Bang, bang, bang!
The next day, Onizuka was sleeping in his dorm when he heard a loud pounding at his door, as if someone were trying to tear it down.
Whenever he finished a plan, he was used to rewarding himself with a little treat.
Naturally, sleeping in on the weekend was an excellent choice, but there were always inconsiderate people who had to come and bother him!
When he opened the door in a fury, the first thing he saw was Sudo's trademark red hair.
"Onizuka! What took you so long to open the door?" As he spoke, he tried to step inside.
"Let me see if you're up to no good in there."
Seeing him like that, Onizuka put on a stern face and immediately held out his arm to stop him.
"No, Sudo. I don't want my room turning into a public space like Ayanokoji's!"
"If you have something to say, say it out here. If there's something we can't clear up in a few words..."
Onizuka pulled the key card to Ayanokoji's room out of his pocket and waved it in front of Sudo.
"We can go to his room."
Hearing Onizuka say that, Sudo seemed to suddenly remember something and slapped his own forehead.
"Right, there's that place too! Then there's no need to go to the café. We can just call them over!"
"Wait, what are you talking about?"
Onizuka was at a loss. He could only listen as Sudo called someone-or rather, several people-to Ayanokoji's room.
He vaguely heard someone protesting over the phone, but it was best to ignore that for now.
After Sudo finished the call, he put an arm around the bewildered Onizuka and headed toward Ayanokoji's room.
Onizuka didn't resist. He had a vague idea what this was about.
The two of them sat in Ayanokoji's empty room, where Sudo acted as if he were at home, taking on the role of host and looking after Onizuka.
One moment he asked if Onizuka was hungry, the next if he was thirsty.
He paced back and forth around the small dorm room, looking busy, but when you summed it up, he didn't seem to have done anything at all.
Dizzy from watching him, Onizuka held up a hand to stop him.
"Sudo, please sit quietly for a while. I don't want to see a red object wandering back and forth in front of my eyes. Thank you very much!"
Sudo froze when he heard Onizuka say that. He seemed about to argue, but in the end he obediently sat down on the tatami.
Looking perfectly well-behaved. [jpg]
Then an awkward silence fell between them.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before Onizuka heard the sound of a key card unlocking the room door.
Hirata, Kushida, Horikita, and Ayanokoji walked in together.
"Oh, so this is Ayanokoji's room? It's surprisingly tidy!"
Everyone probably said something like Hirata's the first time they visited, didn't they?
"Hadn't you been here before, Yosuke?" Onizuka asked.
"No, this is my first time. Is something wrong?" Hirata asked, puzzled by Onizuka's strange expression.
"Nothing. I thought Ayanokoji's room was some kind of tourist attraction, but I guess there are still people who haven't been here."
"That's so rude, Onizuka. Though I can't exactly argue with you," Ayanokoji, who had just come in, couldn't help retorting.
"What's the big deal? Don't be so stingy. We paid for these key cards ourselves, after all. It'd be strange to give them back to you, right?"
At Sudo's words, Onizuka raised an eyebrow. He hadn't paid for the key card he'd taken.
Just as he was wondering about it, he saw Kushida wink at him from behind everyone. Her meaning was obvious.
Oh, he understood now. As expected of Kushida, who was so good at this. She always managed to make people like her without them even noticing.
Onizuka naturally had no reason to call her out. He just smiled at her before looking away.
"Looks like Sudo's become Onizuka's loyal dog."
"W-what? Isn't that a bit much?"
If anyone else had said that, there'd have been no guarantee Sudo wouldn't throw a punch. But when it was Horikita, it seemed perfectly fine.
Watching them chat on and on, Onizuka couldn't help interrupting.
"Hey, you've all gathered here and called me over. I assume it wasn't just so you could tease each other about something this boring?"
At his words, everyone there exchanged glances, then sat down around the table.
"Onizuka, Class C has withdrawn its complaint to the Student Council," Kushida said first.
"I know. Is there something else?"
"It's just... Ryuen from Class C said it was because of you. We were all curious how you managed it, so we called you over. We also wanted to thank you."
Sudo couldn't sit still any longer.
"Yeah, yeah! Onizuka! Counting the last time, you've saved me twice now! I don't even know what to say. From now on, you're my brother!"
Well, he'd already guessed there was a 98 percent chance this was about that.
After all, given Ryuen's personality, Onizuka would have been a little worried if the guy hadn't given him something to deal with.
"It wasn't anything special. I just happened to be at the Special Building that day and saw what happened with Sudo and the others, then took a video while I was at it."
"When I showed it to them, I got them to withdraw the complaint without much trouble."
Onizuka shrugged, indicating that it was no big deal.
The people sitting around the table all went, "Oh..." They were actually a little disappointed.
They'd thought Onizuka might have used some special method to force Class C to withdraw from the Debate Hearing. They'd come over hoping to learn something and, while they were at it, see how things played out.
They hadn't expected him to use such a simple, direct approach.
They'd been looking for eyewitnesses too. They just hadn't realized Onizuka happened to be one.
Horikita, though, didn't think it was that simple.
"Onizuka, you didn't discover it on your own, did you? After all, you acted like you knew nothing about it when school ended that day."
Her reminder brought back the time Sudo had gone to their classroom to ask them for help.
Onizuka had been there, but he hadn't said a word. He could have just shown them the video then! It didn't make sense at all!
Thinking of this, everyone turned their gaze toward Onizuka again.
Onizuka pursed his lips. Honestly, what could he do? They'd practically handed him the opportunity themselves!
"Uh... actually, I bought the video from someone else for 80,000 points. But the person who sold it to me asked me to keep their identity secret, so..."
Hearing this, Sudo rubbed the back of his head, looking embarrassed.
"Sorry, Onizuka. You had to spend so much."
"Yeah, yeah! After spending 80,000 points, you must not have much left, right?"
Thinking back to his account balance, he had less than two million points left, along with a long-term Class C bond worth more than ten million.
He sighed, then nodded helplessly.
"It's not too bad. At least the cafeteria still has free mountain vegetable meals, so I won't starve at school."
The others sitting nearby couldn't sit still. They all said he shouldn't have to pay those points by himself, then pooled their money and transferred him more than 50,000 points.
Horikita and Kushida were the biggest contributors.
As for Sudo...
"Sorry, Onizuka. I don't have any points right now either. I'll transfer some to you when this month's points come in!"
Onizuka naturally wasn't going to sweat the small stuff.
As far as he was concerned, everyone in Class D was a kind angel now~