Why Didn’t You Pick Up? WHY?!  

Just like the day I last left the school, nothing seemed to have changed on the surface. The same old faces, the same old bullies kicking around other students, all for nothing but shits and giggles. To my surprise, however, Hero and his goons took one nasty look at my face before scurrying away.

Only when I went to the restroom did I realize why that was. My face since this morning was heavily scowled with a death stare shooting out at all times. Had they approached me, who knows if I would've let them do whatever like always?

'Miss Yuuko, even if she talked to him, I doubt it had any effect.' Seeing how Hero was still bullying other students by the gates when I arrived, the hatred in my heart for his mother rejuvenated anew. 'It's your fucking fault he's like this!'

Slamming my fist against the bathroom sink, I nicked a corner of the porcelain as well as potentially broke my pinky finger. Despite the pain, I left the bathroom quickly and headed straight for the first class.

'I need to calm down, I'll talk to Yuuko about aborting my expulsion at break time.' Making a mental note of it, I got to the classroom and settled into my assigned chair. What struck me as odd instantly was the fact that most of the place was empty, even Akane, and Satori were nowhere to be seen in the class.

All of sudden, a screeching sound erupted from the intercom inside the room. The screeching was loud enough to pierce one's ears, and thankfully it subsided soon enough. In its place were the grunts of an old man, who was more than likely our old crusty principal.

"Final announcement, every student needs to be present in the auditorium in five minutes!" Ending his announcement with an emphatic oomph, Hayato Takashi let everyone know that he was being serious.

"Dammit, of all day…" Deciding to comply, I got out of my chair.

While making my way towards the auditorium, I began to notice something, something that I had not paid attention to this morning since my mind had been all over. Gossip amongst groups, uncertain expression, and even the look of fear and discomfort were apparent to almost all students. The closer I came to the auditorium the more apparent the reason for everyone's unrest became.

Flowers and tears were pelting all over, with many of the girls wiping each other's tears. One step into the open space, I saw Satori's picture hanging behind the podium. I froze at the sight with no clue why it was hung up there. But, the longer I spent just looking at it as my mind connected the dots, it began making sense.

The event started not long after I arrived. Hayoto gave a long-winded explanation about how Satori had taken her own life in her house, and that he wished the tragedy never had occurred. He even had the galls to suggest talking to the teachers about our problems if we ever had any problems.

Dating a furious gaze at Yuuko on the stage as the principal suggested that genius idea, I kept glaring at her throughout, fuming at what she said to me when I complained about Hero. Even beside her, every teacher already knew about the bullying and the drugs, and still, they pretended as if nothing was wrong at our school.

'I just can't wrap my head around this. There's no she's dead, right?' The realization slowly began seeping in. Thus far, my mind couldn't fathom what was happening to be true, but the longer I stayed in this auditorium the more real it began feeling. 'I need to leave…'

Curling up my fist, I got out of the room halfway through the procession. I could no longer pretend to care what these people thought about Satori and what shallow words they had to say for her. Grabbing my bag from class, I headed out of the school building with great contempt for everyone inside. If I'd stayed in there longer, I might've just burned the whole place up.

'She's not dead, no way!' Knowing where Satori lived, I headed straight to her house. I wanted to see her with my own eyes, if not living then dead before believing that she truly was gone. 'Why would she give up like that? How could someone like her do that to herself?! She helped me get past the worst of times and you're telling me she hanged herself?! No fucking way!'

Rushing over to her house with defiant thoughts running through my head, I wanted it all to be a lie. However, as I finally reached her house, a note taped to the front door shattered all hope. It was a note signed by Satori's mother, it read…

'If you've come to talk to me about my daughter, then fuck off! I don't need you monsters at my door! Hell, I wish I'll never get to see this damned town again!' The way she'd worded it, it was quite clear that she was no longer in town and didn't wish to be disturbed about her daughter's suicide any longer.

That message on that locked door shattered what little hope I had huddled inside my heart. All on my own, I began walking back towards my apartment, my mind filled with nothing but dark thoughts. How come this happened? Why did she do what she did? Why didn't she ask for my help?

As the last thought crossed my mind I remembered her saying something along the lines of trusting her enough to share my problems. Did she feel that she couldn't share her problems with me because I didn't do the same?!

Waddling like a mindless drone, I eventually reached the apartment. There as I stepped in, I saw my aunt laying on the couch with her hands in a compromised space inside her underwear. Looking away, I grabbed the first thing on my right to throw at her, but to my surprise, it was my cell phone lying on a shoe shelf by the doorstep.

"But I-" Although I could've sworn I'd searched the spot, the moment I saw about a hundred messages and missed calls on the screen, I couldn't bring myself to finish the sentence.

'All from…Satori?' Seeing the messages was heartbreaking enough, but reading the last message flashing on the screen stripped my last semblance of human feeling.

'Why don't you pick up? Why?!' It read. It was just a few words, but it felt like that fucking train finally hitting.