As the movie began to play, the entire screening room immediately quieted down.
Seeing this, the people from Class B stopped bothering them and obediently returned to their seats.
Although they all bought tickets together, the school movie tickets could be purchased online directly through the school mobile system's terminal, so the empty seats left for each showing could not possibly accommodate a dozen people in the same area.
Amane roughly glanced at Class B's seating arrangement. Five girls were lucky enough to buy consecutive seats and sat in the front row, while the others were scattered around.
To Amane's right sat Ichinose. Originally, Ichinose had discussed with someone to buy three consecutive seats when purchasing her ticket.
But unexpectedly, when she paid, it showed that the seats had already been sold.
Two of those seats were bought by Amane and Karuizawa one step ahead, so Ichinose could only be forced to sit separately from her other two female classmates.
That is, the girl who was now sitting behind Amane and had just been shouting at Amane.
Summer is here, and annoying flies are also increasing.
Just as Amane was about to seriously enjoy the movie plot, her leg was suddenly pinched.
"Kei, are you in such a hurry? I haven't mentally prepared myself yet."
Amane whispered teasingly into Karuizawa's ear.
Karuizawa's face immediately turned crimson upon hearing this.
"Who, who would want to take advantage of you in a place like this! I was just scared by the opening scene! Speaking of which... Amane, it's super suspicious that you deliberately bought tickets for a horror movie~"
Karuizawa quickly retorted.
As expected of a girl who found a quality partner within a month of school starting, she was adept at these little flirting tricks.
However... Karuizawa probably hadn't seen what Amane was like when he wasn't acting like a human.
Otherwise, she would have chosen to keep a safe distance from Amane.
"That's right, I just want to see Kei-chan hide in my arms, looking scared and saying, 'Amane, I'm scared.'"
Amane showed a mischievous smile.
"What kind of pipe dream is that! I would never do such a thing!"
Karuizawa glanced around, seeing everyone focused on the big screen and no one paying attention to her. Emboldened, Karuizawa actually reached out and pinched Amane's face.
"Wow, as Horikita-san said, Amane, your face feels great to pinch!"
Karuizawa said, about to reach out to pinch again, but then saw Ichinose's complex gaze, filled with various emotions, from a distance, and couldn't help but withdraw her hand.
"Why would Horikita-san tell you something like that!"
Amane's face was slightly flushed.
Seriously, Horikita actually said such things to Karuizawa, it's so embarrassing.
But thinking that Horikita praised him in front of outsiders, he felt quite happy for a moment, hehehe.
"That wasn't something Horikita-san told me. I overheard it last time when you two were being intimate in the restroom."
Karuizawa winked at Amane.
"Wha--"
Amane was about to shout but immediately covered his mouth.
Shouting loudly in a cinema would immediately make him the star of the entire cinema, replacing the movie.
"Amane, are you feeling unwell?"
Ichinose's worried voice came from Amane's right.
"I'm fine, I'm sorry to have disturbed Classmate Ichinose."
From Honami to Ichinose, and then from Ichinose to Classmate Ichinose.
In this society with strict titles, the meaning behind a change in address is self-evident.
Shiraha was expelled, and Ichinose felt very guilty because her negligence led to Shiraha's expulsion.
So even when Shiraha came to her dorm after school that day, making a scene and even slapping her, Ichinose didn't care.
After all, it was her own fault, and even a few more slaps couldn't make up for Shiraha.
But no matter how guilty she felt, Shiraha's expulsion was a fait accompli.
The probability of meeting again was almost zero, and in such circumstances, Ichinose's guilt would slowly erode over time.
Amane, however, was different. Compared to Shiraha, although Ichinose and Amane met because of Shiraha, Ichinose privately highly recognized Amane's ability. She often chatted with Amane and sometimes even deliberately arranged to go shopping with Amane alone.
Even if she was trying to build good relationships with other excellent people for the sake of her class, Ichinose and Amane's actual relationship surpassed that of Shiraha, who was merely a classmate.
Not to mention, after rejecting Shiraha's confession, Ichinose's goodwill towards Shiraha gradually turned into wariness.
Having someone in your class who constantly lusts after you, staring at you every day, no matter how magnanimous a person is, even if they say they don't mind on the surface, there will always be some resentment in their heart.
This led to Shiraha's departure.
Besides a sense of guilt, Ichinose also felt a sense of relief.
The main reason why Class B currently disliked Amane was that Amane caused Shiraha's expulsion.
But did they truly feel for Shiraha? Unfortunately, no. They were only upset because Amane had left a blemish on the seemingly perfect Ichinose in their eyes, a blemish of being unable to save a classmate from expulsion.
On a spotless white paper, that tiny blemish was insignificant, yet so glaring.
This led to her followers in Class B being unable to tolerate that the person they admired and loved could have an indelible blemish, thus hating Amane, who caused all this to happen.
Amane was truly an innocent victim, and so was Ichinose.
Her persuasion fell on deaf ears. Class B's personal worship of her almost treated her as the strongest leader of the first year.
And now, Ichinose was completely being pushed along by them, forced to play the role of that perfect leader. As for others, no matter how capable, they had to hide in Ichinose's shadow.
The strongest evidence was that Shibata was clearly chosen as their representative, but in reality, Shibata had no real power so far.
Like a puppet, all matters had to be reported to Ichinose first, and then her opinions would be conveyed by others or Ichinose herself.
Ichinose was still remotely controlling Class B from her dorm.
However, Ichinose didn't want this to happen either, but she also had no choice.
Her current overture to Amane was actually her decision to bravely take the first step.
She didn't want to be a mouthpiece for a group; she wanted to be someone who could lead everyone forward.
Therefore, she needed to do something correct, beneficial to the class, and yet opposed by everyone, to prove that her personal judgment was correct and trustworthy, and that sometimes it was okay not to rely on the collective.
It was precisely because of this excessive unity that Ichinose was pushed into a difficult and thankless position, where she broke with Amane while the class suffered heavy losses. She had to change all of this to get Class B back on the track of pursuing Class A.
Rather than being easily surpassed by latecomers.
So, no matter the cost, she had to reconcile with Amane to prevent the relationship from deteriorating further, and at the same time, make everyone in Class B realize that the majority opinion is not always correct.
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