Kamio Tatsuya: Actually, Yesterday Was an Accident

"I refuse."

Before Ike and Yamauchi could agree, Kamio Tatsuya answered first.

"W-what does this have to do with you?"

"How does it not?" Kamio Tatsuya retorted. "That letter was originally written to me, which means I was the target. Just because I wasn't actually hurt doesn't mean it has nothing to do with me.

"If they aren't properly punished, they'll target me again next time. To prevent that, they have to be punished severely."

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

"See? They haven't learned a thing. If you ask me, we should take this opportunity to get them expelled. Otherwise, who knows when they'll find somewhere deserted and beat you up?"

Kamio Tatsuya gestured toward Ishizaki's group. When Yamauchi and Ike saw their hostile expressions, they shuddered.

Seeing this, Chabashira Sae knew that there was no way to settle this privately.

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

When he saw Kamio Tatsuya's name, he immediately suspected that the matter was connected to him.

After thinking it over, Horikita Manabu said goodbye to his classmates, then left the classroom with Tachibana Akane, the Student Council secretary.

On the other side, after exchanging opinions, the two teachers also decided that, whatever the truth was, they would resolve the matter today.

Not long afterward, the group headed for the Student Council Office in force.

With two teachers present, and any further underhanded moves likely to harm their case, everyone behaved exceptionally well.

Soon, they arrived outside an office. Kamio Tatsuya had been here once before, when he beat up Yamauchi.

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

Once inside, Kamio Tatsuya noticed that Student Council President Horikita Manabu and the secretary, Tachibana Akane, were seated at the head of the room. It seemed they had been waiting for a while.

"Regarding today's violent incident at school, we will now begin a discussion between the Student Council, those involved in the incident, and the homeroom teachers. I, Student Council Secretary Tachibana, will preside over the meeting."

After saying this, she gave a slight nod to signal that they could begin.

"Then let's start by establishing what happened."

With the Midterm Exam approaching, Horikita Manabu wanted to wrap things up quickly.

"Which side would like to go first?"

As soon as Horikita Manabu finished speaking, Chabashira Sae raised her hand.

"Go ahead, Chabashira-sensei."

"Based on what I've learned so far, this is what happened today..."

Chabashira-sensei began recounting the events.

It was nothing complicated. First, Kamio Tatsuya received a love letter today. It asked him to meet after school at the Special Teaching Building.

Then Ike and Yamauchi suspected that the letter hadn't actually been written to Kamio Tatsuya.

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

After confirming that the letter really was addressed to Kamio Tatsuya, they decided to sabotage the meeting. They went to the Special Teaching Building ahead of him.

But the person waiting there wasn't Shiina, the name signed on the letter. It was Ishizaki and two other students from Class C.

Then, because Ishizaki still held a grudge over what had happened before, he beat Yamauchi badly. Ike tried to run away, but the other two beat him up as well.

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

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

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

Afterward, Kamio Tatsuya, delayed because he couldn't find the letter, and Chabashira-sensei, who had received Ike's call for help, arrived one after the other.

As for Teacher Sakagami, Chabashira-sensei had contacted him while she was on her way.

"Then, the key piece of evidence—the love letter?"

As expected of the Student Council President, he had immediately identified the crux of the matter.

"H-here."

Yamauchi took the somewhat crumpled love letter from his pocket.

When the students from Class C saw it, their expressions darkened. This was bad.

Tachibana Akane took the letter and presented it to Horikita Manabu as evidence.

After checking its contents, Horikita Manabu gestured for Tachibana Akane to let Kamio Tatsuya verify it.

"Is this the letter you received?"

Kamio Tatsuya picked up the letter, checked it, then nodded.

"The contents are the same."

"In that case, it seems we need to summon the student named Shiina," Horikita Manabu decided. "Could I ask Teacher Sakagami to bring Shiina here?"

"No need!" Ishizaki suddenly raised his hand and cut in. "I forged that letter. Shiina had nothing to do with it."

At that, Kamio Tatsuya narrowed his eyes. Was this guy planning to take the blame by himself?

Was Ryuen planning to sacrifice a pawn to save the rest?

"Why did you do it?"

When asked, Ishizaki glared bitterly at Kamio Tatsuya.

"Because, because..." Ishizaki stammered. "Because I... l-like Shiina, but she's always with that guy. So I wanted to warn him to stay away from Shiina."

Yeah, right. A toad dreaming of eating swan meat. Did Shiina really think you were worth looking at?

Horikita Manabu, seated at the head of the room, was speechless after hearing Ishizaki's explanation. What was this, elementary school?

He had also learned from the earlier account why Ishizaki had attacked Yamauchi.

Yamauchi had scammed him out of 100,000 Points.

That left just one unanswered question: who had sent Hirata the Anonymous Text?

Horikita Manabu glanced at Kamio Tatsuya. The incident seemed to have nothing to do with him, but in fact, he was involved in every part of it.

Never mind. Now isn't the time to think about that.

The rest was simple. Hirata received the Anonymous Text, then ran from his classroom to the Special Teaching Building to protect his classmate, where he fought with Ishizaki and the others.

There were plenty of witnesses to confirm that.

After learning the truth, Horikita Manabu delivered his verdict.

"First, Yamauchi and Ike committed theft. They are suspended for five days, effective immediately, and must each submit a five-thousand-word written reflection."

Ike and Yamauchi opened their mouths to argue, but couldn't come up with anything useful to say. In the end, they could only lower their heads and accept the punishment.

"The three students from Class C deliberately incited trouble. They are suspended for one week, effective immediately, and must submit ten-thousand-word written reflections. Class C will also lose 200 Class Points.

"Hirata from Class D took part in the fight, but since he was protecting his classmates, he will not be punished.

"That is all."

That was it?

For such a serious incident, all they got was a suspension?

He had thought someone would be expelled outright. He hadn't expected the punishment to be so lenient.

Heh. This school's rules are surprisingly lax.

Interesting.

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

Since nobody objected to the verdict, the matter was considered settled.

"If there are no objections, you may all leave. Kamio Tatsuya, stay behind."

Huh?

He wants me to stay?

What does that mean?

Kamio Tatsuya didn't understand, but he stayed seated.

The others gradually filed out of the Student Council Office.

"Tachibana, you should leave too. I want to speak with him alone."

"Huh? I have to leave too?"

Tachibana Akane looked surprised, but nodded.

Only after Tachibana Akane had left did Horikita Manabu speak. "You planned this whole thing, didn't you?"

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

"First, there's this letter."

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

"Judging by the handwriting, a girl wrote it, and she sprayed it with perfume. It was probably the same perfume that girl uses.

"But I know something about the excellent First Year students. According to the records, Shiina is good at the humanities, yet this letter contains obvious grammatical errors.

"So there's no way Shiina wrote it. I don't believe you failed to notice that."

Listening to Horikita Manabu's analysis, Kamio Tatsuya said nothing, though he was genuinely surprised.

As expected of the Student Council President. Even without knowing much about Shiina, he had spotted the flaw right away. Impressive.

"Then there's the theft of the letter. I don't know how you manipulated those two into stealing it from you, but based on what I know about you, you wouldn't let something so important be stolen easily, would you?"

At that, the smile disappeared from Kamio Tatsuya's face. Had this guy already figured him out?

Horikita Manabu's tone gradually turned admiring.

"The Class C students tried to use a beauty trap on you. Once you saw through their scheme, you immediately used Diverting the Calamity. But there's one thing I don't understand: why did you text Hirata and send him to the Special Teaching Building?"

"Oh? Are you so sure I was the one who sent the Anonymous Text?"

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

Kamio Tatsuya was speechless. So that was how he'd figured it out.

"What kind of person do you think Hirata is, President?"

Kamio Tatsuya didn't answer Horikita Manabu's question directly. Instead, he asked him one of his own.

"According to the records, he's an excellent student who does well in school and is always willing to help others."

"Those two words don't do Hirata justice." Kamio Tatsuya shook his head. "He excels not just academically and athletically, but socially as well. Most importantly, he treats everyone with kindness.

"Honestly, I've never met such an outstanding student. Yet the school placed him in Class D. President, don't you find that terrifying?"

Horikita Manabu naturally understood what Kamio Tatsuya meant.

And he wasn't the only one. There was also Kushida, who was much the same.

Honestly, studying alongside people like them put Kamio Tatsuya under a lot of pressure.

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

Why is everyone making things difficult for me?

Horikita Manabu, meanwhile, was impressed by Kamio Tatsuya's plan.

This act of Diverting the Calamity had not only neutralized Class C's attack, but also punished someone he disliked, tested Hirata, and made Class C pay for targeting him.

He had come up with a plan that accomplished at least four things in such a short time. It was truly impressive.

But you just said those students had serious problems. From where I'm standing, the biggest problem is you, Kamio Tatsuya!

According to the school's investigation, you were an ordinary student with poor scores in every category. The school had absolutely not made a mistake by placing you in Class D.

And yet what you've done since then has genuinely surprised me.

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