To start, I have to apologize for saying over and over again that I’ll definitely update and not updating. In the end, it seems that I will be dropping this fanfic, Eccentric. This story was formed from the overflow of my love for Keyakizaka when I first found them and dove into them, but eventually, real life and other factors got into the way of writing. When I finally could return to writing, I found myself looking at a landscape that I no longer recognized and at words that I no longer could continue.
Therefore, I will be dropping Eccentric. I know that there are people who were looking forward to the story, but I likely will never update it again. If anyone would like to pick it up and write it, feel free to do so.
I will put here a summary of the future of the story.
The arcs that we’ve covered so far…
<Neru I>
Neru joins the Keyaki class, but not soon after her transfer, a case of theft occurs in the school and the blame is laid upon the Keyaki class, the girls turning in suspicion toward Neru. Their trust is put to the test, and by clearing the suspicion, Neru becomes closer to the class. However… is she truly suspicion free?
<Yuuka>
Summer is approaching for Sakamichi, and the Keyaki class girls are faced with their big exams before summer. The mysterious man on the board reminds them that the exams can help or break the girls’ points and briefly explains points as a graduation requirement, which was outlined in the student handbook. However, amidst the mystery of the Keyaki class’ administration and the stress of exams, Sugai Yuuka has her own issues, gaining the worry of her friends.
<Aoi>
School finally lets out for summer vacation. Aoi gets a digital camera, hoping to make memories over the summer of her precious friends. However, a dirty thought gnaws at the back of her mind that she’s not good enough as a friend, causing her to drift away. Yurina and Neru’s own conflicts aggravate the bonds of friendship even more. Aoi struggles to realize her place in the Keyaki class that had always been there for her.
And the arc that we were in the middle of…
<Yui>
The fall semester has started. As the school festival preparations go underway, the two Yuis form the Yuichanz for the school festival performing talent festival. Through hard work, delays, and perseverance, the girls get closer to each other. However, as the talent festival approaches closer, trouble falls upon the Yuichanz, leaving them unable to perform.
At this point, I will begin to give you a better explanation of what will happen in the story. These small paragraphs above were the notes I took while working on writing the arcs at the time. Some details are sloppy, but the story still exists.
<Yui>
As Yuichanz prepares for the school festival with the rest of the class, Yuipon falls in love, unrequited love, with Zuumin. She does not have the courage to confess to Zuumin. Even worse, a new love rival appears in the form of Kyoko who Zuumin seems quite close with. Yuipon just can’t figure out how to confess. As the festival comes closer, she learns from Zuumin how happy Zuumin is to be playing music with Yuipon. In the past, Zuumin was a sickly girl who was bullied for being weird. Zuumin had always wanted to sing on a big stage and have precious friends like Yuipon. Thus, these recent times with the Keyaki class were a great blessing for Zuumin.
Yuipon’s heart constricts even further as she thinks about how her feelings for Zuumin were creating dissonance in their music. Zuumin hadn’t been blaming Yuipon at all, saying that they were a great pair. However, Yuipon knew that something was wrong with herself.
The first day of the festival arrives soon enough.
In a slight story detour, it’s revealed that Memi has dropped off the mysterious package she received previously. Additionally, there is a scene between Yuichanz and Kyoko.
Yuichanz perform brilliantly at the music event, and they have a surprise encore where Yuipon performs something that she created for Zuumin. This might be Yuipon’s courage. She confesses to Zuumin after the performance, and… she gets rejected. Rather, it’s like her confession was never said, was never accepted. That heartbreaking look of apprehension on Zuumin’s face hurts Yuipon more than the fact that she has more or less been rejected.
Their part of the festival has concluded, and there’s still the rest of the festival to go.
As expected, the Keyaki class’ event is popular. Throughout, there’s some awkwardness between the Yuichanz, but luckily they’ve split to be mostly with their roommates and other friends. Techi also is ill at ease crossdressing, but she’s constantly reassured by Neru. The TechiNeru relationship is close.
On the third day of the festival, outside guests are allowed to come if invited. Techi hadn’t invited anyone and no one in the class knew her past, so she continues the day as usual. Or, at least, that was how it was supposed to be. That person wasn’t supposed to be here. Miki, a childhood best friend. As more customers were coming into the butler cafe, Techi freezes in place as she sees her ex-best friend and begins to shiver.
Miki bursts into anger that Techi has no right to dress up like Yukiteru, like the dead brother who has been mentioned before. She loudly blames Techi for killing Yukiteru, and things almost begin to get physical. To the surprise of the class, Techi just stands there and takes all of the abuse. That’s when the mysterious package shows up. Except this time, it’s open, and inside is a cracked cellphone that Techi very intimately recognizes. She can’t really get away since the school still is bustling with the festival. With a buzz, the phone turns on all of a sudden. The class sees the message pop-ups on the screen and are shocked at the vitriol. These messages are aimed toward Techi and they’re only a few months old.
For some reason, Neru is delaying to act even though the expression on Neru’s face shows that she’s unhappy. Nonetheless, as soon as the class figures out what this crazy girl is talking about, they rush in to chase her out, Manaka grabbing her wrist before she can hit Techi, Yuuka and Akane going to console Techi.
The Keyaki class decides to close their event early for the day so they can understand what happened. At first, Techi doesn’t want to talk at all. She seems more closed off than when she first met everyone at the beginning of the school year. To everyone’s surprise, Berika suggests that they throw away the phone because it’s clearly someone trying to mess with them and hurt Techi. Everyone more or less agrees and asks Techi if they can get rid of it. Techi agrees. Somehow, they now understand why Techi doesn’t have and doesn’t want a phone.
After a while, Techi quietly explains that she used to have a brother, but he died, and because of that, she was bullied really badly back in her hometown. She isn’t willing to explain anymore.
Neru hugs Techi and apologizes. This somehow escalates into a huge class group hug. Techi tries to apologize for ruining the festival, but no one will let her blame herself. They collectively decide not to push any of their curiosities. Quietly, Techi cries some almost happy tears.
On the last day of the festival, the class decides they should just have some fun instead of continuing the butler cafe, which had become awkward to do. Yuipon manages to ask Zuumin if they could go explore the festival together, and Zuumin agrees. Yuichanz are still close. Overall, the school festival is an enjoyable affair for the classmates involved, and they continue to grow closer.
<Oda Nana>
Fall is cooling down and winter is near. The annual Sakamichi winter celebration is announced, and the winter ball will commence. The ball is filled with romantic rumors, and within the whirlwind of excitement for the upcoming events, the three roommates Suzumoto, Kobayashi, and Oda Nana find themselves at odds with each other.
Time passes. There’s not long until the winter vacation, but before that there is an annual Sakamichi winter celebration with a winter ball. Some of the classmates can’t help but think that rich private schools sure were amazing, ignoring how needlessly high spec their classroom and dorms are. With a ball coming up, there’s clearly a pressure to find someone to go with, a date, and the entire school is getting excited, some normal class girls asking out members of the Keyaki class. There’s even some award for the best couple at the ball.
MonaRisa and YuukaNen are dating, so everyone knows that they’ll be going together to the ball. OzeUemu are clearly going together too. Koike very openly places her dibs on Habu. Even Techi and Neru have decided to go together.
Then there’s Oda Nana who really wants to ask Yuipon out to the ball, completely ignoring Suzumoto’s feelings. Since the three are living together, the atmosphere in their dorm room really isn’t great. While Oda Nana is acting blind, Suzumoto is pretty sure that Yuipon is in love with Zuumin. However, Suzumoto loves Oda Nana. She can’t bring herself to hurt Oda Nana’s feelings, so she just bears with it.
Oda Nana continues talking with Suzumoto about how much she loves Yuipon. The talk continues during lunch, leading to Neru to suggest Oda relax a little bit or just go ask Yuipon to the ball already.
Even Oda Nana needs to build up some courage before asking Yuipon out. Thus, she goes to Suzumoto for advice. They’re close friends although Oda Nana always rejects Suzumoto’s advances as jokes. They’re gym buddies sometimes and dance studio buddies at other times. On Oda’s side, she’s glad that she can have such a close friend to confide in. If Yuipon is her crush, then Suzumoto is her best friend. She just doesn’t realize how much she’s hurting Suzumoto because she can’t seem to understand that Suzumoto’s love isn’t a joke.
Suzumoto confides in Fuu-chan about her troubles, the emotion in her voice nearly going flat. She can’t understand why Oda Nana doesn’t understand, and she wonders if she’s beginning to fall out of love with her roommate. It’s not a good feeling.
Fuu-chan wants to confront Oda Nana about it, but Suzumoto shakes her head. Oda Nana’s going to confess to Yuipon tomorrow.
To no one’s surprise, Oda Nana is rejected by Yuipon when she asks Yuipon out. However, Oda Nana is surprisingly hurt by the rejection. When Suzumoto goes to the dance studio to burn off some frustrations from recently, she sees Oda Nana acting weird. Then, Oda Nana asks Suzumoto out to the ball.
Suzumoto rejects Oda Nana’s request. Even though she loves Oda Nana, she’s… she’s not willing to be an extra who gets asked as a second choice because Oda Nana doesn’t put her in her eyes.
From there on, things get even more awkward between the room of three. Yuipon already spends a lot of time with Zuumin, so she’s often not in the dorm. Suzumoto takes to spending most of her time in the dance studio. Oda Nana doesn’t know what to do, feeling like she’s ruined her relationship with both of her roommates, and pretends to be sleeping when they come back to the room.
At this point, even Koike and Habu ask Oda Nana if everything is alright because they see Yuipon and Suzumoto acting strange. Oda Nana is still lost, and she thinks about properly talking to her roommates even though she has no good words to say.
She finds Yuichanz practicing music together and awkwardly watches for a while. Yuipon looks so enamored with Zuumin that Oda Nana can’t believe she didn’t notice before. When Yuichanz finish and notice Oda Nana, Oda Nana quickly blurts out an apology to Yuipon and runs away. She runs all the way to the dance studio where she spots Suzumoto dancing, and it’s brilliant. Oda Nana manages to say another short apology. Suzumoto accepts, but she tells Oda Nana that she still won’t go to the ball with her because Oda Nana still doesn’t understand Suzumoto’s feelings.
In an interlude, it is revealed that Zuumin is beginning to accept Yuipon’s feelings for her. The short Yui might actually really like the taller Yui. Zuumin agrees to go to the ball with Yuipon.
Ultimately, Oda Nana and Suzumoto go to the ball without a date. They have a talk where Suzumoto explains her feelings and Oda Nana begins to understand. Suzumoto likes the funny Oda Nana, but she also likes the serious Oda Nana. In the end, she still likes Oda Nana, but she won’t let Oda Nana step over her feelings even by accident.
At the end of the talk, they return to the ball and share a dance together.
<W. Rika>
Winter vacation is about to start. The girls in the Keyaki class have to stay on campus because of the rules and their bracelets, so they receive a special announcement from the man in the video. He informs them to be careful and stay inside during the winter because there will be a mild preliminary test of survival for them. They’re confused at his cryptic words, but he does not explain any further.
The break starts. The normal class students have all moved out, and the Keyaki girls are relaxing in their dorm, making use of all the facilities available. They decide to hold a New Year party because they had missed the timing to throw a Christmas party. At the middle of everything is a certain Berika.
Ever since the school festival, she’s been feeling closer with Techi. She’s been wondering about the bonds in the class and how wonderful life has been for her ever since meeting everyone here. It’s a feeling especially strong when she thinks about her roommate, Naako. Because of this happiness, she throws herself into the New Year party preparation. Although she’s clumsy and odd, no one gets mad at her for it because she’s doing her best.
They throw the party on New Year’s Eve. During the party, it begins to snow. They missed a white Christmas, but they got a beautiful New Year’s Eve. Everyone does their best to stay up for the New Year’s countdown, watching Kouhaku and all. Berika is truly happy. As she begins to doze off, she accidentally lays her head on Techi’s shoulder. Techi gently wakes Berika up, and Berika thanks Techi. That thanks has many meanings, but the quiet Berika doesn’t explain and just keeps her gratitude for Techi’s presence in the class in her heart.
Three, two, one. The new year arrives and Berika drifts off to sleep, this time on Neru. She vaguely hears Manaka and Naako laugh as she’s dragged onto the couch and covered with a thick blanket.
Berika’s first dream of the year is strange. It starts off with her past where she was quiet and unnoticed. She didn’t know whether or not her ex-classmates had been doing it deliberately, but they treated her like she didn’t exist. For a short while, she was bullied, but they probably got bored, so Berika was treated like she didn’t exist. If that had continued, perhaps she would have done something she would regret like stabbing something or someone.
Her dream suddenly changes scenes so that her Keyaki classmates were in the seats of her old classmates. Even though she is aware that this is a dream, Berika is filled with apprehension. Everything looks gray. No one is looking at her, no one, not even Naako. Then she feels a tap on her shoulder from behind. First, she looks up and sees Naako smiling at her. Then, she looks behind her and sees Manaka smiling at her. The world once again has color. It is so warm and happy. The Keyaki class is her precious, happy place where she was not rejected for her oddities.
She looks around and suddenly realizes that Techi and Neru are missing. She gets up and suggests to her dream classmates to look for them. The class agrees. Berika goes with Naako, Manaka, and Risa in the dream to find Techi and Neru. When they find Neru, something scary happened, jolting Berika awake.
When she wakes up, she realizes that she’s on the couch. Much of the class has returned to their dorm rooms, but a few of her classmates are still there. Manaka has apparently been playing Pokemon the entire night as Risa snoozed on her shoulder. Techi is sleeping on Neru’s lap. Naako has just returned from a kitchen with cups of hot chocolate for everyone still here.
Berika happily takes the hot chocolate and looks outside. The snow is still falling. That’s strange. It shouldn’t snow too much in Tokyo, but the snow keeps falling. By the end of the day, everyone having woken up and started doing their own things, the snow is still falling.
The Keyaki class finds themselves locked into their dorms by essence of the snow blocking the exits. Outside, the originally light snowfall has become a howling blizzard. Then the power goes out. A generator slowly whirs to life, but a lot of the dorm facilities are of no real use without power. They need to figure out what to do now.
All the outside help they receive is a fuzzy transmission from the screen man giving instructions to the location of the generator and where the manual is.
First, they decide to gather everyone together in the lounge. The lounge is for the moment the warmest place. The class sets some rules for everyone to stick together. They dig out some flashlights, water bottles, and snacks for the time being. The members who can cook volunteer to cook for the class since the cafeteria is out of order, but luckily the stoves are gas stoves and still functioning. They’re scared at first, unable to search up what to do with the internet out, but they eventually settle in.
Techi feels that this situation is too suspicious, but everyone settles in. It begins to feel like a big sleepover, and the snowfall looks as if it’s slowing.
Of course, the Keyaki class doesn’t have much luck. The generator malfunctions, and they’re suddenly out of power. Even worse, Naako has come down with a cold, so they really need to get the heat in the lounge back on.
Remembering the fuzzy instructions, the girls begin discussing how they should fix the generator. They want to send a team of people who would be likely to be able to fix things, but no one knows where the location the instructions said is. After all, normal high school girls don’t go exploring the mechanical rooms in their dorms even if they’re allowed to go.
Except, Berika actually knows because she’s explored with Naako before. Berika pipes up that she probably knows where the generator is. Neru volunteers to help, followed by Techi. Akane, Yone, and Sato join the team as well. They grab a few flashlights and head toward the generator room.
When they reach the room, they quickly find the generator and instructions. Reading the instructions, Neru miraculously manages to get the generator back up. It’s not without a few hiccups along the way, but the squad overcomes the obstacles.
They begin to head back to the lounge. Berika notices Neru lingering and watching the generator with a complicated expression. For some reason, Berika voices a concern that Neru takes with a mysterious smile. Neru asks for Berika to keep her suspicions quiet, and that mysterious smile looks a little sad. Techi turns back, wondering why the two are lagging behind, and seeing how much Techi cares for Neru, Berika decides to agree to Neru’s request.
Eventually, the snow stops. With the generator working, the Keyaki class is relatively at ease. The power comes back on, and they’re awoken one morning by the sound of snow trucks getting rid of the massive pile of snow outside of their dorm.
In an interlude, Neru complains through her phone that they shouldn’t get the girls involved in such dangerous activities. Then she pauses. The other side seems to be laughing at her request, and Neru has nothing she can say because she knows that the future will be even more messed up.
It’s an eventful winter vacation.
<Nijika>
School starting is a lot less eventful than winter break was. The girls who aren’t the brightest grumble about school. There’s a parent visitation day coming up, but for many members of the Keyaki class, that day is unimportant. At least, they thought it was unimportant. Techi is a little tense that her parents might come, but that seems extremely unlikely. The Keyaki class doesn’t have any plans for parent visitation day.
As has become tradition for the Keyaki class, the mysterious man in the screen announces an event for the upcoming day. A quiz bowl style competition will be held for the visiting parents, a pair randomly selected from each class in the school. The pair selected for the Keyaki class is Yone and Nijika. Of course, this being the Keyaki class means the competition performance will affect the points in the class’ bracelets.
Unfortunately, the Yone and Nijika pair might be one of the worst possible pairings at the start. They get along decently enough in daily life, but the academically competitive Yone really hates how bad Nijika is at her studies. One way or another, Yone ends up snapping at Nijika at the end of the week. The pair splits before they even get started, Nijika stomping away in tears.
Yone tries asking Oda Nana and Naako for advice as she begins to feel bad. If only they could have chosen their partners instead of having this shoddy random assignment. Unfortunately, Oda and Naako can’t think of good advice. Yone then goes to find Neru, who she wishes was her partner, but she still doesn’t obtain a good way to deal with the problem aside from talking with Nijika and apologizing. When even Techi and Koike tell Yone to just talk to Nijika, Yone childishly refuses.
Meanwhile, Nijika is upset. She’d like to just quit, but Fuu-chan convinces Nijika that it’s important to do her best even if Yone is being unreasonable. Fuu-chan gets Manaka, Risa, and Akane together for Nijika, and the friend group helps Nijika study. In the end, it feels like they only studied strange trivia, but Nijika does feel better.
Finally, Yone and Nijika get it together and apologize to each other during a class break. Nijika apologizes first, leading Yone to retort that she should be the one apologizing. They go through a silly back and forth of apologies and praises for each other. Through that, they realize that they’re pretty good friends. They can’t do anything about the pairing for the competition, so they can only do their best and not argue. From there on, Yone puts her trust in Nijika.
Parent visitation day comes. The quiz bowl event happens. And, as expected, Yone carries the team, acing the science categories. Yet, Nijika boosts their pair as well with some weird trivia that Yone had never heard of before.
In the final round, they’re among the last three pairs remaining, all tied. The last category is a mystery until it’s suddenly announced as a partnership relationship quiz. The event was not in pairs for nothing.
Yone and Nijika smile at each other. They have the final quiz in the hole as they’ve gotten much closer over this ordeal. With that, the pair clinches the victory, earning their class points.
The rest of the parent visitation day rides that high of victory. On one hand, Yuuka’s family makes a fashionably late appearance, causing Yuuka to burst into happy tears. During a class break, they tease Yuuka and Akane as a lovey dovey couple. On the other hand, Techi’s parents do not show up, much to her relief.
After class, the girls are happily chatting and celebrating Yone and Nijika’s victory. Techi steps out of the classroom for a bit, having lost a match of rock-paper-scissors and gotten stuck with juice buying duty. On her way to the vending machine, she bumps into two people she really did not want to meet. They are her parents.
Yet, it doesn’t feel like they’re parents. The way the look at her is the way someone would look at a person they want dead. When they open their mouths, they tell her that she looks happy but doesn’t deserve to be. Techi can’t retort when they begin to mention her brother who died because of her. She doesn’t know how long this one sided beration goes on for, but somewhere in the middle of it, Neru shows up, worried that Techi would be overwhelmed by the number of juice cans only to see a family confrontation.
The parents tells Neru that she should stay out of the conversation and stop hanging around someone like Techi. Neru frowns. Then, the parents say that they’re going to withdraw Techi from this Keyaki class program.
Finally, Techi speaks up. She doesn’t want that. She really doesn’t want that. However, they don’t care what she wants or not.
At that moment, Neru covers Techi’s ears. She coldly stares at the pair of adults, not letting Techi see her expression, and says something that Techi doesn’t hear. Whatever Neru said causes the parents to recoil for a slight second. Techi gently removes Neru’s hands from her ears and thanks Neru.
The parents manage to get in the last words, but they leave quickly after. This doesn’t seem good for Techi.
<Manaka>
The news gets out to the class that Techi’s parents want to withdraw her from the Keyaki class. The girls are understandably upset. They want to petition Techi’s parents to not do so, worried that Techi would be thrown back into the toxic environment from Techi’s previous school. However, Techi tells the girls not to.
Everyone is worried for Techi, but luckily, no official announcement of withdrawal comes. They’re relieved. Perhaps the original intent of withdrawal was just a threat.
As life begins to go back to normal, Manaka starts getting a little bored on campus. It isn’t as if she’s explored the entirety of the school, but she does want to go out to the city some time. She tells Risa that she wants to sneak out. Risa isn’t interested, so Manaka goes by herself one day to a school exit near the Keyaki dorms.
The second she sticks her hand out, her bracelet reacts, and she’s electrocuted by it, losing a few points. Sputtering in confusion, Manaka can’t help but think that something is definitely wrong with this school.
She messages everyone in the class group chat to tell them what happened. A lot of her classmates don’t believe her. After all, even Manaka couldn’t believe that the school would actually physically punish students for breaking a rule. Still, she’s very sure that she got zapped because she was trying to break the rule about staying on campus.
Manaka tells Techi the next day, and Techi explains that the same thing happened to her. That gets the class more convinced. They decide that maybe they should try it out and see. That is when the screen man shows up on screen to tell the class not to do so, which the class takes as a confirmation for Manaka and Techi’s words. Manaka gets even more suspicious and tells the class that she wants to investigate the Keyaki class.
Part of the class agrees. Another part disagrees. Strangely enough, Neru is part of the latter group.
She looks into the history of the class program, which is basically nonexistent. She looks up the sponsors. They seem legitimate, but when she asks Yuuka about them, they find out that the companies are also quite suspicious. It doesn’t make sense for the companies to fund the Keyaki class. Furthermore, the construction of the Keyaki class facilities was done by a company that does not exist. Even the snowstorm that the girls suffered through wasn’t recorded to be so big that it would block people into a building. Scattered throughout the haphazard investigation is the name Yukiteru.
Manaka doesn’t feel like she understands more now that she’s investigated. Since Manaka started the investigations, Neru has been a little weird too. Neru had asked Manaka to take care of Techi for her, whatever that meant.
Nonetheless, Manaka steamrolls forward. She accidentally overhears a strange conversation Neru has on the phone one time, but she tells herself that she’s getting her suspicion toward the Keyaki class system mixed up with Neru. After all, she remembered back in the beginning when Risa had been all gungho anti-Neru and turned out to be wrong.
Meanwhile, Neru is frantically contacting the person on the other side of the phone. As Manaka investigates, the higher ups are deciding how much earlier they should move up their plan for the Keyaki class. Neru’s anxiety causes Techi to worry.
Manaka decides that she wants to present her findings to everyone in the class. The break after lunch break, she tells her classmates what she has found. Neru is frowning. Manaka also notes the name Yukiteru even though she can’t remember where she’s heard it from. Techi is shocked, explaining quietly that Yukiteru was her brother.
Just as Techi finishes, the man in the screen announces to the girls that Techi will be withdrawn from the Keyaki class.
<Yurina>
This arc is meant to be narrated through Techi’s point of view like the —thoughts.
A long time ago, when this story’s Techi was born, she was born as the younger daughter of a couple with a wonderful son. They treasured the son more than the daughter, praising the son and thinking lowly of the daughter. Yet, she did not mind too much because like everyone else, she also loved her brother, Yukiteru.
The girl had two main friends, another girl named Miki and a boy named Ren. She was sure that they had become her friends because of her brother. She knew for certain that Miki had a crush on Yukiteru. However, that was just how life was. She was her brother’s little sister, so people liked her for that. Except, she wasn’t her brother, so people disliked her for that.
All was well until all was not well. Eventually, even the shy Yurina could not handle always being compared to her beloved brother.
She fought with him. She became angry with him. Then she killed him.
She had been causing him stress because of how much she had pushed him away. Their parents scolded her, only her, making her even more upset with her brother. Normally, it would be temporary, but she couldn’t help but be upset. He tripped and twisted his ankle in his tiredness, so her parents scolded her for being a burden on him. Strangely enough, he didn’t blame her.
At that time, she just didn’t want to listen.
It only took one more mistake to make her regret everything. They were fighting, something that had become more and more common. She no longer remembered the reason why, but she ran out of the house. She knew she couldn’t win the argument, especially when their parents would choose him without a question.
He chased after her, his ankle not fully healed. When he caught up with her, they were near a street, near the basketball court that they used to play at as kids.
There was more argument, and she pushed him with her hands in her frustration. Normally, that wouldn’t do anything because he was much stronger than her. However, perhaps it was because of his ankle, but he fell onto the street and was hit by a speeding car before he could get up. And she just watched in shock.
Naturally, she regretted everything because he was still her precious brother. Now he was dead.
If a world with Yukiteru barely accepted Yurina, then a world without Yukiteru did not accept Yurina at all. From there on, her life became something close to living hell. Her parents looked upon her with loathing because she had destroyed their treasure who she could never replace. Her false friends shunned her, and acquaintances knew her as the girl who killed her brother. Bullying escalated to outright physical harm, but there was no more brother to help her.
What saved her was the Keyaki class.
When Techi came to the Keyaki class, she was empty. Then, her classmates filled her heart one by one. Neru came, and somehow, life seemed happy. Techi was still often stuck in the past, but she… she was happy. And she was in love with Neru. She was living.
The man in the screen says that she’s being withdrawn from the Keyaki class. Techi doesn’t want to accept that. She doesn’t want to go back to a living hell. She wants to be with the people who had become precious to her. As she opens her mouth, she hears something that she can’t quite understand.
Why is that man saying those things to Neru?
<Neru>
The man reveals that Neru is an accomplice to whatever plans were made for the Keyaki class. Neru is a traitor. The room freezes, but Neru has no ability to deny the truth when it’s openly revealed, so she apologizes to her classmates. She especially apologizes to Techi, Hirate-san.
Techi can’t accept it, but… what else can she do? Neru will not meet Techi’s eyes.
The Keyaki class pre-game is over. All the windows in the classroom are shuttered over, and the door is locked. The girls are stuck in the classroom now. The screen man tells Neru that he’s leaving the rest to her and disappears.
At that moment, the lockers in the back of the room fold into themselves, revealing an elevator compartment behind the lockers. What Aoi had previously in the summer detected was hollow behind the lockers was this compartment. Neru directs her classmates, aside from Techi, into the elevator compartment. There are refusals to follow her instructions, but she manages.
When the elevator goes down, only Neru and Techi are left in the classroom. Neru hands Techi a loaded one bullet gun, telling her that she’s allowed to do anything with it. Techi asks why Neru is doing this, but Neru explains that she was simply instructed to do so. When the elevator returns, Techi accompanies Neru to the place below.
Meanwhile, the class has been looking at the game rules left for them in the room they were delivered to. It’s a messed up battle royale. Each day, they have to use a certain number of points in their bracelet for survival. If they don’t pay a survival fee, then they’re killed by a poison in the bracelet. They can only earn points by taking points from each other or by killing each other. The last one surviving will get out free and earn a prize.
Everyone is angry that the masterminds thought that they would turn on each other and vow to figure out another way.
Techi and Neru finally arrive. The class bombards Neru with questions about the situation, but Neru cannot answer most of them. She explains that Techi is an outside player in the game, which is why she was withdrawn from the class in technicality. If Techi shoots and kills any one person, then everyone wins and gets to leave.
Tensions are high, but no one can figure out a way to get the bracelets off or leave otherwise. All they can do is pay the points and play the game for now.
Neru is stuck alone in a corner, acting as a supervisor, while the class is huddled around Techi to protect Techi. They reassure Techi that they’ll somehow figure it out. There’s no way they’ll make their precious classmate do something terrible.
A few days pass. Neru knows that some of her classmates don’t have many points saved up and would only last one week. She sees the ones with more points sending points to the low points girls, but she doesn’t want to see them die. She knows she’s a terrible traitor, but she can’t help but call out to Techi that Techi is also allowed to kill Neru to win. Techi doesn’t respond to that.
Neru thinks that this will be it. She thinks that she’s ruined the relationship between her and Techi even though in reality, she’s fallen for that awkward girl. She’ll be glad if she’s the only blood on Techi’s hands.
However, one night a few days later, Techi comes find Neru to talk.
Accidentally calling Techi Yurina-chan like before, Neru makes Techi smile that Neru was still Neru after all. Techi asks Neru about a lot of things like friendship and love. She tells Neru that she loves her, and Neru just mutely nods. Then, Neru shakes her head. Neru tells Techi that she, Neru, is very fake. From the start, she had investigated Techi. She had a job to do. She was part of the underworld, a young gang leader who had gotten roped into a job she hadn’t thought she would start to care so much about. She hadn’t thought that she would love the Keyaki class so much, that she would fall for Techi for real.
Techi wipes away Neru’s tears and tells Neru that she’s reached a conclusion. Neru asks if it’s to kill her. Techi shakes her head. Then, Neru asks to see the gun. When Techi gives the gun to Neru, Neru fiddles with it a little.
The following day, as Techi is asked if she wants to use the gun before the survival fee payment, she nods. Before anyone can say anything, she raises it to her own head and shoots.
Everyone is running towards her to stop her. Neru’s eyes widen, tears threatening to spill out. At this moment, all of the bracelets unlock and fall to the ground with a clink. Techi is still alive. Neru is so glad that she does end up crying. Techi is confused why she isn’t dead.
Neru hiccups that it’s because she flipped the safety because if Techi wasn’t going to kill her, she didn’t want anyone else to die. She was sure that Techi wouldn’t know enough about guns to notice.
It’s in that moment that Neru is shot. The man from the screen makes his appearance in person, and he looks very familiar to Techi. Neru shouts to Techi in pain not to get close to that man because he’s dangerous. He then kicks Neru to the ground and tells her to shut up or else he’ll shoot her again.
Techi starts talking to him, asking him who he is. He asks if she doesn’t recognize her own brother. However, Techi knows that he isn’t her brother. It takes her a while, but from the way he spoke, she guesses that it is perhaps her ex-childhood friend Ren. He seems overjoyed to be recognized. She asks him if he hates her enough for Yukiteru that he would hurt the people around her like this. He tells her that she’s wrong because the one he liked all along was Techi, not Yukiteru.
She doesn’t understand his logic. He wants to become Techi’s savior by bringing her away from a bad place and destroying her all over again. She really doesn’t get him.
That makes him angry, so he decides that he will kill everyone. Techi won’t accept that, so she begins to fumble with the gun again. He laughs because he doesn’t think that she has the ability to actually shoot a person, but she undoes the safety and really does shoot him.
Ren goes down in pain. He seems temporarily disabled but not dead. At that moment, no one knows what to do, but at least the bad guy has dropped his gun. Neru, still bleeding, grabs the gun and hits him over the head to knock him out. She wants to get rid of him, but she’s afraid to scare her classmates more.
Neru gives Techi some sort of device to control the building and leave. Techi wants Neru to come with the rest of the class, but Neru shakes her head, saying that she needs to deal with Ren. Neru then looks toward Manaka and asks that Manaka fulfill the request that Neru had made a while back.
It takes Manaka a few seconds to realize it was Neru’s request for Manaka to take care of Techi. Manaka tells Neru that they’re still friends, and then she pulls Techi along to leave with the rest of the class.
<Final>
After everything is finished, the class manages to stay together. The Keyaki class program is shifted to new management, so much of what had been suspicious is taken care of. Now, they are really just a specially funded program of girls from around the country selected by some sponsor’s standards. Life begins to return to normal.
The class passes onto their second year, panicking over final exams and taking remedial classes in the case of Nijika, Habu, and Zuumin. Techi receives emancipation papers from some mysterious source, allowing her to finally be free from her parents. Yet, Neru is nowhere to be found.
Techi has so much she wants to tell Neru. She’s kept Neru’s part of the room the way that Neru liked it. She wasn’t able to return to the place where the old Keyaki classroom was. She just wants to see Neru again.
Then, a bit into their second year, just like the first time they met, there’s a transfer student, a certain Nagahama Neru.
END
Thank you for reading Eccentric. Thank you for loving Keyakizaka46. Even though the Keyakizaka46 in this story no longer exists, I hope that everyone will continue being happy and loving the girls who we fell for.
Topic: Eccentric (TechiNeru+) <DROPPED> - Thank You For Reading, a Summary (Read 37078 times)