This first-year student stood at the front, his posture relaxed.
Confidence radiated from him, the kind of assurance that came from believing he could handle anything that came his way.
Horikita Manabu was curious, but this wasn't the time to investigate.
Then he glanced at Sakura Airi, who was hiding behind Tanaka Yukishin.
A boy's jacket that clearly didn't belong to her hung over her shoulders. Her slender fingers clutched the cuffs tightly, her knuckles white.
Her stress response was obvious. It seemed the incident had really happened.
Finally, he looked at Tachibana Akane, who gave a slight nod to indicate that the surveillance footage was ready.
"Please, sit down."
Horikita Manabu's voice was low and emotionless, but his gaze remained fixed on Yukishin.
Then Horikita Manabu gave Tachibana Akane a look.
Tachibana Akane stood and went to the wall to turn on the projector.
The footage appeared on the screen.
The surveillance footage froze at the moment Yukishin kicked the assailant.
"First question." Horikita Manabu folded his hands. "Why did you hit him so hard?"
Tanaka Yukishin glanced at the screen and replied calmly, "Because I was angry."
Horikita Manabu's eyes shifted slightly, but he kept his tone even.
"Tanaka, you should know perfectly well that with your level of fighting skill, you could have kept it within the bounds of self-defense."
Tanaka Yukishin fell silent for a moment, then gave a soft laugh. "If I'd completely lost control, that guy would be dead by now."
This kid... He was pretty calm.
Horikita Manabu nodded slightly, then suddenly adopted a gentler tone. "Good. Remember that answer. If the police ask, say exactly that—despite your anger, you remained in control."
Tanaka Yukishin blinked, seeming to realize that Horikita Manabu was helping him, not interrogating him.
Is he teaching me how to handle the police?
Too bad I don't need it.
Sakura Airi sensed the subtle change between them, and her tense shoulders relaxed a little.
"Now, my second question. Why didn't you ask the school for help? Why did you take matters into your own hands?"
"It happened so suddenly that there wasn't time."
Horikita Manabu's gaze sharpened abruptly.
"Tanaka, I respect you. So please don't say something so ridiculous. It insults both your intelligence and mine."
"But that's what happened."
...It seemed that the student council president's title and his earlier, half-hearted warning weren't enough to earn Yukishin's trust.
"Tachibana Akane."
"Yes, President."
Tachibana Akane operated the controls.
The footage on the screen changed to a map showing three routes.
"From the moment I received the information, I checked the surveillance footage based on the time."
"So the course of events is clear."
"But given how serious this behavior is, I believe he may not be a first-time offender."
Tachibana Akane brought up a map of Yamamoto Ichiro's routes over the past few days and compared them with the routes taken by Tanaka Yukishin and Sakura Airi.
Over the past two days, Tanaka Yukishin's routes had closely matched Sakura Airi's.
And Sakura Airi's movements over the past few days had all overlapped with the assailant's.
What did this mean?
It meant Sakura Airi had probably realized a while ago that she was being followed.
And that she'd asked Tanaka Yukishin for help two days earlier.
If that was the case, this might not be "coming to someone's rescue," but "deliberately inflicting bodily harm."
"Don't get upset, Sakura."
"I'm the student council president, and I'm on the students' side. So I won't tell the police about this information."
"Now, can you tell me why you didn't ask the school for help and acted on your own instead?"
Sakura Airi's face went pale, but Tanaka Yukishin remained composed.
"It's true that Airi-chan and I took nearly identical routes the day before yesterday. But that was just a coincidence."
Tanaka Yukishin wasn't concerned about this so-called route map.
After all, "coincidence" was enough to explain everything.
It wasn't as if they'd recorded the audio too.
Without clear images of the people involved, they couldn't even read their lips.
But if this possibility were reported to the police, it would still waste some of his time.
That was when he realized Horikita Manabu was being sincere.
He looked at Sakura Airi, and she nodded to give him the go-ahead.
So he explained why.
"It's simple. I've already tried that, but it didn't work."
As he spoke, Tanaka Yukishin recounted what Sakura Airi had gone through before.
"I see. I'll speak with Chabashira Sae and verify it."
The room fell silent for a few seconds.
Horikita Manabu let out a quiet breath, as though he'd finally confirmed something.
He slowly closed the folder, then suddenly gave an almost imperceptible smile.
"Tanaka, I'd like to make a deal with you."
Tanaka Yukishin raised an eyebrow.
"Let's hear it."
Horikita Manabu tapped his fingers lightly on the table.
"My younger sister is also a first-year student. She was placed in Class D. I'd like you to... give her a little guidance. Her personality has been giving me a headache."
Tanaka Yukishin narrowed his eyes. "And what do I get in return?"
Horikita Manabu looked him straight in the eye, his voice steady.
"In return, I'll owe you a favor."
"Within my abilities, as long as it doesn't go against my principles or break the law, I'll do everything I can to help you once."
Tachibana Akane looked a little surprised. This was the first time Horikita Manabu had personally asked someone to intervene in his sister's affairs.
A favor from the student council president?
That could come in handy.
Tanaka Yukishin's lips curled slightly, as if the offer had caught his interest.
"Deal."
"I accept. Who's your sister?"
...The air froze for a moment.
Horikita Manabu asked, a little perplexed, "Did you not attend the entrance ceremony?"
"No. It was too boring."
"Horikita Suzune."
"Got it."
With that, Tanaka Yukishin led Sakura Airi up and out of the room.
The moment the door closed, Tachibana Akane couldn't help asking what was on her mind.
"President, do you really trust him?"
Horikita Manabu gazed out the window and smiled faintly.
"At least... he's far more reliable than certain hypocrites."
He'd first heard of Tanaka Yukishin when Ichinose Honami came to the student council to have the value of some information assessed.
At the time, his impression of Tanaka Yukishin had been simple.
He was a capable first-year student.
His account had passed ten million points in just two days after school began. Even among past students, he would have ranked among the best.
The first time Horikita Manabu saw Tanaka Yukishin was during the club fair, when he spotted him talking with three other people in the shopping district.
He'd had his suspicions, but couldn't be sure.
Although Tanaka Yukishin fit Ichinose Honami's description perfectly, there were 160 new students. It could have been someone else.
The second time he heard about him was a few days before the Strange Chess match.
There was a rule at this school.
Two million points could be used to avoid expulsion once or transfer to the class of your choice.
Because it was difficult to earn that many points, the school system included a notification that triggered when someone met the requirement.
Once Tanaka Yukishin met it, the system automatically sent his information to the school administrators.
One of them then forwarded it to Horikita Manabu and asked him to keep a close eye on Yukishin.
Today, they'd finally met in person.
He hadn't expected it to happen for this reason.
Still, it gave him the perfect chance to observe Tanaka Yukishin and confirm what kind of person he was.
He was capable, and he had a good character.
Someone like that was worth trusting.
As for whether his personality might be even worse than Suzune's, Horikita Manabu didn't care at all.
To say something that went a little against his position as her older brother:
Sometimes, it took a bad person to deal with another bad person.
Having someone with a terrible personality deal with his difficult sister might just work wonders.
The First Lesson in Dealing with the Stubborn and Foolish
"So, Yukishin, did you win Sakura Airi over by playing the hero again?"
Karuizawa Kei rested her chin on her boyfriend's shoulder. As she spoke, her warm breath brushed the back of his ear.
"First, I didn't win her over. Second, what do you mean, 'again'?"
Before you continue