“You really piss me off!” Miss Kayla spat, her voice trembling with rage. She pulled her hand back, then swung it towards my face with all the force she could muster. But I didn’t flinch. I didn’t even blink. I simply raised my hand, intercepting hers before it could land, the sound of the impact muffled between our palms.
Fury flashed in her eyes as she recoiled, then immediately came at me again, this time with her other hand. But just like before, I blocked it with effortless precision, my expression unmoved.
“Just… just what are you…!” she stammered, her voice cracking under the weight of her frustration.
“You must’ve realized something, and that’s why you’re so agitated,” I replied, my tone cool as ice. I held her gaze, watching the flickers of doubt dance in her eyes. “I planned to ignore you for the rest of this party, but knowing your personality, I knew that wouldn’t work. So, I came here so that you and I could settle things. Didn’t think you’d resort to slapping me, though.”
“You… You’re not… Ella, are you?” she asked, her eyes wide with disbelief.
“No.” I shook my head slowly, letting each word sink in. “I’m still the same Ella. The same Ella you bullied, the same Ella you made suck your toes like I was sucking my mother’s teats, the same Ella you made lick your feet clean with my tongue, the same Ella you treated like your little lackey. That’s who I was, and that’s who I will always be.”
“T-Then…”
“Why did I change, you ask?” I let out a bitter laugh, my lips curling into a smirk. “I don’t even fully understand it myself. Maybe I got tired of enduring the humiliation you put me through. Or maybe I just couldn’t stand being the same anymore. Whatever the reason, I don’t know. But when someone finally reached out a hand to me, when I was drowning, I grabbed it. Isn’t that what anyone would do?”
“You really have become a bitch…” Miss Kayla hissed, her face twisting with disgust. “You should’ve known your place all along, wagged your tail for me like a good dog. If you had, maybe you’d be in my circle now!”
“I don’t see why I’d want to be in your circle, Miss Kayla,” I shot back, my tone sharp. “You don’t hold the same power… as my friends.”
“Y-You have friends? You think I’d buy that? You think some weak, timid, stupid little bitch like you could actually have friends? As if!”
“Oh, I do. One even calls me her senior. You know, back then, even the first years never called me that. They’d just walk past without so much as a glance. I don’t blame them, though. My appearance was plain, and I was invisible to their eyes. I even used a skill to make myself less noticeable. That was on me. But now, I have people I can genuinely call friends. They helped me face my flaws and pushed me to do things I never thought I could. Because of them, I broke past my limits.”
Without Miss Titania and Miss Trill, I’d still be struggling with that wall, too afraid to even try climbing it.
“But you? You’ve stayed exactly the same. You never tried to overcome your weaknesses. You just parade them around for everyone to see. The wall blocking you isn’t even that high, but you don’t bother to try and get over it. You haven’t changed at all.”
“You seriously piss me off…” Miss Kayla snarled, her voice dropping into a low, dangerous growl. “I’m gonna fucking mess your face up!”
With a feral scream, she lunged at me, her face twisted with rage, eyes burning with hatred. Her movements were wild and desperate, like a cornered animal. If it were the old me, I’d have flinched, my body betraying the fear surging through me. But that was then.
I stood my ground, watching her reckless charge, her footsteps echoing like thunder against the polished floor. When she got close enough, I stepped aside with a quick, fluid motion, letting her momentum carry her past me Then, I casually extended my foot, tripping her up. She tumbled forward, slamming into the ground nose-first with a satisfying thud.
“Ack!”
She scrambled to her feet, only for blood to spill down her face, splattering against the cold floor like crimson rain.
“E-Eh? Nghhh…! Hnnng…?!” Her voice trembled, confusion twisting her features as she cupped her hand beneath her nose, trying to catch the stream of red. Realization struck her like a punch, eyes widening as she touched her nose, now bent at an unnatural angle. “AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! MY NOSE! MY NOSE! MY NOSEE!! MY NOSEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
I watched her with a detached stare, my expression icy as she desperately pressed her fingers against her face, failing to stanch the bleeding, her attempts to force her nose back into shape clumsy and frantic.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! MY NOSE! MY NOSEEEE! MY NOSEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
“You’ll never change, Miss Kayla,” I said, my voice cutting through her screams like a blade. “And I doubt anyone will ever reach out to help you change. That’s just who you are, and it’s who you’ll always be.”
“You bitch! This is your fault! This is your fault! You ruined it! You ruined itttttttt!!!” she shrieked, her voice cracking with desperation as her face contorted in wild fury, veins bulging in her neck, every word dripping with unhinged rage.
She kept howling, her screams reverberating in the space between us, but I remained unmoved. Her rage had no power over me anymore. I wasn’t scared—those days were over.
“You brought this upon yourself. This is your own ruin,” I replied, my words laced with finality.
With that, I turned away and walked forward, leaving her to scream into the emptiness behind me. Her desperate, incoherent shrieks faded into the background, a distant echo swallowed by the silence. I didn’t look back, not even once.
