Chihiro Shiranami's Day of Suffering / It Must Have Been Uesugi Gen

Putting that Ryuen impostor aside for now.

Everyone's curiosity about who had written Ichinose a love letter had reached its peak. Even Uesugi Gen was no exception.

Tap~

Tap~~

Tap~~~

A mysterious figure slowly approached, footsteps sounding as they drew near...

The Day Shiranami Chihiro Suffered

As the figure came closer, everyone in Class B swallowed in unison.

Who... was it?

Something seemed off.

This figure...

Why did they look so small?

Slowly, the students of Class B realized what they had overlooked.

All the boys in Class B were here, so... where were the girls?

The figure drew closer, and her silhouette gradually came into view, revealing distinctly feminine features.

No way!

An indescribable feeling welled up in the hearts of the Class B students and Uesugi Gen.

Who was it?

Uesugi Gen immediately thought back to everyone involved in the operation. Who hadn't arrived yet?

A figure slowly appeared in Uesugi Gen's mind, perfectly matching the person before them.

Could it be...

No. Uesugi Gen refused to admit he'd overlooked someone until the very last moment. He decided to make one last desperate attempt.

After a moment's thought, Uesugi spoke into his earpiece.

"Amikura, you told Shiranami about this earlier, right? Why didn't she come?"

The entire class waited quietly for Amikura Mako's explanation.

After quite a while, a hesitant voice came through.

"Well, I asked her if she was free after school this afternoon, and she told me she had something really important to do today. She said I absolutely wasn't to disturb her..."

Smack!

Smack! Smack!

The entire class slapped their foreheads in perfect unison.

That settled it. It had to be her.

"So... what do we do now?"

Kanzaki Ryuji sighed in exasperation and turned to look at Uesugi Gen.

They were in a real bind.

Eavesdropping on a classmate's confession was a private matter and an unethical thing to do. The students of Class B weren't comfortable with it either.

But if they ran off now, Ichinose and Shiranami Chihiro would definitely notice. Then they'd be found out, leaving Shiranami in an awkward position in Class B.

Even if her classmates didn't mind, she certainly would.

So how could they handle this...

Without making things awkward for her or for them...

The students of Class B all turned to Uesugi Gen, their eyes brimming with hope.

All-powerful Uesugi Daimyojin, hurry up and use that invincible brain of yours to think of something!

What am I, Doraemon? How the hell am I supposed to come up with something?

Uesugi Gen was caught between a rock and a hard place.

By now, Shiranami Chihiro's figure was fully visible. She was about to reach Ichinose...

Hang in there, Uesugi! We're all counting on you. Don't let us down!

The students of Class B silently cheered him on.

Shiranami Chihiro had reached Ichinose...

Quick!

At the very last moment, just before she could speak, Uesugi Gen gritted his teeth and came up with a solution that wasn't really a solution at all.

"Everyone, cover your ears tightly! Don't listen, no matter what. We don't know anything about what they said today."

As long as I didn't hear it, I didn't know about it. That was the legendary ostrich strategy.

Everyone saw the light.

So that's how we solve this.

Then they immediately covered their ears.

They couldn't hear anything with their ears covered, but they could still see the expressions on the girls' faces.

Shiranami Chihiro gathered her courage and spoke. Ichinose did her best to respond...

Slowly,

As the conversation continued, Shiranami Chihiro grew more and more emotional, while Ichinose seemed at a loss, stiffly trying to comfort her.

If all went as expected, Shiranami Chihiro's confession would end in failure, and the girl would run off in tears.

But according to the first law of a certain universe, nothing ever went as expected.

A gentle breeze carried one of Ryuen's hairs slowly toward Shibata, who had his ears covered and eyes tightly shut.

A sudden urge stirred in his brain, flowed down through his body like a little stream, then gathered into a mighty river that surged out of Shibata.

Although Shibata did his best to cover his mouth and nose with both hands, suppressing it so hard only made it worse.

(((Achoo!!!)))

The enormous sneeze rang out like thunder, echoing across the entire area behind the gym.

Holy crap! Shibata, you idiot...

The whole class stared at Shibata Hayate in shock.

Drawn by the commotion, Ichinose and Shiranami Chihiro stopped talking and headed over.

Uesugi Gen reacted instantly. He quickly yanked off Shibata's hood and earpiece, then kicked him out as he ordered,

"Make up any excuse you want to get Ichinose off our backs. Whatever you do, don't let her find out how many of us are here."

Shibata Hayate stared at Uesugi Gen in disbelief, pointing at himself.

Me? Make something up to Ichinose?

But Shibata didn't have time to hesitate. Ichinose was almost here. If he didn't go out now, she'd catch the whole group of boys—and Ryuen too.

There was no backing out now!

With no other choice, Shibata forced himself to go out.

He put on a strained smile and greeted them.

"Ahaha, what a coincidence, Ichinose and Shiranami. I was nearby working on my running."

"..."

Where had that unprompted confession come from? She hadn't even asked him. Why was he so quick to explain himself?

Ichinose paid no attention to what Shibata had said. Her eyes were fixed on the place he'd come from, and without even turning around, she casually asked,

"Where's Uesugi-kun? Isn't he with you?"

The Uesugi radar inside her was already beeping, telling her that her target was nearby.

Hearing Ichinose's question, Shiranami Chihiro clenched her fist behind her.

I was the one who was here first...

"He... Why would he be with me? He went back to the dorm to play games ages ago."

This was bad!

Uesugi Gen sensed trouble.

Everyone here who usually kept their location services on had left their phones with the client at Keyaki Mall.

If Ichinose checked their phones, she'd know Shibata was lying and realize something was going on.

"Is this where Shibata-kun trains his stamina? It doesn't seem very spacious. Is there some special reason you come here?"

Ichinose pressed on, pretending to be curious as she peered toward the place Shibata had come from.

Shibata hurriedly blocked her way.

"N-no, there's nothing worth seeing. I come here to train so I can get better at dodging."

It was hopeless!

Uesugi Gen gave up struggling and spoke into his earpiece.

"Everyone, take off your hoods and earpieces. We're going out."

If they didn't come out now, Ichinose would find them when she went inside—and their beating of Ryuen would be exposed.

Why not go out himself and distract Ichinose? Because Shiranami would kill him, that's why!

Once everyone had gathered their things, Uesugi Gen reluctantly stepped out from the corner.

"Uesugi... Ah?"

The smile Ichinose had just given Uesugi Gen froze.

Behind Uesugi Gen, one person appeared, then another. More and more came out from the surrounding area. The crowd began to gather until all of Class B had assembled.

As more and more Class B students appeared around her, all wearing awkward expressions,

Shiranami Chihiro let out a cry of despair.

"Ugh~"

Then, with a sob in her voice, she said,

"You've got to be kidding..."

It Had to Be Uesugi Gen

Why? She'd been so careful to keep anyone from finding out, so why did the entire class know now?

Surrounded by her classmates, Shiranami Chihiro lowered her flushed face and awkwardly fiddled with the hem of her clothes.

Then,

As if a thought had just occurred to her, Shiranami Chihiro forced her eyes wide open and glared fiercely at Uesugi Gen.

It had to be him. She didn't know exactly how it had happened, but he was definitely behind something like this.

Looking at Shiranami Chihiro's wide eyes, Uesugi Gen felt utterly aggrieved.

It was bad enough when people from other classes pinned their dirty tricks on me. But people in my own class were blaming me too? Don't you know what kind of person I am? Can things ever go right in this world?

Compared to Shiranami Chihiro, who was holding a grudge against Uesugi Gen, Ichinose was the one who was truly hard to deal with.

At that moment,