"Um...Sakayanagi-san. Could you give a mont of your ti?"
After lunch, I was resting in the café on the ship's deck when Ichinose-san approached and called out to . I was just having tea by myself, so I had no reason to refuse.
"What can I do for you?"
I knew what she was going to say before she started speaking, but I dared to tilt my head curiously all the sa.
"It's about the special exam...I just felt like I had to apologise. On the last day, I did sothing really selfish...so, I'm really very sorry!"
Probably having prepared herself to so extent after knowing that I was not soone you could make excuses to, Ichinose-san bowed her head as hard as she could.
No, I don't think she would have given a poor excuse, no matter who it was.
It would be no surprise if her actions had angered , as Class A's leader, and caused the dissolution of our partnership. I was sure she felt that that was the least she had done.
"Please raise your head, Ichinose-san. I'm not angry about anything."
"...Eh?"
"Rather, I recognise that you contributed more than enough to our group. You scored highly in all of the tasks you took part in and organized groups of allies who were all over the place. Despite the harsh conditions on the uninhabited island, you played a central role brilliantly. And as a result, did we not finish in an admirable 3rd place?"
"B-but..."
"Certainly, it's true that you acted a bit selfishly on the last day of the exam, Ichinose-san. However, that cost the group a few points at most. If I compared it to your contribution, it's not sothing deserving of reproach. Now if we had fallen into a close 4th place, then you might have taken so of the bla, but that did not happen, right?"
"But that's only when looking back on it with hindsight..."
"Sotis it's good to look at the results with hindsight, isn't it? Things don't always work out the way they're supposed to. In fact, if you fought as hard as you could and ca in a close 4th, you would have suffered a great deal of psychological damage."
It was possible that the fact that I didn't try to bla her at all had caused Ichinose-san to be doubly sorry. The remorse would not go away.
"You have a look on your face that says you feel you need to take responsibility sohow."
"Uh, it's not like that...or maybe it is."
"If that is the case, I can punish you for it if you like?"
Ichinose-san was pressured by the fearless look on my face, but gave a small nod.
"Yes. I think that would make feel better."
"Fufu, you're a strange person aren't you? Well then...yes, please sit here."
I urged Ichinose-san to co in front of and sat her down. She beca as ek as a lamb, and I had the staff prepare a nu.
"Go ahead; please order whatever you would like."
"Um...the punishnt?"
"You have to keep company right now and spend 30 minutes with for afternoon tea."
"Eh, t-that's my punishnt?"
"That's right. I'm going to take up your precious 30 minutes, Ichinose-san. This is nothing but a punishnt."
"I wonder if that's true...but if you say so, Sakayanagi-san, I'll agree to it."
Ichinose-san didn't quite get it, but she followed my instructions and ordered a drink.
"You really are very honest, aren't you Ichinose-san? You were humiliated by once, but you don't show the slightest trace of it, even being willing to accompany like this."
"I don't feel you humiliated . In the first place...it's because it's true that I made that mistake in the past."
"At the very least, it's natural that you'd want to hide your guilty past, the past you don't want people to know about. Even if you say it's the truth, Ichinose-san."
Up until now, I'd seen many excellent people, both children and adults, up close and personal. Of course, there were many that knew they were the best and recognized their own talent. On the other hand, I'd probably seen dozens of tis as many incompetent people who were completely useless.
And then, regardless of whether they were excellent or incompetent, I'd never know anyone who could be called purely good. It was the sa for my own mother, father, and also Ayanokōji-kun.
"You're a hard person to describe. That's why you seem so scary to at tis."
"I'm...scary?"
I am sure she has never been told anything like that before in her entire life. However, I am certain that there are more than just one or two people who have been afraid of the person nad Ichinose Honami-san.
"Every person in this world has a more or less evil part to them. But I don't sense that from you in the slightest. You're like a mass of goodness."
"You're overestimating . Just like in middle school, I've done bad things in my life..."
Her shaful past, which she could never boast of, remained an inescapable reality that could never be erased.
"The goodness I'm speaking of right now has nothing to do with those kinds of things. In the first place, even if you were involved in so wrongdoing that one ti, your motive was the precious love for your family."
In the eyes of the law, it was undoubtedly bad, but it could also be seen as an act of good depending on how you look at it.
"Your goodness is both your strength and your weakness. Please be careful not to let others take advantage of it."
"Are you referring to Ryūen-kun?"
"It's not just him. I too, as well as Horikita-san, will take advantage of your goodness to win."
After taking a deep breath, I continued in order to tell her the most important thing.
"And that goes for Ayanokōji-kun too."
All of this applied to the leaders of each class, including the one she just ntioned, Ryūen-kun. The sudden ntion of Ayanokōji-kun's na made Ichinose visibly agitated.
"On the last day of the uninhabited island exam, it was probably thanks to you that Ayanokōji-kun was saved."
"W-wait a minute? Um, what do you an by that?"
"This is just a guess on my part. To be honest, there were a lot of parts that I was not involved in, so you may take it as a soliloquy and ignore it."
I could easily imagine Ichinose-san would shed so light on so of the more unclear parts if I pursued her here, but I avoided it. It would be so boring to hear it that way after all.
"Looking at you, I can already sowhat guess that your feelings for Ayanokōji-kun are different from those you have for other students."
"E-e-ehh!? N-no, um, I an...that's...!"
"That's good isn't it? It's a human instinct to have special feelings for a particular mber of the opposite sex. But...if you get too attached, it may co back to bite you. If the other person is Ayanokōji-kun, then even more so."
"I don't really understand the aning of what you're saying, Sakayangi-san."
What I told her today was a warning. I would not say anything more here.
"Let's end the conversation here. It's ti for afternoon tea."
When Ichinose-san took a sip of the tea that had been brought to her, she probably couldn't taste it very well. I'm sure she couldn't forget what I said, and it was currently stuck in her head.
It was a little bit of my anness, my rcy and also my strategy.
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