"An Unexpected Gathering" and a Brief Alliance

On the way back to the dorm, Shangguan Che had only carried his camera for a few steps before his arm started to ache.

The camera looked small, but it was surprisingly heavy.

He glanced at Sakura, who was carrying her broken camera beside him, then his eyes lit up. He held out his own camera. "Sakura, here. You can have this."

"Huh? Shangguan, what are you doing?" Sakura was startled and quickly waved her hands, afraid to take it.

Shangguan Che cleared his throat and said solemnly, "I was thinking, your camera's broken and won't be fixed for three days. You won't be able to take pictures in the meantime, so you must be going stir-crazy. I won't be using my camera for now, so you can borrow it."

"This... This doesn't seem right. I'd be troubling you too much." Sakura's face flushed bright red. She nervously twisted the hem of her shirt, still refusing to take it.

Shangguan Che chuckled to himself. Sakura really was just as he expected.

He changed tack, deliberately furrowing his brow. "All right, all right. I'll be honest. This camera's too heavy. My arm's already aching. Could you carry it for a while? Just do me a favor."

"Huh? Oh, so that's what you meant." Sakura immediately relaxed, then hurriedly took the camera and held it in her arms. "Okay, I'll carry it for you," she said quietly.

I really am a genius. Shangguan Che gave himself a mental pat on the back.

He'd helped Sakura and lightened his own load, without making her feel indebted. This trick would only work on Sakura.

He flexed his aching fingers and smiled. "Thanks, Sakura. You're such a nice person."

"I-it's nothing..." Sakura's cheeks turned pink again, and her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

Shangguan Che knew when to stop. He immediately fell silent and walked obediently beside her.

If he kept teasing her, Sakura might get so embarrassed she'd want to sink into the ground.

As they reached the dorm, Shangguan Che spotted a group of people up ahead. One familiar figure had his back to them and was talking on the phone.

"Hey, Hirata! What are you doing here?" he called out without thinking.

Hirata turned around. When he saw them, his eyes lit up. "Shangguan, you're here too?"

When Shangguan Che got closer, he noticed Horikita, Ayanokoji, and Ichinose standing beside Hirata, along with an unfamiliar boy.

He wore a first-year uniform and looked rather refined. He was probably from another class.

Oh no, I've walked right into it. Shangguan Che's heart sank.

With these people gathered together, it couldn't be anything good. They had to be discussing the Sudo Incident.

He should've taken another route. Now that he'd gotten involved, they might drag him off to "help" again.

"Good afternoon, Shangguan!" Ichinose greeted him with a smile. Her pink hair swayed gently as she nodded, making her look especially warm and friendly.

Shangguan Che glanced around. Horikita and Ayanokoji hadn't said anything, and the unfamiliar boy had only looked at him once.

He quietly did the math: out of five people, two had greeted him first. That was two-fifths—not bad.

Hirata definitely counted as one of the two. Yes, that was right.

That thought made him feel a lot better.

"Good afternoon, everyone!" Shangguan Che immediately put on a bright smile, acting as "enthusiastic" as he could in an attempt to bluff his way through.

"Perfect timing. We're talking about class matters. Come and listen, Shangguan." Hirata grabbed his arm, afraid he might run off.

"Oh, is that Sakura?" Only then did Hirata notice her. He quickly added, "I see. If you're busy, Shangguan, you don't have to join us."

Shangguan Che rolled his eyes inwardly. Hirata, you might as well not have said that! First you pull me in, then you give me an excuse to leave. Am I supposed to stay or go?

Of course, he knew Hirata meant well.

The whole class knew that he and Sakura often ate together and walked back to the dorms. Hirata had probably worried about interrupting their time together.

"Sakura and I really aren't like that!" Shangguan Che waved his hands helplessly. "Since when did you get so gossipy?"

"Sorry, sorry. I misunderstood." Hirata immediately bowed in apology. He was so sincere that Shangguan Che felt bad about making fun of him.

"It's fine, it's fine." Shangguan Che quickly smoothed things over, tugged Sakura along, and started backing away. "Sakura and I will get going, then. You all carry on. We won't bother you!"

The best plan was to run. He didn't want to get dragged into the hassle of forming an alliance.

Besides, from the look of Sakura, she probably didn't want to talk in front of so many people either.

Only after the two of them disappeared around the stairwell did the others gather together again.

"Hirata, you didn't need to keep Shangguan here. It makes no difference whether he's involved or not." Horikita crossed her arms and spoke in an even tone, clearly not taking Shangguan Che seriously.

In her eyes, Shangguan Che was no different from Ike and the others: just another "slacker" who wanted to date in high school.

The difference was that Ike wore his thoughts on his sleeve and was always sucking up to girls, mainly Kushida Kikyo. Shangguan Che never said it out loud, but he was constantly hanging around a timid girl like Sakura. There was nothing particularly special about him.

"Horikita, that's not fair," Hirata immediately argued. "Shangguan's actually pretty capable. He was the one who went to Chabashira-sensei to ask for the surveillance footage, and he was also the one who asked Ichinose for leads. Without him, we might not have gotten this far."

"Whatever." Horikita didn't argue further. She only glanced coolly at Ayanokoji beside her.

He hadn't said a word this whole time. Who knew what he was plotting now?

"All right, let's not argue about that. We should get down to business." Ichinose smiled as she tried to smooth things over and bring the discussion back on track. "Should Class D form an alliance with Class B?"

As soon as she said it, everyone turned to look at her.

There was a reason Ichinose had proposed an alliance. The day before, she'd heard that Hirata and the others were still looking for witnesses to the Sudo Incident. Early that morning, she'd gone to look around near the abandoned club building, hoping to find some clues. There, she'd run into Horikita and Ayanokoji, who were investigating too. Later, Hirata had shown up on his own.

While they were discussing the incident, Ichinose mentioned what she knew about Class C.

She was sociable and had learned about Class C's way of doing things through various channels, back before Ryuen had established absolute authority there. She knew that Class C liked to solve problems with "violence" and "threats."

This Sudo Incident was clearly a trap set by Class C, an attempt to use the opportunity to bring down Class D.

Ichinose believed that, given the situation, they could only stand up to Class C's threat by joining forces. So she'd immediately contacted Class B's vice class representative, Kanzaki Ryuji, and asked him to come discuss an alliance.

"An alliance?" Hirata was taken aback. "Why form one all of a sudden?"

Kanzaki Ryuji pushed up his glasses and spoke first. "Ichinose has already explained the situation to me. Class C's target this time is Class D.

"But given Ryuen's personality, he might target Class B next. Rather than fighting separately, we should join forces. We'll have a better chance of finding witnesses and handling next week's hearing."

Hirata nodded, thinking Kanzaki made sense, but he still seemed hesitant. "But... what would an alliance actually involve? Given Class D's current situation, I'm not sure we can do much for Class B."

"Not at all," Ichinose said with a smile. "We can share our resources. Class B has connections through a lot of the clubs, so we can help you ask around for witnesses.

"Class D may be near the bottom of the rankings right now, but you have a lot of influence, Hirata, and your classmates are united. If we work together, we can definitely resolve this."

Horikita frowned and voiced her concerns. "If Class C finds out we've formed an alliance, won't they target us even more? Besides, how can we be sure Class B won't take advantage of us?"

She had never trusted other people, especially when it came to cooperation involving class interests.

Ayanokoji finally spoke, his voice as calm as ever. "An alliance depends on having common interests. Right now, Class C is a threat to both of us. As long as that threat remains, Class B won't betray us. As for them finding out... Class C won't leave Class D alone even if we don't form an alliance, will they?"

His words immediately made everyone see the point.

Hirata took a deep breath and looked at Ichinose and Kanzaki. "All right. I agree to the alliance. But we'll need to discuss the details, like how to divide up the search for clues and how to handle next week's hearing."

"Sounds good!" Ichinose immediately nodded, her face breaking into a happy smile. "Then let's get into the details..."

The group gathered around and began discussing things in earnest. Sunlight filtered through the leaves and fell on them. They all had different ideas, and some even disagreed, but to face their common threat, they chose to join forces—for now.

That midday alliance by the dorm was like a stone dropped into a lake. It hadn't caused much of a stir yet, but without anyone realizing it, it had begun to change Class D's circumstances. The next few days were bound to be anything but peaceful.