The Sudo Incident

Hoshino sat on a bench near the gymnasium, anxiously waiting to hear how things had gone with Ichinose.

Wait, hadn't a girl just walked past?

A trick of the light! It had to be!

Now that he thought about what he'd just said, Hoshino wanted to crawl into a hole! Hadn't he been a little too creepy? Lecturing someone like that! He'd just added another entry to his list of embarrassing memories!

Just as Hoshino clutched his head in embarrassment, wishing he could die, a short-haired girl came running out of the corner where they'd just been, crying!

"...Huh?" Still sitting in the same position, Hoshino turned to watch the girl run farther and farther away.

That really was a girl? Hoshino's mind stalled... So... a girl had gotten a confession from another girl, while he was still a miserable single guy?

Hoshino's eyes widened. The world seemed full of malice...

"Huh? Hoshino, you're still here!" Ichinose came out slowly, looking after the girl as guilt filled her eyes.

"Hey, Hoshino!..." When he didn't respond, Ichinose came closer and waved a pale hand in front of his eyes.

"...Oh! Sorry, sorry!" Hoshino finally snapped out of it and sat up straight, looking a little embarrassed. "Ahem, did you clear things up?"

"...Yeah!... I was so focused on figuring out how not to hurt Chihiro that I thought I could use this to avoid the problem. But I guess that was wrong! I told her we'd go back to how things were starting tomorrow. Do you think we can really do that?" Ichinose clenched her hands, her expression conflicted. Then she looked into the distance, seeming to find peace with it.

"Probably, maybe, perhaps..."

Honestly, if Ichinose had been talking about a guy, Hoshino couldn't have supported what she was doing. But since they were both girls... he really wasn't sure.

"Hmm—what are you even saying? Hehe..." Ichinose let out a relieved laugh, her face wry.

"Uh, sorry! I think I came on a little strong earlier!" Hoshino remembered his embarrassing, over-the-top speech and finally had a chance to apologize.

"No! You were right! Maybe I really was wrong!" Ichinose shook her head, looking both amused and exasperated.

"...Sorry about today! I dragged you into something so strange! I guess I owe you one!" It seemed she'd truly put it behind her, and Ichinose's usual smile returned.

"No, it's fine! Wait?... Didn't Hoshinomiya-sensei owe me one?" Seeing that Ichinose had finally relaxed, Hoshino breathed a sigh of relief and joked.

"...Hoshino, what are you talking about? I never mentioned Hoshinomiya-sensei!" Ichinose acted as if she had no idea what he meant, a sly smile playing on her face.

"I told you, that's not how it happened! There were three of them!"

First thing in the morning, Hoshino had just arrived at the classroom when he heard Sudo shouting at two girls in front of him.

The day before, Hoshino had already seen the incident report.

Honestly, Hoshino had never expected Ryuen's target to be Class D!

The moment he saw the report, he thought he must have read it wrong! Only after repeatedly confirming it with President Horikita did Hoshino accept that it was true.

What was Ryuen thinking? Had he finally lost his mind after being so clever for so long? What did he stand to gain by picking a fight with Class D now?

Class D had so few Class Points, and each student only got a little over 8,000 personal points a month. That was barely enough to improve their meals for a few days! What was there to be wary of? They could just ignore them for now.

Was Ryuen really going to snatch food from someone already on their deathbed? Wasn't he worried Class D would decide to go down fighting?

"Members of the Class C basketball team have filed a complaint with the school against Sudo. They claim that after club activities ended, Sudo attacked them without provocation and injured them."

During homeroom, Chabashira-sensei announced what had happened with an air of indifference.

"I was acting in self-defense! Self-defense!" Sudo protested angrily, pounding his desk. "They picked a fight because they were jealous I'd made the official team!"

"But you have no proof! If there were witnesses, this would be much easier to resolve." Chabashira-sensei offered a solution in a matter-of-fact tone.

It seemed Chabashira-sensei was finally starting to care about the class!

"Does anyone know anything about this?" Kushida stood up and looked around at everyone, worried.

When no one responded, Kushida seemed to remember something and turned to Hoshino. "Hoshino, aren't you on the Student Council? Do you know anything?"

"...No, that's all I know. I'm in Class D too, so I should stay out of this to avoid any appearance of bias!" Hoshino replied, feigning confusion.

The eyes that had just turned toward him shifted back to Kushida. Chabashira-sensei, however, kept staring at Hoshino, making him feel uneasy. He could only pretend he knew nothing and look toward everyone else.

But then Hoshino froze again, as though he'd noticed something.

Everyone was looking up toward Kushida and Chabashira-sensei, but one person was different. She had her head down, thinking about something, her face uneasy.

Hoshino thought he understood. It wasn't that there were no witnesses. It seemed the pink-haired girl beside Horikita knew something!

But would that really help?

There was a legal principle that allowed people to avoid testifying when it involved a relative. It existed to prevent relatives from protecting one another or indirectly pressuring outsiders into doing so.

The same reasoning applied here. If she only had a clue, that would be one thing. But if she was a witness herself or involved in the incident, her testimony probably wouldn't be accepted!

"I think you'd be better off dropping out! Redhead... your existence is anything but beautiful!" A muscular boy with blond hair was fixing his hair in a hand mirror, his legs propped up on the desk!

Sigh, Koenji was being a destabilizing factor again! Come to think of it, wouldn't this get the class docked points? Hoshino felt a little helpless.

"What?" Sudo stood up, glaring fiercely.

"Sudo, don't hit him!" Seeing Sudo about to lose it, Hirata immediately stood up to stop him.

"In a week, the Student Council will step in and negotiate with Class C. Points will be deducted based on the outcome of the negotiations, and Sudo's punishment will be decided as well." Seeing the situation spiraling out of control, Chabashira-sensei explained what would happen next.

Hoshino wasn't sure what Chabashira-sensei thought, but he at least felt this incident wouldn't be settled so easily.

Oh, right! They were supposed to retrieve the camera! Hoshino suddenly remembered something important.