Classroom of the Elite - Book 15.5,: Chapter 3: EVERYONE’S DAYS OFF (2)

“Um…Sakayanahi-san. Could you give me a little of your time?”

After lunch, I was resting in the ship’s café when Ichinose-san approached me and called out. 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 same.

“It’s about the special exam…I just felt like I had to apologise. On the last day, I did something really selfish…so, I’m really very sorry!”

Probably having prepared herself to some extent after knowing that I am not someone you can 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 me, Class A’s leader, and caused the dissolution of our partnership.

I’m 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 comrades 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 during the final stages 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 something deserving of reproach. Now if we had fallen into a close 4th place, then you might have taken some of the blame, but that did not happen, right?”

“But that’s only when looking back on it with hindsight…”

“Sometimes 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 came in a close 4th, you would have suffered a great deal of psychological damage.”

It is possible that the fact that I didn’t try to blame her at all has caused Ichinose-san to be doubly sorry. The remorse would not go away.

“You’ve got a look on your face that says you feel you need to take responsibility somehow.”

“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 me feel better.”

“Fufu, you’re a strange person aren’t you? Well then…yes, please sit her.”

I urged Ichinose-san to come in front of me and sat her down.

She became as meek as a lamb, and I had the staff prepare a menu.

“Go ahead, please order whatever you’d like.”

“Um…The punishment?”

“You have to keep me company right now and spend 30 minutes with me for afternoon tea.”

“Eh, t-that’s my punishment?”

“That’s right. I’m going to take up your precious 30 minutes, Ichinose-san. This is nothing but a punishment.”

“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 me once, but you don’t show the slightest trace of it, even being willing to go out with me like this.”

“I don’t feel you humiliated me. 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 have 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’ve probably seen dozens of times as many incompetent people who are completely useless.

And then, regardless of whether they were excellent or incompetent, I’d never know anyone who could be called purely good.

It’s the same for my own mother, father, and also Ayanokouji-kun.

“You’re a hard person to describe. That’s why you seem so scary at times.”

“I’m…scary?”

I’m sure she has never been told anything like that before in her entire life. However, I’m certain that there are more than just one or two people who have been afraid of the person named Ichinose Honami-san.

“Every person in this world has an evil part to them, more or less. But I don’t sense that from you in the slightest. You’re like a mass of goodness.”

“You’re overestimating me. Just like in middle school, I’ve done bad bad things in my life…”

Her shameful past, which she could never boast of, remains an inescapable reality that can 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 some wrongdoing that one time, your motive was the precious love for your family.”

In the eyes of the law, it was undoubtedly bad, but it can 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 Ryuuen-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 Ayanokouji-kun too.”

All of this applies to the leaders of each class, including the one she just mentioned, Ryuuen-kun.

The sudden mention of Ayanokouji-kun’s name made Ichinose visibly agitated.

“On the last day of the uninhabited island exam, it was probably thanks to you that Ayanokouji-kun was saved.”

“W-wait a minute? Um, what do you mean 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 some light on some 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 somewhat guess that your feelings for Ayanokouji-kun are different from those you have for other students.”

“W-w-what!? N-no, um, I mean…that’s…!”

“That’s good isn’t it? It’s a human instinct to have special feelings for a particular member of the opposite sex. But…if you get too attached, it may come back to bite you in the ass. If the other person is Ayanokouji-kun, then even more so.”

“I don’t really understand the meaning of what you’re saying, Sakayangi-san.”

What I told her today was a warning. I will not say anything more here.

“Let’s end the conversation here. It’s time 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’s currently stuck in her head.

It was a little bit of my meanness, my mercy and also my strategy.