Volume 2: Chapter 12 - Bullying must be returned with Fighting (Part ll)

"They're gone, Toke."

I sat down next to Toke, trying not to look at his current state, waiting for him to slowly calm down.

"Why... is Robert here?"

"Just passing by coincidentally."

I came to a secluded place after being confessed to, and Toke came to a secluded place after being bullied. All of this was truly a pure coincidence.

"Who are they? Why did they do that to you?"

At this point, Toke propped up his upper body, wiped away his tears with his arm, hugged his knees, and buried his face.

"After I was assigned to D Class, I didn't know anyone, and my performance in the practical test didn't leave a good impression on my classmates.

"But even so, I mustered up my courage and wanted to actively integrate into the class, so I proactively approached Rankdor and them."

"At first... they accepted me and said they were willing to be my friends. I was overjoyed..."

"Enough, don't say anymore."

At this point, Toke started to sob again. I had already roughly understood the situation and stopped him from continuing.

To put it bluntly, this was a dead end. Toke, who was in the weakest position in the class, would be bullied if he actively made friends, and isolated if he didn't, eventually still being bullied.

His family was an unknown poor noble, and becoming the laughingstock of everyone during the entrance exam made him the perfect target for those scummy noble children to vent their anger on.

Toke truly tried his best; he did nothing wrong. The fault lies only with this society.

"Originally... I thought Robert and I were the same kind of people, but it turns out we're not at all."

"You're an excellent student who can get into Class A. I misunderstood things on my own and thought it would be great if I could be friends with you..."

"Why not?"

"Eh?"

"Where is it stipulated that Class A students and D Class students cannot be friends? At least from the day of the entrance exam, I already considered you my friend, and that hasn't changed now."

For me, whether someone has talent or noble status is completely irrelevant.

Toke is a good person, and that alone makes him worth being friends with, infinitely better than those scummy nobles who have talent but terrible character.

Toke looked up at me in surprise, but then quickly buried his head again.

"You don't need to pity me like this."

"It's not pity..."

"If it's not pity, then what is it?! Or what?! You also want to use me as a friend to satisfy your sense of superiority, don't you?!"

"Keeping an untalented idiot by your side just proves how excellent you are, right?! I'm sick of this! Please leave me alone!"

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Toke's sudden hysteria left me motionless.

However, a nostalgic feeling instantly surged within me. A will on the verge of collapse, curling up in fear of being hurt, not letting anyone near, rejecting all malice and kindness.

I had seen similar people in the Anglus Family, and I was even one of them myself, so how could I not find it amusing.

So I knew, these weren't his true feelings. At this moment, he longed for someone to pull him up and help him through this predicament more than anyone else.

Ordinary words of comfort would certainly not touch Toke's heart. If I wanted to be friends with him, no matter how grandly I spoke, Toke would only hear it as deceptive sweet talk.

So what should I do? What should I say?

As a friend...

"Toke, a friend should be a relationship of mutual giving and receiving. One-sided giving doesn't really count as friendship."

"You'll probably think that you can't give me any substantial benefits, and by constantly accepting my favors, you can only build an unequal relationship, which will make you feel even more inferior."

"But those are just your assumptions; you don't understand my thoughts at all, do you?"

Toke didn't respond, but he seemed to be listening carefully to me, and that was enough.

To truly become friends, one must lay bare their innermost thoughts, starting from this moment.

"Toke, you don't know, but I'm isolated in Class A."

"Eh?"

Ah, he reacted.

"You also know about the rumours in the school, yet I was assigned to Class A. My classmates all think I used some improper means behind their backs and pulled strings, so they don't dare to approach me, they're afraid of me, and they even despise me.

Now I really can't explain myself. Even though I didn't do anything, I'm currently isolated and don't even have one friend to talk to. How about that? It's not much better than your situation, right?

So I'm currently urgently recruiting friends. Being isolated is hard, and school life without friends is unbearable, it's terrible, I don't want to go to school, I want to go home and lie down, I want to escape reality.

Oh, if only someone would be my friend, if I had friends with me, the weather would be brighter, food would taste better, walking to school would be more energetic, and the future would be more worth looking forward to."

"Pfft..."

Oh, I successfully made him laugh.

"Anyway, what I want to say is, don't worry about giving me anything in return. Just the fact that you can be my friend is a huge help to me."

"Keeping you by my side proves my superiority? What an imagination. Toke, look up at me. Do you think I'm the same kind of person as those guys?"

Toke slowly looked up. Although I don't know what I looked like in his eyes, this was my true self, whether he accepted it or not.

"I believe everything you said is true, but..."

"But?"

Toke's voice began to tremble, and tears welled up in his eyes, as if his emotions were out of control.

"On the day of the entrance exam, when the rumours spread, I thought, 'Great, everyone has started ignoring me, I am not the worst one anymore.' I can't forgive... myself for thinking that way. I'm such a terrible person... I don't deserve... to be your friend."

He kept wiping away his tears. Compared to when he was hurt just now, he cried even harder because he was afraid of hurting others, finally speaking his mind. As expected, this guy is a good person to the core.

"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry..."

"What? Is that all?"

"Is that all?"

Even if I said not to worry about such a small matter, it probably wouldn't alleviate his self-blame, so I wouldn't say it.

"In that case, you absolutely must be my friend. You need to help me have a rich and colorful school life. You'll have to listen to my complaints from time to time, you're obligated to comfort me when I'm sad, occasionally treat me to meals, introduce me to girlfriends if you get the chance, and don't you dare get one before me.

When I don't want to do my homework, you'll have to let me copy yours. When we go to the cafeteria, you'll have to save me a seat. When I want to take a day off, you'll have to inform the teacher for me.

Anyway, the most important thing right now is to rescue me from this isolated predicament, and then I'll forgive you. How about it? Do you have any other reasons to refuse?"

"Pfft... What a mess, you ask for so much... But... but I really can't refuse."

I once heard someone say something like this.

A person can have countless friends in their life, but they only need one true friend. Even just one, that is the most precious treasure in life.

In my last life, I had such true friend and in this life I want to have that kind of relationship with Toke, to forge a unique friendship in this unreasonable noble world.

"By the way, I've always thought Robert is a really strange noble."

"Same to you."

"You're definitely stranger, though. Who would do that much for someone they just met? I even think it's a bit mushy. And what you just said too..."

"Are you looking for a fight right after becoming friends?"

The brand new friendship immediately showed cracks.