Take My Hand

Chapter 16- Shattered Friendship

Madara side-stepped as his classmate sped through the narrow door, a cheeky grin on his face.

'Gome!' he shouted without turning back.

'GET BACK HERE HIRASHI! I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!' another screamed, hot on his heels.

Mattaku... Madara thought, wondering how their class prankster never seemed to run out of tricks up his sleeves. He entered to find their classroom in its usual chaos- students gathered in their cliques, laughing and shouting atop the layers of individual music booming from the different corners of the room. Some were deep in discussion over homework, the rest were simply engaging in heated talks. He had to admit their class was making quite a din. In fact, they were so noisy he could hear them 5 classrooms away.

Out of habit, he looked over to Mitsue's seat, ready to flash her his warmest smile as a morning greeting. But all he saw were opened books lying in untidy heaps around her desk, strewn with stationary. He knew that someone must have intentionally messed up her desk, flinging her books all over the place and pouring her stationary out of their pouch.

'Who did this?' he asked no one in particular. He turned to the nearest person and tapped his shoulder. 'Any idea who played this joke on Mitsue?'

'Mitsue?' his classmate questioned back. 'Who's that?' His circle of friends stopped talking, their attention turned on Madara.

'Come on. Stop it.' Madara said, looking at his classmate in his eye. The two engaged in a mini stare-off.

'How would I know?' his classmate finally exclaimed. 'Do I look like a CCTV to you? Seriously, Madara-kun.'

Madara eyed the rest, who merely shrugged before they resumed their interrupted discussion.

Tsk. Madara let the matter slide, silently packing Mitsue's stationary back into her pouch before proceeding to pick up and arrange her books in their usual neat pile. He worked quickly to restore the original state of her desk, intent on sparing her this meaningless prank when she came back.

'Why do you even bother?'

Madara didn't even have to look up to know who it was. 'Because she's my friend.' he replied, checking around to see if he had missed anything.

'Friend? After knowing her true colours, you still see her as a friend?' Yumi scoffed, her eyes spread out.

'You know they are lies. Someone is trying to sabotage her. And they are doing a great job.' Madara answered calmly.

'Nani? Do we look like the cast of a highschool drama?' she exclaimed, letting out a sarcastic laugh. 'And who would do that? You sure think differently.'

Madara tried again. 'You should know better, Yumi. All of us have been best friends for 2 years. Are you going to let mere words destroy what we shared?'

'Had been.' Yumi corrected spitefully. 'And 2 years was long enough for me to ascertain the hand behind those lines.'

Madara wanted to scream at her stubborness, but held himself back. How could he get her to see it?

'They're forged.' he said softly.

Yumi simply stood there, disbelief in her widened eyes. Up till now... Madara still...

'You do not have evidence.' she narrowed her eyes.

'True I don't. But I just believe her. As a friend. Mitsue would never do such a thing.'

In an instant, Yumi turned on her heels, deciding it was time she ended this meaningless conversation.

Madara reached out for her. 'Yu-'

'Whatever. I wish I could help you. But I see Mitsue has completely bewitched you. Now she's playing the victim card. Great.' With a flick of her hair, she continued towards her seat, never looking back.

Madara noticed Tatsuya observing them from a distance, leaning casually against the wall with his arms crossed. But he only looked away sharply when their eyes met, perhaps not wanting to be involved in it all.

He had barely sat when Mitsue returned, her eyes locked to he ground as she made her silent way across the classroom, an attempt to remain as inconspicuous as possible. Madara's little wave went unnoticed.

Welp... at least she didn't see what happened earlier... he contented, whipping out his phone to send Mitsue an 'Ohayo!' , not knowing that she had been standing by the backdoor all those times.