Part 4: Broken Echoes
The classroom went dead silent. Nobody understood what she meant.
Hina pointed a trembling, accusation-filled finger directly at Haruto's lowered head. "My father died yesterday!" she yelled, her voice echoing violently off the wooden rafters. "And it's because of him! It's because of him and the Inazumas!"
Fresh tears spilled over her cheeks as her chest heaved. "You brought them here! You, Kaito, and Ayame are the exact reason those Hunters came to our sector!"
Haruto's frame went rigid. For the first time since entering the building, his voice rasped out—a quiet, desperate plea. "If you want to blame someone... blame me. Don't blame Kaito. Don't blame Ayame."
"Fine! Then I blame YOU!" Hina shrieked. "My father died yesterday! My mother died when I was two years old—I don't even remember her! I never knew what a mother's love felt like! My dad was the only family I had! He gave me everything! He was the only person who truly loved me and held me... and now he's gone because of your cursed family!"
A quiet, sharp voice cut through the air from behind the group.
"You aren't the only person who lost a father, Hina."
Hina whirled around. Misaki was standing near the back row, her bag slung over her shoulder, her face calm yet deeply pained.
"Stay out of this, Misaki!" Hina hissed, her eyes wild with grief. "This has nothing to do with you!"
Hina turned back toward Haruto, raising her hand to strike him again. But before her fist could descend, a hand shot out and clamped firmly around her wrist, locking her in place.
Misaki had crossed the room in a flash, stepping directly between Hina and the wheelchair.
Yuna's earlier assumption—that Misaki was abandoning her friends—was completely dismantled in a single second. Misaki hadn't pulled away because she didn't care. Ever since her father's death, she had been drowning in her own suffocating emotions, struggling so hard to process her grief that she had unconsciously withdrawn into silence, terrified of breaking down in front of them.
"Move, Misaki," Hina growled, trying to wrench her hand free.
"I'm not moving," Misaki replied smoothly, her grip like iron. "If you really want to fight, Hina, we can fight right here. Just don't go running to Daigo-sensei later crying that I started it."
By now, several other classmates had gathered at the open sliding door, watching the confrontation in stunned silence—Daichi, Haruki, Naoko, Riku, Sanae, and Tetsu. None of them knew how to step in.
"That's enough! Everyone stop!" Daichi finally yelled from the doorway.
Riku stepped forward, tears already streaming down his face as he looked at Hina. "Hina, please... just calm down. Everything... everything is going to be alright..."
Hina stared at Riku, her expression twisting into utter disbelief and bitter heartbreak. She felt completely betrayed, interpreting his words as the final proof that her classmates were turning their backs on her.
"Calm down?!" Hina sobbed, her voice trembling with deep hurt. "I spent four years with all of you! I trained with you! I helped you! We were supposed to be a team! But the second something real happens, you throw me away! You immediately rush to protect Haruto just because he's powerful and important! Is that how this world works?!"
She whipped around, pointing violently at Haruto once more. "If he and the Inazumas never existed in this village, my father would still be alive!"
"You can't just point at someone and make them responsible for a person's death, Hina!" Riku shouted back, his voice breaking as he wiped his wet nose with his sleeve.
"The Hunters came for THEM!" Hina screamed. "If Haruto wasn't here, the Hunters wouldn't have attacked!"
"People died because they didn't survive!" Riku roared back, his emotional control completely snapping.
The entire room flinched. Nobody understood what he meant by that cold, raw statement.
Riku stood there, his shoulders shaking as fresh sobs racked his small body. "I lied to all of you..." he wept openly. "I lied when I said my mom was called to the border..."
The classmates stared at him in shock.
"Every time someone's parents got called to the border, everyone in class acted so proud," Riku choked out, clutching his chest. "You all talked about how honorable it was to be chosen to fight... and I was terrified. I was scared you would all think my mom was weak if she got left behind... so I lied and said she went."
He wiped his eyes furiously. "She didn't go! She stayed home with me! And when those monsters broke into our sector... she protected me. I watched her die, Hina! I was holding her in my arms when her breathing stopped! I gave her a final hug... I kissed her goodbye... and she died smiling because she knew I was going to live!"
Riku stepped closer to Hina, his tears dropping onto the floorboards. "You aren't the only one who lost someone! My mother is gone! My house was burned to the ground—I don't even have a home to go back to after class! You still have a house, Hina! My mom chose to give her life so I could have a future! Your dad didn't die just so you could blame Haruto! It doesn't make it his fault just because the Hunters were targeting his clan!"
Hina stood frozen, her jaw trembling as she struggled to find words against the sheer weight of Riku's pain. "So... so what are you saying, Riku?!" she sobbed defensively. "Are you telling me my dad died so I could live?! He wasn't even near me when he died! How is his death supposed to be for me?!"
She was no longer making logical sense. She was simply a grieving child, desperately searching for a villain because accepting that her father was randomly ripped away was too agonizing to bear.
"That's enough."
A deep, quiet voice echoed from the doorway.