Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e Volume 9, 2: “A Changing Relationship” Part 4

Volu 9, Chapter 2: “A Changing Relationship” Part 4

We saw no sign of Akito as we headed toward the archery club.

“Huh? Where’s Miyachi?”

There’s no doubt that Akito had been headed toward the cafe, so along the way, he must have co across a dispute and diverted from the path.

The three of us collectively agreed to search for Akito.

A few minutes after we started searching, we got so reliable information from so of the students who were heading ho from their club activities.

Thus, we sohow managed to arrive at the gymnasium located a short distance away from the school building.

There, two first-year students were facing off with one another.

They didn’t appear to be the people Haruka and the others had been expecting either.

The first student was Class A’s Hashimoto.

The other was Class B’s Kanzaki.

anwhile, Akito appeared to be in the difficult position of standing watch between the two.

“You guys aren’t really going to fight, are you?”

“You’re quite persistent, Miyake. I wasn’t the one who instigated this in the first place, Kanzaki was.”

While Hashimoto spoke as though he was being pestered by soone, our eyes t.

“It seems like your friends have arrived?”

After Hashimoto pointed this out, Akito and Kanzaki looked our way at almost the sa ti.

“...You guys ca.”

It seems like he didn’t want us to interfere.

Well, nothing good cos from getting the girls tangled up in sothing like this.

Despite this, Haruka spoke up and inserted herself into the conversation.

“That’s because you’ve gone and gotten yourself involved in sothing strange. That’s why we ca to help out.”

“Ca to help… right…”

Realizing that he shouldn’t have said anything in the first place, Akito regretfully looked up into the empty air for a mont.

“So what is it? It doesn’t seem like they’re fighting.”

Realizing that it couldn’t be helped now that we were already here, Akito changed tracks.

“It seems like I misunderstood sothing. Although the situation does seem to have a bit of a dangerous feel to it.”

“Kanzaki is the dangerous one here.”

If I rember correctly, Hashimoto didn’t seem to be any different than usual.

However, Akito didn’t seem to be buying it.

“I would hope so.”

Akito didn’t show any intention of leaving any ti soon.

It seed like he wasn’t certain about whether or not things would take a turn for the worse.

At the sa ti, Kanzaki looked at us with a sowhat troubled expression.

That is to say, he had been hoping that nobody else would show up here.

However, he should also understand that such a dream was no longer possible.

For that reason, he chose to keep silent.

Ultimately, Kanzaki didn’t say a word to any of us and once again turned his attention back toward Hashimoto.

“Continuing from where we left off, Hashimoto. What have you been doing after school? You don’t belong to any clubs, so why are you here so late?”

“So if I don’t have any club activities, I have to head ho early? I’m free to go and do whatever I want after school. Moreover, out of everyone here, I think Miyake is the only one involved with a club. Right?”

Taking the initiative, Hashimoto poked a hole in Kanzaki’s argunt by dragging us into the conversation.

Compared to Kanzaki, our sudden appearance seed to play right into Hashimoto’s hands.

The mbers of the Ayanokouji Group briefly exchanged glances.

It wouldn’t be possible to say that we’re allies of Class A or Class B.

Though, if we had to choose between the two, we would definitely choose Class B.

That would be because of the armistice between Horikita and Ichinose.

“Ha! Not going to answer?”

Noticing that his question was being responded to with silence, Hashimoto let out a laugh.

“You’re not waiting here in order to et anyone in particular. You’re just trying to spread rumors to as many people as you can, aren’t you?”

Kanzaki wore his usual calm expression, but his spirit was very imposing.

From what it looks like, Kanzaki had been questioning Hashimoto about the recent rumors surrounding Ichinose.

Akito was worried that they would get into a fight with one another, which leads us to where the situation is at now.

Hashimoto probably felt that his actions were exposed to a certain extent after listening to Kanzaki’s claim, as he nodded a couple of tis in response.

“Rumors? Ah, you an the ones about Ichinose doing various malicious things? What connection do I have with those rumors?”

“Playing dumb is just a waste of everyone’s ti. I want to make one thing crystal clear with you. What you and the rest of your class are doing is simply too malicious. It’s no different than the type of thing Ryuuen would do.”

“Even when you say sothing like that, I don’t have an answer for you.”

Hashimoto, whose intentions are usually hard to completely understand, spoke evasively in response to Kanzaki’s questioning.

Akito seed to grasp that the two of them wouldn’t imdiately break into a fistfight, he distanced himself from the two of them and ca over to us.

“Hey, what should we do?”

Haruka asked Akito in a low voice.

“Nothing, let’s just watch for the ti being. If they split up without anything happening, it’ll end with that.”

“But… Is it okay for us to be listening in?”

I could sowhat understand Airi’s uneasiness.

Our Class C has nothing to do with their discussion.

At the very least, Kanzaki won’t be pleased about having us be present here. That was the vibe I got from the air around him.

“What do you think, Kiyotaka?”

Akito asked for my input.

“Isn’t it fine until they tell us to leave? If at so point, this turns into a fight, the presence of a third party can help keep things civil. Kanzaki should see the benefit in that too.”

It seems as though Akito imdiately agreed with , as he nodded a few tis.

Hashimoto then took the topic of the rumors one step deeper.

“Hey, Kanzaki. This thing going on with Ichinose… are you sure they’re really just rumors?”

“What?”

“You can’t have smoke without a fire. That’s probably what most students are thinking.”

“Rumors can create smoke without a fire as long as there’s malicious intent.”

Hashimoto leaned against the nearby wall.

“Indeed. It’s true that rumors and fire are entirely separate things.”

Proverbs can’t be applied to every situation in the world.

“However, can you confidently tell that Ichinose doesn’t have a dark past, Kanzaki?”

“Approximately one year. That’s how long I’ve been going through thick and thin together with Class B. That’s why I’m absolutely certain.”

“Oh give it up Kanzaki. Responses like that stink so much that I can’t even look you in the eyes.”

After saying so, Hashimoto dropped eye contact.

“Of course, I’ve also asked Ichinose directly.”

“Hoh? And what did she say?”

“She said sothing like: ‘I hope you aren’t entranced by any of those rumors. Don’t take them to heart.’”

“That is to say, she neither affird nor denied them?”

“That’s right. That’s why I decided to believe in her.”

“Oi oi, are you being serious? How much of a softie can you be?”

Hashimoto let out a laugh of contempt before imdiately continuing.

“Not wanting to talk about your own dark past is just a part of human nature. Just because you’re friends, it doesn’t guarantee that she told the truth. That’s also why she didn’t tell the truth to her classmates. Or, are you saying that just because Ichinose is a good person now, that she has to have been a good person in the past as well?”

Hashimoto attempted to shake Kanzaki’s confidence.

However, Kanzaki didn’t appear to be distraught at all.

The look in his eyes told that he has complete trust in Ichinose.

“You actually think that she’s going to tell you the truth just because you’re her right-hand man? How sweet of you.”

Hashimoto doesn’t mask his surprise at Kanzaki’s blind faith.

Or it could be that he ca to the realization that there was no longer any need to prolong the conversation any further.

“I didn’t confront you to listen to sothing like this in the first place. I want the details of what you’ve been doing today.”

“Then I’ll tell you. I’ve been spreading around rumors about Ichinose.”

Hashimoto admitted to it.

“Hey, Kanzaki. You’re a smart, caring guy. However, that’s precisely why I suggest that you avoid getting too involved in things like this. All that you’ll be able to do is blindly believe in the other person.”

“In other words, you have no intention of retracting those rumors.”

“Aren’t you misunderstanding sothing here? There’s no way to ‘take back’ rumors. Rumors flow from one way to the next, spreading out however they please. I just caught wind of them and helped passed them along.”

While he admitted to helping spread the rumor along, Hashimoto clearly denied that he was the original source.

However, that didn’t make Kanzaki back down.

It seems that from the beginning, Kanzaki was aware that Hashimoto wasn’t the origin for the rumors.

“These last few days, I’ve been doing a thorough investigation on you guys in Class A.”

“And?”

“I determined that the source of the rumors all co from various students from the first-year Class A. Then, when we asked those people where they heard it from, they would give vague responses like ‘I don’t rember’ or ‘I heard it from soone else.’ Mighty similar to the response that you gave just now. The true aning behind this? You should already understand, Hashimoto.”

It ans that soone had given instructions to everyone from Class A.

“I’m sorry, Kanzaki, but I have no idea what you’re talking about. If you don’t mind, would you please explain it to ?”

“The rumors about Ichinose were almost certainly propagated by your Class A.”

“Eh-”

“I don’t intend on listening to your excuses. I didn’t just ask first-years. I also consulted second-year and third-year students who claid to have heard the rumors from you guys. If necessary, I can ask them to co out and confirm the facts in person.”

From the looks of it, Kanzaki and his classmates have been excessively thorough with finding the origin of the rumors.

He’s been convinced that the whole operation was spearheaded by Class A.

And with that, he’s now gone and approached Hashimoto.

Based on the fact that Kanzaki is here on his own, without a group, Class B is doing this out of consideration for Ichinose.

If a large number of students were to make a scene, it would end up attracting even more attention from students. Even those who aren’t interested in rumors in the first place.

No, there’s also the possibility that in this case, Kanzaki is acting entirely alone.

“I see. So that’s why you’ve been stalking all day today as well.”

Because Hashimoto included the words ‘as well’, it ant that he had noticed when Kanzaki started tailing him.

Yet, he didn’t seem like he cared about it at all.

That’s because he understood that it obviously wasn’t any sort of hindrance to what he was doing.

Hashimoto shrugged and let out a sigh as Kanzaki spoke up.

“Was it Sakayanagi who gave you instructions to spread the rumors?”

“Uh, no?”

“Then who did? She’s the only one who can give instructions to you guys in Class A other than Katsuragi.”

“Who knows? I’m just the sa as any other student. I heard these rumors from soone else. Even if you’re so confident that the rumors were started by Class A, I still don’t even have the slightest clue what you’re talking about. Maybe it’s the handiwork of Ryuuen and he's actually just pretending to have retired?”

At that, Kanzaki changes tactics a bit.

“So you’ve all blindly accepted a rumor which may or may not be the truth and spread it around?”

“The world is overflowing with people doing that exact thing. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. If it’s interesting people will want to share it with others. Don’t you think that, due to their experience, girls participate in things like that much more than guys do?”

While saying so, Hashimoto turned his gaze towards Haruka and Airi.

“Well… I do like rumors, but…”

“The sad thing is, the juicier a piece of gossip is, the more enthusiastic people are to talk about it. Think about it a little bit more objectively, Kanzaki. When you asked Ichinose, she didn’t confirm or deny anything, and she also isn’t asking for any help. Don’t you think that’s strange? If it’s all just a lie, she would be seeking cooperation to catch the perpetrator instead.”

“Ichinose hates extre conflicts. I’m sure that she has a big enough heart to even forgive the people who are defaming her.”

Since Ichinose won’t say anything on the matter, Kanzaki has no other choice than to believe in her.

“Good grief. You people from Class B…”

In any case, I’ve managed to confirm one thing based on the way Hashimoto has been speaking and acting so far.

The rumors that have been circulating about Ichinose recently… Sure enough, they aren’t all lies.

I temporarily put aside my position as a student and looked at the situation from society’s point of view.

Naturally, on the grounds of defamation and libel, Ichinose would be able to sue the party responsible for circulating the rumors. Regardless of whether they were true or not, the damage to her public reputation would give her the grounds to do so.

Well, provided that it’s limited to situations where the truth isn’t at odds with the public interest.

If this entire thing has been orchestrated by Sakayanagi, then, of course, everything should be going according to her plan.

The fact that Ichinose has chosen to stay silent proves that her strategy is working just as intended.

Giving Kanzaki a solid pat on the shoulder as he passes by, Hashimoto put his hands in his pockets and begins to leave the room.

“Our conversation isn’t over yet.”

“Haven’t we said enough? Even if we continue the conversation, we won’t end up being able to agree on anything anyway.”

Lightly gesturing a farewell to Haruka and Airi, Hashimoto left the room, heading toward the school building.

I felt a strange sense of incongruity after watching Hashimoto leave.

It was obvious that he didn’t treat the sa way as he did back at the training camp.

In the end, it was nothing more than re intuition.

What’s changed between then and now… What’s different… It’s impossible to pinpoint the exact details.

“Excuse .”

Kanzaki gave us a slight bow and left, leaving toward the dormitories instead of the school building.

“Sohow, I feel like we just witnessed sothing totally aweso!”

“Why do I feel like you’ve been enjoying all of this?”

Haruka stuck out the tip of her tongue in response to Akito’s retort.

“Well, that’s because this ‘so-called’ violence is kinda exciting! Plus, if by so chance, we were attacked, Miyachi would have a plan ready to protect us right?”

While saying that, Haruka made a show of doing a few boxing jabs in the air.

“I heard that you used to be quite the delinquent?”

I asked, going along with the flow of the conversation. Akito let out a heavy sigh.

“I don’t really wanna talk about it, Haruka. I don’t want it to spread around.”

“It doesn’t matter, does it? You’re different now anyway. Were you really strong back then?”

“Let just say this, I wasn’t so famous delinquent. Honestly, soone else was the top delinquent at the school I went to, and he was much stronger than .”

“Huh. Was it a rough school?"

“Where I co from, adults would live a disordered life, and when they have kids, raise them that way as well. By the way, Class D’s Ryuuen went to the middle school right next to mine.”

“Ehhh? Seriously!?”

“Aah. Throughout the several tis when conflicts started between our schools, we ca in contact with each other. Well, that guy probably never took very seriously.”

Ah, so Akito is skilled at handling those kinds of situations because he’s grown accustod to fighting.

“This conversation ends here. Don’t share this with anyone outside of the group, okay?”

“I getcha. Let’s go back to the cafe ok? Yukimuu is waiting.”

“Sounds good.”

In the end, this is just sobody else’s problem.

The best option is to avoid digging any deeper. I’m certain of it.

(Chapter 2 End)