' ': Writing
' ': Sign language
When lunchtime arrived, Kushida asked me, "Do you want to go to lunch?" A smile was on her face.
I did have a choice in the matter, but it would bring back terrible feedback if I were to deny the class angel. I shook my head, got up, and left the classroom.
Cafeteria
I was sitting by myself at an empty table, eating my bento, when I heard a tray getting placed in front of me. Looking up from my bento, I saw Horikita with a severe expression.
Wasn't she going to eat lunch with Kushida, Ayanokouji, Sudou, Ike, and Yamauchi? Why is she here?
Horikita sat and spoke, "Kagaurazaka-kun, you were witness to Sudou's fight," she stated.
I didn't hint at her about being there to witness it, "If you're wondering how I know, it's because Sakura-san was staring right at your back."
'What do you want?'
"I'm wondering if you're going to help out," she said.
I shook my head.
There was no reason for me to get involved with this. I didn't have any evidence on me, and my words won't mean a thing. Even if I saw the fight, I didn't have evidence to back it up.
"Hmm, it looks like we have the same idea," Horikita said before eating her food.
I'm having difficulty believing that Horikita will stay out of the matter. She was willing to form a study group for the idiot trio.
After School
I was going for a walk when I noticed a commotion going on at the gym. I would ignore it when I saw it was Hirata and the girls. I saw Hirata being held by his collar by a young man with green hair.
I could cause a stir.
I grabbed a basketball and aimed at the person holding Hirata's collar. I threw the ball and hit the guy's head, causing him to loosen his grip.
Hirata was free from him and looked at me with wide eyes.
"You! Did you throw this at me?!" The green-haired guy yelled, holding the basketball.
I shrugged.
"Bastard, I'm going to hit you ten times harder!" He yelled, throwing the basketball as hard as he could.
I stepped to the side, and the ball whizzed by me. I looked back at the basketball before looking at the young man. He seemed even more furious as his plan to get revenge wasn't a success. With a tight grip, he marched over to me and grabbed me by the collar.
"I'm going to beat your ass!" He declared.
"Hey, stop that!" Mori made her way over, glaring at him with her hands on her hips.
It was too sudden when he tried to slap Mori's face as she stood beside me. She almost got hit, but I grabbed the young man's wrist.
Hmm, what if I put pressure right here?
The green-haired guy let go of my collar and fell to one knee. I released his wrist and stared him down.
I wasn't expecting things to go this way, but it looked like I had to use force. A sigh escaped my lips as I started walking away.
I would continue walking, but I wanted to return to my room.
Mori's POV
I thought I would get slapped in the face, but Kagurazaka intercepted and caught the green-haired guy's wrist. He saved me from getting hit in the face...
He even brought the guy down to one knee somehow...
Next day
Ayanokouji's POV
The class was temporarily excited but quickly returned to reality. Like yesterday, they were trying to get information about witnesses.
On the other hand, I was standing in the back of a room like a ghost, feeling admiration for Ike's group and Kushida for being able to converse back and forth casually.
Evidently, I couldn't search for witnesses since I struggled to communicate effectively. How can these people converse so effortlessly with strangers? They must be courageous.
I even heard about one of the victims that Sudou assaulted had a confrontation with Hirata. It seemed Kagurazaka stepped in to deal with it. He even defended Mori from getting slapped in the face.
During the investigation, the team collected names and requested contact addresses. Kushida's presence may have encouraged some individuals to provide their addresses immediately upon request. However, no valuable information was gained despite Kushida and her group's efforts to inquire with all upper-level students in the second-year classrooms. As time passed, potential leads dwindled as more students left school. Eventually, we ended our search for the day when we stopped encountering other students.
"We didn't find anything today either..."
To revise our strategy, everyone returned to my room. I wish the meeting weren't in my room, but what can I do about it? They all have duplicate keys to my room.
"What happened today? Was there any progress made?"
"Sadly, no progress was made. Sudou, was there a witness?'
I understand Ike's feelings of doubt. Even after the school reported the same information, there was no indication that a witness existed.
"Hah? I never said that there was a witness. I only said that I thought there was a witness."
"Is... is that so?"
"Certainly, Sudou-kun didn't say 'I saw.' He said that he thought someone was there."
"Couldn't that just have been a hallucination? You must be doing some strong drugs."
Sudou put Ike in a headlock.
"Hey...! I give, I give!"
While the two fooled around, Kushida and Yamauchi were still puzzled.
After the discussion continued for ten minutes, Kushida spoke up, having come up with a new idea.
"I think it might be better to change the direction of our efforts. For example, let's look for a witness that might've witnessed the incident."
"Look for a witness that witnessed the incident. Isn't that useless?"
"Are you going to look for the people who entered the building that day?"
"Yeah. What do you think?"
The idea is decent. Although multiple individuals may have entered the premises that day, the entrance is conspicuous. Therefore, if anyone claims to have witnessed an individual entering the distinct building, it could aid in our search for the witness.
"That sounds like a good idea. Let's do that immediately."
Sudou could not take action in the current situation, but Ike and Yamauchi appeared displeased. Despite this, they chose not to voice their discontent out of fear of Sudou's potential retaliation. Both individuals remained quiet, acting as though they had not witnessed anything.
It's almost Friday already. It'll not be easy to get anything useful on the weekend. In other words, the time to find a witness is very short.
The bell rang, and a visitor appeared at my door.
The small group of people regularly visiting my room had already gathered, so it was probably that person.
"Has progress been made?" Horikita asked condescendingly.
She knew the answer, so I didn't understand why she was asking.
"Not yet..."
"I'm only saying this because it's you, but I have something..."
As she spoke, she suddenly noticed many shoes arranged neatly at the entrance. She quickly turned around, trying to suppress her rising sense of panic.
Kushida popped out, probably worried that she would head back quickly.
"Oh, Horikita-san!" Kushida waved at Horikita with a smile. Looking at her cheerful attitude, Horikita naturally let out a sigh.
"You can't run now, you know?"
"Seems that way..." Horikita entered the room reluctantly.
"O-Oh, Horikita!" Of course, Sudou was the happiest to see her.
He paused his game and looked up, "Did you decide to help? I'm glad you decide to join."
"I don't intend to help. After all, you haven't found the witness yet, right?"
Kushida nodded dejectedly, "If you didn't come to help, why'd you come?"
"I was wondering what you guys had in plan," Horikita stated.
"I'm happy even if you're only going to listen to the plan. I also wanted advice," Kushida explained a plan she had devised to Horikita, but Horikita remained expressionless throughout the explanation.
"It's not a bad plan. It might even produce results with enough time."
Time is the issue here. It's doubtful if we'll be able to finish anything in the few days remaining.
"Now that I've checked up on the situation, I'll be leaving," Horikita decided to leave without even sitting down.
"Did you think of something?"
When she was standing at the door earlier, she had something to say.
She's not that amicable to have come to my room for no reason.
"I'll give one piece of advice to help your weak efforts. After all, it's hard to see what's right in front of you. If someone witnessed the incident, then that person is most likely close by."
She paused, "There are two people."
Horikita's information was much more significant than I thought it would be.
"What do you mean, Horikita? Are you saying you found the witness?" Surprise and doubt came first before joy for Sudou. It's understandable.
Everyone, including me, was in disbelief until she replied.
"Sakura-san and Kagurazaka-kun," the unexpected names came from Horikita.
"Sakura-san, from our class...?"
Yamauchi and Sudou exchanged bewildered glances, seeming unsure of who Sakura was. I, too, had to pause and consider her identity for a moment so it was understandable.
"Why do you say that?"
"When Kushida-san was asking the class for witnesses, she looked down. Many students were looking at Kushida-san, but she was the only one who looked uninterested before she stared at Kagurazaka-kun's back. She wouldn't have acted that way if she was unrelated to the incident," Horikita explained.
I didn't notice at all. Horikita's powers of observation are awe-inspiring.
"So, you're saying that this Sakura person and Kagurazaka are probably the witnesses," Sudou said.
"No, they are both the witnesses. Kagurazaka-kun confirmed it for me, but he said nothing else."
Horikita was acting like her usual self.
"Did you do this for my sake...?!" Sudo seemed moved.
"Nope. I didn't want to waste this time and look shameful to the other classes. That's all," that sounds right coming from her.
"Um, in short, you're saying you helped us, right?"
"You can interpret it however you want, but I'm just saying you're wrong."
Horikita is acting like a tsundere.
"Don't lie~. You're just a tsundere, Horikita~."
I'm glad I didn't speak my thoughts out loud because Ike playfully hit Horikita's shoulder; she grabbed his arm and threw him to the ground.
"Ouch!"
"Don't touch me. There better not be a next time because I'll despise you until we graduate."
"I-I won't touch... even if I tried to touch... Ow, ow!"
She pinned him down in a headlock. Unfortunately, he deserved it.
At any rate, those weren't the movements of an ordinary girl. Since her older brother does karate and aikido, does she do martial arts too?
"My a-arm...!"
"Ike-kun," Horikita talked to Ike, who was on the floor in pain.
Isn't this overkill? No, I shouldn't say anything, or I might end up on the floor next.
"Should I revise it to, 'Despising you until we graduate won't cut it?'" Horikita suggested.
"So cruel...!" Those final words defeated Ike.
But Sakura, huh... Of all people, it was a class D student.
Kagurazaka is also surprised. Does he know Sakura?
It's hard to say whether or not this is a good thing.
"Isn't that great, Sudou? If it is Class D students, we have a testimony!"
"Yeah, I'm happy that there are witnesses, but who is this Sakura person? Do you know her?"
"Are you being serious? She sits right behind you."
"No, that's wrong. She's diagonally in front of you to the left, right?"
"Both of you are wrong... she's diagonally in front of Sudou-kun to the right,"
Kushida corrected them with a pout.
"Diagonally in front to the right... I don't remember. I do know that there is someone, though."
This girl, Sakura, certainly doesn't stand out. It's a big problem that we don't know who she is.
It does help that we also have Kagurazaka as a witness, but I don't think he would be willing to testify.
"I probably know her, but I don't exactly know where I've heard her name."
"Tell us what she looks like."
"Well, would it help if I said she has the biggest boobs in the class? Excessively big, you know?" I regret asking.
"Oh, that plain glasses girl, huh?"
How'd you understand just that...?
"It's bad to remember people like that, Ike-kun. That's pathetic."
"N-No, it's different, Kushida-chan. I'm not trying to be offensive. Do you know how you might remember a tall person by their height? It's just like that! The only difference is that I remember other people by a different characteristic...!" Ike tried to smooth over the situation when Kushida quickly lost faith in him. But it's too late.
"Damn it! It's different; it's different! I don't like a plain girl like her! Don't misunderstand!"
I don't think there are any misunderstandings here.
Everyone else shifted the topic towards Sakura as Ike broke down crying.
"Then the next step is to find out how much Sakura-san knows. Does anyone know?"
"Hmm, I'm not sure. We'll have to ask her directly."
"We could ask Kagurazaka-kun, but I don't think he's going to tell us anything," I said.
"Can't we go to her room right now? We don't have much time," Yamauchi proposed.
Sakura is very shy. If strangers suddenly appeared at her doorstep, she would be confused.
"Then should we call her?"
It turns out that Kushida has everyone's contact information in the class. She was on the phone briefly before shaking her head and putting the phone away.
"No, it didn't connect. I'll try again later, but it's a difficult matter."
"What do you mean?"
"She shared her contact information, but I hesitated to contact her since we are not well acquainted, and she may not have been available to answer the phone."
She might also be pretending to be gone.
"So she's kinda like Horikita?"
I don't understand why you suggest that in front of the person herself, Ike.
She probably wouldn't mind. Instead, it didn't seem like she was interested in what Ike was saying either.
"Goodbye."
"Horikita-san."
Looking like she was caught off guard, Horikita quickly stood and walked towards the door. By the time I got up and chased after her, I heard the sound of the door closing.
"Tsundere."
Sudou looked happy as he laughed, scratching his nose with his index finger.
She doesn't have Tsun, nor does she have Dere. I think she's a lost cause...
Since we couldn't do anything about Horikita's absence, the conversation continued without her.
"I think Sakura-san's just a shy person. That's the impression I get from her."
It's strange to talk about a person's character without ever talking to them.
"Anyway, she's plain. It's a complete waste of what she has."
While talking, Yamauchi gestured towards his breasts.
"Yeah, yeah. Her boobs are super big, though. That's cute by itself!" Ike seems to have forgotten the regret he felt a few seconds ago and started getting excited.
Ah, Kushida's smile was strained. Ike regretted his words, noticing. This exemplifies repeating mistakes.
The problem is that even though I'm staying quiet, I feel I'm getting treated the same way as Ike and Yamauchi. Kushida's expression seems to say, "You're also obsessed with the boobs, right? You pervert."
Of course, this is my persecution complex.
"Um, about Sakura's face... Nope, don't remember anything."
I can barely match the name to the face. I remember seeing her face back when we were making the bets. I also remember her breasts, though. Somehow, it seems like I'm just the same as the others...
Sakura gives the impression that she would always be alone and hunched over.
"Wait, wait a second... Yamauchi, you said that you confessed to her before, right? Were you able to talk to her?"
Oh, right, Yamauchi did say that he confessed.
"Ah, ah. Well, I don't remember if I did such a thing."
Yamauchi pretended to have forgotten.
"Was it a lie...?"
"Bah. No, I wasn't lying. It was a misunderstanding. It wasn't Sakura; it was a girl from the neighboring class. A girl who isn't as ugly and gloomy as Sakura. Oh, sorry, give me a sec."
Yamauchi dodged the question and took out his phone.
It looks like Yamauchi lied his way out of that one.
Sakura is not conventionally attractive, but she has lovely facial features. However, her presence is very subtle, making it hard to judge confidently.
"First, I'll try to talk to her by myself tomorrow. She might be wary if there are a lot of people."
"That sounds good."
If Kushida can't get through to her, we might have to ask Kagurazaka for help... Let's hope he is willing to help.