Chaoskouji

Arc 2 Chapter 3 - The eyes of goodwill

That was a lie. Ichinose probably understood the entire situation, from Ryuuen to the complete pit class D was in. Which made it even more interesting that she would offer her help.

"Why are you trying to help us Ichinose? Class B gets nothing out of this, in fact it probably holds you back from your ordinary lives." It was suspicious, so I decided to outright confront her about it.

"Hey, Ayanokouji-kun, there's no need to be suspicious. Ichinose-san is a nice person, and she wants to help, what's wrong with that?"

"No no, Kushida-san, he's right to be concerned. But are Classes D and B completely unrelated to each other? We don't know when these cases will spring up, or whom they'll involve. Since the classes are in constant competition, there's always the chance that this will happen. This was the merely the first case. If the party that lied wins, that'd set a bad precedent. Also, I personally can't turn away now that I know what happened."

I couldn't tell whether Ichinose was being serious or joking.

"See, Ayanokouji-kun, we can trust Ichinose. She just wants to help."

If Kushida actually believed that then I would give up on ever hoping to understand her. More likely, she had to cultivate good relations with everyone, and blind trust was an easy method of doing so.

"Anyway, about your friend. He's a first year, but he might become a regular on the basketball team, right? That's amazing. Even if he's holding you guys back right now, he might become a great asset later. I mean, the school evaluates club and philanthropic activities, right? So, if he enters a tournament and does well, Sudou-kun could earn points. Those'll be tied to your class points, too. Wait... Did you guys not know that? Did your teacher not tell you?"

We'd only heard that it would influence our private points."

"Sensei never mentioned this to us. I knew she didn't like us much, but to think she'd hide important things hurts a little..." Kushida was looking down at the reveal of the betrayal.

This was yet another oversight, another instance where Chabashira had failed to disclose something important. I wondered if Class B had heard about this from their teacher...

A usual, our teacher didn't even pretend to give us equal treatment. Chabashira really hated our class, it was fantastic.

"Your homeroom teacher is kind of weird," said Ichinose.

"She doesn't seem motivated to tell us anything. She's completely apathetic. Some teachers are like that."

"If we knew that, more of our class would be willing to help Sudou-kun Now that we do know, we can get even more help! I knew you were reliable Ichinose-san!"

Once again Kushida spun the conversation into praising Ichinose.

"Did you know that the school evaluates homeroom teachers when their class graduates?"

"This is the first I've heard of it. Are you sure?" I wasn't interested so much as I had no choice but to be interested. That was a crucial piece of information.

"Our homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya-sensei, says it like it's her motto. She says she wants to do her best because the homeroom teacher for Class A gets a special bonus. Looks like it's pretty different for you guys."

"I'm envious of your relationship with your homeroom teacher. And your class environment."

If that was the case, what drove Chabashira to be so apathetic to us. There was no benefit to leaving us to fail, so there must be a reason behind her actions.

"Well, it seems like there's nothing left to do here."

"Right! I was going to talk to some senpai's about Sudou-kun's case, see if they had anything they knew. You coming Ayanokouji-kun? I can help you meet some new people~" She knew I disliked interacting with dull people, and most of her friends would not be interesting whatsoever. A small stab of revenge I see.