Although Tokito looked pretty tall, Ishizaki wasn't underestimating him. He figured he could take Tokito down with one hand.
"What are you planning to do?"
Manabe spoke up, looking at Kaneda and Shiina, who had fallen silent.
"Leaving that question aside for a moment, how do I know what you're saying is true, Manabe?"
Kaneda asked casually. In truth, he already believed her; there were no holes in her story.
Besides, he'd been wondering these past two days who Ryuen had meant when he said someone needed to be expelled.
In the end, he'd concluded it might be Tokito.
Kaneda thought Class C was a nearly perfect group now.
Ryuen had united the class's strength, while Kamio Tatsuya worked with him to control that strength.
Both of them were highly capable. Kamio Tatsuya especially was formidable—even Ryuen hadn't managed to get the better of him before.
So Kaneda had great confidence in the two of them. He truly believed they could lead Class C up to Class A.
That meant the person who wasn't part of that united group—or was even holding it back—must be the one Ryuen had been talking about.
And that person...
Kaneda had thought about it for a long time, and the only name he could come up with was Tokito.
Tokito thought his secret efforts to contact the rebels and stir up trouble were well hidden, but Kaneda had plenty of connections in the class himself.
Sometimes, what mattered wasn't how capable you were, but whether you could follow orders.
Otherwise, you were nothing but a scattered band of stragglers.
So Kaneda didn't doubt Manabe's story. What he needed to do was convince Shiina that Tokito really was behind it.
That was why he'd asked. He hoped Manabe could provide further evidence.
But as soon