Chapter 44

"...Don't be like that, let's just start as friends." Shiina carefully chose her words. "That's great! You agreed to be my friend!" I happily let go of her small hand, not being as thick-skinned or pushy as she might have imagined. "=_=..." This left Shiina, who had just realized she'd been played, even more speechless. "It's a deal then, from now on I'll call you Hiyori-san! You can call me Minya." I said with a sly grin. Didn't see that coming, did you! I was aiming for this all along as my secondary goal! Hehehe... don't blame me, Hiyori-san, this is a school where ability is everything! Just consider this failure your tuition fee. "Kitazawa-kun really is from the big city, your schemes run deep..." "I don't care! From today on, I am the first friend Hiyori-san has made at this school, wahahahaha! Calling me Kitazawa is so distant! Don't be polite, just call me Minya like friends do!" Hiyori-san's first blood, get! "That really is a standard villain's laugh..." "How could that be? I'm the protagonist in my own diary." "Kitazawa... uh... Minya-kun, you have a habit of keeping a diary?" A bet is a bet, even though there wasn't one, Hiyori still used the name-change card provided by the system to modify her ID and her note for me. "Occasionally, I record interesting or memorable things to keep as souvenirs for the future. It's quite fun to flip through them after a few years..." "Hmph, then Minya, you'd better be careful that your enemies don't find your diary." "It's fine, a diary is just written evidence; it doesn't count for much. I can just say it's a novel I adapted from real life, it has absolutely no legal standing." Trying to pull that on me, a semi-professional lawyer? I'm the kind of man even the legendary legal outlaw Zhang San would fear. "...Talking to you really broadens my horizons!" "It's alright, it's alright... Hiyori-san's voice is also very pleasant to listen to." Hiyori trembled slightly under my gaze and said, "Please, don't stare at me with those lecherous eyes while you compliment me... I'm scared..." "Don't be afraid, I'm here." "I told you, it's because you're here that I'm scared..." "You'll get used to it." "I don't want to get used to it!" "Then tomorrow we'll continue to slowly get used to it, we're friends after all..." "..." However, the next afternoon after school, I couldn't keep my promise to continue hanging out with Hiyori for dinner. I discovered that Ishizaki, sitting at the next desk, was happily discussing with Komiya and the others about Kushida inviting them out. With the second hearing that would determine the fate of two classes coming up, I didn't believe for a second that Kushida was oblivious; you're actually inviting the key figures from the other side out to play? To be cautious, I didn't stop them immediately, but instead quietly followed behind them. I wanted to see what tricks Class D had left now that they were at death's door. Was Kushida planning to use a honey trap to trick Ishizaki and his group into dropping the charges at the last minute? But surely she knew that a 1-on-3 situation was wishful thinking? Or was it more than just Kushida? Perhaps my line of thinking was wrong; I was a bit confused. Still, I followed the three of them to their destination. It wasn't a KTV or a student dormitory where it would be easy to commit a crime... but the scene where Sudo had committed the assault. Was Sudo planning to fight them to the death? I quietly took out my phone and turned on the recording function, hiding it in my jacket pocket. The three of them filed in through the nearest stairwell, so to avoid walking into an ambush, I chose to run toward the stairwell on the far side. However, there didn't seem to be any cliché plot where Sudo jumped out from a corner shouting, "Surprise! Motherfucker!" and tackled the three of them to the ground. Instead, Ayanokoji and the bubbly Ichinose were blocking them in the hallway, one in front and one behind. Meddlesome Class B... why was Ichinose still meddling? What kind of deal had they made? Fortunately, the quiet hallway had great acoustics, and I could vaguely hear their conversation from the other end. So that's how it was! Was this where Sakura was at the time? Wait!? Was there a security camera here back then!? No way!!? At the other end of the corridor, Ichinose had already begun to speak up for justice: "Regarding this incident, the fact that you lied, and the fact that you were the ones who initiated the violence... I've seen through it all! If you don't want it to be made public, you should drop the charges immediately." "What? You want us to drop the charges? Don't make me laugh. What kind of nonsense are you spouting? Your testimony isn't reliable at all. It was clearly Sudo who came over and started the fight first!" That was Ishizaki Daishi's voice, no doubt. "You know that this school is recognized by the government as one of the top preparatory schools in Japan, right?" "Of course we do? That's exactly why we applied." "Since that's the case, you should use your heads a bit more. Your goal has been exposed from the very beginning!" Judging by Ichinose's tone, she seemed to be in high spirits, "Don't you think the school's response after learning about this incident was very strange?" "Huh?" "When you reported it to the school, why wasn't Sudo-kun punished immediately? And why did they give him several days to try and rectify the situation? What do you think the reason is?" "That's because that guy lied and begged the school! If they didn't delay it on the surface, it would have looked like whoever complained first won." "Is that really the case? Could there actually be other intentions and goals?" So that's it, they specifically called Ishizaki and his group out to pull the rug out from under them? Then I'll put the three of them to the test. "This is ridiculous. Ah... damn it, it's so hot. Let's go. If we stay in this place any longer, I feel like we're going to be cooked." "Are you sure about that? If you leave now, you'll likely regret it for the rest of your lives?" "What have you been talking about since just now, Ichinose? Don't you get it? It means the school knows that you guys in Class C are lying. And they've known from the very beginning." "Don't make me laugh. Saying we're lying?? And that the school knows about it?" "Ahahahaha. It's truly laughable. Because you've been played like puppets the whole time." "Even if your tactic of trying to win us over is impressive, that kind of lie won't work on us!" You three idiots, don't waste time with her, just leave! As expected, they couldn't stand the test... "There is concrete evidence." "Ha! If that's the case, then show it to us, that so-called evidence of yours..." "You know there are surveillance cameras everywhere in this school, right? Like in the classrooms, the school cafeteria, or the convenience store; you must have seen them at some point. To ensure no misconduct goes unnoticed, the school uses these measures to monitor our daily behavior." "So what?" "In that case, didn't you see that?" Ichinose pointed to the ceiling not far away. "Eh...?" "How could this be? If you wanted to frame someone,