After the day's classes ended, Kamio Tatsuya decided to head back to his dorm to rest.
"Good afternoon, Tatsuya, are you free later?"
As Kamio Tatsuya was packing up, Shiina leaned against him, her school bag slung over her shoulder.
"Yeah, I don't have any student council work today, and no training either."
Kamio Tatsuya smiled and accepted Shiina's invitation. Ever since the last group exam, Shiina had seemed a bit down.
It was easy to guess; she probably felt like she had dragged her group down.
"Then let's go to the mall. I want to browse the bookstore."
"Okay, let's go."
Kamio Tatsuya finished packing and walked to the mall with Shiina.
"Still upset about the last exam?"
As they walked, Kamio Tatsuya brought up the recent exam.
"Huh, is it that obvious?"
"I don't know if it's obvious, but I can tell."
Kamio Tatsuya said this as he gently tapped her forehead.
"That last exam was really tough," Shiina sighed. "Even though everyone got along so well in the end, we still didn't get good results."
In the last exam, among the girls, besides the four groups of 14+1, the remaining two groups were formed by students from multiple classes.
To put it bluntly, the students in these groups were the leftovers. This was because girls' relationships could be complicated and prone to unexpected situations.
Incidentally, Ichinose was also in one of these groups because she was worried about the students left in her own class.
However, that group didn't perform well. But it wasn't Shiina or Ichinose's fault; the main issue was that the older students in their larger group were not very capable.
"It's all in the past now. If you're not satisfied, just try harder on the next exam."
"Okay."
After being comforted by Kamio Tatsuya, Shiina's mood immediately brightened.
"Oh, have you heard about Ichinose?"
"Yeah, Ryuen was telling me about it this morning."
"I wonder who started such a terrible rumor," Shiina said, her tone slightly angry. It seemed she had built a good friendship with Ichinose during their time together.
"Of course it was..."
Kamio Tatsuya was about to speak when he saw Ichinose, surrounded by a group of people.
"Ichinose-san is so amazing. Even after suffering such rumors, she can still come out so openly."
"What else can she do? She can't just hide in her room all by herself. That would be falling right into the enemy's trap."
"Exactly. The person who spread the rumors probably wanted to see Ichinose utterly defeated," Shiina sighed too.
"Do you want to go say hello?"
"Huh?"
Shiina was startled, then shook her head.
"Let's not. If it were just Ichinose by herself... but it doesn't look convenient right now."
That was true. A considerable number of people were gathered around Ichinose, making it indeed inconvenient, especially with Shiranami Chihiro among them.
Seeing him holding Ichinose's arm clearly showed he hadn't given up his intentions.
After a short silence, Shiina suddenly looked up at Kamio Tatsuya.
"By the way, Tatsuya, who do you think was spreading rumors about Ichinose?"
"Sakayanagi. There's no one else," Kamio Tatsuya stated without hesitation. "Class D has no reason to do this. Their priority right now is to maintain morale, especially since two students just withdrew.
As for us, Ryuen didn't do it, and no one else would dare. And our class wouldn't sabotage their own leader."
So that left only Sakayanagi.
"Wow, you figured it out that quickly," Shiina nodded. "Could you please help Ichinose out?"
"Help Ichinose?" Kamio Tatsuya stroked his chin. "It's not impossible, but I'm worried that if I'm too outstanding, Ichinose might fall for me."
As soon as he finished speaking, he felt a sharp pain on the top of his foot, and Kamio Tatsuya immediately stopped.
"Ouch, Hiyori-san, you stepped on my foot."
"Oh dear, I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention and I kind of stumbled."
Just how careless were you?
And I was moving just now. It would have been harder to step on me if you weren't paying attention.
But seeing Shiina's narrowed eyes and her gentle smile, Kamio Tatsuya decided to just keep quiet.
"Sigh, this is also something I've been wrestling with," Shiina sighed. After thinking for a moment, she slowly spoke, "But Tatsuya, please help Ichinose. I really can't bear to see her suffer."
"It seems you formed a very deep friendship with her during the group exam."
"Because even towards me, who seems a bit withdrawn, Ichinose-san was always so kind. So, I want to protect Ichinose too, in a way."
Yes!
Now I can openly interact with Ichinose!
"Let's talk about Ichinose after we buy books. Come over to my place."
Shiina had no objections. As for any gossip that might spread, Shiina didn't care at all.
An hour later, after they finished browsing the bookstore, the two returned directly to Kamio Tatsuya's room.
After preparing two cups of black tea, Kamio Tatsuya and Shiina sat facing each other.
"Mmm, your tea ceremony skills have improved a lot, Tatsuya."
After taking a sip of the black tea brewed by Kamio Tatsuya, Shiina couldn't help but praise him.
"It's all thanks to Hiyori-sensei's good teaching."
Kamio Tatsuya responded with a smile.
"Right, what are you planning to do about Ichinose's situation?"
"What to do..." Kamio Tatsuya pondered for a moment. Although he had just agreed to help Ichinose, the matter was actually not easy to handle.
Earlier, on the way back, he had texted Ichinose to ask if she had told anyone else besides him about her situation.
There was still no reply, so he wasn't sure if she was unwilling to reply or hadn't seen the message.
"Hiyori, what do you think is the most effective way to deal with rumors?"
"The most effective way..." Shiina thought for a moment and then gave her answer. "Of course, it's to come forward and clarify directly.
Just like last time, when Ichinose was falsely accused of using illegal means to collect points. The next day, after Ichinose clarified the matter, no one brought it up again."
Kamio Tatsuya nodded. Having the school clarify was indeed the most direct approach.
"But that's only effective if she didn't actually do it, right?"
Shiina nodded, then froze.
"Tatsuya, do you mean..."
"Where there's smoke, there's fire."
Shiina immediately looked helpless.
"No way? Ichinose was actually a repeat offender of violence or was on drugs...?"
"I didn't say that," Kamio Tatsuya quickly interrupted Shiina's wild speculation. "I mean, among all these accusations, Ichinose did commit at least one of them."
Shiina blinked, then nodded and fell into thought.
"But Tatsuya, I have a question."
"What question?"
"Why do you know that Ichinose-san committed one of them? Although it might be my imagination, don't you happen to know something?"
"It's simple. The rumors have been spreading for so many days. If Ichinose were truly innocent, she would have gone to the school for clarification just like last time. But she hasn't made any move for so many days, which says a lot."
"Huh? Is that really all there is to it?"
"What else could it be? Did Ichinose tell me herself what wrong she did before?"
"It's not impossible."
Looking at Shiina's smiling face, Kamio Tatsuya felt like he couldn't fool her.
"Alright, fine. Ichinose did tell me herself that she did wrong in the past."
"Wrong?"
"Yes, but don't ask further. I won't say anything until Ichinose allows me to."
Kamio Tatsuya said this quite frankly, and Shiina didn't press further. She knew when to draw the line.
"So, you mean Ichinose can't directly clarify this current rumor, right?"
"That's right. Given her personality, she definitely wouldn't lie and say she didn't do it." Kamio Tatsuya sighed. "If this continues, she might mentally collapse."
"No! It can't get to that point!" Shiina immediately rejected that future. "We must stop the rumors from spreading further!"
Even knowing that Ichinose had made mistakes in the past, Shiina still chose to help her.
"It's useless. At this level, the school won't intervene. For the student council to step in, Ichinose would have to personally ask for help."
"That's impossible, right? If she could, she would have asked the student council already." Clearly, after more than a week of close interaction, Shiina had gotten to know Ichinose quite well.
"Exactly. So, if we want the school to force its way in, we have to make a bigger fuss."
"Are you planning to spread all sorts of wild rumors all over the school?"
As expected of Shiina, she immediately understood Kamio Tatsuya's thinking.
"If we want to stop it, doing this much should be enough."
"But this method only treats the symptoms, not the root cause. The thorn in Ichinose's heart will still remain, and it might erupt at any moment in the future," Shiina shook her head. "So, we still need to solve Ichinose's problem fundamentally."
"To solve it fundamentally... she'll have to confess to her classmates herself."
Kamio Tatsuya sighed.
To voluntarily confess her dark history, especially such serious dark history for Ichinose, requires courage.
At least Kamio Tatsuya didn't know how to persuade her to face her past.
"Go for it, Tatsuya?"
Kamio Tatsuya was a bit baffled by Shiina's sudden encouragement. What are you talking about?
"Ichinose just needs a little courage right now," Shiina said, her eyes full of encouragement. "Even though I don't want to give her up, it can't be helped, right?"
Kamio Tatsuya remained silent.
In any case, let's try to stir things up first.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"It seems we have a guest."
Kamio Tatsuya nodded.
"I'll get it."
When he opened the door, the person outside surprised Kamio Tatsuya.
"Ichinose? Come in."
"Excuse me for intruding."
Ichinose entered with an apologetic expression and then noticed the women's shoes by the entrance.
"Kamio-kun is entertaining a guest?"
"Ichinose."
Hearing the commotion, Shiina also came out.
"If you have a guest, then I'll come another day..."
Before Ichinose could finish speaking, Shiina walked over and took Ichinose's hand.
"Please stay. We were just talking about you, Ichinose. We're worried about you."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Ichinose looked towards Kamio Tatsuya, who nodded, confirming Shiina's statement.
"Then I'll be bothering you."
Soon, the three were sitting around the kotatsu.
A brief silence fell, and Ichinose tried to speak several times but couldn't.
Seeing Ichinose hesitating, Kamio Tatsuya decided to take the initiative.
"Ichinose, confess to your classmates."
"Huh?"
Ichinose was startled by Kamio Tatsuya's words. She hadn't expected him to suddenly say something like that.
"Before that, can you tell me who else you've told about your situation?" Kamio Tatsuya asked. "Of course, I haven't told anyone, and Hiyori doesn't know either."
Ichinose glanced at Shiina, then hesitantly gave her answer.
"Not long after school started, I told President Nagumo about it."
If it were before the group exam, Ichinose would have trusted Nagumo. After all, he started in Class B and led Class B to promotion.
So, naturally, she felt a bit of admiration for such a capable senior.
However, during the group exam, Nagumo easily shattered Horikita Manabu's trust in him. This made Ichinose realize that Nagumo might not be what he seemed.
And it was shortly after that that rumors about her began to spread among the first-years.
"It seems Nagumo told Sakayanagi about you," Kamio Tatsuya shook his head. "Originally, he and Katsuragi had conspired to get me expelled during the group exam, and then they would tell you about your situation to Katsuragi.
But Katsuragi and I teamed up against him, causing him to lose trust in Katsuragi, so he partnered with Sakayanagi instead?"
At this point, it was no longer important to dwell on why Ichinose told Nagumo about it. The important thing was to overcome the current hurdle.
"I'm sorry, it's all my fault. Because at that time, Senior Nagumo..."
Ichinose explained the situation with some dejection.
In summary, Nagumo was a scoundrel who tricked an innocent girl.
Just a month into school, Ichinose probably hadn't yet realized the importance of information at this school.
But Nagumo, using his familiarity with the school rules and pretending to be a good person, easily obtained information from Ichinose.
Thinking about this, Kamio Tatsuya admired himself again.
Because at the beginning of the school year, when he was looking for information from the seniors, he observed carefully and chose Asahina. If he had gone to Nagumo for information back then, he would have probably been tricked too.
After all, that guy's face was very deceitful.
"Ichinose, go and confess to your classmates."
After learning the cause and effect, Kamio Tatsuya looked at Ichinose with a serious expression.
"Huh? But..."
"Are you worried that your classmates won't forgive you after they find out?"
Kamio Tatsuya saw through Ichinose's concern at a glance.
"Yes, I'm a little worried."
"Don't worry. If any of your classmates don't forgive you, just transfer to Class C. Coincidentally, I got some points from the last exam."
Kamio Tatsuya's suggestion wasn't exactly perfect, but it was far from bad.
Seeing this, Shiina's eyes lit up.
"I'd gladly welcome Ichinose to Class C. Anyway, Class C already has a lot of problem children, so even if Ichinose...
Oh, sorry. I didn't mean that Ichinose is bad. I didn't mean it that way."
Mid-sentence, Shiina realized her phrasing was off and quickly waved her hands in apology.
"It's alright," Ichinose shook her head, still looking hesitant. "Shiina-san, can you listen to me talk about what happened before?"
"If Ichinose-san is willing, I'd be very happy to listen," Shiina said, taking Ichinose's hand, which was clenched due to anxiety.
Then, Ichinose recounted her past actions and their consequences to Shiina, her words identical to what she had told Kamio Tatsuya.
After listening, Shiina didn't say anything, but she squeezed Ichinose's hand tighter and tighter.
"Ichinose-san, you can do it."
Ultimately, it was Shiina who offered Ichinose these words of encouragement.
"What's done in the past cannot be changed. The most important thing is to face your mistakes, acknowledge them, correct them, and atone for what you've done, isn't it?"
Yes, Kamio Tatsuya nodded. It was the same as that incident.
Even in this world, the ugly face of the Japanese government remained unchanged.
Ichinose nodded.
It wasn't that she was afraid to face her mistakes. She was afraid that her classmates would distance themselves from her once they knew about her past.
She didn't want to give up the friendships she had built with her classmates over the past year.
"I understand. I'll confess to everyone tomorrow and beg for their forgiveness." Ichinose's gaze became firm. "After that, can I ask for your help, Kamio?"
"Of course. I'll help you. And good luck."
After cheering Ichinose on, she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and showed a smile again.
"As expected of Ichinose, what great resolve."
"She's Ichinose, after all," Kamio Tatsuya chuckled. "No one is perfect. But knowing your mistakes and correcting them is the greatest virtue. If you make a mistake, just make amends."
Even if someone committed murder, in Kamio Tatsuya's opinion, it could still be atoned for, at most by giving up one's own life.
Shiina, standing beside them, nodded in agreement with Kamio Tatsuya's view.
Since Ichinose was now willing to face her past and accept judgment from her entire class, the next issue was Sakayanagi.
Although he didn't think Sakayanagi would let this matter go easily, what if she did?
At that time, Kamio Tatsuya would need to make a bigger scene.
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