Take My Hand

Chapter 8 - Scheming

It took her a few days to come up with the idea. To intentionally hurt someone was difficult enough. It was something that not only required elaborate thought and planning, but also immense care and wit. 

And the fact that she was the council president complicated things even more. How could she work on her plan while upholding her respectable image? Surely a kind, sweet and caring girl such as her would not wish harm upon others. Surely a leader, one who had publicly pledged her devotion to the enrichment of students' lives, would never slander or sabotage a schoolmate. 

She had her reputation to protect. She had to safeguard that upright, role-model stature of hers, something that absolutely cannot be trampled on.

The past few days had been hell. The pain of living through the days coping with the heartache of unrequited love, the bitterness of seeing it get stolen right before her eyes.

Irusenai. No matter how she tried to pull herself out of the dirty work she was about to plunge into, that word rang in her head, driving her like a force, fueling her anger like oil to fire. Irusenai. Irusenai. Irusenai. She could never come to terms with it. Never!

Another tide of rage rose in her. She seethed, clutching the sheets around her so tightly her fingernails were shredding them. Her mind worked relentlessly, trying to find the perfect solution. An image of their smiling faces filled her mind. Mitsue's cheery laugh as she chatted with her close friends. Relations. Friendship. Trust. Things that people desperately cling to and protect. Yet it was the value that people placed on such things that ironically expose them to destruction- not in body, but in soul and spirit.

For once since that fateful day, Ceuil smiled. She found it.

Humans are a social species after all.