Novel Bin Volume 9, 5: “Spreading Rumors” Part 1
Volume 9, Chapter 5: “Spreading Rumors” Part 1
It seemed that I wasn’t the only guy excited at the idea of receiving Valentine’s day chocolates.
As soon as I stepped into our classroom, I noticed that Class C was steeped in a strange atmosphere.
Many of the boys were gathered together in one place.
Valentine’s Day was the culmination of an entire year’s excitement.
It was, along with Christmas, a day that highlights the romance between boys and girls.
“Oh, there you are Ayanokōji. You come over here for a moment.”
Sudō called over to me, so I approached the group.
“Did you get any chocolate?”
“Huh?”
Sudō asked me with a somewhat tense expression, a glare in his eyes.
“To explain, it seems like he’s really asking if you’ve gotten any chocolate from Horikita.”
Ike added with a sly grin.
“Don’t say weird stuff like that, you idiot. It has nothing to do with that.”
Contrary to what he had said, Sudō’s eyes weren’t smiling at all.
They were practically filled with demonic intensity, demanding an answer.
“I didn’t get anything from her. There’s no chance she’d give me anything.”
“…For real?”
“Yeah.”
Sudō nodded a couple of times before freeing me from his stern gaze.
“Well, I can understand why Ken is nervous. After all, that Ayanokōji is a monster, you know~?”
With that, Ike drew the outline of something resembling a plastic water bottle in the air with his hand.
“…Ayanokōji, you little shit, don’t assume you’ve won just because of that, got it?”
“No, I’m not at all…”
Ever since the training camp, I’d occasionally hear annoying stuff about what happened.
“Come to think of it, how are things doing on your end, Kanji? Things still doing okay with Shinohara?”
“H-huh? Why bring up Shinohara now?”
“Honestly, you should stop trying to downplay it. Everybody knows already.”
“E-everybody knows… D-do you know, Ayanokōji?”
He somehow ended up trying to confirm by asking me about it.
I understood the flow of the conversation by now, so I responded to him with a light nod.
Ike groaned in shame and crouched down to hide his reddening face.
“See? Even a stick in the mud like Ayanokōji knows about it. So what happened? Did you get anything from her?”
I didn’t notice any envy in anyone’s voices, probably because Shinohara didn’t seem to be very popular within the class. His friend Yamauchi might’ve shown a poor display of irritation about it, but he was nowhere to be seen at the moment.
“I didn’t get anything…”
“You and I are in the same boat then.”
Sudō rested his hand on Ike’s shoulder sympathetically.
“No, it’s fine. I got chocolates from Kushida-chan, after all.”
As he spoke, Ike proudly flaunted a box of chocolates tied shut with a pink ribbon.
“You say that, but didn’t all the guys get something? She gave me chocolate too.”
“Same here. Of course I’m happy about it, but in the end, it’s just obligation chocolate.”
I hadn’t expected Kushida to give chocolates to every single male first-year student at all. It made me wonder how she went about doing that.
Though, for Kushida, I suppose it wasn’t that surprising.
Regardless, the only thing I could see was a bunch of boys stewing in their own hot air. This kind of childish behavior felt like the reason why none of them could get closer to girls, but there was nothing that could be done about that.
It was inevitable that it would turn out this way for a class like ours with barely any experience with love.
Getting something or getting nothing. It all depends on how someone usually handles themselves.
Reputations aren’t something that can just be changed in a hurry.
I sat back and thought about this, watching as a girl from Class B offered a box of chocolates to Akito.
(Part 1 End)