Ayanokouji What If: Popularity Time

V9 Chapter 5: Another Secret

                         Kiyotaka Pov

It was now Friday, the day after yesterday when I had spoken with Himeno about her manhunt for Hashimoto.

The rumors had managed to spread to the entire school by now however they seemed to also be dying out. Very little people talked about them due to the growing theory that Ichinose was too uncomfortable to rebuke the claims.

In fact, a large majority of people from multiple other classes began to come to Ichinose's aid, saying things like:

"Ichinose is a nice person, she got something I lost back for me, she would never steal!"

"Even if she did, the past is in the past, she was probably just doing something stupid, but she's clearly a more mature person than before!"

"It should be obvious this is just a bunch of bullshit made up by someone jealous of Ichinose-Chan's beauty and friends!"

While a vast majority spoke for her, there was a small minority that didn't say anything on the topic of whether they thought she were guilty or innocent.

Sakayanagi's Class B students stayed quiet, however vocal students like Hashimoto, Matoba, and Kamuro spoke out against Ichinose, claiming she couldn't be trusted.

This formed a palpable tension between Class B, Class A, and Class C which didn't bear any fruit quite yet.

Class D was a neutral force, with the only people making comments on the incident being Manabe and her clique of girls. They claimed Ichinose was probably a prostitute and a crack head but everyone besides the already mentioned Class B called them out for their past jealousy towards many girls.

At present I was walking towards the lobby of the dorm buildings with Karuizawa and Hirata beside me.

"The rumors about Ichinose-San have died down a lot," said Hirata happily.

Karuizawa nodded with a smile, "I'm glad you know. I've been in her shoes before so I know what it feels like, and Ichinose-San sure is lucky to have a bunch of friends protecting her!"

"You're lucky too," pointed out Hirata before pointing to me, "Ayanokouji-Kun did a lot of the work in stopping Manabe-San."

Karuizawa shot me a glance before nodding, "Yeah, Ayanokouji-Kun has done a lot for me." She said this glumly and I noticed her voice was higher than before.

While I did deal with Manabe, Koenji was still free to do as he pleased. While I momentarily chased him off he still held onto the compromising photos of Karuizawa. Those photos, if released, would destroy her completely.

Girls like Manabe would  spring up from out of nowhere and come to attack her with even more ammunition, and Karuizawa may risk being hit on, or worse, being entirely scorned by the male population.

"I apologize for not doing it sooner," I replied.

Karuizawa nodded, catching what I was putting down, "I'm counting on you, y'know."

"Counting on him?" asked Hirata with a confused expression.

Karuizawa was about to open her mouth but I stopped her, "Karuizawa, I think it's time we come clean to Hirata about the full situation."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Ayanokouji-Kun, Karuizawa-San, you can both trust me with whatever happened, I won't tell a soul of this," said Hirata confidently.

The burden this secret carries is an immense one, and upon finding out, it may trigger Hirata into a fit of rage.

If Koenji finds out I'm releasing information about him, he may have a preference to lashing out at the class to damage our class point amount.