'Italic': Notebook
'AI voice': Phone
I chased after Sakura. I thought Horikita went to the dorms, but I ran into her.
"Kagurazaka-kun, can we talk?" Horikita asked.
I shook my head as I tried to get past her, but she blocked my path.
This was not the time for her to be stubborn.
I'm sorry, Horikita.
I shoved her out of the way and continued chasing after Sakura.
As I approached her, Sakura wasn't far ahead of me, startling her, "K-Kagurazaka-kun..."
'I don't think that's what you wanted to say. Come on, let's head back to your room and talk.'
Sakura didn't say anything but nodded, lowering her head.
Sakura's room
I was relaxing on her couch while she sat beside me, scrolling through her phone. I patiently waited for her to tell me what it was. She held her phone to me but avoided eye contact as her hand trembled slightly.
I took Sakura's phone to see what she wanted to show me. She was showing me blog comments.
I checked out what Sakura was doing on her phone, and she was reading blog comments.
Post # 13: No Subject
You're as cute as ever! This one's more mature, which I think makes you even prettier. Shizuku-chan, your smile keeps me going every day! Please keep it up.
Post # 12: Hello
It's been so lonely lately without your updates! I'm still cheering for you! I'm looking forward to the next update.
Post # 11: No Subject
At last, an update! The pictures are so cute! Shizuku-chan, you're a goddess.
Those are some positive comments. I didn't see anything wrong with them until I scrolled down.
Post # 29: I'll always be with you.
It's too bad we couldn't be alone before. You wanted to be with me. We'll see each other again soon. You'll come to see me all by yourself this time, right? Then it'll finally just be you and me.
Post # 25: I'll always be with you.
We're destined to be together. That's why you feel so close to me.
Post # 24: I'll always be with you.
I'm not just a fan. You love me too, right?
Post # 23: I'll always be with you.
Shizuku-chan, you saw me, right? It feels like destiny, huh?
Post # 19: I'll always be with you.
Do you believe in destiny? I think I'm breathing the same air as you, Shizuku-chan. You breathe in part of the air I live out.
I felt disgusted reading these comments. I could feel my skin crawling from how each word got creepier from the last.
The sound of her phone notified us that there were new blog comments.
I saw the words... I'll always be with you.
"K-Kagurazaka-kun...!" Sakura broke down into tears as the notifications continued.
I turned off her phone.
I wrapped my arms around her, and she buried her face into my chest, "I-I'm scared...!"
"P-Please... Please help me... I think... I have a stalker," Sakura was gasping for air as the tears continued to pour.
Sakura's POV
I didn't know what to do as I couldn't hide this. It was detrimental to my mental health. I'm scared to leave my room as I don't feel safe.
I felt lost when Kagurazaka pulled me away from his embrace.
'Sakura... What was in your locker?'
"Photos... It was photos of you, Kushida, and me... when we visited the electronic store..."
'Do not go near that electronic store.'
Kagurazaka had a severe expression on his face.
'If you see that store clerk, I need you to run away from him.'
I nodded.
"C-Can you stay here...? I don't feel safe..."
Kagurazaka nodded.
~Timeskip~
Kagurazaka's POV
I was lying on Sakura's couch as I stared at the ceiling. I heard the bathroom door open, glancing over, and saw Sakura step out wearing cute pajamas that suited her. Her hair was still in twin tails, but the fake glasses were off.
A blush appeared as she quickly looked away, turned off the light, and crawled into bed.
I was staring at the ceiling when I felt someone's eyes on me. I turned my head to see Sakura staring at me.
"Eep!" She hid underneath her covers.
'Do you need something?'
Sakura peeked her head out, "Umm... C-can you lay... with me...?"
I got off the couch and went to Sakura's bed. She moved over as I crawled into her bed.
This was awkward...
I could see her trembling before I pulled her into my embrace.
"I'm sorry..." She muttered.
I undid her ribbons to let her hair free as I stroked her hair.
~Timeskip~
Next day
I walked along the tree-lined path to school with Sakura. A female student was sitting against the handrail. She looked at me and said, "Good morning, Kagurazaka-kun, Sakura-san."
'Were you waiting for me?'
Horikita nodded, "Do you think you made the wrong choice?"
I shook my head.
'Horikita, do you trust me?'
Horikita nodded.
'We will win. You don't have to worry.'
I patted the top of her head.
~Timeskip~
After School
I began to leave the classroom, heading to meet someone at a rendezvous spot. Sakura decided to have a word with me.
"Kagurazaka-kun... We're having the trial today."
I nodded.
'I need to do something.'
"I see..." She murmured.
Sakura cast her eyes down as if she had something on her mind. She seemed nervous
'Are you okay?'
"Huh?"
'You seem worked up.'
"I need to do something to move forward... I will do it."
"See you later, Kagurazaka-kun," Sakura's words and bright smile made me uneasy.
She left me with an unpleasant feeling.
I went to visit a certain Senpai.
"Kouhai, it's been a while since we last spoke. You haven't even texted me," Kiryuuin grinned.
'I've been busy.'
I sat beside Kiryuuin, looking out into the sea. I wanted to relax and become composed before I went to the trial, but the way Sakura acted was bothering me. The feeling plagued me as my mind was going numb.
'Kiryuuin, can you come with me somewhere? I think something bad is going to happen.'
"Alright, kouhai. I hope it's interesting," Kiryuuin smirked.
~Timeskip~
I can't believe I'm using that feature on the phone that Ike talked about, but I would have difficulty finding her if I didn't use the phone tracker.
I arrived at the destination as I signaled for Kiryuuin to be quiet.
"Please don't contact me anymore!"
"Why would you say something like that? You're my treasure—ever since I first saw you in a magazine. I've loved you. Meeting you again here made me feel like it was destiny. I love you—I can't stop feeling this way about you!"
"Stop... Please stop it!" Sakura shouted.
Sakura took out the letters that the man had sent to her.
"How do you know my room number? Why do you keep sending these?" Sakura asked.
"Why? Of course, I will find your room number and send you letters. It's because our hearts are connected."
Sakura must have been suffering since the beginning of school. She had to deal with this and didn't say anything.
Sakura had enough, and with her newfound courage, she decided to free herself from him.
"Please stop it. It's bothering me!"
She tossed the bundle of letters to the ground, rejecting the man's love.
"Why... Why would you do something like that? Even after I wrote out my feelings to you!"
"D-don't come any closer!"
The man closed the distance and latched on Sakura's arm, shoving her against the store's shuttered door.
"I will show you just how much I love you now... If I do that, then you'll understand, Sakura."
"No, let me go!"
"Well, kouhai. Let's have some fun," Kiryuuin grinned.
Taking my arm, we dragged me out. While walking by, we took pictures with our phones, our cameras clicking repeatedly.
"Would you look at this? I see a disgusting pervert taking advantage of an innocent girl!"
"Huh?!" Sakura was utterly dumbfounded after hearing Kiryuuin's voice.
"N-no! That's wrong. You're wrong!"
"Kouhai, can you believe what I'm hearing?" Kiryuuin looked at me with a smirk.
I nodded.
The man was flustered as he hurriedly pulled away from Sakura.
"I would love the attention because I'm a beautiful woman," Kiryuuin's narcissism shined.
"But you're disgusting. I mean, look at all those letters," Kiryuuin stated.
"You're wrong. It's just... yeah, that. She said she wanted someone to teach her how to use a digital camera, so I said I'd teach her one-on-one. That's all."
I drew closer to the man, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against the shutter.
"My kouhai doesn't take kindly to stalkers. Maybe I should have him kick your ass as a lesson," Kiryuuin walked over with her hands on her hips.
"W-Wait! I won't ever do this again!"
I threw him to the ground.
He tried to get back up and run, but Kiryuuin kicked him in the face, "You're not going anywhere."
I turned to Sakura.
'Get a security guard.'
Sakura timidly nodded.
Kiryuuin kept the man pinned down as Sakura returned with two security guards. They apprehended the man.
"Come along quietly."
"L-Let me go! Y-You have no right to interfere! We're connected by destiny! I-I'm Shizuku-chan's fan! Shizuku-chan knows that, too! She updates her blog to show me pictures! Don't you see that?! She even came to this school because I work here..."
Sakura snapped, "Stop this now!"
"Sh-Shizuku-chan?"
"I do not consider you a fan of mine. Never come near me again!"
"No way... You are a liar... Ugly... This ugly bitch tricked me... Come on! Say something ugly! I could never love someone like you! Do you hear me?! You..."
He wasn't allowed to finish what he said as I punched him in the face, and his body went slack.
Kiryuuin was giving her testimony to the guards.
"Kagurazaka-kun, how did you find me...?"
I showed Sakura my phone. The phone tracker helped me find her.
"I'm no good at all... I couldn't do anything by myself in the end."
'You did a good job. You found the courage to stand up to your stalker. Next time, you can ask for my help.'
Sakura removed her fake glasses and smiled warmly, "Thank you."
"Kagurazaka-kun... Please don't look at me with those strange eyes."
'Strange eyes?'
"It's nothing," Sakura smiled.
"Well, kouhai, I wasn't bored," Kiryuuin grinned.
Kiryuuin was looking at Sakura, causing the timid girl to hide behind me. Kiryuuin returned her gaze to me, "You make things interesting, kouhai."
Horikita's POV
The members of the Sudou trial reconvened at 4 PM once again. This time, however, there was a different vibe in the room.
The teachers and student council members were in attendance; however, Kagurazaka wasn't there. I was slightly worried that he bailed, but I needed to trust him.
I believed that he would come to the trial.
"I don't want to spend..." The student council president began his speech, but the door opened, and Kagurazaka stepped in.
Kagurazaka's POV
'I'm sorry that I'm late.'
Kagurazaka was carrying a folder.
"Is that evidence?"
I nodded, going over to the student council secretary, Tachibana.
'Can you please hold this? Everything that was said was written down in this notebook.'
I held a notebook out to her.
Her eyes widened slightly, but she accepted the notebook.
I took a seat while Tachibana opened the notebook, "President... What he said is true."
'Can I begin?''
Manabu nodded.
'Sudou said yesterday that on that day, after practice, Komiya and Kondou asked him to go to the Special Annex building. He thought it was annoying, but he thought they were hostile toward him, so he went to meet them.'
"That was a lie," Kondou said.
I opened the folder and pulled out a sheet of paper.
'When Sudou returned from the office, he came directly to my room and gave this statement.'
Sudou's statement
I was the only first-year student nominated to become a regular in the basketball club. However, I'm not guaranteed to become a regular yet. On my way home, Komiya and Kondo, also in the basketball club, asked me to meet them in a Special Annex Building. They said they wanted to talk to me about something. Even though I could have ignored them, I decided to go because I had argued with them several times during club activities and wanted to end the tension. When I got there, I found Ishizaki, a friend of Komiya and Kondo. They couldn't stand that a class D student like me was being considered for a regular position, so Ishizaki threatened me, telling me to quit or face a painful experience. I refused, and we got into a fight. Unfortunately, that's how all of this happened.
"This doesn't prove anything," Sakagami-sensei said.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a flash drive.
'I have proof that Sudou was telling the truth.'
I gave the flash drive over to Manabu.
Manabu played what was on the flash drive.
It showed Kondou and Komiya in the gymnasium, waiting outside the locker. It wasn't long before the door opened, and Sudou stepped out.
'Can you pause the video?'
Manabu paused the video.
'Tachibana, what did Komiya say about Sudou calling them over?'
"Kondou and I don't know why he called us over. When we'd finished up for the day and were changing, he said he wanted to talk to us for a minute. Wasn't the reason that he didn't like us?" Tachibana read word for word what I wrote into the notebook.
'You seem to be waiting for Sudou. Do you want to explain that?'
"Well, he was changing and told us to wait," Komiya said, lying through his teeth.
'Resume the video.'
Komiya and Kondou started walking toward the exit with Sudou trailing behind them. The three of them left the gymnasium.
'Shouldn't Sudou be the one leading?'
"Well... Umm..." Komiya was speechless.
"There isn't any audio, so we don't know what the conversation was about. We don't know what went on in the locker room," Sakagami-sensei argued.
'Don't you find it odd that the location where the fight occurred has no surveillance cameras?'
"Elaborate," Manabu said.
'Komiya and Kondou led Sudou to a location with no cameras. Isn't that suspicious?'
"He has a point, President. We saw the video of Komiya-kun and Kondou-kun taking the lead," Tachibana said.
'Tachibana, what did Komiya say to Horikita when she used sounding logic and talked about the probability of them being hurt should be low?'
"Common sense doesn't apply when Sudou-kun's involved. He's an incredibly violent man," Tachibana said, reading from the notebook.
"This is ridiculous. You're using words without providing any critical evidence," Sakagami-sensei said.
"This is considered evidence, though," Tachibana argued.
"Aren't you supposed to be unbiased?" Sakagami-sensei asked, tensing up.
"I find it fascinating that Kagurazaka-kun wrote everything that happened yesterday. He is even providing evidence contradicting what you said," Tachibana argued.
'Komiya said it himself. Common sense doesn't apply to Sudou, so it must mean that he would have to plan to lead the Class C students to a location with no surveillance cameras.'
'Sakura's photos are evidence to my claim. It's the evidence we have of the scene.'
"The fight was still one-sided," Sakagami-sensei argued.
'Can we talk about Ishizaki's physique? He seems to have a similar one to Sudou.'
"What does my physique have to do with this?" Ishizaki questioned.
I pulled out a sheet of paper from the folder.
It talked about Ishizaki being a bad seed in junior high, good at fighting and terrorizing the locals.
'This was posted on the message board requesting people to forward the information about witnessing the violent incident. It's funny how you were brought up.'
"Those are damn lies!" Ishizaki became outraged.
'Why are you getting hostile toward me? I wasn't the one to post this.'
"Huh?" Ishizaki looked confused.
"It's still a rumor. Whoever answered the post was anonymous," Sakagami-sensei argued.
"Why do you continue to interrupt and defend your students? They can use their mouths to communicate. Let my student speak," Chabashira-sensei said, taking my side.
'You probably think a student in my class answered the post, but I think you're wrong. The one to put the post on the message board was a student from Class B.'
This shocked the Class C students.
'We are getting off-topic. With the post and Ishizaki's physique, I find it hard to believe he would be this severely beaten.'
"I didn't want to fight. I was there to protect my friends!" Ishizaki argued.
'Protect, huh? You did a terrible job.'
"Explain the injuries," Kondou said.
'I don't have evidence of this, but I believe that Sudou wasn't the one that put those injuries on you. I think one of your classmates did that to you.'
"That's crazy! Why would we let a classmate of ours beat us up?!" Komiya argued.
'Sudou didn't do enough damage. You needed evidence to make it one-sided. It's easy to have a classmate beat you up behind the scenes without any cameras to witness it.'
'Here's what I think happened. Komiya and Kondou brought Sudou to the Special Annex Building, where Ishizaki awaited. Ishizaki provoked Sudou into hitting him, but I don't think Sudou did enough damage. They had to develop something quickly to make it look one-sided, so their classmate beat them up.'
The room was silent as nobody said a word.
"I think I've concluded. Do you have anything to say, Tachibana-san?" Manabu asked, turning to the student council secretary.
Tachibana shook her head.
"Okay, Komiya, Ishizaki, and Kondou... For lying to the school and staging a fight to frame another student, the three of you will be suspended for one week."
"As for compensation, 50 class points will be transferred over to Class D."
"That concludes everything we had planned for today. Everyone shall leave except for Kagurazaka-kun."
Everyone left the student council office, leaving me alone with the President and secretary.
"Congratulations, Kagurazaka-kun, for solving the case. Impressive work," Manabu said.
"Tachibana, do you still have one seat open for secretary?" Manabu asked.
"Yes, a first-year Class A student applied the other day but was rejected after the first interview," Tachibana said.
"Kagurazaka, if you wanted it, I would appoint you to the position," Manabu said.
Tachibana nodded, "I would have to agree. You seem like a responsible person."
Manabu was slightly surprised to hear Tachibana compliment me.
'I would like to decline the offer. I'm not suited to be in the student council.'
"I see. I will respect your choice."
Horikita's POV
Chabashira-sensei wanted to talk to me about something.
"So, what do you think of Kagurazaka's plan?" She asked.
"It was exceptional..." I said.
I thought it would be virtually impossible to prove Sudou's innocence, but Kagurazaka did it.
"You recognize that."
"Is that surprising? You were the one who first put me together with Kagurazaka-kun. Chabashira-sensei, why did you do it?" I asked.
"The students in Class D all have some defect, more or less. To borrow an expression used by others in this school, Class D is an assemblage of people that could be called 'defective products.' You already understand this quite well, don't you?"
I nodded.
"What do you think is Kagurazaka's defect?"
Kagurazaka's defect... Nothing came to mind.
"Nothing comes to mind, right? I don't think Kagurazaka is a defect. I think he was purposely placed in Class D."
Kagurazaka's POV
I left the student council office. A short time later, Horikita appeared. Even though she had a stoic expression, her eyes told me she was worried.
"Kagurazaka-kun, do you have any defects?" Horikita asked.
Defects?
'Did something happen?'
"Please answer," she said.
'My curiosity and being mute.'
A male student walked towards us. We waited for him to pass, but he stopped before us, "So, you're Kagurazaka, huh?"
He wasn't facing us as he spoke.
"And you are?"
"Next time, I'll be your opponent. I look forward to it," the guy walked away without answering Horikita's question. We watched in silence as he walked away.
I turned my back to Horikita.
"Wait, Kagurazaka-kun... I'm sorry."
I turned around to face her.
"I'm not good at apologies, but I want to become allies... and maybe friends again..."
A slight smile appeared on my face.
'What took you so long?'
Class A - 1034 (0)
Class B - 822 (0)
Class C - 611 (-50)
Class D - 220 (+50)
Kagurazaka's private points: 597,410+22,000=619,410