Onigiri

Other Bullies?

Osamu frowned, glaring at his twin. "Are ya happy with yerself, Tsumu?"

"What?"

"There are who knows how many people bullying Y/n! I can't believe ya! This is yer fault!"

Atsumu huffed. "They're not gonna keep bullying her. She's standing up for herself and fighting back. No one bullies someone showing strength. And so what if I caused her to be bullied by multiple people?"

"Yer the worst. She's my best friend."

"What about me?!"

Osamu continued to glare at his twin. "Yer just my twin. I feel nothing special towards you, not after everything you've done to someone that means everything to me. You know how I feel about Y/n. And yet, you just get worse when acting towards her. She's hurting because of ya. I can't forgive ya for that."

Before Atsumu could get another word in, Osamu walked away from his twin. He was determined to find you and talk about everything that's been happening over the past few years.

Finding you wasn't as hard as the boy thought it would be. He was able to find you outside your classroom pretty quickly. He smiled, seeing you leaning against the wall just outside of the room.

He went up to you, his heart thumping under his ribcage. He felt his cheeks heat up the closer he got to you. "Hey, Y/n."

You turn to face him, a grin growing on your face as you look at the boy. "Hey, Samu. What's up?"

"I found out something today?"

"Oh? Whatcha find out?"

"People other than Tsumu have been bullying you?" He meant it as a statement, but his voice made it more if a question.

You flinched, breaking eye contact with the boy. "How'd you find that out?"

"I saw it today... well, more like I overheard you and Tsumu talking about it. I wouldn't have known if I hadn't been looking for you during break."

Your eyes remained focused on the ground. "I see. It's not unbearable."

"I also found out you started standing up for yourself today." His smile widened.

You look up, reconnecting your eyes to his. "What?"

"I'm glad yer doing that. I was worried that you'd always get bullied and wouldn't be able to deal with it. I'm proud of you. I've been able to see you grow up. Now I get how ma feels."

You felt a little beat build in your face. "Uh... what?"

He briefly turned away, looking back at you with a somewhat shy smile. "I'm just glad yer not getting hurt. I hate seeing ya upset over what other people say or do. I'm just glad yer protecting yourself."

You start smiling back at the boy. "I can handle myself. I don't always need ya to protect me or try to handle all my problems on your own."

He frowned slightly. "What about the situation with Tsumu?"

You flinch, breaking eye contact once again. "I can handle him being mean to me. It's fine."

"It's really not fine. It's bad enough that Tsumu has picked on ya our whole lives, but recently, he recruited other people to also make your life hell."

"It wasn't recent."

The boy froze, tensing. "How long have other people been picking on you?"

"Since we started middle school. Atsumu was quick to make it impossible for me to have any friends other than you. Even all the guys I rejected when they confessed to me ended up joining in with making my life hell."

Osamu took a deep breath. "Why didn't you ever say anything to me?"

"I didn't want to make it your problem."

Osamu frowned, concern in his eyes. "So you decided to handle it all by yourself for years?"

You swallowed, hard. "Yes."

He sighed. "And how have you been all these years, hiding the fact that so many people have bullied you? How much have you cried, feeling like it was hurting too much for you to handle?"

You refused to look in his direction, knowing the answer to his question. "That doesn't matter."

Osamu cupped your face in his hand, making you look at him. "It does matter. If not to you, then only I seem to care. How much did it hurt you all these years?"

You felt tears build in your eyes. "It felt unbearable."

You wanted to resist telling him. You knew that if you started telling him, you'd reveal what you had done to yourself for the past couple of years. You couldn't admit to self-harm, not to Osamu.

Osamu held a gentle smile on his face. "I can only imagine. You shouldn't have to go through that, especially not alone. I'm always gonna be here for you. No matter what happens, you can always come to me. We live together, and we're gonna be together for, hopefully, the rest of our lives."

Your heart sank, knowing your plans for high school. You felt like you had to tell him before it was too late.

"I'm leaving the prefecture after we graduate."