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Volume 9, Chapter 4: Intro - “Ichinose’s Secret, Kamuro’s Secret”

It was a Friday, four days after Kanzaki reached out to Hashimoto.

The rumors about Ichinose had been spreading more each day, and it had gotten to the point where it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that all of the students in the school had heard about them by now.

However, Ichinose herself didn’t appear to have reported anything about them to the school.

She gave off an appearance that told everyone that she didn’t care very much about the rumors, and she spent each day as she always had.

Despite being harassed with unpleasant rumors, Ichinose stood firm. And as she expected, eventually, students began to speak in support of her. Students were saying things like: “The rumors really were just rumors.” “She was totally being framed.” and “They were all lies.”

All gossip has an expiration date.

The plan to defame Ichinose had failed miserably.

She had successfully managed to get through it by simply staying silent. Eventually, everyone began to shift their attention to studying earnestly for the upcoming final exams.

Though, during this time, another incident occurred. One that once again stoked the flame of the rumors throughout the school.

It was Friday, after school.

On my way back home from the school building, I bore witness to a large crowd of people as I entered the dorm lobby.

A scene like this taking place as I returned to the dormitory was one I felt like I had experienced before.

“Deja vu, is it?”

Coincidentally, Katsuragi was standing in the same spot as he had been back then. The only difference was that this time Yahiko was also standing beside him. Since there didn’t seem to be anyone I was acquainted with nearby, I decided to approach them and called out.

“What’s with all the commotion?”

“Ah. It seems like a letter has been put into everyone\'s mailboxes. It’s similar to that case that happened earlier this year.”

Katsuragi mumbled, crossing his arms in dissatisfaction.

“Didn’t you get one in yours as well? Ayanokouji?”

Yahiko pressed me to go look, so I lightly nodded in response.

“I’ll go check to make sure.”

I went over to my mailbox, turned the dial to the right combination, and took a look inside.

There, someone had neatly inserted a paper, folded in the same 4-fold style the last one had been.

If it was the exact same type of message as last time, it would be a print. That is to say, it would be a printed copy.

Naturally, it’s impossible to tell the difference between a handwritten letter and a printed copy when it’s folded like this.

I slowly opened the paper.

『Ichinose Honami is a criminal.』

That was written inside.

However, this time the name of the sender wasn’t included like it was in the letter last time around.

It was just this one line.

The font it was written in was also a standard one, making the entire letter come across as unusually simple. Since it doesn’t seem like the type of thing that would be printed at the convenience store, it was probably printed with a personal printer.

The one sentence reminded me of the rumors that had quieted down.

Additionally, the letter went one step further by calling her a ‘criminal’.

Though, there was no mention of what she had done to deserve that title…

“I’m sure Ichinose will be surprised by this.”

“But if it’s presented in such a straightforward way, won’t it cause the sender all sorts of problems? Isn’t there an issue with doing something so malicious in such a public way?”

Yahiko was asking Katsuragi if the letter was a poor move for the sender.

“Indeed, this situation is quite different than what happened last time. Back then, it was just an allegation that Ichinose could’ve been illegally amassing private points. It turned out that she hadn’t done anything wrong. The school even made an unprecedented announcement by recognizing the authenticity of her large numbers of points. However, this time the letter is obviously meant to defame Ichinose. If she was to report it to the school and ask for help with it, it’s possible that they’ll be able to track down the person who sent out the letters.”

“The sender is an idiot then.”

“No, I’m not so sure.”

“Really?”

“This person... It’s impossible for them not to understand something so simple.”

“Huh… Is it possible that the person spreading the rumors… That Katsuragi-san knows who it is?”

“It’s nothing more than a rough idea.”

Even though Sakayanagi had given me advance notice about her plans, to the rest of the school, she has ostensibly denied her involvement with these rumors. It’s possible that Hashimoto acted alone, or acted under the instructions of one of the second or third years. There’s also a chance that the source of this rumor is someone completely different.

However, Katsuragi said that he had a rough idea about the source in this case.

Which means that Sakayanagi is the clear favorite.

“Whether or not the school takes action here. It will depend on Ichinose as the person at the very center of this incident.”

The person responsible for sending out these letters is convinced that Ichinose won’t report anything to the school, just like with the rumors. That is, they\'ve determined that no matter what they do, Ichinose will choose to remain silent.

When Ichinose doesn’t take action against the letters or the rumors, the school also isn’t able to take action.

In the middle of all of this, Ichinose herself entered the lobby. She had probably been contacted by one of her classmates in Class B and hurriedly returned to the dorm.

A friend immediately gave her one of the letters and she looked through it.

Katsuragi, me, and about 10 other students stood in place and watched Ichinose.

“…”

Ichinose didn’t say a word. She just looked down and stared at the letter.

The sentence on the letter takes no more than one second for somebody to read in their mind.

From the looks of it, Ichinose spent dozens of second reading that single line of text over and over.

“…This is in the mailboxes?”

“Yeah… It’s terrible, isn’t it? It’s probably in every first-year mailbox…”

One of the girls from Class B, Mako Amikura, spoke as she approached and hugged Ichinose.

“Hey, you don’t need to put up with this anymore. Why don’t we talk to the teachers? Something like this shouldn’t be forgiven.”

“That\'s right! If we bring it to the teachers, they’ll definitely find the culprit!”

So far there had just been invisible rumors, but this time was different. There was now something that could serve as physical evidence. There was clear proof that someone has been maliciously attacking Ichinose.

“I’m okay. Something like this isn’t enough to get to me.”

“Y-You have to! If you don’t, the horrible rumors about Honami-chan are going to spread everywhere!”

It’s no surprise that her classmates were desperately trying to convince her to reconsider.

Even if nine out of ten people don’t believe in the rumors, it’s still a big deal if that one remaining person does. That student’s impression of Ichinose Honami will slowly deteriorate.

Ichinose is able to decide to stay silent without any hesitation, but the people around her are different.

They’re all looking for some way to help her. After all, proving her innocence would also lead to being able to enact punishment on the culprit responsible for all of this. However, doing that would only push Ichinose into a corner.

“I’m sorry everyone, for continuing to trouble all of you. But please, don’t worry about me.”

With those words, she smiled at the girls of Class B.

Without a doubt, these letters were distributed out to the mailboxes during the middle of the night when everyone was asleep. Since very few people check their mailboxes in the mornings, the big discovery came in the evening after everybody had come back from school.

All that had to happen then was for somebody to find the letter and tell Ichinose.

All this time, a lone girl had been carefully watching over the reactions of the upset Class B students.

Katsuragi was glaring at her with a sharp look in his eye.

She was a first-year student of Class A, Kamuro Masumi. A girl often seen together with Sakayanagi, but today, she appeared to be alone.

“Is something up with Kamuro?”

“No… It’s nothing.”

Katsuragi didn’t give an answer. He tossed his letter into the trashcan, called for the elevator, and got in with Yahiko as it had been waiting on the first floor. Katsuragi’s expression remained stern even until the final moment when the doors shut. Watching the elevator go up, I decided to return to my room as well.

(Introduction End)