"Bang..."
The Student Council office door shut behind him.
Fang Li left the office. Just as he was about to head for Class 1-D's classroom, someone called out to him from behind.
"I never expected it to be a dashcam."
Ryuen Kaito walked over from behind Fang Li, hands in his pockets, and came to stand beside him.
Without looking at Fang Li, Ryuen Kaito gave a cold laugh, as though he had not taken this defeat to heart.
"You got lucky."
Luck.
Ryuen Kaito attributed his defeat entirely to that factor.
But it was not that Ryuen Kaito refused to admit defeat. That was simply how he saw the facts.
If the dashcam on Beech Shopping Center's delivery truck had not happened to capture the crucial footage of the incident, Fang Li would never have cleared his name.
At least, that was what Ryuen Kaito believed.
"Failing to notice that was my mistake. But the fact that you spotted it means you are not someone to be underestimated."
Ryuen Kaito left him with that remark.
"However, you will not get through your next crisis so fortunately."
With that, Ryuen Kaito walked forward without even sparing Fang Li a glance.
Then...
"Listen up. From now on, no matter what happens, you must all insist that Nanaya Fang Li used violence against you."
Those words entered Ryuen Kaito's ears.
They came from a recording on a phone.
And it was Ryuen Kaito's voice.
There was no way Ryuen Kaito would fail to recognize it.
That voice, those words, were exactly what he had said to Ishizaki Daichi, Komiya Yogo, and Kondo Suzune in a KTV room at Beech Shopping Center after the violent incident.
The recording made Ryuen Kaito's steps abruptly halt, his expression freezing on his face.
Yet the recording