For a long, terrible moment, nobody moved. The four of us were frozen in a horrific tableau: me and Haruka in a compromising embrace, and Rina and her friends standing in the doorway like the three Fates arriving to witness a tragedy.
Then, Rina's shock shattered, and what replaced it was a fury so pure and so potent it seemed to change the very air around her. Her face, which had been pale with shock, now flushed a deep, dangerous crimson.
"GET. YOUR. FILTHY. HANDS. OFF. MY. ONII-CHAN."
The words were not shouted. They were a low, guttural snarl, a promise of violence. Haruka, startled by the sheer venom in her voice, finally let go and stumbled back, a triumphant, smug smirk already forming on her lips. She had gotten exactly what she wanted.
I immediately shoved myself away from Haruka, taking a step towards Rina, my hands raised in a placating gesture. "Rina, wait, it is not what it looks like! I swear! She tricked me, this was a trap!"
"I saw what I saw!" Rina shrieked, her voice finally breaking, raw with pain. She took a step forward, and it was a testament to the strength of Miki and Hana that they managed to grab her arms and hold her back.
"Rina-chan, stop! Think about where we are!" Miki pleaded, her voice a strained whisper.
"I don't care where we are!" Rina struggled against their grip, her eyes, blazing with tears of rage, never leaving Haruka. "You-! You scheming, manipulative witch! I knew it! I knew you were a snake!"
Haruka just laughed, a high, cruel sound that echoed in the narrow alley. "Oh, please. Don't be so dramatic, Hinamata-san. Your brother and I were just having a private conversation. Weren't we, Rui-kun?" She looked at me, her eyes daring me to deny it in front of my sister.
"You ambushed me!" I shot back, my own anger flaring. "This was a trap!"
"He's right!" Miki added, her voice sharp as she held onto Rina's arm. "We saw you practically drag him in here, Ito-san! You're disgusting!"
Rina was not listening to any of us. All she could see was the image of the kiss, burned into her memory. The ultimate betrayal. The ultimate violation.
"I trusted you," she whispered, her voice cracking as her rage finally gave way to a deep, gut-wrenching hurt. She was looking at me now, her eyes filled with a pain that was a thousand times worse than her anger. "I told you about her. I told you she was a snake. And you still went with her. To a place like this."
"Rina, I swear, I didn't know-"
"Just stop talking!" she cried, pulling her arms free from her friends. She would not look at me anymore. She turned to Haruka, her expression now cold as ice. "You wanted him? You can have him. But you will never, ever be better than me."
With that, she turned on her heel and stormed down the hallway, her shoulders shaking.
"Rina, wait!" I called after her, but she was gone.
Hana and Miki gave me one last look- a mixture of pity for me and profound disappointment- before hurrying after their friend.
I was left alone in the tacky, dimly lit hallway of the Starlight Inn, with my greatest enemy. Haruka looked at the empty hallway, then back at me, her smirk finally fading into a look of genuine confusion.
"She's really that obsessed with you?" she asked, a hint of awe in her voice.
I did not answer. I just pushed past her and walked out of that horrible place, the scent of cheap air freshener and betrayal clinging to me. The kiss, which had meant nothing to me, had just cost me everything. The fragile, complicated trust I had built with my sister was in ruins, and I had no idea how to even begin to pick up the pieces.