COTE: The Quiet One Can Be Dangerous

Vol. 9 Chp. 5: Confronting The Rumors

Ichinose did not respond. Instead, she continued to return Sakayanagi's gaze.

"Am I mistaken? Ichinose Honami-san?"

Sakayanagi's question was fierce. It had undoubtedly managed to force Ichinose into desperation, but she didn't seem worried.

"Could you give me a little space? Chihiro-chan. Mako-chan. I want to address the rumors."

"B-but!"

"It's okay. You don't need to be worried about me. I'll be alright," Ichinose calmly moved forward with a gentle smile and closed the distance with Sakayanagi.

Ultimately, Ichinose faced not only Sakayanagi but all her classmates throughout the classroom.

"I've kept this from all of you... but I'll confess it all right now," Ichinose said, "I was a shoplifter..."

In light of her unexpected revelation, the surprise was significant enough to impact spectators outside Class B, such as Keisei and Akito.

"Honami-chan... a shoplifter...? R-really?" Amikura asked.

While apologizing, Ichinose began to recount her experience with shoplifting, "I came from a fatherless family, living with my mother and my sister, two years younger than me. While we weren't very well-off, we were never unhappy. My mother had it hard, working full-time as she raised two children alone. That's why, ever since elementary school, I planned to get a job after finishing middle school. After all, going to high school would cost a lot of money, so I wanted to find a job to help my mother support my younger sister instead. But my mother was against it. I think that, just as I, an older sister, sincerely wished for my younger sister's happiness, my mother wished for the happiness of both of her daughters."

Ichinose opened up about her past, "I understood that, even without money, if I studied as hard as possible, I'd be able to use the student scholarship system. So, I studied hard. I developed my skills as I reached the top of the school. But... just like that, during the summer of my third year of middle school... my mother pushed herself too hard and collapsed."

It appeared that to support her family's living, Ichinose's mother had exerted herself too much, sacrificing her own body for the sake of her children.

"It was almost my younger sister's birthday. She had never asked for anything from us for as long as I could remember. She was still in her first year of middle school, so it would've been acceptable to act a little spoiled sometimes, yet she always managed to hold herself back. Instead of getting the clothes she wanted or accompanying her friends as they played or went shopping together, she just put up with everything and held herself back from asking for anything. And then, that selfless little sister of mine... expressed that she wanted something for the first time. A fashionable hair clip that her favorite celebrity wore back then. My mother undoubtedly overloaded her schedule to buy my sister that hair clip."

"I can still remember everything. My mother sobbed as she apologized from her bed in the hospital. The face of my sister as she showered our mother with all the ridicule and blame she could produce. The face of my sister as she cried and screamed about the hair clip she was looking forward to getting. Even then, I still wasn't able to blame her. The only gift she had ever asked for..."

Arisu listened to Ichinose's confession with an unwavering smile on her face.

"As the elder sister... I thought that I had to find a way to return my sister's smile. So, after school on the day of her birthday, I went to the department store."

By now, you could tell she was just as anxious as she was back then, "My feelings were surely shrouded in darkness. I told myself that it was okay... It wasn't a big deal to do something sinful just once for the sake of my younger sister. After all, there were so many people in the world constantly doing bad things. The feelings I was holding inside... My family, who had always held back, had no reason to be blamed for my actions. I told myself that it would be acceptable, that it would be forgiven... Back then, that was my selfish, egotistical interpretation of reality. The hair clip that would normally cost over 10,000 yen... The hair clip that my sister wanted so desperately... I stole it for her."