Deliberation

Three days until the midterm exams, Class 1-D.

"Kikyo Kushida, Ken Sudo, I need the two of you to come to the faculty office after school today." Before class began, Chabashira Sae, the homeroom teacher for Class 1-D, called out to two of her students.

"Eh? Teacher, is something the matter?" Kikyo Kushida asked, feeling a bit confused. At the same time, a bad premonition welled up in her heart. Since she was being called out alongside Sudo, could it be about that previous incident?

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

"Tch, don't waste too much of my time." Hearing the subtle threat in Chabashira Sae's words, Sudo, who had originally wanted to protest, quickly backed down.

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

After school, Kikyo Kushida and Ken Sudo arrived at the faculty office.

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

"Who's that?" Sudo had absolutely no memory of knowing such a person.

Upon hearing the name, Kikyo Kushida's expression shifted slightly. Of course, she remembered that the answers she'd gotten from Sakagami had come from him. "I've only seen him once. Did something happen to Nomura-senpai?"

"Something happen?" Seeing Kikyo Kushida's reaction, Chabashira Sae confirmed they knew him. Having established the basics, Chabashira stood up. "Indeed, something has happened, though not to him. Nomura from Class 3-D has filed a formal complaint against Kikyo Kushida and Ken Sudo of Class 1-D, accusing you of using physical violence and threats to steal old exam papers. You two are coming with me."

Hearing Chabashira's words, Ken Sudo finally remembered who the guy was and shouted, "He dropped them himself! I didn't use any violence to steal anything!"

"Whatever you have to say, you'll have the chance to plead your case in front of the Student Council President. Don't waste any more time; come to the conference room for the hearing immediately."

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

Hearing her, Sudo, despite having plenty of complaints left to voice, wisely shut his mouth.

Beside him, Kikyo Kushida hadn't said a word; she simply kept her head down, lost in thought.

Soon, the three of them arrived at the conference room. Manabu Horikita was sitting in the center, and his secretary, Tachibana, was holding a notebook, ready to record the proceedings.

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

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

The moment he saw Nomura, Sudo couldn't suppress his rage, staring at him with gritted teeth.

"You bastard."

Seeing Sudo's predatory expression, Nomura was startled and couldn't help but shrink back. Tachibana, who was recording the meeting, also frowned.

"Quiet, Sudo. It is not your turn to speak yet," Chabashira Sae reprimanded him with a scowl.

"Hmph." Sudo snorted, hot air puffing from his nose, and sat heavily in his chair.

"I didn't expect the busy Student Council President to personally attend this hearing," Chabashira Sae said, looking at Manabu Horikita. Generally speaking, other student council members could handle such matters without issue.

"Since this is a rare incident involving two different grade levels, I am merely acting out of caution. Besides, the Student Council President is expected to attend such matters," Manabu Horikita replied coolly. Furthermore, he was fairly certain that Sawahara was involved in this incident, and he had to see it for himself.

"Is that so?" Hearing this, Chabashira said nothing more and closed her eyes to rest.

"The hearing will now begin. Nomura, start by describing the sequence of events," Tachibana said, presiding over the meeting.

"That morning, I received a message from Class 1-D asking to buy past exam papers. We agreed to meet in the cafeteria at noon. When we met, the guy named Sudo had a terrible attitude and even tried to hit me. When I said I wouldn't sell them, they wouldn't let me leave. I ran away, and when the papers fell, I tried to grab them, but they snatched them away."

Nomura recounted his version of the events.

"Is there any direct evidence?" Tachibana continued to ask.

"Yes," Nomura nodded. "Their class must have the papers for this midterm exam, and the cafeteria surveillance footage from that day can prove what I said."

"Tachibana, go pull the surveillance footage from the cafeteria that day and see if it matches," Manabu Horikita said to her, taking the pen and paper from her hands to continue the recording himself.

"Do the two students from Class 1-D have any objections or anything to add?"

"Ha? You bastard, we agreed on 12 o'clock, but you made us sit there like idiots until 1 o'clock before showing up. You were talking trash, too—it was clearly your attitude that was the problem!" Sudo roared angrily. "Those papers were clearly dropped there, and we just picked them up."

"Y-you... how could anyone do something like that in broad daylight? We were in the middle of the cafeteria with so many people around, how could I possibly trade with you there?" Nomura shrank back, clearly intimidated by Sudo's demeanor. "Besides, everything I said is the truth."

"Is there anything else to add?" Manabu Horikita asked, adjusting his glasses.

"Because we had to wait for an hour that day, Sudo-kun was very angry, so his behavior was a bit extreme. I couldn't stop him, and I am very sorry, but we never had any intention of using violence to steal anything," Kushida said, standing up to apologize to Nomura, her eyes shimmering with tears.

"Kushida, why are you apologizing to this jerk? It was clearly him who wasn't punctual and called us 'defective products'!" Sudo looked at Kushida with dissatisfaction, clearly unhappy with her submissive apology.

"If there is nothing else to add, we will stop here," Manabu Horikita said, seeing they were finished. "It will take some time to retrieve the footage. Before that, I have a few questions. Nomura, why did it take so long for you to report this to the Student Council?"

"Because I didn't know the name of the red-haired boy at the time. It was only recently that I heard a red-haired student from Class 1-D had joined the basketball team, and that's how I found out his name."

"Kushida-san, how did you know Nomura had past exam papers for sale?" Manabu Horikita looked at Kikyo Kushida.

"I heard it from Sawahara-kun in Class 1-C," Kushida said, not understanding why Manabu Horikita would ask this.

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

"I do. He asked me about the past exam papers before, but we couldn't agree on a price. He said he would find someone to buy them with him, but then for some reason, he suddenly gave up," Nomura replied.

As I thought, Manabu Horikita mused. Sawahara is definitely pulling the strings behind the scenes. What is his goal? The midterm exams are in two days, and now this case appears... the exam papers... Manabu Horikita realized the implication.

Class D would definitely lose more than just one or two people. They hadn't been studying, and if the test questions were suddenly changed, combined with the fact that many of them had poor foundations... Class D would likely be crippled. Thinking that his own sister was in Class D, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

But... was the goal just to strike at Class D? Then what about the talk of meeting the Chairman...

Just as Manabu Horikita was deep in thought, Tachibana returned from retrieving the surveillance footage.

"President, I have brought the surveillance footage. It is basically consistent with Nomura's previous statement."