Who Put It There? / I'm Guilty

"Yes, I'm exactly that greedy."

"..."

Kikyo stopped talking and only held him tighter.

He couldn't tell whether Kikyo had fallen for him, but he could vaguely sense a subtle change in her actions.

He hoped things would develop the way he wanted.

Who Put It There?

After returning to their base, Eito sensed that something was off.

The girls in particular were looking at him strangely. Some even smiled at him suggestively.

Had his thing with Kikyo been exposed?

That was his first thought, but he soon realized that wasn't it.

An angry Karuizawa and her group of girls came to meet him, and before long, the other students who wanted to watch the spectacle had gathered too.

Almost everyone in the class was there. Only the Three Idiots and a few others were missing.

Finding himself the center of attention, Eito couldn't help asking:

"What happened?"

Karuizawa asked him outright:

"Why were my panties in your bag?"

"Uh... What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, you pervert. And to think I thought you were a good person."

Eito didn't remember her ever thinking he was a good person, but from their conversation, he'd already gotten a general idea of what was going on.

Karuizawa's panties had been found in his bag.

Her floral panties were in his bag.

First, he could rule out Matsushita giving him the panties. He'd anticipated that something like this might happen, so he'd hidden them somewhere else well in advance. Even Ike wouldn't be able to find them there.

Next, he could rule out the panties growing legs and walking into his bag by themselves.

He could rule himself out too. He hadn't lost his memory, and he didn't have a habit of sleepwalking.

In the original course of events, Ibuki had stolen the panties and hidden them in Ike's bag.

So who had done it this time?

His bag had been left outside, so it would've been easy for someone to tamper with it.

If he hadn't changed reality, he could've worked out what happened with ease. But now things were complicated.

Besides Ibuki, Karuizawa was also capable of doing something like this.

After all, he knew she hated him. Wanting to damage his reputation would be perfectly normal for her.

Even if she wasn't the one who'd done it, she wouldn't pass up this chance to embarrass him.

And he'd been up to no good last night, so he hadn't noticed anyone making a move. Even if he had, it wouldn't have mattered. What if the culprit had waited until he went back to sleep?

He had another theory, too: Ike might've put them in his bag to avoid taking responsibility.

"The evidence is right there. They were found in your luggage. What else do you have to say?"

Karuizawa folded her arms across her chest, looking imposing.

Eito could just make out the smile at the corner of her mouth.

She was pleased, wasn't she?

But that didn't prove she was the culprit.

Eito asked:

"Can I ask why I would steal your panties?"

"Do you really need to ask?" Karuizawa's face flushed slightly. "You wanted to do perverted things with them."

As soon as she said that, the girls' gazes grew even stranger.

Shinohara stepped forward.

She had nearly as much influence among the girls as Karuizawa, thanks to her forceful personality and willingness to stand up to the boys.

Though she usually supported Karuizawa, too.

She said:

"Um... Takeda, if you like Karuizawa, you can compete fairly with Hirata. There's no need to do something like this."

She thought so too.

Clearly, people were more willing to believe what they saw with their own eyes.

And that had turned into the assumption that he liked Karuizawa Kei.

"So Takeda likes Karuizawa? I never would've guessed."

"Can you blame him? Kei's so cute. It's only natural that boys would like her."

"Takeda, why don't you apologize? Just don't do this again."

The girls all chimed in.

Even if it was a misunderstanding, he'd still behaved this way, so they were giving him a chance to atone.

If it had been Yamauchi, he'd have been cursed out already.

Should he be glad or sad?

Neither. And he didn't want to take the blame, either.

Eito's tone was firm.

"No. I didn't steal these panties."

"Even after all this, you're still making excuses?" Karuizawa said angrily.

"What's there to make excuses for? I said I didn't steal them," Eito said calmly. "If I were going to steal anyone's, I'd steal Kikyo's. Don't you have an overinflated sense of self-importance?"

"You—"

Hearing her name, Kikyo had no choice but to step in and defuse the situation.

"There might be some misunderstanding. You two, please don't argue. It'd be better to look into this further."

"What's there to look into?" Karuizawa said. "Besides, Kushida, you care about him so much. Are you two sleeping together? Should I tell everyone what happened last night—"

"Look, a UFO!"

Eito cut her off just in time and redirected everyone's attention.

"Huh? Where? Takeda, you're lying!"

Eito let out a sigh of relief.

"It's nothing. Things were getting too tense, so I tried to lighten the mood. Haha—"

He secretly caught Kikyo's eye and signaled for her to leave it alone.

Then he turned back to Karuizawa.

"I really didn't steal them, and I'm genuinely not interested in you. Don't take this too far."

His expression was so calm that he seemed sincere.

Just one sentence was enough to make the onlookers want to believe him.

What acting.

No, it wasn't acting. He really hadn't done it.

"Listen to me," Suzune said, no longer content to watch from the sidelines. "Karuizawa, isn't there someone else here who's a more likely suspect? Ibuki from Class C had a better chance to tamper with things. Isn't it wrong to suspect your own classmate instead of her?"

Suzune's words made the class look toward Ibuki, who was sitting far away.

"That's true. Isn't Ibuki more suspicious? Could she have been sent by Class C to cause trouble on purpose?"

One of the students spoke up.

Hirata spoke then, too.

"I trust Takeda. He wouldn't do something like this. Maybe it really is a misunderstanding."

"Now that you mention it, I agree. Karuizawa, why don't we investigate first? Don't accuse someone without being sure."

"Let's ask Ibuki what she has to say first."

But Karuizawa didn't go along with them. Instead, she said irritably:

"No way. She's a girl. How could she do something like this? Only boys like doing perverted things like that!"

Shinohara interrupted:

"Kei, aren't you getting a little worked up? Is it that time of the month?"

"It's not! Mind your own business!"

Karuizawa left them with those words, then ran back to her tent alone.

The other class members were left at a loss.

One of the girls said:

"Ah, maybe I went too far just now. It's my fault for not understanding how Karuizawa feels."

Shinohara looked a little guilty too.

"It was my fault. I should've investigated first before talking to her."

Shinohara had found the panties, so she felt partly responsible.

They were Karuizawa's friends, and they were girls, so they felt more empathy for what she'd been through.

That was something the boys there couldn't do.

So even if Karuizawa was being a little unreasonable, they could understand.

Would that be the end of it, then?

No.

Eito's suspicion hadn't been cleared. He didn't care what people thought of him, but he still didn't want to take the blame for something he hadn't done.

Who'd dared to frame him? If he caught them, he'd make them pay.

He looked around and noticed the Three Idiots still hadn't come back.

Where had they gone to fool around this time?

He couldn't even pin the blame on them.

The incident seemed about to fade away, and the students were starting to disperse.

Then a girl stepped forward.

"I'm sorry. I was the one who put the panties there!"

"???"

Eito looked at her and felt a headache coming on.

Why were you sticking your nose into this?

I'm Guilty

The girl giving him a headache was Sato Maya.