Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Solace

Vol. 6: Chapter 4.3 - Think Again

"Whatever, Wataru. You and Professor can just shut up and listen if you're not interested in siding with your friends," said Miyamoto.

"I'm siding with whoever is right. Since that's still unclear, then I'll be on the neutral side. How about you, Hideo-kun?"

"I-I'm with Wataru-dono on this one," Professor answered, feigning composure. 

"Are you guys done? I wanna finish this as soon as possible, though. Lunchtime won't last forever, after all."

Hearing my unbothered voice, Miyamoto narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

"Then tell us the damn truth," he said.

"As far as I remember, the only thing I hid from you guys was the fact that I planted some bugs under your collars," I answered in a casual tone.

Horikita widened her eyes in surprise. She probably didn't expect me to say it outright.

"Ahh, so doing a messed up thing like that isn't a big deal for someone like you, huh?" Miyamoto scoffed at my response.

"Those were my trump cards if my initial plan with you and Hondou ever failed. If Kinoshita and Manabe's confessions were real, then I would've told you everything before getting rid of the bugs. I'd have no reason to keep those recordings with me, after all."

I could see Horikita skeptically raising an eyebrow. Hey, I would tell them the truth-- but only if I didn't have the means to retrieve the bugs secretly.

"What...? If their confessions were real, then you would've told us about the bugs...? Why does that matter?! Why couldn't you tell us even if they weren't real?!" Yamauchi argued.

"It's already a problem that you bugged them in secret, but..." Hondou added.

"It's even worse that you didn't immediately use the recording to prevent them from getting accused in the first place!" followed Miyamoto.

"Haruki, Soshi, you're voices are getting too loud... But you guys are right. Ayanokouji, you could've prevented us from being treated like criminals, but you didn't. Do you how Haruki and I felt during that time?" asked Ike.

"Of course, not! You're the popular guy who gets everything he wants!" followed Yamauchi.

At this point, the remaining students inside the classroom listened intently. Some of the girls cringed at Yamauchi's bitter jealousy and blatant projecting.

"There's a reason why I hid it from you guys," I replied. "I needed to prevent Ryuuen from knowing the existence of these bugs as much as possible. He's the kind of guy who would use it without a care in the world. Given the past two special exams, could you imagine the advantage Class D would have if Ryuuen had access to those bugs? That's also the reason why I couldn't use the recordings as soon as I got them. I needed to make it sound like I used smartphones."

Since there were no metal detectors around, Ryuuen could've sneaked in a few bugs inside the deserted island. And while using phones during the Zodiac Exam wasn't prohibited, taking advantage of a bug's small size would make it easier to utilize.

"And for that purpose... you just let us go through all of that?"

"Through all of what, Yamauchi? The few students from Ryuuen's class who mocked you were just acting since they know the truth. You were treated like criminals? By whom? Everyone in our class knew that you guys were set up. And the incident never went public either so no one else knew what you guys were accused of," I explained.

With his argument shut down to the ground, Yamauchi could only grind his teeth in anger. Ike and the other two looked down with extremely bitter faces.

Well, since they went through all this effort to get chastized, I'll give them what they want.