Hurry, Hurry

Almost as soon as the pervert had been subdued, the Student Council members arrived. Leading them was Manabu Horikita, with Tachibana-senpai still at his side.

They had rushed over, and when they saw how bad things looked, Tachibana-senpai instinctively asked, "What happened here? Has it been taken care of?"

Manabu Horikita's expression was grim. The day after the man had made his move, the school had received a report about the matter. After discussing it, the administration had decided to hand it over to the Student Council.

It was an arrogant decision from the people at the top. After all, this school was backed by the government.

There was another point, too: this was ultimately a minor matter, and the Student Council held considerable authority. In theory, handing it over to them made perfect sense. If they couldn't even handle this, then there was no reason for the Student Council to exist.

So there was no way Manabu Horikita could have been in a good mood after receiving the news.

They had just identified the culprit and were about to make their move, only for someone else to swoop in and steal the case. It was enough to leave a bitter taste in his mouth!

"We received a report. We'll take it from here."

The Student Council had spoken. The members wearing armbands hurried forward and restrained the man. As soon as they took over, they realized his body was limp and he was unconscious. Half his jaw had been dislocated, so he needed to go to the hospital.

If it wasn't set back into place, his condition could get worse. He might even lose the ability to speak.

Honami Ichinose thanked them repeatedly from nearby. She was a little unnerved by this sort of thing, too. The main problem was that the points on her Terminal had come from an improper source.

If the Student Council started questioning her, and she wasn't prepared, she might really let something slip.

The Student Council had come all the way here, so it had to be because of those enormous points.

She couldn't very well say that the man had done all those things just to give her the points. Who did she think she was, someone important enough to warrant that?

Beihai also breathed a sigh of relief, as if he'd been frightened. He comforted Sakura, who was beside him.

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

"And, well, when you cling to me like this, I get scared too. If we can't get away, we'll both be done for."

That joke brought Sakura back to her senses. She felt a little annoyed, but when she realized Beihai had done it on purpose, she was at a loss.

The scene didn't last long, though. Everyone except the man was taken to the Student Council Office, where they began reviewing what had happened and questioning them.

In other words, it was just going through the motions. If they managed to get anything useful out of it, that would be a pleasant surprise.

While the Student Council members were too busy to pay attention to him, Beihai sent a message from the scene. In short, no matter what the other person said, just insist you knew nothing.

In the end, Tachibana-senpai called Sakura and Honami Ichinose in for questioning.

With Honami Ichinose, the charmer from Class B, there to keep her company, Sakura was able to calm down quickly.

Tachibana-senpai understood the psychological impact this could have on the girls, so she spoke very gently.

"Don't be too nervous. This is just a formality."

Honami Ichinose naturally stuck to her story that she knew nothing, shaking her head in response to every question. Without evidence or direct proof, she was just an outsider.

More importantly, she really didn't know what was going on or why there were so many points. Beihai had only told her to help catch someone, so she genuinely knew nothing about it.

Sakura wasn't any better off. She'd been completely lost throughout the whole operation and had no idea what was happening.

After the other person pointed out what seemed suspicious, she managed to piece a few things together, but still firmly shook her head.

Beihai, meanwhile, had to face the Student Council president, Manabu Horikita.

The pressure he exerted was immense. He sat there with a cold expression, trying to catch Beihai in a slipup.

But once Beihai sat down, he noticed that the boy was trembling. He seemed utterly confused about the situation, like an innocent bystander.

"Do you know what that shopkeeper did?"

Beihai shook his head frantically, his eyes filled with fear.

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

"People who say that are usually hiding something. Don't try any tricks on me.

"If you're innocent, why did he give you a million points? He can't speak, but he can write. There aren't many illiterate people in this day and age."

Manabu Horikita didn't bother beating around the bush. He went straight to the point. A proper investigation would take time, and there were surveillance cameras all over the school.

Who was he? The school's elite, and its Student Council president. If necessary, he could even access the Terminals. It didn't take much thought to figure it out.

But the panic and excuses he'd expected never came. Beihai was even blunt about it.

"I don't know. His mental state was already poor. Maybe he was just making baseless accusations."

A rare frown creased Manabu Horikita's otherwise cold face. If they combined the man's baseless accusations with his mental problems, then without decisive evidence, they couldn't convict anyone.

Manabu Horikita thought through the situation. Smart people always tended to overthink things.

Someone could claim that another person had committed murder or been threatened, but such matters had to be backed up by facts and evidence. Otherwise, anyone could accuse anyone of murder, and society would descend into chaos.

What evidence was there? A recording? Surveillance footage? With so many people at the school, who hadn't been inside that shop?

What? The shopkeeper gave him a million points because he thought I was handsome? He couldn't do that? Because we hit it off? He couldn't do that either? The excuses could be ridiculous, but they would still cause trouble.

After all, the employee's mental state was simply terrible. By the time he'd been taken to the hospital and properly examined, it would be too late to get to the bottom of what had happened.

The sooner you acted, the more complete the chain of evidence. Wait too long, and the other party would have already covered their tracks. There'd be no point in going after them then.

He could produce evidence that Beihai and Honami Ichinose had been in contact, but apart from showing that they could monitor the Terminals, what would it prove?

The two of them hadn't even met during the whole affair. They'd only exchanged a few words at the very end, when they caught the man.

That could even be explained as their having noticed the man's strange behavior.

As for the more than twenty million points in Honami Ichinose's possession, they could say the other party had made a mistake with the transfer. Anyone could get flustered, especially someone in his mental state.

Manabu Horikita quickly saw the whole picture and felt there was no point in trying to pin it on Beihai.

The real issue was that Beihai had dumped this mess on the Student Council to deal with. It made Manabu Horikita want to punch him.

You got what you wanted, while the rest of us would probably have to write a report each. The only way to close the case quickly was to blame the employee.

That would show that next time they wouldn't let someone like this in, and that nothing like this would ever happen on campus again.

They knew it was probably the other person's doing, and they had plenty of suspicions. But without enough evidence, what could they do if he kept denying it? Use force? That would just be coercing a confession.

He'd always admired capable people, but right now he was truly at his wit's end. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he said, "Get out."