Volume 9 Chapter 6 Part8 (2/2)
”It was al as I could re from either of us She was still in her first year of middle school, so it would've been acceptable for her to act a little spoiled soed to hold herself back Instead of getting the clothes she wanted, or accoether, she just put up with all of it and held herself back fro And then, that selfless little sister offor the very first time A fashi+onable hair clip that her favorite celebrity wore back then My mother undoubtedly overloaded her schedule in order to buy my sister that hair clip”
However- Due to her sudden hospitalization, she was no longer able to get her daughter that birthday present
”I can still reized from her bed in the hospital The face of my sister as she showered our mother with all the ridicule and blame she could produce The face of my sister as she cried and screa Even then, I still wasn't able to blaift she had ever asked for…”
Sakayanagi listened to Ichinose's confession with an unwavering sht that I had to find a way to return my sister's smile So, after school on the day of her birthday, I went to the department store”
By now, you could tell that she was just as anxious as she was back then
”My feelings back then were surely shrouded in darkness I tolddeal to do soer sister After all, there were so s The feelings I was holding inside… That there was no reason for my family, who had always held back, to be blamed for my actions I told iven… Back then, that was otistical interpretation of reality The hair clip that would normally cost over 10,000 yen… The hair clip that my sister wanted so desperately… I stole it for her”
Ichinose spoke as though she was revealing soh it was a decision that I kneouldfor my sister”
That desire of hers was the cause for all of this
”…But, that's still no excuse, is it?”
Ichinose mumbled quietly
”In the end, a crime is a crio away”
She expressed her thoughts in a disconnected ht?”
In response to Hashi+moto's question, Ichinose simply shook her head
”I just left the department store with the hair clip It was the first time I ever shoplifted, the first time I ever committed a crime nobody found out Immediately afterward, I went ho little sister But, because it had just been stolen, it hadn't been wrapped yet, so it was a really sloppy present Still, she was so happy When I saw her suilt of what I had just done faded a bit But, that didn't last very long The pounding guilt in row”
Ichinose's smile was full of self-ridicule
”After all, doesn't it seehter's done soh I had told my sister to keep the present a secret, she wore it the next time ent to visit our mother in the hospital And ouldn't she? There was no way ht that I had stolen it for her That time… That time was the first tiry She slapped me and took the hair clip fro little sister understood why Despite the fact that she had to stay hospitalized, ed iveness That was the first time I truly understood just what I had done How heavy of a cri would ever be able to make up for it”
This was Ichinose's past The past that she had been hiding
”In the end, the store didn't hand me over to the police But, in the blink of an eye, the commotion still spread, so I closed myself off For almost half of my third year of middle school, I just shut myself up in my room and stayed there… Eventually, I started to think about ain It was all because my homeroom teacher told me about this school The cost of adraduate, you can find a job anywhere you want I wanted to start over To start over with a blank slate”
Finished, Ichinose once again bowed her head to her classmates
”I'm sorry everyone I'm such a pathetic, useless leader…”
”That's not true Ichinose”
Listening fro to everything you've had to say, I'ood person”
”Yeah! Sure, Hona bad, but-”
The loud, distinct sound of a cane striking the floor echoed throughout the roo so ridiculous?”
Ichinose's support was casually brushed aside
”Really, what a trivial, boorish farce Are you trying to gain sy up all these needless details about your past? NoThere's no place for sympathy Your theft cai spoke, Kaht beside her, ree with that The circu to do with it”
”The fact ree amount of private points you've been entrusted with, isn't it possible that you'll steal those as hen graduation co like that, Sakayanagi-san Disregarding et into Class A would be an act of betrayal I don't think the school would ever allow it”
”I agree You're a clever one, after all You'd never use an obvious tactic like that On the other hand, what if you do this little syet everyone's peri was relentless
”You're right… Maybe… Maybe all my hard ill seem hypocritical, no matter how hard I try The sin I committed will never disappear”
Her criminal past would always follow her
After all, the suspicion that she may betray the class someday would always be there
”Does everyone understand now? This, is the real Ichinose Hona you, Class B doesn't stand a chance”
Sakayanagi thoroughly exposed the reality of the situation
”Take this opportunity to return the private points to your classmates and step down as the leader of Class B You should at least do that much If you don't, the slander about you will not disappear, will it?”
Ichinose calmly closed her eyes and took a deep breath
”What are you going to do, Ichinose?”
Kanzaki spoke as the representative for the rest of Class B, posing the question to her
The question of whether or not she would continue to lead the class
A decision that Ichinose would have to make herself
If this was her first experience with having her spirit crushed, Ichinose ive in
But, Ichinose had already had her spirit broken once before
Rather, I was the one who had broken it
But now, she had recovered coer than ever
”I'll wrap up my confession with this…”
As she spoke, she turned to face Sakayanagi with a si-san said, I don't think there's any room for sympathy After all, a cri away However, I've never been persecuted for it In other words, there's effectively no reason for me to atone for my sin now”
”You have a lot of nerve to say that despite being so shao This defiant attitude of yours is quite a big change frorets theirback I won't letface toward her class so shameless… everyone, will you follow me until the very end?”
She asked this, and it was followed by a moment of silence
By no means had her request come from a place of optie of bursting into tears She simply wanted to run away from all of it
But despite that, she continued to push forward
She had gone through thick and thin with her classmates for the past year It was ih
”You already have our support, right!?”
shi+bata shouted with a sle one of his class the unity of Class B
This was the extent of the adht behind it
Keisei and Akito also seemed to be taken in by this display of unity, as both of thehted expressions
With the exception of one class in particular, the students fro their support
”Sakayanagi… What now?”
Sakayanagi's attack had been negated
Kamuro appeared to understand this as well, which hy she had spoken up Her question could be interpreted as a request to withdraw
”Fufufu”
Sakayanagi laughed
”Fufufufufufu”
Then she laughed again, a little bit longer this tied to successfully trick your classmates However, as you said earlier, a criminal's past doesn't just disappear I'm sure that the rumors about you will continue to spread far into the future”
”Yeah, but I' to run away”
”Is that so? Then, let's thoroughly-”
”Alright, that's enough everyone”
As Sakayanagi was in thea response, two teachers and an upperclassman entered the classrooumo, Class B's homeroom teacher Hoshi+nomiya, and Chabashi+ra
”It seems that a few very important people have shown up, but this is a problem that only concerns the first-year students”
”You're correct This dispute does only involve the first-years However, as of today, it is against the rules to spread irresponsible rumors”
”…What does thatorder on the ruardless of where they came from, if Ichinose-san was troubled by them, shouldn't she have reported it to the school herself?”
”You have the wrong idea, Sakayanagi This probleui's question
”…What are you saying?”
Just as Nagumo was about to explain, Chabashi+ra intervened instead
”I won't go into the details, but we've already confirst the first-year students There are close to twenty different ru around at this point If this is allowed to continue, it will corrupt the public ardless of whether or not there's conclusive evidence backing theet specific individuals continue to spread Therefore, I'll infor less rumors may be subjected to punish the endless spread of rumors, but now they had taken action
”…I see, so that's how it is”
After hearing Chabashi+ra's explanation, Sakayanagi see
”In other words, the school's finally taking action”
Horikita drew closer to hts
”This is only an afterthought, but isn't this enough to save each class? Because of the school's intervention, Sakayanagi-san's faction won't be able to attack Ichinose-san anymore This should also silence the rumors about Hondō-kun, shi+noharsan, Satō-san, and you that were posted online as well”
”Right”
”Sakayanagi-san went a bit too far She attey at the same time, but it backfired because it attracted the school's attention It seeed to outdo herself”
With that, Horikita fell silent
Then, for a moment, she continued
”But-”
”But what?”
”No, it's nothing”
Horikita didn't see further
”Let's withdraw here Now that the school has er necessary”
Understanding the situation, Sakayanagi gave the order to withdraw
At once, the already noisy classroom became even more excited
Class A had been successfully driven back
TL Notes:
I'ot it done This part is absolutelyup this college semester Part 9 is the final part of Chapter 6, and it's about 1/4th as large as this part was, so if my schedule is nice to me, that part will be completed rather soon To those who are unhappy with ize for e aside, I prefer to translate when I want to translate and when I have the y to do so If I forced a schedule on ether and start doing so more I'm also not too vocal about it here, but I'est fan of this series anymore, and I mostly translate this series for all of you rather than for e is completed for this semester, my schedule will open up and my speed and consistency of translations will increase notably, so look forward to that There is still a chapter 7 of this volume for me to translate, so that aside, there isn't tooor have any questions/corrections for