One o'clock in the afternoon, Student Council Room.
"Let's hear what each of you thinks about this changing-room hidden-camera incident." Manabu Horikita adjusted his glasses and asked the student council members present for their opinions.
It was worth noting that Ichinose had also attended this meeting. Although she wouldn't officially join the Student Council until next semester, there was only one day left of the break, and the incident was connected to her as well, so Manabu Horikita had agreed to let her attend.
"This behavior is absolutely disgraceful. Although they were stopped in time, I think they should be expelled outright." Kiriyama, the treasurer, gave his opinion.
"Since it didn't cause much harm, I think we should go easy on them. After all, if this gets too big, it'll damage the school's reputation." Vice President Nagumo spoke with the school's position in mind.
"What do you think, Sawahara?" Manabu Horikita looked at Sawahara.
"This incident is beyond the scope of the school rules. Their actions directly violated the law, so I think they should be handed over to the police." Sawahara answered without hesitation.
At that, Kiriyama and Nagumo both looked at Sawahara.
Didn't they know this was illegal and that the students should be handed over to the police? Of course they knew. But they also knew that the school would never allow that to happen.
When bullying occurred at an ordinary school, the first thing it did was not resolve the problem or help the victim. Instead, it pressured the victim not to make a fuss.
Students taking hidden-camera photos at school would deal a tremendous blow to its image. The school would never allow the matter to be handed over to the police.
"It's obvious this wasn't the work of one person. It was a group effort. The school's position is to punish only the ringleader: expel the mastermind and give the accomplices a warning."
It was obvious the school wanted to keep the matter from getting out of hand.
But there was still one problem: all the evidence was in Sawahara's hands.
"But I don't think the girls at this school will support that punishment," Sawahara objected. Even if they wanted to sweep the matter under the rug, he had all the evidence. He had plenty of ways to spread it around and force the school to impose a harsher punishment.
"...Let's end the meeting here for now. Sawahara, stay behind."
After everyone else had left, the president looked at Sawahara and asked, "You knew from the beginning that they were going to do this, didn't you?"
Otherwise, it would have been far too much of a coincidence that he'd managed to get the evidence at just the right time and prevent the incident from escalating.
"Yeah. Once they came to the pool, I had a pretty good idea what they were planning." Sawahara nodded. "I even warned them, but, well..."
"I see." The president fell silent for a moment. "Tell me, what do you want?"
It was obvious that Sawahara had kept the evidence to bargain with the school for something.
"I want the records of every first-year student."
In the end, Sawahara didn't get the records of every first-year student. If the school had given them to him, it would have been no different from handing him victory outright.
So Sawahara settled for the entrance exam scores of all the first-years.
"What's the point of this?" Ryuen looked at his entrance exam results. Not a single subject was above forty. He silently hid the sheet away.
"I'm looking for someone—someone who could be a real headache. Help me find any scores that look strange." Sawahara assigned the work to Ryuen and the others. There were 160 score sheets in all, so the four of them could work more efficiently together.
"I think this one looks pretty strange. Every subject is 98." Ibuki picked up a score sheet.
"...That's mine." Sawahara took one look and recognized his own results.
"How'd you manage to get 98 in every subject?" Ibuki asked, unable to hide her envy at those flawless-looking scores.
"I just left one blank on every test."
"..." That's great. Don't say anything else.
"Sawahara, take a look at this person's scores." Shiina furrowed her brow and handed him the sheet she was holding.
"Fifty, fifty... Every subject is exactly fifty." Sawahara glanced at the name. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, the guy from Class D... Those scores would certainly strike anyone as strange.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka... Could it be you?
This is bad. When Ayanokoji got word from one of his useful pawns that the girls' changing room had been sealed off, he realized something was wrong.
Have they figured it out already?
His original plan had been to have someone swap the memory card after everyone arrived at the pool. Now, it was obvious that someone had caught on to Ike and the others' plan and had already put a stop to it.
In truth, he hadn't been very involved in the incident. Ike and the others had only asked him to handle inviting the girls.
But when people were backed into a corner, it was hardly surprising if they did anything at all. Even though he hadn't been involved, he could still get dragged down with them.
"Sotomura." Ayanokoji called the fourth person involved in the operation, who had been keeping a low profile.
"Lord Ayanokoji!"
"At four o'clock this afternoon, Sotomura and Ike from Class 1-D turned themselves in and named Yamauchi as the mastermind behind the hidden-camera incident?"
The president called Sawahara and told him the latest developments in the case.
Something was off. Sawahara furrowed his brow. Going by how these Class D students had acted in the past, they should have been pointing fingers at each other by now. Had someone been advising them from behind the scenes? And the person they'd named as the mastermind was Yamauchi, a character who didn't seem to have any particular strengths.
"How much of what they said do you believe?" the president asked.
"I think Yamauchi is innocent." Sawahara's lips curled into a smile. If they wanted to sacrifice the useless Yamauchi to calm things down, then he'd just raise the stakes.
"Besides, I was there at the time, and I didn't see Sotomura take part in any of it. Ike must have threatened him to protect himself and his friends, forcing him to join in and name Yamauchi as the mastermind.
"Looking at it that way, Sudo must have been the mastermind."
If a student from Class D had to be expelled, then this was a chance to eliminate one with a considerable advantage in sports.
"Don't you feel guilty saying that?" Horikita didn't believe Sawahara's story at all. He'd spoken to Sudo before. The previous hearing had made it clear that Sudo was impulsive, quick-tempered, and had a sense of responsibility—but the one thing he didn't have was brains.
"Of course not." Sawahara chuckled. "After what they did, whoever gets expelled deserves it, don't you think?"
"..." On that point, Manabu Horikita couldn't argue.
"I think you might hear some rumors about this incident soon."
"The school won't allow this to become a big deal." Manabu Horikita's stern tone carried a warning. "Don't test the school's limits."
It was supposed to be a warning, but really, it was more of an admonition.
"But aside from the 'mastermind' who gets expelled, the others should be punished too, shouldn't they?" Sawahara had given them a choice from the very beginning: abandon their original plan or face the consequences.
How could he possibly let the matter end here?
"...This incident didn't cause any harm." After all, the camera hadn't captured anything before Sawahara confiscated it.
"Attempted criminals are criminals too." Sawahara didn't think any of them deserved pity.
"..." Manabu Horikita had nothing to say. "Just know where to draw the line."
September 1, the first day of school. Ken Sudo of Class D was expelled, and rumors about the hidden-camera incident spread around the school. Yamauchi, Ike, and Sotomura from Class D were scorned by everyone.
And so, the second semester of the first year officially began.
Before you continue