Deliberation

Three days before the midterm exams, Class D, first year.

"Kushida Kikyo, Ken Sudō, come to the office after lunch." Before class began, Chabashira Sae, the homeroom teacher of Class D, first year, called over two students.

"Um, is something wrong, sensei?" Kushida Kikyo asked, confused. A sense of unease stirred inside her. And why had Chabashira called her and Sudo over? Could it be because of what had happened earlier?

"The situation isn't clear yet," Chabashira Sae said. "Just come with me. If you don't, you'll have to face the consequences."

"Tch. Don't make us waste too much time." Hearing the veiled threat in Chabashira Sae's words, Sudo quickly backed down from whatever he'd been about to say.

"Yes, Chabashira-sensei," Kushida Kikyo promptly agreed.

After lunch, Kushida Kikyo and Ken Sudō went to the teachers' office.

Seeing them arrive, Chabashira rose from her seat. "Do you two know Nomura from Class 3-D?"

"Who's that?" Sudo had no recollection of knowing anyone by that name.

Kushida Kikyo's expression shifted slightly when she heard the name. Of course she remembered that Sakagami had gotten the answers from him. "I've only met him once. Did something happen to Nomura-senpai?"

"Something happened?" Judging by Kushida Kikyo's expression, Chabashira Sae was sure they knew him. Having confirmed the basic details, Chabashira stood up. "Someone did get into trouble, but it wasn't him. Nomura from Class 3-D has accused Kushida Kikyo and Ken Sudō from Class D of using violence and threats to steal old exam papers. Come with me."

Hearing Chabashira's words, Ken Sudō finally remembered who Nomura was. He couldn't help shouting, "He dropped them himself! I didn't use violence to steal anything!"

"You'll have a chance to make your case in front of the Student Council President later. Don't waste time now. Come with me to the meeting room for the hearing."

Chabashira cut off Sudo's complaints, frowning as she spoke.

Though Sudo still had plenty of complaints, he knew better than to keep talking and shut his mouth.

Kushida Kikyo, standing beside him, hadn't said a word. She just kept her head lowered, lost in thought.

The three of them soon arrived at the meeting room. Manabu Horikita sat in the center, while his secretary, Tachibana, took minutes beside him.

Nomura from Class 3-D and his homeroom teacher were already waiting there.

"Chabashira-sensei, please take a seat," the Student Council President said, directing the three of them to sit facing Nomura.

The moment he saw Nomura, Sudo was overcome with anger. He glared at him through clenched teeth.

"You bastard."

Nomura flinched at Sudo's murderous expression and shrank back. Tachibana, who was taking the minutes, frowned as well.

"Quiet, Sudo. It's not your turn to speak yet," Chabashira Sae scolded him with a frown.

"Hmph." Sudo snorted, then dropped heavily into his chair.

"I didn't expect the busy Student Council President to attend this hearing in person," Chabashira Sae said, looking at Manabu Horikita. Normally, other members of the Student Council could handle this sort of matter.

"Since this is an unusual incident involving two different year groups, I thought it best to attend out of caution. Besides, the Student Council President is supposed to be present," Manabu Horikita replied in an even tone. He was already certain Sawahara had something to do with this, so he'd wanted to see it for himself.

"I see." Chabashira had nothing more to say and closed her eyes to rest.

"The hearing is now in session. First, Nomura, tell us what happened," Tachibana said, opening the proceedings.

"That morning, I got a message from Class D asking to buy some old exam papers from me. We agreed to meet at the cafeteria at noon. But when I got there, the guy named Sudo had a bad attitude, and then he tried to hit me. I said I wasn't selling them anymore, but they wouldn't let me go, so I ran. The papers fell as I was running, and when I went to pick them up, they snatched them away."

Nomura recounted what had happened.

"Do you have any direct evidence?" Tachibana continued.

"I do." Nomura nodded. "Their class definitely has the papers for the upcoming midterms. And the cafeteria's security footage from that day can prove what I'm saying."

"Tachibana, go retrieve the cafeteria footage from that afternoon and see if it matches his account," Manabu Horikita said. He took the paper and pen from her; from that point on, he would take the minutes himself.

"Do either of you from Class D disagree with anything, or have anything to add?"

"Huh? You were the one who agreed to meet us at twelve, then made us sit around like idiots until one o'clock before you showed up. And you were rude, too. You're the one who had a bad attitude!" Sudo shouted angrily. "You dropped the papers, and we picked them up!"

"You—you can't exactly do something like that out in the open! You had us sit in the middle of the cafeteria, with so many people around. How could I possibly come over and make the deal with you there?" Nomura shrank back, a little intimidated by Sudo's expression. "Besides, everything I said is true."

"Anything else to add?" Manabu Horikita asked, pushing up his glasses.

"Sudo was angry because we'd been waiting there for an hour, so he acted a little rashly. I couldn't stop him. I'm very sorry," Kushida said, standing to apologize to Nomura, tears glimmering in her eyes. "But we never intended to use violence to steal anything."

"Kushida, why are you apologizing to this bastard? He was the one who showed up late, and he called us defective products," Sudo said, displeased. He was unhappy that she'd backed down and apologized.

"If there's nothing else to add, we'll leave it there," Manabu Horikita said when everyone had finished speaking. "It'll take some time to retrieve the security footage. Before then, I have a few questions. Nomura, why did you wait so long to report this to the Student Council?"

"Because I didn't know the name of the red-haired guy at the time. I only found out recently, when I heard that a red-haired first-year from Class D had joined the Basketball Club."

"Kushida, where did you hear that Nomura had old exam papers for sale?" Manabu Horikita asked, turning to Kushida Kikyo.

"I heard it from Sawahara in Class 1-C." Kushida didn't understand why Manabu Horikita was asking.

"Nomura, do you know Sawahara from Class 1-C?" Manabu Horikita asked, looking at him.

"I do. He asked me about the old exam papers before, but we couldn't agree on a price. He said he'd find someone to split the cost with, but then, for some reason, he suddenly gave up."

Just as I thought. Sawahara definitely set this in motion behind the scenes. What's his goal? The midterms are in two days, and now this case has come up. The exam questions... Manabu Horikita realized what was going on.

Class D would lose far more than just one or two students. They hadn't studied at all, and now the exam questions would suddenly change. On top of that, quite a few of them already had poor fundamentals... Class D might never recover from this. Thinking of his own younger sister in Class D, he couldn't help sighing inwardly.

But... is his goal to bring down Class D? Then what about that earlier talk of meeting the Chairman...

Just as Manabu Horikita was pondering this, Tachibana returned with the security footage.

"President, I've brought back the footage. It matches Nomura's account in most respects."