Classroom Of The Elite: I Am No Genius. (Year 1)

Vol 4 Ch 9: Spreading Rumors

Hirano pov:-

The rumors about Ichinose had been spreading more each day, and it had gotten to the point where it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that all of the students in the school had heard about them by now.

However, Ichinose herself didn’t appear to have reported anything about them to the school.

She gave off an appearance that told everyone that she didn’t care very much about the rumors, and she spent each day as she always had.

Despite being harassed with unpleasant rumors, Ichinose stood firm. And as she expected, eventually, students began to speak in support of her. Students were saying things like: “The rumors really
were just rumors.” “She was totally being framed.” and “They were
all lies.”

All gossip has an expiration date.
The plan to defame Ichinose had failed miserably.

She had successfully managed to get through it by simply staying silent. Eventually, everyone began to shift their attention to studying earnestly for the upcoming final exams.

Though, during this time, another incident occurred. One that once again stoked the flame of the rumors throughout the school.

It was Friday, after school. On my way back home from the school building, I bore witness to a large crowd of people as I entered the dorm lobby.

A scene like this taking place as I returned to the dormitory was one I felt like I had experienced before.

“Deja vu, is it?” Coincidentally, Soga was standing in the same spot as he had
been back then. The only difference was that this time Takeda was also standing beside him.

“What’s with all the commotion?”

“Ah. It seems like a letter has been put into everyone’s mailboxes. It’s similar to that case that happened earlier this year.” Takeda mumbled, crossing his arms in dissatisfaction.

“Didn’t you get one in yours as well? Hirano?” Soga pressed me to go look, so I lightly nodded in response.

“I’ll go check to make sure.”

I went over to my mailbox, turned the dial to the right combination, and took a look inside. There, someone had neatly inserted a paper, folded in the same
4-fold style the last one had been.

If it was the exact same type of message as last time, it would be a print. That is to say, it would be a printed copy.

Naturally, it’s impossible to tell the difference between a handwritten letter and a printed copy when it’s folded like this. I slowly opened the paper.

『Ichinose Honami is a criminal.』

That was written inside.

However, this time the name of the sender wasn’t included like it was in the letter last time around.

It was just this one line.

The font it was written in was also a standard one, making the entire letter come across as unusually simple. Since it doesn’t seem like the type of thing that would be printed at the convenience store, it was probably printed with a personal printer.

The one sentence reminded me of the rumors that had quieted down. Additionally, the letter went one step further by calling her a ‘criminal’.

Though, there was no mention of what she had done to deserve that title…

“I’m sure Ichinose will be surprised by this.”

“But if it’s presented in such a straight forward way, won’t it cause the sender all sorts of problems? Isn’t there an issue with doing something so malicious in such a public way?”