Horikita Suzune

The two days passed in a flash amid the quietly brewing "Sudo Incident." Through their respective channels, Shimiya Kuki and Ichinose Honami had pieced together a rough outline of what had happened:

The Class C student's account was clear and put him in the "weaker" position: he claimed that after Club Activities, Ken Sudō from Class D had approached him and asked to talk about an internal club matter—the specifics of which were vague. Having heard rumors that Sudō was "violent and quick to anger," he'd been frightened. To protect himself, he invited two close friends to accompany him to the agreed-upon location, the Gym Back Warehouse. Instead, Sudō had attacked them without cause, leaving all three with injuries of varying severity.

Ken Sudō of Class D, however, gave a completely different account: Ishizaki had been the one to invite him to the secluded warehouse. When he arrived, Ishizaki and two others had surrounded and beaten him without a word. He'd only fought back because his life had been in danger, and had acted entirely in self-defense.

Both sides stuck to their stories. There were no cameras at the scene, nor any credible third-party witnesses, and the situation had reached a stalemate. The School Administration clearly favored the apparent evidence of "three victims against one," leaving Sudō in a perilous position.

Just after lunch that day, Shimiya Kuki and Ichinose Honami decided to visit Class D's area themselves and sound things out. They hoped to reach the people at the heart of the incident and get more direct information. After crossing the Skywalk between the two School Buildings, they had just entered the floor where Class D was located when they spotted two familiar yet unfamiliar figures near the stairs.

One was the boy from Class D whose presence was so faint and whose gaze was as still as a deep pool: Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. Standing in front of him was a tall, well-proportioned girl.

Her straight, silky black hair fell smoothly around her face, with a few strands resting against her delicate cheeks. Her skin was so fair it seemed almost translucent, and her features were sharply defined and cool. Her narrow, upturned eyes were especially striking; now slightly narrowed, they revealed undisguised scrutiny and impatience. She wore her vermilion uniform impeccably, standing upright with her hands seemingly relaxed at her sides. Yet she seemed tense, ready to spring into action at any moment, like a proud, solitary pine tree exuding an aura that warned others to keep their distance. She was saying something to Ayanokoji, her tone carrying a hint of suppressed irritation.

Ichinose Honami's eyes lit up. She immediately flashed a warm smile and led Shimiya Kuki over, her bright voice breaking the slightly strained silence between the two:

"Hey, what are you two doing here?"

The black-haired girl whipped around at the sound of her voice. Her cold, narrow eyes instantly locked onto the approaching pair, sharp as knives and full of annoyance and wariness at being interrupted. Her pale lips pressed together, and she didn't respond right away. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka remained as expressionless as ever, merely letting his calm gaze settle on the two students from Class B.

When the girl didn't answer, Ichinose's smile didn't falter. Instead, she offered a playful, apologetic look. "Sorry for calling out to you so suddenly. Could we have a little of your time?" She paused, letting her gaze move between the black-haired girl and Ayanokoji before winking mischievously. "If you're on a sweet, romantic date, we'll be considerate and leave right away."

"That's not what's happening!" the black-haired girl immediately retorted, her voice cool and crisp, brooking no argument. She even shifted half a step away from Ayanokoji and shot him an unmistakable look of distaste, as if to say, "Don't drag me into this," doing everything she could to dispel the unpleasant misunderstanding.

"Ahaha, I thought so." Ichinose covered her mouth and laughed, as though she'd expected that reaction. "Besides, as a date spot, this place is crowded and has nowhere to hide. It's a little too 'hot' for that." She deftly dispelled the awkwardness.

The black-haired girl's brow furrowed even more. She clearly wasn't fond of Ichinose's overly familiar, teasing manner. "What do you want with us?" she asked coldly. Her wariness was plain, as though she were challenging strangers who had trespassed on her territory.

Ichinose dropped her playful expression and grew serious. "We just want to ask you about the incident involving Sudo-kun. The one that happened in the Gym Back Warehouse two days ago."

"You're students from Class B, aren't you?" The black-haired girl's sharp gaze swept over the class badges on Ichinose's and Shimiya's uniforms. "This incident has nothing to do with Class B, does it?" Her tone was sharply skeptical and exclusionary, as if to say, "Mind your own business."

"We are 'just a little curious,'" Ichinose admitted frankly. But then her tone shifted, and her gaze grew determined. "We also think there might be more to this, so we want to learn as much as we can about what really happened. For example..." She leaned forward slightly and lowered her voice, her tone probing. "Don't you find it strange? Why choose a place without cameras? No matter who invited whom, choosing that location in the first place is... pretty suspicious, isn't it? This doesn't feel like a simple fight. It feels more like someone deliberately steered things toward a particular outcome."

The black-haired girl's eyes narrowed abruptly, like a crack opening in a sheet of ice. She stared at Ichinose, her voice sharp with the feeling that she'd been struck on a nerve. "So you mean... you suspect someone in Class D or Class C deliberately set this up?" She stressed the words "set this up."

Ichinose hurriedly waved her hands, her smile still gentle and reassuring. "You don't have to be so guarded, do you? We really just want to understand what happened. After all, the two sides' accounts completely contradict each other. If..." She paused and met the black-haired girl's gaze. "I mean, if Sudo-kun really did lie, what will Class D do? Just accept that he'll be expelled?"

The black-haired girl—Horikita Suzune—fell silent. She lifted her delicate chin slightly, seemingly weighing her options. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stood off to the side, still like a silent fixture in the background, though his gaze lingered briefly on Shimiya and Ichinose.

After a few seconds, Horikita spoke in a cool voice, stubbornly proud. "That's a problem within Class D. We'll find evidence to prove Sudo's innocence ourselves, or... accept the consequences." Her stance matched the original Horikita's: "Class D's problems are for Class D to solve." She didn't want help from others, much less to show weakness in front of another class.

"I see..." Ichinose didn't lose heart. Instead, she gave her a bright, kind smile. "Then what if Class B helped you? There's strength in numbers! Wouldn't it be better to uncover the truth together—for Sudo-kun, for Class D, and even for the sake of fairness in the whole incident?"

"Help?" Horikita looked as if she'd heard something unbelievable, her brow furrowed. "This has nothing to do with Class B. Why do you want to get involved? What's your motive?" Her suspicion hadn't diminished in the slightest. If anything, it had grown stronger.

Ichinose Honami let her smile fade, her expression turning utterly earnest. Her clear eyes shone with a commitment to justice and disgust for underhanded tactics. "It's simple. First, I really, really hate this kind of unfair competition—exploiting loopholes in the rules to frame someone, and even possibly resorting to violence! Today, Class C can use this sort of method against Class D." A hint of coldness entered her voice. "Who's to say they won't use even more underhanded tricks against Class B tomorrow? Letting this kind of behavior succeed will only make the rules collapse and poison the whole competitive environment."

She paused, her tone softening but remaining firm. "Second, searching for the truth is worth doing in itself. If Sudo-kun was wrongly accused, shouldn't we help clear his name? This has nothing to do with which class we're in."

Horikita Suzune stared at Ichinose, her piercing gaze seeming to see right through her and judge whether her words were sincere. Ichinose met her gaze without flinching, her eyes clear and honest. Silence fell over the corridor, broken only by the distant sounds of students.

At last, the tightly pressed line of Horikita's lips seemed to ease by the slightest degree. She appeared to accept part of Ichinose's reasoning, particularly her wariness of Class C's tactics. She took a deep breath, as though making a decision. Her tone remained cool, but the icy wall that had kept everyone at a distance softened a little.

"I'm Horikita Suzune, from Class D." She gave her name, a sign of acceptance, however tentative.

"Hi, Horikita-san! I'm Ichinose Honami from Class B, and this is Shimiya Kuki." Ichinose replied with a smile, and at last the tension eased.

Horikita nodded. Her gaze lingered for a moment on Shimiya's calm face, then returned to Ichinose. "Since you insist... there is an important lead we've found."

She lowered her voice even further. "We found someone who may have witnessed what happened."

Ichinose's eyes lit up. "Really? That's great! Who?"

But Horikita didn't look relieved. Instead, her expression grew troubled and resigned. "Sakura Airi, from our class."

"Sakura-kun?" Ichinose didn't recognize the name and couldn't immediately place her.

"Yeah." Horikita nodded, her voice low. "She says she happened to be nearby that day and may have seen the beginning of the confrontation. But..."

"But?" Ichinose's heart sank.

"But," Horikita said helplessly, "Sakura Airi's personality... she's extremely shy, even afraid of strangers, and gets nervous easily. In front of people she doesn't know, especially teachers or investigators from the School Administration, she'll probably have a hard time clearly, fully, and convincingly describing what she saw. And she's a student from Class D. As the only witness, her testimony... is unlikely to be accepted by the School Administration." She had laid bare Class D's greatest predicament: they had found the key, but might not be able to use it to unlock the truth.

The news fell like a heavy stone onto the fragile spirit of cooperation they'd only just established. The witness offered a glimmer of hope, but it was so faint that it seemed liable to be swallowed at any moment by the shadow of Sakura Airi's shy nature.