The next day at school, no one would talk to you. They were too busy talking about you behind their hands, only giving you the odd side-glance or dirty look. You had no idea what could have happened overnight, but you had a hunch Minoru had something to do with it.

You had no idea what she told the student body you said or did, but you were a pariah among your peers.

It wasn't all bad, though. Hinata, Kimiko, and Oshiro were included on the list of people not talking to you. Minoru floated by your locker that morning as if you never even met before, as if you were complete strangers, followed by her posse, who were not so good at pretending.

Hinata looked at you longingly, like she wanted nothing more than to run up for a quick hug before homeroom. Kimiko looked annoyed, on the cusp of anger but not quite over the edge. Oshiro... Oshiro looked like she understood. Like she knew what you were doing and approved.

And she should. This is what she wanted for you from the beginning. To get out of the group, safe and sound.

What did she tell you? You wondered. Was it any different than what she told the rest of the school? Then... Good. Stay away from me.

You slammed your locker shut and hurried to class, where you actually paid attention for once. Minoru didn't look at you once throughout World History.

She practically radiated you-can't-sit-with-us vibes, and you didn't want to have lunch with those girls anymore even if she didn't, so you took your homemade lunch and ate it in your homeroom rather than the cafeteria.

Then there was Study Hall. Once used for reading with Hinata in the library, you now spent the period in the classroom, actually studying.

Your mom started picking you up at the end of each school day in hopes of alleviating some of the bullying. It certainly made you feel safer than walking home alone.

You developed a pattern and stuck to it for a couple days without having to interact with any of the girls you were avoiding.

You were trying your best to wrap your head around the very concept of Calculus when Hinata appeared out of nowhere and knocked on your desk.

"Sorry, sorry! I know I'm interrupting. I just... I just wanted to talk to you," she whispered in the quiet classroom.

"Are you even supposed to be talking to me right now?"

"Well, um, actually... No. But I have something important to say, so I'm doing it anyway."

"Say what you need to say." So you can leave went unsaid, but you thought it was pretty well implied by how she wilted under your blank gaze.

Nevertheless, she took a deep breath and continued, "Okay, so listen... Whatever you said to Minoru, just apologize. She's not going to let you back in the group until you do."

"And what if I don't want back in the group?" You asked, a touch too loud, just to see her shiver and look around the classroom as if Minoru would materialize out of thin air to scold her for talking to you.

"Ex- Excuse me?" She gave you a shocked look, like you had just said something unthinkable.

So you repeated it. "I don't want back in the group."

"Aina... If you don't come back to the group, we can't be friends."

"Then it looks like we aren't friends!" You snapped. She was on the verge of tears now. You swallowed hard around the lump in your throat. You had to remind yourself that this girl stalked you, put a camera in your room, had been stealing your stuff to litter her little shrine. "Now you should go. I have studying to do."

...

You hoped that would be the end of Hinata, but it wasn't. You started to feel followed, feel watched, everywhere you went, including at school. Sometimes you would catch her in the act, see a flash of orange around the corner when you turned around. It wasn't funny, wasn't cute. It was nerve-wracking.

You started limiting your activities outside your house and keeping your bedroom curtains closed at all times. It quelled some of your paranoia but not all of it. And was it truly paranoia if you really were being stalked?

You lived on the edge of insanity for about a week before confronting her. Instead of staying in your classroom for Study Hall, you wandered into a vacant area of the school and waited until the footsteps behind you stopped. Then you turned on your heels and ran back down the hall, right into Hinata.

You forcefully grabbed hold of her shoulders and backed her up into the nearest wall. "So you're the little mouse that's been scurrying after me all this time!"

She jerked in her grasp, trying to duck out from under your arm, but you held fast. "Let me go! Haven't you done enough?"

"I've done enough?!" You're the reason why I don't feel safe leaving the house!

Then all the fight left her. She went completely limp in your grasp and started crying. That's when you noticed something strange. One of the sleeves of her blazer was damp and the air stank of copper.

"Hinata, what did you do?"

"You have no idea how hard it is, trying to live without you!" She wept openly.

You carefully pulled up her sleeve to confirm your suspicions. Sure enough, her forearm was covered in cuts. Some were old and scabbed over but most were fresh and oozing blood.

You looked her in the eye. Her pupils were small as pin pricks. She was obviously strung out. It was a wonder if she even felt any of this.

You screwed your eyes shut and let your head fall back in frustration. You knew this was a manipulation tactic, but what could you do? Leave her to bleed out? No. Instead, you took her by the hand and started leading her down the hall.

"Where are you taking me?" She sobbed, even as she clung to your hand like her life depended on it. And honestly? It might.

"To the nurse's office."

...

Since Hinata may have opened a vein when she cut herself, an ambulance had to be called. When the school nurse left the room to talk to the paramedics, you took the opportunity to talk to Hinata in private. "Listen, Hinata... You're sick. Well people don't do shit like this. You're my friend, and I want to help you, but I can't let you keep doing this."

"All I want is you," she whimpered through her tears. "Why can't you just stay with me?"

"Because I'm the one making you sick."

"If I'm sick with you, I don't want to be well!"

"You should. You should want better for yourself. This... This isn't it." There was a brief silence between you. She looked like she was hanging on your every word. Whether they were getting through to her or not was another story. "You want me to love you as much as you love me, right?" She nodded vigorously. "Then you need to change."

"If- If I do... You'll love me back?"

"Yes." With the right medication and behavioral therapy, you could see Hinata as someone you could love. But you couldn't love her when she was so obviously a danger to herself and others. It would be a relationship doomed from the start.

She reached forward to wrap her arms around your shoulders, pulling you in for a hug. "Okay," she whispered in your ear before burying her face in your hair and inhaling deeply. "Okay, I'll do it. I'll get better, for you."

And for yourself too. You thought but didn't repeat the sentiment. You just loosely wrapped your arms around her waist and hugged her back, gently, like she was made of glass.

...

The next day, Minoru breezed by you like usual, but, surprisingly, Hinata was missing from her clique and Oshiro hung back to talk to you. Kimiko scowled at her over her shoulder and lingered between her two friends before eventually following Minoru.

"Hinata is taking the rest of the school year off for her mental health. She voluntarily checked herself into a psychiatric hospital. Did you have a hand in that?" Oshiro murmured once some of the crowd had dispersed, obviously not wanting anyone to overhear. She sounded like she almost couldn't believe what she was saying.

"Yeah, I convinced her to get help."

She let out a sigh of relief and reached over to rest a hand on your shoulder. "Thank you. This will be good for her. I feel bad for Kimiko though. It won't be easy for her, being Minoru's one and only princess."

"That's not my problem," you snapped, unable to relax around her. "Now could you please leave me alone?"

She didn't look offended, just nodded. "I'll leave you to it. But really... Thank you."