'...': Writing
'...': Sign language
"...": Text to speech
I entered the classroom and immediately felt the tense atmosphere, as if rumors were swirling around me. Shinohara didn't appear to be in a great mood.
"Oi! Were you a prostitute, Shinohara!?"
Unable to read the room's atmosphere, Yamauchi shouted such a thing with a smile.
"A-absolutely not!"
Shinohara stood up in a panic and adamantly denied it. Embarrassment and anger could be seen on her face.
"Well then, how about you show me the evidence."
"You're asking for evidence...? How am I supposed to give you something like that!?"
Meanwhile, the audience, captivated by the rumors, began spreading them amongst the incoming students just entering the classroom. Well, it was going to end up like that sooner or later.
"If you're saying it's a lie, then are you saying everything that's been put online was also a lie? That we've all just been running our mouths?"
"Are you stupid!? You're getting swept away by rumors and don't even know where they came from!"
Shinohara had a reasonable cause for anger towards Yamauchi, and it was surprising that she remained calm.
"Though~ Don't you think everything posted online seems pretty realistic?"
"You... Knock it off, Haruki!"
In response to his friend's relentless hounding, Ike reached out and forcefully grabbed Yamauchi by the shoulder to signal that it was time to stop.
"Wh-what's wrong? This is my chance to get back at Shinohara for always acting so high and mighty."
"Getting back at her...? No matter what, those rumors have to be lies!"
"How are we supposed to know that? A relatively ugly chick like her could've done something like that."
Yamauchi continued to talk mindlessly, without concern for Ike's feelings.
"Oh, I see... Ike, you have a crush on Shinohara, don't you? So that's why you can't admit..."
"Haruki!"
Ike grabbed Yamauchi by the collar of his shirt.
"Cut it out, you guys."
Sudou couldn't bear to sit and watch any longer, so he forcefully separated the two individuals. At that moment, Hirata entered the classroom and immediately sensed the tension in the air. He walked over to some of the girls and listened to the details of the rumors being spread.
"Kagu-kun," Ichihashi whispered, "Are you dating someone?"
I turned to her and gave her a deadpan expression, 'Are you serious?'
Since Shinohara was denying everything, Yamauchi temporarily changed targets to someone else.
"Well then, Hondou, are you seriously only into fat chicks?"
Yamauchi turned his attack toward Hondou.
"N-no way! Not! Those rumors are downright lies! Right, Ayanokouji? You probably don't even like Karuizawa, right!?"
Naturally, Hondou denied everything. He then turned to Ayanokouji for help with escaping the spotlight. Everyone's attention turned to him immediately. He responded to him with a nod.
"See!?"
He shouted out as he turned his attention back to Yamauchi.
"Dammit. What the hell? Are they all lies?"
With the three of them denying their part of the rumors, the classroom began calming down.
"But... Satou-san doesn't like Onodera-san very much, does she?"
Maezono muttered these few absent-minded words. They probably came out of her mouth without a second thought because Onodera hadn't attended school yet.
"Wha-! Ho-hold on, Maezono-san!"
Satou frantically attempted to stop Maezono, but it was already too late.
"Come to think of it, has anyone here ever seen Satou hang out with Onodera?"
"That's..."
Things seemed to be developing in a way where the rumors couldn't be dismissed as simple lies anymore.
"Kagurazaka has the most rumors about him," Yamauchi decided to add more fire to the flame.
The attention was on me, and I could feel a headache rising.
"Yamauchi-kun, mind your business," Mori glared.
"You must be secretly dating him," Yamauchi declared, "Why would you date someone trying to get a harem?"
Hirata intervened, "Yamauchi-kun. Just because something's been posted on our class's forums doesn't necessarily mean it's true. At the very least, it's wrong for classmates to hurt each other like this."
"But just like with Ichinose's rumors, doesn't everyone know already? So it doesn't make any difference whether or not we say anything, right?"
"I'm not sure I agree with you about that. At least not in the current situation. That's why, right now, I think that the proper course of action is to avoid getting tricked by these rumors while we sort everything out."
Hirata's words received strong approval from both boys and girls. Although it was not a permanent solution, it was sufficient for now.
~Timeskip~
Ayanokouji's POV
The events were unfolding rapidly, causing many concerns among the students. Although the particular exam was not expected to take place this month, everyone should have been preparing for the upcoming end-of-year exam. However, some trouble was brewing.
It was Friday, February 18th, three days after the provisional exam. Students from Class A, Class C, and Class D had gathered at a location far from the school campus. Despite Hirata's efforts to control the spread of rumors, they circulated the school.
Even Class A, the only class that hadn't been targeted with rumors on the school forums, was now aware of them.
"Yo Ishizaki, something you wanted to say to me?"
Class A's Hashimoto spoke up with the same attitude as ever, posing a question to Ishizaki.
"Something I wanted to say? You tell me, Hashimoto! What are you doing bringing Kitō along with you? Didn't I tell you to come alone?"
"Well, you brought Albert along with you. I'm just being careful."
The two of them had a tense and uncomfortable interaction, making it difficult to believe they had shared a room during the training camp.
However, given the circumstances, it was understandable that they were reacting towards each other in this way.
"We've just invited you out here today to talk. Isn't that right, Ishizaki-kun?"
Ishizaki and Albert weren't the only Class D students who had come to participate in the conversation. Hiyori and Ibuki also came along with them.
"Well, as long as they can control themselves, everything should be fine."
"But..."
Although Hiyori stopped herself, her worry was not unreasonable, considering the personalities of the people present. It was hard to imagine that nothing would happen.
"But, what about those guys? I didn't know you invited people from Class C as well."
Looking over at us, Hashimoto sighed exasperatedly, "Dunno. Aren't you the ones that invited them?"
It seemed as though both Class D and Class A felt a bit uncomfortable about our presence.
"It's just like you said, Ayanokouji," Akito said, speaking beside me, accompanied by the rest of the Ayanokouji Group.
Before coming here, we met at the cafe and were about to start studying together.
"I had been thinking about when Kanzaki and Hashimoto were going at each other. Then I just so happened to see all of you guys heading off campus, so I brought it up to Akito..."
Once the Class A and Class D students left the campus, I informed Akito that a similar incident might happen again, and we decided to investigate.
Unexpectedly, Airi, Haruka, and Keisei joined us in our search.
"There are more people than there were last time, too. This looks like it might get pretty serious..."
"Jeez. Why is such a tense situation taking place?" Haruka commented, exasperated from having encountered a scene like this for a second time.
"Forget it. It doesn't matter who called them over. Let's hear what you have to say, Shiina-chan."
"It has to do with the rumors. You guys from Class A are the ones that posted them, right?"
Judging that they might run into problems should Ishizaki lead the conversation, Hiyori took over.
"Hey hey hey. Why are you asking us something like that?"
"Isn't it...!"
"Please. Leave this to me, Ishizaki-kun," Hiyori gently stopped Ishizaki from angrily lashing out at Hashimoto.
"I heard it through the grapevine. I was informed about what you had told Kanzaki-kun when he confronted you about the source of Ichinose-san's rumors."
"What a chatterbox. Did you happen to hear that from those two over there?"
He gestured to Akito and me since we had witnessed the entire exchange.
"Please answer the question, Hashimoto-kun."
Without even looking over at us, Hiyori pressed Hashimoto for answers.
"Ayanokouji and Miyake already know about it, so I'll speak honestly. Back then, I had just heard rumors about Ichinose, so I decided to help spread them around because it seemed amusing. I wasn't the source."
Of course, Hashimoto doesn't acknowledge the truth.
"What a convenient excuse. Do you think that we're just going to accept that?"
"Excuse? It's the truth. Well, I guess it is somewhat sinful of me to spread it around just because it seemed amusing, but it's still strange. That the students from Class D would come along and butt into something they should be entirely unrelated to?"
Hashimoto continued with a cheerful yet piercing look, "Isn't it possible... that you guys in Class D are the ones spreading the rumors?"
"You're full of shit! We already know that Sakayanagi is the one behind the rumors!!!"
"Oh, so you're jumping to conclusions now? It may be true that the leader of our class is belligerent. There are indeed also times when she heedlessly provokes Ichinose. It's not like I can't understand where you're coming from, but you're reading too much into it and arbitrarily deciding that she's the source of the rumors. Honestly, it's none of your business anyway. You don't have proof it was Sakayanagi now, do you?"
Ishizaki was feeling frustrated with Hashimoto's response. However, he couldn't find anything incorrect about what he had said. Some letters had been placed in all the mailboxes, and rumors were posted online.
But no concrete evidence could prove Sakayanagi's involvement in any of it. Nevertheless, Ishizaki was almost sure that Sakayanagi was the mastermind behind it, with about 80-90% confidence.
"Which is why I came here today. I have to question you guys about whether or not you're the ones who spread the rumors. However, I never expected that you guys would go and try to support Ichinose as well."
Ishizaki and his friends responded to Hashimoto's remark with glowering expressions. Understanding the situation he was in, Hashimoto let out a sigh.
"It's no use playing stupid, Hashimoto. Not only did you guys go and spread rumors about Ichinose, but then you even had the nerve to go and stir up shit about us as well."
"I see. So that's the reason, after all. You guys don't care about the stuff with Ichinose, do you? You're just upset that Class D got swept up in the rumors. Oh yeah... I heard you were sent to juvie because of some stunt you pulled back in elementary school. Isn't that right, Ishizaki?"
When Hashimoto provoked him, Ishizaki lost his temper. Hiyori quickly intervened and stopped him from attacking Hashimoto. The rumor that Hashimoto mentioned was one of the falsehoods that had been posted on the school forums.
Considering the nature of that lie, Ishizaki's anger was completely justifiable. This type of situation was bound to happen.
Hashimoto continued without interest in stopping, "Anyways, I'm shocked that you guys can even come up with all those rumors. Ichinose's situation aside, please tell me how you guys found out so much about the people from other classes."
"Stop fucking around, Hashimoto!"
"Hold it, Ishizaki!"
Thinking Hiyori couldn't handle him alone, Akito hurriedly spoke up to stop Ishizaki.
"Don't butt in, Miyake! I can't just stand by and let Class A badmouth us like this!! I'll send him flying!"
"Stop it, Ishizaki. You're just going to hurt yourself. I know you're confident in your fighting skills, but this isn't the right place for that, okay?"
Kitou stepped forward, fists ready to accept Ishizaki and Albert's challenge.
"Stop it. All of you. You know the school is rigorous when it comes to fighting."
From a fair distance away from them, Akito spoke up, attempting to calm things down, "Well, that was true... until now."
"Until now?"
"It seems like the current student council president is willing to turn a blind eye to petty disputes, just like this one."
Hashimoto closed the distance and threw a kick at Ishizaki, but Akito immediately intercepted the blow with his left arm.
"Seriously? That student council president... Does he think he can do anything he wants?"
Hashimoto's words were hardly enough to guarantee that the ban on fighting had been lifted.
So, he went to prove it by personally making the first move himself.
"Not bad, Miyake. It makes sense now why you were so confident you could stop us from fighting."
Hashimoto stepped back and increased his distance once again. The atmosphere grew even more tense and rigid than before.
Hiyori spoke up, "Fighting still isn't allowed."
"I know. I didn't come here to fight with you. That was my way of proving that we're more than capable of defending ourselves."
"Can I trust you?"
Looking Hiyori in the eyes, Hashimoto nodded, but none of us genuinely believed him.
"Give it up, Hiyori. This guy lies as easily as they breathe. No matter how you look at it, the rumors were spread by Class A. It's obvious because Class A was the only class not included in the rumors."
"That's... Then isn't there a chance that they aren't at fault?"
"It's just as Shiina-chan says. If we were the ones that posted the rumors, wouldn't we have also posted some lies about Class A on the forums to avoid suspicion?"
"It's hard to say. I don't think everyone in Class A would know that Sakayanagi is the main perpetrator of the rumors about Ichinose. There would be confusion if the class weren't informed before the rumors were spread."
As Akito pointed this out, Hashimoto let out another sigh.
"Well, your deduction isn't unreasonable, but in the end, it's still probation diabolical."
His excuse was highly suspicious, but we had no evidence to disprove it. At the same time, it was also hard for him to prove his innocence.
"If we want to get information out of these guys, it looks like we have no choice but to talk with our fists," Ibuki said.
"Woah, Woah, cool it, Ibuki-chan. Picking a fight with us like that won't accomplish anything, you know?"
"Telling me to stop after picking the fight yourself, well, aren't you full of it?"
"Class A doesn't have anything to do with it. Believe me."
Hashimoto laughed, but Ibuki didn't find it funny. She was trying her best to control her anger. Like Ishizaki, Ibuki was also affected by the rumors on the school forums.
"Do you think you can look down on us just because Ryūen is no longer our leader!?"
Ishizaki finally reached the limit of his patience and pushed Akito aside.
Ibuki stepped forward to confront Hashimoto and Kitou right alongside him.
"Wait, wait, wait. Take it easy."
"The rumors about Ichinose and the rumors about us. Get Sakayanagi to apologize for both of them."
"You're still misunderstanding something. We didn't spread the rumors."
"What a joke!"
Ishizaki forcefully kicked the nearby handrail.
Hashimoto began to understand that the situation was getting out of control.
"...Then, what are you gonna do about it?"
"Isn't it obvious? We'll shut you up by force."
"Are you serious?"
"Yep. If that sounds unpleasant, you better get her to take back the rumors right now."
"I've already told you countless times. We didn't spread the rumors."
Hashimoto continued to deny his involvement, but deep down, he knew that others wouldn't readily accept his explanation. The situation had become like a declaration of war from Sakayanagi against Ichinose, and proving his innocence would be challenging.
Suddenly, Hashimoto's facial expression softened, perhaps reflecting some inner turmoil.
"Oh? What's so funny?"
"Sorry, sorry. This is all just too absurd. I don't understand what you want from me."
Because Hashimoto wouldn't acknowledge that Sakayanagi was the source of the rumors, he had no other option but to turn Ishizaki down.
"Then, we'll just have to ask Sakayanagi herself."
"You? Fat chance."
Hashimoto dismissively waved his hand as if to say, 'There's no way that she'd bother with the likes of you.'
Before they all came here, Ishizaki must have reached out to Hashimoto because he knew there'd be no way for him to reach Sakayanagi directly in the first place.
"Kitou. We might not have any other choice."
Hashimoto sensed the tense atmosphere and realized that a peaceful conversation would unlikely resolve the situation. Kitou, on the other hand, appeared to have anticipated this and quickly assumed a fighting stance.
Without hesitation, Ishizaki let out a battle cry and charged towards Kitou, attempting to tackle him. Meanwhile, Ibuki launched a high-flying kick towards Hashimoto, but he evaded it at the last moment.
"Close!"
Ibuki's cell phone and student ID card fell out of her pocket due to her sudden, jumpy movements. Hashimoto was surprised that Ibuki was faster and more robust than expected.
Although he was concerned for her safety, his expression admired her abilities.
"I seem to have forgotten... Ibuki-chan is more experienced at fighting than I remembered."
"Stop it! All of you!" Akito shouted out while picking her phone up off the ground.
The Class D students did not show any signs of stopping. Ibuki did not seem to care that her phone might have been damaged from the fall.
I picked up her ID card that had fallen near my feet and noticed a small photograph of Ibuki. Her expression in the picture was as stiff and unsociable as ever, but one particular detail on the card caught my eye.
"What's going on...?"
"What, Ayanokouji?"
From beside me, Keisei spoke up, having heard my mumbling. I immediately shook my head to dismiss his question and temporarily put Ibuki's student ID card into my pocket for safekeeping.
"No, it's nothing. More importantly, stopping this fight should be our top priority."
"You say to stop the fight... but how?"
The situation had already developed into a two-on-two, and the second round was about to begin.
"Exactly. It doesn't seem like we should get involved."
"It's dangerous, Kiyotaka-kun."
Haruka and Airi also spoke up, suggesting we stay out of it.
"That's true. Then I guess it's better just to let Akito handle it."
Akito forced himself between Ishizaki and Hashimoto to stop the following exchange of blows.
"Don't get in my way, Miyaki!"
Ishizaki attempted to push him aside with brute force, but Akito seized him by the hand and forced him down to the ground.
"You bastard! Let go of me!"
"I'm sorry, Ishizaki. It's nothing personal."
"Stop interfering!"
Ibuki kicked out once again, aiming for Akito's head.
Akito quickly got off Ishizaki, narrowly dodging Ibuki's kick simultaneously, but the whole affair caused him to lose his balance.
Using the opening, Albert grabbed Akito from behind him.
"Hold him down, Albert."
"Dammit..."
Akito couldn't resist Albert's otherworldly strength, pinning him down from above.
My attention was on someone making their way over. I don't think anyone noticed him except for Shiina.
Ishizaki and Ibuki were about to go against Hashimoto and Kitou, but before they could. The man walked up to Kitou.
BAM
Kitou blocked the kick with his left arm right in time. All the attention was on him, but he ignored all of us.
"Kagurazaka!" Akito yelled.
I wasn't the only one to notice, but it seemed that Kagurazaka's kick managed to hurt Kitou.
Kitou was ready to fight against Kagurazaka.
"Hey, Kagurazaka," Hashimoto spoke, "This doesn't concern you at all..."
"Stay out of this, Kagurazaka!" Ibuki yelled.
She ran toward him, launching a kick aimed at his head.
He blocked it and grabbed her ankle. He tripped her to the ground and sat on her chest.
Stepping over here, Albert barely had enough time to dodge a punch directed at his face, but Akito managed to get free.
"I'm going to kick your ass after I'm done with them!" Ibuki barked before getting up and focusing on Hashimoto and Kitou.
"Albert!" Ishizaki yelled, "Prevent Kagurazaka and Akito from stopping us!"
Kagurazaka started walking toward Albert.
"Kagurazaka..." Akito said.
Albert was ready to stop Kagurazaka with force. As soon as Kagurazaka got close, Albert sent a jab at Kagurazaka, who easily dodged it.
Alber didn't lose any time and started to attack Kagurazaka, but he only dodged or deflected his punch.
I watched him fight before, but he's more talented than I realized.
All of us were looking at the situation, and we couldn't do anything to stop this.
Kagurazaka stopped moving and took a more severe fight stance. He kicked Albert straight in the chest, making him fall back on his knee while holding his chest.
Kagurazaka didn't waste any time striking Albert's face with a knee, but Albert managed to block it.
A lot of speed and strength came from Kagurazaka's knee, causing Albert to fall onto his back.
Kagurazaka's POV
"Kagurazaka, you irritate me!" Ibuki yelled.
I glance at her, but she doesn't move to attack me. My eyes drifted over to Albert as I outstretched my hand toward him.
He grabbed it, and I pulled him up, 'You are fast with such a large frame.'
"Please don't keep going on like this, Ishizaki-kun. I won't allow you to continue any further," Shiina firmly declared her stance to Ishizaki.
Unable to completely disregard what she said, Ishizaki looked at her with a troubled look.
"B-but!"
"Let's suppose you manage to beat Hashimoto-kun and Kitou-kun in a fight here and force them to confess. That still wouldn't be real evidence. I'm also fairly certain that the person that matters, Sakayanagi-san, won't admit to anything. Isn't the fact that we couldn't get him to admit to it more than enough?"
"So you expect us just to swallow our anger?"
"I know it seems unfair, but it is what it is. Please bear with it for now."
"Aren't you the one that wanted us to come along with you in the first place? But then you ask us to stand down? That doesn't make any sense," Ishizaki said.
"I promise I will make it up to all of you later."
Amused by what he was hearing as he listened in on their conversation, Hashimoto whistled, "Hoh? So you're saying Ishizaki didn't set up this meeting? It was all done by Shiina-chan instead?"
I was about to leave...
"Kagurazaka!"
I sighed.
I turned around and saw her coming at me. Even though Shiina told them to stop fighting, she must be annoyed with me.
"Ibuki-san!" Shiina tried to call her name, but she couldn't stop her.
Albert was to stand in front of me, but I stopped him.
"Why?!" A kick. "Do?!" Another kick. "Get?!" Another kick. "In?!" Another kick. "The?!" Another kick. "Way?!"
I dodged every kick that she threw at me. She seemed to calm down slightly but scoffed, irritated.
My phone buzzed, and I checked to see a message from Shiina, even though she wasn't far from me.
Shiina: Thank you for stepping in.
Earlier, Shiina texted me about her class confronting Class A. She asked me to intervene if things turned slightly violent.