Chapter 2: A Changing Relationship

The early morning for Class C started out with an unusual sight.

A circle seems to be forming around Karuizawa Kei and the girls who make up that circle appear to be excited to the point of causing a commotion.

"You're rather late to school today, Ayanokōji-kun."

Since there are only five minutes to go before the bell rings, my neighbor Horikita Suzune interjected with that.

"I overslept."

Looking bored, Horikita gave a sigh. Then she continued speaking.

"You seem to be on good terms with Hirata-kun and Karuizawa-san. You knew, didn't you?"

"There's no way I'd know. It's their private affair."

She didn't seem like she had cut things off with Hirata back during the training camp but it looks like she's done it now.

Since they're a couple famous throughout the school, it made waves to an amazing extent.

If a third party were to hear of this, they would definitely be surprised.

But this would mean that on the surface, Kei and Hirata's connection has been severed. Of course, it doesn't necessarily mean Kei would lose command of the girls' group.

If there's an exception to that, it would be if someone from within the class stole Hirata's heart and became his true partner. Even then, I can't imagine Kei being ousted from her position.

Even if that girl attempts to slight Kei, Hirata would be the first one to put a stop to that. If not, the meaning behind Hirata going as far as to fake a relationship with Kei to save her would be rendered moot.

"So, which one of them dumped the other?"

I tried asking Horikita that. Because I don't know that myself either so there's nothing for Horikita to suspect.

"Looks like it's Karuizawa-san who did it."

"That's surprising. She seemed like the type to consider going out with a good man. A symbol of status."

"I suppose so. At the very least that's what I thought…"

For a moment, she looked at me suspiciously but then immediately averted her eyes. There's no possible way she could have acquired any information from my expression.

It's proof that Horikita herself has begun to understand that.

Still, Kei dumped Hirata, huh?

In the first place, it's a fake relationship started by Kei. It's not even about who dumped who. But in all likelihood, Hirata suggested doing that would be best for Kei.

If Hirata were to be the one doing the dumping, it would mean there's a problem with Kei and could have put Kei's status at risk.

In any case, judging from my surroundings, it's clear that their breakup came as a shock to Class C. But what made me think those girls are amazing was that they were boldly discussing that romantic affair.

"Ehh, ehh? Why did you break up with him even though you don't have a new boyfriend yet, Karuizawa-san!"

Shinohara's unrestrained voice reverberated. Despite chatting with each other, Ike and Sudō's group were clearly eavesdropping on that conversation.

"You see, I also thought I needed to step it up. It's easy to be spoiled by Yōsuke-kun but I wanted to think things through on my own."

The catastrophe that befell this big couple would obviously have an impact on Class C but it would probably also end up having an impact on the other classes.

There's no doubt a battle would erupt between the girls over Hirata.

"I'm amazed they can even think about things like romance. Even tomorrow isn't guaranteed at this school and they should know that situation too."

"Isn't it exactly because tomorrow isn't guaranteed that they're enjoying the present the best they can?"

"I have no reason to deny them that as long as they're not robbing someone else of their future…"

On the other hand, as I wondered what's going on with the other half of the hot topic Hirata Yōsuke, there he was with a gentle expression on his face while boxed in by both the boys and girls of the class.

Even though he got dumped by his girlfriend, there isn't a smidgen of misery coming from Hirata. The best proof of that is that Ike and Sudō aren't heading over there to tease him.

No, perhaps… I should say that they've already graduated from that sort of thing. They do seem interested in that conversation somewhat but there's no sign of them engaging in malicious gossip.

On the contrary, Horikita and I are the ones engaging in a tasteless conversation. The special exams so far and the training camp. All of that's making this immature bunch change bit by bit.

But of course, not everyone is maturing at the same rate.

"Yo, Hirata~ Heard you got dumped by Karuizawa~ Don't mind it, don't mind it!"

I thought they've become capable of reading the mood, but Yamauchi alone proved to be the exception.

Flippantly and happily approaching Hirata, he then struck Hirata's shoulder. Seeing that, Ike and Sudō felt uncomfortable and approached Yamauchi, flanking him from both sides and grabbing hold of him.

"Oi, what's the matter? Let's console Hirata together. Even the handsome ones get dumped!"

"This is in bad taste. Cut it out."

"Huh? Isn't this a rare sight seeing the handsome guy get dumped?"

When Sudō tried to hold Yamauchi back, he refused to listen and instead gave a refutation.

"Sorry about this, Hirata. I'll take him away immediately."

"It's ok, it's the truth after all."

It wouldn't be out of place for him to show displeasure but Hirata didn't seem to care in the slightest.

"Speaking of which… have you heard anything about Ichinose-san?"

Out of the blue, a topic regarding Class B came from Horikita.

"Recently, I've been hearing slander directed at her."

"Isn't it just a lie by someone jealous of her popularity? Or maybe the strategy of someone who wants to knock down Class B? What do the slanders say?"

"…It's something I'm hesitant to put to words."

Saying that, she retrieved a note from under her desk rather than speak about it in detail.

She wrote something down on it and then showed me.

'A history of violence'.

'Engaged in compensated dating'.

'Engaged in theft and robbery'.

'A noted history of drug usage'.

These are things that even those delinquents over there haven't done, not all of them.

"They sure spread quite the malicious rumors around."

"She doesn't seem like that sort of student to me though…"

"If it's just spreading rumors, it won't exactly count as a crime after all."

"That's not true. Regardless of the veracity, it's defamation…it's categorized that way when targeted towards a large number of people. It's possible to sue."

"If we're talking about being out there in society then there's no doubt about that."

But high school is still high school. This is an isolated space filled with underaged students. It's not like it's being written on the internet too for the whole world to see.

"So you're saying it doesn't count as a crime."

Even if society cannot hand down punishment, it's still possible for the school to hand down punishment at its discretion.

But it would be difficult to pinpoint the source of the rumors. The reason a variety of rumors were spread is so that if asked, they can simply say they heard it from someone else during day-to-day conversation and that'll be the end of that.

The school won't be able to investigate beyond that and in the end, it'll peter out.

All it can do is to warn the perpetrators to not thoughtlessly spread rumors any more than that. After all, I'm certain that the plan to crush Ichinose has been gradually implemented over time.

There's no doubt it's Sakayanagi pulling the strings behind the scenes. But there's still not very many people aware of this.

"What did Ichinose do in response?"

"I don't know that much. It's not like we're close or anything. Besides, if I carelessly approach, suspicion may fall on us."

"Well, it's true that playing the role of the observer is the wisest thing to do."

"But…I wonder if a tasteless strategy like this will work on Ichinose-san."

"What do you mean?"

"No matter how malicious the slander may be, the amount of damage it can inflict is limited. Ichinose-san's reputation throughout the school is something even I'm aware of. This sort of harassment is too miserable to be done out of envy like you said earlier."

"Then you're saying it's a strategic mistake then?"

"That's right, but as they say, you can't have smoke without a fire."

"So you're saying Ichinose used to be a violent criminal or that she used to do drugs?"

"Even if not all of it's true, perhaps at least one of it is?"

Of course, the possibility of it being true is extremely low. She added that after.

As Horikita said, there's no evidence that all of it's just a lie or that they're all just rumors. And also the fact that Sakayanagi had been making remarks hinting at such could mean there's some truth to it.

"Well… It's not like we can come up with an answer just by thinking about it. More importantly, the current standing of the classes based on the results of the training camp has been released. Care to have a look?"

"Ehh, I'm not…"

"I know you're not interested. But just keep it in mind."

I flipped through the pages of the notebook she forcibly placed on my desk.