Quick, Quick

Almost the instant the pervert was subdued, the Student Council members arrived, led by none other than Manabu Horikita, with the senior Tachibana by his side as always.

Having rushed over, he took in the messy scene and blurted out, "What happened here? Is it already resolved?"

Horikita's expression was grim. The day after that uncle made his move, the school had received word of the matter. After discussions, the administration had unanimously handed it over to the Student Council to handle.

This was arrogance from above—after all, this school was backed by the government.

Besides, it was ultimately a minor issue, and the Student Council wielded considerable authority. In theory, it was reasonable to delegate it to them. If they couldn't even handle this, the Student Council had no reason to exist.

So when Horikita got the news, there was no way he was in a good mood.

He'd just locked onto the target, prepared to strike, and someone else had swooped in and taken the credit. How frustrating was that? It stuck in his throat like a fishbone!

"Upon receiving a report, we're taking over here."

With the Student Council's decree, the members wearing armbands quickly moved in to restrain the man. As soon as they grabbed him, they realized his body was limp—he'd already lost consciousness, and half his jaw was dislocated. He'd need a trip to the hospital.

If it wasn't set back in place, it could make things worse; he might even lose the ability to speak in the future.

Honami Ichinose kept thanking them repeatedly from the side. She was a bit rattled by the situation herself, mainly because the points on her Terminal were of dubious origin.

If the Student Council pressed an investigation and she wasn't prepared, she might actually slip up.

The Student Council had gotten involved, so it had to be because of those massive points.

She couldn't exactly say that everything that uncle had done was just to give her those points—who did she think she was, with that kind of clout?

Beihai also let out a sigh of relief, acting as if he'd been scared, and comforted Airisu Sakura beside him.

"Sakura, it's okay now. The bad guy's been chased off.

Also, if you keep hugging me like this, I'm actually scared too. If we can't run, we'll both be done for."

Airisu Sakura snapped back to reality at the joke, feeling a little miffed, but then realized it was just Beihai being deliberately playful, and she had no way to deal with it.

The scene didn't last long, though. Aside from that uncle, everyone else was called to the Student Council office to go over what happened and be questioned.

Standard procedure. If they managed to dig up anything, it'd be a bonus.

While the Student Council members were busy and not paying attention to him, Beihai had already sent a message: no matter what they say, just insist you don't know anything.

In the end, Airisu Sakura and Honami Ichinose were called in by Tachibana for questioning.

With Ichinose, the charm of Class B, by her side, Sakura was able to calm down quickly.

Tachibana naturally understood the psychological trauma this kind of incident could cause a girl, so she spoke very gently.

"Don't be too nervous. It's just a formality."

Ichinose, of course, stuck to not knowing anything. She shook her head at every question. Without evidence or direct proof, she was an outsider.

More importantly, she really didn't know what was going on. She had no idea why there were so many points—she'd only been told by Beihai to catch someone. So she genuinely could answer "I don't know" to everything.

Airisu Sakura wasn't much better. She was completely lost throughout the whole operation and had no clue what had happened.

Even when the other party laid out their suspicions, she could sort of connect the dots, but she still firmly shook her head.

As for Beihai, he had to face the Student Council president, Manabu Horikita, himself.

Horikita's pressure was immense. He kept a cold face, staring at Beihai, trying to catch him in a slip.

But he found that Beihai, once seated, was trembling nonstop, as if he had no idea what was going on—like an innocent person.

"Do you know what that shopkeeper did?"

Beihai frantically shook his head, his eyes full of terror.

"I don't know. I'm innocent. I don't know anything." The triple denial.

"People who say that usually have something to hide. Don't play tricks with me.

If you had nothing to do with it, why would he give you a million points? Even if he can't talk, he can write. There are hardly any illiterate people in this society."

Horikita wasn't in the mood to waste words with Beihai. He cut straight to the point. If he really started interrogating, it would take time, and the school had cameras everywhere.

Who was he? The elite of this school, the Student Council president. If necessary, he could even access the Terminals. A little thought would be enough to guess.

But the expected panic and excuses didn't come. Beihai was surprisingly straightforward.

"I don't know. His mental state was already unstable. He might be lashing out randomly."

Horikita's usually cold face rarely showed a frown. Random accusations plus mental instability—a combination like that made it impossible to convict without decisive evidence.

Horikita thought a lot based on that. Smart people always overthink things.

One person could say another committed murder or was being threatened, but that had to be backed by facts and evidence. Otherwise, anyone could claim someone killed someone, and the whole society would fall into chaos.

What was the evidence? Was there a recording? With so many people in the school, who hadn't been in that shop on the cameras?

What? You say the shopkeeper gave him a million points? Maybe he thought I was handsome and wanted to give them to me? Or we had a connection? Any excuse, even if ridiculous, would still cause some trouble.

After all, that shopkeeper's mental state was terrible. By the time he was sent to the hospital and the examination results came back, the whole thing would be too late.

The earlier the evidence chain, the stronger it was. The later it got, the more time others had to clean up. Catching them after that was pointless.

He could prove Beihai's connection to Honami Ichinose, but aside from showing that they could monitor and control their Terminals, what else did it prove?

Throughout the whole process, the two of them hadn't even met face-to-face—only spoken at the very end when catching the guy.

This could even be interpreted as noticing the other party's abnormal behavior and actions.

As for the 20 million points in Honami Ichinose's hands, it could also be said that the transfer amount was a mistake—who hasn't been nervous before, especially given his mental state at the time.

Manabu Horikita figured it out in an instant, feeling that nailing Beihai would be pointless.

The key issue was that he had dumped a whole mess onto the Student Council to deal with, making Horikita want to slap him.

You got your satisfaction, but now we're all practically writing self-criticism reports over here. That blame can only fall on that store clerk, since it's the fastest way to close the case.

To make it clear that next time, there will never be such personnel or such incidents happening on campus again.

Knowing it was the other party's doing, the speculation was solid, but the chain of evidence was lacking. If they stubbornly refused to admit it, what could be done? Using private punishment would just be extracting a confession by torture, wouldn't it?

He had always appreciated capable people, but this time it truly gave him a headache. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he said, "Get the hell out of my sight."