The bullying by Kawato and the others did not extend to class time.
And even when Kawato and his friends do attack Shiki, it is only a moderate body blow because attacking his face is too conspicuous.
Shiki understands that all of this is thanks to Karin Kohinata, who is the leader of this school.
In that sense, he may have to thank Karin to some extent.
However, he is more in awe and fear of her rather than in gratitude to her because she is a strong fighter who is able to lead the school, which is even called [End of century school].
Because of these feelings, he is unable to even ask Karin for help, just like what Kawato’s cronies said.
He also couldn’t help but think that he has a troublesome personality because, in addition to be so scared of Karin, somewhere in his mind, he thinks, [I don’t want anyone else to get involved in my bullying], and [Especially if it’s a girl.].
( …it can’t be helped. It’s hard to change who I am… )
As if he has opened up, he talks to himself in his mind.
The reason why Shiki had to enter this St. Lukimantz Academy, and the reason why Kawato and his friends were bullying him, was because of his personality.
On the day of the entrance examination for the public high school he wanted to enter, Shiki left his house with plenty of time to spare, but on the way, he saw an old lady having trouble climbing the stairs of a pedestrian bridge and helped her, saw a lost child and looked for his parents together, and failed to take some subjects’ examinations because he was very late.
On the day of the entrance examination for the private high school of his second and third choice, he was late for the same exact reason, and unsurprisingly, he also failed to take the examination in some subjects.
On the day of the entrance examination for St. Lukimants Academy, which he took as a last-ditch effort to enter a high school, for some reason, he could take the examination smoothly because he did not see anyone in trouble.
Unfortunately, he was admitted to St. Lukimantz Academy.
However, if he had just entered the school normally, Kawato and his friends might not have bullied him.
Soon after entering the school, Shiki happened to come across a scene where Kawato and his two cronies were bullying a student in the same class, and his inner sense of justice came out and he defended the student who was being bullied, forgetting that he was a herbivore in this school.
His action displeased them, and Shiki has been Kawato’s plaything ever since.
In addition, the student who he had defended had transferred to another school because he was afraid of the bad environment of St. Lukimantz School, which made him feel even more helpless.
Shiki himself, not wanting to cause her parents to worry, had ruled out the option of changing schools.
At that time, Karin was not yet called the ‘Empress’.
She used to go around beating delinquents when she saw them bullying the weaker ones.
Kawato and the others, who correctly understood the threat of the Empress, never did anything to escalate the bullying against Shiki, such as violence to the point of serious injury, destruction or intentional loss of personal belongings, or blackmail, so as not to attract Karin’s attention.
Instead, the bullying evolved more and more insidious with each passing day, resulting in a vertical relationship with no way out that stems from the hierarchical relationship between the perpetrator and the victim.
He thought that he could escape from this hell by changing classes as the school year progressed, but to make matters worse, he was put in the same class as Kawato and his two cronies, even in the second year.
( Don’t tell me I will be in the same class with Kawato and his friends again in the third year ……? )
Shiki shakes his head as if to shake off the worst possible future that has inadvertently popped into his mind. He doesn’t want to imagine that kind of future.
Then, the teacher arrives, and the second-period class begins.
Shiki does not particularly like classes, but these fifty minutes were nothing but a break for him since he did not have to worry about Kawato and the others.
After that, although he is subjected to some kind of bullying or violence during every recess, he always manages to make it to the end of the homeroom.
Kawato and his friends belong to a faction of delinquents in the school, and they are required to show up there during lunch break and after school, so he was already guaranteed to be free from hell if he made it this far.
Then Shiki went home as soon as homeroom was over since it would be a problem if he ran into Kawato and the others after they had done showing their faces to the factions while they were staying at the school or making a detour.
Shiki went home as soon as homeroom was over.
――He was relieved that he had made it through another day.
