The Reality Behind the Lies (Continued)

Without a trace of lying mixed in, it was pure fear of violence.

"Komiya—?" Ryuen drew out the name slowly as he called the last student who hadn't answered him, narrowing his eyes and glaring maliciously at him.

"I... I didn't... I didn't do it."

"..."

After all the twists and turns, Komiya had at least managed to hold on to the courage to speak.

"...I don't want you doing anything that goes against your words from now on. And don't let me catch any of you lying, either. You know what'll happen if you do, right?" As he spoke, Ryuen casually toyed with his fist.

"..."

"Get out." After delivering his final threat, Ryuen ordered the three people before him to leave. They hurried out of the room without a moment's delay, even forgetting to close the door gently behind them.

After the three of them had left, Ryuen remained crouched where he was, lost in thought for a while. Only after some time had passed did he slowly get to his feet and take a sip of ice water.

"Did you notice anything, Shiina?"

"You've probably realized it too, Ryuen. Those three weren't the ones who did this... Are there any other suspects?"

"During this dispute, I can say for certain that there were only four of us when I spoke with them."

"No one eavesdropping outside the room?"

"No. I even broke that camera so I could check the surveillance footage from the time. No one else was there. And those three troublemakers weren't carrying any devices that belonged to someone else. Since we can be sure they weren't the ones who did it, how exactly did the other person get that recording?"

"The only possibilities are that Ryuen did it himself, or that there was a bug."

"Do you take me for an idiot? Why would I do something that hurts me without benefiting me?" Ryuen snorted.

"So there must have been a bug there at the time. We've already searched the room and confirmed there's nothing like that installed, so it must have been brought in by someone. None of the three had received anything from anyone else, either... It's easy enough to bring in a bug, one way or another, but its very existence is the real problem."

"Why would that person have a bug? I asked around, and the school doesn't sell them. If it was brought in from outside, it would've been found during the entrance inspection. As for making one by hand, that'd be even harder."

And just how terrifying would someone have to be to carry a bug around?

A murderer? A high-ranking official? An interrogator?

An ordinary person would never go to such lengths.

"Rather than a bug, I'd sooner believe that X has someone planted in our class, hiding in plain sight."

"Does Ryuen really distrust the students in his class that much?"

"Of course. Where there's oppression, there's resistance. Aren't you one of them?"

"I just don't like fighting. That doesn't mean I hate it, at least."

"That's why I haven't lectured you so far. Unlike Ibuki, you're not in need of discipline."

"So what do you plan to do about this, Ryuen?"

"...I'll keep the possibility that there was a bug in mind."

So he's still going to use violence to make sure there are no traitors in the class?

But that's impossible.

A tyrant's rule is always overthrown, and traitors are bound to emerge.

(Ichinose's POV)

The birds' rising and falling calls cut through the layers of sleep and woke me.

Groggily, I glanced at the clock on the wall. As usual, it was still early. The habits I'd formed over three years of middle school weren't going to fade so quickly.

"..."

Still, maybe I'll get up a little later today. Let me doze off for just a bit longer.

"..."

I'll go to class a little later, like Raku does. But I can't wait until it's almost time for class to start. Speaking of which, Raku really is something. He almost always slips into the classroom at the last minute, without caring what anyone thinks of him. He never comes early, and I end up worrying every time about whether he'll make it on time.

Though maybe I'm worrying for nothing. From what he says, he gets up fairly early every day. It's just that there's nothing for him to do if he goes to class, so he'd rather stay in his dorm.

Then what does Raku do with all that time?

I'm really curious about that.

Raku is a very strange person. I don't mean that in a bad way—in fact, I'd say it's almost a compliment. Though "strange" isn't quite right. I should say he's hiding something.

He always says he's an energy-conservationist, devoted to his own creed:

—Don't do anything you don't need to do, and get it over with quickly if you have to.

It's a strange creed. I feel like it conceals a secret about Raku himself.

Why do I say that? Because his actions completely contradict what he says. He could simply refuse to do a lot of things, but he still agrees to them, even allowing me to make requests like a spoiled child.

"Spoiled child" is just a metaphor. Yes, just an example. Haha—

Sunlight poured through the glass window and fell across my face, and I immediately felt the warmth of summer.

Ugh, now I can't fall asleep at all.

Wait.

Anyway, my behavior ought to annoy him, but he doesn't seem to blame me. Even his complaints feel like an act. Or maybe he simply doesn't care whether I'm imposing on him.

Take this fight, for example. If Raku had firmly refused, I wouldn't have forced him. But he showed no sign of doing that. Even in the heat, he came along with me and reminded me what to do.

He feels so kind, yet unexpectedly cold.

Ah, no, that's not what I'm thinking about. I'm thinking about the secret Raku-kun is hiding.

The main reason I think that sentence hides his secret is that Raku doesn't lie.

Lying is human nature.

Everyone lies, and I'm no exception. I made a terrible mistake because of it...

But Raku seems to hate lying deeply. When he talks to me, he always does his best to avoid telling lies, carefully covering things up with clever words instead.

He may not know that I've noticed. If I keep pressing him about something, he'll definitely choose to stay silent. He doesn't want to deceive anyone, but he also doesn't want anyone to learn the real answer.

And yet, someone like that calls himself an energy-conservationist, while doing things that don't fit that creed at all.

So I'm certain there's a secret hidden in that saying, along with a past he doesn't want anyone to know about.

He's clearly clever, but he doesn't use his abilities. He's physically capable, too, but he doesn't show it to anyone.

I think Raku hasn't even realized that he's been deceiving someone all along: himself.

I wonder how he'd react if I came right out and said it. I doubt things would turn out well, so I'll keep following Teacher Hoshinomiya's request and help Raku get back on track.

Maybe he'll become a powerful ally who can help us reach Class A.

Without thinking, I gently rubbed the silver necklace around my neck, imagining the wonderful life ahead of me. Then—I slapped my cheeks hard.

It's really hot today.

[Please analyze the sentence structure of the following sentence]

Whoever wishes to keep a secret must hide the fact that he possesses one. (If you wish to keep a secret, you must conceal the fact that you have one.) — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

As usual, I sat in the classroom, waiting for the crowd to thin out. I worked on my homework while listening to Shiratori and the others chat. They always managed to find things to talk about that I couldn't join in on, so I used my homework as cover to keep from looking too awkward.

There wasn't much homework. Since it was just practice, the questions were very easy. If the exams were this easy, that'd be nice. I wouldn't have to think so hard about those troublesome steps.

Since the exercises were so simple, most of the class had bought extra, more advanced study guides to improve their skills. Even Okabe, who was ranked second from the bottom, had spent money on them. Naturally, I'd turned down the hassle.

I might not have much experience, but I had the ability to make sure I didn't mess up on exams.

Maybe that made me seem a little different, but being normal didn't mean doing everything the same way as everyone else. It meant acting according to your own personality.

Being ordinary to the extreme only made people suspicious.

It was like a perfect crime. A perfect crime couldn't exist precisely because it was perfect. Perfection itself was a flaw; it exposed the fact that a crime had taken place. Though no one else might be able to tell who had committed it.

Even for an assassin, hiding every trace of yourself isn't necessarily the safest approach.

"Come to think of it, what were you so busy with those few days, Raku?" Shiratori, who'd been happily chatting about anime, suddenly turned his gaze on me and asked.

"Could you be more specific? 'Those few days' doesn't really tell me anything."

"It's hard to pin down an exact time. It's not like anyone remembers what they had for dinner the day before yesterday for no reason."

"Then why are you asking about it now?"

"Because it was really unusual. You left school especially early after class those days. When I asked you, you gave me some casual excuse about going back to your dorm to sleep... It was about two weeks ago, or maybe a bit earlier?"

"If it was that long ago and even you've forgotten, do you think I'd remember?"

"Who knows? I'm not all that confident in my memory."

"If you don't even trust your own memory, do you think anyone else will?"

"I think you're the least qualified person here to say that, Okabe."

"What? I was just imitating—imitating! Do you even know what you're talking about?"

"Yeah—"

"Yeah, what?!"

"Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about—wait, I think I remember. It was around the time Class C and Class D had that dispute."

"Forget that. I want to know how you made that connection just now..."

"Don't worry about all that. Answer my question first. And I remember you got dragged away by Class D's goddess, Kushida, before, too. What was that about?"

It's impressive that you're still curious about that after all this time.

Once I understood what they were asking, I focused most of my attention on the exercises.

"I witnessed that dispute. I couldn't do much to help, but I was involved, more or less."

"So they called you in to help?!"

"Yeah, more or less. Though if I told you I'd gone back to my dorm to sleep or something, then I probably really did go back to my dorm that day... Wait, what's with those looks?"

As I moved my pen, its black casing reflected their disbelief.

"You... a lazy guy like you... actually took the initiative to help someone?!"

"Hey, that's harsh."

"Calm down, Okabe. Don't let him fool you." Takashima patted Okabe on the shoulder with a knowing air, leaving the three of us bewildered.

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. Teacher Hoshinomiya brought it up in class at the time, didn't she? But Raku, a witness, didn't even raise his hand. So I'm certain he only got involved because he was forced to."

"I see. But wouldn't going to the teacher privately after class to avoid trouble have been a lot of trouble in itself?"

"That's ridiculous. Do you think Raku would do something pointless? Helping out doesn't earn us any points even if it goes well. Even if we make friends with Class D, we're still enemies. If it goes badly—or if we even make things worse—we might end up on bad terms with Class D and get mocked by Class C."

"Do you guys really think there's anything wrong with that?"

"Not at all. As expected of Holmes Takashima. I, Du Okabe, declare you the strongest."

"I told you, it makes perfect sense, right?"

I have no idea what you're talking about, but you make it sound impressive...

"Oh, it's already this late. We should probably get out of school."

"Let's go. I'm hungry anyway... Raku, you don't have anything else planned, do you?"

"No."

"Then let's go—"

Shiratori sounded the charge, and I quickly got to my feet, packed my things into my shoulder bag, and jogged to catch up with them.

"After dinner, the three of you are coming with me to karaoke."

"What the heck? Is this some new activity?" Takashima said with a look of distaste.

"I'm out. What's wrong with you? Four guys going to karaoke?"

"I've been feeling a little pent-up lately and want to sing. I haven't sung since the last get-together."