Summary
While making their way to school, Kana brings up the story about a ghost who inhabits an old, abandoned classroom on the second floor of the old school block. If ones name is written in the roll book and they make a wish, it will come true!
Erika brushes this story off as nothing more than a silly rumor; especially because it sounds so fake. Kana teases her by asking if she's too scared to check it out, causing her to instantly change her mind as they head inside. In this time Kana thinks about how precious her friendship with Erika is. They have been good friends since grade school, and they share everything and usually choose similar -if not the same- items to show their bond.
Later, after class ends Erika finds Kana while preparing to head to the gym. She mentions that they have swim next but she planned on skipping it to play some volleyball instead. She invites Kana to join her after she claims to have stomach pains and together they start playing. Their game goes well until Erika incidentally hits the ball too hard, sending it flying into the nearby locker room. Kana runs in to retrieve it when she finds two girls chatting among themselves. Due to their carefree behavior she assumes they often skip this period, keeping to herself until Erika joins her again, wondering what took so long. She recognizes one girl as Tsukamoto and warns Kana to ignore her. She attends her cram school and she isn't a good person.
Before they return to the gym, Kana momentarily observes the girls; which they appear to notice and begin snickering.
For some reason, seeing those girls left Kana with a bad feeling...
School comes to an end and Kana is saddened when she meets up with Erika, who explains having Day Monitor duty for the day and how she can't head home yet. Seeing her disappointment that they can't go to the brand new manga shop they had planned on visiting, Erika promises that they can hang out the following day and shop for brand new matching charms. Kana cheers up and takes off, but she runs into Tsukamoto, who recognize her from earlier and asks what Erika said about her. Kana claims that she hadn't spoken poorly of her and they accept her answer, although she asks that if Erika does to let her know. She attempts to rile Kana up by claiming that despite how Erika behaves, she isn't a good person; and offended by the girls remarks, Kana angrily asks for an explanation and defends Erika, saying that she isn't like that. Rather than respond, Tsukamoto brushes her off and leaves.
Uneasily, Kana struggles to get to bed that night. She thinks about the confrontation and worries over what could happen from it, and she wishes that she had just ignored them like Erika suggested. However, she decides that everything will be fine and she can just let Erika know what happened in the morning.
The following day, a drenched and late Kana rushes to school, having overslept due to taking a long time to fall asleep. She heads into the classroom and expresses surprise, having not seen Erika yet until she approaches her desk to find it knocked over with paper and other contents spilling out. She quickly realizes Tsukamoto and her friend are to blame when they begin to laugh at her. She attempts to respond, but finding every girl in class with them causes her anxiety; which heightens after seeing Erika is with them!
She can only listen as one girl makes a suggestion that Kana be ignored. If anyone should speak to her, they will be ignored as well. Every girl agrees, and in no time she comes to the painful realization that not a single girl in class has taken her side.
Abandoned, she can only wonder what happened...
Suddenly, teary-eyed and shaken, Kana awakens in her room to find her mother nearby, who mentions waking her up because she seemed upset. Initially she calms down realizing that what just happened was only a nightmare.
Or so she thought.
Kana leaves for school and waits at her usual meeting spot with Erika, but as she feared she doesn't show up. Arriving to school, it dons on her that her nightmare wasn't just a dream and she observes the scribbles now covering her desk, along with papers with crude drawings and insulting remarks on them. The girls continue to keep distant from her and mock her as she pushes past her tears and wonders why Erika would turn on her.
What could she have done to make everyone in class turn on her for that matter?
Seeing her distress their Teacher approaches Kana to ask if she is okay. She wishes more than anything to tell her what happened, but knowing she would regret it afterwards, she claims she is fine. Once class ends she stops by the restroom while wondering what could have happened to make her such an outcast when as far as she knows, she hadn't done anything wrong.
Sadly, her attempts to remain silent are met with further pain when she finds a few girls drawing crude images of her and the teacher on a desk in her next class. She didn't deserve this considering she didn't even say anything, and she attempts to ignore it and retrieve her school bag. But to her horror she finds her plush charm that meant more to her than anything horribly dismembered. She begins to cry when she catches Erika wielding a pair of scissors, and she demands an explanation as to why she would do this to something they cherished.
Erika coldly tells Kana to deal with it, then suggests how stupid it would be to stick up for her and become a victim of bullying as well. If Kana can't handle that then she shouldn't even bother showing up anymore. As Kana wonders why Erika would change so suddenly she recalls their promise the other day when Tsukamoto and her friends arrive to pick Erika up. They resume mocking her when Erika bluntly tells Kana that if she is really that unhappy she should go to that old block and make a wish, then she takes off, revealing that she has switched bags to match Tsukamoto's.
With the final nail in the coffin, a devastated Kana makes her way up to the old block with her destroyed bag. She looks through the remnants of the room, unaware of a nearby girl with long, flowing dark-colored hair observing her. Locating the roll book, Kana picks it up as she remembers her discussion with Erika a few days ago and opens it to find several names within it. She begins to write something as she recalls a few prior, precious memories with Erika and openly weeps until she finds Erika has written her name in the book!
But how can that be? Erika didn't even believe the rumor!
Enraged, Kana boldly writes her name on top of Erika's and makes her wish: ERASE KATORI ERIKA FROM THIS WORLD!!
As laughter fills the room, Kana begins to grow light-headed and loses consciousness.
Today, she will become a demon...
Tropes:
- All Just a Dream: Unfortunately its not for Kana; who initially thought the first day she became a target was one until Erika failed to meet up with her the next day.
- Alpha Bitch: Tsukamoto has the makings of one. She's a non-physical bully with a girl posse who easily controls other girls through threats of isolation and harasses those she dislikes.
- Break the Cutie: Kana throughout the first chapter makes so many heartbreaking expressions, how could you not want to hug her?
- Cram School: Erika attends one and knows Tsukamoto through it, which is why she warned Kana about her.
- School Bullying Is Harmless: Like other examples in this series, no it's not.
- Stock Shoujo Bullying Tactics: Writing on Kana's desks, insulting and ignoring her, destroying her property...
- With Friends Like These...: Erika in the latter half of the chapter.
