Irrelevant / Why You Came Here

It must be said that Hoshinomiya Chie's popularity within Class 1-B is not something that comes out of thin air. Holding the microphone, she immediately cracked a small joke without any airs of a homeroom teacher, easily enlivening the atmosphere.

"As you all know, today's dinner is a special event to welcome Kitagawa Ryo and Kitagawa-kun, who officially joined our Class 1-B family a few days ago. The reason it was postponed until today is mainly because Kitagawa-kun and Karuizawa represented the Drama Club of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School in a competition a couple of days ago. The final result was quite gratifying; they won the grand prize in the high school division. Let's all give them a round of applause!"

Hoshinomiya Chie certainly knows how to inherit the championship. She quickly and directly flaunted the Drama Club's achievements as the class's results. However, in a sense, what she said didn't seem wrong. After all, the entire Drama Club relied on Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Kei for their C grades. Now that they are both students in Class 1-B, it seems reasonable for them to inherit the past honors.

The students of Class 1-B responded enthusiastically to their homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya Chie's, remarks. After all, the recent Cultural Festival had shown that having students who excelled in club activities could bring direct positive benefits to the class in certain Special Exam. Even disregarding the extra points earned during the preparation phase, if Class B could assemble Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Kei, the absolute core of the Drama Club, they would be confident in giving Class 2-A head-to-head competition with their meticulously prepared performances in the Gymnasium.

"As the homeroom teacher, I am very happy to have another outstanding student in the class. To be honest, not only among the students, but also among the teachers of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, Kitagawa's reputation is exceptionally high. For example, Chabashira-sensei of Class C, and Teacher Sakagami, the homeroom teacher of Class D, have both given him very high praise."

Sure enough, before she could even hold out for three minutes, a gleeful Hoshinomiya Chie couldn't wait to mention the Chabashira Sae.

To be honest, before the summer vacation in July and August, although she thought highly of Kitagawa Ryo, she wasn't so high that she would be willing to pay out of her own pocket to let him transfer to her class. But then Chabashira Sae broke down and delivered that long speech of so-called trump card theory in front of her and Mashima Tomoya on the cruise ship. Coupled with the subtle rumors about Chabashira Sae and Kitagawa Ryo that had been circulating recently, Hoshinomiya Chie felt a strange sense of pleasure, like that of a cuckold.

Your star student, whom you so coveted and wanted so badly, has now transferred to my class. How about that?

Thinking of this, Hoshinomiya Chie couldn't help but smile quite happily, and proactively handed the microphone to Kitagawa Ryo beside her, gesturing for him, the person involved, to stand up and say a few words.

"Well... to be honest, I did feel a bit surprised about transferring classes, but now that I'm a student in Class B, I'll still work hard for the class with everyone."

Taking the microphone from Hoshinomiya Chie, Kitagawa Ryo stood up with equal sincerity, hesitated for a moment, and then added:

"Furthermore, I hope to become even closer friends with everyone, someone I can talk to about anything."

Thanks to Kanzaki Ryuji's prior announcement, the incident that occurred in Class 1-A during this Special Exam was already common knowledge. Therefore, as soon as Kitagawa Ryo uttered his words, the students in Class 1-B responded enthusiastically. After all, throughout the entire First Year, Class A might have a traitor, Class D might have a traitor, Class C might have a traitor—oh, everyone knows that one has already been identified, and they haven't been caught yet—but only Class B wouldn't. Even if they did, they would be deceived by others, just like what happened to Hashimoto Masayoshi at the Sports Festival.

After briefly finishing his remarks, Kitagawa Ryo returned to his seat. Then, Karuizawa Kei, as the class representative, concluded the discussion by having the students of Class B vote in favor of appointing Kitagawa Ryo as the vice class representative.

After the opening remarks, it was time for lunch. Hoshinomiya Chie went to the waiter and ordered some alcohol, then began to drink heartily without any regard for her image. However, the students in Class 1-B were already used to their homeroom teacher's behavior. After all, they had seen her dragging her hungover body to class early in the morning countless times in the past six months.

Of course, this does not include Himeno Yuki, who was almost vomited on by Hoshinomiya Chie on a cruise ship.

This girl, who was always a bit out of place among the well-behaved and good students in Class B, was not used to this kind of dinner party with everyone participating. However, today was, after all, a welcome party for Kitagawa Ryo's transfer to the class, and she really couldn't just make up an excuse about not being well to skip it or leave early like before.

However, the drunken Hoshinomiya Chie had indeed left a considerable shadow on her, so the girl had no choice but to intentionally avoid the area where the other party was active, intending to find a place like a restroom to hide temporarily. But she hadn't taken more than a few steps when she was...

Kitagawa Ryo was standing next to him, called out his name.

Unfortunately, Kitagawa Ryo was completely unfamiliar with the students in Class B. Before he could even take a couple of bites of his meal, he was already surrounded by the curious girls from Class B. After all, thanks to Kanzaki Ryuji's relentless promotional campaign over the past six months, at least half of Class B had become infatuated with Kitagawa Ryo and their class president. Now that they had finally caught up with the main characters, they naturally wanted to ask them all and get to the bottom of things. The chatter of seven or eight girls with their various questions made Karuizawa Kei blush and stammer.

In this situation, Kitagawa Ryo happened to spot Himeno Yuki, who was sneaking off and trying to slip away. Himeno was one of the few students in Class B he knew well, and besides, she didn't seem to have been influenced by Kanzaki Ryuji at all. Therefore, he quickly took advantage of the opportunity to escape the hellish questioning mode from the CP fans and proactively greeted her:

"Long time no see, Himeno. Is there not enough space over there? We still have empty seats at our table."

Himeno, who was trying her best to hide her presence, was dragged out like this. She walked over a little stiffly and responded as calmly as possible:

"Um, really? I didn't expect you to be in Class B now, Kitagawa. How should I put it, I hope you'll take care of me from now on?"

After those two rather dry greetings, Himeno Yuki finally relaxed a bit and sat down near Kitagawa Ryo with a nonchalant attitude, but then carefully moved her chair a little further away. Kitagawa Ryo found her various little actions rather amusing.

"Why were Liang and I a little late this morning?"

Meanwhile, on Kitagawa Ryo's other side, Karuizawa Kei took his place as the one surrounded by all sorts of questions, but she seemed quite comfortable with it, even enjoying it.

"I originally planned to go to Liang's room this morning and come here with him, but I accidentally stayed there for a while. Sorry about that."

In response to Karuizawa Kei's answer, the girls in Class B around her also let out a long, jeering "Oh--" in perfect unison. Seeing this, Karuizawa Kei turned her head and pouted at Kitagawa Ryo.

"Isn't that how it is? Liang?"

"Indeed, I was already thinking it was time to leave, but Hui insisted on saying something like, 'No one will care if we're both late—'"

Kitagawa Ryo chuckled mischievously, which drew another round of meaningful teasing from the girls around him.

While the students of Class 1-B were enjoying their lunch in the restaurant they had booked, chatting and laughing, another group of First Year students happened to pass by in the corridor outside the restaurant.

"It's so lively! The sounds from inside can be faintly heard from outside. Is business this good today?"

"Is it a new menu item or some kind of discount? The curtains are drawn so we can't see inside. Should we ask the waiter at the door?"

"Today, the students from Class 1-B are hosting a private event inside. Are they not accepting other guests during lunchtime? To welcome them..."

"Hello, Honami?"

Chapter 384: Irrelevant

Ichinose Honami seems to be moving on from the shadow of the last Special Exam and Kitagawa Ryo's transfer to another class.

For most of the students in Class 1-A, this was probably one of the best pieces of news they had received since the end of the Final Exam and the start of winter break. After all, it was a fact that Ichinose Honami had been depressed during this period. Apart from the two days she went out to participate in a competition as a member of the Drama Club, she spent almost all the remaining time shutting herself in her dormitory room and refusing all requests from the students in Class A to communicate with her.

However, the students in Class 1-A could understand Ichinose Honami's feelings and reasons for doing so. After all, her relationship with Kitagawa Ryo was already well-known after her confession at the Sports Festival. Now, Kitagawa Ryo was forced to change his plans because of Class A's own problems, and in the end, Class 1-B gathered the last transfer points to successfully transfer him to another class. No matter how you looked at it, it was a rather painful blow.

Even so, the students in Class 1-A still tried their best to cheer up Ichinose Honami. After all, the reality they faced was that Kitagawa Ryo had transferred to another class, and Ichinose Honami was indeed the most suitable Leader to succeed him, both in terms of class approval and ability.

Seemingly aware that she was the one who would take the lead in Class A, or perhaps simply wanting to go shopping and clear her head, she had been physically out of contact for several days after the Final Exam, not replying to any messages from students or answering any phone calls. This morning, the girls of Class A finally received Ichinose Honami, who invited them to go shopping and stroll together today.

For the girls in Class A before, this was probably just an ordinary daily activity, but at this rather delicate moment, it seemed all the more precious. So, almost without hesitation, all the invited girls agreed immediately. Then, they started bringing others along, and in the end, almost half of Class A appeared in front of Ichinose Honami.

As an observer personally appointed and dispatched to the scene by Sakayanagi Arisu, Matsushita Chiaki was naturally among them. When necessary, she was also tasked with stirring up trouble, but she herself did not want such Matoba to actually occur.

Compared to the atmosphere in Class 1-B just now, the air in Class 1-A now feels strangely stiff and awkward, especially when they see Ichinose Honami and the other girls trying their best to smile and chat with Shinohara Satsuki. This feeling is undoubtedly even stronger.

The Special Exam at the end of the semester truly left a deep scar on the entire Class 1-A. The lingering pain did not dissipate with Maezono Chiyo. Everyone knew that Maezono was not the only one involved in this matter. If her actions were defined as betraying the class, then all the students who participated in her clique's gathering would also bear the responsibility.

That's why, on the last day of the vote, the students of Class A tacitly voted out Maezono Chiyo. Rather than a vote of Criticism Vote against her, it was more like a pledge of allegiance from each of them.

If this matter had ended with Maezono's expulsion from school, Class 1-A would most likely have returned to its original state. In fact, before the next major incident, Kitagawa Ryo, as the class Leader, would have been able to more easily manage the entire class during the Special Exam. But who could blame him when this Special Exam ended with Kitagawa Ryo himself being transferred to another class?

This is roughly equivalent to the difference between an attempted crime and a completed one; the destructive impact on the class is completely incomparable.

Thinking of this, Matsushita Chiaki couldn't help but turn her gaze to Ichinose Honami in front of her. Even without Sakayanagi Arisu's prior explanation, she could clearly sense that the other woman's heart was no longer with Class A.

Just as Matsushita Chiaki was quietly observing from the crowd, wondering when this good show would officially begin, the group suddenly stopped near an open restaurant. After a few brief, somewhat indistinct conversations that reached her, she saw Ichinose Honami walk straight past the waiter standing at the door and hurriedly walk inside.

Faintly, one could hear words like "Class 1-B," "transfer class," and "Kitagawa Ryo." Perhaps they were worried that Ichinose Honami emotions were already somewhat unstable, might do something impulsive, or perhaps they wanted to ask Kitagawa Ryo a few more questions about his true thoughts face-to-face. Without giving it much thought, the other Class A students quickly filed in after them.

The first to react was Hoshinomiya Chie of Class 1-B. Since the welcome party hadn't started long, this beautiful, alcoholic teacher hadn't had a chance to get drunk yet. Therefore, upon seeing Ichinose Honami and the other Class A students barge into the restaurant, she immediately put down her bottles and jars, stood up, and began somewhat angrily calling out to the staff:

"Hey, waiter, we paid for the Private Points, how come there are other classes of students here?"

As she spoke, Hoshinomiya Chie, already highly excited and now further stimulated by the few sips of alcohol she had just drunk, also stood up and walked to the students of Class A. As if only now recognizing their faces and identities, she tilted her head slightly and teased:

"Who do we have here? Oh, it's the students from Class A. What, are you here to join our Class B's welcome dinner for new members?"

"Unfortunately, all the seats are already full, and there's really no way to add any more guests. Otherwise, I really wanted to invite you all. After all, your Class A played a big part in getting Beichuan transferred to our class. What's that saying again? If you guys didn't come, our Class B would be too embarrassed to be the first to eat at this celebration banquet."

Seeing their homeroom teacher, who was clearly smug in every sense of the word, the students of Class 1-B quickly stepped forward. Two girls pulled Hoshinomiya Chie back, afraid that she might say something even more outrageous while drunk.

Theoretically, at this point, class representative Karuizawa Kei should apologize for her homeroom teacher's sarcastic and inappropriate remarks. However, Karuizawa Kei seemed to be welded to her seat, even leisurely propping up her chin as if admiring the reaction.

Seeing that everyone's attention had turned to her, Karuizawa Kei smiled and patted the empty chair next to her.

"That's true, but we can still squeeze in a seat for one or two people. Since Ichinose is standing at the very front, it seems she really wants to participate in our Class B's welcome party. So, would you like to come and sit with us?"

Seeing their class president's sarcasm no less intense than Hoshinomiya Chie's, the students of Class 1-B could only look away and pretend they hadn't heard anything, feeling as if they could inexplicably smell the growing tension in the air.

However, it's understandable. After all, even the Nikkei topic of "How many girlfriends does Kitagawa have?", which has been a long-standing topic on the forum of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School and is brought up every few days, will eventually turn into a strange debate about whether Karuizawa Kei or Ichinose Honami was the first.

After all, one of them was already known as the "golden duo" with the boy before entering school, and the other pulled off a big stunt in front of the entire school at the Sports Festival. More importantly, both of them are relatively well-known freshmen outside of their First Year. For example, although Horikita Suzune and Kitagawa Ryo have had quite a few public displays of affection in recent months, their popularity among upperclassmen is probably not as direct as the introduction of "Horikita Manabu's sister." The rise in popularity of the topic seems to be less than that of Shiina Hiyori, who also pulled off a big stunt by giving a ring at the Cultural Festival Shiina Hiyori. However, because not many students from the main campus of ANHS witnessed that scene, it is not as deeply rooted in people's hearts as Ichinose Honami at the Sports Festival.

Of course, the above is just a collection of gossip-fueled rants from ANHS students on the forum. Most people would probably just laugh it off. But looking at Karuizawa Kei directly and smilingly pointed to Ichinose Honami's name, and recalling a certain speculation about Kitagawa Ryo's transfer to the class being just someone's love defense, the students from both classes present widened their eyes and swallowed hard.

No, it's starting to feel like these fake medicines are getting more and more real.

At that moment, the students present seamlessly transformed into onlookers, all turning their attention to Ichinose Honami and eagerly awaiting her reaction.

To their disappointment, Ichinose Honami did not respond verbally to Karuizawa Kei's provocation immediately. She simply lowered her head slightly, her shoulders visibly trembling. The girls nearby could clearly see her lips, which had been bitten until they turned white, and her eyelashes fluttering incessantly.

Kitagawa Ryo finally realized what was going on. It turned out that Ichinose Honami and Karuizawa Kei were really going to recreate the scene from the second simulation and stage another scene where the childhood friend was no match for the newcomer.

No, these two should be considered his childhood sweethearts now, right?

And why, after going around in circles like this, is the role allocation between the NTR character and the victim still unchanged? Although compared to Ichinose Honami's blonde hair, Karuizawa Kei's hair color is closer to blonde.

Although he had been instructed beforehand to observe, listen, and speak as little as possible, Kitagawa Ryo couldn't help but start mentally ranting about the familiar scenes before him. He even wanted the restaurant staff to quickly hide away all the knives in the kitchen.

Seeing that Ichinose Honami remained silent, Karuizawa Kei pressed on with a flippant tone:

"It's okay. Although Ryo is indeed a student in our Class B now, we still belong to the Drama Club. We can still see each other during club activities after school every day, right, Honami?"

As the saying goes, the best acting skills to fool others are nine parts truth and one part falsehood. As a veteran theatrical Actor, Karuizawa Kei naturally understands this Thespian well. She casually threw out some of her past unpleasant emotions, which can be regarded as a new type of boomerang in a sense.

Even so, Ichinose Honami still didn't respond to Karuizawa Kei's offer. Instead, when she looked up again, she had barely managed to compose herself and tried to give Kitagawa Ryo, who was standing next to Karuizawa Kei, a gentle smile that seemed no different from before.

"Liang? Is that what you think too? Actually, we all really hope you can come back, come back to Class A."

Ichinose Honami uttered those words, the other Class A students behind her could no longer pretend to be silent and began to chime in with their own opinions:

"Yes, the last Special Exam was really just an accident."

"We guarantee, we guarantee that this will never happen again."

Even though Kitagawa has transferred to another class, I don't think you're a traitor. Everyone really wants you to come back.

"..."

"I'm sorry, even if you say that, the fact is that I'm now a student in Class B. I never blamed any of you for the last Special Exam, but it happened anyway. I think we all need some time to think about our relationships and how we get along. That might be better for both of us and our respective classes."

Faced with the words of the students in Class A, Kitagawa Ryo only showed a little melancholy. However, this was not entirely an act. Before Karuizawa Kei's guidance, he genuinely had a rather detached feeling towards the Class 1-A group as a whole and the individuals within it.

"And then, what about Honami..."

Before Kitagawa Ryo could finish speaking, Karuizawa Kei interrupted him, her brows furrowed slightly, and she pouted with a hint of displeasure:

"It's forbidden to address other girls so intimately in front of your girlfriend."

She naturally picked up where Kitagawa Ryo, deliberately emphasizing the words "Class A" and "Class B":

"If there's nothing else you want to say, Ichinose, could you please leave with your Class A students right now?"

"This is a venue that our Class B booked out to welcome Liang, who is transferring here. It has absolutely nothing to do with your Class A."

Chapter 385: Your Purpose in Coming Here

After saying that, Karuizawa Kei did not hesitate to ask the students of Class 1-A, including Ichinose Honami, to leave. The restaurant staff, who were afraid that the two sides would start a match on the spot if they disagreed, also quickly stepped forward and persuaded the Class A students, who had trespassed into the area that had been reserved by Class B and were in the wrong, to leave in a half-soft and half-hard manner.

So, is that the end of it?

Watching the Class A members being ushered out of the room by the staff, Kitagawa Ryo glanced uncertainly at Karuizawa Kei and asked hesitantly.

"Otherwise, does Liang expect me and Honami to go up and pull each other's hair and slap each other? Going too far would be unnecessary."

"When you really use too much force, it's not just about pulling hair or anything like that."

Kitagawa Ryo simply shook his head helplessly and sat back down in his seat. This little incident with Class A clearly didn't affect the mood of the students in Class B much. The atmosphere quickly became lively again, led by Hoshinomiya Chie, whose homeroom teacher was already slightly tipsy and clinking glasses with the students everywhere.

"Ryo's expression right now is totally saying she has a story to tell, come on, tell us!"

Seeing Karuizawa Kei approaching with a curious expression, Kitagawa Ryo, as always, looked away. After Ichinose Honami had now emerged from the shadow of the simulation, so there was no need for him to explain to Megumi the love, hate, grudges, and entanglements they had once shared.

Even Hotaru knows that she used the wooden stick engraved with the vow of "A Promise Worth a Thousand Gold" from Ichinose Honami's three simulations as a representation of herself. It's best to let such a dark history as stabbing someone with a knife be forgotten in the long river of time.

Seeing that Kitagawa Ryo had no intention of speaking, Karuizawa Kei, quite tactfully, didn't press the issue further, and lightly shifted the topic back to another aspect: Class B.

"By now, Liang should have met most of our classmates. How did you find it?"

"Most of them I just greeted briefly. Asking Hui this question is a bit too much. I don't have the ability to make a judgment about anyone based on just a short time."

Karuizawa Kei picked up her chopsticks again and raised an eyebrow at Kitagawa Ryo:

"It's just asking Ryo to give a simple evaluation; first impressions are very important."

"First impression? Everyone seemed pretty friendly. They were the kind of people who blended in with the Class D students from Ryuen, but even strangers could easily spot their difference in demeanor or atmosphere."

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo pointed to his left again, but then seemed to pull his chair further away from Himeno Yuki:

"But let's exclude Himeno. She seems to blend in quite well with the other students."

As if to strengthen the persuasiveness of his words, Kitagawa Ryo even added two detailed explanations:

"Look, these decorative colored hair extensions and earrings are practically unique in Class B."

Himeno Yuki, whose name was called by Kitagawa Ryo, curled up in her chair like a wild little animal, subconsciously reaching out to touch the blue hair clip in her black hair, and responded somewhat fiercely:

"W-What's wrong? Is this so strange?"

"No, no, it's very cute, the color gradation is great."

Kitagawa Ryo apologized with a smile. When he first met Himeno Yuki, he thought it was her highlights, but later he realized it was just hair extensions, like the clip-on earrings she wore. It was clearly a combination of a gyaru (a Japanese girl with a sexy, often rebellious, style), but when he thought about how she didn't have pierced ears or dyed hair, and was just acting out of a girl's desire to look good, he actually felt a strange sense of innocence about her.

"Are Ryo and Himeno on good terms?"

"We're already among the closest people in Class B, and we even met because of Megumi. Back on the cruise ship, I asked Himeno to help you get back to your room."

"Now that you mention it, I do seem to recall something."

Karuizawa Kei nodded. As the class representative of Class 1-B, she actually knew Himeno Yuki quite well. She did seem somewhat incompatible with the rest of Class B, but it wasn't simply because of the appearance and dress that Ryo had mentioned earlier. It was mainly because of her somewhat aloof personality.