Just Want to Be a Slacker

"I refuse."

Before Ike and Yamauchi could agree, Kamio Tatsuya gave his answer first.

"Th-this has nothing to do with you, right?"

"How doesn't it?" Kamio Tatsuya shot back. "That letter was addressed to me in the first place. That means the target was me. Just because I didn't suffer any actual harm doesn't mean it's none of my business, does it?

If they aren't properly punished, they'll just target me again next time. To prevent that, they need to be dealt with harshly."

Kamio Tatsuya's words immediately drew glares from Ishizaki and the others in Class C.

"See? They haven't learned a thing. If you ask me, we might as well take this chance to have them expelled. Otherwise, who knows when they'll find a secluded spot and beat you up again."

Kamio Tatsuya gestured toward Ishizaki's group. When Yamauchi and Ike saw the vicious looks on Ishizaki and the others, they shuddered.

Seeing this, Chabashira Sae knew a private settlement was no longer possible.

Meanwhile, Horikita Manabu, who was organizing a study session for Class 3-A, also received notice of the ruling on this incident.

The moment he saw Kamio Tatsuya's name, he immediately felt that this matter was likely connected to him.

After a moment's thought, Horikita Manabu excused himself to his classmates and left the classroom with the Student Council secretary, Tachibana Akane.

On the other side, after exchanging opinions, the two teachers also decided that, regardless of the truth, they had to resolve the matter today.

Soon, a large group headed toward the Student Council office.

With two teachers present and the risk that any underhanded moves could harm their position, everyone present behaved themselves.

Before long, they arrived outside an office. Kamio Tatsuya had been here once before—the last time he beat up Yamauchi, it was in this very place.

Chabashira-sensei knocked on the Student Council office door, then stepped inside. Teacher Sakagami and the students followed one after another into the Student Council room.

Once inside, Kamio Tatsuya noticed that Student Council President Horikita Manabu and Secretary Tachibana Akane were seated at the head, as if they had been waiting for a while.

"Now then, regarding today's violent incident at school, we will begin an interactive discussion between the Student Council, the parties involved, and the homeroom teachers. I, Student Council Secretary Tachibana, will preside over the meeting."

After saying this, she gave a brief nod to signal the start.

"In that case, let's begin by getting to the truth."

With the midterm exams just around the corner, Horikita Manabu was eager to wrap things up quickly.

"Which side would like to go first?"

The moment Horikita Manabu finished speaking, Chabashira Sae raised her hand to indicate she had something to say.

"Please go ahead, Chabashira-sensei."

"Based on my earlier inquiries, here's what happened today..."

Then, Chabashira-sensei began explaining the sequence of events.

It wasn't all that complicated. First, Kamio Tatsuya received a love letter today, the contents of which arranged to meet him after school at the Special Teaching Building.

Then Ike and Yamauchi suspected the letter wasn't actually addressed to Kamio Tatsuya.

So, while Kamio Tatsuya was away from his seat, they stole the love letter he had received and opened it without permission.

After confirming the letter was indeed for Kamio Tatsuya, they still wanted to sabotage the meeting, so they arrived at the Special Teaching Building before him.

However, waiting there wasn't the letter's signatory, Shiina, but Ishizaki and his two cronies from Class C.

Then, holding a grudge over a previous incident, Ishizaki beat Yamauchi badly. Ike tried to run, but the other two caught and beat him too.

During this, someone sent an anonymous text to Hirata, saying that Ike and Yamauchi from Class D were being beaten by Class C students.

So Hirata went to the Special Teaching Building. To protect the assaulted Ike and Yamauchi, he fought the three Class C students.

While they were fighting, Ike took out his phone and notified Chabashira-sensei.

After that, Kamio Tatsuya, who had been delayed because he couldn't find the love letter, and Chabashira-sensei, who had received the distress call, arrived one after the other.

As for Teacher Sakagami, Chabashira-sensei had notified him on the way.

"And that crucial love letter?"

As expected of the Student Council President, he immediately pinpointed the key issue.

"It's, it's here."

Yamauchi pulled a somewhat crumpled love letter from his pocket.

Seeing the letter, the Class C camp's faces darkened. This was bad.

Then, Tachibana Akane took the letter and presented it as evidence before Horikita Manabu.

After confirming its contents, Horikita Manabu signaled Tachibana to show it to Kamio Tatsuya for verification.

"Is this the letter you received?"

Kamio Tatsuya picked up the envelope, checked it, and nodded.

"The contents are the same."

"In that case, it seems necessary to summon this student named Shiina." Horikita Manabu made his first decision. "Could I trouble Teacher Sakagami to call Shiina here?"

"That won't be necessary!" At that moment, Ishizaki suddenly raised his hand to interrupt. "I forged that letter. Shiina has nothing to do with it."

Hearing this, Kamio Tatsuya narrowed his eyes. This guy, was he planning to shoulder this whole thing alone?

That Ryuen bastard, was he going to sacrifice the pawn to save the queen?

"Why did you do it?"

Asked this question, Ishizaki shot a hateful glare at Kamio Tatsuya.

"Because, because..." At this point, Ishizaki became hesitant and stammered, "Because I... like... Shiina-san, but Shiina-san is always getting close to that guy, so I wanted to warn him to stay away from Shiina."

Heh, a toad lusting after swan meat. Could Shiina ever fancy you?

And Horikita Manabu, seated in the main chair, was left speechless after hearing Ishizaki's confession. What was all this nonsense? Were they elementary schoolers?

As for the reason Ishizaki had targeted Yamauchi, he had already understood it from the earlier account.

Because Yamauchi had scammed him out of one hundred thousand Class Points.

That left only one point of suspicion: the person who had sent the anonymous text to Hirata.

Horikita Manabu glanced at Kamio Tatsuya. This matter seemed unrelated to him, but in truth, every link of the chain was tied to him.

Forget it. Now wasn't the time to dwell on these things.

What followed was simple. Hirata had received the anonymous text, and to protect his classmates, he had run from the classroom to the Special Teaching Building, even getting into a fight with Ishizaki and the others.

Many people could testify to that.

After understanding the truth, Horikita Manabu delivered his verdict on the matter.

"First, Yamauchi and Ike, guilty of theft. Effective immediately, suspension for five days, and each of you will submit a five-thousand-character written reflection."

Faced with this judgment, Ike and Yamauchi opened their mouths to argue but couldn't come up with any useful rebuttal. In the end, they could only hang their heads and accept the verdict.

"The three from Class C, for deliberately inciting a conflict, effective immediately, suspension for one week, submit a ten-thousand-character written reflection. Additionally, Class C will have two hundred Class Points deducted.

Hirata from Class D, although he participated in the fight, in consideration of his intent to protect his classmates, no punishment will be imposed.

That is all."

That's it?

For such a serious incident, just a suspension?

He had thought someone would be expelled outright. He didn't expect it to be handled so lightly.

Heh. The school rules here were surprisingly lenient.

Interesting.

Chapter 58: Kamio Tatsuya: Actually, Yesterday Was an Accident

Seeing that no one had any objections to the verdict, the matter was considered settled.

"If there are no objections, everyone may return now. Kamio Tatsuya, stay behind."

Hm?

Keep me here?

What does this mean?

Kamio Tatsuya didn't understand, but he remained seated without moving.

The others filed out of the Student Council office one by one.

"Tachibana, you should step out too. I have something I want to discuss with him alone."

"Eh? I have to leave too?"

Tachibana Akane looked a bit surprised but nodded nonetheless.

After Tachibana left, Horikita Manabu finally spoke. "This whole incident was orchestrated by you, wasn't it?"

"Me?" Kamio Tatsuya put on an innocent expression. "Even if you're the Student Council President, you can't just wrongfully accuse me like that, President."

"First, there's this letter."

Horikita Manabu picked up the love letter that had been used as evidence.

"Judging by the handwriting, it should have been written by a girl, and it's even scented with perfume—probably the same brand that girl uses.

But I've also done my research on the outstanding first-year newcomers. According to the records, Shiina is a student with excellent literary grades, yet this letter contains obvious grammatical errors.

Therefore, this letter definitely wasn't written by that girl named Shiina. I don't believe you couldn't see that."

Listening to Horikita's analysis, Kamio Tatsuya remained silent, but inwardly he was quite shocked.

As expected of the Student Council President. Even without knowing much about Shiina, he could spot the flaw in one go. Impressive.

"Then there's the theft of the love letter. Although I don't know what method you used to trick those two into stealing the love letter from you, based on my understanding of you, you wouldn't let something so important be stolen so easily, would you?"

At this point, the smile on Kamio Tatsuya's face faded. This guy had him dead to rights?

Horikita's tone gradually shifted to one of admiration.

"The Class C students tried to use a honey trap on you, and after seeing through their scheme, you immediately diverted the calamity elsewhere. But there's one thing I don't understand: why did you send that text to Hirata, telling him to go to the Special Teaching Building?"

"Oh? You're so sure that the person who sent the anonymous text was me?"

"Don't underestimate the authority of the Student Council President."

Kamio Tatsuya was speechless—so that's where the problem lay.

"Does the President think Hirata is a good person?"

Kamio Tatsuya didn't directly answer Horikita Manabu's question; instead, he turned it back on him.

"From the records, he seems to be a model student—good in both conduct and academics, always willing to help others."

"Those two words aren't enough to describe Hirata's excellence." Kamio Tatsuya shook his head. "Not just in studies and sports, but even in social skills, he's outstanding. And the key point is, he treats everyone with kindness.

To be honest, I've never seen a student this exceptional. Yet someone like him got placed in Class D. Don't you think that's terrifying, President?"

With the words laid out so plainly, Horikita Manabu naturally understood Kamio Tatsuya's meaning.

And it wasn't just him—there was also Kushida, who was much the same.

Honestly, when Kamio Tatsuya had class with these people, he felt immense psychological pressure.

I just want to get through these three years peacefully. Is that too much to ask?

Why is everyone going against me?

Horikita Manabu, meanwhile, felt admiration for Kamio Tatsuya's maneuver.

This move of diverting the calamity not only neutralized Class C's offensive, but also taught that annoying guy a lesson, tested Hirata, and finally made Class C pay for targeting him.

A plan that killed at least four birds with one stone, and he'd thought of it in such a short time—truly impressive.

But you just said they had big problems. In my view, the biggest problem is you, Kamio Tatsuya!

According to the school's investigation results, you were originally an ordinary student with poor data across the board. Being placed in Class D was no mistake on the school's part.

Yet now, the things you're doing are honestly surprising me.

"If there's nothing else, I'll head back first. I still need to prepare for the exams."