Summary
Riri excitedly informs her friends, Misao and Mako, that Hijiri just broke up with his girlfriend. The girls admire their object of affection as his friends congratulate him for helping an old man earlier, and he claims it wasn't a big deal. Riri thinks about how kind and compassionate he is, and his handsomeness. She and her friends see him as their class idol and started the Hijiri Alliance in his honor. More than anything she would love to confess her feelings, but she finds it hard to approach him like other girls. His friend starts to make fun of the girls but they don't pay him any mind once Riri notices the misanga around his wrist.
She suggests they make some for themselves as part of their alliance and head to the library after class ends. As they look for a crafting book but find themselves stumped by the instructions when they overhear two girls discussing "The Witch's Book". It came from an overseas school as part of a trade, a mysterious black book found amongst the others. A curious girl took upon herself to translate to find out that it was full of spells and charms, and she tested it out to see if she could make a boy she likes fall in love with her. It worked, along with the other spells she did. It is rumored that the book is still in their library now.
Riri begins to daydream, wondering if this book really works until she forces herself to snap out of it. She loves her friends too much, so he is not an option. The girls choose a design similar to the misanga Hijiri had and get to work making them.
A few days later Riri makes her way to the Beautification committee meeting when she bumps into Hijiri, who informs her that he transferred into it. Riri nervously begins to chat with him when he asks that she help him adjust to the change, and she eagerly runs off to inform her friends. While the girls are happy for her, they remind Riri not to get careless. She promises that she has no intention of doing so, when suddenly, Hijiri approaches her to suggest that they spend every morning together to pick up trash with the group. She happily agrees, unaware of her friends apparent frustration as she begins to get closer to him.
One day Riri rushes through the corridor when she spots Hijiri heading up a flight of stairs. She trails after him and calls out his name, only for her to suddenly lose footing and fall over. Riri is startled as someone comes to her aide, and when she tells her friends about it they don't seem very concerned. It's only a scratch and because of her not having P.E. today she won't have to worry about making it worse.
Riri doesn't think much about their response until later, when she gets up to speak to Hijiri. She wanted to apologize for not showing up earlier like they planned, but before she can approach him, one of the lights from the ceiling suddenly comes crashing down!
Everyone stares in shock as Riri falls back in fright. Someone runs off to fetch a teacher she thinks about how this is the second time today that a strange accident occurred. Her friends show up and Riri becomes concerned when they wonder if this is punishment. Later, she remains on edge as she recalls the witch's book, wondering if maybe they found it and were attacking her out of jealousy. With them in gym class, Riri approaches Mako's bag to check and see if the book is inside. But as she searches, they return to find her and she accuses them of trying to hurt her. Neither girl can understand her suspicions and instead accuse her of using it to make him join the Beautification committee. All three girls deny having used the book, and seeing more classmates begin to show up Riri quickly makes up an excuse to get away from them.
Riri runs down the hallway until she thinks she is alone and she sadly wonders how they could do this to her. Hijiri approaches her, having been worried. She starts to cry and he offers to take her to the nurses office. His kindness causes Riri to fall for him even harder. But just then, the large window next to them shatters, throwing shards of glass everywhere. Riri is frightened when she sees Misao and Mako staring at her from nearby, and seeing them smirk feels her with rage. Hijiri attempts to help her stop the bleeding from the cuts as she goes silent, ripping off the misanga.
They were never her friends.
They were only pretending.
And now that she's become closer to Hijiri, they are trying to kill her.
Deciding they are unforgivable, Riri worries that she might be the only victim now, but soon other people will get hurt, maybe even Hijiri. She is overcome by grief and runs through the hallway in search of them, and finds the duo alone in the hall standing before a long stair case. Riri angrily shoves them down the stairs and returns to Misao's bag to search for the book again. She finds nothing and assumes they probably hid it back in the library, so she makes her way there as an ambulance shows up.
There are many dangerous girls...
She has to protect Hijiri...
Upon arrival Riri finds two girls chatting and she recognizes the book near one of them. She asks about it and one girl hands it over, mentioning that someone just returned it. Something that Riri thinks is curious, because it couldn't have been either of her friends. The reality of what she did begins to sink... for a moment, then she decides it isn't a big deal. She has the book so she can focus on protecting Hijiri.
As she walks through the library Riri fingers through the pages. But she is so focused that she fails to hear the unsteady bookcase nearby as she spots the check-out card of the book. She pulls it out and expresses shock, only to look just in time for the bookcase to come crashing down on her.
Meanwhile, Hijiri is in the middle of helping a small child with his bruised knee. He runs off and Hijiri's friends compliment his angelic kindness, only to warn him that if he keeps being this way girls might begin to fight over him and misunderstand his intentions. Hijiri doesn't believe that would happen. One of his friends spots the misanga he's been wearing and asks about it, and Hijiri mentions that his little sister asked him to make one for her. He had to find a book on how to do it and afterwards, he decided to make himself one. It was said to work like a talisman in that it would keep him safe from danger.
Within the library, the book case lays on the lifeless Riri as the students inside surround it in shock, along with many scattered books. Unguarded is the Witch's Book with blood slowly seeping from beneath, and on it the check-out card...
The name written is Hijiri Amano.
Hijiri's friend asks him if the charm works, but he claims not to know.
Tropes:
- Conflicting Loyalty: Riri desperately wants a Relationship Upgrade with Hijiri but she forces herself to stay loyal to her friends. But her loyalty is cast aside after she begins to think they were trying to kill her.
- Fangirl: Riri and her friends for Hijiri.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Riri being crushed by the bookcase isn't shown, although there is a panel of her blood seeping out beneath it.
- Misao and Mako aren't shown hitting the ground either.
- Insecure Love Interest: Riri doesn't believe someone like Hijiri would ever like her.
- Nice Guy: The reason Hijiri is so popular; he's handsome an very sweet. He helps other people all the time, tries to cheer up those who are sad or upset, he was even shown trading boys love manga with a shy classmate.
- The Cameo: The girls were reading Zekkyou Gakkyuu manga.
- With Friends Like These...: The group as a whole, which crumbles after Riri begins to get closer to Hijiri. Her friends Lack of Empathy led her to believe they want her dead, and she became so paranoid that it caused her to lash out at them.
- Yandere: At the end of the chapter Riri is revealed to have traits of this and she begins to get erratic with her thought process. One can only imagine what she would have done if she wasn't stopped...
- Her being a danger is also implied with the misanga Hijiri made, which was said to grant its wearer protection. Notice how nothing happened to Misao or Mako until Riri attacked them, implying that they weren't a threat.
