A Good Story, Good Design, Good Evidence

"Class 1-C accuses Sudō from Class D of deliberately provoking them, then leaving after beating the three of them so badly they were seriously injured. Does Class D have anything to say about this?"

Sudō had just started to speak when Ayanokōji stopped him. They couldn't let him make an even bigger mess of things here.

But Horikita seemed to have gone dumb. She kept her head down and said nothing.

With no other choice, Ayanokōji could only poke Shinjo beside him.

"Well, it can't be helped. Then I'll speak on behalf of Class D. Is that all right?"

"Go ahead."

Ishizaki across from them clearly knew Shinjo. Come to think of it, they really did owe him thanks for today.

If he hadn't given them a heads-up, Ryuen wouldn't have been so thoroughly prepared, from choosing the targets and the location to fabricating evidence...

[You could turn the whole world upside down today, and you still wouldn't get Sudō off the hook!!]

"Huh? Ishizaki, why are you staring at me? Is there something on my face?"

Ishizaki quickly looked away when Shinjo called his name, then spat out:

"Pah! You think you're some kind of handsome guy or pretty girl?"

"Then why are you staring at me? Oh! I get it. After Ryuen went back last time, he took out his leftover anger on you. Now you hold a grudge against me, right?!"

"Th-what's that got to do with you?"

"Ha! I knew it. Your big brother..."

Seeing the conversation start to veer off track, Sakagami hurried to rescue Ishizaki.

"Hey, aren't we talking about Sudō beating people up? You seem to be getting off topic."

"Exactly! What does what happens in our class have to do with you?!"

Shinjo spread his hands, acknowledging that it really wasn't his business. He just felt like Ishizaki's expression was provoking him, so he'd asked.

"As for Sudō beating people up... I'd say this is pure slander, blatant slander. I'd like to see what evidence Class 1-C has that Sudō was the one who attacked you three."

Horikita Manabu didn't answer. Instead, he yielded the floor to Class 1-C.

They'd clearly come well prepared and weren't stumped by the question. They pointed to their injuries and produced a photograph.

"First of all, Sudō himself has admitted that he got physical. And someone happened to see him with the three of us that day. This photo is irrefutable proof of Sudō grabbing me by the collar and assaulting me!"

The photo was exceptionally clear. The lighting, composition, and angle were all nearly perfect.

Though anyone with experience in photography would find it all the more suspicious, as if they'd deliberately set Sudō up, the fact remained that Sudō had attacked them.

Horikita Manabu had clearly noticed something was off, but evidence was evidence. Compared to Class D's empty words, Class 1-C had indeed come thoroughly prepared.

Besides, the three students' injuries couldn't have been faked. A teacher from the Health Department had even arranged an infirmary room for them and issued medical certificates.

[This time, they really made up for the lack of evidence from last time. A good story, good design, good evidence... They really caught us completely off guard.]

"Does Class D have anything else to say?"

"This is a frame-up! Yes, I admit I got physical, but it was because Class 1-C attacked me first! I was only defending myself!!!"

Sudō broke free of Ayanokōji and hurried to his feet to defend himself.

Horikita Manabu pushed up his glasses and glanced casually toward where his younger sister was sitting. After a quiet sigh, he said:

"Then can you provide evidence to support that?"

"Evidence!..."

In the few days since it happened, they'd found at most one witness, and that witness didn't seem to want to testify for him at all!

So Sudō fell silent like a deflated ball, his whole demeanor sinking.

"We're still gathering evidence, so..."

Shinjo and Ayanokōji had nothing more to add. The situation was obviously against Class D, and no matter how capable they were, there was nothing they could do right now.

"See? The student council president, they can't find any evidence at all! We request once again that a dangerous student like Sudō be expelled!"

Class 1-C hurried to pile on.

"For such a serious incident, if the allegations are confirmed, the school will certainly deal with it severely. However, the school's disciplinary action won't be carried out until next Tuesday. I'll be personally handling the case then."

"But the evidence is already conclusive..."

"Are you questioning the Student Council's decision?"

When he heard someone expressing dissatisfaction, Tachibana Akane naturally stepped in to speak for Horikita Manabu.

Komiya from Class 1-C saw this and didn't dare say another word. It was only a matter of waiting a few more days...

Just as everyone thought the meeting was about to break up, Horikita Manabu spoke again, addressing the empty air:

"Is there anything you'd like to say?"

?????

Horikita Suzune grew a little excited at his words. She'd thought she wasn't worthy of her brother's attention, but could it be that he'd still been watching her?

So she tried hard to open her mouth.

"I..."

"Well, not right now. Would you like to go have some tea?"

She'd barely gotten one word out when Shinjo cut in from beside her.

"That sounds good. Let's go together, Tachibana."

"Yes, President."

????????

Horikita Suzune stared blankly in her brother's direction, but Horikita Manabu had already left the meeting room with his little secretary, following Shinjo.

The people from Class 1-C had no desire to hang around either, so they got up and left as well.

Sudō was in such a foul mood. He could do without anything else, but basketball was the one thing he couldn't give up! He'd worked so hard to become a regular player, and now he might lose his spot because of some underhanded scheming.

So he told Ayanokōji, "I'm in a bad mood. I want to go out and clear my head," then lowered his head and walked out.

"Horikita, are you all right?"

"I..."

Horikita Suzune didn't know if she was all right. If what had just happened wasn't a hallucination, did that mean her brother really hadn't been paying attention to her?

And why was he with Shinjo...?

No!

[My brother said 'your side,' but 'your side' clearly wasn't referring to Class D! So what was he talking about?]

With Horikita Manabu gone, Horikita Suzune's intelligence had regained the upper hand.

Her dejected spirit revived like a withered tree sprouting new growth.

Chabashira Sae naturally noticed the curiosity in Horikita's eyes, so she simply explained:

"Yorozuya. You've probably heard of it, right? Yorozuya is a club this guy founded. It handles problems that ordinary people have a hard time dealing with—but only if you pay."

"Yorozuya?!"

How could Horikita forget that name? Her brother had even given a presentation specifically about Yorozuya. That alone was enough to show that he approved of the place.

So she'd always been looking for a chance to join Yorozuya. Since she didn't think herself worthy of standing beside her brother, she hadn't wanted to join the Student Council.

But all the little things she'd had to deal with kept her too busy to make time, so she'd never gone to see it in person.

And now Chabashira-sensei was telling her that Yorozuya was the club Shinjo had founded. How could she possibly stay calm?

"Chabashira-sensei, is that true?"

Chabashira nodded.

"But there's one thing I need to make clear: Yorozuya is Yorozuya, and Shinjo is Shinjo. As for the rest, go ask him yourself on the fourth floor of the Activity Building."

"Yorozuya..."