Author's note: Sorry if you find a spelling mistake
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We were in the cafeteria while we watched the students buy their meals, the position we were in was the best place to observe the people who come to eat in the cafeteria.
The reason we were in the cafeteria was to see if the three students from class 2-C were here. I knew who the students were and had memorized their faces back then, but it would probably be suspicious if I searched for them alone... without having "known their faces".
That is why I had brought Sudō with me so that he could point out to me which students had "falsely" accused him, but why search the cafeteria of all the places?... Because it was one of the busiest places in the school, aside from the mall. There is also the fact that everyone is dropping out of their respective classes because we were taking a short break.
It was lunchtime right now, so the probability that all three students are in the cafeteria is very high. Although there is a possibility that the people you were looking for made their own lunch or a meal bought from the convenience store.
"What are we doing standing in this place?" Sudō asked when he started to get impatient "Why weren't we looking for clues instead?"
"Can you recognize the students who accused you, Sudō?" I asked.
"What kind of question is that? I will never forget the faces of those lying bastards."
"That's good, now I want you to look for them among all these people in the cafeteria"
"Eh?" Sudō didn't understand the reason why I told him to look for them, but he also started looking for the students among all the people who were eating.
I turned my head as I searched for them only to find them before Sudō.
I sighed, I guess I'll have to speed this up
"Sudō," I called him, gaining his attention,
"Are those?" I nodded towards some random students.
"No, they are not"
"Those over there"
"Not"
"How about those?"
"No ... wait if it's them, it's the bastards accused me"
"Well follow me"
Instead of going directly to the students, we went in the direction of the machine to buy food. I ordered the most expensive food that was in the machine. The machine gave me the ticket, I took it, and then went directly in the line where the people were to exchange the purchased food.
Before the food was delivered, I took out my cell phone, with one hand grabbed the tray ... put some force on my fingers to easily hold the tray with one hand while using my cell phone with the other.
I opened the camera app, started walking towards the three students with Sudō looking confused by what he was doing, but I didn't give him an explanation as to what was doing.
Just as we were about to get to the table where the three students were chatting, I changed direction while taking pictures of them. The angle at which I placed the cell phone I did it to get a perfect shot of all three. Where you could see their faces perfectly while they were chatting.
Then went in the direction of the real objective had in mind, it was a student of class 2-D ... this student would surely have faced class 2-C in a special exam, so I was sure that at least he would have the information you were looking for.
I sat facing the person as I put the tray with the most expensive food in the cafeteria on the table.
"Hey Ayanokōji, what are we doing sitting here?" Sudō asked me in confusion, but from his tone, I could tell that he had a stapes of anger at the thought that he was joking or irritated because he didn't even know what was going on.
Ignored it while focusing on the person I wanted to talk to. "What you're eating shouldn't be very tasty, right senpai?"
"What do you want? If you've come to tease you better go" senpai said with slight anger as she looked at my food. He was about to get up and leave, but I stopped him.
"If you listen to me, maybe I can give you my gratitude," I said while pushing my silver of food towards senpai.
Senpai looked at the food suspiciously before accepting it.
"Well I'm listening"
Showed him my cell phone where he could see the faces of the students in class 2-C.
"I want you to tell me everything you know about them, in return I will give you 10,000 points"
Sudō seemed surprised by my proposal.
"Do you even know what you're talking about?"
"It's nothing against the rules, otherwise you wouldn't have stayed to listen to me in the first place, right?" I answered, "Also not as if I was asking you to tell me their secrets, I just want to know if they are in a club, the hobbies they have, their names, what places they frequent, simple things, do you understand?"
Sudō just stared at our conversation in amazement, the way I spoke was so that people would understand me perfectly about what I was trying to say.
"Well, I understand you. I don't fully know him, but I can tell you what you are looking for. You will have to pay first, though."
"Good then" I turned to Sudō, I wasn't going to be spending points. Also, he should have enough points to be able to pay, I just hope he learns the lesson about his actions "Sudō pay him, your actions were what led you to this in the first place, if you had ignored the provocations of the students, this would not have happened"
"Yes, I understand" Sudō reluctantly took out his cell phone "how do you transfer the points?"
"Let me do it"
Sudō handed me the cell phone, while I handed in the 10,000 points, I showed Sudō how we could send credit to other students.
When we paid the points, the senpai told us everything he knew about them. When we were about to leave together with Sudō a voice sounded from the school's speakers.
"Today at 5 pm in gym # 1, there will be a club fair. For those interested in clubs, please come to gym # 1."
Recognized the voice, it was Tachibana-senpai's. Then she repeated the announcement.
"Sudō, you are planning to join a club, right?"
"Yes, I plan to join the basketball club, but I'm not sure I can get in if my case is not solved," Sudō said in a depressed tone.
"At the moment we have collected enough information" I looked at my cell phone to know what time of day was "we should probably go back to the classroom the bell is about to-"
Before I could finish my sentence I was interrupted by the sound of the bell marking the end of the break.
With that, we both returned to the classroom.
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Immediately after classes ended, the teacher left the classroom.
"Horikita-"
"Not"
Really, I'm trying to be nice you know? You could at least pretend you're a little considerate about it, you know it doesn't matter.
"Also since you know my name, I don't remember telling you"
"Since you weren't willing to give me your name, I read it on your nameplate on your table" I replied.
"So you are invading my privacy, are you some kind of pervert?" she glared at me.
"The last time I checked knowing the name of a person did not make them a pervert, also I do not think your name counts as privacy since it is something general that people should know, even if you did not tell me your name I could hear it from another person"
"You-"
"Anyway" I interrupted her before she could say anything "You didn't even know what I was going to say, but you rejected me immediately".
"You were going to ask about the clubs right, it is easy to guess from the expression of few friends on your face ... then let me clarify that I am not interested in the clubs"
"Just because you have no interests in the clubs does not mean you will not participate"
"That's a frivolous argument. Don't make this kind of useless talk" she paused a little before continuing "Besides I thought you would help your friend with his little case" Horikita scoffed.
The sarcastic comment could be detected miles away.
"I wouldn't worry about Sudō's case," I replied.
"You probably realized it was useless, right?" Horikita "I don't understand why you help him in the first place, I told everyone that he had started the fight, I don't see how that was in self-defense"
"I never said I had given up, I said there was no need to worry"
"... What do you mean by that?" She narrowed her eyes on me.
"Exactly what I said, since you are an intelligent person you would probably find out for yourself, right?"
Before she could fight back with another argument I was saved by Yōsuke and his group of girls.
"Kiyotaka-Kun, do you want to go with us to the club fair?"
"Oh, Yōsuke. It's a perfect time. I was thinking of asking you too."
I looked at Horikita. Although she did a good job of hiding it, I could see that she was a bit surprised that someone as popular as Yōsuke had invited someone like me to lunch, there was also the fact that we had called each other by my first name.
I gave him a small mocking smile, making Horikita's eyebrow twitch in irritation.
"This is the way things are, Seatmate-chan, " I joked.
Horikita flinched at being called the Seatmate-chan again, she got up from her seat to be able to leave the classroom, but Yōsuke stopped her to invite her to the club fair, making the girls join in inviting her, but Horikita coldly rejected them.
Now that I was thinking about it, the second day of classes had had enormous changes from the previous timeline, he remembered that at lunch Kushida had stopped him to help her regarding Horikita.
As we were about to head to the club fair, another voice stopped me. One that I recognized perfectly and have been waiting forever since Sudō's case was presented to the class.
"Ayanokōji-Kun, can I have a moment?"
The person who had called me was Kushida. She was chatting with other 1-D class girls, Inogashira, Mii-chan, and Maezono, but seeing me she had interrupted the conversation so she could talk to me.
"Sure, just give me a moment Kushida-san"
I'd rather avoid Kushida right now because she had allied with my father to expel me from school and endanger my peaceful life. Even after what she did, I was never upset with her. Now I had the opportunity to make her my ally. Kushida was quite valuable to the class, the secrets she would get about other students in the school would be too useful.
Besides, I hadn't asked her if she knew the students who had reported to the school because she would start to ask me what reasons I had for wanting to know about them... It was a problematic situation that I preferred to avoid.
I approached Yōsuke along with his group.
"You can go ahead, Yōsuke. I'll catch up with you after talking to Kushida."
"It's okay, Kiyotaka. We can wait for you."
"I agree, we have no problem waiting for you," Matsushita said.
"Hmph, you better hurry up," Kei commented.
"Yeah, Yeah"
Several girls agreed to wait... I was a bit surprised by this fact, but it was cool to see that I was making more friends than in the previous line... Being popular was weird, I just hope I haven't made all the girls fall in love.
I got away from them so I could go to a secluded place where they wouldn't hear our conversation, then motioned for Kushida to come closer. She easily understood what was trying to tell her.
"I'm Kushida, we are in the same class. Do you remember my name?"
"Sure, I remember your name perfectly. What do you need from me?"
"Actually ... I'd like to ask you something. It's a small question, but Ayanokōji-Kun, by any chance, are you on good terms with Horikita-san?"
"I wouldn't say we're close. At best, we're just acquaintances. Why? Did she do something?"
It seems that the conversation was going to take the same course, although there were small differences in my words.
"Oh, I see. Weren't you getting along on the first day of school? I asked everyone, one by one, for their contact information, but ... Horikita refused to tell me."
"I guess it's something Horikita would do."
"Also, on the day of the entrance ceremony, weren't you talking in front of the school?"
She was on the bus too. So it was normal that she had seen us, but I would not say it was a conversation ... In fact, like her wanting to insult me.
"What kind of personality does Horikita have? Is she the kind that only talks to her friends?"
"Let's calm down for a few moments Kushida, I can't answer your questions because I don't know Horikita properly"
It was a lie that I knew Horikita perfectly. Had known her for four years, but couldn't tell her that. You probably wouldn't believe that I travel back in time to a past time, the first logic that people would come to is that they knew her long before. Also, if people found out that I knew Horikita perfectly, but she didn't know me even a little. Would probably call me a stalker.
A name came to mind.
"I see, but during the introductions, Horikita-san left the room, right? It seemed like she wasn't talking to anyone, so I was worried about her."
"I understand why you're worried, but I hardly talk to Horikita much" I replied "You still want to try to get along with her, right?"
"Yes, I want to be able to get along with everyone at school, that's why I was worried that Horikita wouldn't make any friends, surely it must be sad to be alone"
"Well I'll try to do what I can to help you"
"Really" Kushida closed the distance between us and grabbed my hands while giving me a too cute look... was going to die of diabetes, it was probably just Kushida. joke in my mind
"Sure, but in exchange for you to help me with Sudō's case" I replied.
"Sudō? You mean the guy who was going to be expelled because he was falsely accused"
"Exactly, it's not a very difficult favor to do," I told her as separated from her so could take out my cell phone, I opened my photo gallery and showed the photo of the students in class 2-C "Do you think you can convince them to come to the special building today at 10:00 pm? " asked.
"Eh? Why do you want them to go to that place?" Kushida asked me still with that smile.
"Well I want to negotiate with them, fortunately, I am good at bargaining so I could talk to them so that they come to their senses and do not unfairly expel Sudō" I explained. "Also, don't you think it would be unfair for Sudō to be expelled when he is just starting school?"
"I also think it would be unfair to Sudō-Kun," Kushida said "Okay, then we should exchange contacts, so we can let you know if I can do it"
"Great, Thanks Kushida"
"Okay, I wanted to help Sudō too, but I didn't know how... so if I can help them avoid the expulsion I would gladly help" Kushida still had that smile shining... How did her cheeks not hurt from smiling so much?
We then exchanged our contact information and we both headed to our respective groups. In the end, Yōsuke and Kushida's group were heading to the club fair.
I was sure that Kushida would manage to convince them that they went to the special building. Because he was sure those three would be at the club fair where Kushida would meet them.
Everything is going according to plan.