Witness

"Student from Class C, don't forget that our class has a score to settle with Class C, too," Kanzaki said, folding his arms.

"I'm only here to pass along a message. You must be Kanzaki Ryuji, right? Ryuen told me to tell you that you won't be so lucky next time. I'm leaving." After speaking impatiently, Ibuki headed toward Class C's classroom.

Kanzaki couldn't help wondering why Ryuen had sent him a message. He turned toward Ying, looking thoughtful.

Ying: "The weather's lovely today, isn't it, Kanzaki?"

So Byakuya must have done something else that I didn't know about, Kanzaki thought helplessly.

In Ayanokoji's dorm room, everyone looked troubled because of Sudo's situation.

"Why?! I clearly saw Ying standing right there!" Sudo said angrily.

"You only saw him after the incident was over. He also said he didn't see anything. Couldn't there have been a third person?" Ayanokoji said calmly.

"Oh, right. That's definitely possible. But how are we supposed to find this third person?!" Sudo cried, clutching his head.

"Don't worry too much, Sudo. Hirata and the others have already started looking for witnesses in each class. I'm sure they'll find someone soon," Kushida reassured him. While they had been searching for Ying, Hirata had also been using his connections to look for witnesses across the different year groups.

"Ayanokoji, what am I supposed to do if we can't find a witness?" Sudo sounded worried that they still hadn't found one.

"Why are you asking me? But if we really don't find anyone, you'll be suspended, then fall behind in your studies and get expelled at the end of term," Ayanokoji said.

"Damn it! Why did this have to happen to me?!" Sudo slammed his fist down on the table, unhappy.

You brought this on yourself because of the way you usually act, Sudo, Ayanokoji thought.

"Maybe... we could ask Byakuya. He was there at the time, too, so he might have seen the third person," Kushida suggested.

"That's right, Ying was there, too. If we just ask him who he saw in that building, we'll know who the witness is!" Sudo said, suddenly excited.

"But Byakuya might not have seen anyone else," Ayanokoji said.

"Then let's go ask him!" Sudo said, heading for the door.

"Knock, knock..."

Just then, someone knocked on the door to Ayanokoji's room.

"Who is it? Hori... Horikita!" Sudo opened the door without thinking and saw Horikita Suzune standing outside.

"I'm leaving." Seeing everyone in the room, Horikita Suzune turned as if to go.

"Since you're here, why don't we share what we know?" Ayanokoji called out to stop her.

Horikita Suzune closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I know who the witness is. It's our classmate, Sakura Airi."

"You mean Sakura is the witness?" Kushida asked.

"Yeah. When Hirata asked everyone to help look for the witness, Sakura was the only one with her head down. And when she heard Sudo suspect that Byakuya was the witness, she clearly looked relieved," Horikita Suzune explained.

"Then I'll call her and ask." Kushida dialed Sakura's number. "Huh? Sakura isn't answering. I wonder if something's happened."

"The fact that she didn't answer only confirms my suspicion. We can ask her after class tomorrow," Horikita Suzune said.

"Sakura, could we talk for a moment? There's something we'd like to ask you." The next day, as soon as class ended, Kushida went over to Sakura.

"I don't know! I don't know anything, I don't know anything!" Sakura said, pulling free of Kushida's grasp and running off.

"Looks like there's a very good chance she's the witness," Horikita Suzune said.

"Should we ask Byakuya again? Sakura seems pretty troubled, too," Kushida said worriedly, watching Sakura leave.

Horikita Suzune frowned and said, sounding annoyed, "Then go ahead." With that, she turned and went back to the classroom.

"Why are you back again? I told you, I didn't see anything. I just happened to pass by after they finished fighting," Ying said, exasperated, as he looked at the students from Class D.

"Ying, we came to ask if you saw anyone else there that day besides me!" Sudo hurriedly blurted out.

Ying thought back for a moment. "I did."

"Hurry up and tell us! Who was it? Was it Sakura Airi?!" Sudo asked excitedly.

"It was those students from Class C you beat up."

Sudo's excitement instantly deflated.

"But I saw Sakura Airi, too," Ying continued.

"Great! That proves Sakura is the witness! All we have to do now is get her to testify, and I won't be suspended!" Sudo said excitedly.

"But I'm not sure whether she saw the whole thing. What if she only saw you beating them up?" Ying warned.

"Couldn't you have said that all at once? You got my hopes up for nothing so many times!" Sudo grumbled angrily.

"But Byakuya makes a good point. We have to confirm it with Sakura," Kushida said. Then everyone from Class D left.

"Hamaguchi overheard Ying talking with the students from Class D and came over to ask, "Why didn't you tell us you saw Sakura Airi that day?"

Because of the past feud between Classes B and C, once Ichinose heard that Class D had clashed with Class C, she rallied the students from Class B to help Class D find witnesses to Sudo's fight. Even so, Ichinose had promised that if the witness they found said Sudo had attacked the students from Class C first, Class B wouldn't cover for Class D.

The students from Class B had also asked Ying, who had been there at the time. But no matter who asked, he said he hadn't seen anything and had only noticed Sudo and the others after their fight had ended.

"I forgot at the time." Realizing he hadn't mentioned Sakura before, Ying gave an embarrassed smile.

Hamaguchi just shot Ying an exasperated look and said nothing more. It wasn't the first time Ying had done something like this, after all.

After school, Ying went to the Student Council as usual. As soon as he entered, Horikita Manabu asked him,

"What do you know about this incident between Class C and Class D?"

"Huh? Even you're asking me, Boss? I really just happened to be nearby that day!" Ying said helplessly.

"What do you think of the incident? Are you going to get involved?" Horikita Manabu asked, pushing up his glasses.

"What is there to think? Class D definitely won't be suspended in the end. Your sister's there, after all." Ying knew the original story and had long since known how things would turn out.

"Oh? You think Suzune can resolve this incident perfectly all by herself?" Clearly, Horikita Manabu didn't believe that Horikita Suzune could handle it in her current state.

"Just sit back and enjoy the show, Boss: Ayanokoji's battle of lies against lies."