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ArabicClassroom of the Elite: Standing Firm in Class A — Chapter 19
Chapter 19: The Sudden Appearance of Ichinose
Friday afternoon arrived, marking the final school day of the week.
Perhaps because the weekend was just around the corner, the sunlight filtering through the windows felt a fraction warmer than usual. The dismissal bell chimed with its usual punctuality, signaling the end of classes.
Kaedehara Tetsu didn’t bother joining the bustling groups of students making their weekend plans. Packing his bag in silence, he left the School Building alone and made his way toward Keyaki Mall, eventually stepping into a quiet cafe on the second floor.
The rich, roasted aroma of coffee beans washed over him the moment he pushed open the glass doors. He claimed a corner booth by the window, a prime vantage point that offered excellent lighting and a clear view of the student body milling about the promenade below. Pulling a thick mystery novel from his bag, he ordered a simple iced Americano and let himself sink into the pages.
The afternoon ticked away. Customers drifted in and out of the shop, and the sky beyond the glass slowly bled from a crisp, pale blue into a deep, bruised orange.
A crisp chime from the entrance bell broke the ambient murmur of the cafe. Tetsu didn’t even pause his page-turning, but from the corner of his eye, he had already tracked the familiar figure making a beeline toward his table.
Ichinose Honami.
She was putting on a rather valiant effort to look like a casual patron simply drawn in by the shop’s cozy atmosphere, but her gaze had been locked onto his quiet corner from the moment she stepped inside.
She closed the distance, her footsteps finally halting right beside his table. The shadow of her silhouette fell neatly across the open pages of his book.
Only then did Tetsu react, slowly lifting his head as if he had just been pulled from a deep trance. He squinted slightly at the girl beaming down at him, his expression morphing into one of polite, puzzled distance—the exact look one gives a stranger.
“Hello, excuse me… is something the matter?” he asked smoothly. “If you need a seat, no one is sitting next to me.”
The bright smile on Ichinose’s face froze.
She blinked her large, expressive eyes, staring down at him in sheer disbelief. “Eh? Um… Classmate, don’t you remember me?” she asked, pointing a slender finger at her own cheek, her voice suddenly laced with uncertainty.
Tetsu knitted his brows, giving her a slow, deliberate look over. Finally, he shook his head, offering a perfectly crafted, apologetic smile.
“I am very sorry, my memory can be a bit unreliable. Have we… met before? You are very cute; if we had crossed paths, I surely would have remembered.”
The words were impeccably polite, yet they established a firm wall of distance. At the same time, that casual compliment acted as a sugar-coated bullet, entirely disarming any immediate anger she might have felt.
Ichinose stood completely stunned.
For the past few days, her mind had frequently wandered back to the boy she had collided with on the first day of school—the one whose words were entirely too frivolous, yet undeniably interesting. She had even been debating when to approach him to fulfill her promise of ‘compensation.’
And now, he had completely forgotten her?
The shock quickly gave way to indignation. Her cheeks puffed out slightly, resembling an angry little hamster. Planting her hands firmly on her hips, she leaned over the table, closing the distance between them.
“Kaedehara-san! You are too much!” she scolded, her tone caught somewhere between genuine annoyance and amusement. “On the first day of school, right at the front gate, you were bumped into by a ‘dangerous’girl. You claimed you were on the verge of’internal bleeding,’forced me to hand over my contact information, and demanded I treat you to coffee to settle the’accident’… Have you seriously forgotten all of that?!”
She had practically recited his exact words from that morning. While she was far too embarrassed to repeat his shameless ‘chest weapon’comment out loud, her heavy emphasis on the word’dangerous’ made her point perfectly clear.
Watching her adorable display of frustration, the mask of confusion on Tetsu’s face finally cracked. He let out a soft laugh, shaking his head.
“Ah, I remember now. So it’s my ‘chest weapon’ classmate. Sorry, sorry. I’ve had a lot on my plate recently, and my brain didn’t quite make the connection.”
He closed his book and leaned back against the plush leather of the booth. A playful, wicked smile touched his lips as his gaze swept downward, unabashedly taking in the generous curve of her bust. “Though, it’s only been a few days, and Honami-san’s ‘danger’ level seems to have increased again.”
“You—you guy… you clearly remembered the whole time!”
Ichinose’s face ignited into a brilliant shade of crimson, the blush spreading rapidly from her cheeks all the way down her slender neck. She immediately straightened her posture, crossing her arms defensively over her chest as if to block his entirely unreserved stare.
He was exactly the same as when they first met—speaking with such direct, inappropriate confidence!
“Alright, alright, don’t be angry. I was just joking,” Tetsu said, his tone entirely unapologetic as he gestured to the empty chair across from him. “Since we ran into each other so coincidentally, don’t just stand there. Have a seat. The timing is perfect for the ‘victim’to properly settle this compensation issue with his’perpetrator.'”
The shift in conversation successfully derailed her embarrassment. Following the flow of his logic, she slid into the booth opposite him.
“I didn’t forget, you know,” she muttered softly, avoiding his eyes. “You were the one who said you wanted to settle the compensation, yet you never bothered to come find me.”
“It seems you really are obsessed with our first meeting.” Tetsu’s voice carried a low, teasing lilt, deliberately emphasizing the words ‘first meeting.’ “Since you’re reminding me with such enthusiasm, wouldn’t I seem incredibly insensitive if I didn’t respond in kind?”
“I—I am not obsessed!” Ichinose fired back almost instinctively, though the moment the words left her lips, even she realized how weak they sounded.
“Yes, yes, of course you aren’t,” Tetsu agreed, smoothly playing along. He tilted his chin toward the distant barista counter. “In that case, shouldn’t you fulfill the promise you made back then? I’ve been waiting so patiently for this compensation that I haven’t even dared to order the shop’s specialty drink.”
The sheer shamelessness of the remark left Ichinose entirely helpless.
She let out a long, defeated sigh and pushed herself up from the booth. “Alright, alright! You just wait here. I’ll go buy it for you!”
“I want the most expensive specialty drink on the menu,” Tetsu called out, leaning back and issuing orders like a retired old man. “After all, my ‘internal injuries’ are quite severe.”
“You guy…”
Ichinose shot a glare over her shoulder, though the look carried absolutely zero lethality. If anything, it looked more like a young girl acting spoiled. She marched up to the counter, her brow furrowing as she seriously studied the menu board above the register. Watching her genuinely stress over what to order only made the smile on Tetsu’s face deepen.
A few minutes later, Ichinose returned carrying a small wooden tray with two drinks.
One was a steaming caramel macchiato meant for Tetsu, topped with an complex, perfectly poured milk-foam heart. The other was a tall, chilled strawberry smoothie for herself.
She set the caramel macchiato down in front of him with a soft thud, her movements carrying just a hint of emotional bite. The little milk-foam heart wobbled precariously on the surface.
“Here, Kaedehara-san. Your most expensive specialty drink! Once you finish this, our ‘accident’ is officially settled!”
Tetsu picked up the warm ceramic cup, admiring the exquisite latte art for a brief second before shifting his gaze across the table. He watched in quiet amusement as Ichinose took small, delicate spoonfuls of her strawberry smoothie, her bright eyes darting over to check his reaction every few seconds.