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

But to be honest, it's quite lively here.

Besides Kanzaki, whom Ichinose mentioned, there are other people here.

The person confronting Kanzaki is Hashimoto from Class B. Hmm, it seems this guy is one of the people Sakayanagi sent to spread rumors.

The fact that Ryuen chose Hashimoto as a teammate during the forest test shows that Hashimoto must be capable, otherwise Ryuen wouldn't have chosen him.

Besides these two, there was another group of people gathered here at this moment.

It's the group from Class D.

It's that group of guys who've been getting really close to Ayanokoji lately: Yukimura, Miyake, Hasebe, and Sakura.

As soon as Ichinose arrived, he joined up with the students from his class who were standing on the periphery.

"Oh dear, it seems we have some new guests."

"Yeah, because it's really lively here. Could it be that the three classes have arranged to have a group fight? Isn't it a bit unfair to exclude our Class C? Count us in!"

Just as Kamio Tatsuya finished speaking, Ishizaki and Yamada appeared out of nowhere.

The reason they were here was because when Tatsuya Kamio left the dormitory, he sent them a text message asking them to come over if they had time.

The two had just come out of the shopping mall and were heading back to their dorm when they received a call from Tatsuya Kamio and came over.

Putting aside other things, Tatsuya Kamio, Daichi Ishizaki, and Albert Yamada are all over 180cm tall.

Although Tatsuya Kamio looks rather thin, Ishizaki and Sosuke Yamada are quite robust.

The three of them standing there exuded a powerful aura.

Upon seeing this, Hashimoto immediately raised his hands in surrender.

"I didn't do anything, Kanzaki was the one who stopped me from leaving."

"Because I think it's very suspicious that you haven't left school at this time since you don't participate in any clubs, that's why I'm planning to find you and ask you about it."

It seems Kanzaki understands this well; there are no special exams during this period, so students rarely go back to the library.

There are not many recreational facilities on campus, so people who don't participate in clubs usually choose to leave the school to go to the shopping mall or go back to their dormitories to rest.

Even someone like Tatsuya Kamio went to the shopping mall and then went back to his dorm, while Hashimoto was still wandering around the school.

It's impossible to say he had no ulterior motives.

Considering the numerous rumors circulating about Ichinose in recent days, Kanzaki can be fairly certain that Hashimoto stayed at school to spread rumors about Ichinose.

That's why Kanzaki cornered him here at this time.

Unexpectedly, the scene of his confrontation with Hashimoto was witnessed by students who had just finished their club activities, and then more and more people came.

Even Ichinose himself eventually came. He didn't want to bother Ichinose, but things didn't go as planned.

As for Ichinose, she understood what had happened through the brief conversation between the two.

"Kansaki-san, please don't worry about me. In any case, there will be a result tomorrow."

Kanzaki looked surprised upon hearing Ichinose's words.

"Ichinose, you..."

He wasn't stupid, so he was naturally able to judge from the events of this period that some of the rumors against Ichinose were probably true.

However, after nearly a year of getting to know each other, he knew very well what kind of person Ichinose was now, and he even asked Ichinose about it.

However, at the time, Ichinose neither admitted nor denied it, so he chose to support Ichinose as he was.

However, he did not expect Ichinose to make a decision so quickly.

Then, he looked at Tatsuya Kamio standing not far away, and a sense of understanding dawned on him, but at the same time, he was also worried.

Ichinose may trust Kamio Tatsuya, but Kanzaki is wary of Kamio Tatsuya.

To say nothing of the distant past, during the forest exam, the other party directly took 15 million private points from them.

This shows that although Tatsuya Kamio and Ichinose have a good relationship, the latter is ruthless when it comes to class conflicts.

"I see."

Then, Kanzaki looked at the group from Class D.

"Mike-kun, I'm sorry to have worried you."

"Uh, never mind."

Miyake, who seemed to have a slightly rebellious air about him, scratched his head and responded to Kanzaki. As for the others around him, their expressions varied.

"It seems there's nothing more for me here, so I'll be going now."

Seeing that Kanzaki was no longer stopping him, Hashimoto lifted his leg and started to walk out of the school.

"Please wait a moment, Hashimoto-kun."

"Oh? Is there something you need, Ichinose-kun?"

"I plan to address the rumors circulating these past few days after school tomorrow. Could you please pass this on to Sakayanagi-san?"

Hashimoto's face immediately showed a surprised expression.

Then he nodded somewhat silently.

"I understand, I will pass it on to Her Highness the Princess."

Your Highness...

Sakayanagi is really a hidden chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) sufferer.

She actually lets her subordinates call her princess. Doesn't she feel awkward at all?

Hmm, maybe I can use that nickname to tease her next time.

The somewhat absurd farce came to an end. Kamio Tatsuya glanced at Ichinose, who was comforting the students in Class 1, and the bewildered students in Class D not far away.

Then he told Ishizaki and Yamada to leave.

"Kamio, what's with Ichinose's explanation for the rumors?"

Ishizaki scratched his head, not understanding what he meant.

"Those rumors are all slander, aren't they?"

Upon hearing Ishizaki's words, Kamio Tatsuya looked at him in surprise.

Do you think it's all slander?

"Isn't it obvious?" Ishizaki asked, somewhat puzzled. "Although Brother Ryuen looks down on Ichinose, he has never said that Ichinose's appearance is an act."

"If you want to know, go and see for yourself after school tomorrow afternoon."

Kamio Tatsuya didn't know how to answer him.

As for why Ishizaki would be interested in this, that's perfectly normal.

For many boys in first grade and even higher grades, Ichinose was like a goddess.

It's perfectly normal to develop feelings for someone like Ichinose.

People are especially interested in gossiping about this kind of person.

……

The next morning, the words Ichinose had spoken the previous evening had already spread throughout the first-year students, and even Class C was discussing it.

Without a doubt, this was either Hashimoto's doing or Sakayanagi's instruction.

"Ichinose has really impressed me."

No sooner had Tatsuya Kamio sat down than Ryuen came to this conclusion.

On another note, Ryuen, you seem like a delinquent, but you arrive at school earlier than me every day. You're actually a good student, aren't you?

"Oh? What do you say?"

“Don’t play dumb. It’s very difficult to face your mistakes, especially for someone like her.” Ryuen glanced at Tatsuya Kamio.

"Maybe," Tatsuya Kamio mumbled. "By the way, has that guy with the slicked-back hair made any moves lately?"

"Tomorrow, huh? According to Manabe's report, that guy is still relentlessly inciting some students to cause trouble."

Long Yuan glanced at Shi Ren, a disdainful smile playing on his lips.

The reason I didn't take action against the then-regent during the last forest test was because the losses were too great.

If they wanted to eliminate Tokito, they had to make him the leader of the group, or they had to use a self-destruction method, just like the third-year Ino-Kari group.

Either way, Class C would lose a lot of class points. After considering it, Longyuan decided to see if there would be another opportunity.

Moreover, he was very confident that under his control, the current guy couldn't cause any trouble for the time being.

As the school bell rang, the first-grade teaching building suddenly became lively. Many students in Class C rushed out of the classroom without even packing their schoolbags.

Not only Class C, but also Class B and Class D had people go to the classroom, because today was the day Ichinose was to explain the rumors.

Even people who have nothing to do with this situation want to know what's going on.

Everyone has a gossipy nature, especially when it's gossip about Ichinose, who's quite famous even among the first-year students.

"You have to go too."

Ryuen glanced at Tatsuya Kamio, who was about to leave.

"I'm the vice president of the student council, so I have to keep an eye on things. I can't let them start fighting, can I?"

Kamio Tatsuya made a pretentious remark, which earned him a sneer from Ryuen.

Then he left without looking back, apparently uninterested in what happened with Ichinose.

When Kamio Tatsuya arrived at the classroom door, he found that it was already surrounded by students from various classes.

"What are you doing here, Sakayanagi?!"

As soon as I squeezed through the crowd, I saw Shibata from the class interrogating Sakayanagi, who had just arrived.

"Of course I came to see how Ichinose plans to explain herself. Besides, wasn't Ichinose herself the one who invited me here?"

Sakayanagi looked at Ichinose in the crowd with a smile.

"Thank you so much for coming, Sakayanagi-san."

Ichinose's expression may look very calm, but she must actually be very nervous.

Tatsuya Kamio, who was standing at the edge of the crowd, looked towards Ichinose, who happened to see him as well.

Their eyes met, and Tatsuya Kamio gave her an encouraging smile.

"Sakayanagi-san, you're the one who spread the rumors about me at school, aren't you?"

"Oh dear, you can't just say things like that. Does being popular mean you can slander others at will?" Sakayanagi tilted his head.

"Sakayanagi-san, it's no use denying it. As long as I report this to the student council, they can trace the source back to the person who first spread the rumor."

Ichinose's expression remained neither humble nor arrogant, then a look of sadness appeared on her face.

"However, I don't intend to pursue this matter, because some of those rumors are true."

Ichinose admitted it.

The surrounding crowd immediately became excited, discussing what Ichinose had done.

The rumors were quite outrageous, saying she was a habitual violent offender, or that she was on drug use, or that she had a history of theft or prostitution...

"It's good that you admitted it. This also means that Ichinose-san isn't as perfect as she seems."

“I have never said that I am a perfect person.” Ichinose shook her head. “I have also made huge mistakes.”

Ichinose's words brought a smile to Sakayanagi's face.

"Then can you tell us? Because we simply can't imagine what mistakes Ichinose-san, who's such a nice guy, could have made."

Instead of leaving everyone guessing, it's better to just say it directly.

Upon hearing Sakayanagi's words, Ichinose forced a smile, then took a deep breath to compose herself.

"Yes, that's what I was planning, which is why I invited you here. I'll tell you now what I was hiding from everyone before."

Then, Ichinose quietly confessed to the mistakes she had made, namely, her past theft.

While most of the first-year students were somewhat surprised to hear these words, they couldn't help but feel sympathy for Ichinose after hearing about what she had gone through.