The Nonfiction That Only You Know

Chapter 13

Original Author: ひのはら (Hinohara)
Date Submitted to Kakuyomu: 2021/06/08

When Chiho offered her a handkerchief, Mii frantically wiped her tears away while her hands trembled.
From what Chiho sees, she is an extremely charming girl.

Her appearance is above average and she's so skilled with her hands that it's hard to believe she's an amateur.　

Despite all her personal items, she still keeps her room tidy. She even has such a good sense for clothing and makeup, enough to surpass Chiho's own.

She has plenty to be confident in, but the person in question doesn't seem to think so.

Chiho understands that confidence is not an easy thing to foster, but she believes Mii should stand taller.

It was around midnight when they heard the light go off in the neighboring room.

"Maybe she's asleep...?"

After exchanging glances with Mii, Chiho stands up and leaves the room.
The plan is quite simple and the rest is all up to Chiho now.

Opening the door slowly to not wake her up, Mii's sleeping roommate comes into view.

Closing the door behind her, Chiho minds her footsteps while making her way to the bedside.

Her braids have been undone and the hair on the back of her head has been brought to the front.
Her hair not only covers her face but even covers her chest. No matter how anyone looks at it, she's like a ghost out of a horror movie.

A ghost wearing a sailor uniform standing by the bedside in total darkness.

This is revenge that can't be laughed off as a joke.

Chiho lightly shakes the roommate's shoulders and the sleeping girl grumbles in annoyance.

In an extremely bad mood at having her sleep interrupted, the roommate slowly opens her eyes.

"...What?"
"...DON'T BULLY."

Leaning forward, Chiho suddenly jerks closer to the roommate's face.
Chiho intentionally lets her hair hit the roommate's face while groaning in the lowest voice she could muster.

"IF YOU BULLY, I TAKE YOU WITH ME."

Chiho spits her words out like a curse and the other girl opens her mouth in a silent scream.

She tumbles down the bed and desperately crawls along the floor to get away from Chiho.

Hardening her heart at the sight of the crying student, Chiho raises her voice.

"DO YOU HEAR ME?"
"Eeek... I-I'm so-sorry..."

She finally stands back up and escapes the room while tripping over herself.

She got a lot more scared than Chiho imagined. It's almost a let-down how well that went.

After planting that much fear into her, that should probably straighten her out.

"Guess I should go back..."

Feeling relieved, Chiho turns around to return to her own home.

As she walks down the hallway, she notices that Mii's door has been left open.

Sneakily a peek inside, she sees Mii with her roommate.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry for bullying you. I won't do it anymore so..."
"...As long as you understand."

The bully apologizes while sobbing.
This should have originally been a refreshing scene, but Chiho feels extremely angry.

The distraught roommate is clinging to Mii, probably out of fear.

"Huh...?"

Chiho isn't angry about this rapid change of heart after harassing Mii so much.

For some reason, Chiho lost her temper after seeing the roommate so brazenly clinging to Mii.

Without knocking, she barges in and steps in front of the two girls embracing each other.

"...Uwaaaah! A ghost.... scary!"

Chiho grabs the arm of the girl terrified at the reappearance of the ghost and forcefully pulls her away from Mii.

She considers raising her voice to "curse" her again, but holds back after imagining the possibility of being found out by Mii.

Instead, she clicks her tongue loudly at the roommate who has become too terrified to stand before leaving this dorm behind.

On the way back to her own dorm, several students she passed by ran away in tears but that's of no importance.

For some reason, the scene earlier is stuck in her head, refusing to leave.

"...What's with me..."

The irritation filling Chiho's heart shows no sign of settling down and deeply agitates her.

Trying to calm herself, she stops by the store in search of sweets.

Due to that, stories of a female ghost that appears in the store at night have been added to the previous rumors. Of course, Chiho wouldn't have known that.

As she lay in bed, Kisaragi Mii remembers the incident that had just occurred.
For Mii's sake, Chiho extended a helping hand.

Thanks to that, the facade she put up to endure everything alone was easily undone.

"Chiho-chan..."

Her roommate's poor result for the mock exam she took at the end of summer break was what triggered her to become aggressive.

After that, it became difficult to stay here and Mii started moving from place to place like the library or the study room. 　

Hence, she went to that roof and happened to meet that girl by chance.

At first, she was just happy to have someone to talk to and looked forward to meeting her as a way to kill time.

Before she knew it, she gradually began to wonder when she would see her again.

Recently, she has even started rejecting invitations from her friends to wait for Chiho, not knowing if she would even show up.

"...I wonder what kind of person Chiho-chan is."

She doesn't know what school year Chiho is in or her last name.
She doesn't even know her face or voice.

Even so, Mii feels extremely comfortable with Chiho by her side.

For Mii's sake, Chiho put her body on the line.
She protected Mii.

Suddenly, her chest feels warm.

"...Strange."

Even she knows that it's strange.
A person whose face she doesn't even know has been constantly on her mind lately.

She holds her futon over her head and presses it against her cheeks.
"I'm hot because I'm wrapped in the futon and the heat is trapped," is the excuse that she desperately tells herself.