The five of them were still talking about girlfriends in the cafeteria.
Ike was brimming with enthusiasm as he challenged the other four to a contest, looking at them expectantly.
"Hey, Qiuyue, Ayanokoji, Sudo, Yamauchi. How about we see who can get a girlfriend first?"
"That'll definitely be me."
Yamauchi said without hesitation.
"I... Horikita... is kind of..."
"I know, Sudo. Horikita's way too hard to win over. All I can say is good luck. So, what about you two, Qiuyue and Ayanokoji?"
"I don't mind either way."
Ayanokoji said, then looked toward Qiuyue. Ike immediately picked up the conversation.
"Qiuyue, you'll join in, right? Don't worry. If I find a girlfriend, I definitely won't forget about you."
"...Forget it. It's getting late, so I'm heading back. There's still no news about the witness. Don't you guys forget about that."
Qiuyue completely ignored the question and prepared to make a run for it, grabbing a torch along the way and lighting it.
"Oh, right! We're screwed. Who's the witness, anyway? They still haven't come forward. If they saw what happened, why won't they speak up? I'm going to get suspended!"
Sudo complained, pounding the table.
Qiuyue: No one else is obligated to help you. Avoiding trouble is the sensible choice.
Room 415
Qiuyue rapidly played a game on his phone. Another phone sat beside him, as if he were waiting for a message.
After a long while, the phone chimed. Qiuyue put down the one in his hand and picked up the other.
[How did you get the audio recording? You recorded a video too, right? X.]
[That's none of your business. And what the hell is "X"?]
"Of course it's what I'm calling you, you sneaky little rat. I'll find you, X."
"X it is, then. It's been three months. With Class C's Class Points, and half of them each month, he should have around five million Private Points by now."
[Cut the crap. Five million Private Points.]
[I happen to have a little over five million. You planned this out, didn't you, X?]
In reality, Ryuen had collected two-thirds of the class's points, so he had more than 6.7 million Private Points.
[This recording shows students from Class C provoking a student from Class D into a fight.
If I sell it to Class D, they can have their student deny hitting Sudo and claim Class C provoked him and then beat himself up. Even if Class D doesn't win the case, they'll be found not guilty. Class C has no evidence, and Class D could even countersue them for slander.]
[I know you definitely recorded a video too. So you should know the Class D student really did hit him.]
[Who knows? Your Class C doesn't have any evidence, either.]
[Sell me the audio and video together. I'll give you two million Private Points.]
"Only two million Private Points? Ryuen's so stingy. I can't sell him the video, either. If Ryuen gets it, he can edit out the part where Class C struck first and leave only the footage of Sudo hitting the Class C student. Then Class C will win for sure. I'll have to wait."
[I don't know what you're talking about. I only have an audio recording, no video.]
Ryuen: Could he really not have a video?
[Five hundred thousand Private Points for the audio.]
[Five hundred thousand isn't enough. Three million.]
[You're not worried you'll choke on all that? The most I'll give you is one million Private Points.]
[Class D probably has over a million Private Points in its budget, too. I think they'd be much more interested in this recording than you are. What do you think?]
[X, fine! You're good. I'll find you! Two million Private Points!]
[Thanks for your business.]
Qiuyue looked at the string of points on his phone, grinning from ear to ear.
7200000
"I've only spent a little over seventy thousand Private Points in three months. I guess I'm pretty frugal."
As he spoke, Qiuyue picked up his other phone and checked the points displayed on it.
63020
Just as Qiuyue was about to open his Head-Patting Village game again, a message appeared at the top of his phone.
Kushida the Demon
[Qiuyue, could you come to Ayanokoji's room? We're discussing Sudo's situation.]
"Ugh. I was just about to log on and warm up the villagers, and now something else has come up."
[Coming now.]
Qiuyue went to Ayanokoji's room to join the discussion. None of them had learned anything about the witness, so Qiuyue played a game with the Idiot Trio.
Then someone knocked on the door. Ayanokoji went to answer it, but he didn't come back for a long time.
Kushida went to check and found Horikita outside. They talked for a while, and Horikita, who had originally planned to leave, was persuaded to stay.
When Sudo saw Horikita, he happily set down his game and went to greet her. That left one fewer player for Qiuyue and the others.
After Qiuyue and Ike finished their game, they joined the discussion with Horikita. As expected, they lost the game.
While they'd been playing, Horikita had brought them information about the witness. After discussing it, they learned that Horikita had identified their classmate Airi Sakura as the witness.
Sudo was deeply moved. He was probably happy that Horikita, the girl he liked, hadn't given up on him.
The Idiot Trio didn't quite understand why it had to be Sakura, but they knew Horikita wouldn't make something up out of nowhere.
Qiuyue also knew Horikita's guess was right. Sakura was the witness.
So Kushida, the Idiot Trio, and Ayanokoji all agreed to approach Sakura the next day. Qiuyue said he wasn't very good with words and politely declined. After telling them what she knew about the witness, Horikita left.
Once they'd made their decision, everyone went their separate ways. Back in his room, Qiuyue considered what to do.
"If they approach Sakura tomorrow, things should go according to the story. She'll probably run away because of her social anxiety."
"Then Ayanokoji will save Sakura and convince her to come forward and help. Though maybe she'd help even without Ayanokoji."
"Could my butterfly effect mean Ayanokoji won't save Sakura?"
"Damn... I really am a hypocrite. If it were something like expulsion or suspension, I probably wouldn't have acted on this sudden urge to step in."
"Creeps are such a pain. Forget it. There's no point overthinking it. I've still got a few days. I'll take my time."
Qiuyue realized he wouldn't be able to decide right away, so he opened his Head-Patting Village game and continued his climb toward 2,600 points.
In one night, he changed faces countless times, often flying into a rage.
Before you continue