"He He,

" a slight chuckle coming from Shizu, ringed in everyone's ears. Some raised their brows while some were stupefied.

Klautz raised his brows and Selena seemed equally stupefied as she was brought back to reality.

'That's right, we sidetracked a bit but we were here to check out on her.'

It was true that she was still embarrassed, causing her cheeks to be burning red, but she couldn't help but notice Shizu's light chuckle as she hid herself in between her legs.

"Big Sis and Klauz love each other, don't they?

" Shizu muttered with her face still buried in her legs making her expressions hard to figure out.

Her voice was shaky despite those cheerful words and just hearing them was enough to tell you something was wrong.

"Ah… that's right,

" Klautz scratched his cheek with his index, seemingly a bit embarrassed.

It was through that remark that Klautz was finally able to realize how trivial the argument was to get annoyed over it. But Selena and him were probably too close for Klautz to ignore it.

Klautz had yet to realize that the girl who wasn't even responding to the loudest screams and wasn't in a state to talk even a word had suddenly began smiling despite her melancholic voice..

The rumors spread around like poison. But all of that toxicity was directed towards but one person… to the holder of the banner.

Shizu had probably just passed off the command of her group to Klautz on an impulse as she herself wanted to fool around and Klautz was more suited for the job.

She was too unbothered by the newbies to care about it any less. Little had she known at that time that she would have to pay a heavy price for it. Who would have thought that things would end up as they were?

'I guess it all started when Klautz began to shower the others with cruelty.' Shizu thought.

With such a direction rumors about Klautz began to spread like wildfire. The metaphorical scars that his underlings had received were hardly hidden even though their bodies contained no marks except for those inflicted by the beast.

The dam had to finally burst out with the three crosses that were put up on show under Yukiho's banner.

But even then, it should not have led to Klautz being pushed at any sort of disadvantage. The rumors should have been nothing but speculations and suspicions not worthy enough to worry about. Had it not, how could Klautz let it happen?

There could have been plenty of excuses. Klautz leading the newbies might have been passed off as just repaying a small favor. The death of the three and the cross incident could have but fabricated as the three attacking Shizu instead of Klautz.

And true to that! Nothing that was discussed among the earthlings was anything too absurd or disadvantageous. If at all they looked at Klautz with awe with a stroke of fear forever endowed on their hearts.

'It is true that my own luck is to blame. But Klautz is at fault too for abandoning me in this mess,' Shizu sighed.

Klautz calculation shouldn't have gone astray. But alas, the Yukiho family was not so simple. It was not known to the newbies nor to the Klautz. But the same wasn't true for the second gen and they made full use of the opportunity. Pushing a possible competitor to the brink? Wasn't that a great opportunity not to miss?

Only Shizu knew what kind of a mess she was in. Not to mention that their false claims had almost traumatized her to the point that she couldn't even utter a word.

She could only hole herself up in her room not being able to face the cruel world.

'Did I ever want to compete? Why would they do this to me?'

Shizu had never bothered about it. She never wanted to win. It was supposed to be a blissful vacation and yet hell followed behind its residents.

They wouldn't have let go of an opportunity to devalue her. They wouldn't let go of a chance to toss mud at her pretty face.

*Sigh*

She didn't want to meet anyone, and didn't want to bother with anyone. She just wanted everyone to leave her alone. The shock was too much.

'No one is different. All are the same…' her soundless sobs was something only she could hear.

The room never had any voice. It was just her and the dark.

But…

"He He,

" she couldn't help but leave a chuckle through her lips as her heart seemed to be lightened up somewhat,

"Big Sis and Klauz love each other, don't they?

"

It was then that she had realized…. How absurd the accusations of her peers were. The quarrels between the two of them, made her realize what kind of a relationship both of them shared.

'They don't even know anything about them. They just did it to pull me down. Big Sis loves Klautz and they have even pulled Big Sis into all of them even though she is completely innocent.'

Shizu couldn't help but hold herself somewhat responsible for all of this.

She knew how Klautz was...

Klaurz probably would have never cared about the rumors but would Selena do the same? It was true that Shizu was hurt by their accusations but wouldn't Selena receive the same accusations in the future as she is associated with Klautz?

How could shizu let her fall into the abyss along with herself?

'I need to do something.'

She wiped her tears behind the guard of her legs. She knew the pain of such dirty accusations, she had known it throughout her life. And she couldn't let others experience the same.

'That's right, it is still only limited to my peers isn't it? They won't be blatantly offending my family out of nowhere.'

***

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