After leaving the classroom, Sakura followed behind Takahashi.
"Takahashi... I..."
"You want to talk about Sudo, right?"
"Huh? You... you know?"
Takahashi turned around and patted Sakura on the head. Her hair felt as good as he'd expected, and it even smelled nice.
"It doesn't matter whether you step forward or not. Helping him is a kindness; not helping him is only natural. You can message me if anything comes up. I'll always be here for you."
With that, Takahashi left, leaving Sakura blushing furiously.
Heh. The compliance test could begin.
Two days later, with no progress to show for their efforts, the group gathered in Ayanokouji's dorm room.
"Sudo, are you sure there was someone there?" Yamauchi complained.
"Yeah... there should've been someone," Sudo replied hesitantly. To be honest, he wasn't sure either.
"Why don't we ask Takahashi? Maybe he can help us figure something out," Ike suggested.
"Don't bring him up. He's not a friend at all. I already asked him before, and he said his luck was terrible. I think it was just an excuse because he didn't want to help me," Sudo said with a frown.
"No. I think Takahashi knew who the witness was from the start," Horikita said, speaking up after being quiet for a long time.
"What?" the other four—Ikе, Sudo, Yamauchi, and Kushida—exclaimed.
"You mean Takahashi knows who the witness is? And he still won't help me? That's despicable," Sudo said indignantly.
Horikita glanced at Sudo, then spoke.
"He won't help you? Why do you think he got full marks in every subject except English, where he scored fifty, on the last test?"
"Huh?" Horikita's words left Sudo completely bewildered.
"During the Midterm Exam, the average score was 39. Your English score was exactly 39, too. You can say that if it weren't for Takahashi, you'd have already been expelled."
Everyone fell silent as they listened to Horikita.
"If he knew who the witness was, then he should've helped me. Besides, we're classmates. We're supposed to help each other, aren't we?" Sudo tried to argue back, but his voice grew quieter with every word.
"I only found out who the witness was because of Takahashi, too." Horikita looked at the others, who had fallen silent. "After Teacher Chabashira finished talking about Sudo's situation, I asked Takahashi about it. He didn't say anything, but he led Sakura, who was clearly flustered, out of the classroom. So I guessed that he knew Sakura was the witness. After that, I deliberately asked Sakura if she was the witness. She didn't say anything, but she got very flustered when I brought up Sudo. I think that even if she isn't the witness, she must know something."
"Um... who's Sakura? Is she in our class?" Ike asked.
"I think she's the girl who sits next to Takahashi. She wears glasses," Kushida said.
"Oh, right. The ugly girl with the... huge chest," Ike said, suddenly remembering.
But his blunt comment earned cold glares from the two girls present, Horikita and Kushida.
"I remember Yamauchi mentioning her. Wasn't she the girl Yamauchi rejected?" Sudo said after thinking it over.
When everyone's attention turned to him, Yamauchi looked flustered. "I... I haven't had anything to do with her since I rejected her."
"I'll call her and ask," Kushida said. Not long after the school year began, she had added all her classmates' contact information.
"Beep... beep... beep..."
Putting down her phone, Kushida said apologetically, "Um... sorry, Sakura didn't answer."
"It's fine. We can ask Sakura at school tomorrow. Right now, I'm going to find Takahashi and ask him why he won't help me." Perhaps because he saw hope of avoiding suspension, Sudo had grown more assertive.
"Hey..." Horikita had just started to stop him when Sudo opened the door and left.
With no other choice, the rest of them had to follow.
Ayanokouji's and Takahashi's dorm rooms were close to each other: one was Room 401 and the other Room 403, with just one room between them.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"Hey, Takahashi, come out! I need to ask you something," Sudo shouted as he pounded on the door.
The door opened a moment later, but it wasn't Takahashi who answered. A pretty girl with long orange hair opened it instead.
Seeing a pretty girl at the door, the usually brash Sudo immediately wilted.
The girl wasn't startled to see so many people standing outside. Instead, she introduced herself openly. "Hello, I'm Asahina Nazuna. Who are you?"
"Haha, hi! I'm Kanji Ike. We're Takahashi's classmates."
"Oh, I see. Then come on in. Takahashi's inside." With that, she left.
"What are you all doing here?" Takahashi walked over and asked. "I might not have enough coffee for this many people."
Takahashi showed no hesitation in telling them to leave.
"Hey, Takahashi, did you know all along that Sakura was the witness? Why didn't you help me?"
"What are you talking about? I don't understand."
"That's enough, Sudo," Horikita snapped, stopping him from saying more. "Takahashi, you really didn't know Sakura was the witness?"
"I didn't know. My luck's been terrible lately, so I've been either at school or holed up in my dorm."
"Then who was that Asahina just now?" Ike interjected.
"Oh, I happened to meet an interesting upperclassman. Since my luck's been terrible these past few days, I asked her to help me buy a few daily necessities."
"Enough, Ike. That's not what we came to ask," Horikita said, annoyed at his interruption. "Then why did you take Sakura out of the classroom after Teacher Chabashira told the class about Sudo's situation?"
"Hey, that's my personal business. But it doesn't matter. Just like that pretty upperclassman, I know Sakura and want to get closer to her. Is there anything wrong with that? You can't say that because I know Sakura, I must know she's the witness. Besides, do you have any proof that Sakura is the witness?"
The others fell silent as they listened to Takahashi's string of questions.
"Sorry, Takahashi."
"It's fine. Would you like to come in for a cup of coffee?"
After seeing them off, Takahashi checked his phone. Sakura had sent him a message: Kushida called me.
Before you continue