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2024-10-29 19:42:56Yamamoto could clearly hear the sound of the door closing.
What Kageyama said just now was reverberating and echoing inside his head. It was as if Kageyama had opened what he had locked away in his treasure chest with so many locks with a single click. What he regretted the most. What scared him the most.
But, it was not a lie. What Kageyama said wasn't a lie in any way. They were all true. That was why it stung so much more.
He had already given up. Back then. And even now; he was almost about to give up. No. He had actually given up thinking he was late again. There was now nothing he could do.
But his words were ringing inside. He couldn't discern what the actual words were but somehow they were motivating him to not sit and idle and take action this time.
So, what?
He had now failed for the second time. So, what? It doesn't matter. He is going to try for the third time. He has a clear chance this time around. He will no
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How My Life Was Ruined 024: Just Why?
Friday.It has now been a week since that incident.Although I had made sure it didn't spread around the school by contacting the Director as soon as possible and leading Aina to the dorm instead of her class to get her belongings, it seems someone had heard a scream in the infirmary and found out about what had happened.Though they didn't know the exact details, rumors were going around that Ito Yua was attacked by a third-year student called Kaizaki and attempted to rape her. The school pulled different strings to keep things under the wrap but it didn't stop the students' mouths from running off. It seems this incident hasn't reached the media which is probably due to the old hag's efforts and influence.One thing that surprised me was the change in attitudes. Both in boys and girls.For boys, they seemed relieved. Maybe they kind of understood what Kaizaki must have been feeling. I mean, every one of them was smitten by Ito Yua and many must h
How My Life Was Ruined 025: It Was Not Meaningless
"...Ah!" My eyes felt heavy and I was having trouble opening them. With much effort, I half-opened my eyes and saw a white ceiling. It was completely white as if I was in a hospital. I turned my head sideways and saw that there was someone. "Oh? You awake?" It was a masculine voice; one that sounded familiar. I propped myself up in the bed with my hands and looked around. It really was a hospital. A scent peculiar to hospital rooms reached my nose. I realized that I was in a hospital bed. No wonder my back hurt. But, why was I here? I pressed my hand on my head and tried to remember. "Ah, that's right. The old hag..." I was in her office. I remember yelling something at her, her smiling face, and the moment I passed out. "The Director said you fainted because of high blood pressure and brought you here." I looked at Yamamoto. "Why are you here?" "I was visiting Yua and then met the Director on the way. She told me what had happ
How My Life Was Ruined 026: I Was Afraid
After two days of getting out of the hospital, I headed to the grave.There was a small stall outside the entrance where an elderly woman was selling flowers. I decided to buy some.I bought lilys and chrysanthemums in yellow and white and handed her the money."You seem fine today.""Hmm? What do you mean?" I was startled. I didn't know what she was talking about out of nowhere. Although I remember seeing her around here, this was the first time I had talked to her or greater she had talked to me."Whenever you come here you always seem like you are suffering so much and want to run away but today there is not a trace of that. So I was a bit surprised."No. It was me who was surprised. This old woman had been watching me? But I don't remember her keeping an eye on me. However, she was correct. Whenever I came here, it was so that I can escape from everything. She was completely true. But today was different."Well, today I a
How My Life Was Ruined 027: The Hospital Room
ITO AKEMI (ITO YUA'S MOTHER) POV:"Yua-chan, think about it carefully, okay? And please, I beg you. Stop all this. Don't go down the same path your mother did. It is meaningless."I looked at my daughter's lovely face.She was looking as if her world had crumbled. It was definitely true as well. After all, what I said was akin to disregarding the life she had led until now.It was unbearable for me to watch that expression on my cute daughter's face.If not for that boy, I would have never known what she was up to. Haruto-kun never told me. Probably so I wouldn't worry much. He is such a nice kid.Yua-chan slowly got up. She said nothing. She silently and listlessly went out of the room. I was worried sick but I can't do anything. All I can do is wait and believe in that boy.I remember his words vividly. His every word is ringing inside my head continuously.I don't know why but the words that boy spoke carrie
How My Life Was Ruined 028: Beautiful
The atmosphere in Kageyama's class was weird. Everyone was on edge and everyone was looking in the direction where a certain student had just entered from.Ito Yua, well aware of the gazes on her, did her best to suppress the nervousness and went to her seat. She put her bag down and to everyone's surprise slowly made her way towards the front of the classroom.On the spot where Maki - their homeroom teacher - usually stood, she turned around to face the students in the class.She clenched her fists. She took a large breath in and tried to stabilize herself. She closed her eyes. When she opened them, determination could be seen clearly.She surprised her classmates yet again when she bowed her head and said, "I am sorry."Her words echoed off the classroom walls. The class was dead silent except for the words Ito had said just now.With her head still leaning towards the floor, she continued speaking, "I know that you must all be bewildered
How My Life Was Ruined 029: Who Is The Mastermind
Shizuku Aina was feeling conflicted.Ito thanked her for saving her.True, back then, in the infirmary, she did end up intervening and she believed if she hadn't interfered something more horrible would have happened. That was why she was glad she was able to take action.But, she hadn't taken action based just on her own emotions and reasons. In fact, she remembers turning away from the door to the infirmary. What propelled her to take that deciding step were words that someone had spoken to her before."For example, there is a person that you don't like. You despise them. But you found them in a perilous situation. What would you do then? Would you lend a hand or would you ignore that person? Now, say, what would you do?"She was not so sure whether it was her own will or his words that encouraged her to intervene. She believed her legs had moved just to prove her point to Kage. Just to make sure that she wasn't someone who just
How My Life Was Ruined 030: I Love You
When I returned from the cafeteria, I noticed that there was a small, unusual gap in the middle of my textbook. Checking it, I found a small piece of paper. On the paper was mentioned that I had to meet this person, whoever they were, in the old school building after school today. "Old school building, eh?" That sure sounds nostalgic. I very well knew who was the one behind this. Just as instructed in the paper, after school, I went to the old school building. This time I didn't waste time and climbed the stairs to the second floor. I pulled out my phone and dialed a certain someone's number. After making sure the other side had picked, I put the phone back inside the pocket. Without knocking, I opened the door to Class 2-A. What greeted me first was her long black hair along with her short skirt fluttering. She was standing by the window with her back towards me. The rays of sun that were peeking from the window shone on her lustrous black hair. She had a pa
How My Life Was Ruined 031: The Full Picture
"I was the one who orchestrated it all," I affirmed.Aina was looking at me incredulously. The way she was asking me whether I had planned it all or not; she definitely had some sort of proof to back her up.My eyes landed on her hand and the piece of torn paper she was pinching between her thumb and index finger.Pointing at that I said, "So it was my handwriting, eh? But still, to have concluded it was me just from that alone is amazing. You sure are sharp, eh, Aina."I was honestly praising her but she was not in a state to accept it. She was fuming. She was angry at me. Well, that was not surprising in the least.The sound of her teeth clattering reached my ears. I have never seen her this angry before."Why..."She began. Her face was red with anger."Why?!"She cried. She was quite a distance away from me but she closed it in an instant. She grabbed me by my collar and like a ferocious beast, spoke with her face ri
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- How My Life Was Ruined
Afterword
If you are reading this afterword instead of reading the story, then, please go and read the story first! However, if you are here after following the gruesome journey and the end of Kageyama Kage, then, I have to thank you from the bottom of my heart to have given this novel a chance. Now, then, about this story. You know, we humans, are contradictory in nature. In the little things we do and speak, there is always a small contradiction there. We might fail to notice them, but it doesn't mean we don't contradict ourselves. Similarly, we humans, also go through our fair share of hardships and pain. It is inevitable. I have had my fair share of them and you all have too. This story, 'How My Life Was Ruined', is a story where the contradiction is exaggerated - no - overexaggerated and at the same time, I (being the overthinker I am) took the various problems people around me faced and converted it into a story. A story where we don't see a redemption arc. A story where all that await
- How My Life Was Ruined
130: The End And The Beginning
Furukawa Maya and Maki were in the Director’s room.The atmosphere was gloomy and heavy.No one said a word but they both knew what was on their minds.“So we failed to save him.” Maki was the one to say that sentence. She clenched her fists and bit her lips. She had failed to save the person her dear sister had been trying to protect. As a sister, she had failed to fulfill her duties and that realization left a bitter taste in her mouth.“No point in beating yourself over that. The moment Kaya died, everything was as good as hopeless.”That had been the last straw.Kaya had been the one to have held Kageyama down to this world. She had cast chains on him and shackled him. But when she died, the chains came off and he plunged to his doom.No, even after that, there was still a chance to save him. If not for the girl, Hayami. The girl that didn’t exist. The girl that never existed in the first place.“Hallucination, was it?” Maki spoke.After Kageyama’s death, the Director told her abo
- How My Life Was Ruined
129: After The End - III
Aina had been hurt by the news of Kageyama Kage's death.The shock was so much that when she first learned of the truth she ended up fainting on the spot.Even after regaining her consciousness, she hadn’t been able to stomach the truth. The fact that the one she had loved was no more in this world had left her unable to think of anything for a long while.She continued to think. Day and night without an ounce of sleep.Why? Why did Kageyama end his life? She knew why he did. She knew of his whole story. Any normal person would have ended his life long ago if they had had to go through such hardships and pain. The fact that Kage had managed to act like a normal person when he had such a heavy history dragging him down was nothing sort of miracle.But, still, there were many questions she wanted to know the answers to.Like, why did they allow Kageyama the opportunity to end his life?Hadn’t the Director assured her that they were trying to prevent that from happening? She had seen tha
- How My Life Was Ruined
128: After The End - II
The news of Kageyama’s death had saddened both Yamamoto and Ito.For Yamamoto, Kageyama had been a good friend. He even considered him his best friend. That was how much he trusted and not to mention admired him.Kageyama had been his savior. Crushed by the guilt that he hadn’t been able to save Yua back then and unable to take any action, he had already given up. The one who gave him the push to take action and make things right was none other than Kageyama. If he hadn’t come into his life, then he wouldn’t have been able to do anything. He would have most definitely remained frozen as always while he watched Yua suffer more and more every day and he kept lamenting. Kageyama was his hero. And so he was for Yua as well.Yamamoto knew that Yua was in love with Kageyama. Although he was hurt, he didn’t hate him. In fact, he thought it was inevitable that she falls in love with him. He had saved her from what seemed like an impossible situation. He had dragged her out of that muddy world
- How My Life Was Ruined
127: After The End - I
The news had made headlines across the country.No matter which channel Nakamura switched to, everywhere, it was the same news, the same grisly spectacle and the same pain of having lost someone important assaulted her.She shouldn’t have been surprised. He had tried to end his life once. It shouldn’t have been surprising that he would try to do the same. What was surprising was how short the interval between his attempted suicide and death was. She had expected the authorities to take some action to prevent that from happening and they did take action and kept him under surveillance but he had somehow managed to escape and end his life.She turned off the TV and sat on the floor facing the veranda.A cold wind blew and sent her hair flying. She looked to her right. There was no one.If he had been alive, he would probably be outside on the veranda.If he had been alive. But the fact was that he wasn’t.Nakamura knew that Kageyama had wanted to end his life. She always had thought tha
- How My Life Was Ruined
126: The End Of The Story
“Finally.”I muttered as I stood on the edge of the rooftop holding hands with Hayami.The cold wind ruffled our hairs.I was battered. Bruise covered my body here and there and there was also a gun wound on my lower leg. Hayami had ripped her skirt to tie it around my leg to prevent blood loss. Although I found it hilarious that she was trying to prevent the blood loss of someone who was going to die soon, I didn’t speak a word and let her do her work.“We can finally die.”Although I had wanted to go in a grand way, this was good in its own way. It gave me the adrenaline rush that made my spirit pump even more.Suicide?No.Don’t term what we are about to do with something as petty and cowardly as suicide.It was the only good thing that I was going to do ever in my life. Everyone should be overjoyed that I was about to remove a corrupt and wretched existence from this world.My life, not only was it meaningless, it was sought with suffering, pain, chaos, betrayal, deceit, and every
- How My Life Was Ruined
125: The Escape
I went back and sat down on my earlier seat.My mom came out of the bathroom after a few minutes.Her face was wet. She probably washed her face so that she could hide the fact that she was crying. But her red eyes gave it away. The pain was still there in her face.I handed her the towel lying on the sofa. She dried her face with that and shortly after the old hag came in.I took out my phone and started scrolling through the feed on social media. Though I was still paying keen attention to the old hag.Hmm.Just then I noticed the two of them make eye contact. It was nothing unusual but it definitely caught my attention.The time was 3 in the morning. I ended up staying awake all night today.“Furukawa-san, why don’t you stay till morning? You probably are hungry with all the speaking and work. I will whip up something quickly and you can take a short nap to give some rest to your body till the morning.”“Hmm.” The old hag seemed to be thinking about her proposal and eventually, she
- How My Life Was Ruined
124: I Have Never Hated you
For the next five minutes after my mom dashed to the bathroom, no one spoke. I feel like these long and short stretches of silence in the middle of conversations were happening a lot to me. Was it a meaningful silence or a meaningless one? Did the silence speak louder than the words or was it just and merely silence? I don’t know.“She sure is taking long. What must she be doing?” The old hag broke the silence with a meaningful question.“Yeah, I wonder what.”Although I knew what she wanted to hear from me, I played the fool. I knew what she was doing in the bathroom. She was without a doubt crying her eyes out hurt by the scathing words of her own son.The old hag gave me a smile as if she had seen that coming.“Putting aside your words that you being born itself was the root of it all, don’t you feel angry?”“Angry? Why?”“If you hadn’t learned what your mom had been doing, things wouldn’t have gone that out of hand. Let’s say if your mom hadn’t been cheating on your dad, if Nakamu
- How My Life Was Ruined
123: The One Grave Mistake
After calming down a bit, I looked down to the dining area from the stairs. The old hag was sitting there waiting for someone. And I knew that someone was me.“Hayami, you go wait for a little longer.”“Hmm. Okay~” Although, she seemed reluctant after I gave her a kiss, she went back to the room. After hearing the click of the door locking, I made my way downstairs and sat in an empty chair facing the old hag.“Why are you here?” I asked.“We heard from Aina's parents that she had run away from home and would like our help to search for her. That’s why I am here.”So I was right that she had run away from home without telling anyone.“But, why are you here? How did you know Aina would be here?” Did she know beforehand that the only place Aina will head to after running from her home under the current circumstances will be my house? I could think of the old hag arriving to that conclusion. She was quick-witted after all.“No. We just followed her path.” She continued. “We checked the C
