The Sudo Incident Nears Its End

"I don't know why Father placed you in Class D, but I think he must have his reasons." Itayanagi walked alongside Takahashi as he spoke. "To be honest, I'm looking forward to the day we face off, and even more to the day you face him."

"Him?" Takahashi glanced at Itayanagi beside him.

"Someone formidable. A genius from the White House."

"The White House... I know that place. Artificial geniuses. I'm a bit curious, but I think my current life is pretty good. Unless absolutely necessary, I'd rather not change."

"But in this school, you're going to face a lot of 'absolutely necessary' situations." Itayanagi stopped walking. "Alright, this is far enough."

"Takahashi, I want to help Kushida and the others."

After watching Itayanagi leave, Takahashi received a message from Sakura.

Too late, Airi. If you'd stepped forward from the start, the photos in the camera could have served as evidence. But the day after tomorrow is the school's final deadline for Sudo. So close to the hearing, not only is the camera still at the electronics repair shop, but even if Class D students came forward to testify for a Class D student, it would be hard to treat them as credible witnesses. After all, the school won't believe that in a remote, empty classroom with no surveillance, a Class D student just happened to witness a violent incident involving another Class D student. Coming forward now would only make the school think Class D scraped up so-called witnesses out of desperation right before the hearing.

"Do what you think you should do. I told you I'd always be behind you."

Thinking of Itayanagi's words, Takahashi decided to let Sakura step forward anyway. In this school, he might face many "absolutely necessary" situations, so Sakura needed to change. Coming forward now might be useless, but at least she could use this to integrate into the class.

"Moshi moshi, Ayanokouji." He took out his phone and called Ayanokouji.

"Mm... what's up, Takahashi?"

"Ah, Sakura's camera broke before and I sent it to the electronics shop for repairs. I wanted you to come with me today to check if it's fixed."

On the other end, Ayanokouji thought: Takahashi wouldn't suddenly call me out of nowhere, and he mentioned Sakura too. It's probably related to Sudo's situation. Either way, I should go take a look.

"No problem. When?"

"I'm almost at the dorm building. If you're in the dorm, wait for me downstairs."

Thankfully, the electronics shop had more than just that stalker as an employee, or else the camera would have had nowhere to be repaired.

"It'll still be a few more days before we can pick it up. So slow." Takahashi looked at Ayanokouji. "Since we're here, want to look around a bit?"

"Sure."

"Wow, this camera looks just like the ones at school. You think it's the same model?" Takahashi pointed at a camera and said to Ayanokouji.

"Mm... it really does look similar."

"Sigh~"

"What's wrong?" Seeing Takahashi suddenly sigh, Ayanokouji couldn't help asking.

"If only those three from Class C had been caught on camera talking privately about how to provoke Sudo. Then Sudo wouldn't be facing suspension and punishment."

"Mm, that's true."

Watching Ayanokouji start to ponder something, Takahashi thought: Ayanokouji, let me use this to test your depth.

Back in the dorm, Ayanokouji lay on his bed mulling over Takahashi's words when the dorm door swung open. Sudo and the other two barged right in.

"Hey, why'd you guys just barge in? I have a right to privacy, you know."

"Hehe, Little Kushida called us over. She said she found something really important." Ike grinned.

"Besides, this is our hangout spot."

"It's not okay to have someone else's dorm key without permission." Horikita's voice came from behind. "Give the key back to Ayanokouji."

"But... Ayanokouji agreed before."

Ike tried to argue, but Sudo had already handed the key to Ayanokouji. What a loyal dog. In the end, the three had no choice but to return the key.

"Sorry, everyone, I'm late." Kushida made her entrance last.

"Haha, no worries, Little Kushida, we just got here too." Loyal dog Ike quickly spoke up.

Everyone sat around the table, and Kushida pulled out her phone.

"Everyone, I found something really important. Look, who is this?" She showed the phone screen to the group.

"Who's that? She's gorgeous." Ike spoke first.

"Look at this—it says 'Popular Idol Shizuku.' But why does she look so familiar?"

"Sakura? Isn't that Sakura? That bust size—it's Sakura." Ike suddenly shouted.

"That's right. Sakura is the popular idol Shizuku." Kushida said.

"I never thought I'd have a popular idol right next to me." Yamauchi said in disbelief.

"Hey~ Yamauchi, didn't you say Sakura confessed to you? What a shame you turned her down." Ike's tone was a bit sarcastic.

"And one more thing—look at the pinned post on Sakura's blog." Kushida scrolled up on the screen.

"Huh? Sakura has a boyfriend?" Yamauchi said in disbelief again.

"That bracelet—it's Takahashi." Horikita spoke up. Sitting on Takahashi's left, she knew well that he wore a light blue bracelet on his left wrist.

"What? Takahashi!"

"Damn it, so that's why Sakura wouldn't come forward to testify for me—it's all because of that Takahashi guy." Sudo said, somewhat angrily.

"Sudo, calm down."

Hearing Horikita's words, the loyal dog settled down.

"Takahashi might have his own reasons for not getting involved in this, but he did give me a hint—I just didn't catch it."

"What hint?" Ayanokouji asked.

"He said instead of making Sudo the focal point, we should shift the center to someone else—like the Class C Trio."

Hearing Horikita's words, Kushida chimed in, "That reminds me, Takahashi said something similar to me before. He said we were all treating Sudo's fight as the central point."

After listening to Horikita and Kushida, Ayanokouji thought for a moment and decided to share what happened in the afternoon:

"Takahashi called me out this afternoon."

"What did he say to you?" Horikita asked.

"He took me to Sakura's Camera Repair Shop. When the camera wasn't fixed yet, he brought me to look at the security footage and said something like, 'If only the Class C Trio's private discussion about how to provoke Sudo had been caught on camera, then Sudo wouldn't be facing suspension or disciplinary action.'"

The group fell into silence.

"Why did Takahashi do all that? If he had a way, why couldn't he just help me directly?" Sudo spoke up first.

"Is Takahashi Sakura's boyfriend?" Yamauchi added.

"Why don't we just go ask Takahashi? He's right there in Room 403." Ike suggested.

"Let's call it a day. Go back and think it over tonight. We'll talk about it tomorrow." Horikita said.

After the group dispersed to their respective dorms, Horikita doubled back. She arrived at Takahashi's door.

Knock knock knock!

Hearing the knock, Sakura inside the room tensed up instantly.

Takahashi patted Sakura's hand to signal her not to worry. "Sorry, my fortune today is Great Misfortune. It's not a good day for me to see people."

Hearing Takahashi's words, Horikita didn't press further. "Then add me back on your contacts." With that, she left.

Listening to the sound of Horikita's retreating footsteps, Sakura, who was sitting on Takahashi's back massaging his shoulders, let out a sigh of relief.