17 Chapter epl: Vol 17 Epilogue

"Sorry, I kept you waiting."

Hasebe called out to Miyake, who was waiting at the entrance, before lightly punching his shoulder.

"No, I wasn't waiting all that long. I was bored anyway."

Hasebe had been absent from school for a week, but after that she was coming to school every day.

"Was it alright for you to quit the Archery club?"

"I was only continuing out of inertia, anyway."

"But you quit because of me, right?"

"No, that's not true. I quit because I wanted to. But more importantly, I'm happy you've started coming to school."

She only participated in the minimum required five events in the Sports Festival. She didn't get any results, but at the very least she contributed to the class.

However, she was more or less not speaking to anybody except Miyake, and she was slightly estranged even from Yukimura, since he had agreed to expelling Sakura. Miyake treated it as if it was something he couldn't do anything about, and continued standing by her without saying anything about it.

"At first, I thought, 'let's destroy everything'. Not just Kiyopon, I thought it would be good to take revenge on all our classmates who threw away Airi. I'm such a terrible person, aren't I?"

"No... I understand what you're feeling."

"At that point, we had to expel someone. But that should have been Kushida-san. That was what was promised first, and that would've been correct. Isn't that right?"

"... Yes."

"I won't forgive Kiyopon. I won't forgive our classmates. But, to keep holding them back, to keep tormenting them forever, I thought that was wrong."

She confessed all of her thoughts, and the silent answer that had come through to her, to Miyake.

"Say, Miyacchi. Will you—help me take revenge, just once?"

Her eyes weren't smiling, and Miyaki didn't have the courage to ask her if she was serious.

"Haruka..."

"As if! It's just a joke, it's just a joke!"

She laughed to cover it, and stepped forward.

"I'll take my revenge by myself, after all."

"I—"

Hasebe had reached out, then withdrew her hand. Then she turned around and walked away. Even though he was hesitant, Miyake silently followed her.