The Lady Vs. The Genius (Battle of Campus Elites)

Ep. IX: How Fast Rumor Flies?

The Lady Versus The Genius

(Battle of Campus Elites)

Ep. IX: How Fast Rumor Flies?

Chiyo's POV

[Hanazaki Residence]

"See you on Monday!" Seiichan waved goodbye after dropping me off at our gate. I see him disappear as his black sports car moves forward. I should've bought the umbrella as Lily told me, but I didn't listen, so I wore someone's jacket. Seiichan's jacket.

As I entered the house, I noticed that Daddy's shoes were there. He's early today. The umbrella on the rack was reduced to 2.

"I'm home! I greeted." I passed by the living room and saw Daddy lying down watching TV. "Is Lily out, Dad?" I stop by the hallway.

"Welcome home." He responded without missing the scene, "She's upstairs."

I went upstairs to take a shower. It's only good if I stay wet from the rain. Lily is folding clothes on her bedside with her usual weekend look— bare hair and eyes.

"Welcome—..." she looked surprised when she saw me. "I've never seen that jacket on you before. But I'm sure that I saw that one," she stated.

"I got caught in the rain on our way back to the clubroom-"

She squints with a slight smile, "Who owns that jacket?"

"Director Hachiban," I spitted out. "You know that he's nice to everyone."

"I never said he wasn't," she giggled. "I just asked who owned the jacket. No need for backstory."

"I thought you were out. Your umbrella isn't here," redirecting the conversation before I enter the shower room.

"My umbrella?" She asked and buffered a bit. "My classmate passed by, and she doesn't have an umbrella, so I lent it to her."

"How rare," I commented.

Later, before I went to bed, my email was busted with messages.

"I saw Hachiban at Hanazaki's house, I swear!" —said one from our club.

Shoot. Are they going to stone me to death for letting Seiichan drop me home? Maybe because of his jacket, then?

"What is it, Chiyo?" Yurime suddenly speaks. "Your eyebrows are in one line together."

I immediately moved to shake that off.

"It's nothing. The people are just pesky. They make everything a big deal."

Yurime nodded her head, "Most probably people at school were. Did they say something about you?"

"Nah. It's on the headline that Hachiban was at Hanazaki's house. Petty right? Ugh!" I flipped off my phone and went to bed.

•••>>>O

[Monday, Hachiban University]

Like every day, Dad dropped us off at school. It's tranquil today. But the most peculiar of it all is that we're receiving 'Hi' and 'Hello.' It's creepier than them not talking to us. We reached the shoe locker where people, for some reason, were smiling, bowing their heads. It's fishy for me. It's not cool at all. Yurime has a small paper bag with her, and she's bringing it with her to the classroom.

"Hey, are we taking our lunch in your classroom?" I asked.

"Nope," Yurime shakes her head.

"What's the bag for?"

My sister stared at me for 10 seconds, "We don't know what lies ahead. It's my changing clothes."

A cap is peeking from the bag. It's not daddy's nor hers, "Is there something that I need to know?" I asked before taking the stairs.

"Huh? Like what?" she was two steps ahead.

I walked closer to her, "That is someone else's clothes. Did anyone pay you a visit last Saturday morning?" I whispered.

Lily Anne looked away and kept on taking the stairs.

I run to follow her. "It's true, isn't it?" I have my arms around her. "Did Hachiban—"

She cut me off by laughing aloud, and everyone is, of course, staring at us. I covered her mouth.

"There's no way in hell, Chiyo." She removed my hand from her mouth.

As we reached my homeroom, the first one you'll see after the stairs, the students standing by the hallway silenced as they saw us. Both of us subliminally paused at that reaction. It's very unexpected.

"Morning." someone from the back said.

When we turned our heads to see who it was, the girls shrieked in thrill, like seeing how the boy met his girl in the movies. Gross. It is Seiichan with his brother's gang. Yurime left me standing and went to her classroom. And I just remembered! I still have Seiichan's jacket.

•••>>>O

Yurime's POV

(Hachiban University: 2-B Homeroom)

This is the first time anyone is in this room since the first period is thirty minutes away. I ran towards Hachiban's seat to put this paper bag on, and after dropping it off, I quickly returned to my seat. It would be very embarrassing if they saw me doing it or giving it to him personally. It will be degrading for me.

As the bell for the first period rang, the rest of the class went inside. I've been getting many good mornings since I entered the gate. That must be because of the rumors. I would be in trouble if the Parliament of Cambridge knew about this.

"Does that make you pretty, huh?" the girl who called me to the bait the last time said. She rolled her eyes on me as she passed by, followed by her possè.

"Such a slut!" the other one commented.

When Seiichan came in, he was smiling at me in a very weird way. Shouldn't I be the one to do that? I responded to him with a more lurking eye. He took his seat and whispered to me.

"What happened last Saturday?" he asked.

I smiled in a silly way, "What happened last Saturday?"

"No one that happened in your house," he responded.

I tried dodging the question, "Nope. The one that happened in your car."

Seiichan giggled like he remembered a nice moment that day.

"It is not as interesting as what happened in your place, but I lent your sister my jacket. She almost bathes in the rain," he answered.

I nodded, "That's so nice of you, Seiichan. Thanks."

"No. Thank you for caring for my brother during the weekend," he said. "You didn't know how happy you made him. He can't stop smiling all day and telling me he can't believe he was with Lily Anne."

"The blonde girl," I confirm.

"That's the same." Seiichan said, then whispered lower, "Either you're Lily Anne or Yurime. You're the same girl he's with and will be with."

That sounded like a screeching door in my ears. The teacher came in and was also in a good mood. Should I thank that rain over the weekend for the favor it's giving me now? The next three days were the same, and I had nothing to complain about.

Friday came.

I don't know if it's just another bad day or if it's the superstition that someone whose birthday is approaching will be near death or would encounter such bad luck before their big day happens. Or I should accept the fact that not every day is your day.

I was surprised by the live eels barely moving on my shoe locker.

I screamed in fright, for the least.

"Serves you right, Slvt!" the mean girl said. She's with her posse, laughing like witches.

"You watch your mouth, Loser!" Chiyo shouted at them. She took the eels with her bare hands and threw them on them. They're like worms dying over a pinch of rock salt.

Why am I getting nemesis everywhere for everything I do, like I was doing everything wrong? I walked out after putting my shoes on without saying a thing. I feel like I'm going to explode. The feeling that your tears are in your eyelids ready to fall with your nose itching, and you can't correctly swallow the accumulated saliva in your mouth—it's heavy. I was able to stand against Hachiban just a few days ago, but I'm pissed by a normal Redster. I don't know if this is just a hormonal imbalance or they're just really full of it.

Chiyo, as usual, is trying to cheer me up with her words of wisdom, but my ears just won't let it in. I wanted to take revenge and peel them off in pieces. I got to at least relax during the class because of the lessons until it's lunchtime again. People dispersed in the air as the bell rang, and so did I. As down as possible, I couldn't even go to the cafeteria alone. I have to wait for Chiyo until she's done. I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. The emails were non-stop for the last 10 minutes, so I opened it up.

The messages have flooded my inbox.

B!tch.

Slvt.

Wr3cker.

Wh0re.

Those are the names they are calling me now, just to name a few. So full of hate.

"Let's go, sis!" Chiyo wrapped her arms around me and walked downstairs. "Don't mind their messages. I'm gonna break all their bones when I see them," she said.

We reached the cafeteria, where the golden bow bearers' seats were on their table with Seiichan. As much as I would like to—I can't accept the invitation with all these people staring at me. I looked away and took a farther seat. As my sister and I got a place to settle, we opened our lunchboxes. I didn't know that there was a more enormous surprise for me.

"What the—???" I mumbled.

Someone changed my bento with sand and worms. The girls who put the live eel on my shoe locker stepped in to laugh at me.

"The slvt and the slugs!" a Redster girl said as they continued to laugh.

Chiyo stood up and spilled the water on their faces, "Get lost, you h0es! Leave my sister alone, or will c***k your faces!"

"C'mon, Chiyo! Your sister is flirting with someone else's fiancé, and that's not right!"

"Take that back!" Chiyo shouted.

They were screaming and fighting in front of me, and I couldn't even move a muscle to stop them from pulling each other's hair. No one, even me, is blocking those mean people. The world is spinning around in my sight. I don't know what to do, like a paralyzed person in bed.

The noise became so much louder it deafened me, and the next thing I knew was that I was holding the lunch box full of worms and throwing on the mean girl's face—but,

It landed on someone else's chest.

(To Be Continued)