Chapter Twenty-One: Fireworks Are Cold (End)

Only now could the girl lean back against the blue seats in the lobby and catch her breath. Her eyelids felt as if they had weights hanging from them, and she could barely keep them open. Her lips had gone slightly pale, and her shirt, soaked with sweat, dried by the air conditioner, then soaked again, clung to her skin with a sticky feel. Ichinose Honami staggered to her feet, planning to go home and ask Maki to take over caring for their mother for a while. Right now, she needed a hot shower and some sleep.

Summoning the last of her strength, Ichinose Honami made it home and explained what had happened to Ichinose Maki, who had just woken up and knew nothing about it. She told her where their mother's hospital room was, then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Maki hurry out to the hospital. She rubbed her brow, and her fingertips came away damp.

A small cake sat on the living room table. It was the size Ichinose Honami had asked for, and because it was so small, it had only three candles on top.

"First I'll take a shower, then I'll sleep."

Talking to herself, she went into the bathroom.

Whoosh—

Hot water poured from the showerhead, streaming down the girl's hair and along the curves of her body until it reached her toes. The sharp change in temperature made her shiver. She quickly rinsed herself off, but when she went to wash her hair, she found that the shampoo on the shelf was empty. She shook the bottle upside down again and again, but only a little came out into her palm.

"Phew, never mind."

The mirror above the sink had fogged over, blurred by steam. Ichinose Honami reached out and wiped a clear streak across it, revealing her snow-white neck.

Ichinose Honami slowly wiped the condensation from the mirror, and her features gradually came into focus.

She reached out and gently touched her reflection.

"It'll be all right. Things will get better."

The words she had said to comfort others countless times didn't seem to help her much. She watched her reflection offer a bitter smile.

The glass felt cool against her hand. The sensation comforted her, so she rested her forehead against it too.

A little at a time, the cold prickled against the skin pressed to the mirror. Ichinose Honami closed her eyes.

Her full breasts pressed together in a dizzying curve, and her hot, damp breath fogged the glass again.

"Growing up, huh..."

Ichinose Honami lowered her eyes and murmured to herself.

After getting dressed, she left the bathroom and went straight to her bedroom, burying herself beneath the covers. She was exhausted, yet she couldn't fall asleep.

I'll sleep in his room.

The moment the thought entered her mind, it swept through her like a flood bursting through a dam. Ichinose Honami picked up a blanket and opened the door to Kitagawa Ryo's old home.

Sure enough, just lying here made her feel at peace.

"Your birthday... the day your mother suffered, huh?"

Kitagawa Ryo's words surfaced in her mind for no apparent reason. Ichinose Honami struggled to sit up, then went into her own living room and found the cake on the table, her gaze unfocused.

The lighter for the candles was right beside it. She took the cake and lighter back to Kitagawa Ryo's room, sat down, and lit all three candles by herself.

"Now I make a wish, right?"

"I wish... that Mother gets better soon."

In a daze, she blew toward the three wavering flames in front of her.

She didn't know how long she had slept. Squinting, she tapped open her phone. There were nearly ten missed calls and unread messages, all from the same person.

"Hey, Ryo."

She didn't feel like looking through the messages. Calling him directly seemed easier. Though her state of mind was a little unsteady, Ichinose Honami still made that decision.

"Honami?"

His familiar voice came from the other end.

What will he say? Ask about Mother's condition? Check how I'm doing? Maybe give me a birthday present or something?

"I'm right outside your door."

His words dismissed every scenario Ichinose Honami had imagined. He hadn't asked a question; he'd simply stated it.

"Huh?"

She froze for a second or two, then stammered out a reply.

"I-I'll come open the door."

Kitagawa Ryo stood outside with a black umbrella in his left hand. Ichinose Honami didn't know when he had arrived. If he had come after making his first call, then he must have been standing outside for quite a while.

"You left your umbrella here the night before last, and you didn't come to get it yesterday, so I brought it back."

Kitagawa Ryo looked up. Ichinose Honami, neatly dressed in pink pajamas, was beautiful in an entirely different way.

Her body and personality were moving toward the future her mother had imagined for her. But the rest of her seemed to remain rooted in the past, utterly unreal.

"Are you feeling unwell?"

Noticing the unnatural flush on Ichinose Honami's face, Kitagawa Ryo reached out, then lowered his hand again. He could already feel the heat and dampness radiating from her.

"Aren't you coming in?"

Ichinose Honami didn't answer his question. She seemed fixated on why he was still standing at the door and hadn't taken off his shoes to come inside.

"Do you want me to come out instead?"

She swayed as though she really might step outside in her slippers.

"Uh, all right."

Kitagawa Ryo felt that something about Ichinose Honami was strange today. He had just changed his shoes and stepped inside the Ichinose home when, in the next moment, Ichinose Honami pressed him against the door. The girl's fully developed figure was right in front of him, her chest against his, her toes slightly raised. Her long, graceful body was taut as a drawn bow. She spread her arms, wrapped them around his ribs, and clasped them behind his back.

Her hot breath fell against Kitagawa Ryo's chest.

"Honami?"

It was an intensely intimate position, but the first thing Kitagawa Ryo felt was an inexplicable sense of alarm. He lowered his head and met Ichinose Honami's tearful eyes. The moisture shimmering in her blue irises nearly made him lose his composure at once.

Ichinose Honami had learned long ago how to put her mother at ease, so whenever she cried, she did it silently.

Her tears fell one by one, like pearls slipping off a broken string. They rolled down her cheeks and dampened the front of Kitagawa Ryo's shirt.

Some people cried from fear, some from grief, and some from joy.

Crying was always given all kinds of meanings.

But right now, she was simply crying. Silently, quietly, letting the tears fall.

Perhaps only now did Ichinose Honami realize that, even though she was already sixteen, she was still just an underage child. She had never been willing to think of herself as a child, and so she had forgotten that she was one. Now that she had started crying, she might as well cry as much as she wanted and let herself be a child again, completely and utterly.

There were only two people in the house now: her and Kitagawa Ryo.

So Ichinose Honami began to speak haltingly. She was like a devout believer entering a church, laying every feeling and thought bare before a kindly priest in the warm glow of candlelight. She let herself speak freely about every detail—the things she hated, the things she loved, the things she had kept bottled up—and held them out for him to see.

She said she really liked Hotaru. She was especially grateful that Kitagawa Ryo had brought Hotaru home after her.

She said she really liked him. When she was twelve, every single paper crane she folded for him had the words "I like you" written inside.

The candlelight flickered.

Beside the sleeping girl, the burning candles wept drop by drop until the wax could no longer bear their weight. Half of one candle toppled to the side.

Beside them lay paper cranes, one after another.

I'll open a reward event

First, I should explain that I do have an outline for this book. As for the main plot that readers in the review section keep asking about, I've definitely planned for it. The main plot will most likely begin around two hundred thousand words in. The simulator is meant to let the protagonist learn about the characters' backgrounds and provide him with a cheat ability. Most Classroom of the Elite fanfics start when school begins. I'm writing this one this way because I'm personally interested in what happened to many of the characters before they enrolled.

But since everyone keeps urging me to pick up the pace, and I'll have some free time to write during the May Day holiday, I'll open a reward event.

Starting at midnight today, I'll add one chapter of four thousand words for every four hundred recommendation votes, forty monthly votes, or four thousand in tips, up to a maximum of ten extra chapters. That's the most I can manage.

Finally, thank you all for reading. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the review section.

Chapter Twenty-One: Fireworks Are Cold (End)

"Around five in the afternoon on July 20, a fire broke out on the fourth floor of a four-story apartment building in Nakano Ward. Fortunately, the apartment where the fire started had been vacant for a year, so there was little flammable material. Firefighters arrived in time and extinguished the blaze with high-pressure hoses and fire-extinguishing bombs. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, according to the fire department. One person sustained minor injuries and was taken to the hospital for treatment."

Karuizawa Kei picked up the remote and turned off the television. Before that, she had sat motionless on the sofa for thirty minutes. If not for that movement, anyone might have thought she was a silent statue seated in a temple. But unlike the gilded Buddhas made of clay, the gaze she directed at the person sitting across from her was several degrees colder and more vicious than a demon's. That coldness stood between her and Ichinose Honami like a wall.

"Why were you lighting candles in an empty room he doesn't live in?"

Karuizawa Kei's words came down on Ichinose Honami like an axe. The sparks of memory crackled, and memories both distant and recent surged up from the depths of her heart. The boy bursting through the door and the paper cranes burning in the fire crashed into her mind together.

"What does it have to do with you?"

Karuizawa Kei's anger inexplicably made Ichinose Honami angry too. She stared at Karuizawa Kei, gave a short laugh, and repeated herself:

"What does it have to do with you?"

The moment her tone turned serious, she seemed to come back to herself. No matter how warm and approachable Ichinose Honami was, she was still the school's Student Council president, and she naturally carried an air of authority.

Karuizawa Kei had been afraid of that kind of authority in the past. The girls who led the pack could control the mood of an entire class, and during her two years of middle school, she had suffered at their hands. So when Ichinose Honami's expression cooled, Karuizawa Kei found herself getting scared.

"...Still the same."

Ichinose Honami shook her head at Karuizawa Kei's unsettled expression. After Kitagawa Ryo had been hospitalized with a second injury from the fire she had caused, the lady of the Kitagawa family had finally returned to Tokyo from abroad on the earliest flight that morning. As a result, both Ichinose Honami and Karuizawa Kei had been sent home by the woman, who was in a bad mood.

"I can't get through to him, and I can't contact him."

Now it was Ichinose Honami's turn to sit with her phone. As she looked at the rows of unread messages and unanswered calls, a strange ache welled up inside her, like watching someone sink into the sea before her eyes and disappear completely.

"..."

Silence fell again. Ichinose Honami seemed to realize that she had gone too far with what she'd just said. She considered apologizing to Karuizawa Kei, but before she could speak, her phone screen lit up. They both leaned toward it at the same time. Unfortunately, it was a call from Ichinose's mother.

As soon as she answered, her sick mother spoke cautiously from the other end:

"The landlord contacted me. Those rooms had already been bought by the Kitagawa family, so we'll have to discuss compensation with them directly... You know your mother and he don't get along. We really don't have any extra money at home right now. Honami, Honami, go talk to him. Ask him to consider that we've been neighbors for over a decade."

"Okay. I'll talk to Ryo."

Ichinose Honami sniffed, but her voice still came out slightly nasal.

"...That's good. And I'm not saying this to criticize you, but Honami shouldn't have gone there in the first place. This could have been avoided. Thank goodness those rooms were empty. If the fire had spread and burned our home or the neighbors downstairs, it would have been a crime. What would people think of the Ichinose family? What would they think of you, Honami?"

Her mother's voice was clearly relieved. Then, as she had so many times before, she began lecturing Ichinose Honami at length.

"Mother, get some rest. I have things to do too."

For the first time, Ichinose Honami found her mother's words irritating. She hung up as soon as she had said this.

"If only you'd answered her like that before."

In the silent room, Karuizawa Kei had easily heard the whole conversation. She spoke with unmistakable sarcasm.

She wanted to use the opportunity to twist the knife in Ichinose Honami's heart. Karuizawa Kei felt she would never understand her.

But she soon realized that Ichinose Honami had no intention of speaking again. She sat there with her eyes closed, as if her soul had left her body, then began to cry in little, broken sobs.

To be fair, although Karuizawa Kei had never particularly liked Ichinose Honami, seeing her sob in front of her made Kei feel reluctant to be cruel. But then she found herself thinking how ridiculous Ichinose Honami's behavior was. Kitagawa Ryo had given her so many chances, and she had pushed him away every time.

She thought the weeping girl was ridiculous, yet before she knew it, tears were welling in her own eyes too, as if sorrow could spread from one person to another. Even though the two of them had different reasons for crying.

But then Karuizawa Kei felt a strange rush of pleasure. As she watched Ichinose Honami weep, she felt more at ease as she shared in the other girl's pain and grief. The more Ichinose suffered, the better Kei felt. They said that when a person's emotions tore them apart, they could reach the people around them. And now, Karuizawa Kei could feel the emotions radiating from Ichinose Honami.

The pleasure drew her toward Ichinose Honami. She accepted the other girl's sobs against her shoulder and held her in her arms, looking down at her. Their positions had suddenly reversed, as if Karuizawa Kei were the one in charge and Ichinose Honami were the one being bullied.

Ichinose Honami really did return the embrace. By now, she no longer cared who was holding her. All she needed was to have a good, hard cry. She had already cried yesterday, and now she was beginning to fear the version of herself who cried. She felt that tears were a seal holding back her growth; every time she cried, it seemed to become harder for her to smile as she once had.

"If Ichinose had made up her mind sooner and followed what she truly felt, whether by clearly accepting or rejecting him, things wouldn't have ended up like this."

Karuizawa Kei lowered her head and whispered "comforting" words in her ear. She understood that this kind of feigned comfort was really just another cut into the other girl's wound. Ichinose Honami cried even harder, and for a moment, Kei couldn't help wondering: Is she doing this on purpose? If she is, why?

But at that moment, Karuizawa Kei realized that her mind and body seemed to have split apart. She could no longer control her mouth, as if it had broken away from her and become an independent organ. She was still digging into the wound:

"Actually, your date with him was planned days in advance. The most spectacular event had already been prepared on that mountaintop you never visited. How could the Kitagawa family have had any construction work there? Those people were just waiting there for the occasion."

It had worked—so well that Karuizawa Kei was starting to feel afraid. She hadn't gotten used to this reversal of roles. It was as if she were an actor improvising new lines onstage, only to find that the audience's applause was so enthusiastic she didn't know what to do.

Karuizawa Kei realized she might have lit the fuse of a firework, but she had no idea what would burn next or what kind of sparks would bloom in the sky. She only instinctively felt that she had pushed things in a more complicated direction. What surprised her even more was that she kept speaking:

"I've always wondered what you felt when you heard him say on the phone that I was his girlfriend."

Karuizawa Kei felt like she was going mad, but then she remembered watching Ichinose Honami and Kitagawa Ryo together at the hospital a few days ago, biting her lip, and she felt calmer. She thought she resembled the wicked woman in a drama who broke up someone else's family, but the next moment she scoffed at the thought.

"Honami, you're a girl who never gives up."

"But now you'd better give up on him, because he's almost out of patience too."

"To destroy someone, psychological violence seems more effective than physical violence. Honami, you're always accommodating others, but you've kept hurting Kitagawa's heart."

"...Stop."