Ichinose's Confession

Seeing that Shiraishi Makoto had seen through her thoughts completely, Ichinose Honami let out an awkward smile.

"I really can't hide anything from Shiraishi-kun."

"You couldn't even be bothered to come up with a decent excuse. A lie that flimsy, even Shiranami-san could see through it at a glance." Shiraishi Makoto rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"And you never considered one thing: even if you temporarily fend her off by pretending to be lovers, once we 'break up' later, if Shiranami-san still can't let go, she'll come looking for you again. So all your effort is meaningless."

"This isn't even kindness anymore. You're forcing yourself into a corner, practically driving yourself to obsession."

Hearing Shiraishi Makoto's words, Ichinose Honami suddenly trembled all over.

"What's wrong?" Ichinose's reaction was clearly off. Shiraishi Makoto thought he might have spoken too harshly and quickly softened his tone.

"No, it's nothing..." Faced with Shiraishi Makoto's concern, Ichinose Honami forced a faint, ugly smile and shook her head gently.

"So what happened? Can you tell me?" Shiraishi Makoto could clearly sense that Ichinose Honami's aura had just collapsed.

Ichinose Honami turned her face to meet his earnest gaze. After a long silence, she spoke in a hoarse voice:

"Actually... I'm a criminal."

"?" Shiraishi Makoto heard the opening and understood what she wanted to say.

But he had no reason to know about it now, so he could only pretend to be clueless and listen intently: "Why do you say that?"

"My family is a single-parent household. My mother raised me and my younger sister alone. Although we weren't well-off, I thought we were happy." Speaking of her family, Ichinose Honami showed a gentle smile and continued her story: "But in my third year of middle school, my mother suddenly fell ill and was hospitalized. She was the pillar of the family and the only source of income at the time. Around then, my sister's birthday was coming up, and I knew she wanted a hair clip that was a replica of one worn by a certain idol."

"So I went to a convenience store and asked if I could work part-time, but the minimum requirement was high school age. And that hair clip was a limited-time item—once the collaboration ended, it wouldn't be sold again." At this point, Ichinose Honami showed a pained expression. "To give my sister a perfect birthday, I took a gamble and stole that hair clip."

"And then?" Shiraishi Makoto showed no reaction, just quietly listened.

"I could tell my sister I bought it with saved-up money, but I couldn't fool my mother." Ichinose Honami continued. "My mother found the hair clip. After she was discharged from the hospital, she dragged me to the store to confess and return it. The shopkeeper forgave me, but there's no doubt I committed a crime."

"Because of that incident, I didn't go to school for the rest of my third year. I couldn't face my classmates."

"That's why I'm in Class B." Ichinose Honami smiled bitterly and lowered her head, her eyes full of self-loathing and guilt. "Shiraishi-kun, do you think someone like me is really qualified to be a class leader or a member of the student council?"

Ichinose lowered her head, her voice trembling slightly. But after waiting for over ten seconds, she got no response from Shiraishi Makoto.

She lifted her head again and found Shiraishi Makoto with an expression of wanting to say something but holding back, his gaze very strange.

"Shiraishi-kun, if you have something to say, just say it."

"Ichinose-san, if that's how you see it, then Class C and Class D, with their even bigger flaws—are they all murderers?"

"Huh? That's not what I meant..." Ichinose Honami panicked and quickly waved her hands.

"I know that's not what you meant. I just think you're taking this matter way too seriously." Shiraishi Makoto finally understood why Ichinose Honami had suddenly brought this up.

Ichinose Honami was weighing her mistake too heavily. Just because of a petty theft, she was so harsh on herself that she felt she had to sacrifice herself for doing good deeds—this was almost like self-punishment.

So when Shiraishi Makoto mentioned "obsession," she reacted strongly.

This was also why she was so naive and weak in the original story—she placed herself very low, saw herself as a criminal, and helped anyone she could as a form of "atonement."

Come to think of it, her situation was similar to Kushida Kikyo's—both had pasts they didn't want others to know—but they ended up on completely opposite paths.

"But what I did was still a crime." Ichinose remained stubbornly trapped in her own fixation.

"You did commit a crime, but many times, we need to consider the circumstances. For example, killing a nationally protected animal is a crime, but what if that protected animal attacks you in the wild?"

"But I intentionally committed a criminal act..."

"First of all, your act wasn't for yourself." Shiraishi Makoto cut off Ichinose Honami's words. "The reason you chose to steal was because your mother was sick. Out of filial piety, you couldn't ask your sick mother for money, but your sister's birthday was coming, and as her older sister, you wanted to give her a perfect gift."

"While it's a crime by legal standards, society also needs human compassion. That's why the shopkeeper forgave you and didn't call the police, and why the school placed you in Class B instead of Class D."

"I'd even bet that you were placed in Class B not because of the theft, but because you locked yourself in your room afterward, avoided school, and the school thought you had psychological issues."

"Why do you say that?" Ichinose Honami listened to Shiraishi Makoto's words and found them hard to believe.

In her understanding, someone with a theft stain should naturally be despised and shunned by others.

"It's simple. From a worldly perspective, what you did is really insignificant." Shiraishi Makoto shook his head.

But even after Shiraishi Makoto said this, Ichinose Honami's tightly furrowed brows didn't relax.

This had been her knot for the past year, and she was very stubborn. Shiraishi Makoto understood that he couldn't talk her out of it with just words.

"Honestly, in your current state, I can't convince you either." Shiraishi Makoto thought for a moment. "Tomorrow in class, I'll tell everyone about this matter truthfully. Whether you can continue as class leader, let everyone decide."

"I..." Hearing Shiraishi Makoto's plan, Ichinose Honami instinctively wanted to refuse, but seeing his serious gaze, she swallowed the words she was about to say.

"Alright." As if thinking of something, Ichinose Honami closed her eyes and agreed to Shiraishi Makoto's action.

Looking at Ichinose Honami, who had resigned herself to fate, Shiraishi Makoto stood up and extended his hand.

"Then let's go."

"Huh?" Ichinose Honami opened her eyes and looked at Shiraishi Makoto's outstretched hand, momentarily not reacting.

"I told you long ago, in my eyes, this is hardly a stain. On the contrary, because of this, I'm even more convinced that Ichinose-san is undoubtedly a trustworthy partner." Shiraishi Makoto said solemnly.

"No matter what the classmates think, I believe being friends with Ichinose-san is a very happy thing."

"Let's go eat together."

Hearing Shiraishi Makoto's words, Ichinose's eyes grew hot. A few teardrops silently fell, and she quickly wiped them away with her sleeve before gently taking Shiraishi Makoto's hand.

"Mm!"