With the plan set, Ichinose prepared to leave.
Just then, her phone buzzed. After looking at it, her expression suddenly stiffened.
"What's wrong?"
Her expression change did not go unnoticed by Kamio Tatsuya and Shiina.
"Sorry, I have to go. It looks like Kanzaki is about to clash with students from another class."
Huh?
That Kanzaki?
Clashing with students from another class?
I definitely need to see this.
"I'll go with you. After all, I am the student council vice president."
Saying that, Kamio Tatsuya dropped his pen and crawled out from under the heated table.
Ichinose hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"Then I'll be counting on Hiyori to watch the house."
"Bye-bye."
Shiina waved at Kamio Tatsuya.
Upon reaching the first floor, Ichinose turned to look at Kamio Tatsuya.
"Can we run? Kanzaki has always given me a calm impression, but I'm still worried something might happen."
"Yeah, no problem. Where is it?"
"At school, next to the gymnasium."
So, the two of them ran towards the school.
The dormitory was not far from the school, at most less than a kilometer away. Including the distance within the school, it was less than two kilometers.
However, Ichinose's stamina was clearly no match for Kamio Tatsuya's, so it took them nearly ten minutes to get there.
But to say the least, it was quite lively here.
Besides Kanzaki, whom Ichinose mentioned, there were other people here as well.
The one confronting Kanzaki was Hashimoto from Class B. Yes, it seemed this guy was the one Sakayanagi sent out to spread rumors.
From the fact that Ryuen chose Hashimoto as a teammate during the wilderness survival exam, it was clear this guy was capable, otherwise Ryuen wouldn't have picked him.
And apart from these two, another group of people were also gathered here at this moment.
It was the group from Class D.
The ones who have been close to Ayanokouji lately: Yukimura, Miyake, Hasebe, and Sakura.
As soon as Ichinose arrived, she rejoined the students from her own class who were standing at the periphery.
"Oh my, looks like we have new guests."
"Yeah, it's really lively here. Could it be that you three classes are planning a group fight? Isn't it a bit rude to exclude our Class C? Count us in."
Just as Kamio Tatsuya finished speaking, Ishizaki and Yamada appeared from who knows where.
They were here because Kamio Tatsuya had sent them a text message when he left the dormitory, asking them to come over if they had time.
Coincidentally, the two had just come out of the mall and were on their way back to the dormitory when they received Kamio Tatsuya's notification and came over.
Not to mention anything else, Kamio Tatsuya, Ishizaki Daichi, and Yamada Albert, all three of them were over 180cm tall.
Although Kamio Tatsuya looked relatively thin, Ishizaki and Yamada were sturdy.
The three of them standing there exuded a palpable pressure.
Seeing this, Hashimoto immediately raised his hands in surrender.
"I didn't do anything. Kanzaki is the one stopping me from leaving."
"Because I thought it was very suspicious for you, who doesn't participate in any clubs, to not have left school at this time, I intended to question you for clarification."
It seemed Kanzaki was quite perceptive. With no special exams currently, students rarely went to the library.
There were no entertainment facilities within the school, so people who didn't join clubs typically left school to go to the mall to play or returned to their dorms to rest.
Kamio Tatsuya himself had gone to the mall and then back to his dorm, yet Hashimoto was still loitering around school.
It was impossible to say he had no ulterior motive.
Combined with the rampant rumors about Ichinose in the past few days, Kanzaki could basically confirm that Hashimoto was staying at school to spread rumors about Ichinose.
Therefore, Kanzaki had cornered him here at this time.
He just hadn't expected that his confrontation with Hashimoto would be seen by students who had just finished their club activities, and then more and more people kept coming.
Eventually even Ichinose herself arrived. He actually didn't want to alarm Ichinose, but things didn't go as planned.
As for Ichinose, she understood the situation from their brief conversation.
"Kanzaki, please don't trouble yourself with my affairs. Regardless, this matter will have a resolution by tomorrow."
Hearing Ichinose's words, Kanzaki showed a surprised expression.
"Ichinose, you..."
He wasn't an idiot, so he could naturally deduce from recent events that some of the rumors targeting Ichinose might be true.
However, after nearly a year of getting to know her, he knew very well what kind of person Ichinose was now. He had even asked her about it.
But at the time, Ichinose neither confirmed nor denied it, so he chose to support her as she was.
But he hadn't expected Ichinose to make a decision so quickly.
Then, he glanced at Kamio Tatsuya standing not far away, and a realization dawned on him, along with some worry.
Perhaps Ichinose trusted Kamio Tatsuya a lot, but Kanzaki was wary of Kamio Tatsuya.
Not to mention anything far off, during the wilderness survival exam, the other party had directly taken fifteen million private points from them.
This clearly showed that although Kamio Tatsuya had a good relationship with Ichinose, he did not hold back when it came to class rivalry.
"I understand."
Then, Kanzaki turned his attention to the group from Class D.
"Miyake, I'm sorry to have worried you."
"Uh, it's fine."
Miyake, who had a slightly delinquent aura, scratched his head in response to Kanzaki. As for the others beside him, their expressions were varied, to say the least.
"It seems there's nothing more for me here, so I'll be going now."
Seeing that Kanzaki was no longer blocking him, Hashimoto turned his leg to walk out of the school.
"Please wait a moment, Hashimoto."
"Oh? Is there something you need? Ichinose."
"I plan to explain the rumors from the past few days after school tomorrow. Could you please relay this message to Sakayanagi?"
Hashimoto's face immediately showed surprise.
Then, he nodded after a moment of silence.
"I understand. I'll tell Princess."
Princess...
Sakayanagi is really a hidden chuunibyou.
Making her subordinates call her Princess, doesn't she find it embarrassing?
Hmm, maybe I can tease her with this title next time.
A rather nonsensical farce ended. Kamio Tatsuya glanced at Ichinose, who was comforting students from her class, and the bewildered Class D students standing not far away.
Then he waved to Ishizaki and Yamada, and they left.
"Kamio, what did Ichinose mean by explaining the rumors?"
Ishizaki scratched his head, not understanding.
"Aren't those rumors just slander?"
Hearing Ishizaki's words, Kamio Tatsuya looked at him with surprise.
"You think they're all slander?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Ishizaki asked curiously. "Although Big Brother Ryuen looks down on Ichinose, he's never said that Ichinose's demeanor is fake."
"If you want to know, just come and see after school tomorrow."
Kamio Tatsuya didn't know how to answer him.
As for why Ishizaki was interested in this matter, it was entirely normal.
For many male students, both first-year and upperclassmen, Ichinose was like a goddess.
It was perfectly normal to develop feelings for someone like her.
Especially gossip about such people would make them even more interested.
...
Bright and early the next day, Ichinose's words from the previous evening had spread throughout the first grade. Even Class C was discussing the matter.
It was easy to assume this was Hashimoto's doing or Sakayanagi's instruction.
"Ichinose, she's really impressed me."
As soon as Kamio Tatsuya sat down, Ryuen made this conclusion.
Speaking of which, Ryuen, you look like a delinquent, but you come to school earlier than me every day. You're actually a good student, aren't you?
"Oh? How so?"
"Don't play dumb. It's difficult to face one's own mistakes, especially for someone like her," Ryuen glanced at Kamio Tatsuya.
"Perhaps," Kamio Tatsuya vaguely replied. "By the way, has that slicked-back punk been up to anything lately?"
"Tokito? Heh heh. According to Manabe's report, that guy is still relentlessly instigating some students to cause trouble."
Ryuen glanced at Tokito with a disdainful smile.
He didn't deal with Tokito during the last wilderness survival exam because the cost would have been too high.
At that time, if he wanted to take down Tokito, he would have had to make Tokito the group leader, or use a self-destruct method, just like the third-year Ikari group.
Either way, it would have cost Class C a large number of class points. After considering it, Ryuen decided to wait and see for future opportunities.
Moreover, he was very confident that under his control, Tokito wouldn't be able to stir up much trouble for the time being.
As the dismissal bell rang, the first-year building immediately became lively. Many students in Class C rushed out of the classroom without even packing their bags.
Not just Class C, but also Class B and Class D had people heading towards their classrooms, because today was the day Ichinose had declared she would explain the rumors.
Even people unrelated to the matter wanted to know what was going on.
Everyone has a bit of gossip in them, especially when it concerns the famous Ichinose among the first-year students.
"You're going too."
Ryuen looked at Kamio Tatsuya, who was preparing to leave.
"I'm the student council vice president, after all. I need to keep an eye on the situation. I can't just let them fight, can I?"
Kamio Tatsuya said this with a feigned pretense, and Ryuen responded with a scoff.
Then, Ryuen turned and left without looking back, seemingly uninterested in Ichinose's affairs.
And when Kamio Tatsuya arrived at the classroom door, he found it already surrounded by students from various classes.
"What are you doing here, Sakayanagi!"
As he squeezed through the crowd, he saw Shibata from Class A interrogating Sakayanagi, who had just arrived.
"Of course, I'm here to see how Ichinose plans to explain. Besides, didn't Ichinose herself invite me?"
Sakayanagi smiled as she looked at Ichinose in the crowd.
"Thank you very much for coming, Sakayanagi."
Although Ichinose's expression appeared calm, she was likely very nervous.
Kamio Tatsuya, standing at the edge of the crowd, looked towards Ichinose. Just then, she also saw him.
Their eyes met. Kamio Tatsuya gave her an encouraging smile.
"Sakayanagi, you're the one who spread the rumors about me at school, aren't you?"
"Oh my, you can't just say such things. Does being popular give you the right to slander people?" Sakayanagi tilted her head.
"Sakayanagi, denying it is useless. If I report this to the student council, they can trace back and find the original rumor spreader."
Ichinose's expression was neither humble nor arrogant. Then, a sad look appeared on her face.
"However, I don't intend to pursue this matter, because some of those rumors are actually true."
Ichinose admitted it.
The surrounding crowd immediately buzzed, starting to discuss what Ichinose had done.
The rumors were quite excessive, accusing her of being a habitual offender, drug abuse, or even past theft or promiscuity...
"It's good that she admitted it. This means that Ichinose isn't as perfect as she appears."
"I never said I was a perfect person," Ichinose shook her head. "I've also made huge mistakes."
Ichinose's words brought a smile to Sakayanagi's face.
"Then can you tell us? Because we can't imagine what kind of mistake someone like the overly kind Ichinose would make. It's better to say it directly than to let everyone here speculate."
Hearing Sakayanagi's words, Ichinose forced a smile, then took a deep breath to compose herself.
"Yes, that was my intention, which is why I invited you here. What I've been hiding from everyone – I will tell you now."
Then, Ichinose quietly confessed to the mistake she had made in the past, which was her act of theft.
Upon hearing these words, while most of the first-year students were somewhat surprised, after hearing about Ichinose's subsequent experiences, they couldn't help but feel sympathy for her.
"I know I made a mistake, so I want to atone for it," Ichinose concluded, then turned to her classmates. "I'm sorry, everyone, for hiding this from you. I'm sorry for being so weak as your leader..."
"That's not true, Ichinose."
"After hearing what you just said, I'm even more convinced now. Convinced that Ichinose is indeed a good person! Right, everyone?"
"Yeah! Maybe Honami-chan did something bad before, but as long as now—"
Ichinose's confession did not disappoint her classmates; in fact, it elevated the class's cohesion to a new level.
Tsk, if Ryuen could achieve this level...
Well, he wouldn't be Ryuen then; he'd have to be Ryuen Kakeru-ko.
It was just a bit unfortunate that the plan to transfer Ichinose to Class C would have to be put on hold for now.
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