The Saint of Shirahime ✅

Prologue

When I had learned that Nomi Hino had died in a tragic accident, I wasn't sad. Truth be told, when I first heard the news at school the Monday after her death, I couldn't believe it. I remember running to the bathroom and locking myself in a stall, typing her name into a search engine on my phone to see what I could find out. The results were quick, and shocking.

It was an incident that would be later called "The Tragedy at Shibuya Crossing". Just two days prior, on Saturday April 16th at approximately 8:30 at night, while I was at home experiencing my world crumbling around me, a drunk driver ran a red light at Shibuya Crossing coming from the Hachiko Exit. The drunk driver violently rammed into the driver side of another car coming from the West Exit. The collision happened with so much force that the car that was hit flipped onto the nearby sidewalk corner. As the traffic lights were green, pedestrians had gathered at the corner ready to cross when the traffic lights turned red, so the car landed on a large group of people.

Though the news was still rapidly updating as I was reading it, the traffic accident ultimately resulted in the deaths of four people, while over twenty had been seriously injured. The victims who had died were the driver  of the car that had been hit, a young man who had just gotten married earlier that day, a salaryman with a wife and son...and Nomi Hino.

I remember sitting in the bathroom stall, looking at Nomi's name listed in the article. Her name burned into my mind and before I could stop myself—I laughed.

I slapped a hand over my mouth, my heart pounding in my ears as I sat and waited. When I entered the bathroom I was certain I had been alone, but I was scared that someone had come in and heard me. After a moment I slowly opened the door to the stall and carefully looked at my surroundings. I saw no one at the sinks, and the doors to the other stalls were still partially open. I was still alone.

I wasn't sad that she was dead. I couldn't muster the feeling of sadness, or regret or pity. I had to swallow my smile as I left the bathroom. As I walked to home room, I could feel the unbearable weight that had been hanging around my neck for over a year be finally lifted.

She's gone. That devil girl is truly gone.

Nomi Hino had been a devil girl. She had an angelic beauty to her that had properly hid the evil within her soul. She did not dye her hair as the other students had, but her had always worn her black hair in a soft digital perm that framed her face. Not a strand was ever out of place, not a smudge or smear of makeup, and not a wrinkle in her uniform. She had been the most beautiful girl at Shirahime Girl's Academy (one of four exclusive private schools in Tokyo owned by the elite Suzuhara family) and she had known that she was the most beautiful girl. Nomi was wealthy and beautiful—and she had used her wealth and beauty to get away with bullying, harassment, and any number of despicable actions against both students and teachers alike.

Shirahime was an all-girl's high school, a sister school to Yukinaga Boy's Academy, which was an all-boy's high school. Both schools were the preeminent private high schools in all of Japan. Only wealthy families could afford to attend any of the schools owned by the Suzuhara family, and those who did not have the money for the pricy tuition fees had to get scholarships and maintain good grades to maintain those scholarships. I had been one of these scholarship students, having place third on Shirahime's entrance exam, while Nomi had obviously used her family's wealth to pay for her tuition. The wealthier students had naturally looked down upon the scholarship students, but Nomi in particular had taken to a considerable loathing of us.

Particularly me.

She would smile and use a soft and sweet tone of voice when she spoke, never raising her voice. But, she always acted with malice, using cutting words that would make other students cry.