Anomaly

The aftermath of the incident that day sent shock waves through the school.

First was the strange geological disaster. According to Kushida Kikyo, an eyewitness at the scene, it had struck without the slightest warning.

Not even the disaster sensors buried underground had sounded an alarm. This highly unusual phenomenon had even led the school administrators to suspect that someone had fabricated the whole thing.

But when they arrived at the scene, the devastation before their eyes left them stunned.

Crater after crater pockmarked the ground, as if enormous boulders had been embedded in it. Trees had been snapped clean in half, and the earth was split with cracks that looked as though it had been subjected to immense pressure for a long time.

"What kind of force could have caused all this? Was it really just an earthquake?"

The administrators fell into deep thought...

Only Chairman Sakayanagi seemed to be pondering something in particular.

To protect the school's reputation, the administrators ordered all information about the incident sealed that very day. Anyone who knew anything was forbidden from discussing it.

And so, the incident seemed to become the first unsolved case in the school's history.

Still, there was no such thing as a wall that couldn't be breached. It was unclear whether someone had leaked the information deliberately.

A few days later, news of the incident suddenly spread online. In no time, the school became a nationwide sensation.

Countless emails and messages arrived, along with a steady stream of curious outsiders from all over the country.

The school turned them all away, citing its closed-campus policy. But more than a few reporters were determined to uncover the secrets behind the incident and tried every trick they could think of to sneak inside.

That same afternoon, the school officially announced that it was permanently closing its volunteer program to outsiders. From then on, the Advanced Nurturing High School had cut off all contact with the outside world.

But that was all beside the point.

Since Class C had suffered the most injuries in the incident, and the students who had been there could barely give a coherent account of what happened, the class became a focus of the school's scrutiny.

As Class C's homeroom teacher, Sakagami Suma was under immense pressure from the public because of the incident. When he couldn't get any answers at the hospital, he was so furious he nearly passed out.

"You... you useless bunch of good-for-nothings!"

"You don't even know who beat you up."

"All you can say is 'rocks, rocks.' What, did the rocks run over and hit you by themselves?"

The injured students fell silent as they watched their teacher rage, his hair and beard bristling.

They wanted to know how they had ended up unconscious, too. But who could have imagined what had happened in that instant?

And that wasn't even the worst of it. What really made Sakagami Suma want to spit blood was that Ryuen Kakeru, the brains of Class C, had been diagnosed with mild depression after the incident.

As for his two right-hand men, one had suffered a serious injury below the waist and stubbornly insisted he'd fallen on his own, while the other refused to say a word.

As a result, Class C's strength had plummeted, and the class had nearly fallen apart. Fortunately, Shiina Hiyori, who had always quietly watched over them, had managed to hold them together with her remarkable gift for words.

Of course, the incident had affected more than just Class C...

When Koenji's serious injuries were found to have been caused by another person, Chabashira could hardly sit still and immediately went to the hospital to ask him about it.

But the result was even more frustrating than what had happened with the man from Class C. Aside from severe concussion symptoms that had left him with gaps in his memory, he offered nothing but unshakable silence.

Chabashira had tried every way she could think of to question him, sweating buckets in the process, but his expression never changed.

She had wanted to check the security footage, too, but for some reason, the cameras had gone down during that time the night before...

Then there was Ken Sudō, another student who had been injured and knocked unconscious. His baffling behavior had nearly made her want to hit him.

When he woke up, she had been relieved to see that he seemed ready to talk. But then the kid apparently spotted someone from his class, and the words he was about to say suddenly turned into a mumble.

His feeble attempt to play dumb... honestly...

It was only the first semester, yet Chabashira already felt like she was going insane.

Afterward, she had wanted to investigate the matter herself. There were so many suspicious details that even a little digging might have uncovered something.

But what frustrated her was...

Chairman Sakayanagi, the school's highest authority, seemed determined to prevent anyone from looking into the incident. He issued all sorts of orders restricting both teachers and students.

That very day, even Horikita Manabu, an influential student who had volunteered to investigate, was coldly turned down. A couple of days later, the school hastily declared the incident an unsolved case and closed it.

Perhaps the higher-ups didn't want the incident, which could damage the school's reputation, to draw any more attention. Or perhaps someone among them had deliberately arranged things this way.

But whatever the reason, if the people at the top had made their decision, who below them would dare openly challenge it?

The pursuit of merit above all... Perhaps only now could someone truly understand how terrifyingly absolute it was.

After the incident, Class 1-D had expected a brief respite. Instead, misfortune continued to pile up.

First was the strange change in Hirata Yosuke...

For reasons no one could explain, he was deathly pale when he stood before the class first thing the next morning. He announced that the fund-raising plan he had proposed would have to be shut down because of certain violations, and asked everyone to understand.

Naturally, the sudden announcement took those who had supported the plan by surprise, leaving them wondering what rules they had supposedly broken.

But before they could dwell on it, Hirata's next words cut off all their thoughts.

"I'm sorry, everyone. There's something I've been thinking about for a long time, but it wasn't until that night that I understood."

"Maybe the class leader has always needed to be someone truly capable, and I... clearly aren't that person." Hirata gave a bitter smile and let out a rare sigh, his face utterly numb.

At his words, the boys and girls who had been helped by Hirata couldn't sit still. They rushed to defend him.

"What are you talking about, Class Rep..."

"How are you not capable? We don't agree."

"Yeah, Class Rep, you've always thought about what's best for the class. We've all seen it. You've done a great job."

"..."

Wang Meiyu, who had been in love with Hirata for a long time, was by far the most emotional of them all. She was almost shouting through her tears.

If Karuizawa Kei, his girlfriend, hadn't called in sick that day, anyone who didn't know better might have thought Wang Meiyu was the one dating him.

But anyone with a sharp eye could tell that something was clearly wrong with Hirata. No one was willing to say so to his face.

Of course, this was an important matter that concerned the whole class, so Horikita Suzune couldn't help thinking it over from her seat in the back row.

Perhaps, after Ayanokoji's advice, she could leave the strange geological disaster alone and not investigate it.

But she had long since tied her own goals to those of the class. She clearly couldn't just stand by without caring.

Besides, there were suspicious details everywhere.

"Hirata has always managed to present himself in the best possible light, no matter what happened since we started school. Yet now he's acting so dejected."

"And he'd worked so hard to keep that fund-raising plan going. Why shut it down so suddenly? He hasn't even explained what these supposed violations are."

"And now he's suddenly resigning as class leader?"

As she thought it over, her attention shifted to Karuizawa Kei's empty seat. A flicker of surprise crossed her eyes.

"She's his girlfriend, but I've hardly ever seen her take a day off. And yet she suddenly calls in sick on the very day her boyfriend announces that he's stepping down?"

Horikita Suzune narrowed her eyes. The more she thought about it, the more something felt off.

"Are you planning to look into this?"

Just then, Ayanokoji, who was usually so taciturn, spoke up in a quiet voice.

"What? It's about the class. Am I not allowed to investigate?"

"You can, but think it through first."

"Think through what?" Horikita Suzune turned to him, looking puzzled.

Ayanokoji's dead-fish eyes shifted slightly, but he didn't answer.

"Tch. That's all you ever do. Boring."

Horikita Suzune tossed her hair and turned away with a cold look.