Meanwhile, Kaoru Mitoma soon received a call from his girlfriend.
Her voice on the other end sounded somewhat subdued.
"Your class's competition roster has been leaked."
Kaoru was surprised—not because of the roster itself, but because Ichinose Honami had actually told him about it.
"Why are you telling me this?" Kaoru's voice softened. "You didn't have to refuse. Everyone in Class B wants to graduate from Class A, don't they?"
Ichinose was silent for a moment before murmuring, "Sometimes, I often think back to when we first met. I wonder what would have happened if I'd mustered the courage back then to tell you 'I refuse.'"
"Did Nagumo say something to you?" Kaoru guessed what she must have gone through today, and his mood soured.
Even though he knew this was a necessary process, it pained him that she had to face her inner demons alone.
"He tried to blackmail me, just like you did. It's ridiculous." Ichinose seemed to be speaking from her room.
"I thought I'd moved past it, that I could finally step back into the sunlight, but in the end, I still couldn't stop trembling."
"I'll come to see you."
"No, I... I want to be alone for a while."
"Actually, I've always wanted to talk to you about your past, but I never found the right opportunity before."
Kaoru could hear her holding her breath—just slightly.
She asked cautiously, "Kaoru... what did you want to talk about?"
"Your little sister is adorable, isn't she?"
"Yes, I think she's the cutest little sister in the world."
"Then that's enough."
Clearly, Ichinose was taken aback.
"That's all that matters," Kaoru repeated. "You have the cutest little sister in the world, and she has an older sister who loves her deeply. That's already enough."
"But... it's not the same. Back then, it was because of that..." Her words were quickly interrupted as Kaoru Mitoma asked in confusion.
"This sister went so far as to acknowledge her mistakes and even kowtowed to apologize to the clerk for her sake. Isn't that enough?"
Ichinose Honami froze.
Was that really enough?
"I think there's no more heart-stirring gift than a sister leading by example. Did she ever say sorry to you?" Kaoru spoke softly. "When you gathered the courage to leave home and come to this school, did she encourage you or smile at you?"
As he spoke, Ichinose couldn't help but recall the image of her younger sister waving goodbye.
She had seemed so happy, as if finally at peace.
"But... but I... I can't forgive myself. I can't help thinking how someone like me can just go on laughing and chatting with everyone as if nothing happened. What if I make more mistakes and betray everyone's trust again?"
This was the root of Ichinose Honami's pain.
She couldn't forgive herself.
Often, what seemed trivial to others made it hard for them to understand the person involved, sometimes even adding fuel to the fire.
What haunted the person wasn't the incident itself, but who they had been at the time.
"This is enough," Kaoru murmured. "With that mindset, I don't think Honami will make the same mistake again."
"But..." Ichinose Honami repeated the word, as if by instinct.
"Haven't you already refused?" Kaoru suddenly said.
Ichinose Honami didn't know how to respond. Her thoughts were a tangled mess, so she could only give a soft "Mm."
"So today, Honami has changed. At the very least, you can now tell the me back then, 'Drop dead, you creep,' and I'd have to slink away with my tail between my legs."
She hadn't meant to laugh, but his deadpan tone made it impossible to hold back.
Ichinose pursed her lips—this pervert actually had some self-awareness.
"Honestly, I'm happy. Because the first person you called was me. That means I've been a pretty reliable boyfriend, enough for you to think of me instinctively."
Hearing this, Ichinose's cheeks flushed.
What did he mean by "reliable"? Did doing bad things to her count as being reliable?
"I think someone's been quite popular with the ladies lately. Care to explain?"
"That's too sudden a change of topic," Kaoru evaded. "Maybe I should take back what I just said."
"Coward."
They chatted idly for a while, and strangely, her mood gradually returned to normal, as if the person who had been so down earlier wasn't her at all.
Before she knew it, hours had passed.
Only when her phone was nearly out of battery did Ichinose snap out of it, realizing what Kaoru had done.
She lightly bit her lower lip, warmth spreading in her chest.
"Kaoru... do you think I'm an idiot?" she whispered.
"I wouldn't date an idiot," Kaoru paused. "Unless you think I'm one too?"
"But I refused Nagumo-senpai's proposal. With your competition forms, I might've been able to catch up to Class A, you know?" Ichinose put on a stern face.
"To reach that goal, I should've done whatever it took to defeat you all."
"The Honami I know isn't like this," Kaoru replied simply.
"Why?" Ichinose Honami found herself genuinely curious.
"Because you possess a uniqueness that none of us have. Abandoning your distinctiveness to excessively pursue what we have would only make you lose what makes you one-of-a-kind."
This was an evaluation Ichinose Honami had never heard before.
She even felt somewhat embarrassed, wondering how Kaoru could praise someone so earnestly with a straight face.
"Besides, Honami doesn't need to change anything. As long as you can learn something useful at this school, that's enough," Kaoru continued. "Society doesn't just need Class A—it needs people like you too."
Though ANHS deliberately elevated Class A's status, reality was often more complex.
If Class A represented small-town overachievers, then society naturally needed such people—but that didn't mean they were the only ones needed.
Students like Ichinose Honami could thrive just as easily in society.
The only difference might be a lower starting point compared to Class A students, burdened with the stigma of being "rejected" by Koudo Ikusei.
Moreover, Kaoru completely understood why Ichinose Honami had refused Nagumo Miyabi.
While it might seem incomprehensible to others, it ultimately came down to one thing:
Principles.
Once you abandon what you've always considered fundamental, you'll soon find yourself willing to abandon more—one thing after another.
Most of the time, principles collapse entirely this way.
After surrendering them once, maintaining them becomes far harder.
Whether in his previous world or his past life, Kaoru had witnessed too many people's downfalls.
"Kaoru," Ichinose Honami called his name softly, her voice oddly sweet.
"Are you worried about your classmates?" Kaoru assumed she was concerned about Class B students learning about her past.
"No, it's enough. Having you with me is enough."
For some reason, Ichinose Honami echoed the same words back to him.
-----------------------------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator