the girl in the corner.

episode 19: her and she.

a few weeks passed after that fiasco, and riki and i went back to how we were before the event. i don't know how, but momoko apparently heard about him kissing me, so naturally she grew furious and suspected that something more than friendship was going on between us. i don't know about him, but i hope momoko's assumption comes true.

we'd forgotten about the event as time went by, but i still thought of it from time to time, experiencing the feeling of his lips against mine under the moonlight— it was euphoric for me. it sometimes hurts me a little that riki forgot about it so quickly, but it's for the better, i guess.

i'd mentioned before, momoko had somehow found out about that kiss, and that had upset her. she stopped bullying me for a while, but after that kiss happened and she knew of it, she started going at it again. this time, more harsher and meaner.

i'd never let her words get to me, though. riki told me he doesn't like her, so i don't have to worry about anything going wrong.

one might think, why doesn't she just report her to the faculty? well, i definitely did, but momoko played the victim in an attempt to get me punished instead of her. well, she succeeded, somehow, because we both ended up being punished. i don't know why i was punished, but i was. and momoko still hasn't stopped bullying me.

today, riki was absent for a reason i've yet to discover, which meant i was alone at school just as i'd been a few months back. it wasn't strange for me to be alone, but it was strange without riki's cheerful presence. i went on with my day normally, including the occasional routine of momoko being a pain in the ass.

when she walked into class, i was scribbling mindlessly in a notebook of mine, drawing my favorite characters and random shapes. she stomped towards me and slammed a hand on my desk, then she shoved the notebook away. i looked up at her, wordlessly asking her what she wanted.

i noticed her friends standing by the door spectating. momoko and i had a glaring competition before she clicked her tongue and leaned in so only she and i can hear what she was about to say to me.

"listen, i know you kissed riki," she began, her voice an angry, barely contained whisper. "how low can you get? you definitely made him uncomfortable. how can you push yourself onto him like that? you do know he doesn't like you. he's probably still your friend because he didn't want you to be lonely."

momoko had a venomous, lopsided smile on her lips as she chuckled towards the end of her sentence.

"you better stop being such an attention seeker and leave him alone," she warned. "he. doesn't. like. you. get that into that dumb head of yours. nishimura doesn't and will not like you. so you better step back into the background and let me get my chance. you're nothing but a background character, if you're even a character at all."

she flicked her wrist in front of my face and turned to leave, but i spoke and stopped her in her tracks.

"i didn't kiss him," i told her, my tone quiet. she turned to face me with an incredulous smirk and let out a peal of laughter.

"you didn't kiss him!" she exclaimed mockingly. "you didn't kiss him, you're saying?! stop lying, miyamoto. i know you did—"

"he kissed me," i interrupted her. "i don't know why i'm telling you this but i'm just..tired of you. i didn't want to let you have false beliefs."

i looked at her from under my lashes as i kneeled down to pick my notebook that she threw off my desk and sat back down with a sigh, resuming my activity without looking at her. i heard her laugh then speak.

"look, guys!" she exclaimed to her friends. "the nonexistent girl finally found her voice, and she's got a feisty tongue! what a joke."

her last sentence came out flat and robotic, and she looked at me with ridicule before scoffing and moving to her seat, then going back out as soon as she got what she needed. i sighed through my nose and shook my head. she won't ever stop.

towards the end of the day, momoko didn't bother me as much. she still insinuated to me her usual words of stopping to be friends with riki, and how he doesn't like me, all that stuff. i chose to ignore her and i didn't reply to her, but she only mocked me more, saying that i "lost my voice again and the cat got my tongue."

i was going home the moment the bell for the end of the last lesson rang. the school allowed me to go with the alibi that i was needed at home after school. now, i was walking alone around the district, thinking of visiting riki or getting him to meet me somewhere close. i wanted to ask him why he was absent from school today; i was confused and worried if something happened to him.

despite me not allowing momoko's words to have an impact on me, i still can't help but think about what she says sometimes. though her words don't waver me, they stitch themselves into my head, and seldom i'd feel my anxiety rise when thinking that her words are true.

i'm not a background character, though. riki chose me to become friends with instead of her. i guess she didn't like being the antagonist instead of the center of attention—riki's attention—so she took it out on me and called me the background character.

and this is definitely my story.