Honami? You're by yourself?

Yes. Shiho said she'd be a little late.

Oh, okay. Saki's on class duty today, she might be a little late too.

Alright. If that's the case, shall we start preparing?

Yeah.

By the way, Saki heard from Otori that your class threw a party the other day to celebrate winning gold. Is that true?

Well, sort of... All we did was bring drinks and snacks to class, but everyone was so chatty and excited.

It's really nice that we made some nice memories together.

Yeah.

You're really amazing, Honami...

I am...?

I'm the representative for my class, but I'm not sure that I would've been able to do what you did given the situation.

(And she must have been so scared that everyone might end up hating her, like what happened in junior high...)

You thought seriously about everyone's opinions, faced them directly and clearly expressed your own thoughts.

And then you guided your class towards a decision everyone could agree on. That's why I think you're so amazing.

Thank you, Ichika...

To be honest, I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle it either.

Even after I made the decision to tell the class what I thought, I couldn't sleep...

You should've seen how shaky my knees were when I was standing in front of everyone in class that day...

Honami...

But I was only able to muster up enough courage because you, MEIKO and everyone else supported me.

Your encouragement convinced me that my classmates would really listen to me and that I could trust them.

Yeah...

Again, you're really amazing.

Really? I think you would've handled this problem much more gracefully than I did.

Huh? What makes you think that?

Even when I was avoiding you during junior high, you never stopped trying, remember?

Oh, I mean, uh... Nothing worked out in the end...

But that's because I didn't have the courage to tell you what had actually happened...

If I had, you would've stood by my side and supported me no matter what. I'm sure of it.

Just like that time when I was being bullied by a group of boys.

Huh?

When did that happen?

Don't you remember?

We were in elementary school...

Some boys were teasing me in the courtyard, but then you ran and stood in between us with your arms wide open and stared them down...

Oh, I remember now...

They left in the end because Saki ran over and shouted at them to go away. I didn't really do anything special.

Hehe. But ever since you were little, you had these moments where you showed so much courage.

Wait... You mean there's more?

Yes. Much more.

Let's see... There was that time you let Saki use your textbook as an umbrella because it started raining all of a sudden and didn't want her to catch a cold...

Oh... I do remember that.

I also remember my Mom being so mad at me for ruining it like that.

Oh, but if you remember that,

maybe you remember that other time too!

Um... What other time?

Hehe... You know, that time?

Uhh... I need a hint!

Um... It was another time you did something completely unexpected, like using your textbook as an umbrella...

Uh, on second thought...

I'm not sure I actually want to know now...

Hehe. Now you're making me want to say it instead.

Oh, Honami...

Hehe!