The rest of the walk to the special building was, thankfully, uneventful.
My little chat with Nagumo and Kiryuin gave me a significant piece of information: The Student Council would be presiding over the hearing for Sudo's case. That would mean that the final decision would probably rest in the hands of President Horikita.
And from what I know, the relation between Horikita Suzune and Horikita Manabu is strained.
This was problematic. Horikita would have been an important part of the discussion that would take place at the hearing. If Manabu was present as well, she would almost certainly falter. I do not know the past between the 2, but I can safely assume that Manabu does not view his sister in favorable light, while Suzune is trying her hardest to get into her brother's good books — by reaching Class A.
Oh well. I don't see why I should be bothered. It's in my best interest to not get involved between the 2 siblings. I'll give them the privacy they deserve.
When I made it back to the special building, I was greeted by the beautiful, serene woman which the grade calls Honami Ichinose, along with Ryuji Kanzaki. If I remember correctly, Kanzaki held a high position in Class B, sort of like second-in-command to Ichinose.
"Ahh~~ Takeyama-kun! Hello!", Ichinose was the one to greet me, as she bounced at my arrival. Cute.
"Good evening, Ichinose-san", I replied, "are you here to help us with our case?"
"We are", Kanzaki replied in place of her, "I'm Ryuji Kanzaki. Pleased to finally meet you, Takeyama-kun. It seems you're on quite good terms with Hoshinomi-"
"Yes, yes, indeed", I quickly butted in, "may I ask what you 2 are doing here? Have you found anything of interest?"
I could see Ichinose's smile falter. "No, nothing that we already haven't found, Takeyama-kun. It's already established that there are no cameras here, but other than that, we haven't found a single clue as to how we can save Sudo-kun. I've even asked Class B for support, but no one seems to have seen anything out of the ordinary. I'm sorry for not being able to help much."
"Don't be", I reassured her, "in fact, I'm extremely grateful that we've received support from Class B. Thank you."
"No, no, not at all! I'm glad you think of us that way, though", Ichinose said, with a slight tint of red on her cheeks.
Kanzaki's cellphone suddenly started to ring, and he excused himself to attend the call. Ichinose soon excused herself as well, and proceeded to head back along with Ryuji Kanzaki.
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(Shopping District; Ayanokoji, Kiyotaka POV)
The clerk at the department store was being kinda pushy, and I could see Sakura was a bit uncomfortable talking to him. He seemed overly enthusiastic. I don't think Kushida has noticed it yet. She, after all, gets attention like this all the time. But Sakura was a quiet girl who didn't stand out. She did not like this excess attention.
Sakura picked up the pen to write her contact and room number on the bill, but her hands suddenly stopped moving. She seemed to be thinking hard, or frozen in fear. She did not write for 5, 10, 15 seconds. Kushida had noticed by now, and she tried to ask Sakura what was wrong. But Sakura continued to stand there, motionless, looking at the paper with bulging eyes.
I sighed, and walked over to the counter and lightly grasped the pen from her hand. Sakura looked nervous, but gave me the pen. I wrote down my room number, and contact information.
"Hey, you're not the owner of the camera, are you? She is!", the clerk started complaining.
"Is it necessary for the owner to write down their details on this bill? It does not say so anywhere. I don't see what the problem is if I write down my room number and contact information. I want you to initiate contact on this number once the camera has been fixed."
The clerk was taken aback at my words, but did not say anything unnecessary. He reluctantly agreed to contact us once the camera was fixed, and we left the store.
Kushida excused herself to use the restroom, which left me and Sakura left waiting on the bench. The tension in the air was thick; you could probably cut it with a knife. Sakura was being fidgety, and had intertwined her fingers, and I could not possibly comprehend what she was planning to do with them.
There were several things about Sakura that I found out after our short outing. One was that she wore fake glasses. In normal power spectacles, there is a slight curvature of the lens for adjusting the focal length depending on how bad someone's eyesight is. However, her lens was straight, without any curvature. Her glasses were fake. Maybe she wore them to intentionally hide herself during conversations? That seemed to be the most probable outcome.
Another was Kushida staring hard at Sakura when we were on the way to the store. I had attributed it to the fact that she was watching out for her, but the incident on the rooftop flooded into my memory, and I immediately discounted that possibility. Did Kushida seem to recognize Sakura from somewhere? Her face bore the expression of recognition, but she could not recognize Sakura from anywhere. Neither could I, though. Were the fake glasses a disguise in that case? But who was she hiding her persona from? No one in the class had said anything about recognizing Sakura from before. Maybe it was the store clerk? He did seem to know her, after all.
My thoughts turned to the reason I was currently in this situation, Takeyama. He was most probably present during my confrontation with Kushida on the rooftop. I had noticed him looking in my direction when I was searching for Kushida that fateful night, to return her cellphone to her. I had sensed a presence behind the ajar door when Kushida had pinned me to the wall. I must say, he was extremely sneaky and shrewd. I wouldn't have noticed his presence if I hadn't seen him slowly follow me to the rooftop. Kushida almost had no chance of noticing him. It was almost as if he were trained to be stealthy and spy-like.
However, I was sure someone of the caliber of Takeyama would not just stand outside the door listening in to the conversation. Well, that was what I did as well, but our positions were drastically different. I could not have recorded the conversation even if I wanted to, and I was a bit careless to not turn on the recorder before I kicked open the door. He must have recorded the conversation, otherwise there would have been no point of him staying to listen in.
In other words, Takeyama has conclusive evidence of Kushida's double edged personality, and could use it any way he wants to manipulate her. Kushida was someone who valued social status, and the prospect of this recording leaking to the rest of the school would absolutely crush her position.
However, I knew Takeyama would not do that. There would be no point in taking unnecessary risks when there was a better way to handle the situation. Instead of openly defaming Kushida, Takeyama was using her.
I had already contacted Kushida at that point and asked for her help in gathering question papers from a senior student. I had asked her to let out the question paper exactly one day before the Midterms, since Sudo and the others were still lagging a bit in Horikita's study group. But Kushida distributed the papers 2 days before the test, clearly and brazenly against my intentions. She was being manipulated by Takeyama behind the scenes, being threatened by the recording that he possessed. Sudo might have passed without the need to spend points if Kushida had followed my schedule instead. I cannot blame Takeyama for that, though. He was not aware of the progress in Horikita's study group. Kushida also knew that out of me and Takeyama, she would listen to him, since he had the recording with him.
This was the information I had currently gathered on the student named Keisuke Takeyama. How much Takeyama knew about my involvement, however, was a mystery. He must have sensed that something was off. I hadn't done anything particular to stand out, so the chance that he suspects me to be behind the scenes as well would be low.
We'd have to eventually open up to each other. A possible collaboration with him would prove to be extremely beneficial to the class. But since he's stayed in the background for so long already, it seemed rather unlikely he would be coming out front-stage to lead Class D.
It looks like we share a lot more in common than I had anticipated.
I could see Kushida's figure returning to our bench, and I stood up to leave.
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The day of the hearing had arrived, and Horikita, Ayanokoji, Sudo and I were getting ready to head over to the meeting.
I hadn't shared the fact that the meeting would in fact be held in the Student Council Room. It wouldn't serve any purpose; it might even make Horikita unwilling to participate.
Chabashira-sensei led the way. I hadn't been to the Student Council Room before, but I was already briefly acquainted with all its members. I hadn't been to the third floor of the main building before either. This floor contained all the Third Year classes from A to D. The Council Room was right at the end of the hallway, overlooking the school grounds. A very neat location.
"Sensei, where is the meeting going to be held?", Horikita finally asked. She seemed to be getting restless from staying in the third floor for so long. Was the chance of running into her brother so bothersome and frightening to her? I really didn't understand.
"The Student Council Room". Horikita was visibly taken aback, and she shrunk at the thought of having to speak of the case in front of her brother. How troublesome.
"Yaho~~ Takeyama-kun, Ayanokoji-kun, Horikita-san!", I heard the cheerful voice of Honami Ichinose come from behind us.
"Hello, Ichinose-san. Come to support us?", I jokingly asked.
"Of course! I'm here for moral support! I don't think I'll be allowed into the meeting room itself, since I'm from neither of the 2 classes involved, but I'll be standing outside and awaiting your return!", she added warmly, and proceeded to lean back against the wall, adjusting herself to the scenario, humming a song to herself.
Chabashira-sensei goaded us to enter the Room. Ayanokoji swung open the door, and made his way in first. Horikita followed, and I entered next. Sudo was the last one in, and Chabashira-sensei closed the door behind us.
The Council Room, at first glance, looked well-furnished. There were changes made to the settings of the room to incorporate 2 opposing sides meeting. There were 3 long tables arranged in a rectangular fashion, with the Student Council President, Manabu Horikita, on the center table. Behind him was Secretary Tachibana, and to his right was Vice President Miyabi Nagumo. Nagumo gave me a sweet smile as I walked in, and I bowed in return.
The 3 students from Class C who had filed the complaint, Daichi Ishizaki, Kyogo Komiya and Reo Kondo were already seated on the table that had been assigned to them. Behind them was Class C's homeroom teacher, Kazuma Sakagami.
I felt Horikita Suzune tense up in front of me at the sight of her elder brother. Ayanokoji had already taken his seat, and I could see a certain reaction when his eyes met those of the elder Horikita's. Manabu had acknowledged Ayanokoji during his fight with him, and there was an air of tension slowly filling up the room. I took my seat to Ayanokoji's right, while Horikita to his left. Sudo sat to my right, and Chabashira-sensei stood behind us.
When everyone had settled in, Akane Tachibana cleared her throat, and began to explain the procedure.
"This meeting was called to deliver judgement to the victims of Class C, Daichi Ishizaki, Kyogo Komiya and Reo Kondo, who have accused Ken Sudo, Class D, to have beaten them in a one sided brawl one week prior to this meeting. The victim states that they were called to the special building by Ken Sudo after club activities, and were injured during a fight that broke out. Does anyone have any objections?"
I was surprised at how fast Sudo could lose his cool. "I wasn't the one who asked them to show up! They were the ones who called me to the special building!"
"No, it was Sudo!", Komiya butted in, "he called us to the second floor of the building after club activities that day and completely thrashed us. He's always been like that, and thinks just because he's better than us at basketball and he's a regular, he can harass us and do whatever he wants!"
"They're all lying! I had nothing to do with this!"
The tension in the room further escalated, and both sides seemed to have their own perspective of the way things went. The elder Horikita silently listened to both sides of the argument, while Nagumo seemed to be enjoying himself, and had crossed his legs over one another.
After the banter had quietened down, Tachibana started once again. "Both sides give conflicting views of how the incident panned out. This meeting is to decide which version of events is true. Class C states that the perpetrator, Ken Sudo, called them over to the special building and beat them in a one-sided fight. Class D, do you have any objections to this statement?"
Sudo opened his mouth to speak again, but I raised my right hand to stop him from doing so. I looked towards Horikita, and she was still cowering in her seat, unable to make eye contact with her brother. Looks like I'll have to go ahead with my points, then.
I cleared my throat to garner the attention of everyone in the room. A simple, yet effective strategy to focus all attention on yourself, even though I disliked the resulting eyes that would follow my every movement.
I stood up from my chair. "Secretary Tachibana, I have a few questions to ask Class C. May I?". Tachibana nodded, and I looked towards Class C.
"Firstly, I want to ask rather trivial questions. When did Sudo-kun call you to the special building?"
"It was last Thursday, after Club Activities. He called us out and said that he had something to talk to us about", Komiya said.
"I see. So this incident did happen after the Club Activities, did it not? In that case, why was Ishizaki-kun present at the crime scene? I was of the opinion that he wasn't involved in the basketball club."
"We-well, Sudo is known for his violent behavior, right? So, we brought Ishizaki along with us for insurance", Kondo fashioned a rather half-assed reply. Horikita-senpai seemed to have found this piece of information interesting, and he leaned forward on his chair to listen in closely.
"According to my sources, Ishizaki was quite the delinquent back in middle school. He was skilled and was experienced in fighting. Yet, having such a fighter on your side, you 3 managed to get beaten this easily by just one person. That doesn't fit in, does it?"
"It's not like that! We just didn't want to fight! We were against it from the very beginning!", Ishizaki cut in.
"Your reluctance to fight cannot be so severe that you purposely took hits from Sudo to leave you in such bad state", I continued with my verbal onslaught, drawing attention to Class C's battered and bruised faces, "it makes me think that this entire incident was a setup, a plan initiated by Class C to harm, and possibly expel, Ken Sudo."
"I wonder why you came to that conclusion, Takeyama", Sakagami-sensei spoke up, "their injuries are far from light. I would suggest looking into another point to enunciate your position. Self injuries are something that students of my class will not think of doing."
"I'm sorry, but why are speaking for your students, sensei? I do not think I asked you anything. I'd prefer that you remain silent. Sensei."
You could almost hear a pin drop in the silence that had engulfed the room. Sakagami-sensei looked too taken aback at my words, and Horikita was staring at me incredulously for mercilessly shooting down a teacher's points. I could see Nagumo thoroughly enjoying the situation behind his VP desk. Chabashira-sensei seemed pleased with my actions, and was snickering to herself at the back.
"Takeyama-kun, I think it is our duty as students to uphold and respect our teachers. Don't you think that was taken too far?", Tachibana asked me exasperatedly.
"I don't think so, Tachibana-senpai. The only inference I can gather from Sakagami-sensei's actions of defending his own students is that his students do not have the answers to my questions. I'd like to look at it in a manner that clearly states that Sakagami-sensei is covering for his students."
"Preposterous! Are all students in your Class D this rude, Chabashira?", Sakagami directed this question at Chabashira-sensei. Chabashira-sensei, however, just smiled at Sakagami-sensei, before speaking.
"Not at all. In fact, Takeyama-kun right here is one of the most respectable and well-mannered student at ANHS", I winced slightly at this unexpected compliment, "Sakagami-sensei, you must have said something extremely irrational to have irked this student of mine. I don't see any problem with his behavior, and it is justified."
Sakagami-sensei was completely shut down after this ordeal, and Tachibana motioned to me to continue speaking. I decided that I had done enough, and it was Horikita's turn to speak. She cannot hide forever in the shadows just because her precious Nii-Nii is watching.
I looked towards Horikita, expecting her to speak, but she caught my gaze and turned her eyes, away, refusing to get up and continue with the proceedings. Manabu looked like he was getting impatient, and Nagumo was still smiling devilishly to himself.
What happened after that was perhaps the funniest thing I had ever witnessed Ayanokoji do.
He pinched Horikita. Hard on the side of her stomach. Horikita yelped, trying to control her pain and laughter. Ayanokoji, however, did not give up, and relentlessly tortured her. Horikita was now almost on the verge of tears, holding back her muffled sobs and laughs. The entire Room was looking at the 2 with wide eyes, unable to comprehend why such a thing was taking place.
Ayanokoji stopped pestering Horikita, and she bent over down on the table, seemingly trying to regain her composure. All eyes in the room were currently on her. This was Ayanokoji's main intention from the beginning.
This made me all the more suspicious of Ayanokoji's actions. Why was he trying so hard to get Suzune Horikita acknowledged? I was 99% sure that Horikita was just the scapegoat; Ayanokoji is the real person behind the scenes. However, nothing interesting has happened as of yet, other than the fact that Sudo's Midterm expulsion was revoked. I had already attributed that as Ayanokoji's doing, and Horikita and he had just split the Private Points required to buy a point for Sudo's paper.
There was no point in exposing Ayanokoji, however. No one in class would believe me. Even if I gave them a detailed explanation as to why I thought Ayanokoji was the real thinker of Class 1-D, I doubt that most of them would be able to understand, and the explanation would just zoom over their heads. Yosuke and Chiaki might understand, but it was too much of a hassle to actually explain everything in detail. It might get hard to explain as well, since I cannot touch Kushida's alternate personality; I'm not even supposed to know about that.
My thought process was interrupted by Horikita finally beginning to speak.
"I'd like to add on to Takeyama-kun's point earlier. Ishizaki was known to be a good fighter back in his middle school days, and there is undisputable evidence supporting that fact. Yet, they were handily beaten by Sudo-kun. I feel that this is impossible to digest. Why did you not think of defending, Class C? Surely that wouldn't have been taken as an attack, and it would work in your favor as well."
"It's just like we said, we didn't want to fight Sudo! We were only there because he called us! None of us had any intention of scuffling!", Kondo protested.
Horikita now turned to the Council Table, directly facing her brother and VP Nagumo. "I've done my research well. During fights, if the numbers on either side are lopsided, it makes it exponentially harder to win the fight, no matter how strong your opponent is. A 3 vs 1 fight hardly makes it fair for Sudo, which leads me to the conclusion that Class C is staging their injuries."
Before Komiya could open his mouth to retort, the elder Horikita silenced him with a fierce rap on the desk.
"Also, Class D has someone who can testify the incident. We have a witness."
You could almost see Class C's mouths fall down to the floor. Looks like Sakura Airi had indeed testified and confirmed that she would be willing to be a witness.
The door the the Council Room opened, and a very timid Sakura Airi walked into the Room , her head hung low, and she proceeded to sit down on the chair provided in the center of the formation. You could clearly see the apprehension and fear starting to glint in the eyes of the Class C students. Looks like they weren't expecting an actual witness to show up.
"The witness is Sakura Airi, Class 1-D. Is that correct?", Tachibana asked.
"Ye-ye-yes." Her voice was low, almost a whisper, and she instinctively clasped her hands together and tried to melt away into her chair. Sakura had probably never been forced to talk in front of so many people, and she was terrified at the prospect of having to speak more than she already had.
"The witness is someone from Class D? That is rather conspicuous, don't you think, Horikita-senpai?", Nagumo had finally spoken, but it looks like he'd be taking Class C's side on this matter. Not that it mattered. It was fairly obvious he would try and test me; check whether I would be able to talk my way out of the situation. The President remained silent, indicating his intention of being neutral throughout the entire procedure. This man had earned my respect.
"I don't see that as particularly surprising, Nagumo-senpai", I started, "in all due respect, the probability that the witness is from Class D is not any lower than it should be for the rest of the classes. The fact that Sakura-san is from Class D does not hold any value once conclusive proof that she was present at the crime scene at the time of the incident is shown, am I correct?"
"Hmm, an interesting theory you've got there, kouhai", Nagumo replied casually, leaning back into his chair, "it would certainly make no difference which class the witness belongs to if they have proof. Do you have proof that you were present at the scene during the altercation, Sakura Airi?"
Sakura shifted nervously in her chair. Dozens of eyes were now watching her every move, and hearing her every word. She remained silent, not responding to Nagumo's question.
"Well?" Nagumo seemed to be enjoying teasing Sakura. "Do you have any conclusive evidence?"
It would be best if I did not speak for now. Speaking for the witness, especially considering the fact that she belonged to Class D, would end up having the opposite effect on the panel. Sakura must speak up by herself now, or we couldn't possibly hope to proceed with the case. No, we had already lost out on our advantage once Nagumo repeated his question. Repetition is viewed in same light as hesitance, and it could have a slight impact on our chances of winning the case.
"Looks like the witness is unable to provide any suitable justification, Horikita-senpai~", Nagumo said cheerfully. "Can we assume that this witness is a false alibi prepared by Class D to help them in their case? How tragic. It seems that Class D has resorted to rather lowly methods to obtain results."
Nagumo mercilessly started attacking Class D. I could see Horikita visibly frustrated, Sudo would have already exploded had I not stopped him, and Ayanokoji also had a rather annoyed face. Well, not exactly annoyed, but his eyebrows were a bit scrunched. You couldn't really tell the difference.
"I was there! I saw it!"
One sentence was enough to silence the ranting Nagumo. All eyes turned towards the pink haired girl who had spoken up properly for the first time in the room.
"I was there, I saw everything! Class C provoked Sudo-kun to attack them! And Sudo did not hurt them this badly!"
"But their injuries say otherwise, Sakura", Horikita Manabu had finally spoken, "can you explain that?"
"I - I don't know about that. But I'm sure that Sudo-kun did not hurt them!"
"We still do not know if she is telling the truth. Do you have evidence that you were present during the scuffle?"
She slowly nodded, and groped around in her bag, searching for something. She took out her camera, the one that had been repaired alongside Ayanokoji and Kushida.
"The - there are photos. Proof that I - I was th-there."
Tachibana turned off the light in the room, and switched on the projector for everyone to see the photos.
What we saw was surprising. The camera had several photos of Sakura, without her eyeglasses, in various poses. It appeared she had been taking pictures for a very long time now. Several pictures looked private as well, with Sakura in rather skimpy clothing. She shied away into her chair, unable to lift her head in embarrassment. We soon reached the pictures that were taken on the day of the incident. She indeed was a witness to the event, and she had some snaps from the fight itself, with the 3 Class C boys arguing about something with Sudo.
"What is the credibility of these photos?", Nagumo started once again, "it is written that they were taken on the day of the fight, but these are photos, not videos. Photos cannot possibly tell us anything about who started the fight, or how Sudo and Class C handled the situation."
"Quit messing around", Sudo had finally blown a fuse, "I didn't do anything! Everything that Class C has said until now are all lies! They're all trying to frame me! Don't you get it!?"
This accusation had sparked some sort of resentment in the Class C boys, and they argued back with the same logic, stating they were innocent. This exchange continued for a while, and almost instantly ceased when the President rapped his hand on the desk. Such authority was truly admirable.
"Both sides have said everything they can regarding this case. I shall extend the deadline to tomorrow. Any other witness or proof shall be given then, and the final decision shall be taken, keeping in mind all discussion that had taken place today. The session is adjourned for today."
The sudden ending to the meeting had brought about temporary relief to Class D. Nagumo was making it much worse, and he was bent on putting as much pressure on me as he could. It was irritating, but knowing that we would win the case anyways tomorrow, I chuckled internally and headed out of the Council Room.
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"Takeyama-kun! Ayanokoji-kun! Horikita-san! How did it go?", Ichinose pranced to us in her usual friendly manner, dissipating all tension that had been weighing in on us since we left the room.
"The Council hasn't come to a decision yet. It's been adjourned until tomorrow.", Ayanokoji replied rather matter-of-factly.
"Aww, that's too bad. I had really hoped everything would go well , but it looks like it was delayed, eh? Hopefully everything will be settled tomorrow then!", Ichinose replied with a smile.
We nodded, and Ichinose left to return to her classroom. As I was about to leave, I was stopped by Vice President Miyabi Nagumo. In the corner of my peripheral vision, I saw Manabu Horikita also stopping to talk to Ayanokoji.
"Ahh~~ kouhai, you've rather disappointed me today.", he stated with a mocking voice, "surely you could have done better than that?"
"I did the best I could do, senpai", I replied, "it seems I'm no match for you when it comes to debates, Vice President."
"No, no, don't go downgrading yourself like that, you won't survive in this school if you do so. I was, in fact, impressed at the points you had come up with. Very crisp. The discussion was dangerously tilting on either side. I cannot possibly wait to hear of the outcome tomorrow."
Nagumo lifted his right arm, and put it around my neck again, almost as if we were close friends who had known each other for years. I could see Ayanokoji staring at us, but he did not ask anything. He was in a similar situation as well, and Manabu had raised his left arm against the wall, pinning Ayanokoji to answer an inaudible question.
"What plan do you have to secure victory in this tense situation, kouhai?"
I looked up at Nagumo. He was staring at me with inquisitive eyes, eyes that questioned every move. He looked like he wanted an answer.
"I do not know what you mean by that, senpai, but I will try my best to not disappoint you tomorrow."
Nagumo frowned at my reply.
"It's just as Kiryuin says. You're too well-mannered. There's no point in asking anymore questions regarding this topic, I assume. It's been nice talking to you, kouhai. I sincerely hope you do well tomorrow."
With that, Nagumo turned around and walked away towards the Third Year Classrooms.
Ayanokoji was also done with Manabu's interrogation session, and he joined me to walk back to the classroom, neither of us commenting on the unexpected attention we were getting from our seniors.
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A/N's:
A longer chapter to compensate for the slower update! Do you guys prefer longer chapters with more gap in between publishing, or shorter chapters with regular updates? I honestly think the longer chapters will be better, it increases the plot progress considerably, and it's easier to write them as well.
The next chapter might be a bit late, but no worries! It'll definitely be out within 2-3 days.
And guys. No way.
How did this even happen?? You guys are insane. We're literally #2 on classroomoftheelite. This is absolutely crazy. Thank you for your support!
Cheers.
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