Guys Don't Like Me

Chapter 4

  Kazu followed Yuki out of the amusement park and into an abandoned warehouse.
"Taro, put these on his wrists," Yuki said once they were there, handing a few zip ties to Taro. "And make sure they're behind his back."
Kazu gritted his teeth but didn't resist as Taro did as she asked, although he moved slowly and with some reluctance.
Kazu didn't ask for Taro's help. He could have, but he'd realized that Taro wasn't someone would would value Kazu unless he needed something. Right now, he'd already gotten what he'd wanted, so Kazu was just any other random stranger.
"What do you want from me?" Kazu asked when Taro was done and had gone back to stand besides Yuki.
"Shush," Yuki said, resting her index finger over Kazu's lips. "You don't get to ask the questions, remember? I'm the one with the picture, and unless you do everything that I ask, I'm going to send it straight to Suzume. Got it?"
Kazu bit down on his teeth to stop himself from asking how she'd found out about Suzume. I can't let that picture get out...I don't want to hurt Suzume any more...
"Good job," Yuki praised, smiling as she took a step away. She turned to Taro. "All right, Taro. You get to do whatever you want to him first."
Kazu's eyes narrowed as he stared at Taro, the shy boy who had a simple crush on a girl, but now he saw anything but that.
Taro was grinning, his eyes lit up maliciously, and Kazu realized that he'd been played all along.
Damn it, he thought to himself. How'd I wind up in this situation? Is it really that impossible for me to have a friend?
"I have a cousin," Taro said, his voice no longer eager or nervous but cold. "Who once went to the same high school as you did, before you transferred. He had a girlfriend, but right before you came to his school, they broke up. It wasn't his fault; she was just that kind of girl, shy and kind of nervous. Still, he loved her. He was going to make up with her so they could continue dating, but then you-" Taro kicked Kazu in the stomach so he fell to his knees. "Showed up, and guess who the girl decided to chase after next?" Taro kicked Kazu again before hauling him up by the collar. "Can you guess who?" Taro punched him, and Kazu fell back against the cement floor as blood started trickling from a cut on his face.
"Don't rough him up too much," Yuki complained. "Remember, I get him after you."
Taro ignored her for the first time that day as he kicked Kazu again. "She broke my cousin's heart when she did that. But do you know what's worse? After she fell for you-" Another attack aimed at Kazu, "the girls hated her for getting too close to you, and they started bullying her. Do you know what happened to her?"
Please, no...Kazu murmured to himself, hoping he was wrong.
"She was pushed down the stairs, and she broke both of her legs. Guess where she is now?" Taro punched Kazu again. "In the hospital, paralyzed from the waist down. Who's fault is that? Huh?"
It's mine...
"And do you know what her name was?" Taro said as he continued his onslaught. "Suzume Hayashi."
Finally, the blows stopped raining down on Kazu. Despite wanting to fight back and defend himself - both physically and verbally - Kazuhiko remained silent, knowing that his position was already compromised. Why condemn himself further, especially when Suzume might end up receiving the effects of his punishment?
He remembered back to when he'd gone to school with Suzume. She had been the first girl he actually thought he loved, and when she was bullied, harassed, and eventually hospitalized because of him (albeit indirectly), he couldn't take the guilt. He left after ending it with her, knowing that he'd only bring her more pain.
And now she'd come back to haunt him.
Being kicked a few times...is nothing compared to what she went through, nothing compared to the pain of not being able to walk and run and jump. This is all just deserved punishment that was delayed by a few years.
"All right, Taro," Yuki snapped, sounding annoyed. "Now it's my turn to play with him. So shoo. I want some privacy."
Taro reluctantly drew back, cracking his bloody knuckles and glaring at Kazu. "Whatever. Do what you want with him." With a disgusted look, Taro exited the warehouse, leaving Yuki alone with Kazu, who still had his hands zip-tied behind his back.
Without waiting, Yuki pulled out a pair of scissors from her purse, and even though Kazu knew it was foolish to hope that she was severing the zip ties, he still tasted the bitterness of disappointment as she reached not for his wrists but for the collar of his shirt. "I figured that it would be hard getting this off with your hands tied," she said, winking at him as she cut his shirt off. "Wow, you're a lot more athletic than you look. Do you any sports?"
Does sleeping count? Kazu asked himself in vain. How far am I willing to go to protect Suzume? Unless I get those pictures, Yuki will have me on a string, and I'll have no choice but to comply...
This is why I can't let myself get attached to people, he reminded himself. How stupid was I to forget that? I made Suzume the only exception, but even she was injured. Is there no one I can be close to?
Just then, the door opened again. Yuki turned, about to get cranky at Taro, but when Taro entered, it was neither in consciousness nor with his own will. His limp body was half-pushed, half-thrown through the doorway, followed by...
"Ryuu?"