The Superior Elite (Ongoing)

Chapter 10 : comfort

As I approach Class C, I notice that the atmosphere is tense. With the recent incident involving the accusation of Sudō's attack on three Class C students, they seem to be holding their breaths in anticipation.

As I meet with Ichinose, she looks at me with hopeful eyes, as if hoping that I can put an end to all this.

"Ichinose-san, don't worry. I'll make sure to clear this up for you and the others."

I turn to the three students who made the claim.

"Can you all tell me exactly what happened?"

The three students, having expected my arrival, seem a little nervous. They exchange glances, but none of them speaks up quite yet.

"Come on, let's hear it. What exactly did Sudō do?"

"Uh...well..."

One of the students begins to speak, but his voice trembles slightly. He looks away from me as he speaks.

"..I was just walking in the hallway, and Sudō suddenly grabbed my arm and slammed me against the wall."
Another student steps in to share his story.

"Sudō shoved me onto the ground and kicked me in the back. It hurt, and it left a bruise on my body."

The third student nods in agreement.
"Yeah, same thing happened to me. He punched me in the face before kicking me in the stomach."

Another student steps in to share his story.

"Sudō shoved me onto the ground and kicked me in the back. It hurt, and it left a bruise on my body."

The third student nods in agreement.
"Yeah, same thing happened to me. He punched me in the face before kicking me in the stomach."

I stay silent, patiently listening. After hearing the students' side of the story, it's clear that there is some truth to their allegations. However, I have my doubts that Sudō would do something so violent and reckless during school hours.

"Could you please describe the situation that led up to this incident?"

The students look at each other again, uncertain of what to say next.
Finally, one of them speaks up.

"Um, well, we...uh..."

He seems hesitant to continue, but I encourage him to go on by nodding my head.

"It's fine, just say it."

The student takes a deep breath, then proceeds to describe the events that led up to the alleged attack.

"Well, we were walking down the hallway when we spotted Sudō leaving class. He was alone, but we thought it would be funny to mess with him, so we started taunting him."

I silently listen as the students explain the context of the incident.

"We called him all kinds of names and made fun of him. When he didn't respond, we thought he was getting angry, so we kept going even deeper in our insults"

"We...we didn't think he would actually react," one of them ends with a sheepish chuckle.

It's clear now that this situation is not as simple as the students had originally described. While it's possible that Sudō overreacted by becoming physical, it was also entirely provoked by their actions. As a result, I make a decision on how to respond.

"So you admit that you were the ones who provoked him first, correct?"

"Well... yes."

The students nervously look down at the ground, not sure what to say in the face of my bluntness. I keep a stoic look as I continue to speak.