Classroom of the Elite: Free Will

V9: Chapter 8 - Before the Vote

Akabane Karma POV

Ichinose, the centre of the rumours that had been spreading around lately, had been absent the whole week. It was before the class poll when she finally returned to class.

Considering my seat was near the door, I noticed her almost immediately when she walked through it. I couldn't really tell if her presence here today had anything to do with our conversation last night, but to be honest, I was just glad she had showed up.

"Honami-chan?" Chihiro was the first one to speak.

"H-hey!" Ichinose waved her hand, smiling awkwardly.

Before she could say anything else, Mako and Chihiro jumped over Ichinose, hugging her intently as if fearing she would disappear.

Quickly, all my classmates gathered near the front and surrounded Ichinose, expressing how happy they were to see her.

The commotion seemed to have already spilled out into the hallway, and there was an obvious crowd forming.

So, all the ruckus created by our classmates had gathered the attention, and I noticed the presence of several students from other classes both in the front and the backdoor; of course, Kiyotaka, Nao and Mikoto were among them.

Great.

I suppose as long as Ichinose and I acted normally, there wasn't any risk in any of them learning about what I revealed to Ichinose last night. Even if covered in a veil of lies, there were still a lot of truths in there.

"Well, I couldn't miss such an important day for our class, right?" Ichinose laughed with her friends as her eyes travelled through the room. When her gaze met mine, her smile faded, replaced, for a second by a saddened look which instantly transformed into a determined one.

"Sorry, but Chihiro-chan, Mako-chan, could you give me a little space?" asked Ichinose.

"B-but!"

"It's okay. I'll be just fine. I won't disappear anymore. You don't have to worry," said Ichinose with a gentle smile.

Slowly, she took up a position at the teacher's podium, facing all of her classmates and the uninvited guests we now had

Ichinose breathed in and out as if getting ready for what she was about to do. Then, she bowed her head before all the students of Class D.

"...I'm sorry!" said Ichinose.

"Wh-what are you apologizing to us for, Ichinose? There's no reason for you to apologize to us. Right?" said Shibata, clearly upset, trying to stop Ichinose from speaking.

"Don't try to stop her, Shibata." I said, glaring at him.

He opened his mouth to bark at me, but Ichinose continued.

"The whole year I've been here... There's a secret that I've been keeping hidden from you. I've been keeping it for a long, long time."

"Wait, Ichinose. You don't need to say anything here," said Kanzaki, clearly sensing that something was amiss, his eyes wandering between me and Ichinose while also going toward Kiyotaka for a second. But Ichinose wasn't stopping.

"There have been quite a few strange rumours circulating about me this past week. However, one of those rumours is actually the truth... I am a criminal."