cote react to

part 19

"You conspired with her during the zodiac exam, right?" Ibuki asked Ryuuen. "Did she tell you any of this?"

"No. Even if she did, not like I care." Ryuuen scoffed.

For the first time ever, I saw her expression change, but then another smile crept onto her face.

"Of course you remember. I was quite the problem child, I suppose,"

Kushida-san replied. She lowered her eyes in silence.

"I don't think that's entirely accurate. You weren't a problem child. Everyone trusted you, just like everyone in Class D now trusts you. But-"

"Can you please stop? Stop bringing up the past."

"I suppose. It's meaningless to talk about what's already been done," I
replied.

Ryuuen-kun smiled while he listened to our conversation, looking as though he was enjoying himself.

"You know all the tea, huh?" Nagumo looked at him.

"Tea?" Ryuuen looked amused. "I guess you can say that."

"But loli  over there knows more than I do." He pointed over to Sakayanagi.

"What are you looking at?" Sakayanagi asked them.

"Nothing, gossip girl."

"Ne, Hashimoto-kun. Did he just called me a gossip girl?"

"I mean, they aren't wrong-"

"Care to repeat that?"

"Nothing. I said nothing."

"Well then, you understand what I'm after, right? You know what I want to do?" Kushida-san asked.

"Yes. I've already realized what you want. You want to chase me out of this school. Aren't you taking quite a large risk, though? If I exposed the truth, you'd lose your popularity."

"Me or Horikita-san? It's obvious which of us is more loved. I suppose you could say I'm someone who hedges her bets," Kushida-san replied.

"That's not true, we would have believe Horikita-san." Hirata said.

"Uh... Actually, Kushida-san was right." Matsushita said. "Horikita-san doesn't have a reputation in our class other than well, a bitch while Kushida-san was more popular. The class would have believe her over Horikita-san."

"Well..." Hirata was loss of words to say. Kushida and Horikita looked at Matsushita quiet.

"Even if no one believed what I said, there'd still be lingering doubts. You can't deny the fact that we attended the same junior high," I told her.

"I suppose you're right. But if you do happen to tell anyone about me, I will drag the brother you so love and respect into this," she said.

"What?!" Tachibana gasped.

"Excuse me?" Nagumo's smile turned cold.

"I find it hard to believe that the entire school would believe you over me, who accomplished many great things in this school. Not to mention that I have the trust and belief of the students body." Manabu retorted.

"It's not like I will be doing it now." Kushida quietly said.

"That's good to know."

I reflexively stiffened in response. That was the perfect defense against me. There wasn't a single opening I could exploit. However, Kushida-san couldn't take action easily, either.