Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e

Chapter 42

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Weak point

TL: qbomb
Editor: Candy-Sama

The bad events didn"t stop there. The following morning, during homeroom, Chiyabas.h.i.+ra-sensei had an announcement to make.

"I have an announcement for you all today. There was a bit of trouble the other day. Him over there, Sudou, and some cla.s.s C students were involved in an incident. To say the truth, it was a fight."

The cla.s.sroom became noisy.

Depending on the details of the disagreement between the two groups, Sudou may be suspended and the cla.s.s points may be deducted. Sensei told the whole situation to the cla.s.s.

Chiyabas.h.i.+ra-sensei was so disinterested and had absolutely no expression in her face that it had a certain beauty to it.

Without any bias, she explained the school"s neutral position on the whole matter.

"Uh… why hasn"t the matter been resolved already?"

Hirata asked a reasonable question.

"The complaint was raised by cla.s.s C. They said it was a one-sided fight. However, when we asked Sudou, he said that their claim was not true. He said that the cla.s.s C students called him out, looking for a fight."

"I wasn"t in the wrong; it was self-defence."

Declaring that without any shame, Sudoi attracted the cold gazes of his cla.s.smates.

"But you have no evidence. Am I wrong?"

"Evidence? I don"t have anything like that."

"In other words, we don"t know the truth yet. Therefore, the situation has been put on hold. The outcome will be decided on who the actual perpetrator is."

"I don"t know anything except that I"m innocent. I want money for my troubles."

"He says so himself, but as of now, there"s not much credibility. If, as Sudou says, there is an eyewitness, the situation may change. If there are any witnesses to the fight, please raise your hands."

Chiyabas.h.i.+ra-sensei kept talking with an indifferent voice. No student raised their hands.

"Too bad Sudou, but it seems like no one here was a witness."

"…Looks that way."

When Chiyabas.h.i.+ra-sensei looked at Sudou with doubtful eyes, he looked down at his desk.

"In order to look for a witness, each teacher is informing their cla.s.s about the situation."

"Hah!? You told everyone!?"

The school probably can"t do anything else. Since Sudou raised the possibility of a witness, each cla.s.s in the school had to be asked in order to find such a person.

For Sudou, who had intended to hide the incident, this was not a good situation.

"d.a.m.n…!"

Sudou"s plan of keeping it within our group had already failed.

"Anyway, that"s all. We"ll most likely get a final decision by next Tuesday, taking the presence or absence of evidence into consideration. Homeroom is now over."

Chiyabas.h.i.+ra-sensei left the room, with Sudou quickly leaving right after. He probably knew that he would get mad at someone if he stayed in the room.

"Hey, isn"t Sudou the worst?"

The first to talk was Ike.

"If we lost points because of Sudou, doesn"t that mean we"re going to have 0 points again?"

The situation was getting out of hand as the cla.s.sroom became clamorous.

If we ended up losing points, Sudou would be the target of the cla.s.s"s frustration. Naturally, Kus.h.i.+da tried to alleviate the situation.

"Hey, everyone. Can you all hear me out?"

Kus.h.i.+da took the chance to stop the uproar and change the situation.

"As Sensei said, Sudou-kun was involved in a fight. But Sudou-kun was dragged into it."

"Kus.h.i.+da-chan, by saying "dragged into it", does that mean you believe in Sudou"s words?"

Kus.h.i.+da told yesterday"s story to the whole cla.s.s. About how he was being considered as a regular, and how a few people who were envious tried to get Sudou kicked out of the club and the resulting fight. She explained that Sudou beat them up in self-defense. Most of the cla.s.s listened to Kus.h.i.+da"s sincere words in silence. If Sudou or I had tried to explain the situation in the same way, it wouldn"t have the same effect.

It was a reasonable story, but considering his usual behavior, no one could believe it so easily.

"I would like to ask again. If anyone knows someone in this cla.s.s, among your friends, or among your senpais that saw what happened, please tell me. You can contact me at any time. I"d appreciate it."

Even though she had said the same thing as Chiyabas.h.i.+ra-sensei did, the cla.s.s had a completely different reaction.

It"s fascinating how she"s naturally gifted at being able to connect with people.

The cla.s.s was wrapped in silence. The one who broke the silence was not an eyewitness, but rather, Yamauchi.

"Hey, Kus.h.i.+da-chan. I don"t believe Sudou"s story. I think he"s making it up to justify his own actions. During middle school, he kept talking about beating people up. He even lectured us about how it was fun to beat people up."

Starting with Yamauchi, the whole cla.s.s voiced their dissatisfaction towards Sudou.

"Earlier, I saw him grab some kid from another cla.s.s just because they b.u.mped in the hallway."

"I saw him cut in line at the cafeteria and get mad at someone who tried to warn him."

Kus.h.i.+da"s words about Sudou"s innocence didn"t reach the cla.s.s. The cla.s.s, feeling that they were going to lose their hard-earned points, all left Sudou to dry.

"I want to believe him."

The Hero of the cla.s.s, Hirata, stood up as if to support Kus.h.i.+da.

"I can understand if a student of another cla.s.s doubts him. But I think it"s wrong to doubt a friend, a fellow cla.s.smate. Isn"t helping out someone in need what friends do?"

"I think so too~"

Brus.h.i.+ng her bangs to the side, Karuizawa followed up after him.

"If it"s a false accusation, wouldn"t it be a problem? In any case, it"d be sad if he was innocent."

If Kus.h.i.+da is a leader with a soft heart, Karuizawa is a leader who is strong willed. Most of the girls voiced their agreement, seemingly influenced by her presence.

It"s a typical behavior of the j.a.panese people: following suit when one person does something a.s.sertively. Secretly, they were probably making fun of him, but at least they were pretending to help. For now, the criticism of Sudou stops.

Hirata, Kus.h.i.+da, and Karuizawa. These three were particularly popular.

"I"ll ask my friends."

"Then I"ll ask my senpais in the soccer club."

"I"ll ask around as well."

With these three in the center, the attempt to prove Sudou"s innocence began.

I guess I don"t have to help. It"ll be better to leave it to them anyway.

Well, time to fade out quietly.1

"I planned to… fade out, but…"

Lunch break. For some reason, I was involved with the usual group and went to the cafeteria.

The members were me, Kus.h.i.+da, Horikita, Ike, Yamauchi, and Sudou.

It was inevitable. When lunchtime arrived, Kus.h.i.+da came up to me and asked, "Want to go to lunch?" with a smile. I couldn"t possibly refuse right? So I said, "Sure!". .

"You seem to be involved in one problem after another, Sudou-kun."

Horikita sighed in exasperation.

Naturally, the topic of discussion was how to prove Sudou"s innocence.

"Well it can"t be helped, so we"ll a.s.sist you as friends, Sudou."

Although he treated Sudou as a bad person at first, Ike"s att.i.tude changed. It"s definitely because Kus.h.i.+da stepped in. Even so, Sudou apologised.

"I"m sorry for causing trouble again Horikita. However, I wasn"t the one at fault this time. I was really frustrated at those cla.s.s C b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."

As though it was someone else"s problem, Sudou talked to Horikita in an indifferent tone.

"I"m sorry, but this time, I don"t really feel like helping."

Horikita immediately rejected Sudou"s request for help.

"The most important thing to cla.s.s D in order to rise up is to take back the points we lost as quickly as possible. However, because of you, we probably won"t be able to get any points. In other words, you"ve just messed up that plan."

"Wait a second. It"s probably true, but I"m seriously not the one at fault! I only hit them because they provoked me first! What part of that is my fault!?"

"You keep saying that they started the fight, but it"s nothing more than a trivial difference. Were you not aware of that?"

"Trivial my a.s.s. It"s completely different. I"m not the one to blame!"

"Is that so? Well, good luck."

Grabbing her untouched tray, Horikita stood up.

"Are you not going to help!? Aren"t we friends!?"

"Don"t make me laugh. I"ve never considered you as a friend. I feel most uncomfortable when I"m with people that don"t realize how stupid and foolish they are. Goodbye."

Horikita sighed, looking more exasperated than angry, and left the room.

"What"s up with her!? Dammit!"

Unable to vent his anger anywhere else, he hit the cafeteria table.

I noticed the nearby student"s miso soup spilling . I saw him glare at Sudou, but fall silent upon looking at his face. And I understood how he felt.

"I guess we"ll have to make do with what we have"

"I knew you would understand, Yamauchi. I"m relying on you too, Ayanokouji."

Seems like I"m second to Yamauchi. Well, it"s not really surprising.

"Even if you ask me to help, I can"t really do much, you know?"

It"s ineffective to self-deprecate whenever someone asks for help, it seems.

"You"ve been saying that ever since yesterday Ayanokouji-kun. Ike, say something."

"No, but… well, it"s strange for Ayanokouji to say that he won"t be useful. Well, it"s better than not being there. Probably."

As expected, Ike couldn"t come up with how I would be useful.

With a smug face, I looked at Kus.h.i.+da. It was though I was showing off the power of being a boring person.

"This is disheartening. I thought we got along when we were preparing for the test…"

Ike said in a disappointed tone. I saw Horikita sitting back down in the distance, looking slightly irritated.

"I don"t understand Horikita at all. What"s wrong with her, Ayanokouji? Why is she like that?"

I didn"t know the answer to the question. What am I, a user manual for her? To avoid answering, I stuffed my face with rice.

"It"s strange though. Horikita-san wants to get to cla.s.s A, right? If we save Sudou-kun, the cla.s.s would receive points. I wonder why she doesn"t want to."

"Isn"t it because she dislikes Sudou? She said she didn"t think of him as a friend."

Saying that wasn"t going to help..

They misunderstood what she said earlier for her dislike of Sudou..

"I don"t want to think that way, but I guess it"s true…"

"Kus.h.i.+da, Horikita is—"

I unconsciously start to speak. Kus.h.i.+da looked at me in interest.

"Horikita-san is?"

"Ah… It may not be relevant, but here are my thoughts on this: I think Horikita normally talks in a harsh manner. But I also think you guys are misunderstanding her."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"She won"t help if there"s no reason to do so… I think."

"What do you mean by, "I think, I think"? Are you just guessing?"

Sudou bursts into the conversation. As he is aware of Horikita, it wasn"t difficult to understand that he didn"t like being rejected by her.

Horikita had probably realized this when Chiyabas.h.i.+ra-sensei was telling us about the incident.

This happened for a reason. And the ending she foresaw… in other words, the probability that this would end with positive results is near impossible. Upon realizing that, Horikita purposely acted cold towards Sudou.

If it were to be said here, it would not be able to much of a difference as it"ll only make them feel disheartened. Without knowing how things will end, I hesitated to reply to Sudou"s outburst.

Not wanting to pour cold water onto their plans, Horikita probably didn"t say anything and left.

"Well… It"s a guess like you say, Sudou."

"You don"t even have a reason for thinking that way?"

"Horikita"s smart after all. I felt like she came to a conclusion that made her act that way."

"A conclusion? Yeah, a conclusion to forsake me."

"Let"s not accuse others, Sudou. It"s only natural for Ayanokouji-kun to defend Horikita, since he"s always with her all the time.. She"s important to him, you know?"

Ike quipped at me with an evil smile on his face.

Sudou clicked his tongue and reached out for his tray, still feeling irritated.

"If someone came up as a witness, it would be great. Since the teachers asked all the cla.s.ses, this will probably be resolved quickly."

I understand wanting to think that way, but would the situation be resolved that easily?

After all, the issue was serious. It"s not unreasonable for Horikita to give up. It would be checkmate if the witness, a.s.suming there is one in the first place, was from Cla.s.s C. It would be natural for cla.s.s C to hide the truth in order to protect themselves. After all, this school is made up of ranks. It"s unlikely that any feelings of guilt will outweigh the disadvantages the cla.s.s may get.

But if the witness is not from cla.s.s C, the problem is where to look.

If it was someone that was neutral and had seen the situation unfold from the beginning, the result may be different.

"Ah, sorry, I"ll be gone for a bit. I"m going to go ask my senpais that I just saw over there."

Kus.h.i.+da stood up from her seat.

"You"re doing your best for people like Sudou, Kus.h.i.+da-chan. It"s cute."

Fascinated by Kus.h.i.+da"s back, Ike was enchanted.

"I should seriously confess to Kus.h.i.+da-chan…"

"It"s impossible. You think she"ll drop to your level?"

"I have a better chance than you do."

The two similarly enchanted boys quarreled.

"If I dated Kus.h.i.+da-chan… fufu."

Drooling, Ike started to fantasise with indecent thoughts.

"Hey. Why are you fantasizing about my Kus.h.i.+da-chan?"

"Noo…"

"W-what delusions are you having!? Talk!"

It seems like he lost his sense of control.

"What do you mean, what? Of course I"m thinking of her nude, right next to me. In other words, cuddling."

Somehow, the whole scene was imaginable to a certain extent with those few words.

"Dammit, I won"t lose! I"ve also thought of various things!"

Hey hey, that"s neither ethical nor suitable.

"Stop it. Don"t touch my Kus.h.i.+da-chan with your filthy hands."

In some way, Kus.h.i.+da seemed pitiful.

She"s probably the object of several boys" fantasies every night.

"As I thought, the best part about high school are the girls. I really want a girlfriend. If I have a girlfriend during summer, I can go to the pool with her! It"d be the best!"

"It would be the best if Kus.h.i.+da-chan was my girlfriend… it would be the best if she was my girlfriend…"

As if it was something valuable, Yamauchi said it twice.

"But since Kus.h.i.+da-chan is cute, won"t she get a boyfriend sooner or later…?"

"Don"t say that, Yamauchi. It doesn"t look like she has a boyfriend, so it"s alright."

Ike replied with self-confidence, though it seemed like he was trying to rea.s.sure himself.

"Do you want to know? I bet you guys want to know."

"What? What are you talking about, Ike? Tell me."

While saying, "Well, guess I can"t help it," Ike took out his phone.

"Using the phone we got from the school, we can actually track the location of registered friends."

Ike searched for Kus.h.i.+da"s location as he said so.

Shortly after, the phone blinked with Kus.h.i.+da"s information, showing that she was in the cafeteria.

"I"ve always been checking regularly, even on weekends. And then I talk to her, pretending that we met by chance, in order to make sure that she doesn"t have a boyfriend."

While crossing his arms, Ike had a confident look on his face, but what he was doing is nothing more than stalking her.

It"s already at the level where the police would usually intervene.

"Realistically, Kus.h.i.+da-chan is out of our league… she wouldn"t drop to our level. Would it be possible if I aimed lower…?"

"Yea… in the first place, my girlfriend can"t be ugly…"

"They"ve got to be at least a 70…"

It seems like the two boys started to dream about getting a girlfriend.

Their wild delusions were shattered, but they could not get rid of their high expectations.

"Ayanokouji, do you want a girlfriend?"

"Well, if it"s possible."

If I was able to get a girlfriend just because I wanted one, I wouldn"t have much difficulty socialising with others.

"I"m just asking again, but are you sure you don"t feel anything for Horikita?"

He thrusted his chopsticks towards me while asking.

"I don"t, really."

"Are you sure?"

He asked again, looking like he didn"t believe me. I nodded my head vigorously to get the point across.

"…Then it"s fine. I thought you were clinging onto her. I mean, that would be a bother for Horikita."

I don"t remember clinging onto anyone. Especially not her.

"But are you ok with Horikita? Well, she"s cute, but… she"s pretty boring, right? I wouldn"t be able to stand someone like her. She wouldn"t want to go to the pool or go on any dates."

"I don"t know. Horikita"s better than Kus.h.i.+da."

Sudou nodded two, three times and crossed his arms while being prideful about his preferences.

"If it was someone unrelated, she would refuse the date, but if it was her boyfriend, she would probably agree, right? And she would show her boyfriend expressions that she wouldn"t show any other boy."

"I see… I can imagine it too. She"s cute, after all."

While glancing at Horikita, who was sitting quite a distance away, Yamauchi entered his delusions.

"But that Horikita seems to have abandoned you, Sudou."

"That"s… well, it"s true. d.a.m.n it, I feel sad now."

"Well, I"ve got nothing to say since the number of rivals for Kus.h.i.+da-chan just decreased."

It seems like Ike decided to look for girls around a chest size of 70 while keeping Kus.h.i.+da as his main goal.

"By the way Ayanokouji, if you don"t like Horikita, who do you like? Sudou has Horikita, Yamauchi has Kus.h.i.+da-chan. Are you going to be a rival?"

"Who…"

No particular girl came to mind.

For a few moments, I thought about it seriously. If I were to choose, then… Kus.h.i.+da? She"s the person I talk to the most, so it"s inevitable. But since I know she doesn"t like me, I haven"t really thought about her.

"There"s no one."

However, Ike and Yamauchi sent me doubtful glances.

"Do you believe that there are guys that don"t have a crush on a girl?

"There"s no one like that at all. Don"t hide it, Ayanokouji."

"Unlike you guys, I haven"t really met with many girls other than Horikita and Kus.h.i.+da."

"Well, I guess. I haven"t really seen you talk to any other girls."

It"s sad that it"s true.

"Should I introduce you to some girls?"

Placing an arm around my shoulder, Ike talked with confidence.

"Isn"t it sad that you"re trying to introduce some girls when you don"t even have a girlfriend?"

"Uu… yea…"

"Sae-chan-sensei said that we would have a vacation in the summer, right? I"ll definitely get a girlfriend then. Kus.h.i.+da-chan if possible! Or some other cute girl!"

"Me too, me too! Even if she"s the worst, I"ll get a girlfriend… and then I"ll have my lovey-dovey high school life!"

"…When should I confess to Horikita…"

The three of them talked about the girls in their minds.

"We should have a compet.i.tion to see who gets a girlfriend first. The first person to have a girlfriend will treat all of us with food! Alright?"

It was difficult to decide if I was a true friend by partic.i.p.ating in a compet.i.tion like this.

"What"s wrong, Ayanokouji? By any chance, you"re not going to say that you won"t partic.i.p.ate, will you?"

"No, I was just wondering why the first person to get a girlfriend is the one to treat everyone else."

"Oh, I see. You"re just being jealous, right?"

"A person who gets a girlfriend is happy. Since they"re happy, they treat everyone. It"s that kind of feeling."

Although they were getting excited, Sudou"s problem still persists.2

The cla.s.s was divided up into certain groups after school.

However, there weren"t many people helping in the first place.

Hirata and Karuizawa led the Hero & Girl team while Kus.h.i.+da led the Beautiful Girl & Co team.

They had decided to look for the witness by themselves.

Even so, it"s difficult to get results in such a short amount of time.

There are 400 enrolled students at the school. Even if everyone from Cla.s.s 1-D was left out, there isn"t much of a difference.

It would be difficult even if all the time during the morning, breaks and after school were included.

"Well, I"m going home."

"Are you really going to go Horikita-san?"

"Yeah."

Horikita replied without hesitation and left the cla.s.sroom.

As expected of Horikita. She wasn"t discouraged by the surrounding gazes, all asking, "You"re leaving?" When she becomes an adult, she would probably be the type to quickly leave a drinking party—promising to finish things up at the next meeting—without reading the mood.

"Well…"

If Horikita"s tactic is to leave out in the open, my tactic is to leave quietly in the shadows.

"Ayanokouji-kun."

Kus.h.i.+da called out to me with an anxious voice. The small size of the cla.s.sroom prevented my escape as I was immediately discovered despite my stealthy footsteps.

"What is it? Do you need anything from me?"

Sorry, Kus.h.i.+da. I"m going to reject your invitation with a heart of steel. And then I"ll return to the dorms.

"You"ll… help, right?"

"Of course."

I couldn"t refuse her. Kus.h.i.+da"s upturned eyes and her cute request added up to a lethal combination.

I couldn"t help it; it felt like I was being controlled by Kus.h.i.+da. I wasn"t able to resist.

If a person resolves to stay awake, they"ll fall asleep in 24 to 48 hours. Despite some people who occasionally claim that they can stay awake for a long time without sleep, they would eventually collapse.

To put it simply, a person has a limit as to how long they can endure. It"s a human mechanism.

After I finished giving an excuse, Kus.h.i.+da made a suggestion.

"I really want to get Horikita-san to help this time. Can you ask her again please?"

"But she went home today."

They failed to stop her just a few moments ago. Was it already time for revenge?

"Yea. Can you chase after her? If it"s Horikita-san, I think she will definitely become a big help."

"Well, that"s true."

"If we take the time to persuade her, don"t we have a chance?"

If she wants to try again, I have no right to stop her. I nodded, telling her I understood.

"Ike-kun, Yamauchi-kun, can you stay here? I"ll come back quickly."

"Ok."

The two of them aren"t on the best of terms with Horikita. Anyway, it doesn"t seem like Kus.h.i.+da"s forcing them to follow along.

"Let"s go."

Taking Kus.h.i.+da"s arm, I left the cla.s.sroom. I wonder what this bittersweet feeling is. For some reason, I heard Ike and Yamauchi"s angry voices behind me. It must have been my imagination. Heh.

As I made my way down to the entrance of the building, there was no sign of Horikita. I decided to go out of the building. As she"s not the type to stop for anything on the way back, she was probably heading straight towards the dorms.

I pushed past the crowd of students putting on their shoes. Soon after, I saw Horikita in between the school and the dorms (as there"s not much of a distance in the first place).

Most of the groups headed back had two people or more, but there was alone figure that stood out.

"Horikita-san."

I hesitated before speaking to her, but Kus.h.i.+da called out to her with confidence.

"…What is it?"

Horikita turned around, looking slightly surprised. It seemed like she didn"t expect us to chase after her.

"I really want Horikita-san to help with Sudou-kun"s incident… Is that not possible?"

"I thought I already rejected that a few minutes ago."

She shrugged her shoulders, as if the person she was talking to was an idiot.

"I know, but… But I do think we need to do this to get to cla.s.s A."

"We need to do this to get to cla.s.s A, huh?"

Looking completely unconvinced, Horikita didn"t listen to Kus.h.i.+da"s words.

"If you want to help Sudou-kun, go ahead. I don"t have the right to stop you. However, if you need someone to help, go ask someone else. I"m busy."

"There isn"t anyone that"s playing around right now."

I unintentionally retorted. She glared at me, with eyes that said, "Why are you talking?"

"It"s important to spend time alone. It"s uncomfortable to have that time s.n.a.t.c.hed away."

As expected of a loner"s line of thought, she disliked spending time with other people.

"Even if I help him now, this will happen again. Won"t it just be a vicious cycle? You may believe that Sudou-kun is the victim this time, but I think differently."

"Huh? …Isn"t Sudou-kun the victim? It would be troubling if he was lying though."

Kus.h.i.+da didn"t understand what Horikita said.

"Maybe it really was cla.s.s C that started the fight this time, but in the end Sudou-kun is also the perpetrator."

"W-Wait, Why? Wasn"t he dragged into the fight?"

With an expression that said, "Oh my", Horikita looked in my direction.

Not me, I hadn"t said anything. I avoided looking into her eyes.

After a few seconds of silence, Horikita spoke with a tired voice.

"Why was he dragged into this incident? The entire issue will be difficult to resolve without solving this fundamental question. I will not agree to help until this question is answered. Since I can"t help you, why don"t you ask the guy next to you? Even though he pretends to not understand, he probably knows what I"m thinking."

Please stop talking with the impression that I understand.

Kus.h.i.+da looked at me with a confused expression, as though she was asking, "Do you know?"

Horikita, don"t say anything unnecessary… She resumed walking, implying that we were left to resolve the issue. Kus.h.i.+da, having understood something from Horikita"s words, was unable to stop her.

"Sudou-kun is also… the perpetrator? Is that… so?"

Kus.h.i.+da looked at me, asking for advice.

After Horikita revealed that I was pretending, even if I were to try to feign ignorance, the future seems troubling. Moreover, if Kus.h.i.+da were to ask with a cute expression, I would gladly give her my bank account information.

"I kind of understood what Horikita said. At the very least, Sudou is partially at fault here. He"s the type of person that easily resents others, so he has a violent behavior and tends to say reckless remarks to those who provoke him. I was surprised and impressed when I heard that Sudou was being considered as a regular. He seems good at basketball, but his arrogance and pride would eventually make some people, particularly those who practice just as hard, hate him. Furthermore, there have been rumours that Sudou has been fighting since middle school. I don"t know anyone who knew Sudou previously, but seeing that the rumor has been circulating for awhile, there must be some truth to the matter."

The impression other people had of Sudou wasn"t good.

"This was bound to happen sooner or later. That"s why Horikita said that Sudou was the perpetrator too."

"In other words, his usual actions caused this situation, didn"t they?"

"Yep. As long as he continues to provoke those around him with his behavior, this trouble was unavoidable. And if there"s no proof, his image, particularly his impression on others, would be used against him. For example, let"s say there are two suspects for a murder case. One of them has a previous record of murder, while the other is upright and diligent. Who would you believe?"

If one was forced to answer, the majority would have made the same choice.

"That"s obvious; the upright person."

"With or without evidence, a decision must be made; even if it"s not the truth. That"s what"s happening right now. So long as Sudou doesn"t recognise his mistakes, Horikita won"t give in."

However, it felt slightly different than the expression of "you reap what you sow."

"I see, so that"s what she meant…"

Kus.h.i.+da, finally understanding what Horikita meant, gave a small nod.

"So Horikita-san isn"t helping in order to teach Sudou-kun a lesson?"

"Something like that. By punis.h.i.+ng him, she wants Sudou to have some self-awareness."

Kus.h.i.+da seemed to understand, but couldn"t agree with it.

Instead, it looked like she was mad; she had balled her fists in anger..

"I don"t understand why she would abandon Sudou-kun just to punish him. If she"s dissatisfied about something, she should tell him directly. That"s what being a friend is for."

I didn"t think Horikita considered Sudou a friend in the first place… Putting that aside, she wasn"t the type of person who would teach this nicely. She had no sense of responsibility for others.

"You should do what you believe is right. Wanting to help Sudou isn"t wrong in the first place."

"Yeah."

Kus.h.i.+da nodded without hesitation. She"s the type to help out however many times for her friends. To be honest, it"s a really difficult thing to do; something only people like Kus.h.i.+da could do.

"However, it"s probably better to be more careful when telling Sudou directly. Since there"s no point if he doesn"t reflect on it, he should become aware of it by himself."

"…Alright. I"ll follow Ayanokouji-kun"s advice."

Changing her line of thought, Kus.h.i.+da stretched her back.

"Let"s go look for a witness now."

After returning to the cla.s.sroom, I joined up with the others.

"Were you unable to persuade Horikita in the end?"

"Sorry, we tried."

"It"s not Kus.h.i.+da"s fault. We should be fine with the people we have."

"I look forward to working with you, Ike-kun, Yamauchi-kun."

Kus.h.i.+da stood there, eyes s.h.i.+ning brightly, asking for help. The two of them stared back at her with mad love in their gazes.

"Where are we headed?"

Looking randomly for a witness would be inefficient.

It would probably be best to come up with a plan before making a move.

"If everyone"s fine with it, how about asking cla.s.s B first?"

"Why cla.s.s B?"

"Because they"re the cla.s.s that benefits the most if a witness is found."

"Sorry Ayanokouji-kun, but I don"t quite understand."

"Between cla.s.ses D and C, which cla.s.s is an obstacle to cla.s.s B? To put it simply, which cla.s.s is more of a threat?"

"Of course, it"s cla.s.s C. So we should ask cla.s.s C last. But why not cla.s.s A?"

"In the first place, there is very little evidence. Cla.s.s A has no need to provide help in a situation that wouldn"t affect them as this dispute is between cla.s.ses C and D."

Of course, we still weren"t sure if cla.s.s B could be trusted. If it was someone crafty, they might have a plan to defeat not only cla.s.s C but also cla.s.s D. Even if their plan isn"t as detailed, they would have some kind of plan.

"Alright, let"s head to cla.s.s B!"

"Stop."

I reflexively grabbed the back of Kus.h.i.+da"s collar as she went ahead.

"Nya~!"

Startled, Kus.h.i.+da let out a cat-like scream.

"Moe~!"

Yamauchi had hearts in his eyes at Kus.h.i.+da"s cute yelp. That action was probably on purpose…

Although I had thought that, my heart died from cuteness overload.

"Kus.h.i.+da"s communication skills are vital here. However, it"s not as simple as casually entering the cla.s.s and attempting to make friends.

"Is that so?"

If the witness was a friend, or would help for free, there"d be no problem. However if it was a more calculating person, they wouldn"t agree to help without a price.

We won"t know whether or not they"ll help us until we talk to then. Even if we take that into consideration… will things turn out as expected?

"Do you have any acquaintances in cla.s.s B?"

"Yep. There"s only a few people that I talk to and get along with, though."

"Let"s try to ask those people first then."

We didn"t want word to spread quickly that we were looking for witnesses urgently.

"One by one? Isn"t it better to ask all of them at once?"

Ike seemed to dislike the indirect strategy.

"I also think we"re looking at it a bit too negatively. It might be good to ask cla.s.s B first, but I think it"s better to ask a lot of people at once. We might not be able to find the witness in time if we do it slowly."

"I see. That might be true; do what you think is best Kus.h.i.+da."

"Sorry Ayanokouji-kun."

Kus.h.i.+da held her hands together in front of her apologetically. It was nothing she should be sorry about. It"s natural that our opinions didn"t match, and if there were several different viewpoints, we should go with the majority opinion. I withdrew and left the plan up to Kus.h.i.+da and the others. Unexpectedly, I felt someone"s gaze on me and looked behind.

Only about a third of the cla.s.s remained in the cla.s.sroom.

Nothing seems out of place.

At the very least, I couldn"t pinpoint what’s bothering me.3

The first cla.s.s we visited felt slightly odd. Although it had the same basic layout, it felt like we came to a completely different place. I corrected my initial misunderstanding that a home and an away game were only slightly different. Since we didn"t know if the cla.s.s would be an enemy or an ally, our initial impression of the cla.s.s was also different. Even Ike and Yamauchi were shocked; they couldn"t move from the doorway.

Being the only one unfazed, Kus.h.i.+da started talking to her friends with a smile right after she entered the cla.s.sroom. What an amazing att.i.tude. She was able to easily chat with her friends regardless of their gender, similar to how she acted with cla.s.s D. I wouldn"t be able to do the same.

The two who were the most jealous were Ike and Yamauchi. Kus.h.i.+da was talking and having fun with people who were clearly more attractive.

"D-d.a.m.n it! There are way too many guys aiming for my Kus.h.i.+da-chan!"

What do you mean… What kind of dialect is that?[1]

"Don"t panic Ike, it"s alright. We"ve have an advantage: we"re in the same cla.s.s as Kus.h.i.+da-chan!"

Feeling annoyed, the prideful two comforted each other. Although there were only 10 people in the room, Kus.h.i.+da started explaining the situation to those who were there.

Cla.s.s B"s atmosphere felt the same as Cla.s.s D, certainly not someone one would expect from a bunch of honor students. It wasn"t stiff at all and, contrary to how I imagined them, there were people who dyed their hair while some of the girls were wearing skirts that were too short.

I guess you couldn"t judge a book by it"s cover. Or was there something other than academic ability that Cla.s.s B was better than Cla.s.s D at? This school"s system still had way too many mysteries.

It"s bothersome to think about these things.

As this was Kus.h.i.+da"s lead, I left her to take care of things.

Trying not to be noticed by the others, I took a few steps back from the doorway.

"I want to go home…"

I didn"t want them to hear me complaining to myself.

Out on the field, I saw the track and field club running laps around the track.

Since the air conditioning was comfortable, I didn"t feel like going outside.

"The sports club sure is working hard."

Having finished scouting out cla.s.s B, Ike joined me in looking out of the window. He"s a fickle guy; this wait must have been boring for him.

"People who partic.i.p.ate in club activities are stupid."

"What"s with the sudden thought? You know that saying those kind of things will turn half the school against you, don"t you?"

I didn"t know the exact number, but I estimated that around 60 to 70 percent of the students partic.i.p.ated in club activities,

"Where"s the merit in such a harsh training regimen? If they like to exercise, they should just do it as a hobby."

It was strange to consider club activities solely as a benefit or a drawback.

Partic.i.p.ating in clubs had its benefits. One was able to socialise with others, as well as experience success and failure. These were experiences not included in academics. Furthermore, members of the go home club wouldn"t receive the benefits of being in a club.

"I guess."

I waited for Kus.h.i.+da"s report for the next few minutes, but I didn"t get what I was expecting.When Ike says there are "way too many guys aiming for Kus.h.i.+da-chan", he says "suginai", which is spelled in kanji as "Sugiuchi", a famous baseball player. Apparently this is a meme that Ayanokouji also doesn"t understand when he says, "Is this some kind of dialect?" (I don"t really know the meme either but it exists.)

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