(This was all supposed to be one chapter but webnovel doesn't like big chapters apparently)
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?"
It was like that bright, cheery Ichinose of a moment ago had disappeared. My body stiffened slightly.
"If it's something I can answer, I will."
Besides, what question couldn't I answer with my massively impressive brain, filled with the knowledge of a hundred million books? (A huge lie, of course.)
As much as I was hoping somebody would, no one had audibly reacted to my joke of having the knowledge of a hundred million books in my head. Instead Ichinose's sudden change from her usual demeanor to an uncharacteristically serious one that was having difficulty asking me something was apparently much more interesting to everyone.
'Couldn't there of at least been a few snickers.' I thought sadly.
"Has a girl ever confessed her feelings to you?"
"No way... why is she asking that?" Shibata muttered, biting down on his thumb.
"Wait, so Honami's tHE ONE WHO CONFESSED?!" Amikura said, her voice gradually increasing as she talked.
"HONAMI, WHAT THE HECK?! I THOUGHT YOU SAID NOTHING WAS GOING ON!" Kobashi also shouted, acting like Amikura had been earlier in the day.
"WHA! I-I ALREADY SAID N-NOTHING HAPPENS HERE!" Ichinose's flustered response came quickly, though it didn't take her long to notice the two girls trying to suppress their laughter after faking their reactions. "Y-You two! Stop trying to tease me on everything that happens!"
"As a newly certified KiyoNami shipper, it's your fault for being so teasable." Amikura said, shrugging her shoulders as if to say she's done nothing wrong.
"Yup, you've got nobody to blame but yourself here, Honami-chan." Kobashi added.
The two girls exaggerated reactions had already drawn more attention than the repetitive situation warranted, discouraging anyone else from commenting anything.
That, and the initial surprise that had fueled the first discussion had mostly disappeared.
That...wasn't in the any of the hundred million books I'd read.
Once more, the only sounds you could hear in the theatre at my second internal joke was the occasional whispers or that one overweight class D student snacking on some crunchy popcorn.
At least I thought the joke was pretty funny.
I guess this is why they don't consider me the comedian of the white room.
"Really? Do I look like a guy who's ever had a girl confess her feelings to him?"
Was she going to call me a disgusting virgin, or a shitty moron? I'd totally break down in tears. I was still only a first-year high school student, you know? It was way too early for this. Right? Hey. You think so too, right?
"Pffffft—"
"Hahahaha—"
Evidently, by the number of giggles and actual laughter I heard from having my anxiety written thoughts voiced out, it seemed me being stressed out by her question was more funny to the average person than any joke I could ever tell.
"That's what should of happened." Hondo muttered.
"Huh?! I would never do that to you Ayanokouji-kun!" Ichinose shouted, overreacting to the thoughts I had a year ago, when we barely knew each other.
"Yeah, if anything she'd be the one taking his virginity." Himeno said in a bored tone, attempting to predict the future.
"Too soon Himeno-san, though you're definitely right about that." Kobashi added.
"S-S-Staaawhhhp!" Ichinose pleaded, once again covering her face in shame.
"Don't you guys get bored of teasing for every sentence she says? This is getting stale." Kanzaki said, reasonably annoyed by how consistently they were teasing her.
"Never!" "Nope." Amikura and Kobashi replied.
"I know you wouldn't do that now, but you have to keep in mind that was back when I barely knew you, so it wasn't too outside the realm of possibility." I replied, ignoring her classmates comments.
"You breaking down in tears? I haven't even seen you smile, is that even possible?" Horikita asked, having trouble believing that I could break down crying.
"Dude, how the fuck are you thinking all that with a straight face?" Kamanari asked me, noting how my usual poker face remained unchanged as I anxiously overthought Ichinose's question.
"I know right?! Like his thoughts don't at all match up with his face, if the thoughts weren't completely monotone and the screen was blacked then I would've thought we were reacting to somebody else. What's you're secret Ayanokouji-kun?" Ashido questioned, also curious on how I did it.
"It's nothing special really, I've just never been the type to express my emotions very well."
"Eh? That's it? There's no special training or anything?" She replied, disappointed by my answer.
"No. I was the same even as a child."
"As a child too? That actually sounds super creepy." She said, hugging her arms together in discomfort after imagining it.
"Who's he talking to?" Todoroki questioned, confused by my last statement.
"It's a rhetorical statement, Todoroki-kun. He's seeking confirmation from nothing because of his anxiety, something similar would be praying to a god for ones selfish desires. Assuming that they don't actually believe in him and just do it on the slight chance he could be real." Tokoyami, the student in UA's class 1-A with a bird head, said.
"Are you saying that because you do that?" Sero asked.
"No, while I am an atheist. I was just trying to think up something similar and that was the first thing that came to mind." Tokoyami replied, lying through his beak.
"He's just like me for real! That bastard is nothing like me!" The severe dissociative identity disorder villain known as twice shouted, finding my anxious thoughts similar to his own.
"That's him from around a year and a half again, so not really." Himiko toga, a villain that should still be in high-school, replied, sounding bored out of her mind.
Besides, I was certain that, proportionally, the number of people who had confessed their feelings was low compared to those who hadn't. It was a baseless theory, though. Who knew the real number of people who had died in solitude, hidden in the shadows of humanity's prosperity?
"Oh no, I'm sorry. It's nothing."
It didn't look like it was nothing. However, it did look like she didn't plan to make fun of me. Rather, she was actually worried about something.
"Did someone confess to you?" I asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Kind of."
It seemed like many students were striving every day to couple up like Hirata and Karuizawa.
"Well, if you're okay with it, can you spare a little time after class? I have some questions about confessions."
"Sure, that's okay. I don't really have much to do."
"Thank you."
I wondered what all this confession stuff had to do with me. Had she made up a lie like "Ayanokouji is my boyfriend" to mislead people? I considered it for a moment, but then I thought it'd be smarter for her to use a more reliable, pretty boy.
"Hold up, is that really what happened? You wanted him to pretend to be your boyfriend?" Ando asked, having seen the connection with my words and how Ichinose was acting.
Ichinose avoided talking, opting instead to nod with an uneasy smile, silently admitting to her flawed and poorly thought out plan to stop Chihiro's confession.
"T-Then Kiyopon wasn't lying about not dating her?" Haruka asked, finally having relaxed a little.
"Seems like it." Miyake replied.
"Wait, that actually makes sense. She even asked him to met up with him to ask about confessions, why else would Ayanokouji-kun be there for Chihiro's confession?" Mori said.
"I mean it kinda does, but then why did she kiss him?" Sato asked, still confused on how the kiss happened.
"Actually... now that I think about it, it looked like Ichinose pulled him in by his tie, then kissed him. Ayanokouji-kun only looked slightly surprised by it, so—"
"—I think it's about to get answered anyway. There's no need to start speculating about how it happened, Matsushita." I said, cutting off Matsushita.
"Is that right?" Mori asked, and I nodded.
The video kept being delayed by the constant chatter and gossip, and I just wanted to get this over with, so I stopped her from theorizing and let the video continue.
"I'll be waiting at the school entrance after class."
"O-okay. I understand."
Even though I knew absolutely nothing was going to happen, I was pretty excited. That was what being a man was all about.
The screen flashed white again, and when it cleared, it returned to the back of the gymnasium. Ichinose and I were still locked in a kiss, while Chihiro watched, tears streaming down her face.
"Looks like the flashback is over." Mori said.
"Yeah, if what Ayanokouji-kun and Ichinose-san were telling the truth, then it should be answered after Shiranami-san leaves." Sato said, uselessly scanning my face in suspicion.
"Do you still think they were lying about it?" Matsushita asked, noticing Sato's suspicion.
"Well... not really." She replied.
Chihiro-chan was unable to hold back her tears any longer, her eyes darted to the ground as she turned away, afraid to meet my or Ayanokouji-kun's gaze.
"I-I think I'll l-l-leave you two alone n-now, I-Ichinose-san."
My mind was still blank as I slowly pulled out of a kiss with Ayanokouji-kun.
That was my first kiss...
I, Ichinose Honami, just did something that you would expect a degenerate and depraved boy would do to someone like me, to Ayanokouji-kun. I forcefully kissed Ayanokouji-kun.
I kissed him without his consent.
Shocked reactions broke out across the theater once again. It was inevitable—one of the school's kindest and most well-regarded students had just been streamed committing sexual assault. Even those who didn't know her well were visibly taken aback by this twist.
"Eh?"
"She forced herself on him?"
"He didn't consent to it?"
"Wait, so Ayanokouji-kun's actually a victim?"
There were probably a few who had already found my surprised reaction to the kiss suspicious, but I doubted many thought Ichinose had initiated it against my will.
This could of been slightly bad for Ichinose, but in a stroke of luck, Hondo's jealousy caused him to lash out thoughtlessly, temporarily drawing attention away from the involuntary kiss.
"Damn lucky bastard... THAT SHOULD OF BEEN ME, NOT HIM!" Hondo whisper escalated into a shout, and he fell down to his knees, slamming his arms down onto the ground in anger.
It wasn't until he hit the floor did he notice that his loud fit had stopped the whispers floating in the room entirely, leaving him to endure disgusted stares from almost everyone around him.
"Ugh, seriously Hondo?
"What a pathetic fucking loser."
"Is he stupid?"
"That's exactly why Ichinose-san would never ask you dipshit."
"Why are there so many perverted boys at our school?"
"Doesn't Hondo-kun mostly hang out with Yamuachi and Ike as well? I bet they're all as mentally fucked up as Yamauchi."
"O-Oi! Don't bring me into that I haven't done anything wrong!" Ike yelled, though no one paid him any attention after his several previous outpours of jealousy.
"T-That's not... I haven't done anything..." Hondo barely managed to whisper.
The barrage of scornful glares were far too overwhelming for Hondo to handle, leaving him no choice but to curl up into a ball, and silently endure as his already fragile reputation crumbled.
I glanced at Ichinose, who wore a guilty expression during the brief moments her classmates weren't bombarding her with questions. She seemed to notice my gaze, meeting my eyes, and after what felt like a few second of hesitation, she took a deep breath, stood up, preparing to address the crowd.
"Could everyone stop talking for a moment and listen to me?" She said, successfully gathering the crowd's attention. "Let me start from the beginning. This all started when I had found what looked like a love letter in my locker. It asked me to meet a girl behind the gym, but there was one issue—our feelings weren't mutual. I liked the girl, just not in the same way she romantically liked me. I still wanted to stay friends with her, so I searched for ways to reject someone without hurting their feelings. The best advice I found was to claim to already in a relationship, which is why I asked Ayanokouji-kun to temporarily act as my fake boyfriend. We met behind the gym, and I explained the situation to him. But before he could give me his answer, Chihiro-chan appeared, and she was already looking like she was going to cry. I couldn't bear to reject her after seeing her like that. Ayanokouji-kun realized what was happening and started to speak, intending to tell her the truth—that we were only friends. So in a panic, I grabbed his tie and kissed him to stop him from talking. Even if I did it without thinking, I know it was wrong, and I take full responsibility for it.
Ichinose paused, bowing her head down similar to how she did during her first guilty admission, and then carried on with her apology speech.
"I'm sorry. For disappointing you all again when I obviously should of known better, and for keeping this a secret from everyone when I should of—"
"—Well, I actually asked you to keep it a secret, so you don't need to apologize for that." I said, intruding onto her speech to partly vindicate her. "I should say one more thing while I'm speaking as well; while Ichinose was definitely in the wrong here, there's no need to be too hard on her as we actually had settled this over a year ago."
"Eh? Oh, um... thanks Ayanokouji-kun." Ichinose said, glancing around as though trying to figure out why I had interrupted. "Still, I was in the wrong, so I want to apologize to you one more time. I'm sorry for kissing you back then."
"Don't worry about it, Honami! I bet Ayanokouji-kun loved the kiss anyway, hahaha."
"She totally crushed it!"
"Woo! You've already reached second base Honami-chan!"
Before I could reply, the crowd erupted into applause, accompanied by whistles and cheers following her speech. While they are still referred to collectively as a crowd, it was mostly students from Class B, followed by a few girls from my class, and then a significant number of people from the hero group's seating. The one enjoying this the most, however, was Class B's teacher Hoshinomiya.
I glanced over at Ryuen and Ichika, both of whom seemed to have little interest in what was happening. Ryuen was visibly disengaged, while Ichika had already turned her attention to her phone. Like me, they were clearly ready to get on with the next part.
The happy talking from the crowd gradually dispersed and we continued the video.
My eyes were glued to the cement floor, shamefully avoiding eye contact with the boy who I had sexually assaulted less than a minute ago.
He had planned on telling her we were just friends and yet I kissed him anyway.
I-I'm a criminal.
No no no no no no no no no-
Not again!
Is this it for me? Locked away in a stone-cold prison cell with the key thrown away?
Will I be stuck in there for the rest of my miserable life?
That's exactly the kind of punishment someone like me deserves.
"Um... Ayanokouji-kun..." Hesitantly, I called out his name, unable to summon the courage to look him in the eyes.
What should I do? Should I apologize? Can an apology even fix this?
What am I thinking? Of course it can't! I can't just expect everything to be fine after forcing myself on him. I don't deserve to escape the consequences.
Is this really the end? Is my time with my friends in Class B already over?
The reason why I came to ANHS was to get a fresh start in life and I've already gone and thrown it all aw-
"Yes?"
Ayanokouji-kun's voice pulled me back to reality. I realized I was lost in thought, but his response interrupted the spiral of dark ideas swirling in my mind.
"Oh, um... Well..." I scattered to find the right words to say. "The thing is..."
Once more the words wouldn't come out. More accurately, there weren't any words there to come out. The only solution to this problem would be to bow down and accept my punishment, whether that be from Ayanokouji-kun or the law.
I'm sorry, mom. I'm so sorry, little sister. I've failed you time and time again, and this time I did something that can't possibly be forgiven.
"I-I'm sorry." I bowed to him at a 90 degree angle, tears streaming down my face. "I-I know w-what I've done is irredeemable and I d-don't expect to be f-forgiven by you." (+ 1 Lie - Total 2)
For once, the video played through more than just a few lines without interruption.
The lie detector's alarm going off didn't cause much of a reaction, as it went off when she claimed her actions were irredeemable. The majority of normal people think that most crimes committed by accident are forgivable, especially something as small as a simple panicked kiss.
Had the gender roles been reversed, maybe this would have been a much bigger deal, but it helped that she was being honest when she admitted that she didn't expect my forgiveness.
It seemed everyone had finally run out of things to say and was now depending on the new POV for the next bit of content.
Although, it could also be that they simply enjoyed listening to Ichinose anxious thoughts as she had believed she'd completely ruined her life at such a young and tender age.
Even though my actions were inexcusable, that didn't mean I wouldn't apologize to him and, with some luck, try to resolve things privately between us.
I took a deep breath before continuing fearing for the inevitable consequences, that were aggressively tying my stomach in knots.
"I-I'll accept whatever p-punishment for me that you deem fit, just please nothing that would negatively affect my classmates! A-and... I know this may sound like I'm accusing you of being p-perverted-which I'm not—but nothing l-lewd as well!" I shouted my resolve at him, praying that I could solve everything quietly and peacefully.
"That totally sounds like she's accusing him of being perverted, hahaha."
"Yeah, I totally would of taken it that way."
While a few more one-liners were tossed out, it felt like the crowd was growing quieter, with fewer and fewer people commenting on the video as it progressed.
"Kiyopon... you didn't ask her to do anything lewd, right?" Haruka questioned unreasonably.
"Why did you even ask that? Do you expect Kiyotaka to just go 'yea, i made her do some lewd things with me'? No one would ever admit to that." Miyake said.
"K-Kiyotaka-kun w-wouldn't do that Haruka-chan! He has moral's unlike some of the other boys in class, you can tell from his eyes, he's never even looked at me like that. too" Sakura said, whispering the last part in Haruka's ear.
A-Although, if he really insisted on doing something l-lewd and there was no other choice, I could... p-possibly consider it, as long as it's not too inappropriate.
H-He's not too bad looking after all, and I don't think he'd ask for s-something too far, maybe like a small g-grope or something along that level.
"AYO?!"
"SHE'S OKAY WITH BEING GROPED IF IT'S BY HIM?!"
"WHAT'S THIS?!"
"ECCHINOSE!"
"I KNEW IT! SHE WAS TOTALLY BIASED TOWARDS HIM FROM THE START!"
Ichinose again hid her face behind her knees and arms, turning herself into a ball, attempting to escape the embarrassment of her inner thoughts being heard by hundreds of people.
"Woah, woah, calm down there Ecchinose-chan. You only just made it to second base you can't just skip all the way to the fourth one. At least hold hands before you start asking him to molest you okay?" Ando said, to the ball-shaped person.
"Maybe she sensed the T-Rex, and wanted a taste of it early." Amikura said, smirking at me.
"Well, Honami-chan has always had a fascination with dinosaurs. I'm sure her curiosity got the best of her when one was suddenly found on school grounds." Kobashi added.
"Kiyopon! You really didn't do anything, right?! Right?!" Haruka again asked in Sakura's stead.
Haruka seemed to grow even more concerned that I might have actually done something when I ignored her first question, while Ichinose retreated further, trying to hide from her classmates.
"Of course he did something perverted, you idiots!" Yamauchi shouted, having trouble believing that I wouldn't do anything when given that opportunity. "It's once in a life time chance to get to something fun with fucking Ichinose of all people, only an idiot would let chance that go!"
Having already sunk to the lowest depths with earlier his crude and callous remarks, Yamauchi appeared to have accepted that there was no coming back and made no effort to hide his fantasies anymore.
He overlooked the fact that I hadn't been able to hear her thoughts like everyone else at the time. As a result, even if I'd wanted to, asking for something like that would have been a terrible idea and would have backfired.
I'd also noticed Mineta glaring at me with such intense jealousy that blood literally started leaking from his eyes. Was that part of his Quirk, or did genetics in their world just work like that?
"Is he that jealous?" Someone whispered.
"Will you shut the fuck up already, Yamauchi?" Shinohara said.
"Yeah! No one here likes you, or wants to hear your shitty voice ring through their ears, so just keep ugly mouth shut Yamauchi!" Maezono added.
"Hah?! Don't talk to me like that you dumb bitches!"
"Yamauchi-kun. I'm sorry, but you really should calm down a little." Hirata said, still attempting to treat Yamauchi respectfully.
"I don't know why you're suspicious enough to ask twice, but I haven't done anything Haruka."
Ichinose, who was still curled up into a ball from embarrassment while listening to the conversations around her, suddenly poked her head out, and spoke up.
"Y-Yeah, Ayanokouji-kun originally said he didn't want anything, but I insisted on doing something, so we settled on a favor. He still hasn't asked me for anything yet, though." She said.
"Is that right? Well, you heard her thoughts Ayanokouji-kun. If you want to do something lewd, then she's all up for it." Kobashi said, giving me a smug thumbs up.
"I-I-I am not!" Ichinose yelled, her face still red as she tried to stop her friends teasing.
I'm not weird for thinking that, right?
I paused, taking a second to rethink over what I just had just thought.
W-Wait, what the heck am I even thinking?!
I looked up at him with hopeful teary eyes, my heart currently beating out of my chest, and my face as bright red as a tomatoes.
The camera shifted from focusing on Ichinose to centering on me, clearly signaling that the perspective was about to switch to mine.
"It looks like they're switching POV's again. We'll get to see Ayanokouji's thought on the kiss now, I'm kinda excited." Sato said, playing with her hair.
"What do you girls think he really thought about it?" Kei asked, being the most curious over the answer.
"I bet he was secretly loving it. Quiet kids are always the most perverted after all, and his thoughts from his previous POV's are just more proof he's a loser." Shinohara said.
"Eh? Isn't that too harsh Shinohara-san?" Matsushita asked, having disagreed with her statement. "Ayanokouji-kun's thoughts so far have been pretty normal, we haven't heard anything perverted from him either, unlike Yamauchi or... Ichinose-san."
"Aren't you forgetting someone?" Mori asked as the other girls snickered.
"...And me too." Matsushita's face deadpanned, and she sighed before continuing to talk. "But, my point was that he looked slightly surprised when she kissed him. Since he's doesn't appear to be nearly as perverted as some of the boys in class, I think he might of actually disliked the kiss." She added.
"You really think that?" Shinohara asked, not seeing any truth in the blue-eyed girl's words.
"Well, yeah. I doubt Ayanokouji-kun has any feelings for her, and given how much he dislikes attention, he'd probably be more annoyed by it than anything." Matsushita said.
'That being said, his thoughts have been almost too normal. Even though the special effect mentioned my reading accuracy of him was wrong, based on everything we've seen of his thoughts up to now, it should have been far more accurate. That doesn't add up. Why would it be so inaccurate when he's been thinking exactly how I expected him to since the start of the year? I know he's holding back some, but did that really drop it all the way down to 4%?' Matsushita thought suspiciously, confused as to why the special effect had rated her evaluation of him so poorly.
"This seems like a good time to interrupt on your discussion girls. The special effect for this point of view is the 'Self Favorability Meter', which again shows the protagonists own likeability to whomever they are looking at. That should partly answer you're question on whether he liked the unconsensual kiss or not."
Nothing lewd either? What kind of impression does she have of me? And why is she staring up at at me like that? I never even had those kind of intentions in the first place. (Likeability 0)
"Z-Zero?" Ichinose muttered, confused by the favorability score since we had met a few times before.
"Eh? It's still at zero?" Kobashi whispered, confused at the favorability score.
"Oh wow, I'm surprised Ayanokouji-kun, most boys would at least have the thought of doing something lewd with her, but you hadn't even considered it." Onodera said, looking at me surprised.
"Yeah. I thought all the boys in our class except Hirata-kun were garbage, but I'd rate you as above garbage now though." Shinohara said, showing that despite all the controversy I was involved in, I'm still seen as nothing but a lucky guy.
"Thanks?" I said, confused on if that was a diss or compliment.
"Um... Ayanokouji-kun." Amikura called my name, placing her finger over her chin. "I'm curious, the likeability says zero still, does that you mean actually disliked Honami kissing you?"
Amikura asked on Ichinose's behalf, whose demeanor immediately shifted to sadness as she realized my likeability for her hadn't changed.
"Since you can see my previous likeability score for Ichinose, there's no point in denying it. While I didn't hold anything against her for doing it, I was still slightly annoyed that she'd done it in the first place, that's why my likeability is still at zero." I said.
"O-Oh, umm... I mean—"
"—It's fine Mako-chan. I was in the wrong for kissing him without his permission back then, so it's to be expected that he wouldn't like me very much..." Ichinose said, sounding slightly sad.
"B-But more importantly! You would say that you like her now though, right?" Amikura asked, attempting to cheer up Ichinose.
"... You could say that, yes." I replied.
Ichinose's mood immediately lifted when I said that, which seemed strange. All she had to do was remember literally anything that happened between us after the kiss until now to realize I didn't currently dislike her, yet she was still hung up on the idea that I might've slightly disliked her at some point over a year and a half ago.
Women are confusing sometimes.
"I had no intentions of asking to do something lewd with you, Ichinose, or reporting it to the proper authorities." I said, sighing at of her hinted accusation. "And I don't know what gave you the impression that I was 'that' kind of person, but let's just drop the whole kissing thing for now."
"Eh!?" She blurted out, clearly shocked by my indifference. "You're saying you weren't going to report me?! Even after I stopped you from calling us 'just friends' by kissing you?!"
It wasn't surprising that she was confused. For plenty of boys, a kiss from someone like Ichinose, who was widely admired, might have been considered a dream come true.
I'm sure Ike or Yamauchi would cry tears of blood if they'd seen what had just happened.
However, the reality was that most normal people wouldn't react that way. They'd likely feel a mix of anger, embarrassment, or even disgust at the sudden, uninvited act.
It wasn't something you could just ignore or dismiss as harmless.
Having someone I barely knew force a kiss on me left me feeling an unsettling mix of embarrassment and awkwardness, though I understood why she'd did it.
Her plan was to kiss me to prevent Chihiro from confessing, which it was successful at, but all it did was complicate things further. It would've been smarter to say we were just friends, that would prevent any annoying rumors from surfacing.
"Yeah, you only did it because you panicked, right? I wasn't gonna report you for something like that, even though you stopped me from telling her our actual relationship."
"Woah! What the heck, Ayanokouji-kun? That's so mature of you!" Mina shouted from across the theatre, waving her hands for whatever reason.
"I know, right? If that had been anyone else it probably would of went terribly, but you handled calmly and it went really well." Jiro said, thoughtlessly playing with her earlobe.
"Yeah, I'm only watching it through a screen, but I can say for sure that I would of messed this up terribly." Sero added, also thoughtlessly playing with the tumors in his elbow.
I wasn't sure how to, or If I actually wanted to, respond to their praising. I simply ended up raised my hand up, and sending them a small wave, then turned my attention back to the screen.
"O-Oh." Ichinose let out a sigh of relief and placed her hand over her chest. "I was so worried for a minute there, I thought for sure my time at this school was over."
"Well, you're not gonna be getting off that easily." I said, intentionally pausing, which only made her more nervous. "Your friend Chihiro now officially thinks we are dating, and I don't have anything against you, but I'd rather not have people think that we're a couple."
While it could end up being very entertaining, pretending to date Ichinose doesn't exactly fit well into my goal of maintaining a peaceful life. The gossip and drama that could stem from a fake relationship is something I'd rather avoid.
Although I'm not opposed to dating, Ichinose is the kind of person I'd potentially want to go out with. Still, I don't know her well enough to say if she's really girlfriend material.
The forced kissing certainly doesn't help her in that decision.
"The first problem is simple, Ichinose; we don't know each other well enough to fake being in a relationship. If you tell your friends or classmates that we're dating, how do you plan to convince them? One, we barely know each other. Two, you might trick some people, but your close friends will see right through it. Three, I never agreed to putting up a fake relationship." I added, pointing out how obvious it would be that we weren't actually dating. "And what do you think Chihiro will feel when she learns the truth? That you aren't really dating me and only kissed me to stop her from confessing? Sharing your feelings with someone you love is never easy. She probably spent days, maybe weeks, struggling with the fear of rejection. Then, when she finally mustered the courage, you turned her down with a lie."
"Dang, bro is really going off on her." Ishizaki said.
"Yup, he pulled out a 3 paragraph essay on why her fake dating strategy wasn't going to work. And then starts lecturing her right after." Kaneda added.
"That was very Impressive, Ayanokouji-kun. Like Jiro-san said before, I could imagine a lot of our students would handle that situation terribly." Nezu said, glancing at boy with spiky blonde hair with a weird smile on his tiny scarred face.
"YOU DUMB RAT, IF YOU WANNA SAY SOMETHING TO ME THAN SAY IT STRAIGHT TO MY FACE!" The blonde boy, listed as Bakugo Katsuki on the OAA app, yelled back.
"Fufufu, you should all take Ayanokouji-kun as an example here. Make sure you remain calm and collected the whole time like he was then you won't run into much problems in the future." Nezu added, ignoring the rowdy boy's angry shouting.
"You're giving me too much credit; it wasn't that impressive." I said.
"There's no need to be acting humble, Ayanokouji-kun. Despite the obviously very awkward and embarrassing situation, you kept calm the whole time, and because of that it ended up going swimmingly." He replied, attempting to reinforce his praising.
"To be more accurate, I might've looked calm on the outside, but like you saw from my thoughts that wasn't really the case. I was actually pretty nervous the whole time—I just don't show it outwardly very well." I added, again trying to deflect the praise.
"That's exactly what's important there, Ayanokouji-kun. While most people find it hard to control their emotions, they generally do a better job of controlling their actions. So, even if one is not really feeling calm, it's best that they act like they are, and then they'd be a great hero." Nezu replied, still eager to give out his praise.
"You might as well just accept defeat dude, he's not gonna stop praising you." Miyake said.
II lifted my hands in surrender, acknowledging that there was no way I could stop this chimera with an intelligence quirk from publicly praising me and using me as an example for his students. Assuming he's really as smart as it said he was, I figured I should just be thankful he didn't call attention to any suspicions he might have while watching my POVs.
"Kukuku, you hear that? You'd make a great hero Ayanokouji." Ryuen said, clearly mocking Nezu, which was noticed by the small animal, but it choose not to say anything else.
Ichinose's shoulders shifted in discomfort as my words sank in. She bit her lip, her usual confident demeanor was already long gone, she'd royally messed up, was going to have to fix it no matter how difficult it was going to be for her.
"It's as though you spat in the face of everything it took for her to confess."
"You're right." She admitted, her voice tinged with regret. "I shouldn't have stopped you when I did, it wasn't fair to you, it wasn't fair to her, and now I've just made things worse for the both of us."
She sighed again, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as if trying to recollect herself.
"I acted without thinking it through. All I cared about was not hurting her, but in reality, I was just avoiding the problem altogether." Her head was hanging low as she spoke quietly, then she looked up at me with a small smile. "I owe it to Chihiro-chan to fix this misunderstanding. She deserves the truth, and she deserves to hear it from me."
"That's probably be the best choice." I replied, nodding slightly. "If you want, I can go with you to explain things. It might make things easier if I'm there."
"No, thank you. I've already caused you enough trouble as it all, Ayanokouji-kun. This is my responsibility for having messed up, and I need to handle it on my own." She replied, crossing her arms to form an X as she shook her head.
Her tone finally carried a sense of resolve, something I hadn't heard since this whole situation started. She was back to her confident self and seemed more than capable of dealing with it alone.
"Okay." I said, turning away from where the confession took place. "Good luck with that."
She gave me one more small and apologetic smile.
"Thanks. And... I'm really sorry about everything. I'll make it up to you later." She added, then quickly jogged past me to meet up with Chihiro as soon as possible.
I couldn't help but wonder how Class B's Ichinose Honami was planning to handle this difficult situation. I had to admit, it could negatively effect me depending on how she did it, but nonetheless I was looking forward to seeing it play out.
The screen faded to black, and it was followed by a timer counting down to the next video, signaling the end of the second reaction. However, the auto-play was quickly cancelled, and Satoru then rose from his seat, making his way to the front of the theatre to address the crowd.
"Well, everyone. That was the end of the second video, pretty entertaining, huh?" He asked, but quickly continued talking before he could receive an answer. "We're gonna let you all have a 10 minute break to discuss your thoughts with your classmates, go to the bathroom if you want, or buy drink, just make sure to be back before the next video starts."
With that, Satoru finished his short speech and walked off the stage.
I noticed Kushida get up from her seat and start stretching her arms, causing her chest to... yeah.
The videos themselves weren't very long, but with the consistent interruptions from the audience for topics that often weren't at all related to the exam made this take much longer than it should have, so it was understandable that she would need to do that.
Personally, I needed to head to the washroom to take care of whatever people do in there for the next nine and a half minutes. As I got up from my seat, an arm suddenly latched onto my wrist, stopping me in my tracks. The grip was as strong as a woman's grip is on her husband's arm as she endures the painful process of childbirth.
I turned around and there I found Haruka, with a suspiciously normal smile on her face as she crushed my wrist to stop me from leaving.
"What's wrong, Haruka?" I asked, my hand turning numb from the excruciating pain caused by her immense grip strength.
"Where do you think your going exactly?" She asked, ignoring my question.
"I need to go to the bathroom."
"I think that can wait." She replied.
At this point, Kushida had finished her stretching and oddly enough chose to latch her arm onto my open arm, with a smile equally as suspicious as Haruka's.
"...I have to go really bad."
"Uh-huh, but if you leave, I bet you won't come back for 9 minutes and 30 seconds, is that right?" She asked, predicting and preventing my escape plan before it could even begin.
"I agree, I don't think Ayanokouji-kun is going to come back until the next video is about to start." Kushida added, then pulled me back down onto my seat.
As I got forced back into my seat, roughly half the class, eager to hear the intense conversation that was to come, surrounded around my seat as well.
This was going to be a painful 10 minutes.
---
Ch 3 Script End
should I have just split this chapter in two parts?
I was going to do that but didn't cuz i couldnt find a good spot to split it
also don't really care for interludes
might just put it at the top of ch - 4 reactions since it's gonna be a shorter chap anyway.
improved writing quality a little but not still planning much of the reactors stuff
altho a lot of stuff went unresearched so if it's too early for something or slightly wrong thats cuz it's an au. (Ichika being called an ex, horikita knowledge of kiyo, etc. Tho I do have a lot that is intentionally changed from canon becuz i wanted to. karuizawa, new york, etc.)
Took a while cuz of procrastination, and loss of ability. though its long as shit (22k word) so don't complain about the 2 month later update thanks.
I learned that unlike when I draw i'm not able to do anything else while working on this fanfic for some reason. I definently was able to do it before so idk why I can't anymore.
What do you guys think about this fic?
i think the constant writing to tease girls that like kiyo is getting boring, maybe it's just because im the one writing it tho. This is mostly going to be at the beginning since they're isnt going to be a lot for the characters to react about until I start the X arc from the class 1C POV prob.
Same with ichika reusuals, she's basically hard carrying this fic, fr gonna have to switch to more than just her in the future, which was what I tried to do partly this chapter.
though I do really like 70% of it, imo there is way too much text in between the reaction script text, even longer than the last chapters one (I counted just the words between the kiss and the next script moment and it was 4k alone, that's one of my normal fic chapter lengths 😭) do yall like that or is that making it too long. i just let the dialogue go wherever I can think of because i'd imagine it going that way normally, so it takes so long to write as my dialogue skills are already mid.
ngl i was heavily cringing while writing ichika's trex speech but kept it in anyway since it was the kinda cringe funny to me.
always thought reactions fic's where they call out kiyo as having a t-rex or whatever it normally is, plus none of the girls figuring out what it meant was stupid, so ichika made it very obvious what she was really talking about. (cock 🐔)
i think that kiyo in canon might of chosen to reveal that he had gotten kissed by ichinose (or had her do it) before it was shown on video, probably stopped ichika trex speech, and drawn less attention to himself, etc.etc. but this is an au anyway, and it wasn't completely out of the question so I decided to write it this way instead. (his current character doesn't differ from canon too far)
same way with ichika, and a few others theyre all lil exagerrated and prob wouldn't go this far/act a lot nicer in canon/more innocent than canon (miichan+hiroyi+yaoyorozo) but its more entertaining to write and not completely off characters so i wrote it this way.
The special effects for each chapter are mostly opinion based so don't take it too seriously.
I know Ichinose's thoughts about not minding doing something lewd with kiyo wouldn't be accurate to cannon but AuAUAUauAU so i left it in. plus it fits in with v12.5
kiyo being able to memorize hundreds of names faces + their smaller details within a few seconds is canon, it was stated in the CFYOW—not made just because i didnt want to do intros.
kiyoxhonami kissing art is by me, inspired by v12.5.
trex shitpost art also by me. (though it was timed that why no coloring on bow and socks)
I unpublished the reaction script of this chapter and don't plan on posting the future reaction scripts anymore either, the poll was 50/50 when I asked before but i might end up splitting the chapters instead, assuming that I can find a good point to split the chapter.
i kept getting commnets that missed the whole point of this fan fic so ill put this here.
The intention of this fan fiction is to mislead the characters into believing something, then destroying that belief, similar to a bait and switch (kiyo would be the misleading product.)
so basically
side character for distraction --> kiyopon is normal --> side character for distraction --> not so normal --> side character for distraction --> above average --> side character for distraction --> a bit too smart --> side character for distraction --> terrible person --> side ch-fuck that didn't work --> actual criminal --> white room reaction --> ending of this fic.
sounds long but the first reaction chapter already covered the first three, tho this doesn't mean that i wont be repeating parts of it.
alot will be getting skipped over too so the chars will be reacting to alot of diff povs but it'll be offscript (like the mid term exam cheats will be one thats def skippd but they will watch anyway)
The rule is only in affect for the videos btw, so ichika calling herself friendsw/benefits or anyone else in the audience saying whatever is not contradicting this.
It's also planned to be fairly short as having too many chapters on this would get stale.
next chapter I had an OC entirely thing plotted, but decided to scrap the idea for now as I want it to not have ayanokouji mentioned in it at all, i couldn't find anything i wanted so, comment anything that you want to see that fits this criteria here (not guaranteed)
(It can be in the LN or an more likely an original idea, like ryuen experimenting with the school rules, the more detail u put into the idea the more likely ill choose it, if i go with a suggested one. tho it'll be short tho so dont expect anything amazing.)
↓↓↓ MHA addition reasoning ↓↓↓
Ive wanted to add mha characters to this for a while now, and havent since most ppl didnt seem to like the idea. Which was fine, i just wanted to add them cuz i liked the idea of having a very different series react to a darker series like cote.
but, because the reaction writing for this is very lazily planned, i started to think up some more completely original scenes to everybody have them react to, and when i got to brainstorming the WR + Plus some other very dark things in cote that made me wanna add them like 10x more, turning it from a readers decision into my decision.
Im already reading the cote x mha reaction fic from StexJK (that was what got me craving this) and idk when MrS_S_AA Is going to show the WR in his fic, if he even chooses to, but the idea of having the MHA cast react to darker parts of cote was so fucking tempting to me.
It doesn't help that that I havent found any other one that has done it, or that's there's only 1 other MHA react to Cote really and idk if they'll be reacting to the WR at all.
Suggest any special effects you wanna see here
Suggest any future reaction text here (If you include where in the LN it happens I'm more likely to add it in)
Suggest any completely original content idea text here (only things that didn't happen in the ln that u might wanna see, doesn't have to include ayanokouji just be something I wanna write)