Slanted Words

Slanted Words (歪むコトバ, Hizumu Kotoba) is the eleventh chapter of the School Days manga.

Summary
Makoto and Sekai pay a visit to Kotonoha at her house, concerned because she hasn't been at school for since the festival. Makoto rings the doorbell and waits for someone to respond, only to be greeted by Kokoro. He waits for her to jump on him as she usually does, but she stops upon spotting Sekai behind him. Abruptly, Kokoro tells Sekai off, blaming her for her sister being unwell. She tries to pull Makoto away from her, but he questions her strange ranting

and Kokoro shuts the gate on them. This causes Sekai to realize that Kotonoha probably saw them together during the festival and they take off, with nothing further to do about it. As they leave, Kotonoha watches them walk home together until Kokoro knocks on her door. She enters her room to voice how worried she is about her, but Kotonoha cheerfully claims to be fine and Kokoro leaves, not completely convinced that her sister is alright. Right after she leaves, Kotonoha deletes something from her phone.

At Makoto's apartment, he recalls his conversation with Sekai about why Kotonoha had been staying at home since the festival ended. Sekai was convinced she was wrong the entire time, and claims to know how he feels, but she mentions that she herself is fine. Makoto resumes musing, but he starts to feel pressure from it and worries that by continuing his affair with Sekai, he will only hurt both girls.

At school the next day, Makoto and Sekai meet on the rooftop. Makoto tells Sekai that he loves her, but Kotonoha is more important to him and that he'll only hurt both of them if he keeps doing this. He dumps Sekai, but hopes they can still be friends, apologizing for being unable to make up his mind. Sekai accepts, knowing that she may not stand a chance against Kotonoha and admits that after first kiss with him she had planned to give up. But she started to grow fond of him and she will not accept being dumped if he makes Kotonoha cry. She then embraces him and tells him to go for it.

Kotonoha arrives to tell Makoto she had been looking for him. He is happy to see her at school and she invites him to come back to her place with him. This is interrupted when he suddenly bows and apologizes for what he has done. He admits to her that he was going out with Sekai, betraying her trust. Kotonoha tells him to stop, and claims that he has no reason to apologize. She embraces him and tells him that she is happy as long as she can be with him.

She then spots Sekai nearby and thanks her for bringing them together and claims to see her as a good friend, only to take back what she just said and tells her that if she was a true friend, she wouldn't have tried to seduce Makoto.

Kotonoha then starts to pull out something from her bag, revealing a Dōzuki (Japanese saw) and prepares to kill Sekai with it, only for Makoto to push Sekai out of the way, getting himself slashed in the process.

Character in order of appearance

 * Makoto Itou
 * Sekai Saionji
 * Kokoro Katsura
 * Kotonoha Katsura