The leader—a boy with expensive sneakers and cheap cruelty—blinked. “What?”
Not because I want to hurt. But because some things are heavier than pain. Like watching someone fall when you could have stood in their place. This piece is a fictional meditation on the themes of self-sacrifice, protection, and the complex psychology of bullying. The Japanese phrase, while striking, is not a common idiom but rather a dramatic expression used in certain manga, anime, or personal narratives. ijimeru nara watashi no karada ni shite!
“If you’re going to bully someone,” I repeated, voice steady, “do it to my body instead.” The leader—a boy with expensive sneakers and cheap