Sho-chan!

Kanzaki's expression grew serious, and he nodded.

"I understand. I'll make the arrangements immediately."

Well, well. So there really was one.

Uesugi Gen watched the surveillance footage in front of him and thought to himself.

Not long after Yamauchi and the trio went in, a girl clutching a camera hurried out, looking flustered.

Judging by the time between the two shots, she must have seen something.

More importantly,

Uesugi Gen stared at the camera in her hands. She might have taken pictures of something, too.

Not only that, according to the footage, Yamauchi had gone in first, and only afterward had the three students from Class C followed him in furtively.

That was enough to show there was more to this than met the eye.

Had Class C still not figured out the locations of all the hidden cameras, even after spending so long searching the school?

Well, Kōiku had made assessing students' abilities one of its goals. There was no way it would make it that easy for students to find every camera.

Class C had acted in such a hurry without even getting all the specific information. Its leader was a little impulsive.

With just this video, he could basically bring Classes C and D back to an even footing.

No... wait!

Uesugi Gen stared at Yamauchi Haruki, who was grinning foolishly in the footage.

Yamauchi hadn't gone to that place by chance. He'd followed the girl in the footage there.

Uesugi Gen's mouth twitched.

What on earth had the school been thinking when it did its background checks? Why were they letting all sorts of people into the school?

Never mind. He'd deal with that weirdo later and focus on the matter at hand.

Uesugi Gen thought it over briefly.

He sent the girl's photo to The Accomplice Lady. Given her extensive circle of friends, she'd probably know who the girl was.

And judging by the fact that Yamauchi Haruki had gone out of his way to follow her, she might be a student from Class D.

Before long, Kushida Kikyo sent him a message.

Sakura Airi, huh?

It seemed Horikita Suzune had also realized that Sakura Airi was a witness and was heading to where she was.

He had to hurry and get the evidence before Horikita Suzune did.

Since Sakura Airi was from Class D, her testimony wouldn't carry as much weight. The physical evidence was what mattered most.

Uesugi Gen made his decision at once.

The digital camera had been broken, so the place must be an electronics shop.

When Uesugi Gen arrived, Sakura Airi was standing with her head lowered, meekly handing her digital camera to a shop assistant for repairs.

Uesugi Gen let out a quiet breath. Since the camera was there, the rest would be easy.

Sakura Airi was from Class D. There was no way she'd help Uesugi Gen threaten Class C, so his only target was the camera, which might contain physical evidence.

Once she left, he would use his position as Vice President of the Student Council to demand that they check whether the camera had captured the scene. If it had, he would copy the photos and take them with him.

However, something unexpected happened.

Sakura Airi, who looked so timid, suddenly ran out of the electronics shop.

Hm? Was she that perceptive? Had she really noticed me?

No... wait. It wasn't me. It was the shop assistant.

Uesugi Gen frowned and kept watching.

As soon as Sakura Airi ran off, the shop assistant eagerly removed the memory card. He stared at it with a look of infatuation, eager to see what was on it, while muttering something under his breath.

Uesugi Gen fell silent, watching the fleeing Sakura Airi with a blank expression before turning to look at the shop assistant.

Two perverts like that, one after the other. Did you have some kind of special constitution?

Yamauchi Haruki aside, with an ability that might be even more useless than air, the effect he had on Sakura Airi was limited.

But the man in front of him had clearly frightened her. He might even have a record.

Horikita Manabu was always complaining that he never did anything useful, but as Vice President, Uesugi Gen still had to step in when something like this happened.

Before long, Uesugi Gen called over several security guards and showed them his Student Council ID.

"Search his phone and anything else he has. See if there's anything suspicious. Also, have someone bring back the girl who just ran off."

The security guards nodded solemnly, called over a few others, and quickly surrounded the shop assistant.

"Y-you... What are you doing? Let go of me!"

The shop assistant panicked when he saw the burly men closing in.

Ignoring his struggles, they forcibly opened his phone.

"Th-this is!"

The security guards stared at the contents of the phone in shock, then hurried over and handed it to Uesugi Gen.

"Letting someone like this into the school was a serious failure on the school's part."

Uesugi Gen looked at the contents of the phone and scratched his head in frustration.

There were photos of Sakura Airi taken secretly from all sorts of angles. Comparing them with the idol photos filling every corner of his phone, it was clear they were of the same person.

Uesugi Gen glanced at the shop assistant, who was now in a sorry state, and waved his hand.

"Take him away and turn him over to the school."

"Now, then, let's talk about our business."

Uesugi Gen turned to Sakura Airi, who was hiding behind the security guards.

"Miss Idol."

"I... I don't have anything to talk to you about."

Hiding behind the security guards, Sakura Airi crouched with her eyes squeezed shut and her arms over her head. Her voice even trembled as she spoke.

"..."

Am I really that scary?

Very... very scary!

Sakura Airi knew all too well that Sudo, who'd been so arrogant at the start of the school year, was now obedient and meek. He didn't even dare raise his voice in front of Uesugi Gen.

Whenever Sudo talked about him, he called him the Great Demon King.

"What about your camera? You don't want that either?"

Uesugi Gen teased her.

"N-no, I don't want it."

Sakura Airi shook her head repeatedly.

"Then the compensation from the school—"

"I don't want that either!"

Sakura Airi hurriedly cut him off, her voice even starting to sound tearful.

"Forget it. I'll have Secretary Tachibana talk to you later. That shop assistant won't bother you again, and your camera might have to be kept as evidence for a while."

Uesugi Gen gave up trying.

"Mm-hmm."

Sakura Airi nodded repeatedly.

She was already quite satisfied that the problem had been taken care of.

After Sakura Airi left with the security guards, Uesugi Gen used a computer to open the memory card.

The photos appeared clearly on the screen.

Looking at the images on the computer, Uesugi Gen smiled faintly.

"Got it."

Shocked to Pieces!

"Stop!"

Horikita Suzune had appeared behind Uesugi Gen at some point.

"Well, well. If it isn't Miss Horikita?"

Uesugi Gen turned to look at Horikita Suzune, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"You're just in time. I found decisive evidence proving that Class C struck first, and I was just about to help you go settle the score with them."

A fair hand reached out in front of Uesugi Gen.

"Give it to me. I'll take it from here."

Horikita Suzune said flatly.

She had just learned from Sakura Airi that the camera containing the evidence had fallen into Uesugi Gen's hands.

As expected, he wasn't helping her out of kindness. He just wanted to use this incident to hit Class C.

"That won't do, Miss Horikita. This is my property. Even if you're a student, you can't make me hand it over to you."

Uesugi Gen spoke earnestly.

Horikita Suzune retorted, clearly exasperated.

"That's obviously Sakura's property. How did it become yours?"

"She told me she didn't want it, so I picked it up off the ground. According to school regulations, any unclaimed property found on Kōiku's campus is to be handed over to the Student Council."

"There's an unclaimed memory card here, and I just happen to be the Vice President of the Student Council. What a coincidence, don't you think?"

Even Horikita Suzune's usually impassive expression began to crack.

How could this guy make something so shameless sound so utterly proper?

But there was no way Horikita Suzune would just give up.

Ever since she'd used force to take down Yamauchi Haruki, she'd realized that sometimes it worked a lot better than words.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing? Are you trying to take it by force? I'm warning you, if you so much as touch me today, I'll go straight to your brother and tell him you assaulted the Vice President of the Student Council in public. I'll have him beat you up again."

Noticing Horikita Suzune's intentions, Uesugi Gen took a small step back and immediately invoked Horikita Manabu's name to pressure her.

Horikita Suzune's outstretched hands froze in midair. She pulled them back resentfully and glared at Uesugi Gen through clenched teeth.

"You jerk! If you've got the guts, stop running to him!"

"I just can't be bothered to fight you. If I accidentally hurt you, your brother will come bother me again."

Uesugi Gen was still putting on a brave front.

"I don't care. Hand it over right now, or you're not going anywhere today."

Horikita Suzune looked ready to stand there and wear him down.

Uesugi Gen had no choice but to try another approach.