As Honami hesitated, Ayanokouji-kun took the opportunity to speak in her place.
"I'm just a fr--mmph." He said, but was interrupted.
(Art)
Seeing Ayanokouji-kun about to respond in her place, Honami panicked and immediately pulled him closer to her, preventing him from completing his sentence.
And with that, for just a moment, the theatre turned completely silent.
"WHAAA—"
"KYAAAAAAAAAAA—"
"WAKDJAWKDKDAJWLDJWA—"
"NO WAY!"
"WHAT THE FUCK?!!?!?!"
"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD~!"
"I'LL KILL THAT MOTHERFUCKER!"
"THEY'RE KISSING~!"
"SHE KISSED HIM?!"
"HE'S ACTUALLY HER BOYFRIEND?!"
The theater erupted with a mix of emotions—disbelief, shock, excitement, and more. Ichinose had just pulled me close by my tie and kissed me, all while standing in front of the girl who was supposed to be confessing to her.
She'd basically been cucked.
Technically, because there wasn't any romantic relationship between them, it wouldn't really qualify as getting cucked—but you understood what I meant.
"Nice dude, I didn't realize you two were like that." Miyake said ignoring the two grieving girls in our friend group, and giving me a thumbs up.
"KIYOPON?! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" Haruka shouted, her jaw wide in disbelief while looking at the screen. "I THOUGHT YOU SAID THERE WASN'T ANYTHING GOING ON BETWEEN YOU TWO?!" She continued, and then tended to the recently fainted Sakura.
"No freaking way..." Kei muttered, somehow managing to stay quiet in her shocked state.
"A-Ayanokouji-kun? W-Why would you lie about that?" Yosuke asked, sounding more upset than Kei that he even called me by my last name. Why is he of all people reacting like that?
Naturally, my entire class was completely taken aback by the abrupt kiss. I could feel stares from nearly half the people in the theatre, mostly hostile ones by male students, and some less often curious or amused glances. The other half were looking over at Ichinose, who still wasn't able to do anything but hide her face behind her hands.
"HONAMI?! WHAT THE HECK?! YOU'RE SECRETLY DATING AYANOKOUIJI AND NEVER EVEN TOLD ME?! I THOUGHT WE WERE BESTIES, HOW COULD YOU HIDE THAT FROM ME?!" Amikura shouted, acting like she had been betrayed, though she didn't actually sound very upset.
"Fufufu, nice job, Honami-chan." Ando said smirking, ignoring Amikura betrayal performance.
"Woah, I didn't realize you guys were already dating. You're always acting so shy around him, so is that just an act you put up to fool everybody?" Watanabe asked, confused on why she normally acts so bashful around me if we're supposedly dating.
"It could be that she's not comfortable displaying her romantic side in front of others. It's not that uncommon to be secretly dating someone." Kobashi theorized, citing her tendency to keep only the most crucial personal things to herself despite often spilling her heart out as a precedent. "That's probably why she turned into a mute at our sleepover as well, she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of us, so she shut down."
While Shibata mirrored Shiranami's disdainful expression as they both stared at the screen, the rest of Class B appeared supportive, eagerly celebrating the implied secret romance. They wasted no time trying to coax information from the pink-haired girl, whose flushed ears and silence spoke volumes.
"WHAT THE HELL, AYANOKOUJI?! DAMN LUCKY PIECE OF SHIT! I BET YOU WERE THAT MOTHERFUCKING TRAITOR IN OUR CLASS THAT CAUSED US TO LOSE THE SPORTS FESTIVAL! THAT'S THE ONLY REASON WHY SOMEONE LIKE ICHINOSE WOULD DATE SOMEONE LIKE YOU!" Yamauchi shouted, having come to the conclusion that she'd only date me for information about class D.
"Wait, so the person who sold out our classes participation list during the first year sports festival was Ayanokouji..?" Hondo questioned, potentially starting to believe this basic theory of Yamauchi's.
"Yeah, yeah! That bastard Ayanokouji has gotta be a traitor, otherwise there's no other explanation for why they'd be dating." Ijuin said, while glaring at me hatefully.
"I guess that makes sense, he's a little too much of a loner to even think about dating Ichinose normally." Shinohara said without a care in the world.
"That... are you guys accusing Ichinose of being a prostitute?" Sudo asked, completely confused as to what on earth they were going on about. "I mean If she's only dating him to learn insider information about class D, that would make her a prostitute, right?" He added.
"Huh?" Ijuin exclaimed, realizing his mistake.
I guess, by that logic, Hashimoto would be classified as a prostitute as well.
"Of course the actual prostitute wants to accuse someone of being a prostitute." Ichika said.
"WE ALREADY PROVED THAT WASN'T TRUE, YOU DUMB BITCH!" Ike shouted back at her.
"Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaka, you didn't prove anything." Ichika replied yawning while she said idiot, then stuck her tongue out and pulled down her eyelid.
"Hold on, are you Class D scum seriously accusing Ichinose-san of being a hooker?" Yahiko asked, his voice dripping with disgust. "Like that cute first-year girl said, you're only saying that because your own classmate is a whore." His point, however, lost all weight from it when he casually referred to the first year girl, Ichika, as cute. Not that it really had any.
"That's sexual harassment, Acolyte-senpai. Mashima-sensei, I'd like to report him for sexual harassment. Can I report him for sexual harassment, that made me very uncomfortable." Ichika, her voice was completely monotone while doing so, said, attempting to report Yahiko for sexual harassment.
"If you're feeling uncomfortable from something that another student may have said, you should file a report with your homeroom teacher." Mashima replied, likely aware that she was only messing around, and probably didn't actually care about his comments.
"Who the hell are you calling a prostitute?" Kanzaki asked, glaring at the group that had started the argument.
"T-That's not it. We aren't accusing Ichinose of doing that, j-just saying that bastard Ayanokouji is a traitor." Yamauchi said, unable to look Kanzaki in the eyes.
"Y-Yeah, Ayanokouji's the one at fault here. Ichinose probably just felt bad for him and agreed to go out with him after he said he'd betray the class for her. That's got to be it." Ijuin added.
Shinohara, one of the unintentional instigators, decided to remain silent. Unlike the other boys, she didn't harbor any biased animosity toward me that would drive her to keep arguing. A quick glance around told her that supporting those boys now would only backfire on her.
"What does it matter? You're still accusing her of being being a untrustworthy prostitute. I don't care about Ayanokouji at all, but even if he were to share information about his class with her, she'd never use it to gain an advantage against your class, nor would she date him just to get more insider details." Kanzaki stated, his angry glare fixed on the group as he lectured them.
"Kanzaki is right! Don't you dare accuse Honami-chan of being a two-faced whore!" Amikura added, attempting to glare like the purple-haired boy, but failing miserably.
"Aren't we moving a bit too fast with these baseless assumptions?" Ichika asked, probably plotting to start another war with the entirety of her senior class 2B.
"...What do you mean?" Kanzaki hesitantly asked, confused by her protective-sounding remark about Ichinose, and understandably not good at handling Ichika's type.
"You were quick to argue that Love and Friendship-senpai couldn't be a prostitute, weren't you? Though, I wonder if that's really the case?" Ichika added, her mischievous grin making another appearance as she clarified Kanzaki's misinterpretation of her words, ensuring he understood that what she meant by a baseless assumption was his claim of Ichinose not being a prostitute.
Ichika likely knew about Ichinose's past, along with the pasts of probably every other student, something she and the other potential WR students were no doubt briefed on by Tsukishiro.
"You—"
"Actually, since you're bringing that up, haven't we already heard something similar about her during the first year?" Ryuen cut him off, once again following through on Ichika's trolling.
"Yup! I wasn't there so I can't say for sure, but I heard that all of you guys in class 2-B were so certain that she wasn't actually a criminal. Then she went out and admitted that she was actually a former shoplifter!"
"She only shoplifted a bracelet be—"
"Exactly~! She shoplifted a bracelet, something that obviously is not a necessity! Meaning that it was definitely only done for the thrill of it! Personally, the only thing I've ever shoplifted is some condoms to use with Ayanokouji-senpai, so I totally get where she's coming from." She interrupted again, casually bringing up the time she handed me condoms while her, me, and one other were sat in my dorm room. "Not that I'd call myself the shining example of morality."
Knowing that she wouldn't be able to convince anyone of her sex worker theory just yet, Ichika slipped in something that would easily change the subject, admitting to stealing an item that was reported to have been stolen recently.
The fact that the school had verified the theft of both some XXL condoms and a can of beer from the convenience store made her statement hit much harder than it had with her previous claims.
Once again, the theatre was turned upside-down by none other than Ichika.
This is only the second video we've reacted to, and she's already claimed to have some sort of sexual relationship with me three times; it's getting pretty old. Even if you choose ignore the consequences from breaking the rules that prevent students from hooking up, I'd prefer not to be viewed in a bad way because of her continuous teasing.
"THOSE CONDOMS WE'RE STOLEN BY HER?!" Mori shouted.
"T-THEN SHE MIGHT OF BEEN TELLING THE TRUTH WHEN SHE CLAIMED TO BE F-FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS WITH HIM!" Sato yelled, and accidentally bit down on her tongue super hard.
"Aren't they a bit young to have relationships like that?" Kamui woods, the wood hero, asked.
"Haven't you heard, apparently 1 in 3 high-schoolers have already done the forbidden deed! It was kind of surprising that he would be one of them though. His face is cute and all, but when we saw his inner thoughts earlier he obviously didn't have any experience, so he must of adapted to the life of a playboy pretty fast." Mt lady, the giantess hero, replied.
"DAMN RAIJYU BASTARD!" Ike shouted.
"AYANOKOUJI?! YOU ALREADY HAVE HONAMI, WHAT THE FUCK MAN!" Shibata yelled, startling his classmates with the quick and seemingly random nature of his outburst.
"Wait, so he's in a relationship with Ichinose, and also supposedly has something going on with that girl with twin tails?"
"Huh? Oh, right, you guys weren't here for our first video. That girl, I think her name was Ichika Amasawa, said she was friends with benefits with Ayanokouji-kun and was inviting people to join them for an orgy. Ayanokouji denied it, and she eventually admitted she was just joking. Now, she's claiming she stole some condoms, those same stolen condoms became a bit of a meme at our school. So more people are starting to believe she wasn't lying, and that he might have been cheating on Ichinose with her too. That's why everybody is freaking out."
While there should have been a noticeable decrease in people freaking out over her claims, the new group of teenagers began gossiping over it, joined by the ones who already thought Ichinose and I were secretly dating. It made this just as frustrating as the earlier accusations.
"Will you all calm down? We already knew they were alleged friends... with benefits, so there's no point in freaking out over it again." Horikita said, attempting to maintain order.
"Alleged? You're making it sound like you don't believe me." Ichika said.
"You're the one who said you were only joking before, no? Besides I've known Ayanokouji-kun for around a year and a half; I think I know him pretty well by now to say that he wouldn't have that sort of relationship with anyone, let alone you." Horikita replied, attempting to defend me.
"I don't think you even believe that yourself, do you? You already admitted on the island that you knew next to nothing about him, and he doesn't even trust you enough to ask you for help." Ichika mentioned, bringing up the conversation they had before they fought. "Unlike you, I know a lot about Ayanokouji-senpai~. Not only am I friends with benefits with him, but I was also his ex-girlfriend too!" She said, her claim appearing more convincing to Horikita because of a past joke I'd made about her being my ex.
"Oh?" Horikita said, looking over at me suspiciously, yet still choosing to continue defending me. "What evidence do you have? Everyone already knew about the stolen condoms; you saying you stole them doesn't make it fact—nor does claiming to have that kind of relationship with him."
"So you want proof, huh? I see~, I see~, I don't mind obliging you a little bit." Ichika stated.
She rose from her seat and began pacing in small circles, as though searching for something to solidify her claims. After a brief pause, she approached Nanase, who was seated nearby despite being in a different class, then whispered something to her. However, Nanase immediately refused, crossing her arms in a firm rejection, leaving Ichika dejected, yet she put back on her normal smile and started speaking.
"The earth... was a very different place around 200 sum million years ago, most of the continents we know today we're joined together in a supercontinent called Pangaea." Her speech started off by leading with a seemingly impromptu history lesson that left most of the students and staff confused. Only Ryuen who instantly looked over to me with a knowing smirk appeared to realize where she was going with this. "The climate was generally warm and dry with giant deserts and rain forests that created a perfect environment for all sorts of different plant and animal lives to thrive in. But the thing that most people cared about were the dinosaurs, extinct creatures that ruled the earths for tens of millions of years. They we're gigantic and fierce animals that—if you ignore the blue whale—were much bigger than any animals alive right now. And they were suddenly wiped out around 65 million years ago by a giant meteor smashing into the earth killing everything cool but somehow letting some boring avian dinosaur species survive. The remaining remnants of those dinosaurs are what you would know today as birds. Pretty pathetic descendants, am I right?" Ichika paused, waiting for the audience to respond to her question but, instead all she got was silence.
I did notice a few other students that were at the hot springs on that day, namely Hashimoto and Kaneda, glancing back over at me with more muffled laughter and smirks. Kaneda looked very uncomfortable during the measuring competition, yet he seems completely at ease with this.
"Where you are going with this?" Horikita asked, appearing quite annoyed by Ichika's choice to bring up a seemingly completely random topic as proof for her claims.
"I'm getting there—can't you be a little patient?" Ichika said placing her hands on her hips with an angry pout, then quickly picked up where she left off. "Like I said, all the non-avian dinosaur species were thought to gone extinct millions of years ago, but I'm here to tell you that isn't really true. Sitting down quietly... not too far in front of me... is a man who owns one of these... loooooong and haaard..." Ichika kept pausing, drawing in uncomfortably long, and labored breaths that made no sense considering she hadn't exerted herself at all. Her perverted smile seemed even more pronounced than usual as she bent over and lowered her hand to the area just above her womb. "Sought after creatures... that was thrusted deeeeeeeep... in the slippery depths... and hidden where direct sunlight dares not tread."
The uncomfortable and awkward silence that followed in the theatre was impossible to miss.
"My only wish is for the biiig and girthy... Tyrannosaurus rex on his possession to devour myself and the other untouched prey in the area. That's only the minimum a living, warm-blooded artifact that'll leave your throat gagging in astonishment deserves."
She didn't try at all with that last part.
I didn't even need to look behind me as from how fast the heads were turning, it was clear she had pointed me out as the one believed to own this rare and widely considered extinct creature.
(art)
By this point in time around 99% of those sitting together with us in the theatre had understood what she meant. The only exceptions to this were those that were stupendously innocent, for name's sake Mii-chan, Hiyori, and that Yaoyaorozu girl, as it seemed words like 'long, hard, big, girthy, and throat gagging', plus the extremely erotic breathing noises she was making weren't enough of a hint to clue them in.
"PPFFFFFFFFFFTTTHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—"
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"
"I volunteer! I voluntaaapck! Ow~! What the heck, Sae-chan!"
"HOOOOOHHAHOOOOOOOHAA, I CAN'T BREATHEEEE, I CAN'T BREATHEE! SHE'S TOO FUNNY—"
"YOU'RE SAYING HE'S—H-H-HE'S GOT A—"
"Fufufufufu~ I wasn't aware you owned such a majestic creature, Ayanokouji-kun."
"AJKDWAKLDJALK"
"OH MY GOOOOOD—"]
Only a small group of people were reacting loudly, but their laughter filled the theater, unable to be contained. The more silent crowd appeared mostly shocked, or uncaring. With a small percentage of those in my class very obviously irritated, yet the deafening laughter kept them from doing anything other than glaring venomously at me in silence.
This was very uncomfortable feeling.
If Nagumo hadn't ordered all the third years to stare at me whenever I was around them then perhaps it would of become the most disgusted I've ever felt, and for that I'm grateful.
The majority of the audience's attention was directed at the back of my head, the theatre chair sparing me from further humiliation by blocking their view of my crotch. Those nearby, however, were lucky to have the distinct 'privilege' of a closer view.
Most of the nearby stares came from my classmates. Kushida was the most obvious, awkwardly pretending to shield her gaze with her hand. Next were the Ayanokouji group members, Haruka and Miyake. Haruka was at least trying to be discrete about it, while Miyake wasn't even trying to hide his interest. I'm surprised he didn't just out right ask me about it.
Just as the laughter began to fade and the questioning from my classmates could start again, the blonde man's frail that I recognized as All Might's skeletal frame inflated like a pufferfish, transforming him into his muscular self. His hands came together in a deafening clap, producing a powerful gust of wind that drew every eye in the room toward him.
Instead of saying anything, he reverted to his malnourished form, his gaze following the white rodent as it leapt onto one of his colleague's heads before the creepy thing spoke.
"Before I begin I'd like to apologize for the rather scary interruption. It was the fastest, and the most effective method I could think of, so I do hope you can forgive me." Nezu lowered his head briefly to the crowd, causing All Might to follow with his own bow. "Moving on, the reason why I'd taken such measures to grab your attention is because I couldn't just stand by and watch as you all discussed Ayanokouji-kun's... T-Rex, as you call it. Being that you're all students of such an elite school, frankly, I think it's unsightly that you ca—"
"—Why don'tcha keep ya mouth shut outsider." Hosen cut in, seemingly having heard enough of Nezu's short morality lecture. "A filthy rat like yourself shouldn't be standin' on the same level as us humans, let alone try and lecture us." He said, probably attempting to anger the mysterious white animal.
"Hehe, I like this kid." The villain I recognized as Muscular muttered.
"Oi, don't you dare talk to our principle like that. You unruly brat." The homeroom teacher of UA's class 1-B, Vlad King, said, his tone strict as he also attempted to lecture Hosen.
"The fuck are ya gonna do it about it, monkey?"
"You—" Vlad stood up from his seat as he spoke, but was stopped by Nezu.
"—Now, now, let's not get worked up over something so simple Vlad-sensei." He said, pushing his tiny paw on his employee's stomach to stop him from moving forward. "While you don't exactly need to worry about our opinions Hosen-kun, it seems like your schools own chairman was planning on addressing the allegations as well. We had just managed to beat him by a few seconds, isn't that right Sakayanagi-san?"
"Yes, our school usually allows students to handle their own problems, but this was getting out of hand, so we intended to address the gossiping as well. I appreciate your assistance, Nezu-sensei." Chairman Sakayanagi said, bowing his head respectfully. "And Hosen-kun, please avoid making inappropriate or racist comments like the one you made to our guest just now, or there will be serious consequences." He added, yet, for some reason, chose to completely ignore all of Ichika's inappropriate remarks towards me. Based on my brief conversation with him last year, I had assumed he was a kind man, but it turns out he's just as sadistic as his disabled daughter is.
Because of the chairman personal intervention, Hosen had no choice but to back down. He clicked his tongue in annoyance but said nothing else.
With the school officially putting an end to the prehistoric creature debate, most people had gone quiet and turned their attention back to the screen. However, since Satoru treated the video's paused and playing functions during the reaction phase as interchangeable, it was still frozen on the frame of me and Ichinose kissing.
After being given some extra time from the messed up and sexually charged dialogue to regain her composure, Ichinose figured now was the right moment to dispel any uncertainties and preemptively tackle the questions her schoolmates were likely to ask again.
"Um, everyone... I realize this is a bit late, and I know the video looks bad, but it's really not what it seems. I think it'll show the truth if we let it play a little longer. A-and just to clarify, Ayanokouji-kun and I aren't, and have never been, d-dating." Ichinose said, confusing both her classmates with her statement. "Isn't that r-right Satoru-sensei? T-That'll show the truth, I mean."
"Hmm, well... I can confirm that this video is going to show your point of view, though as to what happens during that segment you'll all have to watch to find out." He replied.
Satoru's vague confirmation that her POV would be shown to clear up any misunderstandings was enough to silence anyone from asking further questions.
She just pulled Ayanokouji-kun close by his tie... and then kissed him...
"O-o-oh I-I see, he really was your b-b-boyfriend... I just wish you would have told me..." I said, switching to a whisper halfway through. "B-but I guess you p-probably wanted to keep to keep it secret, haha..."
The screen flashed white for a moment, and in the next second it changed from behind the shaded area behind the gymnasium to the passage way near the school entrance. There me and Ichinose were walking side by side in silence.
"Oh, this is a flashback scene?" Sato asked, having calmed down a little bit.
"Are they going to show us what happened beforehand?" Kei asked, biting down on her fingernail as she attempted to hide her anxiety.
"Probably." Matsushita replied, her eyes scanning the screen for anything that could prove me guilty. "If what Ichinose-san said was true, then maybe this'll show us what happened before the whole kissing thing."
"I sure hope so." Shinohara added.
As Ichinose and I got closer to the school, the number of students around us multiplied. Strangely enough, some of the girls turned one after the other and looked at us with envy. Was this the so-called popularity phase I was told would occur three times in my life? I hadn't experienced it yet; it was about time that I entered my first phase.
I guess we're going to be reacting to my point of view again.
"Bro? Were you seriously that delusional back then?" Miyake asked, laughing a little at my first year self's coherent thoughts. "You always looked the same so I couldn't tell, and still can't tell what you're thinking really, but I'm glad you weren't depressed at least."
"I think I was just exaggerating a little. That's something I did a lot during our first year. Though, it was mostly in my thoughts, I'd never say anything like that out loud." I replied.
The other members of the Ayanokouji group remained silent for the time being. Haruka and Sakura were too invested in the video for confirmation of the relationship between me and Ichinose to say anything, and Yukimura probably just didn't have anything to add.
"Dumbass, there's no way any of those girls would be looking at you." Yamauchi said.
You'd think it be the opposite and that he'd relax a little after the constant humiliations, yet instead he seems to have doubled down on his crude and callous commenting.
"Did you want to be popular back then Ayanokouji-kun?" Kushida asked me.
"It would be nice, yeah."
"Well you certainly got you're pathetic little wish now. But, notorious would probably be the more accurate term." She whispered back with a soft giggle, her usual kind expression in place. Though I caught her eyes flicker downward, clearly still processing the Lazarus taxon.
It was obvious that these videos were going to expose me to the whole school at some point, so I thought of a few sarcastic replies to her comment. But, in the interest of avoiding unnecessary trouble, I chose to remain silent and keep my last few remaining moments of peace.
"Alright folks, this video's special effect is the receiving lie counter. It works like the previous one shown during Yamauchi's first point of view, however, it only detects lie's that the video's protagonist, which in this case is Ayanokouji-kun, hears from other people." Satoru said.
"Question Satoru-sensei. During the first video the special effect was chosen was just called the 'lie counter' which counted each lie the student said, was that only referring to the video's protagonist? If so, why not just have it detect any lie said in the video?" Sakayanagi asked, curious behind the reasoning behind the special effects.
"I did not permit any questions." Satoru replied.
"I see." Sakayanagi said.
By once again by utilizing my darkness full shadows eyes technique, It was plainly obvious that he only answered like that because they just couldn't come up or find any special effects that weren't just one trick pony's.
"You forgot to start creepily laughing after saying 'I see'." Kamuro said.
"Fufufu, good call Masumi-san."
"I already told you don't call me that."
"Sex." Morishita said out of nowhere, appearing to have any not plans to elaborate on exactly what she meant by that.
"Good morning, Ichinose!"
"Good morning, Ichinose-san!"
Ichinose, who was walking next to me, monopolized all of the girls' attention.
"You sure are popular," I said.
"I just stand out because I'm the class rep. That's all." (+ 1 Lie - Total 1)
"Why would she lie about something so basic?" Questioned the boy with half-white, half-red hair, Todoroki Shoto, curious to her reason.
"Huh? Well, I don't think she's lying about it maliciously. She's probably just trying to be humble about it; most people probably would dislike you if you started bragging after being told they were popular, so that could be why." Miyake's alternate universe self with blonde hair and a tail, Mashirao Ojiro, replied.
"That's right! Humbleness is a very good trait to have even if it means telling little white lies about things like that." The boy with engines in his legs, Tenya Ida, added sounding very strict.
"Wow, really? I thought you were the type that thinks that you should never lie unless absolutely necessary Lida." The future fast-food employee on the side with no hope of becoming a real hero because of the rising cost of food, Rikido Sato, said.
"I do indeed think it's best to avoid lying whenever you can. However, I am not so naive to think that being honest in every situation is the morally, or subjectively best thing to do." Ida replied.
"I think so too." Ojiro said.
It didn't seem like she was trying to act modest. Apparently that's what she truly thought. She had this charismatic force about her that pulled everyone's focus.
"Ah, that reminds me. Did you hear about summer break, Ayanokouji-kun?"
"Summer break? No. I mean, isn't it just summer break?"
"I've heard rumors that we might be taking a vacation to a tropical island."
That sparked a memory. I'd forgotten about it, but Chabashira-sensei had mentioned a vacation.
"I have a hard time believing it, though. Could we really go on a vacation?"
"if we actually did vacation on a tropical island, that would be awesome!"
"I wonder about that..." I said.
"Huh? That idea doesn't make you happy?"
Only people who have meaningful friendships can enjoy a vacation to its fullest. There's nothing quite as uncomfortable as traveling without close friends, especially when you're traveling with a group. Just imagining it made me feel like throwing up.
"T-That's so true, Ayanokouji-kun. I once went on a school field trip in a class that I had no friends in and all I did for it was sit on my phone awkwardly, waiting for the day to end." Sakura commented, describing her unpleasant middle-school field trip, as if it was any different from her usual day before she made friends.
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, hehe. I had just recently t-transferred to my middle-school during the halfway point. I didn't even get a chance to make any friends before going on that trip."
I thought she'd still be too absorbed into the video to say anything to me yet, but it seemed like she chose to trust Ichinose's and my word's and stopped paying close attention to it.
"I think that would be true for all of us actually." Miyake said, cutting into our short conversation. "Well, actually Kiyotaka was homeschooled so probably not him. Though you could probably count the island exam we had during the first year as one of those awkward vacations, since none of us were friends yet."
"I wouldn't really count that as a vacation." I said.
"Me neither. A-Also I was already friends with Kiyotaka-kun back then, so it wasn't as uncomfortable as the one I had in middle-school. " Sakura added.
"Didn't you spend a lot of time during that exam with Horikita-san as well, Kiyotaka?" Yukimura asked.
"I was, though we weren't, and still aren't close friends. She was still very prickly back then so it felt more like I was babysitting her." I said, instantly feeling Horikita's sharp glare on me as she had been listening to us talk. "If anything Haruka hanged out a bit with Kushida's friend group, so she probably had the best experience."
Haruka on the other hand, was still completely invested in the video, her own given name going through one ear and out the other.
"Excuse me? Who were you babysitting exactly?" She asked, venom laced in her tone.
I chose not to reply. There wasn't much point in arguing since the exam was likely going to be shown either way and I wanted to keep my peace for as long as I could.
"Do you hate traveling?" Ichinose asked.
"I don't hate it. I don't think I do, anyway..."
While we chatted, I tried to imagine what it would be like. I'd never traveled with a friend before. I had gone to New York with my parents a long, long time ago. Not a single millisecond of it had been fun. Just remembering that bitter time wore me out.
"What's the matter?"
"Just recalled something a little bit traumatic."
I could feel several gazes snap onto me as the me on video said that, mostly out of curiosity, then compassion. The most curious of which was Kushida, followed by Ryuen, though both of theirs were thrown with malintent.
'Finally something interesting.' Ryuen thought, looking over at me. 'Based on his current thoughts he doesn't seem to be trying to manipulate her. Does that mean he was really trying to make friends with those losers back then? What even is his goal anyway?'
Maybe they assumed I'd either stay silent or lie when questioned about the trauma, so no one even bothered to ask. Even the more empathetic ones, who might've only asked out of genuine concern, refrained with so many eyes on them.
"Hey Ayanokouji!" Nagumo shouted from across the theatre. "What's this little traumatic event about? You'll tell me all about it, right? We're friends aren't we?" Except for him apparently.
First Ichika, and now Nagumo too?
This was obviously because he was still holding a grudge over when I knocked him out during the second island exam. Having the third years constantly staring at me on his orders was irritating enough, and it seems like he has no intentions of stopping anytime soon.
That's why he's borrowing Ichika's annoying joke of pretending to have a public familiar relationship with me.
"Wait he's friends with Nagumo too?"
"How did that even happen?"
"What else is he hiding from us?"
I could hear whispers spring out around after my second 'crazy secret' was revealed.
"Um... Nagumo-senpai? I didn't know you two were friends... and even if you are, I don't think Ayanokouji-kun would be comfortable saying it in front of everybody here." Hirata said, answering his inquiry for me.
"Aw, c'mon! This was back when he barely knew Honami wasn't it? He's perfectly fine telling that to someone he just met, yet he doesn't wanna say it in front of the crowd? I know you're not crowd shy Ayanokouji, so what's up?" Nagumo asked rhetorically, his malicious smirk widening as he did.
"That's very different from just one per—"
"—Quiet. I wanna hear it from Ayanokouji's mouth himself." Nagumo said, cutting him off.
I'd really hoped to avoid any public involvement with Nagumo, but it's clear that with the Hirata defensive wall easily breached, I don't have any choices left in the matter.
~
"I suppose I can tell you, though it's really not that interesting." Ayanokouji-kun replied, surprising those close to him by simply going along with it. "As I said in the video, I was in New York because of my dad's business trip. It happened right after we landed. We were walking to his destination—wherever that was. I don't remember exactly since it's been so long—when suddenly, a car jumped onto the sidewalk and hit the guy next to me. I didn't know him, so I've got no idea what happened afterward, but I do remember it looking pretty bad."
"I've never heard him talk that much" I heard someone nearby me mutter.
"Yeah me either."
"All it was is just some shitty car accident he wasn't even involved in? What utter bullshit." Ibuki muttered, not believing a word he said.
"Hmm... Did that really happen?" President Nagumo questioned, sounding unconvinced that this event was the source of his minor trauma. "You're not just making that up are you? Actually, Satoru-sensei~ You confirmed earlier that we are going to watch Honami's POV for that class B girl's rejection video, yes? Then are you able to confirm if we are going to watch Ayanokouji's past trauma in a later video?"
It caught me off guard when Ayanokouji-kun agreed to share his trauma to everyone and even more so when he actually did it—assuming he wasn't making everything up. But watching it up on the big screen was something completely different.
I don't know if I'd want that.
It's not that I'm uninterested, because I definitely am. yet...
Is President Nagumo only asking that because the specifics of the special exam haven't been revealed yet? If so, why is he asking about Ayanokouji-kun? How much does he know about him?
"I'm not sure I follow, Nagumo-kun." Satoru-sensei stated, tilting his head slightly, which caused his white hair to cover part of his eyes. "What made you think Ayanokouji-kun's slightly traumatic New York visit would be featured here? It doesn't tie to anything school-related, so why assume we'd pick it?"
Exactly, I don't see any correlation there.
"That's not entirely true, sensei. We both know the school deliberately keeps a great deal of things hidden, for example; Most people don't know this but, a student's past plays a significant role in determining their class placement upon entry. Isn't the whole idea of putting students with troubled histories but strong potential into specific classes about rehabilitating them into functioning members of society? Ayanokouji's academic and physical abilities are both above average, and from what I've observed, he may be the quiet type, yet he doesn't seem to struggle with social interactions either. Wouldn't this be a prime opportunity for his class to grow and help him address whatever flaw he has that placed him in class D?" President Nagumo argued, presenting a somewhat reasonable case for why Ayanokouji-kun's past should be revealed.
So that's it...
He's mostly right.
Our class has plenty of students with troublesome personalities or complicated histories—Kushida-san, Hirata-kun, myself, Koenji-kun, Sudo-kun, and the list goes on. Of course, there are those who seem more normal and lack the kind of issues that hold others back from excelling, but they're not what's relevant right now.
When I discovered he wasn't just an average student, I initially assumed his defect was his lazy personality that made him avoid doing anything he considers troublesome.
Not long after making that naive assumption, Chabashira-sensei told me her assessment of him, labeling him as Class D's most defective student. That made me rethink my own assessment of him, and question his motives. If he dislikes trouble, why did he deliberately score only 50 on the entrance exams? Why was he supporting our class if he has no interest in reaching Class A? And why does he insist on keeping his abilities hidden?
I've never been able to determine what his defect is.
Does he even have one?
"Let's see..." Satoru-sensei said, catching the attention of a nearby staff member, who hurried over to whisper something into his ear. "We've already got plans to delve into a few other backstories of various students, so adding one more would definitely be able to squeeze it self right into the exam. But, there's a significant issue with your request. While it could benefit his class, depending on what's shown in the video, what's stopping the other classes from weaponizing his past against him? It could end up doing more harm to him than good for his classmates." Satoru-sensei said, highlighting the potential drawbacks in Nagumo-senpai's request.
A wave of unease swept through the theatre as he openly stated they'd be exposing some students pasts. Surprisingly, though, aside from quiet whispers, no one voiced any complaints.
They knew it would be futile.
"Sure, I guess that's a valid concern. Though, isn't that what's this schools all about anyway? This school constantly imposes extremely challenging decisions and exams on its students. From what I've heard, the second years had to face one of the most mentally difficult exams ever—a popularity vote that would expel one of their friends because last year didn't meet the expulsion quota. So why not just add one more dilemma? You clearly don't require consent to show videos of students private thoughts, so why not let his class, or specifically their leader, decide if exposing his past is the right choice for them? If Horikita thinks that showing Ayanokouji's trauma would be detrimental to her class, then she can simply refuse to show it."
Exposing Ayanokouji-kun's past?
"You've made a good argumen—"
"—Wait a second!" Hirata-kun shouted, cutting off the white-haired faculty member. "Satoru-sensei, you can't really be thinking of doing this. We've already gone far beyond what's morally acceptable by exposing your students inner thoughts, but showing Kiyotaka-kun's traumatic past can in no way be justified!"
"Hirata-kun is right! You have no right to expose Ayanokouji-kun's past trauma without his consent! It's not just morally wrong, there's no reason to do it. There's nothing that would suggest his class could benefit from viewing it, and if anything, it's almost guaranteed to harm him!" Ichinose added, doing her best to prevent Ayanokouji-kun's past from being aired.
Ichinose also has a good argument for why it shouldn't be shown.
'Why wasn't she trying that hard for me?' Chihiro tearily thought.
"Good to see you both so energetic after everything you've watched today, but like I mentioned earlier with the first video, we're not accepting any feedback on the exam. There's no point in offering us any." Satoru answered lazily, once more ignoring the audience's visible discontent.
"Aren't you both being too dramatic? Ayanokouji already said it was just a simple car accident, so there's no need to be so bitchy about it." Ryuen said, clearly irritated by how stupid he thought they were acting.
"Even so! His trauma is so—"
"—Ichinose. Yosuke. I appreciate your efforts to prevent them from showing that, but it's really not necessary." Ayanokouji-kun said, cutting off Ichinose. "I'd prefer nothing about me is shown, but if it going to happen, I'd like to at least have a say in what's displayed. Like the rest we've seen so far, If it's just a short clip of the car accident, then I don't mind much."
What the hell?
Who are you, and what have you done with Ayanokouji-kun?
He's usually so aloof and secretive, but all of a sudden he's okay with people viewing a past traumatic event of his? Well, "okay" might not be the correct wording but still. Could he have discovered something about the exam that made this decision necessary?
That's highly probable.
"Ayanokouji-kun..." "Kiyotaka-kun..." Ichinose and Hirata both muttered.
"Then it's settled." Satoru said, clapping his hands and turning toward me. "Horikita-san, as I'm sure you've been paying attention, the decision is yours—do we let everyone watch Ayanokouji-kun's uneventful little trip to New York or not?" He asked me.
I... get to decide whether or not we watch Ayanokouji-kun's traumatic past?
"Horikita-san, you can't agree to something so cruel. The very idea of exposing Ayanokouji-kun's past is outrageous, but since you have the choice, you should prioritize protecting our classmates over causing them pain." Kushida pleaded, ignoring her overwhelming curiosity.
"Yeah, I think it'd be the best if declined his offer. What if he does that to someone else in our class next, I don't know If I could handle it happening to me." Yukimura-kun added, with a slight look on disgust on his face as he imagined it.
His comment sparked a wave of agreement, with several classmates worried about having their own secrets shown, also voicing their objections to viewing Ayanokouji-kun's trauma video.
While Kushida and a few others may only be expressing against it to protect themselves from being shown next, they do have a point. I shouldn't be the one to make the call on whether his past is exposed to everyone.
But...
Satoru-sensei explained they'd already planned to show the backstories of several students, with Ayanokouji-kun's traumatic one being an additional inclusion. There's no reason to worry about being added now; if someone's past is being shown, it was likely determined during the planning for this exam. My decision here won't change that. In fact, rejecting this offer might just lead to someone else, maybe even from another class, being chosen instead.
I glanced over at Ayanokouji-kun who seated next to our classes two-faced angel. As always, his expression was unreadable, his lifeless eyes were fixed on the giant projection screen, offering no hints of what he might be thinking.
And this might be the only chance I get to learn more about him.
When the exam ends, he'll likely go back to keeping his distance from everybody, and with that, the opportunity to learn more about him could slip away forever. What Amasawa-san's said to me on the island has been lingering in my mind this whole time.
I've known him for over a year, but what do I actually know about him?
Basically nothing.
If he had at least made a stronger effort to deny it, this decision wouldn't feel so difficult. Instead, he actually stopped Ichinose and Hirata from arguing with Satoru-sensei for his benefit—something he'd probably never do if he were acting like his usual self.
Even if most of our class doesn't agree with it.
I really want to go through with it.
Don't pry into my life.
It's these words, he told me from a year ago, that is preventing me from making this choice.
~
Horikita sat in silence, biting her nail as she deliberated over the decision to post my trauma publicly. Her hesitation unsettled my classmates, who couldn't understand why she was taking so long to answer what seemed obvious to them.
Yosuke appeared to be the most affected by it, though before he could say anything, a green-haired, freckly-cheeked student from UA's class 1-A cut in.
"Um, Horikita-san was it?" The boy listed as Izuku Midoriya on the OAA app said from across the room. "This is only from what I could gather as we weren't informed on your school operates but, are you thinking of watching Ayanokouji-kun's past on the small chance it could benefit your class?"
Horikita didn't answer, staring blankly into the wall as if she hadn't even heard him speak.
"So they couldn't even be bothered to explain to our dear guests how this school works, kukuku." Ryuen said, his eyes fixed on Midoriya, who flinched under the intensity of his gaze, making him quickly lose interest. "Well, Suzune? Will you hurry up and answer already? Isn't this a good time to learn a little bit more about that secretive orbiter of yours? He really had us all fooled, huh? I thought he was just your boy-toy, but apparently he's cheating on you with both the big-tittied Ichinose and that slutty twin-tailed first year. A secret fuckboy in class D, what a pleasant surprise! Kukuku." Ryuen said, intending to keep up my facade until the very end.
"Hey!" Ichika shouted, slightly annoyed at being called a slut.
'Midoriya totally got ignored lol.' Someone from UA's class 1-A muttered.
Horikita finally cracked, letting out a sigh of annoyance and placing her hand on her forehead as she began to speak. "Ryuen-kun, please stop assuming vulgar things about me, and using my first name." She said, telling Ryuen off before she got to the part everybody cared about. "I can tell everyone want's to hear my answer, so I'll just say it already. On behalf of the second year class C, I, Horikita Suzune, agree to have Ayanokouji-kun's traumatic New York visit shown to everybody in the theater."
Her response was quickly followed by a wave of loud criticism, classmates expressing their annoyance at her apparent selfishness in accepting the depraved request.
"Why would she do that to Ayanokouji-kun?"
"What the hell, Horikita?"
"Horikita-san! What on earth were you thinking accepting that! I—"
However, she shut it down before it had the chance to escalate.
"—All of you hold on. Relax and let me explain before everyone starts complaining. If you remember at the beginning Satoru-sensei said that we would eventually get a chance to request what we react to, and he later added that Ayanokouji-kun's abroad visit would have to squeezed into the exam. That means there's probably a limited number of reactions that we get to choose from that can fit into the exam's time frame. If I turned his offer down, it would raise the likelihood that someone else would end up replacing him for reaction material. If we assume Nagumo's placement theory was correct, then the chance it happens to be someone in our class again is very high." Her words were directed at Kushida, who was promptly turned into a statue. "Additionally, Ayanokouji-kun publicly shared his trauma already and made it clear he wouldn't mind too much if he got chosen. That's the reasoning behind my decision to accept."
Her explanation was great—it clarified to our class the little information we know about this real exam, gave her a legitimate reason to agree, and cleverly concealed her true motive of wanting to learn more about me.
"That's..." Hirata muttered, still feeling slightly guilty for me, but agreed with her decision.
With that the rest of the class was fully on board, there were no more voiced objections. Though I started being sent a stream of pitying looks from various people in the hero group sitting to my left.
And perhaps because I didn't make much of an effort to stop the public display of my New York visit and the very real trauma caused by narrowly escaping a car accident, those I expected to take pleasure in my misfortune peculiarly remained silent, allowing the video to continue.
My dry laugher echoed through the hot hallway. No, this wasn't good. If I let my negative aura spread, Ichinose would grow troubled. However, it seemed like my anxieties were unfounded. Ichinose continued talking, seemingly untroubled by my words.
Ichinose and I continued talking back and forth, well it was mostly her talking and me desperately trying to keep up. Then, all of a sudden, she stopped, almost as if she'd just remembered something. I tried reading her face, noting that she wore a serious expression.
"Hey... There's something I want to ask you, Ayanokouji-kun. Is that okay?"