Commotion in the Cafeteria

"Shiraishi-kun, want to go eat together?"

When the school assigned dormitories, they tried as much as possible to keep classmates on the same floor, so every mealtime, some students would go door to door knocking.

"Hold on a second, I've got two more steps left." Shiraishi Makoto finished the problem he was working on.

Some boys in Class A hadn't gotten up yet, and a few others didn't plan to go to the cafeteria, opting instead for instant noodles or pre-bought bread. In the end, only nine people headed to the cafeteria.

As the group walked in, they could see from a distance the long line snaking in front of the mountain vegetable set meal counter.

"Those are Class D students, right? Their situation is just too pitiful." Watanabe Norihito murmured as he watched the scene.

Even the most out-of-the-loop students could clearly understand Class D's predicament from the rumors circulating around campus.

Although the school didn't release specific point totals, everyone could refer to the average situation of past classes. Anyone who had looked into it would think that without the three idiots, this year's Class D might have saved up two or three hundred points in the first month.

So the other students dragged down by them seemed truly pitiful—for these two, or even three months, they had zero points coming in and could only eat mountain vegetable set meals.

Everyone picked what they wanted to eat and finally found an empty table to sit at.

Before they could start eating, a noisy argument broke out not far away.

"That's... Class C and Class D?" A student immediately recognized the two sides in the conflict.

The two classes were already facing off, clearly in the middle of a dispute.

"I'll go check it out." As a student council member, stopping campus conflicts was Shiraishi Makoto's duty, and besides, a vague sense of unease rose in his heart.

"Seriously, I said I didn't mean to, okay? It's not my fault the auntie filled the soup so full." The Class C female student held up her tray, her tone dripping with impatience.

"What kind of attitude is that? You spilled soup all over my shoes." The Class D female student was furious.

Hearing her, Shiraishi instinctively looked down at her feet and saw a large yellow oil stain covering one of her white shoes.

"Seriously, you Class D people are such a hassle." The Class C female student wore an expression of utter exasperation. "Sorry, alright?"

Faced with the Class C student's insincere apology, the Class D student naturally couldn't accept it.

"What kind of attitude is that?" A blonde girl with a ponytail stood up first, blocking the Class C female student.

"What do you mean, 'you Class D people are such a hassle'? Explain yourself!" Several other Class D students rose from their seats.

"What, you want to fight or something?"

The Class C students weren't backing down either, showing no sign of yielding.

"Everyone, stop right now. I'm Shiraishi Makoto from the student council. The student council is taking over this situation." Shiraishi stepped forward quickly, inserting himself between the two classes to prevent things from escalating further.

"The student council's here?" The Class D students saw Shiraishi and immediately spoke up: "Shiraishi-kun, please, you have to get us justice!"

"That's right, that's right. Class C has gone too far."

"Everyone, calm down first. I don't know the full story yet." Shiraishi said. "Please introduce yourselves from both sides, and I'll take notes."

"Come on, is this really necessary?" Perhaps because she knew the student council actually had the authority to impose penalties, the previously aggressive female student's voice softened. "It's just soup spilled on her shoes, isn't it? I didn't do it on purpose."

"This is the student council's procedure for handling disputes. Regardless of the scale, everything must follow the rules." Shiraishi dismissed her protest, obtained the names of those involved and their respective accounts.

The parties involved were Manabe Shiho from Class C and Mori Nene from Class D.

But with only their verbal statements, it was impossible to determine right from wrong. In the end, he could only apply to the cafeteria management to retrieve the surveillance footage.

From the footage, it was clear: the Class D student was sitting there eating, when several Class C students walked by laughing and chatting. In the midst of their horseplay, someone bumped into Manabe Shiho, and the leftover soup splashed right onto Mori Nene's shoe.

Though there was no direct evidence, this was Ryuen Kakeru's Class C.

"Looks like they've gotten through the midterms and have free time to start stirring up trouble." Shiraishi thought to himself.

"Based on the footage, Manabe-san didn't intentionally spill the soup, but the fact remains that you dirtied Mori-san's shoes." Shiraishi looked at the two and delivered his judgment. "While this doesn't quite constitute damaging someone else's property requiring point compensation, please apologize to Mori-san. If you refuse, it will be considered a malicious provocation, and the student council will handle it according to school rules."

"Fine..." Manabe Shiho glanced at Shiraishi, her earlier arrogance gone. "Sorry, Mori-san, for dirtying your shoes."

"Be more careful next time." Perhaps out of consideration for Shiraishi presiding over the scene, Mori Nene didn't press further.

"Then this mediation is concluded. Since you Class C folks have finished eating, please leave as soon as possible. Both sides, no more aggressive actions." Shiraishi put an end to the incident, watching the Class C students leave the cafeteria.

"Thank you so much, Shiraishi-kun." The Class D students came up, led by the blonde girl.

"No need to thank me, Karuizawa-san." Shiraishi waved his hand. "Just routine business. Now, please enjoy your meal."

Walking back to the Class A area, the more Shiraishi thought about it, the more he felt this incident wasn't a coincidence.

Ryuen Kakeru's later scheme, the "Sudo Ken assault incident," had also been set up over a long period. Komiya and the others could easily lure Sudo Ken to the special teaching building because they had been provoking him for a long time.

So now, this was probably the "casting a wide net" phase. Ryuen Kakeru wanted to find easy targets in Class D, hence the frequent conflicts.

But to be honest, Shiraishi still didn't know why Ryuen Kakeru was bothering with Class D. Whether at this stage or in the original story, his motives were strange.

Class D had zero class points, no prior conflict with Class C, and currently posed no threat to Class C at all.

After thinking it over, he could only come up with a few reasons.

First, because he ruled his class through violence, some students still weren't fully convinced. He needed to attack other classes and secure a major victory to solidify his position, so he planned to start with the soft target of Class D.

Second, someone was secretly cooperating with him, hoping he would attack Class D. The only person Shiraishi could think of was Sakayanagi Arisu.

Third, through the past two months, Ryuen Kakeru had sensed that Class D was hiding a "capable person" and wanted to use this attack to probe their true identity.

All of these reasons were possible, but Shiraishi had no evidence to support any of them. If it was reason two or three, that was manageable. If it was reason one, then the possibility of Ryuen Kakeru attacking Class A wasn't zero either.

"Everyone, be careful lately. Class C might be up to something." Shiraishi lowered his voice. At the same time, he opened the class group chat, recounted today's events, and added a reminder:

"For the near future, try not to go out alone without a classmate. If you run into a dispute or anything unusual, remember to start recording audio or video in time to protect yourselves."