From the president’s perspective, what just happened must have looked like me being flustered → Kaburagi-san pacifying me → me regaining my calm immediately → Kaburagi-san leaving the room as if she and I had understood each other in a split second without having to say anything. His face was extremely pale. That last look must have been extremely effective.
“......Sago-san, if you intend to confess your crime, then I’m not against settling things quietly. I’ll also help mediate between you and her—”
“Are you talking into a mirror right now?” I asked, deflecting the words that the president only barely managed right back at him.
He retorted angrily, “That’s quite some confidence you have there. Do you still intend on playing innocent in the face of all this evidence?”
“This isn’t a matter of evidence, but of trustworthiness with Kaburagi-san, isn’t it?”
“......What are you saying all of a sudden?”
“Even if you succeed in setting me up as a criminal, getting yourself hated by Kaburagi-san during the process would render everything meaningless, wouldn’t it?”
The president fell silent from the precise jab at the heart of the matter. He must have deduced from Kaburagi-san’s attitude and my words that his trap had already been seen through. He lowered his eyes briefly, then slowly stood up and walked toward the windowsill. After gazing at the skyscrapers that dotted Tokyo’s cityscape for a while, he started talking. “The smile on Shiori-san’s face when she was with you was too bright for me to look at. That was a gentle smile that came from the bottom of her heart, free of even the slightest hint of anxiety or nervousness. The moment I saw her make that face, I realized that the smiles that I had been looking at the entire time were all forced and superficial. This is a pretty pathetic story, isn’t it? I was envious of you. From the very bottom of my heart, I was envious of what you had......”
I also stood up, and made my way over to the president as he continued confessing.
“Even with all this trickery, I had failed to undermine the sense of trust between Shiori-san and you. All right, I admit it, wretched though it makes me: it’s my complete defeat. In the eyes of society, I am a successful man. Everything that I’ve wanted, I’ve acquired. However, what I really wanted mos—hm?”
I gently tapped the shoulder of the president in the middle of his soliloquy. When he turned his face around, I landed a punch squarely on his right cheek.
“Bogeh?!”
I mounted the president who had fallen to the ground, then gave my anger full reign as I also punched the left side of his face. “This is for trying to frame me!”
Once more, I punched his right cheek. Is this the mouth that refuses to shut up? “This is for the heartache you’re causing your parents with how terrible of a person you had become!”
Another punch to his left cheek. If he had earnestly apologized for what he had done, then I wouldn’t have laid a finger on him. But instead, he had gone and started blathering on about shit that I couldn’t care less about. “This is on behalf of your friends!”
Right cheek again. After doing something wrong, the first thing you should do is say “sorry,” isn’t it? Even elementary kids know this. “This is on behalf of the policemen who’re going to have to come all the way down here to arrest you!”
Left cheek. I know people say that love makes one blind, but there are limits, all right? Did you even stop for a minute to consider my position, the position of someone who almost got completely screwed over? “This is on behalf of the lawyer who’s going to have to defend you in court!
Then this is for myself once again!
Lastly, one more for myself!
All right, done!”
The president’s face had turned into something awful, but my fists had also started to hurt with all the punching and so I decided to call it off. I was worried that I was going to break my wrist if I had continued wailing on him. However, aside from the pain in my hands, I felt completely refreshed. Whoever it was that said that revenge only feels hollow and meaningless was lying. Thanks to having gone completely ham on doling out payback, all my indignation and anger was completely gone.
I grabbed the lapels of the barely conscious president and forcibly pulled him to his feet. Despite tottering severely, he somehow managed to find his balance and stand on his own. Then he looked straight at me with an exhausted expression on his red and swollen cheeks.
“I do acknowledge that what I did was a terrible thing. But I will not apologize. Even if I have to smear your name—”
“Dude, apologize to me.”
“—in order to earn—”
“A. Po. Lo. Gize. I don’t need any more of that bullshit you’re spouting.”
“—Shiori-san’s love, I—”
“First apologize to me. Say you’re sorry.”
“..........................................Sorry.”
“There you go!”
I was worried for a while that he was so far gone that he wasn’t capable of apologizing after doing something wrong, but after several prompts, he finally gave in and apologized. What a relief. Now I can forgive him.
Although he had leaked the PSI drives for real, all the fuel had been taken out, so there was no worry about widespread superpowered damage. I had also dodged the attempt to frame me at the very last moment. Though the incident had been upsetting, no permanent damage had been done.
No one was completely beyond succumbing to temptation. Though sometimes that leads to truly unforgivable acts, I wanted to forgive what I could forgive. I mean, I was feeling completely refreshed too, after having vented all my negative emotions onto his face.
“Have you shown this fabricated nonsense to anyone else other than Kaburagi-san and me?”
“N-No, I haven’t...... Wait, weren’t you going to call the police?”
“What was that? Oh, the police? Hmm...... nah, I already dealt out my personal justice. I did just get your apology too.” What was this guy even talking about? Did he not understand why I had Kaburagi-san exit the room? Couldn’t he tell from that alone that I wanted to settle this one-on-one from the start?
In the first place, if I intended on turning him over to the cops, then I wouldn’t have punched him. Instead of leaving it up to the legal system, I, as the victim, had already pronounced my own judgment on him. If I punched and reported him, then that would be double the punishment. I had also given him punches on behalf of the people who would have been inconvenienced or bothered if he got arrested, so the ledger was fully balanced on that front too.
More like, I realized this just now, but that was totally aggravated assault, wasn’t it? Shit. Maybe those people who warned against mindlessly giving in to the urge to take revenge might have had a point after all.
As I slightly regretted my actions, President Kaneyama did his best to pull a serious face with his red and swollen cheeks. “Is that so...... in that case, Sago-san. In light of that magnanimity of yours, I wish to make a request of you.”
“Huh?”
“Though it pains me to admit it, it is clear to me that Shiori-san is happiest when she’s with you. So you go on and make sure that remains true, even if you have to exchange your life for it.”
“What? ......Ahh, you mean......?” Although this was a line that I had heard a million times in manga and dramas before, they carried an unnatural weight when coming from this crazy psychopath yandere president. It wasn’t a request anymore, but a command.
At the same time, things clicked in my mind. No wonder he couldn’t grab Kaburagi-san’s heart. He didn’t understand her at all.