Chapter: 7.5

Ichinose let out a chuckle of self-derision.

"I mean, there's absolutely no way a mother wouldn't notice when her own daughter did something bad, right? I told my sister to keep the gift a secret. But she wore it when we went to visit our mother in the hospital. I mean, of course she would. She could never have dreamed it was a stolen gift. That was the first time in my life that I ever saw my mother seriously angry. She slapped me and took the gift from my crying little sister, who didn't understand. Even though she should have still been in the hospital, my mother dragged me all the way back to the store, where I got on my knees and begged for forgiveness. That was when I finally understood the weight of my crime. I realized that no matter what excuses I made, there was nothing I could do to take it all back."

That was Ichinose's past. The past she had been hiding.

"In the end, the clerk at the store didn't hand me over to the police.

Still, word got out. In the blink of an eye, my family was the center of controversy. I shut down and retreated inward. For almost half my third year of junior high, I cut myself off from the world and stayed in my room… But eventually, I started thinking about trying to move forward, once again. It was my homeroom teacher telling me about this school back then that made me start to think about it. You were exempted from paying tuition fees and course fees, and if you graduated, you could get a job anywhere. I wanted to start over. I wanted a fresh slate."

As Ichinose had finished telling her story, she bowed once more to all of the students in Class B.

"I'm sorry, everyone. I'm such a pathetic, useless leader…" "That's not true, Ichinose," said Shibata, who had been listening

nearby. "I heard everything you had to say, and I still think that you're a good

person. I'm sure of it. Right?"

"Yeah. You might have done something bad, Honami-chan, but—"

Klak!

The loud crack of a cane being struck against the floor echoed throughout the room.

"Please, spare me. Could you Class-B cretins at least try to not make

me laugh?" said Sakayanagi, curtly brushing aside the voices coming out in support of Ichinose. "Really, this is such an absurd farce. Do you mean to gain sympathy by bringing up unnecessary details about your past? No matter the circumstances, shoplifting is still shoplifting. You don't deserve sympathy. Your thievery was for the sake of your own self-interest."

Standing nearby, Kamuro's expression stiffened for a moment as she heard what Sakayanagi said.

"Yes, you're absolutely right. The circumstances of my past don't make any difference at all," said Ichinose.

"The truth of the matter is that you committed a crime. Therefore, isn't it fair to assume you might also steal the large quantity of private points that you've been entrusted with, around the time graduation draws near?" said Sakayanagi.

"…I could never do something like that, Sakayanagi-san. If I ignored everyone else's wishes and moved up to Class A myself, it would be an act of betrayal. I don't think the school would allow something like that either," said Ichinose.

"Yes, I suppose so. You are rather clever, so I suppose you wouldn't do something so obvious. But what if you were to, for example, put on a show for everyone? Give a little speech to earn everyone's sympathy, like you just did, to gain their approval to move on up to Class A?" said Sakayanagi, relentlessly pressing the attack.

"Yes, you have a point. Maybe… Maybe no matter how hard I try, my efforts will just come off as hypocritical. Once you've committed a crime, it can never be erased."

Ichinose would always be stuck with the label of a criminal, and that label meant people would never stop suspecting that she might eventually betray them one day.

"Do you all understand now, everyone? This is the real Ichinose Honami-san. As long as you have such a person as your leader, Class B has no chance of victory," said Sakayanagi, driving home the reality of the situation. "Now, please return all your private points to these students, and step down as the leader of Class B. I would like for you to do at least that much. If you don't, these awful rumors about you will never stop, will they?"

Ichinose closed her eyes. Then, quietly, she took a deep breath.

"So what do you say, Ichinose? What do you want to do?" asked Kanzaki, representing Class B.

The question was whether or not she would continue as the class leader. Ichinose, and only Ichinose, was the one who could make that decision. If this had been the first time she'd had her spirit crushed, then maybe she wouldn't have held firm. Maybe she would have submitted.

However, Ichinose had already had her spirit broken before. And I was the one who'd broken it.

But she had recovered. The parts of her that had been broken had

become stronger and more resilient than before.

"This is the end of my penitence!" said Ichinose, turning to Sakayanagi with a smile. "It is certainly true that I shoplifted. As you said, Sakayanagi- san, I don't deserve sympathy. A crime is a crime, after all. I have no intention of running from that truth. But the truth is that I was never given a sentence to serve out for that crime. In other words, what's done is done. I don't need to keep paying the price."

"What an incredibly shameless thing to say. You're being unbelievably bold, for a shoplifting thief."

"Maybe so. But I'm not looking back anymore. I won't let my past keep me down." Ichinose turned her smiling face toward her classmates. "Even though I'm so shameless… Will you follow me until the end, everyone?"

After she spoke, there was a moment of silence. Ichinose wasn't speaking from a false sense of confidence or optimism. Even now, she was on the verge of tears. She wanted to run away. She was ashamed of her past. And yet, she continued to push forward. There was no way the students of Class B, who'd shared a year of joys and sorrows with her, wouldn't understand that.

"Well, of course we'll follow you! Right?!" shouted Shibata, with a

smile.

Every single student of Class B let out a unanimous cheer. This was the

kind of following Ichinose inspired. I could really feel the depth of their

devotion to her. Keisei and Akito beamed, seeming similarly overjoyed by this showing of support from Class B.

I doubted there was a single other student at this school who could inspire this kind of support. Ichinose wasn't just being cheered on by the entirety of Class B, but by students from other classes too.

"Sakayanagi… What do we do now?" asked Kamuro.

Sakayanagi's attack had been neutralized. Kamuro could tell, which was why she spoke up, asking a question that could be interpreted as her subtly suggesting that they retreat.

"Heh heh heh." Sakayanagi laughed. "Heh heh heh heh." Then she laughed again, a little longer this time.

"I see. Well, it would appear you've pulled the wool quite adeptly over your classmates' eyes. But as you said yourself earlier, it's not as though your criminal past will just disappear. Rumors will continue to spread about you for a long, long time to come," said Sakayanagi.

"Yes. But I'm not going to run away from it anymore."

"Is that so? Why then, I'm just going to have to thoroughly des—" "Okay, that's quite enough, everyone."

Just as Sakayanagi was about to answer Ichinose, some teachers and

students entered Class B. The new arrivals were Student Council President Nagumo, as well as the homeroom teacher for Class B, Hoshinomiya, and our homeroom teacher, Chabashira.

"Oh my, this is quite an impressive gathering. However, this is a matter between the first-year students, is it not?" asked Sakayanagi.

"You're correct that this appears to be a dispute between first-years, sure. However, as of today, the act of carelessly spreading rumors is prohibited," Nagumo told her.

"…What do you mean? I don't accept the imposition of such a gag order. Regardless of how the rumors about her originated, if Ichinose-san was troubled by them, she should have reported them to the school, no?"

"That's not it, Sakayanagi. This is no longer just about Ichinose," replied Nagumo.

"…What are you saying?"

Nagumo opened his mouth to explain, but Chabashira spoke up instead.

"I won't go into detail, but it has been clearly confirmed that slanderous statements are being exchanged between the first-year students," she explained. "There are already close to twenty rumors in circulation. Any further gossip will damage social bonds and negatively impact student behavior. Rumors are rumors, but regardless of whether they can be conclusively proven true or false, the school no longer wishes to see the spread of rumors targeting specific individuals. Therefore, I'm taking this opportunity to inform you that, going forward, anyone who circulates nonsensical rumors may be punished for their actions."

The school had been silently tolerating the endless rumor-mongering so far. It seemed they'd finally decided to take action.

"…I see. So that's how it is, then," said Sakayanagi, appearing to understand the situation after hearing Chabashira's explanation.

"I suppose this means the school is finally taking a stand," Horikita said to me. She'd approached to get a good look at the situation, and similarly grasped what was going on. "I suppose this might be enough to save the affected classes. As for Ichinose-san, the original target of all of this…I don't think Sakayanagi's faction can keep attacking her. The rumors about

Hondou-kun, Shinohara-san, you, and Satou-san should be put to rest now too."

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"Sakayanagi-san went too far. She tried to use the same strategy to attack all the other classes at the same time, but in doing so, her movements became too conspicuous and drew the school's attention. It seems this was just an overzealous move from an incredibly aggressive girl," said Horikita.

After saying that, she fell silent. Then, a short while later, she opened her mouth to speak again.

"But—"

"What's up?"

"Never mind. It's nothing."

Horikita didn't seem to want to say any more.

"Let's pull back. If the school's making its move, then I believe that our presence is no longer required here."

Sakayanagi, understanding what was going on, gave the order to her classmates to withdraw. The uproarious Class B grew even louder, in celebration. Class A had been completely driven back.

7.9

WHEN WE MADE IT BACK to Class C, Haruka excitedly asked Akito about what happened.

"Hey, so how was Class B? It sounded like there was this huge commotion over there."

"Things took a completely unexpected turn. Ichinose got Sakayanagi to retreat," said Akito, giving a concise account of what happened with Class B. He told her truth regarding the gossip about Ichinose, and the fact that the school had given us an official notice that spreading rumors would no longer be tolerated from this point on.

"The teachers will probably give us an official statement during afternoon classes."

"Still, shoplifting, huh? I mean, that's super surprising, but I guess it kind of makes what happened next make sense. If people keep bringing up something from your past that you don't want to revisit, then of course you'd wanna take some time off school," said Haruka, speaking out in Ichinose's defense now that she'd learned what happened.

"Anyway, the ordeal is over now. Now let's not get distracted by the rumors and just focus on the exam."

"Isn't this great, Kiyopon?" "Yeah… I guess so."

Then, my phone rang. "Who's that from?"

"It's from an unregistered number."

I showed the number displayed on the screen to Haruka and the others. It was a different number than the one I had gotten a call from in the middle of the night, some time ago. I got up from my seat, put a little distance between myself and the rest of the group, and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Is this Ayanokouji-kun?"

I recognized the caller's voice immediately. It was Sakayanagi. "How did you know my numb—well, I guess it's not too difficult to look up, come to think of it."

"Quite. We still have roughly ten minutes before our lunch break ends.

Would you mind stepping outside to meet me?"

I could refuse, but then I'd have to make time to meet up with her later, and that would be a pain. "Where do you want me to go?" I asked, stepping out into the hallway.

"Let's see. How about by the first-floor entryway?" she asked. "Got it."

I ended the call and made my way over to the entryway. I'd thought that Kamuro and Hashimoto might have been with her, but Sakayanagi was alone when I arrived.

"Please relax. I did not bring anyone with me this time. I must say, you truly performed excellently, Ayanokouji-kun."

"What are you talking about?"

"It would seem you've been working behind the scenes without me noticing. While a number of mysteries remain, I'm not really interested in seeking to solve them. There's only one thing I'm truly curious to know. Why did you decide to protect Ichinose-san?" she asked, her gaze fixated on me.

"Hold on. I have no clue what you're on about."

"I can only imagine that it was precisely because you saved her that Ichinose-san was so bold back then… No, that she was able to get back on her feet again. Perhaps that wasn't the first time she'd confessed what happened in her past? Maybe she's already told someone else about it beforehand?" asked Sakayanagi.

"And that someone else is me, I'm guessing?" I asked. "Yes."

It was a completely understandable conclusion for her to arrive at. "Didn't you use Kamuro to make me make a move?" I asked.

"Used Kamuro-san?"

"Before I could seek to clarify the facts myself, she told me everything.

Only me. About the fact that Ichinose shoplifted in the past." "She acted entirely on her own," said Sakayanagi. "No, that's not true."

"How can you be so sure of that?" Apparently, she wanted to hear my reasoning.

"She handed over a can of beer as proof that she shoplifted. But she hadn't stolen it that day. Kamuro had stolen it on the day she had started school here."

"And what's your basis for saying that?"

"The sell-by date. After I checked the sell-by date on the can of beer that Kamuro handed me, I went over to the convenience store and checked the dates on their stock of the same brand. They were more than four months apart. I find it hard to believe the store happened to have one can that was four months older than the others. Kamuro said that she'd given you the can of beer she stole back then, and that you'd told her you would dispose of it. Which means she re-procured that can from you before meeting me and presented me with it. Or contacted you right after she left my room and got it then."

By that point, the fact of Kamuro contacting me and telling me about Ichinose's past was well within the range of what I had expected.

"Why would you think I'd take such roundabout action?" Sakayanagi

asked.

"To lure me out, probably?" I countered.

"Heh heh heh. I suppose I should respond by saying that's just what I'd

expect from you, Ayanokouji-kun."

"It would have been easy for me to sit on the sidelines and watch events unfold. Actually, that's exactly what I had planned to do."

The person who made me stray from those plans was none other than Sakayanagi herself. She'd attached Ichinose with one hand, while offering her support with the other. Of course, she'd done the latter in an extremely

roundabout way.

"It was all for the sake of getting your attention, Ayanokouji-kun." Sakayanagi, gripping her cane tight, slowly walked toward me. "I didn't care if Ichinose-san was destroyed as a result. However, I was hoping that if I simply left the possibility open for you to intervene, then you would take hold of it. I estimated the odds were fifty-fifty that you would…but it would seem things turned out exactly as I hoped it would."

In other words, she was saying Ichinose's existence didn't matter to her

at all.

"Please have a little contest with me, Ayanokouji-kun." "And if I say no?"

"While you might try to say it wouldn't significantly hurt you, I'd

expose you as the mastermind leading Class C. And I'm sure that you understand quite well that that wouldn't be something you could dismiss as a mere rumor."

I was sure Sakayanagi would calmly and unhesitatingly proceed to make my secrets known to all, even if the school had ostensibly prohibited her from spreading rumors.

"So what do you say? Will you accept?" she asked.

"How would we win this? You're Class A. I'm Class C. The difference is obvious."

"Well, I don't know exactly what the next exam will cover, but how about we compare our rankings? If you win, then I promise that from this point on, I will not speak a word to anyone about your past."

While that wasn't a bad offer, there was no guarantee that she was going to honor her word. And I had absolutely no intention of keeping any written or audio records of this arrangement.

"You don't believe me, hm? But you have no choice but to believe me. If you don't, then your past will be exposed for all to see. That would make it rather hard for you to live an ordinary life, wouldn't it?"

"Do whatever you want. If that does happen, though, you'll never, ever get the chance to fight me."

"Heh heh. Yes, I suppose that's what you would say, Ayanokouji-kun."

Sakayanagi knew I wouldn't agree to compete with her so easily.

Which was exactly why she had yet to tell anyone about my past.

"Well, then, what if I wager my future at this school? If I lose, I'll drop out. Furthermore, I don't mind if you have my father, the principal, be a witness to act as guarantor." Sakayanagi radiated absolute confidence that she would undoubtedly win against me. "Of course, even if you lose to me, there's no need for you to leave the school. I don't intend to ask you to wager anything significant, either. I will, however, publicly announce that you are the mastermind leading Class C. That is all. If you won't accept some degree of risk, then you might simply withdraw from our little contest."

"If those are your conditions, then I accept."

"Thank you very much, Ayanokouji-kun. It seems my boring life here at this school is finally at an end."

With a broad, satisfied grin on her face, Sakayanagi withdrew.

I decided to call the person at the center of recent events; the one who'd been looming in the background the whole time. It wasn't Horikita, or Kei. And not Horikita's brother either.

"I was just thinking it was about time I heard from you. Good evening, Ayanokouji-kun."