Demon Slayer: I was taken home by Shinobu Kocho at the beginning.

Long Yuan said with a big smile.

"You're actually interested in this kind of thing?" Tatsuya Kamio said, utterly speechless. "Besides, those stories sound obviously fake, don't they?"

"Hehe, yeah, but this also shows that that shorty Sakayanagi can't sit still anymore."

A cold smile crept across Long Yuan's lips.

That's right, that's Sakayanagi's strategy.

Since the message only circulated among first-year students, it can be concluded that it was spread by first-year students.

Let's use the process of elimination then.

Class D... that's unlikely. Neither Horikita nor Hirata are the type to do something like that. As for Kushida, he wouldn't talk badly about people behind their backs in order to maintain his image.

Others might want to do this out of jealousy towards Ichinose, but it's not that Kamio Tatsuya looks down on them; they simply don't have the drive to do so.

Then came Class C...

Class C only needs to keep an eye on Ryuen. No one else would do such a thing, and the students in Class C wouldn't dare to act secretly behind Ryuen's back, except for that person in charge.

But that guy looked like he didn't have the guts, so he was ruled out.

As for Ryuen dealing with Ichinose, there was no need to use such methods, because Ryuen never considered Ichinose to be his opponent from the beginning.

Therefore, PSS.

Therefore, the answer is simple: Class B, and it can only be Sakayanagi.

However, Tatsuya Kamio was a little curious about how Sakayanagi knew about Ichinose.

While all of the above rumors are quite outrageous, one of them is true.

That's theft.

Ichinose did indeed commit theft.

Moreover, it was precisely because of this behavior that a series of events prevented Ichinose from being assigned to a class.

Even if Sakayanagi is an idiot, the fact that she dared to spread such rumors means that she has some information.

Therefore, she truly knows what happened to Ichinose in the past.

and so……

How did she know?

Did Ichinose tell her that?

That's unlikely; Ichinose should be quite wary of her.

and many more……

Could this guy have used her dad's access privileges to view Ichinose's college entrance exam report?

If that's the case, then it's utterly despicable.

Of course, there is another possibility: Ichinose told someone else about this, and it was this other person who passed the information to Sakayanagi.

That's easy. Just confirm with Ichinose later.

Chapter 259 Ichinose's Resolve

After finishing his classes for the day, Tatsuya Kamio planned to go straight back to his dorm to rest.

"Good afternoon, Tatsuya. Are you free later?"

While Kamio Tatsuya was packing his things, Shiina approached with her backpack.

"Well, there's no student council work today, and I don't need to exercise either."

Kamio Tatsuya smiled and accepted Shiina's invitation, because Shiina had been somewhat depressed ever since the last training camp exam.

It's easy to guess that she probably felt she was dragging the group down.

"Let's go to the shopping mall then. I'd like to browse the bookstore."

"Well, let's go."

After packing his things, Tatsuya Kamio and Shiina headed towards the shopping center.

"Are you still unhappy about the last exam?"

Walking down the street, Tatsuya Kamio brought up the matter of the last exam.

"Eh, is it obvious?"

"I don't know if it's obvious or not, but I can tell."

As Kamio Tatsuya spoke, he tapped her on the head.

"The last exam was really tough," Shiina sighed. "Even though everyone got along really well in the end, we still didn't get good results."

In the last exam, besides the four groups of 14+1 students, the remaining two groups for the girls were composed of students from multiple classes.

To put it bluntly, the students in this group were the ones who were left over, since the relationships between girls are more complicated and there are more unexpected situations.

Incidentally, Ichinose is also in this group because she is worried about the remaining students in her class.

However, this group's performance was not good, but this was not Shiina and Ichinose's fault. It was mainly because the upperclassmen in their group were not very good.

"Anyway, it's all in the past. If you're not satisfied, just work hard in the next exam."

"Ah."

After being comforted by Tatsuya Kamio, Shiina's mood immediately improved.

"By the way, have you heard about Ichinose's situation?"

"Yes, Longyuan was talking to me about this this morning."

"I wonder who spread such outrageous rumors." Shiina's tone was slightly angry, indicating that she and Ichinose had established a good friendship during the previous training camp.

"of course……"

Just as Kamio Tatsuya was about to speak, he saw Ichinose surrounded by a group of people.

"Ichinose-san is really amazing. Despite being subjected to such rumors, she is still able to come out so openly."

"What can we do then? We can't just stay cooped up in our room by ourselves, can we? That would be falling into the enemy's trap."

“Yes, what the person who spread the rumors probably wants to see is a dejected Ichinose,” Shiina sighed.

"Should we go up and say hello?"

"Eh?"

Shiina was startled, then shook his head.

"I think we should forget it. If it's just Ichinose alone... but it doesn't seem very convenient right now."

That's true. There are quite a few people gathered around Ichinose now, which is indeed inconvenient, mainly because Chihiro Shiranami is also there.

Judging from the fact that he was only holding onto Ichinose's arm, he clearly hadn't given up on his wicked intentions.

After a brief moment of quiet, Shiina suddenly looked up at Tatsuya Kamio.

"By the way, Tatsuya, who do you think was spreading rumors about Ichinose just now?"

“Sakayanagi, there’s no one else but her,” Kamio Tatsuya said without hesitation. “Class D doesn’t need to do that. What they need to do now is to stabilize morale, since two people just dropped out.”

On our side, Longyuan didn't do it, and no one else dares to. As for Ban, they certainly wouldn't slander their own leader.

Therefore, the only answer left is Sakayanagi.

"Wow, that's amazing, you saw right through it." Shiina nodded. "Could you please lend Ichinose a hand?"

“Help Ichinose,” Tatsuya Kamio stroked his chin. “It’s not impossible, but I’m afraid that if I’m too outstanding, Ichinose might fall in love with me.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than a sharp pain shot through the back of his foot, and Tatsuya Kamio immediately stopped in his tracks.

"Ouch, Ms. Hiyori, you stepped on my foot."

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I accidentally went astray."

How careless you are!

Besides, I was moving just now, so it's harder for someone to step on me.

However, seeing Shiina's narrowed eyes and kind smile, Kamio Tatsuya simply shut up.

"Sigh, this is also a point that's troubling me." Shiina sighed, and after thinking for a while, slowly said, "But Tatsuya, please help Ichinose. I really don't want to see Ichinose in pain."

"It seems you two formed a fairly deep friendship during the joint training exam."

"Because even to someone like me who seems rather aloof, Ichinose-san treats me very kindly, so I want to protect Ichinose in a way."

yes!

Now I can openly and legitimately approach Ichinose!

"After you buy the books, come to my place and we can talk about Ichinose."

Shiina had no objection to this, and she didn't care about the gossip that might circulate.

An hour later, the two finished browsing the bookstore and went straight back to Tatsuya Kamio's room.

After brewing two cups of black tea, Tatsuya Kamio and Shiina sat down facing each other.

"Yes, Tatsuya's tea ceremony skills have improved a lot."

After drinking a cup of black tea brewed by Tatsuya Kamio, Shiina couldn't help but praise it.

"It's all thanks to Ms. Hiyori's excellent teaching."

Kamio Tatsuya also had a smile on his face.

"By the way, what are you planning to do about Ichinose?"

"What should we do..." Kamio Tatsuya pondered for a moment. Although he had just promised Shiina to help Ichinose, this matter was actually not easy to carry out.

On his way back, he texted Ichinose to ask if she had told anyone else about her besides him.

There has been no reply yet; it's unclear whether they are unwilling to reply or simply haven't seen it.

"Hiyori, what do you think is the most effective way to deal with rumors?"

"The most effective approach..." Shiina thought for a moment and then gave his answer, "Of course, it's to stand up and clarify things directly, right?"

Just like last time, Ichinose was falsely accused of illegally collecting points, but after she clarified the matter the next day, no one brought it up again.

Tatsuya Kamio nodded, agreeing that having the school clarify the matter was indeed the most direct approach.

"But the premise for doing this is that you haven't done it before, right?"

Shiina nodded, then froze.

"Tatsuya, you mean..."

There's no smoke without fire.

Shiina immediately showed a helpless expression.

"No way? That Ichinose is a habitual violent criminal or someone who does drugs or something..."

“I didn’t say that.” Tatsuya Kamio immediately interrupted Shiina’s musings. “I mean, of all these charges, Ichinose did commit one of them.”

Shiina paused for a moment, then nodded and fell into deep thought.

"But Tatsuya, I have a question."

"What questions?"

"How do you know that Ichinose committed one of those violations? Although it might be my imagination, Tatsuya, you don't know anything about it, do you?"

"It's very simple. The rumors have been circulating for so many days. If Ichinose were truly innocent, she would have gone to the school to clarify things, just like last time. The fact that she hasn't taken any action for so many days speaks volumes."

"Huh? Is that really all there is to it?"

"What else could it be? Could it be that Ichinose herself told me what wrong things she had done in the past?"

"It's not impossible."

Looking at Shiina's smiling face, Kamio Tatsuya felt that he couldn't fool her.

“Okay, it was Ichinose who told me herself that she had done something wrong in the past.”

"A mistake?"