Why is しない used for a past event?


> 植野：ちょっとからかってた的な…ことはあったかも  
>  将也：まあ一応。僕もやめとけとは言ったんですけどね。聞かなかったし  
>  石田：お前も一緒にやってたじゃん！女子なんてすげぇ悪口言ってたでしょ。ねえ！特に(植野)と(川井)が  
>  川井：ひどい…。私そんなこと **しないよ** 。どうして…。石田くんひどいよ

Everyone's putting the blame on 石田 for bullying.

I would expect maybe しなかった to mean "No, I didn't do that". What does しない mean
here? To me this seems like it would mean "I'm not going to do such things
(making fun/teasing, etc.)" but that makes little sense to me, as they're
talking about something that happened.

Is there something to しない that implies the past?




> Why is しない used for a past event?

This works in English as well in the present tense:

A: _Didn't you do [something awful]?_  
B: _No, I **don't do** that kind of thing._

> 私 そんなこと **しない** よ。

In the sample text, as I read it, Kawai-san isn't saying that they _didn't_ do
XYZ, as a specific instance (i.e., "I didn't do that [at that time, that we're
talking about now]") -- instead, they're saying that they **don't** do XYZ, as
a general rule (i.e., "I _never_ do that [at any time, ever]").

> Is there something to しない that implies the past?

No. Not grammatically, and not here. In the context of the dialog, there's
nothing "past" about the しない in what Kawai-san is saying.




> Why is しない used for a past event?

This works in English as well in the present tense:

A: _Didn't you do [something awful]?_  
B: _No, I **don't do** that kind of thing._

> 私 そんなこと **しない** よ。

In the sample text, as I read it, Kawai-san isn't saying that they _didn't_ do
XYZ, as a specific instance (i.e., "I didn't do that [at that time, that we're
talking about now]") -- instead, they're saying that they **don't** do XYZ, as
a general rule (i.e., "I _never_ do that [at any time, ever]").

> Is there something to しない that implies the past?

No. Not grammatically, and not here. In the context of the dialog, there's
nothing "past" about the しない in what Kawai-san is saying.

