When was it again?
Oyamada had just beaten Yasu up. I’d happened to see the very end of it—Yasu was on the ground, then Oyamada spat on him and left.
I plucked up the courage to go over. Yasu was covered in mud—I remember thinking that Oyamada had gone too far this time.
“You should really talk to a teacher or somebody higher up about this. Somebody other than Zakurogi.”
He didn’t reply.
“C’mon, I’ll go with you. This is too much, even for Oyamada. I mean, I’m scared of him, too, but I’m also…angry. He can’t keep getting away with this.”
I reached down to him, trying to help him back onto his feet.
“Let’s get this over with, Yasu.”
“Why does it have to be you?” Yasu snapped. He slapped my hand away. “Nobody looks down on me, Mimori! Especially not you!”
“Wh-what…?” I was stunned.
“You think you’re above me?! Screw you! I’m better than you, at least!”
That was when I realized.
I’m air.
I’m an NPC.
I’m not at the top or the bottom—I’m not even on the ladder. Nobody cares if I’m around or not. I’m barely even noticed, just part of the background.
But Yasu wasn’t like me. He was at the bottom of the school pecking order, but he was still very much a part of it, and he never stopped thinking about his place in it.
“You’re not better than me! I don’t need your pity, got it?! It pisses me off! Just go die already, Mimori! Get out of my sight!”
That might have been when I first noticed it.
The hierarchy of everything.