblings."

"That's nice," said Tadano.

"Yes, thy is very kind!" boasted Nakanaka.

Onemine smiled a bit at Tadano's comment.

They kept eating for a couple of minutes then Onemine asked, "Hey, Komi-san, can I talk to you please?"

Komi was a bit confused but nodded her head anyways.

Onemine and Komi stood up and walked off, outside the cafeteria and to a more remote part of the school.

—————

"So I just want to say, I'm really sorry. About everything. About shouting at you, grabbing your collar, trying to punch you. Everything," Onemine sincerely spurted out.

Komi smiled and wrote in her notebook. 'Didn't we both already say sorry at Nakanaka-san's house?'

"Yeah. My mum said I should apologise even more. She told me that falling out with someone is horrible."

'Ok. I'm sorry as well. About punching you so hard. I shouldn't have swung so hard,' Komi wrote.

"Um, do you want to go somewhere this weekend? My mum said that's a good thing to do."

'That sounds fun! Where though?'

Onemine paused. "Oh, there's that new bowling place nearby, does that sound good?"

Komi quickly nodded. She had never gone bowling before and wanted to try it.

—————

Meanwhile…

"Stupid money…"

Yamai had just finished her lunchbox and was walking back to her locker to put it away.

"I hate these stupid bentos, if only I had my purse, I could still be buying some nice cafeteria food."

Yamai had lost her purse on the weekend when she had gone to the mall. She would have to wait until her next allowance. She walked down a corridor and turned to go to her locker.

"Komi-sama! Wait, who's that talking to her?"

Yamai quickly backed up and peaked her head from the corner of the two hallways.

"I'd recognise that huge forehead anywhere, it's Onemine-san."

"-About shouting at you, grabbing your collar, trying to punch you. Everything."

"Wait what? Onemine-san… tried to punch Komi-sama and grabbed her by the collar…"

Yamai was furious, "She's not going to get away with this!"

She rushed out from the corner but Komi and Onemine had left back to the cafeteria. "Just you wait, stupid forehead."

—————

3 PM

The bell for the end of school rang. Tadano, Komi and Otori packed their stuff up and began to walk out the door when Tadano saw Onemine wasn't following. Nakanaka didn't walk with them since her house was so out of the way.

"Hey, Onemine-san, are you walking home with us?" he asked.

"No, go ahead. I have to go shopping for some food for dinner."

"Oh, bye then!" he replied, waving goodbye.

Onemine walked to her locker, crouching down and grabbing her purse which she kept in her there.

"Hey, Onemine-san, what's up?" asked Yamai, who had walked up behind Onemine.

Onemine froze. After a couple of seconds, she responded, "Nothing much, how about you?"

"Oh, a bit angry, I heard you tried punching Komi-sama. How dare you assault goddess Komi like that?" she replied, sounding very passive-aggressive.

Onemine was starting to sweat a little. "Hehe, that's funny, where did you hear that from?"

"You, bitch," Yamai said. "I overheard you and Komi-sama."

Now Onemine was frightened, her whole body shaking.

"You shouted at Komi-sama, grabbed her by the collar and tried to punch her? That's unforgivable."

"W-what do you mean?" Onemine stuttered.

Yamai crouched down to Onemine's level. "I hate you. You and your stupid forehead."

Onemine touched her forehead, "It's not that big, is it?"

She stared at the floor for a while, then picked up her purse and shut her locker, standing up.

"Where are you going?" asked Yamai.

"Shops. Leave me alone."

"Fine. Just wait until tomorrow, Sixhead."

Onemine turned around. "IT'S NOT THAT BIG!"

She was quite sensitive about her forehead. Ever since she was little, she had noticed it was bigger than other kids. Onemine didn't care much until Yamai and a couple of her friends bullied her about it in middle school. She tried to keep it out of her mind as much as possible.

Yamai just laughed.

—————

Onemine was in the shopping centre, cart in hand. She was stressing out over what Yamai meant when she said, 'Just wait until tomorrow.'

She grabbed a couple of tomatoes off the rack, placing them in her trolley. Then she went to the bread aisle and picked up a 6 pack of buns.

"That should be all the food we need. Maybe some chips as well."

Onemine grabbed some hot chips and pushed her trolley to the front of the store to pay for her food.

—————

Meanwhile…

As soon as Onemine left, Yamai pulled out her phone and clicked on the group chat with her and her friends.

She typed, 'Onemine-sama tried punching Komi-sama on the weekend!'

Not soon after, some members replied along the lines of, 'That's horrible!' and 'Disgusting!'

'Here's the plan-' Yamai texted.

—————

Onemine's House, 4 PM

Onemine was in the kitchen, cooking for her siblings and herself. She had decided to make burgers since they were easy enough and didn't require too much effort.

"Hello, Onii-chan! What are you making?" asked Nana, who had walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, burgers."

"Yay, burgers! I love burgers!"

Nana ran upstairs to Kaguya's room. "We're having burgers!"

"That's awesome!" Kaguya exclaimed.

Onemine smiled. She loved it when her siblings were happy.

—————

After about 30 minutes, the burgers were ready. Onemine had prepared 4 of them, with a patty, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, ketchup and bacon. Hers didn't have bacon however since she wasn't a fan of it. Nono's was also a lot smaller since she was 3. There were some chips on the side.

The four of them were sitting at the table. Kaguya grabbed his burger first and bit into it. "This is delicious, Onii-chan!"

"Thanks, Kaguya."

The Onemine siblings all ate their burgers and chips, Kaguya and Nana talked a lot with Nono trying to join the conversation but not knowing what they were chatting about.

—————

7 PM

"Goodnight, Nono," said Onemine, tucking her into bed.

Turning off the light in Nono's room, she walked halfway downstairs. Kaguya and Nana were watching TV downstairs in the living room.

"8 PM, you two. If I come down and you aren't in bed, you're going to be in trouble, ok?"

"Fine," said Nana.

Onemine climbed back up the stairs and went into her room. She laid her bed and grabbed her phone.

Before turning on her phone, Onemine saw her reflection on the black screen.

"My forehead looks big, doesn't it?"

She unlocked her phone and searched what the average forehead size was. "Four fingers from your eyebrows to hairline."

She put her hand on her head. Five fingers fit. "Ok, so it is above average, but that's not bad is it?"

Onemine placed her phone down and got out of bed. She walked over to her manga shelve and pulled out the one she was reading. "One Piece, Volume 89."

Sitting back down on her bed, she opened it up and began reading.

—————

8:15 PM

Onemine closed her manga, opened her door and walked downstairs. Kaguya and Nana were still watching TV on the couch.

"Kaguya! Nana! You're meant to be in bed! Come on!" Onemine stated, slightly annoyed.

"Ok," Kaguya whimpered.

Onemine uttered the two of them upstairs, putting them in their beds and to sleep. Onemine yawned.

"I'm feeling really tired, I should probably go to bed as well."

—————

Onemine woke up and got ready for school as usual. She sat down in homeroom, talked to Tadano, Komi and Otori in homeroom then went to lessons as normal.

During class, Onemine noticed that some of her classmates were laughing at her. Quietly, more like a snicker. She overheard one of them saying something about her forehead.

"Guess that's what Yamai-san meant…"

—————

The bell for the end of school rang. As usual, Tadano, Komi, Otori and Onemine packed up their stuff and started walking together back to their homes.

Onemine contemplated telling one of her friends or even all of them about what Yamai and some of the kids in class had said but decided against it.

"It's not that big of a deal…"

About 3 minutes into the walk home, Onemine realised that her phone wasn't in her pocket.

"Wait, where's my phone?" Onemine exclaimed.

"Ahh, did you leave it at school?" Otori asked.

"I probably did, I would have heard or felt it fall out my pocket. I'm just going to head back quick and grab it."

"Ok, Onemine-san. The teacher doesn't normally close the classroom until 4:00 so I think you should be good. Bye!" stated Tadano.

Komi wrote something down in her notebook. 'I think we should wait for Onemine-san.'

"Ok, Komi-san, sounds good!" said Tadano.

Onemine walked back the way they came, back to the classroom. She stood in front of the door. It was plain white with a lock and no windows. Onemine twisted the handle and it unlocked.

"Thank God it's not shut!"

Sure enough, her phone was laying on her desk. "I swear I put it in my pocket."

She reached for her phone when a hand clasped around her mouth and another trapped her hands behind her back.

"Got you…" a voice in the corner.

It was Yamai! The person restraining Onemine was Shinobino, their ninja classmate and Yamai's friend.

Yamai stepped forward, standing right next to her. Onemine struggled and tried to scream or break free from the grip but he was too strong.

"You're going to pay…" Yamai whispered in Onemine's ear, the breath from Yamai's voice giving Onemine goosebumps.

"Also Onemine-san, I asked the teacher if I could lock down the classroom for the night as a favour, and she agreed. That means I have the keys to this room and no one is going to be coming in here," Yamai chuckled.

"You didn't even notice when Shinobino-san stole your phone out of your pocket as bait. You're so dumb, Sixhead."

Yamai unlocked the door, gesturing for someone to come in. Not soon after, about 5 more people walked into the classroom, all Yamai's friends and part of the Komi Church. Yamai locked the door.

They stared at Onemine, their eyes filled with hatred. "How dare she touch Komi-sama!"

"Now we can begin!" Yamai exclaimed.

Shinobino laid Onemine down on the floor, pulling some rope out of his pocket. He tied her arms up to some of the desks stuck to the floor so she couldn't move. Onemine flailed her legs, trying to escape.

"What are you going to do?" Onemine asked, her voice quiet, panicking.

Yamai stomped on Onemine's stomach, knocking all the air out of her body.

"This."

Onemine screamed.

The rest of the Komi Church began kicking and punching at Onemine's body. Her body was soon covered in bruises and she had blood all over her face. Luckily none of them hit her eyes.

"Please, make it stop… it hurts…"

Onemine began crying, her face getting covered in a blood and tear mixture. She didn't have the energy to scream for help.

—————

After 5 minutes straight of kicking Onemine, the Komi Church got up. Her nose had been hit and all the progress of its healing was gone.

Onemine spoke, having to take breaths after every word since she was so winded. "Why, did, you, do, this?"

"It's what you deserve for touching Komi-sama."

"You're, crazy," Onemine managed to get her breath back. "It was between me and Komi-san and we made up. You didn't need to get involved. You act like she's a god not just a person like the rest-"

"Did you just suggest that Komi-sama is a peasant like us?" Yamai questioned, anger flowing out.

Onemine didn't respond.

"We were going to let you go. We thought this was a suitable enough punishment. Not anymore," Yamai said ominously, unlocking the door again.

—————

Onemine waited on the floor for Yamai to return. The members of the Komi church were glaring at her.

"Why? Why did this have to happen?"

The door opened. Yamai came walking in with a baseball bat in hand.

"What…" said Onemine.

"Shinobino-san. Restrain her legs."

The ninja dashed down, holding Onemine's legs still.

"No, please, that would kill me-"

Yamai strutted over to Onemine. Holding the bat high above her head, she swung down, bashing Onemine's leg.

"AGHHHH!" Onemine screamed, the pain excruciating so much she could barely think.

Onemine had a new batch of tears falling down her face.

"Please, don't…" Onemine whimpered.

Yamai blinked. "No."

Yamai struck down again on the same leg. Onemine screamed even louder, this time an audible crack could be heard. Her consciousness seemed to be draining.

"Ooh," some of the members of the Komi Church winced.

"Hey, you can go now. I'm going to finish Onemine-san off, ok?" Yamai said to the Komi church.

Yamai unlocked the door, Shinobino nodded and the rest of them followed him outside. She put the key in the lock, shutting it.

"I'm going to end all your pain now," Yamai stated, a creepy smile forming.

All the colour drained from Onemine's face. "No, you wouldn't actually do that, would you-"

Yamai sidestepped a bit and held the bat up again, this time aiming for her head.

"Yamai-san, don't do this! Please, that would be murder!" Onemine pleaded, panting.

"I don't care."

Yamai launched the bat down towards Onemine's face. Her entire life flashed before her lives.

"Mum, Kaguya, Nana, Nono, Kaede, Komi, Tadano. Tadano. Why is Tadano the last thing I think of before I die?"

The bat nearly collided with her face but the very bottom of the bat knocked one of the desks constraining Onemine. Yamai was then off balance and missed.

"Shit, second attempt," she said, moving around so she wouldn't hit the desk next time.

She raised the bat and swung down. Onemine shut her eyes, hoping her death would be painless, struggling against the ropes. Each second felt like a minute. The bat seemed to take forever to hit. After about 10 seconds, Onemine opened her eyes.

Tadano had his hand around the bat, stopping it from moving. He pushed it upwards, taking it from Yamai's hand and putting it on the floor.

"Yamai-san," said Tadano.

"Tadano-kun…"

She swung a punch but Tadano grabbed her hand, twisting it.

Yamai knew she could not win a fight with a boy, especially without a weapon and the boy was pretty fit. Panicking she pulled back, escaping Tadano's grip.

She ran towards the door, viciously stomping on Onemine's face along the way. This was the last straw and Nene blacked out.

Tadano reached down, untying Onemine's hand and picking her up, sprinting out of the classroom.

—————

Earlier…

Tadano, Komi and Otori had walked over to a bench about 10 metres away and sat down.

They chatted for a while until Otori pointed out that Onemine should have been back by now.

"Yeah, maybe she's still looking for her phone?"

'I think we should wait a bit longer then send someone to see where she is,' wrote Komi, a bit worried about where Onemine was.

"Ok, I'll go in a couple of minutes then," stated Tadano.

—————

A few minutes went by and Onemine hadn't come back yet. Tadano stood up.

"I'll go looking for her, bye!" said Tadano, walking back towards the school.

Tadano had a set of keys to the classroom because he was the class president. He turned the door handle, but it was locked.

"Weird…"

Pulling out his keys, he unlocked the door and swung it open.

"Onemine-san, where-"

He saw Onemine, tied up on the ground, bruises and blood all over her body. Yamai was standing up, swinging a baseball bat at what seemed like Onemine's head.

Yamai was too preoccupied to notice Tadano so he made his way behind her and grabbed the bat.

—————

Tadano was running towards the hospital.

"Thank goodness I found her when I did, I don't want to think what would happen if Yamai-san had swung the bat."

Tadano's legs were sore from sprinting, but he pushed on.

"I should probably call her mum."

Tadano had picked up Onemine's phone when he had come into the room.

He grabbed Onemine's finger and placed it on the phone's unlock button. The phone opened from fingerprint recognition.

"Her hand is surprisingly soft… what am I thinking!?"

He clicked on the phone app and called Onemine's mother who was saved into contacts.

"Hello, Nunu Onemine here, what do you need?" said her mother, picking up the phone.

"Your daughter's unconscious and has been severely injured. I've started bringing her to the hospital," Tadano replied, holding the phone up to his ear.

"Wait what happened!?"

"I'm not sure, when I found her she was severely bruised and a girl was trying to hit her head with a baseball bat."

Onemine's mother was shaking. "No, Nene couldn't…"

"Is she alive?!"

"I think so, she was conscious but the girl with the baseball bat ran, stomping on her face. Then she was unconscious."

Her mother breathed a huge sigh of relief. "I'll drive to the hospital right now, ok?"

Onemine's mother started getting into the car. The engine rumbled and she pressed her foot on the gas, turning out the garage.

"Thank you," she said, hanging up the call.

—————

3 minutes later

Tadano had made it into the hospital and was waiting for her mother to arrive. Not soon after, a car pulled up and Onemine's mum ran out.

She saw Tadano holding Onemine and rushed over.

"Nene…" she whispered, looking at all the blood and bruises on her body.

They made their way into the emergency room. Tadano explained the basic situation to the receptionist.

"Ok, we'll get her in here and do some checkups, please sit in the waiting room while we do."

There happened to be no one else at the emergency room in the hospital at that time so Onemine got in immediately.

—————

The duo had sat down. Tadano texted Komi to go ahead home and that he would explain later. He also texted to his mum that he would be home late. Onemine's mother stayed in silence, trying to take everything in.

"Nene…"

—————

Later

The receptionist called them up, ushering them in to see Peter Martinez, the doctor who had checked Nene.

Onemine lay on a hospital bed. The doctor was sitting on a chair across from her. Pieces of equipment were placed on a bench on the side.

"You are Nunu Onemine, correct?" asked Peter, gesturing to her mother.

"Yes."

"First off, your daughter is alive-"

Onemine's mother was so relieved, she started crying and a sort of smile formed on her face. Tadano was thankful.

"However, she has some injuries. A broken nose, multiple minor injuries around the body like bruises and the most serious; a fractured femur."

"That broken nose isn't from today," thought Tadano.

Her mother stopped smiling.

"We can do surgery and apply some medicine, but your daughter will most likely be in hospital for the next 2 weeks. Then she will have to walk with crutches for 3-6 months. We also recommend physical therapy."

The doctor handed her some paperwork and a pen, asking her to fill it in. She wrote down her and Onemine's information and medical insurance.

Grabbing the paperwork back, Peter said, "Thank you, will make sure your daughter's recovery goes smoothly. May I ask though, how did this happen?"

Onemine's mother stayed silent. Tadano spoke up after a couple of seconds.

"I found her beaten up in the classroom, around 3:30. There was a girl with a baseball trying to hit her head. I stopped her and brought Onemine-san

The doctor nodded. "Ok, thank you."

"Do you know this girl's name?" asked Onemine's mother.

"Um, Ren Yamai," Tadano replied.

"Well, I have to go back home, her siblings are waiting. I love you, Nene," she said, kissing Onemine on the cheek and rushing out the door. "Ren Yamai…"

5 minutes later, Tadano was still in the room, looking at Onemine. "Bye Onemine-san, I'll visit you tomorrow."

—————

Yamai ran out of the school and made her way back to her house. She walked into her room and started scrolling on her phone.

"That bitch, if only Tadano-kun didn't arrive," she thought.

Her mother was sitting on a chair drinking some coffee. She looked very similar to Yamai with the main difference being her height and her hairstyle was slightly different.

A knock on the door. Yamai's mother got up. She unlocked the door.

Two policemen were standing outside. "Hello miss, we're looking for Ren Yamai, is she here?"

"REN!" she called out.

Yamai reluctantly came out of her room. "What is it, mum?" She noticed the police at the door.

"Uh oh…"

"Why do you need Ren?" asked her mother.

"Accused of battery this afternoon. She's being detained in a detention centre for the time being."

Her mum turned around, speechless.

"What do you mean?" Yamai's mother responded.

"According to witnesses, Ren Yamai used a baseball bat to assault a girl in a classroom at Itan High School this afternoon. The girl in question is in the hospital for a broken femur."

She turned back to Yamai. "Ren… is this true?"

She didn't respond. One of the police officers walked forward and handcuffed Ren. "Shit. I hate that girl… Sixhead."

"Ren, why? You're such a sweet girl, why did you beat this girl up?"

Yamai stayed silent, not explaining herself to her mother.

"She's gonna pay…" thought Yamai.

—————

Author's Notes

Sorry for the huge wait! I went through about 6 drafts of this chapter while writing and was struggling with how I wanted to handle Yamai.

Most of the swearing and drama will calm down now. If you're wondering why I decided to make Onemine break her legs, let me cook.

I will also be following the canon path from now on, with slight deviations.

See you next chapter, hopefully, sooner than this one!

Next On Bonding Over Homework: Repercussions Pt 1