Starting in class B: Ayanokouji Kiyone

Arc 2 chapter 4: it's official

The bad news just kept coming. During homeroom the following morning, as Hoshinomiya-sensei was about to leave, she gave us a brief and off-hand announcement.

"I have an announcement for you all. There was a bit of trouble the other day, an incident between a class D student, Sudou Ken, and some students from class C. In short, there was a fight."

We already knew. Ichinose had told us before, because of her vast information network. We still acted surprised, so as not to tip the school off that someone had blabbed.

"The complaint came from class C. They claim that the fight was one-sided. However, when we spoke to the accused, Sudou said that their claims were false. He insists that the students in class C called him over and started the fight."

"Are you certain it was Sudou? It don't think he would start a fight for no reason," said Ichinose

"But there's no evidence he didn't. In other words, we don't yet know the truth. Therefore, we have put our decision on hold for now. Our response, and the punishment, will come when we find out who was at fault. To find out who is at fault, I have been asked to check if anyone in class B checked witnessed this incident. Did anyone see the fight?"

Silence.

"I see. That is all. We'll make our final judgement next Tuesday, taking into account any eyewitnesses and evidence. With that, let's end homeroom for the day."

Hoshinomiya-sensei left the room.

"Everyone, can you please listen to what I have to say?" Ichinose took control of the situation.

"What our teacher said seems to be true. Sudou-kun may have been in a fight. However, Sudou-kun was dragged into it."

"Ichinose-san, what do you mean? Do you believe Sudou?"
Kanzaki asked. He knew a good time to ask good questions.

"I'd like to ask you all again. If anyone knows someone who saw what happened, whether it's someone in class, a friend, or an upperclassman, please tell me. You can contact me at any time. I would sincerely appreciate it."

Even though she'd basically said the same thing as Hoshinomiya-sensei, the class had a very different response. She had an innate ability to connect with people. Her presence flowed so bright that I could almost feel it.

Instantly, silence enveloped the classroom. No one in class B had witnessed the fight.

To be brutally honest, no one except Ichinose, a few other genuinely kind students, and the nosy students cared about the class D/C fight. The majority would just wait for it to blow over.

To be honest, I said I would help Sudou, but I would realistically just not do anything. Unless an eyewitness presented themselves, I wouldn't do anything. And even then, if an eyewitness appeared, I wouldn't be of much use.

It would actually be best if no one from class B got involved in the situation.

Which is exactly why Ichinose had gone up to the students of class D and offered to help. Such a pain.

She had gone over to the class D students after lunch and formed an "alliance" of sorts. That definitely wasn't good.

There were four dorm buildings on campus. Three were for students, who stayed in the various dorms to which they were assigned from first through their year. In other words, our dorm building this year was the same one where last year's third-year students had lived. The fourth building housed the instructors and school employees.

Some entered my field of vision. Our eyes naturally met.

"Hey, Ayanokouji-san! Good morning. You're early."

She had beautiful long, wavy hair and big eyes. The second button of her blazer strained over her large chest. Her upright posture matched her dignified personality. I found myself more attracted to her cool temperament than how cute she was. Ichinose Honami had found me again.

"I woke up a little earlier today. What were you talking about with the manager?" I asked.

"A few people in class wanted to make requests about their dorms. Don't you remember a little while back, when I asked you your thoughts on the matter. Well I told the dorm manager. Stuff like water usage, noise, and so on."

Oh yeah, I think I remember something like that.

The two of us began walking to school together.

"Aren't you usually a little late? This reminds me that I've never seen you around this time."

Ichinose's question sounded harmless, as if she were following some kind of template. After hearing those words, I felt a little relieved and accomplished. She hadn't realised that I was helping her opposing class leader, Kanzaki.

"I don't have to leave so early. I usually hang around my room for about 20 minutes."

"So I guess you make it just in the nick of time, then?"

As Ichinose and I got closer to the school, the number of students around us multiplied.

"Ah, that reminds me. Did you hear about summer break, Ayanokouji-san?"

"Summer break? No. I mean, isn't it just summer break?"

"I've heard rumour that we might be taking a vacation to a tropical island."

That sparked a memory. I'd forgotten about it, but Hoshinomiya-sensei had mentioned a vacation.

"I can't believe it, though. Could we really go on a vacation?"

It probably wasn't a normal school field trip. I mean, just look around. It was no exaggeration to say that this school was fancy. Going to a tropical island in the summer and visiting a hot spring in the winter...

It was all incredibly suspicious. I really didn't think our school was going to be so good to be true. They had to be keeping something from us. I wondered what Ichinose thought. But I saw from her bitter smile that she also had doubts.

"It's suspicious, after all. I think it's going to be a turning point."

"In other words, you think our class points could fluctuate wildly over summer break?"

"Yeah, yeah. I think there might be a hidden task, one that has a bigger impact on us than the midterms or final exams. Otherwise, the difference between class A and us wouldn't close much. We could diminish the gap little by little."

That was certainly true. A big, earthshaking event might very well occur soon...

Authors notes
1068 words
A little bit different from the ln, but not much.
I didn't realise it until a little while ago, but starting in class C got 20k reads at some point 🥳.
Thank you for all the support
Hope you're all doing well and I hope you enjoyed