Chapter 112: Chapter 111 - Minami’s Natural Predator

A normal day for Minami Asakura is so rare; she should’ve seen something was going to happen because everything was perfect this morning: good weather, no troublemakers in the class, and everything was ready for the day ahead.

As we learned so well, good times do not last, especially around Kuro.

The first sign something was going to happen was at 8:12 AM when she received a message from an unknown number -

"Guess who?".

She read the message and as she started to feel nervous she responded,

"No"

To which the sender responded three dots and continued

"What do you mean ? "

’No’"

to which she replied,

"I refuse"

to which the sender replied

"You don’t even know who it is."

Minami thought for a minute then said.

"I know who it is"

And there was a moment of silence followed by the sender simply saying

"Rude".

At that point, she closed her eyes because she knew that whatever good was going on in her life that morning just came to an end because Yui Kanzaki had found her again.

There was a cosmic law in place somewhere that ensured Yui would always find whoever she wanted to harass at some point.

So Minami looked to the ceiling and asked, "Why?".

Of course, the ceiling did not answer because it was too busy laughing at her misfortune.

The school day began. The halls were filled with students, the classrooms were prepared for lessons and everything was normal, until disaster struck.

At 10:03 AM, the faculty room door swung open, and in walked Yui Kanzaki, all smiles.

Minami rose to stand.

"No."

Yui waved frantically.

"Minami!"

Every teacher turned to look.

Minami was hoping for a lightning strike.

But that didn’t happen.

Nothing new there.

Yui walked right up to Minami.

"Long time no see."

"It wasn’t long enough."

"That’s not the friendliest thing to say."

"You are at my workplace."

"Correct."

"You need to leave."

"Incorrect."

It was a complete disaster the moment Yui entered.

As Yui continued, more and more teachers turned their heads.

That just made everything worse.

Yui looked around.

"Nice school."

"Thanks."

"Do your kids know about the cooking incident?"

Silence.

Minami froze completely.

The whole room was silent.

It was a horrible silence.

The kind of silence that happens before natural disasters.

"Yui."

"Yes?"

"Don’t."

Too late.

Way too late.

And then Yui smiled a really dangerous smile.

"Did you know that Minami failed Cooking Class?"

The faculty room exploded with noise.

"WHAT?"

A bunch of teachers yelled at one time.

Minami covered up her face.

Death would have been better.

Then Yui continued.

"She somehow burned water."

"THAT HAPPENED ONE TIME!!"

The noise got louder again.

And no one believed that it was possible to burn water.

But everyone believed that Minami could have burned water.

That was a bad combination of things.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Kuro was walking through the hall when he heard the sound of laughter coming from the faculty room. An awful lot of laughter!

The very worst kind.

He instantly began suspecting something.

Sadly.

He was right to be suspicious.

As he looked in the open door.

And saw Yui.

And then realized everything.

"Oh my God."

Minami was staring at him.

Her eyes said:

" HELP ME! "

Unfortunately.

No one can help her.

Any longer.

And the floodgates have burst.

Yui cannot be located.

"Did they know about your dorm situation?"

"YUI."

"Yeah."

"You made a promise!"

"I’ve made many promises."

Not very comforting!

Not at all!

The teachers leaned in suspiciously.

The surrounding students imitated this.

Even Kuro was intrigued.

Minami instantly noticed this.

"Kuro."

"Yes, ma’am."

"Don’t."

" Be too late! Or you’ll be very late! Y’know?"

Yui giggled.

"She locked herself out of her dorm room."

Complete silence follows.

"With pajamas on."

Then room exploded again.

Minami wished for the ground to open up and swallow her whole.

And nothing happened.

The universe is totally against her.

Yui went on.

"It was winter."

"Winter?"

"Winter!"

"How long?"

"Two hours."

Several of the teachers almost ’Fell over’ from laughing.

Minami lost her ’soul’ for a few seconds.

But got it back just to continue suffering.

The assault was nowhere near finishing.

Because Yui has years of material.

And she mean YEARS.

She has a full-blown arsenal.

The next series of stories were from Anatomy class.

Yui made a big point of this story.

"This girl cried in my anatomy class."

Minami got up instantaneously.

"There’s no way I have cried!"

"Minami, you did cry!"

"That was only a moment of high stress for me!"

"You are still crying!"

"I only had one tear!"

"You were still crying!"

Everyone agreed with this description of Minami.

This was a loss for Minami. Worst loss yet.

Kuro just sat back quietly and did not help.

It was impossible to help in a situation like this...

But at least it was very educational!

Who would have thought that Minami was a student?

Now it is evident that he learned far more about students than he anticipated.

Far more.

Far, far more...

Then came the absolute final blow!

The most powerful weapon!

The most minimizing humiliation!

"Remember the cat?"

Yui looked toward the ceiling as if he had fond memories of a beloved friend.

"Do you remember the days I asked you to feed that stray cat?"

Minami froze.

"NO!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

Kuro’s instincts were screaming for him to get everyone out of this room.

The story was extremely dangerous.

Very dangerous.

Yui smiled!

"Minami over the course of three weeks fed a stray cat."

Everyone in the room listened.

"She fed the same cat every day!"

All ears were listening.

"She thought the stray cat was her friend."

Slowly but surely Minami dropped her head to the floor.

Around her other students were now sensing weakness.

They were now predators!

Yui hit the final blow!

"Then one morning the cat ran away from Minami and instead sat on my lap instead."

The entire room fell silent.

Silence!

Total silence!

Then the loudest laughter of the day!

Kuro walks past the faculty office once more. He peeks inside. Minami is sitting in the same spot.

Completely oblivious, but in a completely different state of mind. She is as tense, stiff, and still as a soldier returning from combat.

All the memories she has made with friends, family, and those who have died are gone.

Minami Asakura turns into dust from the sheer absence of emotion her face shows. Yui is sitting next to her, looking innocently at Minami and saying,

"What a good time."

Minami is staring through the open window into the distance while saying to Yui,

"It wasn’t a good time."

Yui laughs as the bell rings, and students return to class while teachers return to work. Things will be normal again...Or as normal as they can be. Yui is still there. Naturally. Since to leave would be too easy for Minami.

Kuro is still looking into the faculty office. He can still see Minami sitting like she is frozen in time, asking herself where she went wrong in life that led to this moment.

Kuro’s view of Minami has changed compared to the day prior. He will no longer pity her.

He has now learned the truth about Yui Kanzaki – she isn’t her friend, she isn’t her classmate, she isn’t someone who is passing through her life, and she isn’t even her enemy because, no matter the situation, Yui Kanzaki holds a far more dangerous title than that of a best friend, a passing situation, or an enemy.

In fact, Yui Kanzaki is the natural predator of Minami Asakura and Minami Asakura does not have any way to protect herself against Yui Kanzaki.

After finishing classes Kuro was headed toward the gate when a familiar voice called out to him.

"Kuurooo-kun."

Kuro instantly stopped in his tracks.

Not because he wanted to stop.

He was aware that he had been put in danger.

At that time Yui came up beside him with an iced drink in her hand.

How did she get there?

He didn’t even notice when she approached him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Wow, Kuro. How rude! This is how you greet your favorite medical student?"

Kuro replied, "But you’re the ONLY medical student I know."

"Right!" Yui said while nodding her head confidently.

As if this counted as a victory.

Kuro sighed and said, "Did you really have to spend the whole day bulling Minami-sensei?"

"I wasn’t bullying Minami-sensei."

"You were absolutely bullying her."

"I was just sharing memories."

"That is perfectly defined as bullying."

Yui gasped in shock.

"Oh my gosh, Minami has corrupted you."

"She didn’t have to corrupt me."

"You are a traitor."

Kuro continued to walk on.

Yui, however, kept up with him at the same pace.

"Hey, by the way..."

"What?"

"You laughed."

"When did I laugh?"

"When I told you the cat story."

Silence

Kuro turned his head away.

Yui immediately inserted her finger into the air and said, "AH-HA!"

"I did not laugh."

"You laughed."

"I smiled."

"That’s called laughing internally."

"That’s not a thing."

"Well it is now."

Yui had a really big grin that seemed too over-joyed.

All of a sudden, she handed him her drink, "Hold this."

"Why?"

Kuro asked, "Why did you do that?"

"So I can get my hair done."

Kuro took the answer at face value without thinking too much about the meaning.

When Kuro had a moment to think about it, he suddenly realized that Yui had just tricked him into carrying her drink to her place.

Kuro was both angry and impressed.

"You did a great job at that," Kuro replied.

"So would you help me again?"

Again Kuro had no immediate answer.

Kuro’s lack of come-back caused Yui to smile even more than she had already done.