Chapter 33

Hirata's harem—no, his fan club—was led by a girl who pointed at me furiously. "You're Kitazawa Minya, right!? Horikita-san said you're the culprit!"

"What are you all so worked up about? If you're looking for trouble, we're not afraid of you Class D students," Oda shot back.

"Takumi, be a gentleman. Let's hear what they have to say first." I wasn't worried in the slightest. Smiling, I stepped forward. "I am Kitazawa Minya. What is it?"

"How dare you smile! You're the reason Yosuke-kun ended up like that!"

"Wait a second. Who's Yosuke? I don't even know the guy, so how could I be responsible for anything that happened to him?" I asked, looking innocent.

"Hirata Yosuke-kun is the one in charge of our study group!" Shinohara cut in. "You gave him a fake exam paper, and now he's blaming himself because he nearly caused a classmate to be expelled!"

"I see. This Hirata guy made a mistake, and since you couldn't find the culprit, you're here to frame me. Is that it?"

"You are the culprit! Horikita-san said that only you people in Class C had both the motive and the ability to do this! And Ichinose-san from Class B said you'd edited similar study materials before, which included questions like the ones on this exam!" Karuizawa said, crossing her arms.

"So... all that proves is that the study materials I put together were accurate. Is that against the rules? Could one of you please explain what happened from start to finish in Japanese I can understand? OK?" Their poor communication skills left me speechless. Still, I was curious about what was going on in their class, so I listened patiently.

"You!" Karuizawa looked like she wanted to hit me but didn't dare.

"Sorry, Kitazawa-kun. This is what happened..." A girl named Matsushita stepped forward and explained what had been going on in Class D over the past few days.

Two days before the exam, Hirata had handed out a past exam paper he'd gotten from a senior in the soccer club, which eased the tension in the class. But in secret, Kushida had obtained a completely different past exam paper from a third-year student. Hirata had revealed his paper early, leaving Kushida at a loss. She had planned to hand out the past exam paper on the final day.

In the end, after consulting with Horikita, Kushida and the others secretly approached Hirata that night and showed him the paper they had. But the answers had already been handed out, and many students had started memorizing them and letting their guard down. On top of that, no one could tell which set of answers was correct. Hirata and Kushida each called their respective seniors, but that didn't help; both seniors insisted that their own answers were right.

At the critical moment, Horikita suggested that they memorize both sets of answers, and the class followed through. It was undeniably difficult and caused a fair amount of confusion. Worst of all, that meant either Kushida or Hirata had brought in fake answers and was a traitor.

So once the exam results came out, everyone's anger naturally focused on Hirata. Fortunately, after the first exam, they learned which set of answers was correct, and Class D did fairly well on its afternoon exams. In the end, only the Three Idiots failed. Horikita and Kushida organized a class collection, then bought points from Chabashira-sensei at a price of one hundred thousand points per mark to save the three of them.

The cost was steep. Kushida and Hirata had to borrow quite a few points from people—mostly from Ichinose, the rich girl. Hirata had also lost confidence because of his mistake and had grown quiet and withdrawn. Fortunately, Horikita spoke up for him and explained that this was probably a plot by Kitazawa from Class C. That was what brought everyone in Class D back together.

After hearing the whole story, I asked, "So how did Horikita conclude that I was the mastermind?"

"Listen up!" Karuizawa repeated Horikita's reasoning with a swagger. "First, Kitazawa, you came to provoke her a week ago, and that was right when Yosuke-kun got the fake exam questions from a senior in the soccer club. Second, you have a large number of points with no clear origin, so you could afford to bribe an upperclassman. Third, Ichinose-san said you'd edited similar questions before. Horikita-san saw those questions, and they included modified exam questions. And then there's the fact that Class C didn't panic at all when they found out Class D had past exam questions..."

So the questions I'd given Kobashi had made their way to Class D. That was bad. I'd have to ask Kobashi what was going on.

"So you're saying I already had the real past exam questions?" I interjected.

"That's right. And the senior who set Yosuke-kun up specifically told him to hand out his questions two or three days before the exam, to prevent any other real past exam questions from getting out. You've got nothing to say now, do you?"

"Then where's the evidence, Miss Karuizawa? Even if I did have the past exam questions ahead of time, that doesn't prove I was the one who made up the fake ones, does it? Maybe it was one of Hirata's enemies—say, a senior in his club who disliked him. Besides, I don't even know Hirata!"

"How dare you say that! Kushida-san already told us! You asked her to find you a girlfriend in our class! You saw how popular Yosuke-kun was and set him up out of jealousy! That's why we came to confront a scumbag like you!"

Hey, hey! Kushida, what kind of person are you!? Did she find out I'd been badmouthing her behind her back? Girls are terrifying...

"That's just Kushida's own assumption, isn't it? I never said anything like that. You believe everything she says? What if Kushida said Ichinose was behind it? Would you hold a public trial for Ichinose too? For all you know, she deliberately put you in a position where you had to depend on her for help!" I laughed.

"Kushida-san wouldn't make things up! She's way more trustworthy than you! And let me tell you, none of us would ever go for a despicable person like you! I've already warned the girls in Class D: anyone who dates you will be ostracized by all of us!" Karuizawa said triumphantly.

"Clap, clap, clap." I applauded a few times. "Looks like Kushida and Horikita aren't the only ones with persecution complexes. Believe whatever you want. But you're declaring war on me, aren't you? If you want revenge for your boyfriend, you'd better have the ability to back it up. You came here and accused me without evidence. I have a temper too!"

"Hmph. If we look, we'll find evidence soon enough! You won't be so smug for long!"

"Then let's make a bet. If you find evidence within six months that I did this, I'll get on my knees and apologize to Hirata. Of course, your own people's theories and verbal testimony don't count."

"Fine!" Karuizawa answered without a second thought.

"I'm not done. If you can't find anything, you'll date me! I mean really date me—you'll do anything I want..."

"I'd never date a creepy guy like you! Even if you were rich!" Karuizawa seemed to have plenty of backbone.

"You don't have to get the other girls in Class D involved. As long as I'm satisfied, that's enough. Do you dare? If you're the leader of the girls' group, you should be able to decide something like that, right? Or are you all talk? Should I ask Horikita to come out here and discuss it? You and Hirata don't get to make decisions for the class, do you?"

Matsushita quickly tugged at Karuizawa, signaling that she absolutely shouldn't act rashly.

"Fine! I accept! You're dead!" But as the girls' leader, Karuizawa had been challenged to her face. Even though she knew it was a crude attempt to provoke her, she couldn't back down now.

"Everyone here is a witness! See you later, Karuizawa-san."