Witness, Sakura?

After Chasuke Sae and Sudo Ken's conversation, Sudo was so angry that he had no desire to enter the classroom again. To help him, Horikita brought Ayanokoji along to investigate the full circumstances of the incident.

Unfortunately, Horikita neither knew anyone well in other classes nor interacted much with her own classmates. Ayanokoji was even less likely to obtain anything useful. After two days of investigation, they had found nothing.

What made matters worse was that Class D learned they might receive zero points again this month if Sudo was punished, making their resentment toward him even stronger.

The remaining two members of the trio were no help at all. The only thing Yamauchi and Ike did was use Sudo's possible punishment to ask Class D's most popular girl, Kushida, for help. They talked endlessly about friendship and loyalty, but in reality, they just wanted an excuse to chat with Kushida.

Kushida, meanwhile, enthusiastically asked the class whether anyone had still been in the school building on the day of Sudo's fight.

"Everyone, listen to me..." Kushida honestly explained how Sudo had been provoked and threatened before it escalated into a fight.

"If anyone saw something in the school building at the time, please contact me. I'm begging you!"

Unfortunately, although Kushida's actions moved most of the class, they knew no more than Horikita did. No one could provide a valuable clue.

In order to come up with a workable solution, Kushida, Ayanokoji, Horikita, Sudo, Yamauchi, Ike, and the others gathered at a student cafeteria.

"Sudo, why haven't you improved at all? Is your brain capacity inversely proportional to your basketball skills?"

Horikita spoke coldly, looking as though she had no intention of helping Sudo whatsoever.

Yamauchi and Ike began playing the good guys and putting in a good word for him.

"Sorry for causing you trouble again, Horikita."

Sudo ignored the chill in Horikita's voice and apologized directly.

"Hey, all right, all right. Everyone calm down." Ike was the one who spoke.

It was obvious he could not ease the tension between them, so Ike could only sigh.

"If only there had been a witness. Then Sudo wouldn't have to be punished, and maybe we could get some more points this month."

"Everyone, calm down~" Kushida Kikyo's smile restarted like a lagging robot. Her fingers unconsciously twisted the bow on her uniform, creasing the edges of the ribbon with fine wrinkles.

"We should think about how to help Sudo find a witness."

"There aren't any clues at all."

"Then why don't we try another angle? Let's see whether anyone was near the school building that day. We should have an easier time finding someone that way."

"Do any of you have any clues about a witness?"

"I do."

Horikita's words immediately silenced the group of five in the cafeteria.

"When Kushida asked in the classroom whether anyone knew anything, only Sakura reacted differently. She deliberately hid her expression."

Almost no one remembered that name. Only Kushida's mention of Sakura, who was practically invisible in Class D, made everyone recall her.

"Sakura? Who's that?"

"The glasses girl who sits behind you."

"No, no, she sits to Sudo's right."

Yamauchi and Ike argued based on completely inaccurate memories. The girls glared unhappily at the two clueless idiots bickering.

Sudo, seated in front of Horikita, clearly saw the furrow in her brow.

"Shut up!" Sudo slammed his hand down heavily on the table.

The next moment, the two noise engines fell silent.

"But that still doesn't prove Sakura is the witness, does it?"

Kushida voiced her doubt.

"We'll know after we investigate."

The group of six split into two teams. Horikita, Ayanokoji, and Kushida went to search for surveillance footage, while Sudo, Yamauchi, and Ike were responsible for slacking off.

An hour later, the two teams returned to the second-floor cafeteria. Ayanokoji looked out the window at Sakura, who was trembling in front of a vending machine below as she fed coins into the slot one by one.

Horikita Suzune suddenly slapped the surveillance room sign-in sheet onto the table. "The cameras in the east corridor on the third floor undergo maintenance every Wednesday, but the camera at the main entrance should have captured part of it—Sakura Airi did return to the classroom after school on Wednesday."

"Wait!" Yamauchi Haruki suddenly jumped up and knocked over his chair. "When us guys were changing into sportswear in the locker room the day before yesterday, we heard a metallic clanging sound in the hallway!" He waved his arms as he imitated it. "A loud crash, like the sound of a camera falling to the ground!"

Kushida Kikyo's eyes curved slightly. Anyone could tell this news had no credibility whatsoever, but that did not matter.

"I seem to remember Sakura always carrying a black camera bag against her chest."

Sudo Ken suddenly kicked his stool aside and stood up, the veins at his temples throbbing in the dusk.

"That girl witnessed it? You've got to be kidding me! If she saw those Class C bastards provoking me, why didn't she..."

The rest of the sentence caught in his throat. He suddenly remembered that when he had thrown his punch, he really had vaguely heard something like a camera shutter in the distance.

Ayanokoji quietly turned up his phone's brightness. On the screen was the surveillance coverage map released by the Student Council.

When Horikita pointed to the camera coverage around the lockers, everyone noticed that Sakura's locker was positioned precisely at the angle between the surveillance blind spot and the site of the fight.

Ike Kanji suddenly yelped, "Could Sakura have taken pictures of Sudo hitting someone?"

"Sakura is downstairs right now. Let's go ask her."

"What's there to hesitate about? Let's go over and ask her for the truth."

Sudo rolled up his sleeves and was about to rush downstairs.

"Wait, Sakura is very shy. So many people will scare her."

Kushida suddenly spoke up.

"At this critical juncture, learning the truth sooner will help us resolve the problem." Horikita objected.

Those words hit exactly where it hurt for Kushida, so she could only put on an outwardly troubled yet helpless expression.

The group walked out of the cafeteria.

Ayanokoji, who had remained seated, showed no reaction. Only when Ike noticed he had fallen behind did he join the others, though he remained some distance away from them.

At that moment, by the vending machine around the corner in the corridor, Sakura pressed her heated cheeks against the vending machine's glass to cool down. She had been too clumsy when taking out her black tea just now. I hope nobody saw that...

When Kushida called out from behind her, she reflexively hid her bag behind her back. That action made the following Horikita narrow her eyes. Ayanokoji stood in the shadows five meters away, watching Sakura gradually shrink into a trembling ball under the three people's encirclement.

"Don't be afraid, Sakura. We just want to see the photos~"

Kushida used her sweet voice. She and Sakura could be considered acquaintances, so having her speak first somewhat eased Sakura's fear.

But surrounded by so many strangers, Sakura did not dare say a word.

"Sakura, did you go to the locker area in the school building last Friday afternoon?"

Horikita stated her purpose directly, and her already cold tone sounded even more unfeeling.

"I just... I really only came back to get my camera..." Sakura's tearful explanation was cut off by Horikita's frosty voice.

"The surveillance footage near the lockers shows that you crouched down to pick something up at 17:03, while Sudo's fight occurred at 17:12. Sakura, what were you doing during that time?" Horikita's suspicion was unmistakable.

Kushida gently held Sakura's icy fingers, but it only made Sakura tremble more violently, like a small animal caught in a snake's coils.

Yamauchi Haruki suddenly poked his head out from behind them and shouted, "Could Sakura have captured decisive evidence?"