Sudo's Rumors

On his way to school that morning, Konoe was yawning when a girl called out to him.

"Good morning, Konoe!" Ichinose greeted him, then hopped over to his side in the final step before reaching him.

Seeing her, Konoe stared at her blearily. "Morning... You sure have a lot of energy, Ichinose."

"What's wrong? Did you not sleep well last night? Staying up late isn't good for your health. Though you're surprisingly cute when you haven't slept well." She suddenly stepped in front of Konoe and stopped, then reached out and straightened his hair.

Konoe stood there blankly and let her fuss with him for a few seconds before snapping out of it and batting her hand away.

"Hey, Ichinose, isn't this a little inappropriate...? People might see us and get the wrong idea." Konoe let out a breath and tried to compose himself.

Ichinose realized what she'd done, lowered her head with a blush, and said, "I-I'm sorry. I guess I forgot you were a boy."

"What! I never knew you usually thought of me like that..." The light gradually faded from Konoe's eyes. "No wonder I always felt like you kept a weird distance from me..."

Seeing how dejected Konoe looked, Ichinose hurriedly explained, "I misspoke! That's not what I meant. I just forgot about your gender for a moment..."

"...If you don't need anything, I'll get going." In a bad mood, Konoe wanted to leave as soon as possible. If he got to class early, maybe he could catch a quick nap before homeroom.

"Wait!"

Ichinose stepped forward and grabbed Konoe's hand. Then she cautiously glanced up at him. When she saw the shocked look he turned on her, she quickly lowered her head again.

"I know you're a boy, Konoe. It's just that talking with you is so relaxing for some reason, so I might've done a few things that seemed strange to you..." Ichinose let out two breaths and steadied herself before continuing, "And I'm not worried about people getting the wrong idea. I stopped you because there's something I wanted to talk to you about..."

Ichinose's bangs covered her lowered eyes, while the blush on her face had spread all the way to her ears. Konoe felt the softness of her hand in his, but her grip kept tightening and loosening, as if she couldn't control her strength.

It'd be easy to just pull her hand away, but that'd be too cruel to Ichinose. Konoe sighed.

"Fine. I don't mind hearing you out. But let go first."

Seeing that Konoe wasn't leaving, Ichinose quickly released his hand. Still too shy to look up at him, she touched her hair and asked, "Could I have a little of your time after school?"

Konoe thought for a moment, then came up with an excuse to dispel the awkward atmosphere. "How about I consider it repayment for the favor you did me at the library last time?"

"Oh... Right, that happened. I'll wait for you by the School Building entrance after school, then." Ichinose left at such a brisk pace that she looked as if she might break into a run.

Konoe patted his cheeks, got his racing heart under control, and headed to the School Building as if nothing had happened.

As soon as he entered the classroom, Konoe heard Sudo arguing with someone.

"I told you, it wasn't like that!" Sudo shouted. "There were three of them!"

"But... right?" Karuizawa Kei, the gyaru girl, trailed off and glanced at the girl beside her.

Shinohara Satsuki stood beside her. Seemingly understanding what Karuizawa hadn't said, she nodded and replied, "Yeah..."

The two girls exchanged a look. Since they didn't want to say anything to Sudo's face, they returned to their separate groups.

"What's with them?" Sudo fumed as he went back to his seat.

Konoe had a bad feeling about this. Chabashira had told them to keep the matter quiet, but the rumor had still spread. It was very likely Class C was deliberately fanning the flames.

Konoe spotted Karuizawa's group and edged close enough to hear the girls' conversation, hoping to find out what they were talking about.

"I wish Sudo weren't in our class."

"Yeah. Last time, I heard him laughing about beating someone up. He even bragged about how he'd punched different parts of their body."

"That's scary..."

As Konoe strained to listen, someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder.

"Whoa!" Konoe jumped and yelped. The girls stopped talking and looked over at him.

He could only give them a goofy smile and wave. The girl who'd tapped him stepped up beside him and greeted the others.

Karuizawa, who was clearly the center of the group, pursed her lips, then said a few things, seemingly drawing the girls' attention back to their earlier conversation. After that, they stopped paying attention to Konoe.

Konoe glanced to his side and realized the girl who'd tapped his shoulder was Hasebe Haruka.

Hasebe apologized. "Sorry, I didn't think Pingping would react that strongly. But what were you doing just now?"

"It's fine, Gaga... I startled myself by sneaking around. I was just curious what they were talking about. It sounded like it had something to do with Sudo, right?" Konoe always felt a little awkward saying her name.

"What? You could've just asked me. Everyone's talking about how Sudo was apparently involved in a violent incident. It's only a rumor, but he seemed to admit it in class just now."

"I think I heard him say it was one against three or something."

"Who knows if he was telling the truth... I heard the other person didn't fight back at all, and he just kept hitting them." Hasebe looked frightened as she spoke.

"I see. Can I ask where you heard about it, Gaga?"

"At first, I think some girls were talking about it in a group chat. Then, for some reason, it seemed like all the First Years found out."

"The group chat... Is it the class discussion group?"

"It's a group the girls made themselves. Only girls can join. But there are a lot of girls' groups, so I can't remember which one it was..."

"Oh... I see." Konoe knew the girls were split into several cliques, but he hadn't realized there were so many.

"If you're that curious, Pingping, why not join the group? Come to think of it, I think we talked about inviting you once..." Hasebe said, pretending to ponder it.

"Absolutely not." Konoe politely declined, thinking again of what had happened on his way to school.

"Haha, I'm kidding. There are some things in the group we wouldn't want Pingping to see, like rankings and stuff."

"I won't ask what that is. There's one last thing I'd like to ask you, Gaga." Konoe realized this might be a good chance to learn more about the girls' side. "Could you tell me who runs the main group chats? And maybe where they're most active? You can send me a Text Message. Please!"

"Huh? Is there a girl you're interested in, Pingping?" Hasebe asked in surprise.

"Not really. You know this school is a little different from a normal one, right? Like the Midterm Exam last time—the penalty for failing was a bit too severe. I'm worried the next test might be harder, so I wanted to learn more about how things are on the girls' side... Is that too much trouble? Sorry, Gaga."

"Not at all. I'd be happy to help if that's why you're asking. Actually, I'm glad you came to me, Pingping. You seem pretty smart, and thanks to you, I saved some points last time, so things haven't been as difficult for me."

"Great. But don't push yourself, Gaga." Konoe thanked Hasebe and said goodbye, then returned to his seat.

As soon as Konoe left, several girls gathered around Hasebe and started talking. Kushida seemed to be among them.