"I won't tell anyone about your situation, either."
"But..." Nakano Yuu said. "I hope you can help me with something."
"Then, Nakano, are you hoping... hoping I'll do something for you?" Sakura asked curiously.
"I was asking about this just now. I want to know where there aren't any cameras at this school. Somewhere secluded, somewhere few people go," Nakano Yuu said.
"There are a lot of Special Exams at this school, and a lot of students, too. Sometimes, when you're trying to find a suitable place to discuss a strategy for an exam, it can be hard."
"So... you mean somewhere to conduct business?" Sakura summed up.
Business?
If you were contacting students from another class or your own class to discuss an exam, then it made sense to think of it as a place to conduct business.
But Nakano thought there might be times when it wasn't about business, either, and someone could still go to a place like that.
Still, he answered, "Yes."
"I see..." Sakura nodded. "I know five places."
Looks like he'd been right to ask her.
Nakano Yuu knew Sakura had been a print model in middle school. Though she deliberately dressed dowdy in high school to hide her identity, she still loved taking selfies.
And since she was rather timid, she'd choose places to take selfies that were almost always camera-free and rarely visited.
"But if you want to discuss a strategy for an exam, couldn't you go to Horikita's room, Nakano?"
"I saw you go there once before," she said. "So, you and Horikita are actually..."
Wait, why had the conversation turned to this? And he'd only been to Horikita's room once, okay? How had Sakura happened to see even that?
But...
That meant Sakura was willing to help him, right?
After agreeing to help, Sakura decided not to keep studying.
As she put it, "Waaah, I've been through such an emotional roller coaster today that I can't calm down at all. I can't study," so the two of them left the library together.
Sakura had checked out all five places she suggested.
Well, she'd probably gone there to—
She'd also made sure they were suitable, which was why she was willing to show him the locations.
By showing him her treasured secret spots, she was basically giving up the places where she could take pictures from now on.
Nakano could read Horikita's expressions, and he noticed how Sakura had eagerly set out to lead him to her secret spots, only to grow more and more reluctant as they walked.
So Nakano Yuu added, "If this is about taking pictures, I can help."
"If you want to take pictures, I can keep watch for you."
"C-could you?" Sakura seemed hesitant.
"Of course," Nakano said with a nod.
Helping Sakura was a good thing.
1. He'd get to see what Sakura was really like.
2. Sakura was good at photography, so he could ask her for advice.
At least, none of the elite training Nakano Yuu had received had taught him photography. And for someone with a bit of a perfectionist streak, discovering a new skill but knowing nothing about it was agonizing.
"I-I see..."
Sakura studied Nakano's expression, and he met her gaze with the same sincerity he'd shown Horikita.
But...
Even though she was only checking whether he was being sincere, the moment Sakura met his eyes, she quickly looked away. Her face turned red, and she clasped her hands together nervously, like a steam engine.
She really was completely defenseless.
Nakano realized that his good looks, which had no effect on Horikita, worked quite well on Sakura.
At least...
After their brief exchange of glances, Sakura quickly turned her head away. Then, after hesitating for a moment, she took something out of her black schoolbag.
"This is my camera," Sakura Airi said. "Um... I'll be counting on you from now on."
So she wasn't asking him to keep watch, but to help take pictures?
That meant he'd basically gotten a ticket to learning photography.
Of course.
Sakura had handed him a pink camera that had clearly been used, so there might already be some pictures she'd taken stored on it.
As a gentleman, Nakano was too gracious to snoop.
He nodded.
Then he followed Sakura to the first place without cameras.
It was the closest one to the library.
The school building—or, more precisely, the science building.
"We don't have many science classes, so the science building is often empty. And since these probably aren't very important labs, they haven't installed cameras," Sakura explained to Nakano Yuu.
The two had entered through the stairs outside the school building.
Then they went straight to the second-floor corridor.
"This place, huh?"
The school curriculum hadn't included any science classes last month, so this was Nakano's first time here, too.
Still, he was quite interested in the place.
He remembered an incident from the original story where Ryuuen had someone provoke Sudo on purpose.
It was probably called the Sudo Assault Incident. Ryuuen had deliberately arranged for three students to pick a fight with Sudo, leading to a brawl between them.
But afterward, he'd beaten the three students who had fought Sudo so badly they were seriously injured, then falsely accused Sudo of beating all three of them.
On the face of it, it was absurd that one person could beat up three others and injure them like that. Anyone would think the three of them were lying.
Yet the school had accepted their accusation, letting Ryuuen test the limits of what the school would tolerate.
After that, Ryuuen had repeatedly resorted to underhanded tactics in other Special Exams.
They'd now reached a bend in the corridor.
There were some voices up ahead.
"You bastards! Where are you? Come out!" It was a somewhat familiar voice.
And soon, Nakano Yuu spotted a familiar face.
He was a tall, skinny boy with a red buzz cut who looked hard to get along with. He had the air of a delinquent, but once you got to know him, you'd realize he was just a big dummy.
That boy was Ken Sudō.
He was the student Nakano had high hopes for—the one he planned to use as a stepping stone by putting pressure on the other classes in sports.
At the student council, Sudo had followed his advice and left early.
But...
So the whole thing about going to get some middle school textbooks and then heading back to club practice had been a lie.
He'd actually been lured here by students from another class.
"What the hell do you want from me?" Sudo was facing off against three boys, all from other classes. Nakano Yuu had seen one of them with Ryuuen.
It was safe to assume all three of them were from Class C.
"Get him!"
But the boys from Class C immediately sprang into action. One of them grabbed Sudo around the waist, and another slammed a fist into his shoulder.
"You bastards! You wanna fight? Bring it on! You're just jealous I made the starting lineup!"
Ken Sudō cursed, clenched his fists, and seemed to let loose.
From his perspective, the other side had clearly struck first.
Even if the incident came to light afterward, he'd only be guilty of self-defense.
He'd definitely avoid most of the blame.
That meant he had nothing to worry about.
It was honestly impressive that Sudo had thought that far ahead.
Unfortunately, he'd fallen for their trap.
"A-a fight? And it's Sudo..."
Sakura Airi, standing beside Nakano Yuu, had also noticed what was happening up ahead.
"Yeah, a fight," Nakano Yuu said.
What sort of expression should he wear?
He'd only come here to check that it was a suitable place to talk, and then he'd thought about the Sudo Assault Incident. Now, it was happening right in front of him.
"W-what should we do?" Sakura looked helplessly at Nakano.
As a girl, she probably hadn't encountered a situation like this very often.
"Yeah, what should we do?" Nakano sighed inwardly, then picked up the camera Sakura had just handed him.
"First, we should record it. That can't hurt," he said, quickly switching on the camera.
"Did you turn off the shutter sound?" he quietly asked Sakura Airi.
"I-I did," Sakura quickly replied.
Right.
There were a lot of creeps around, and it was easy to take pictures, so cameras and other recording devices usually kept the shutter sound on. That made it easy to get caught, but with this camera, he didn't have to worry about that.
He switched to video recording, too.
From what he could see, Sudo had already taken the bait and was fighting the three Class C students.
There was no point in going over to stop them. And why should he stop them anyway?
Sudo had already been hit, and now he was fighting back. He even had the upper hand.
At that point, the two Class C students who had each taken at least one punch quickly reacted.
"Sudo's gone nuts!"
"Let's get out of here!"
The three Class C students quickly fled.
"Hmph, what a pain!" Sudo grumbled as he left. "What a waste of time. I'd have been better off going back and reading a couple more pages. I already skipped club practice, anyway."
Well.
Sudo was quick to anger. That was one of his flaws.
But as his tutor for the day, Nakano-sensei still felt a little responsible for him.
He might as well make sure Sudo didn't end up at that hearing like he had in the original story.
After all, Horikita had gone to the hearing in the original, too, and she had other uses. There was no need for her to waste time there.
"N-Nakano, what should we do?" Sakura Airi, who had witnessed nearly the entire incident, looked panicked.
What should they do?
You should be thanking him, Sakura.
In the original Sudo Assault Incident, you ended up taking the stand as a witness. Not only did everyone see the selfies on your camera, but you didn't make a decisive difference, either.
Before you continue