“I’m not giving you a weird thing. This is a bracelet I wore often and cherished. The size can be adjusted like this…….”
“……Is there a reason I should receive something like this from you?”
When Sophia asked somewhat indifferently, Olivia looked a bit flustered, then asked back what she should do then.
“Do what? Specifically, what do you want to do to me right now?”
“……Apologize.”
Olivia said in a small voice while looking at a very distant place.
“If you want to reconcile with me, just say you’re sorry. You don’t need to give me something like this.”
“Sor…… Just take it! It’s not a weird thing! I spent so much money to buy this…….”
“You said it’s a cherished item. That’s why I can’t accept it even more. Just say you’re sorry. That you’re sorry for secretly reading my diary that day and giving me an unforgettable scar.”
When Sophia came out strongly, Olivia hesitated for a moment then apologized in an even quieter voice.
“Sorry…….”
“What?”
“I’m sorry. For that day and for bullying you on various occasions, I want to apologize even though it’s late. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I just want you to know that I’m reflecting on it.”
“…….”
Sophia looked at Olivia with a slightly surprised face, then said she should take this after all and tried on her bracelet.
“I thought this bracelet was pretty when I saw it before too. Well, you have such good taste after all.”
“…….”
“If it’s okay, do you want to eat lunch together?”
“……Whatever.”
Olivia sat next to Sophia pretending to be reluctant and ate lunch, then glared at Virgil, who was looking at her with a somewhat dazed face, as if she would devour him. At this, Virgil became completely intimidated and just chewed on the sandwich in his lunch box.
Just as lunchtime seemed to be passing peacefully, Leda, who had been watching Sophia from earlier, appeared and the situation began to change rapidly.
“What are you doing right now? Are you joking?”
When Leda glared at Sophia and asked, Sophia also asked back with an angry face what the problem was again.
“Don’t you remember what Olivia did to you? But you forgive that so easily, and I haven’t done anything that big to you yet you’re still sulking like this—does that even make sense?!”
“What you did to me is nothing? Wow, you’re really amazing. I have to give you credit—your self-love is really outstanding. Yes, what Olivia did to me was terrible like you said. But she’s genuinely regretting what she did wrong right now. But you? Even though you insulted and embarrassed my friend, you think you didn’t do anything wrong! Instead, you’re angry at me saying you feel wronged!”
As Leda and Sophia started fighting, Olivia, who was watching this, tried to go back to her seat and eat lunch alone. Then Liam called Olivia over here, and Leda, who discovered this scene, started arguing with Liam this time.
“What, are you crazy? Given the current situation, instead of taking my side…….”
“I know you’re under a lot of mental pressure, but isn’t this going a bit too far right now?”
“What did I do? Oh, right. Are you taking her side right now because you’re from the same trailer park?”
“……What?”
The fight started in an instant. Leda and Liam began arguing loudly at each other without giving an inch, and this was enough to attract the attention of everyone in the plaza.
“You’re always like that. You’re not satisfied unless the world revolves around you, right? It’s fine to show off that you were raised preciously, but don’t cause too much trouble for others.”
“What are you saying? You persecution complex inferiority complex bundle!”
When Liam and Leda started fighting, the first to step forward was Charlotte. She tried to sort out the situation fairly and impartially and separate the two, but the heated argument didn’t end easily.
“Here we go again, stop it already! Why do you guys, who are supposed to be best friends, keep fighting at the drop of a hat?”
Following Charlotte, when Nathan stepped in too, the two’s fight finally subsided. So Charlotte took Leda somewhere, and I stayed with Liam and sat beside him. And I waited for his emotions to settle down to some degree, then took out bottled water from my bag and gave it to him.
“……I’ve been curious for a while, but just how many bottles of water do you carry around?”
Liam asked in a much more sullen voice than usual. I said I carry about ten bottles, then snatched back the water I had given to Liam. And I opened the cap of the retrieved water and gave it back to Liam. He drank all the water I gave him at once, then looked at the ground and murmured quietly.
“A man who gets excited easily isn’t attractive……?”
“That sounds a bit strange.”
At my words, Liam lightly pushed me and laughed weakly, then confessed that strangely, when Leda treats him like a pauper, he gets especially furious inside.
“……Chinese people call something like that a reverse scale.”
“Reverse scale?”
“It’s a scale that grows backwards on a dragon’s neck, and it’s a part that makes you sensitive when touched.”
“Sensitive when touched……? That also sounds a bit strange.”
At Liam’s words, this time I laughed. I said that Chinese people say everyone has a reverse scale, and took out a second bottle of water. And while opening the water cap, I told Liam.
“It’s a part that shouldn’t be touched, but there are times when you want to touch it. For example, when you’re angry because of a fight.”
I told Liam that I feel like my ‘reverse scale’ is being touched when I’m just eating food my mom made but hear that I’m eating garbage, then drank the water. Liam looked at me, then said with a somewhat dazed face.
“……Leda knows what my reverse scale is. I also know what hers is.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s why we fight often. We’re not a relationship that’s careful with each other like you and me.”
Liam said that and then said he didn’t know which was a more ‘healthy’ relationship. Whether it’s good to be open about everything with each other, or whether it’s good to be considerate not to touch painful parts.
“I don’t think there’s a right answer or anything like that.”
At my words, Liam agreed that that might be the case.
“Since people are different from each other, the way we treat them should be different too.”
“……If I dare say so, I think it’s more important to try to adjust to each other rather than looking for a set answer.”
“What, Tchaiki, you’re talking like you’re so enlightened?”
“That’s why I prefaced it. ‘If I dare say so.'”
Liam said that this time, unlike other times, Leda’s anger probably won’t subside easily. Then he asked if he seemed to be taking Olivia’s side over Leda, so I told him to think about it himself.
“Right……. I asked something unnecessary, didn’t I? Anyway, it’s sad that the person you like is looking at someone else.”
When I asked why he suddenly brought up that topic, Liam brushed it off saying he just said it because he remembered such a time.
“Now you’re by my side, but I also remember when you were looking at someone else. Coincidentally, that person was Leda. I’m…… actually really a bundle of inferiority complex. So I have quite a bit of a persecution complex too. Especially toward Leda.”
Liam confessed that he had always envied Leda, who had a lot since childhood.
“Not just material things, but that kid has wonderful family members around her, and she herself shines…… You know that kind of thing. Like peace of mind or confidence. I only act it out, but for her it’s real, coming from the heart. I’ve always envied that. I’m jealous too.”
Myself is fake. Leda is real. Liam revealed that although it’s childish, he’s always thought that way deep in his heart.
“That’s why I might have cared more about Olivia than my best friend Leda. Yes, I think I took Olivia’s side. Because she’s fake too. She has nothing and nothing to brag about, so instead she acts superior, decorates herself with people around her and shows off with that, tramples on kids who seem easy to her to desperately confirm that her position isn’t rock bottom……. All those things aren’t what ‘real’ outstanding kids like Leda do.”
“……I’ve envied you many times.”
“Really? But all of that would be a fabricated appearance. I’m afraid of that. I’m…….”
“You’ve never fabricated anything in front of me. Even now you’re telling me everything. There were times when you hid something or lied, but when the truth was revealed in the end, you told me the truth. That was content that was difficult for me to accept, but…… to tell you now, if you had pretended to be sorry to Alice or Sophia back then, I would have told you to break up right away.”
Liam nodded and smiled faintly, then murmured that I really hate lying.
“I didn’t know that about myself either, but I do. I found out after meeting you. I hate it when I lie, and I hate it when you lie.”
“So that’s why I end up telling you even useless facts when I’m with you?”
“There’s nothing useless among the facts you tell me.”
After saying that, I suggested to Liam that we should start moving since lunchtime was ending. He nodded and followed me into the school building.
* * *
The next morning, when I visited Liam’s trailer, I was able to meet Ted observing the seedlings newly planted in the flower bed. When I greeted him, unlike usual, he welcomed me with a smiling face.
“I promised Liam that no matter what happens this time, I won’t ruin the flower bed.”
I told Ted I hoped flowers would bloom well from these seedlings like last time, then waited for Liam.
