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part 2 : cooperation | chapter 22 | the newspaper's reaction ii
Chapter 22
written by Akira
In front of the large bulletin board, the Living God, Kodama Hajime:
Ichika: Big sis! Have you seen this?! Look at the article in this newspaper! They’ve written all these bad things about you!
I can’t believe this! That student council president!
Hajime: …
Ichika: “Misleading innocent students through nefarious means, the Living God, Kodama Hajime—"
"She spread a rumor that anyone possessing her black hair will find bliss in their life, and a single strand of her hair sells for tens of thousands of yen."
"Kodama Hajime isn’t even close to a god! She’s a witch deceiving all of Kimisaki Academy!” —What does this even mean?!
Urgghh~! Now I’m mad! I’m gonna have some harsh words with them!
I’ll give them a taste of my fists for making you look like an idiot!
Hajime: Wait, Ichika.
Anyone can see that this article is nothing but falsehoods and nonsense. You should just ignore it; act prudently and respectfully.
Ichika: But, but—this makes me so upset, big sis!
Hajime: (Something doesn’t seem right.)
(As far as I can tell, the student council president isn’t the type to spread such hateful rumors.)
(She’s such an innocent, pure person. Enviably so.)
(I have a bad feeling about this—something is wrong.)
In the 3-B classroom, the Devil, Kusaka Ayame:
Ayame: …
Hikaru: Yo! Morning! Ahaha, they wrote a pretty wild article about you in the newspaper!
“The monster of Kimisaki Academy, devouring the bunnies in the animal hut alive Kusaka Ayame!”
“Don’t look at her! Don’t touch her! Don’t get close to her! If you value your life…!” and stuff like that! Man, have you actually eaten bunnies?
Ayame: Of course I haven’t—
Hikaru: Right! You love small animals after all!
Far from eating them, they’re so cute you don’t even touch them, so nothing will happen to them!
Ayame: …
(I-I won’t forgive her—the student council president…)
(I know everyone’s scared of me.)
(Despite my taking every precaution so that people wouldn’t misunderstand. Despite me keeping to myself.)
(What did I do to deserve this..? This… This horrible article, filled with nothing but lies…!)
(I felt so alone. There’s always been all this prejudice against me, with people gawking at me from afar.)
(The little bunnies in the animal shed were the only ones who would comfort the heart of someone like me…!)
(Because of some stupid rumors, everyone in the Biology Club was frightened of me, and they forbade me from getting close to the animal shed.)
(Even the teachers would lecture me. My classmates believed articles like this and got more and more scared of me—)
(I-I’ll never, ever forgive her. I’ll kill the student council president!)
(That’s probably too extreme. I’ll have to be like, “Aww~ You shouldn’t do that ♪ You’re such a handful, aren’t you?”…!)
Fufufufufu, fufufufufufu……!
Hikaru: Uwah, scary! I keep telling you that the way you smile like that is scary, so you gotta knock it off!
People keep misunderstanding because of stuff like that, even though you wouldn’t even hurt a fly~
The Light Music Clubroom, the Fallen Angel, Kuromori Suzu:
Suzu: ♪ ♪ ♪ !! ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ !! ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ !!!!
Ruka: Uwah, what happened, senpai? You’re wilder than normal today.
Shizuku: Mmhmm.
Ruka: What’s this newspaper…?
Uwaah, “Kuromori Suzu is a fake punk-rocker!”
“It looks like she’s trying her hardest to be edgy by always acting and speaking abnormally…”
“But it’s all just pubescent angst; she’s a chuunibyou! It’s just too painful to watch!” Wow, this is terrible.
Suzu-senpai is pure, so I’m sure having this kind of thing written about her must hurt a lot.
Shizuku: Mmhmm~
Ruka: Ah, senpai! Stop, don’t smash the electric guitar against the wall please! You’ll break it!
Senpai, the reason our club budget is so tight is because you keep breaking all this equipment.
Suzu: …
Waaar…! (This is war…!)
Fine! Those ass-kissers—they don’t understand me; all they do is spit their cheap, groundless rumors! I’ll cut their tongues out!
Us fallen angels with broken wings (Lucifer)—this is our final war! IT’S AN ARMAGEDDOOON!
You ass-kissing mutts! I’ll drain your ideals and dreams down to the very last drop, and drink it all!
I’ll rip away your eyeballs, your internal organs, your brain!!
Ruka: (Uwah....)
(Senpai’s so cool—her voice is full of painful emotion…!)
(Senpai really is amazing! She is the savior of this earth, descended from the heavens! She’s Kimisaki Academy’s very own Jeanne d'Arc ♪)
Shizuku: (I don’t really care. I just want to practice.)
Suzu: The last trumpets have been blown! Your blood! Your entrails! God and angels alike! Dedicate it all to the altar!
Preserve that soul and devour it whole! War! (War!) War! (War!) War! (War!)
On the rooftop, Her Majesty, the Queen, Enjouji Reika:
Reika: —Now, then.
It seems it has begun.
Sakura: Yes, Your Majesty. Everything is as Your Majesty pleases.
Kaede: The opposing candidates’ reactions were almost exactly what we predicted. The only candidate who didn’t respond according to plan was the Living God, Kodama Hajime.
It seems she has noticed something is amiss. However, it seems she has not noticed enough to see through our plan.
Reika: Lovely.
Now, my adorable Himari—at the end of this journey full of pain and hardship, will you still be able to smile so innocently?
I wonder if you will show me that smile, like a flower blooming in the wilderness?
Will you live up to my expectations—will it be appropriate to call you my partner in this dance?
(So far, things have gone according to plan. If there’s someone I’m concerned about, it’s "him." He is an outsider I had not accounted for.)
(In this school’s history, there has never been anyone else like him—Kimisaki’s only male student.)
(It’s boring to have everything in the palm of my hand. I suppose it is good that there is someone like him to spice things up.)
(Fufu… Dancing fool, watching fool: all fools, so let us dance…)1
The feast has begun. Indulge to your heart’s content.
Those who I loved so much, but would not love me back—the students of Kimisaki Academy♪
notes:
1. beginning lines of the songs sang in awa dance festival of tokushima prefecture
2. something more general but pretty much whenever suzu says something and then it's followed by parentheses, war (war), etc., it's because she says that in english (katakana) and it's the japanese in the parentheses. she also says ARMAGEDDON in english lol