cote react to

part 9

"Everyone seems to think that you two are dating, huh?" Nagumo commented.

"I can't even understand how people come to that conclusion." Horikita disagreed.

"Me neither" Ayanokoji muttered.

"Oh right. You helped her class with this class, Honami-chan." Chihiro tilted her head thoughtfully.

"It's nothing like that."

Horikita immediately denied it. She was just quick to respond to suggestions like that.

"Ha ha, I see. This place is a bit too hot to be a dating place.

SHe had no connection to Ichinose. I couldn't be sure, but she probably didn't even know my name. I was just one of many students to her. Perhaps she was an acquaintance of Horikita's? Or a friend? No. There was no way. If you suddenly said something like "Oh my, it's been too long! How are you?" and "I'm fine, I'm fine!" and they hugged, I would probably start foaming at the mouth and then pass out.

They all laughed.

Horikita blushed in embarrassment. "You really do have a death wish, don't you?" She angrily stood up on her seat, but Karuizawa and Matsushita pushed her down.

"Calm down, Horikita-san." Hirata stepped between the two.

"Hey..?" Ichinose awkwardly scratched her cheek."You have a great sense of humor, man!" Ike laughed out loud, clutching his stomach.

Sudo, who was in love with Horikita, tried to hold back his laughter for her sake.

"Do you have any business with us?" Horikita asked.

Horikita was on her guard after Ichinose's sudden appearance. He probably didn't think it was a coincidence that Ichinose tried to talk to us.

"Business, huh? Well, it's more like 'What are you doing here?'"

"Nothing. We're wandering around for no reason."

I would have liked to answer honestly, but the pressure of Horikita's gaze made me lie.

"For no reason, huh? You're from Class D, right?"

"Do you know us?"Class D, right?"

"I've seen you twice before. However, we didn't speak directly. I remember seeing you in the library once, too."

It seemed that she somehow remembered me. Maybe I was a little cool.

"I have a very good memory, you know?"

Did she mean that if her memory wasn't good, she wouldn't have much of an impression? I had been a little happy, but my levity died with the ambiguous comment.

"That wasn't what I meant, Ayanokoji-kun!" Ichinose quickly corrected her thoughts.

Ayanokoji looked at her, "Please don't worry about me. I have a habit of putting myself down and depressed, you see." He gestured to himself.

'Uhm... How is that supposed to help?'

"I thought there was surely something here related to the fight. I wasn't here yesterday when Class B found out about the witness. Later, I heard that Class D was looking for evidence of Sudou's innocence."

"If it turns out that we were here due to an investigation, what's your connection?"

"Hmm, a connection? Well, I'm not connected. When I found out what happened, I had some doubts. So I thought I'd come here to take a look. Would you mind informing me?"