Beauty With a Brat (The Suzuhara Family 1) ✅

Chapter Ten, Part One

October 23rd, 2028

"Natsumi, are you sure about this?" Tami asked, hurrying after her down the hallway.

"I'm sure," Natsumi said firmly. "I need answers now." She walked straight into homeroom 1-3 and stopped on the threshold. "Nimura?" she called out.

Hoshiko Nimura didn't need to answer her; Natsumi saw her sitting at her desk in the last row closest to the window, eating her lunch. Other girls who were in homeroom 1-3 gave them peculiar looks but Natsumi didn't pay them any heed as she hurried over to Hoshiko and stood in front of her desk. "Nimura," she said, her tone almost sharp.

Hoshiko looked up at her, wearing her usually peculiar expression. "Natsumi Suzuhara," she greeted Natsumi. "Born April 2nd, 2012. World Autism Acceptance Day. SAAM Day of Action. National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day—"

"Nimura, did you just call Natsumi Suzuhara?!" Tami interjected sharply. "Her last name is Kumori!"

Natsumi stiffened violently and her eyes went wide. She did. Nimura DID call me "Suzuhara"!

Some of the girls in the homeroom giggled as Hoshiko looked at Tami. "Tami Ikeda," she said. "Born May 13th, 2012. Israel Independence Day. World Fair Trade Day—"

"Nimura!" Natsumi said, her voice rising a little. "Why did you call me "Suzuhara"?!"

Hoshiko looked back at her. "...Oops," she said without emotion.

Natsumi felt uncomfortable by her response but decided to brush it off. "Never mind. I have a question for you—"

"The answer is yes, Kumori," Hoshiko interrupted.

"B-But I didn't ask the question!"

"You were checking to see if Wataru Suzuhara was telling the truth when he said I locked away his memories," Hoshiko said. "The answer is yes. He was telling the truth."

Both Natsumi and Tami gaped at the other girl in shock. Hoshiko calmly ate a piece of tamago from her bento before glancing up at them again. "Anything else?"

"Did Suzuhara tell you to cover for him?!" Tami demanded.

"Why did you lock away his memories?!" Natusmi said at the same time.

"No, he didn't Ikeda," Hoshiko said to Tami. Then she looked at Natusmi. "He was miserable during the Macao trip. I offered to help him find the cause of what was making him miserable, and it was memories. I asked him if he wanted me to take away the memories causing him pain, and he said yes." She paused before adding, "He paid me 50,000 yen to do it, so I could hardly say no could I?"

"50,000 yen?!" Tami exclaimed. "That's half of my allowance!"

Hoshiko shrugged.

"So you—" Natsumi gestured to her awkwardly. "So Suzuhara paid you 50,000 yen to wipe away his memories?"

"Not all of them," Hoshiko said. "Just the ones causing him the most pain. It was an easy charm to place and easy to remove."

Natsumi rubbed both hands over her face painfully. "...So it's true, then? Suzuhara forgot bullying me because you made him forget, Nimura?"

"I took away the memories causing his pain," Hoshiko said. "If the memories of him bullying of you was causing him pain, then it was removed from his mind."

The classroom had fallen silent, and now everyone was staring at Hoshiko in shock. Natsumi swallowed hard, the pain surging inside of her once more as tears burned her eyes. "H—He—Suzuhara really did regret hurting me?" she whispered.