The rumor spread through Sakuragaoka High like a chemical fire—silent, fast, and toxic. Whispers of a confrontation between the untouchable Solitary King and the impeccable Vice President, all over the school's most notorious loner, snaked through every hallway and classroom. It was the juiciest piece of gossip in years, but it existed in a strange, suspended state. No one dared to ask Kaito Sato, whose icy demeanor had somehow turned glacial. No one dared to ask Hikari Tanaka, whose "Ice Queen" glare could now freeze a person mid-sentence. And absolutely no one dared to ask Hoshino Shizuka, whose usual serene smile had been replaced by a pale, haunted silence.
The doubt festered, fed by imagination and the sheer, tantalizing mystery of it all. Theories multiplied in hushed tones during breaks. In Class 1-B, the air was thick with unasked questions. Kaito sat at the front, meticulously taking notes as if the surrounding whispers were a distant radio frequency. Hikari, at the back, stared out the window, her jaw set, a fortress of indifference.
Then, the impossible happened.
The classroom door slid open. A collective breath hitched. Hoshino Shizuka stood in the doorway, her posture still perfect, but her face was ashen. The faintest tremor was visible in her hands, clasped tightly before her. All chatter died instantly. She didn't look at the gawking students. Her eyes were fixed on the front of the room, then swept to the back.
She took a few steps inside, the silence so profound her footsteps echoed. Then, she stopped. With a motion that sent a seismic shock through every witness, she bowed deeply from the waist, her head lowered toward Kaito, then turned slightly to include Hikari.
"Sato-senpai. Tanaka-san." Her voice, usually so honeyed and assured, was thin, strained. "I have caused you both a great deal of trouble and discomfort through my… inappropriate actions. I acted out of line and misused my position. I am deeply, truly sorry. I offer my most sincere apologies."
The classroom didn't erupt in noise. It erupted in a vacuum of stunned, electrified silence, followed by a frantic, muffled explosion of wide-eyed looks and silent, mouth-formed what the hell?s. An apology? From the Hoshino Shizuka? In public? The hunger for answers, for the real story behind this humiliating spectacle, became a palpable, ravenous thing in the room.
Kaito's pen had stopped moving. His expression was carved from ice. This was worse than the rumors. This was a public spectacle, a dramatic act that fed the very fire she claimed to want to put out. He slowly placed his pen down.
"Hoshino," he said, his voice low but carrying razor-sharp clarity in the dead quiet. "This is not the place. If you have something to say, it should be said in private. Not as a performance."
The word performance hung in the air, cruel and accurate. A faint, pained flush crept up Hoshino's neck. She straightened up, her eyes glistening with unshed tears of humiliation. She gave one more shallow, jerky nod, turned on her heel, and fled the classroom.
The door had barely clicked shut before the whispers exploded into a tidal wave of sound. Kaito closed his eyes for a brief second, mastering the surge of fury at the unnecessary drama. Hikari at the back rolled her eyes so hard it was almost audible, slumping further into her seat as if trying to disappear.
The eruption was so big it finally drew official attention. Their homeroom teacher, Mr. Endo, hurried into the room moments later, his face etched with concern. "Sato, Tanaka," he said, approaching them separately but with equal gravity. "Is everything alright? That was… highly unusual."
Both Kaito and Hikari, from opposite ends of the room, gave identical, curt nods. "It's fine, sensei," Kaito stated. "A personal matter that was misplaced." Hikari just shook her head once, a clear dismissal. Mr. Endo looked deeply unconvinced but, faced with twin walls of impenetrable calm, could only sigh and return to the front.
Lunchtime was an ordeal. It felt like the entire school had turned into amateur spies. Eyes followed Kaito and Hikari from the moment they left class. Whispers trailed them like persistent ghosts. Everywhere they tried to find a moment of peace—a quiet corner of the hallway, the library desk—they found clusters of students who suddenly found that spot fascinating.
Kaito, holding his neatly packed lunch, finally stood in the middle of the bustling courtyard. He looked around, seeing the not-so-subtly averted faces, the phones held at odd angles. He couldn't even eat his lunch in the one place that had always been sacred: in private.
A slow, cold heat built in his chest. It wasn't the sharp anger from the Council Room; this was a simmering, frustrated fury at the sheer, stupid invasiveness of it all. His usual blank mask didn't slip. Instead, something far more terrifying happened.
The corners of his lips lifted. It was a smile, but it was made of pure, polished ice and razor-edged annoyance. It didn't reach his cold gray eyes, which scanned the courtyard with a dismissive, chilling intensity. It was the smile of someone who had reached the absolute limit of their patience, and it scared the curiosity clean out of every onlooker. Faces blanched. People suddenly found urgent business in the opposite direction. A path cleared.
Finally getting to eat in tense, but now respectful, silence, Kaito finished his meal with mechanical efficiency. As soon as the bell was close to ringing, he didn't go to his next class. He went straight to the only place left: the roof.
Pushing the heavy door open, the wind greeted him. But he wasn't alone.
Hoshino Shizuka stood by the fence, waiting. And a few feet away, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, was Hikari. She looked at Kaito as he arrived, a single eyebrow raised as if to say, 'You too, huh?'
Kaito ignored Hoshino for a moment, his gaze fixed on Hikari. "How does she know this spot?" he asked, his voice flat.
Hikari shrugged. "She followed me. Said she needed to talk. To both of us."
Kaito finally turned his icy gaze to Hoshino. "This is a private place."
Hoshino flinched but held her ground. Her earlier public composure was gone, replaced by a raw, weary shame. "I know. I… I've known you came up here since before you joined the student council, Sato-senpai. I noticed." She said it quietly, an admission that felt too intimate for the space between them.
She took a shaky breath, looking from Kaito's unyielding face to Hikari's guarded one. "I came here to apologize. Properly. Not as a performance." She echoed his word from the classroom, and it clearly cost her. "I was jealous. And threatened. And I used my authority to try and sabotage something I had no right to touch. My actions were petty, disgraceful, and utterly beneath the position I hold. I am sorry for the trouble I caused you, Tanaka-san. I am sorry for disrespecting you and the friendship you have, Sato-senpai. There is no excuse."
This apology, delivered in the wind-swept quiet of the rooftop, away from prying eyes, held a weight the public spectacle never could. It was stripped bare and real.
The wind whistled between them, carrying away the poisoned words of the past few days. The unwanted apology had finally been given, not to the crowd, but to the only two people who needed to hear it.
(End of Chapter 19)