54 #54 Trouble
During the lunch break, he heard Horikita and Ayanokoji talking about making their own lunches and eating in the classroom instead of the cafeteria.
'I can't shake off that bad feeling...' Yuichi thought with folded arms and closed eyes as he began frowning down.
In the end, he stood up and quickly approached Kushida before she could leave with her friends to the cafeteria.
"Kushida-san, can I ask you something? It won't take long." Yuichi said with an apologetic smile.
"Of course! Girls, please go ahead, I will come to the cafeteria to join you later." Kushida accepted and said towards her friends with a bright smile.
"...So, what would you like to know, Iwamura-kun? It's pretty unusual for you to approach me." Kushida asked with a curious expression.
"I have seen you talk to Ichinose Honami from Class B, I would like to ask you if you have her contact information." Yuichi asked quietly, making Kushida open her eyes wide.
"Are you perhaps interested in Homani-chan?" Kushida questioned with a surprised and curious expression.
"I want to ask her something and I don't really want to go exploring the entire school to find her. She can be anywhere during the lunch break." Yuichi explained calmly without being embarrassed.
"I see...Normally, I would think of it as rude, giving someone's contact information to anyone without their permission but Homani-chan spoke out a few times about you so I guess you two are friends. Here you go..." Kushida said with a playful smile while leaning forward, making her boobs jiggle before showing the display of her phone with Ichinose's contact information.
"Thank you for your help and sorry for stopping you out of nowhere like that." Yuichi said with a faint smile when he copied the phone number.
"It's alright, I am happy I could be of help. If you will excuse me now..." Kushida said and strode into the hallway to follow the girls. She also turned around for a second to wave at Yuichi with a bright smile.
[Hello Ichinose-san, Iwamura here...I got your contact information from Kushida-san, I hope you don't mind. I have something I would like to discuss with you if you don't mind and have time to spare.] Yuichi sent the message and waited for the response while putting his textbooks into his bag.
*bzz*
[Iwamura-kun? Sure, I will save your contact information! Is the cafeteria fine with you? There is also something I would like to ask you as well if that's fine with you.] (I)
[I will be there in a few minutes] Yuichi replied, wondering what she wants to ask him before he grabbed his bag, intending to leave.
"Are you heading to the cafeteria?" Horikita called out to him while eating from her homemade bento.
"Hm? Maybe...Why are you asking?" Yuichi stopped and turned at her with a confused expression.
"I see, it's nothing..." Horikita replied with a calm expression before turning her attention to her meal.
'...Is she suspicious of my actions?' Yuichi thought while leaving the classroom.
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"Hi, Ichinose-san" Iwamura greeted as he sat down at the same table as to where Ichinose was waiting for him.
"Hello, Iwamura-kun! Please go ahead and ask whatever you need." Ichinose said with a friendly smile.
"Does that favor from before still stands?" Yuichi asked if Ichinose still wanted to return the favor for helping her.
"Of course!"
"Can I ask you to investigate 3 students?" Yuichi asked with a serious expression.
Hearing his words, Ichinose frowned down in a serious manner.
"May I ask who exactly and why?" She asked in a low voice that even Yuichi had a bit problem hearing her due to the noisy environment.
"3 students from Class C. Ishizaki Daichi, Komiya Kyōgo, and Kondō Reo. As for why...I think they are involved in some kind of trouble that involves our class." Yuichi said, without giving out too much information.
"Class C, huh? I see, I will try to gather as much information about them as I can. We of Class B were also involved with Class C very recently so maybe they are trying to cause trouble for your class too." Ichinose replied with a thoughtful expression.
"Thank you, any basic information you can gather will be useful, for example, their behavior during Junior High. Anyway, that's all from me, please ask whatever you wanted to ask me." Yuichi said with a grateful expression and closed eyes.
"It might sound a bit strange but...Have you ever been confessed to by anyone?" Ichinose asked with an uncomfortable expression.
Her question prompted Yuichi to open his eyes in a confusion, thinking that he didn't hear her correctly.
"Huh? I mean...yeah, I guess yes. During my Junior High." Yuichi replied still, a bit caught off-guard by her question.
"I see...May I ask what happened next?" She asked, faintly blushing.
"Eh, I didn't really know the girl very well and it was right before the graduation so I had no time to accept, however...that was more like an excuse to make that rejection sound softer. I didn't feel anything towards her so I couldn't even consider accepting her confession because it would hurt her much more if she discovered that I accepted it just out of pity." Yuichi explained with a bit sad smile.
"I-I see...How did you feel after rejecting her if you don't mind me asking?" Ichinose also appeared a bit saddened by his words.
'I felt nothing...maybe a bit of regret? I don't know.' Yuichi thought but he knew that he should rather not say that aloud.
"It saddened me a bit after watching her back quickly walking away but there is never the right answer to something like a confession unless you also like that person back. If you are asking me this because you think that someone might confess to you, let me give you one advice...Follow your heart, don't go against it, if you don't like that person in that way, just reject them. They might be sad from it but it's much better than lying to them or pretending to like them." Yuichi replied before closing his eyes in a calm manner.
"Huh? W-Why do you assume that I will be confessed to?" Ichinose asked with a bit embarrassed expression.
"You are a popular and beautiful girl...You will most likely experience a lot of confessions...Good luck with them." Yuichi said and genuinely wished her luck.
"Eh...hehe, don't joke like that, Iwamura-kun." Ichinose seemed caught off guard by his words but she quickly laughed it off as him joking.
Yuichi glanced at her and just faintly smiled, not trying to correct her, it didn't matter to him if she didn't think of herself as beautiful or if she was being just too humble.
"Can you keep our talk in secret? I would rather not anyone to hear that we are investigating some students..." Yuichi asked with a pleading smile.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I will let you know once I am done with gathering intel about them." Ichinose replied with a smile.
Yuichi thanked her and bid farewell to her, returning to his classroom.
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After the classes ended, Yuichi approached Sudo.
"Ready for today's practice?" Yuichi asked with a grin.
"You better believe it!" Sudo replied with a determined expression, however as two of them were about to walk out of the classroom, they were interrupted.
"Sudo. I have to talk to you about something. Come to the Faculty Room." Chabashira called out with a pretty serious tone.
"Eh?! Do I really have to go? I still have my club activities..." Sudo asked with an unconvinced expression.
"You don't have to but I advise you to go..." She replied with narrowed eyes.
Sudo looked at Yuichi who just shrugged his shoulders.
"*sigh* Fine, I hope it won't take too long" Sudo sighed before agreeing.
"That depends entirely on you, Sudo" Chabashira said with a faint smile.
"Sensei, can I go with you and Sudo?" Yuichi asked with a polite smile.
"No, I want to talk to Sudo alone without anyone interrupting, plus you have your club activities right now, don't you?" She replied quite firmly.
'Looks like it's something serious...This is definitely related to those students from Class C.' Yuichi frowned down and thought. He wanted to be present during their talk because he could defend Sudo a bit without even using any evidence. He knew that Sudo doesn't have great communicating skills and that his temper was quite short. Yuichi already imagined Chabashira mentioning the brawl and Sudo getting angry due to remembering it...
"Sudo..." Yuichi stopped Sudo from leaving by grabbing his wrist.
"Eh?" Sudo turned at him with a surprised expression. Normally, if he was stopped so rudely by anyone else, he would get angry but he spends so much time with Yuichi in basketball club that he no longer even minds his joke about him being stupid.
"Looks like you are in some kind of trouble...In case sensei asks you anything, just say what is necessary and don't let anger get better of you. Anything you say inside that room can be used against you, each word you say can be used against you so be careful with what you say while there..." Yuichi said in low voice with a serious expression and narrowed eyes.
"Hm? Sudo?" Chabashira frowned with folded arms when she saw Yuichi whispering something to Sudo, so she motioned for him to follow her.
"Y-Yeah, I am going..." Sudo replied before nodding his head towards Yuichi. He got a bit scared by Yuichi's words as if he was a prime suspect for the murder scene.
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I have tried to make the school's evaluation of Yuichi, I will post it into the comments for you to look at (Imgur image) I am not really good at writing this stuff but hopefully, it's passable for you.
