Oh no, now I can't clear my name

The commotion drew almost everyone in the library's attention toward Shuichi Kanda.

"Sorry, my hand slipped."

Shuichi Kanda stood up, walked around the table, and headed over, offering an utterly insincere apology as he went.

"Your hand slipped?"

Yahiko Totsuka had watched the pencil case fly toward him, but he hadn't been able to react or dodge. Now he was seething. If Katsuragi hadn't helped block it, he would have had to catch that decidedly ominous-looking pencil case with his forehead.

In reality, he was overthinking it. Kanda had calculated his throw; as long as Totsuka didn't move, the pencil case wouldn't actually hit his head.

"You bastard!"

Not only had Kanda offered an insincere apology, he was also walking over, a mocking smile on his face.

Totsuka was instantly enraged. He got up from his seat without thinking, hurried forward, and reached out with his right hand to grab Kanda by the collar.

"Yahiko!"

Katsuragi shouted from behind him, trying to stop him, but it was already too late. Totsuka's hand had touched Kanda's collar.

Kanda tilted his head slightly upward, then took a small step back. Suddenly, his body went limp, and he crumpled to the floor. His eyes closed, and he lost consciousness.

Kid, welcome to the dark side of society!

The scene stunned everyone present. From that angle, the spot was a complete blind spot. No one there except Kamuro could see what had actually happened.

So, to everyone other than Kamuro and the people directly involved, it looked as though Totsuka had rushed over, hit Kanda, and knocked him unconscious.

"Kanda!"

Kushida Kikyo was the first to react. Less than two seconds after Kanda hit the floor, his classmate let out a shrill scream and hurried over to him. She checked his breathing and felt the faintest trace of it. Her face turned deathly pale.

Totsuka, meanwhile, stumbled two steps backward in a panic. He was completely stunned. What was going on? No, he had to distance himself from this.

"No, it wasn't me. I didn't even touch him."

"You bastard, what are you saying? You went over there and hit Kanda!"

Seeing Kanda lying on the floor, Sudo felt a sense of shared misery. Were they supposed to put up with this kind of bullying just because they were students from Class D?

When Totsuka had mocked him earlier, Sudo had been furious, but he knew Totsuka wasn't wrong. He really hadn't studied much.

Deep down, he had always felt inferior to the top students.

But it wasn't until he saw Kanda fall that he understood: even if they were the trash at the bottom, that didn't mean they could be bullied like this.

However, Kushida soon stopped him.

"Sudo, please take Kanda to the school hospital right away. You're the only one who can do it." Kushida, crouched beside Kanda and preparing to help him up, called over to Sudo.

Indeed, if anyone there could carry Kanda to the hospital, it was probably Sudo, who played basketball year-round, or Katsuragi, who was exceptionally strong.

Unfortunately, Katsuragi's follower had knocked Kanda down, so Kushida would never ask him for help at a time like this.

That left Sudo as the only person she could turn to.

And Sudo was touched by Kushida's words: "You're the only one who can do it."

Ah, so there is something only I can do.

He shot Yahiko a resentful look, then hurried over.

"Hey, Ayanokoji, what are you standing around for? Come help!"

Sudo grabbed Ayanokoji, who was standing closest, and dragged him into the effort.

After they all rushed around trying to help, Sudo hoisted Kanda onto his back.

"This guy's so light. No wonder he went down after one punch."

After tossing out that brief comment, Sudo carried Kanda straight to the school hospital. Kushida Kikyo followed close behind.

That's right: Sudo was running with Kanda, who weighed nearly a hundred pounds, on his back—and he was moving fast.

This guy's got incredible stamina. I'm jealous. Though running this fast is a bit bumpy.

That was what Kanda thought as he rode on Sudo's back.

After Sudo carried Kanda away, silence fell over the library.

Katsuragi's expression had turned pitch-black.

He knew Totsuka had been framed. After spending more than a month with him, Katsuragi knew what kind of person he was.

When angry, Totsuka might hit someone, but he would never deny it afterward.

So the truth was obvious: Totsuka really hadn't touched Kanda.

And yet Kanda had fallen to the floor.

If the other boy hadn't deliberately faked being hit, then Totsuka had just been unbelievably unlucky.

"What happened here?"

Before long, the librarian finally arrived.

"T-Teacher, that guy from Class A suddenly attacked someone! Our classmate was knocked unconscious! This is outrageous!"

At the librarian's arrival, Ike, who had seemed stunned, suddenly snapped out of it. Pointing at Totsuka, he blurted out the whole story in one breath.

"What? Where is the injured student?"

The librarian was startled to hear that a student had lost consciousness. Someone passing out in the middle of the library was no small matter. If things went badly, he could be held responsible too.

"Our classmate has already carried him to the school hospital."

They'd already taken him to the hospital? That was a relief.

The librarian immediately turned to Totsuka, who was still completely stunned.

"Teacher, I think there's been some misunderstanding. According to my classmate, he never touched the victim. The victim suddenly fell over on his own."

Katsuragi couldn't let the matter be settled like this. He wanted to find out what had really happened, but Yahiko was too stunned to speak up for himself, so Katsuragi had to step in.

"So many people saw what happened. He hit someone and still won't admit it. Is that how students from Class A behave?"

Horikita Suzune seemed to have finally come around. As soon as Katsuragi spoke, she immediately retorted.

Seeing Horikita speak up, Katsuragi's expression darkened. "I just want to find out the truth. Teacher, could we review the security footage from earlier?"

Looking at Katsuragi's earnest, serious face, the teacher wasn't sure what to do, so he nodded. It was the best option.

"All right. Come with me."

The students from Classes A and D followed the librarian to the surveillance room.

Kamuro stayed where she was and watched everything unfold. Her face remained expressionless, but she was already completely stunned. Holy shit, he can do that?

That's so despicable!

She didn't believe for a second that Kanda had been knocked unconscious by one punch from Totsuka. Besides, before making his move, he'd said he was going to give Sakayanagi a big gift.

Chapter 50: Oh no, now I can't clear my name

After Katsuragi and the others left with the teacher, Kamuro hurriedly took out her phone and reported what had happened to Sakayanagi.

"This really is a wonderful gift, Kamuro. Please thank Kanda for me."

The delighted voice on the other end of the phone confirmed to Kamuro that Kanda had been faking it.

But how could he have acted so naturally?

Most people would instinctively use their arms to protect themselves when falling, but Kanda had simply gone limp and dropped to the floor. It had looked incredibly natural, without a trace of acting.

That was why she'd been completely stunned at first. If she hadn't seen that Totsuka never touched him, she might have rushed over in a panic too.

Damn Kushida Kikyo, she did what I wanted to do!

Meanwhile, Teacher Hirasawa Naotsugu, the librarian, wanted to find out what had happened as quickly as possible, so he immediately took the students involved to the surveillance room.

The library's surveillance room was next to the office where Teacher Hirasawa usually worked. He didn't need any special authorization, so he brought them all straight inside.

"When did this happen?"

"Based on how long ago it happened, I'd say about ten minutes ago."

Katsuragi answered Teacher Hirasawa at once. Horikita Suzune, who had still been thinking, frowned.

At that, Teacher Hirasawa immediately pulled up the file and opened the footage from that time.

The screen split into more than a dozen panels, each faithfully showing what was happening in nearly every corner of the library.

"Found it."

At the sound of his voice, Teacher Hirasawa immediately hit pause.

"Where?"

Ayanokoji stepped forward and pointed to the panel in the second-to-last row, on the far right. "This one."

Following Ayanokoji's finger, they saw the group beneath the surveillance camera.

However, Teacher Hirasawa didn't enlarge it right away. Instead, he checked the other panels first.

A surveillance camera could only record what was visible from one angle, and it often took different angles to get the full picture.

Unfortunately, that part of the library was rather secluded, and no other camera could see it.

This shouldn't have happened, but there hadn't been an incident in the library for many years. Even the troublemakers never caused problems there, so it was easy to let things slide. And now something like this had happened.

Katsuragi's expression darkened too. With only one camera, they might not be able to clear Yahiko of suspicion.

The footage showed three groups of people. Horikita Suzune and the others were at one table, Katsuragi and Totsuka at another, and Kanda and Kamuro at a third.

It started with Sudo grabbing Horikita Suzune by the collar. Their mouths moved, then Totsuka stood up from the table beside them.

After Totsuka said something, Kanda also stood up from the table on the other side. He seemed to remember his pencil case, but in the next moment, it flew straight toward Totsuka's head.

Then Katsuragi stepped in and blocked the flying pencil case. Kanda got up and walked toward Totsuka.

Totsuka also hurried forward, looking furious, and reached out toward Kanda.

But that was the problem!

From the camera's perspective, Kanda's body blocked Totsuka's outstretched hand, hiding it in the blind spot. No one could tell whether Totsuka had touched him or not.

Then Kanda tilted his head slightly upward and took a small step back before falling to the floor.

It was over!

Katsuragi reached that conclusion immediately. No matter who watched the video, it would look as though Totsuka had reached out and hit Kanda, who then fell to the floor unconscious.

This was bad. He'd be caught red-handed.

"You're not my students, so I won't make a judgment. But I'll submit this incident and the footage to the Student Council. The Student Council President will decide what happens next."

What was there to decide? Even Katsuragi, usually so composed, was cursing inwardly.

"Sorry for the trouble, Teacher."

Meanwhile, when Sudo carried Kanda to the school hospital, he startled the nurse on duty.

A student getting injured was no small matter. If it was serious, the school might face scrutiny from the public.

So even though the entire student body and staff numbered fewer than 1,500 people, the school hospital had been built to an exceptionally high standard.

As soon as Sudo carried the unconscious Kanda into the hospital, a nurse went to call a doctor, who came over to ask what had happened.

After examining Kanda from head to toe, the doctors reached a conclusion.

The patient was rather frail, and he had likely lost consciousness from a concussion after hitting his head when he fell.

There was no helping it. Aside from being somewhat weak, there was nothing wrong with him, so they could only blame it on his head.

Otherwise, if they couldn't find anything wrong, wouldn't that make them look incompetent? They could kiss their bonuses goodbye. And this guy clearly looked frail. After taking a punch, a mild concussion was only to be expected.

Besides, Kanda really was asleep at the moment. According to Sudo and Kushida, he might have briefly regained consciousness along the way, but he soon passed out again.

His pupils were currently consistent with someone who was asleep. However, since there was a chance of a head injury, they decided to let him rest as much as possible.

So while Kanda slept, Kushida Kikyo stayed by his hospital bed. Before long, Akito Miyake and Hirata Yosuke arrived at the hospital, both a little out of breath.