There were too few clues for anyone to come up with a good solution. Teacher Chabashira would probably bring the school's disciplinary notice tomorrow, so after offering Sudo a few words of comfort, everyone gradually left.
On the way back, Karuizawa turned to the side and asked:
"Katsuya, you have a way to handle this, don't you?"
"Why would you think that? I'm not a god..."
"I don't know. It just feels like you always step up at crucial moments, and you always look like you have everything under control."
Her words came from the trust she felt in Shinjo. But in this case, even he couldn't possibly come up with a good solution in such a short time.
Shinjo shook his head and asked the girl beside him a question:
"Kei, what do you think would make the school accept Class C's one-sided declaration and make Sudo find evidence to clear his name, instead of making them find evidence to prove he's guilty?"
"Hmm... I guess it would mean Class C doesn't need to prove anything?"
"Exactly. And Sudo admitted that he laid hands on the students from Class C. Even without overwhelming evidence, if Sudo has already admitted it, he's the prime suspect."
"That's a real headache. If he can't find evidence, won't that be awful?"
They would definitely lose the hard-won Class Points, and the peaceful atmosphere the class had finally achieved would be ruined. Everything would return to square one—or perhaps things would be even worse than before.
"If only there were some kind of eyewitness... But it's probably unlikely, even if we hope for one, right? If Class C deliberately set Sudo up, they'd have chosen a deserted place without surveillance cameras."
"It's too early to talk about that. Let's see what the teacher says tomorrow."
"I guess that's all we can do..."
The next day, aside from the Horikita study group, the others clearly had no idea what had happened.
So when Teacher Chabashira appeared in the classroom, someone raised a hand and asked:
"Teacher... why haven't our personal points been deposited yet?"
"Don't worry. This is exactly what I wanted to discuss during today's homeroom. Sudo got into a conflict with students from Class C and hit them, so until a final judgment is reached, the personal points for both our classes have been suspended."
As soon as they heard it was because of Sudo, everyone's expressions turned unfriendly. They all looked toward the red-haired boy in the back row.
Sudo naturally wasn't going to stay quiet, so he hurriedly stood up and shouted an explanation:
"That's not what happened! The people from Class C provoked me first. I was defending myself! You have to believe me. I didn't hit them on purpose!"
But no one was willing to listen. If Hirata and Kushida hadn't spoken up for him last time, they wouldn't even have wanted to lend him the points he needed to get through his troubles.
"Why did they only hit you and not anyone else? Have you thought about what you might have done wrong?!"
"What did you say?"
"In other words, why are you always the one causing trouble for the class?! Sudo! What did we ever do to you?! I'm begging you, please stop causing trouble!!!"
"Why are you saying this about me?! This clearly isn't my fault! I'll say it again: they hit me first, and I was fighting back!!"
The classroom grew restless. Hirata and Kushida couldn't let things get any worse, so they quickly stood up to calm everyone down.
"Everyone! Calm down! You all heard what Sudo just said. The people from Class C are trying to frame him. We should trust our own classmate!"
"Hirata's right. We shouldn't turn on each other at a time like this. We should help Sudo find evidence proving his innocence and expose Class C's scheme!"
With the two of them leading the way, much of the anger in the class quickly subsided.
Of course, there were still plenty of level-headed people among them.
"That may be true, but Sudo, do you have any evidence to prove your innocence?"
"I... How could I possibly have anything like that?!"
Teacher Chabashira didn't want to keep watching the students blame and shirk responsibility onto one another. She left them with a "Homeroom is over" and walked out through the front door.
"Everyone! Even so, we shouldn't give up! We can use our individual connections and relationships to look for anyone who witnessed what happened!"
"So, I'm asking you all: if anyone saw what happened, could you please step forward now? Our classmate needs your help!"
Someone from their own class... probably couldn't serve as a witness, could they?
Shinjo didn't know what the school's judicial process was like, but surely something this serious would involve rules about disqualification, wouldn't it?
Students from Class C and Class D couldn't serve as witnesses.
Besides, a witness alone couldn't count as particularly strong evidence, since there was still a chance they'd been bribed.
Unless the witness was a teacher at the school, or someone of great standing like the Student Council President.
"Do you still not understand?! This has nothing to do with whether you're the one at fault or not!"
"How could I not understand?! I clearly did nothing wrong, so how can it have nothing to do with that?! They're the ones who were wrong, but I'm the one getting punished! Is this really how the school works?!"
Nearby, Sudo and Horikita had started arguing again.
"Do you not believe me either? We're supposed to be classmates!!"
"I've never considered you a classmate of mine. If you're going to be this stubborn no matter what, then I can't help you."
"You!"
Shinjo stepped forward and patted the shoulder of the lovelorn Sudo.
"I believe you, but... I don't have any good ideas right now either."
"Shinjo..."
Sudo choked up. Nothing showed who could be trusted in times of hardship better than this. Little did he know that Shinjo was only looking for an excuse to get out of there. He didn't care whether Sudo got suspended, and as for the deduction of Class Points, they only had 87 anyway. They could do as they pleased.
Five minutes later, at the Odd Jobs Agency.
"You've got such an outrageous smoking habit. Want to consider paying me medical expenses for all the secondhand smoke?"
Teacher Chabashira acted as if she hadn't heard him and continued smoking.
"What are you planning to do this time?"
"What am I planning to do? Shouldn't the question be what you're planning to do?"
At that, Teacher Chabashira sneered, her expression and words full of disdain:
"Ha! You really are heartless. Sudo trusts you so much, and you're still planning to make money off this?"
Her taunt didn't bother Shinjo at all. He fiddled with the Spring Monster in his hand, a stress-relief toy.
"That doesn't seem to be a contradiction. And there's a serious problem with the way you phrased that... I'm not asking anyone for money. I'm using someone's money to take care of that person's business! If certain people have a solution, they don't have to come to me. After all, the Odd Jobs Agency has never forced anyone to buy its services, has it?"
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