Ch. 29 - Suspecting the True Culprit

“Izumi… why are people telling me not to get close to you? Did something—”

Sae burst into the unused classroom like a storm, but her voice shrank smaller and smaller until only her lips moved soundlessly.

As a proper girl, especially one firmly in the “popular clique”, Sae had at least one skill down pat: reading the room.

Sure, her brain sometimes lagged behind, but she wasn’t actually stupid.

At first, she thought Izumi had just snapped at someone again, and those people were warning her not to get caught in the crossfire. But Sae had been friends with Izumi since elementary school; there was no way she’d just abandon her.

Same as always: someone new had drawn the short straw. That’s what she thought before she stepped inside and saw Izumi and Minako.

“…Who exactly told you that?”

“Uh… senpai from the club, and some of the juniors I knew back in middle school…”

“…I see.”

Her voice sank like lead. Head bowed, crimson hair cascading from her temples like molten lava, veiling her expression in a fiery curtain.

Sluts. Sluts, sluts, sluts, sluts, sluts, sluts!

Brain-dead rumor-spreading trash!

Worthless garbage who can only vent their frustrations by slandering others!

[#31: I really wanna see that cocky slut’s face when she finds out her secret’s exposed, lol.]

[#39: She already looks frigid enough normally—bet she makes the same eyes in bed. Probably scares guys limp www.]

Idiots who swallow rumors whole…

[#52: Hope Nogami-san doesn’t come bully me through the internet after reading this! So scared, lol www.]

Come say it without hiding behind “anonymous,” morons!

[#64: Remember that guy she called out publicly before? Bet he was her ex-boyfriend.]

[#65: Poor ex. Probably couldn’t get it up because of Nogami, lol.]

As if I’d ever have anything to do with that disgusting mutt! You sluts with nothing but sex on the brain should just drop dead! You’re the ones doing compensated dating with fat old men!

Each flick of Nogami’s finger scrolled her phone upward—not on a touchscreen, but on the imaginary “Rage Meter” inside her chest, filling it higher and higher.

All of it was baseless. Just posts on some trashy forum. And yet, with every anonymous comment, her anger burned hotter, until even her hand trembled on the screen.

“Don’t let those insects get to you, Izumi. They’d never dare say this offline,” Minako tried to soothe her.

But both she and Izumi knew—

When stupid cats start doubting whether the tiger’s real, they don’t wait for an answer. They claw and bite anyway, to test it.

They were “stupid cats” because it never occurred to them what would happen if the tiger really was a tiger.

One cat was manageable. They could crush or manufacture dirt, just like before. But once rumors spread across the school, it wouldn’t be one or two cats; it’d be thirty, sixty, more.

The people attacking Izumi were no different from how they had once bullied others—

Brandishing the flag of justice, standing on the pedestal of morality, lashing out however they pleased at whoever was branded as “wrong.”

“…I’m fine, Minako, Sae. Who do you think I am?”

As if. I want to kill those bastards.

“I’m Nogami Izumi.”

She forced a smile, but it came out strained and brittle.

Then, with a deep breath, she steadied herself.

“Rather than fuming here, we should discuss—what should we do about this?”

She wasn’t stupid. Just mean-tempered. And even she understood that staying rational was the only way to avoid the worst.

“I don’t really know much about… internet stuff,” Minako admitted, sighing.

Her online life began and ended with makeup tutorials, outfit videos, and chatting with friends. A complete novice.

Sae, on the other hand—

“Why don’t we just find whoever posted it and make them pay?”

“…If we can find them.”

Izumi glared at her childhood friend. Yeah, expecting good ideas from Sae was a mistake.

Ask her about dieting or fitness, sure, she could rival a pro. But beyond that…

Still, Sae was a drama addict, and she recalled a show she’d watched with a similar plot.

“Then how about asking the school to delete all the posts?”

“…Sae. Are you really trying to help?”

Izumi could already picture the outcome.

If she had the posts deleted now, it would only cement the slander as true.

Right now, there was still wiggle room. But once deleted, any denial afterwards would reek of desperation.

And worse, this was the peak of the forum’s attention. Deleting would only embolden the mob.

“…Actually, finding the poster isn’t impossible.”

“But isn't this an anonymous board?”

Sae found it hard to understand Izumi’s sudden change in attitude.

Anonymous or not, the intentions showed through. This was clearly revenge aimed squarely at Izumi. Call the poster the Avenger, for now.

The Avenger’s methods were sharp. Forged evidence, fake photos, phrased in the cool, “objective” tone of a bystander—yet every line angled the blame at her.

First step: narrow the Avenger’s identity to people she’d clashed with.

“Sae, Minako, remember the toys we broke before?”

“So you’re trying to deduce the mastermind’s identity through cause and effect? I think we can start by ruling out the ones who were already ‘broken toys.’ Every time we’ve used someone’s weakness, hasn’t it always been enough to socially kill them, to completely crush their mental defenses? Obviously, those people didn’t have the brains—or the guts—to try and take revenge on us.”

She was right. The broken “toys” could be dismissed.

That left the recent ones—

“…Could it be Hoshikawa-kun? He doesn’t seem like the sneaky type, though,” Sae said.

Her reflexes were quick. Following Izumi’s line of thought and Minako’s logic, she jumped to the obvious candidate.

“Don’t judge by appearances. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. It’s not like it could be Tazaki, that fat pig.”

Izumi clenched her fists, teeth grinding.

She said, “don’t judge,” but she couldn’t imagine disgusting trash like Tazaki pulling this off.

But Hoshikawa Harutaki? That dog wasn’t short on nerve. He’d even tried worming his way under her skirt once, using a cheap excuse. If her legs hadn’t snapped shut in time, he would have—

“…We’ll confront him after school. Cut him off on his way home.”

And just like that, the three-girl unit led by Izumi decided on their plan of action.

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