Ch 31
“I don’t like… men… I don’t hate them either, but I’m not good with them?”
Walking slowly, Rika spoke up.
There were very few people passing by other than ourselves, and her own voice was low enough that no one could hear us.
We didn’t want to stay any slower and slow down, so we walked and talked.
I hate men. She said this, but chewed the words in her mouth as if examining them, and Rika shook her head as if they were not appropriate.
“I’m scared of…”
Yes, I am afraid. That would be the most appropriate word.
Dislike or dislike is an emotion that comes later.
What comes first is her own fear of men.
Then, in order to keep that dreaded thing away from her, a sense of dislike and bitterness was born.
“Once… long ago, I was walking home from school alone when I was attacked out of the blue.”
It was an event that contributed to Rika’s fear of men.
“It was a place like… the park I was in earlier. Of course, it wasn’t the same place because we moved.”
Rika thinks back to the park where she had her conversation with Eiji.
It was a little smaller and cozier park than that one.
“He took me… there and held me down in the bushes. It was a very empty place to begin with, so I don’t think anyone would have helped me even if I’d raised my voice.”
Rika’s body was suddenly restrained from behind and she was taken to the park.
It all happened so fast. I don’t remember anymore, but there may have been people nearby.
But it happened so fast that others could not notice, and Rika could not even raise her voice to help.
Rika shook her head and said, “No…no.”
“… No, I couldn’t even speak. The man’s power was so great that I couldn’t… stand up to him at all. When he held my mouth, I couldn’t even move.”
I remember that time.
Rika is not fat even now, but as a child she had a more slender build.
It is only natural that such a child would be helpless if restrained by a male adult.
“I couldn’t get up because… his big body was just on top of me. My clothes were ripped off and I… cried and screamed, but…”
“I see. I knew if you were going to hate men, you had a good reason.”
Eiji did not offer any boring words of comfort in response to Rika’s confession.
Such words, her parents and friends would have said long ago.
So he simply accepted Rika’s courageous confession.
“… but in the end I got help before he ended up doing it. I know it’s strange to hate all men because the person who helped me is a man.”
By herself, Rika Onizuka was unable to… do anything at that time.
And yet, she managed to get through it without being raped because of the presence of a being who helped her.
Eiji rolls his eyes somewhat in response.
“I see. That’s good to hear. How did he manage to find you when you said it was off the beaten path?”
“Yeah… I don’t remember much, but he wasn’t an adult. A boy? I think it was… but my mouth was held all the way down and my head was dizzy…”
“Heh.”
Due to the fact that she was suppressed, and also because it is a memory that Rika does not want to recall, she does not remember the time with great clarity.
What she does faintly remember, however, is that it was not an adult man who saved her, but a boy who was about her age or a little older.
The man who had been restraining me fell down with a thud, his whole body drained of its strength.
Rika screamed and meditated, but there was a boy who pulled her by her slender arms and helped her out from under the man.
What is he doing now that she could not thank him enough?
“Onizuka is that man-hating… or is it a weakness? Don’t you want to cure that?”
“…I think, I guess.”
Eiji’s words suddenly brought me back to consciousness.
I am not good with men. There is no way I can live my life without getting involved with men, so there is no way I can leave it as it is.
“Well then, why don’t you come hang out with me? Just the two of us.”
“… with Ogiwara-kun?”
That’s what I was thinking, but Rika rolled her eyes at Eiji’s suggestion.
“Oh. It’s like when I played with Terui. Instead of trying to get rid of your dislike of him all of a sudden, why don’t you just let it fade away gradually?”
“… That’s what playing with Ogiwara-kun is all about?”
“Oh. Of course, if you don’t like it, that’s okay. Just talking to the boys in your class would be enough.”
Rika ponders for a moment after being told this.
Eiji had been unfaithful to Mai, and he is the most manly man she can relate to right now.
It’s not like he’s forcing her to be raped, and by telling her his secret, Rika had closed the distance between their hearts…
“…Yeah, please, can I ask you for a favor?”
“Oh.”
She decided to accept Eiji’s proposal.
Thus, a first date was promised a few days later.
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