The Sequel to The White Room Troubles is finally here! Follow Kiyotaka on his journey for freedom, peace of mind and the protection of the people he considers closest to him. It's All or Nothing for him. It is recommended to read The White Room Trou...
The next day, an even larger change occurred in Class B. Yesterday, relationships between students that appeared to be broken were beginning to rebuild themselves - Shinohara and Matsushita, Mori and Kei being just one example.
In addition to that, Mei-Yu returned back to the classroom and was welcomed back with open arms, destroying any worries she or any others had about her returning.
If one were to look from an outsider perspective, Class B appeared to be growing its petals back again, after not receiving any bits of water for quite some time, withering in its soil below. One could say that Class B was starting to bloom in the sun again.
...But it was inevitable that the blooming flower would not last long in the sweltering sun.
On the next day, the very last empty seat in Class B finally became occupied again. Just seconds before Chabashira was about to begin morning homeroom, the last person everyone, except the one actively seeking to bring her back, wanted to see showed up with a "sorry I'm late".
Kushida Kikyou. No one was really expecting her to come back, so it was pretty much normal to see the stares of surprise, combined with the stares of hatred, fear and anger, on their faces. Naturally, some of those stares also pointed their axes towards the very person who pledged to bring Kushida back.
Kushida herself did not act like her previous self when she returned. She didn't even look at her classmates when she entered the classroom in the morning. It was only until one of the breaks between classes did she finally say something to the class.
"To those affected by my attitude that day, like Mii-chan and Shinohara-san. I apologise for making you targets of my onslaught. I was only doing the only choice I had back then. Anyway, for the time being, I'm planning to continue to maintain the facade I had until now to some extent. That way, depending on the circumstances, I can even gather information from the other classes. But if any of you in the class are going to stand in my way while I do that, I'm fine with not doing it too. And if anybody comes at me with hostility, I won't show any mercy, no matter who they are. I've only exposed a small portion of your secrets during the Special Exam."
This was what she dispassionately announced to the class, her threat directed at the entire class. Class B themselves were silent, not bothering to argue against her, knowing what would happen.
"But I promise you just one thing. Unless I fall, I won't even try to expose any other secrets. I'm not doing it for the class, I'm doing it for myself. So that I can graduate in Class A. It's my final line of defence, so that I don't lose my value as myself."
While dissatisfied, Class B knew they couldn't do anything but accept the situation. Horikita achieved her goal in bringing Kushida back, so the class couldn't argue anymore for the time being. It would only be further down the road that everyone would see whether Horikita truly made the correct choice.
