After submitting the Student Council's disciplinary application, Shiraishi Makoto sat before the computer and pondered for a moment before taking out his phone to message Sakura Airi.
"Sakura, have you taken any photos recently?"
"Not recently. The last time was last Sunday." Sakura Airi replied quickly.
Seeing the date put Shiraishi Makoto at ease. He had accompanied Sakura Airi on that photo shoot last Sunday, so she was not a witness to this incident.
What Shiraishi Makoto did not know was that ever since she had gotten to know him, Sakura Airi had stopped going out to take photos alone.
Sakura Airi's thoughts were simple. If she could go take photos by herself, then if Shiraishi found out, would he stop accompanying her?
Although Shiraishi Makoto did not know about this little thought of hers, he did not want Sakura Airi to be a witness in this case. Even if she was, it would only push her into the spotlight and bring her no benefit.
Shiraishi Makoto put away his phone and found Horikita Manabu.
"President, may I take part in ruling on this dispute?"
"This is a case involving first-years. I had already intended to bring you in." Horikita Manabu looked up, seeing through Shiraishi Makoto's intentions. "You want to apply to the school for special authority?"
"That's right. I want to first apply for the authority to review the surveillance footage." Shiraishi Makoto nodded without trying to hide it.
When a student submitted an application, the Student Council needed to verify the circumstances of the case. For example, the time and place listed in the appeal materials. At such times, Student Council members could apply for special authority, such as summoning witnesses or retrieving surveillance footage from across the school.
That was why upperclassmen all wanted to join the Student Council. The Student Council held considerable authority at this school. If a class encountered a conflict, the side with a Student Council member could gain a major advantage.
"I'll submit the application for you. What are your thoughts on this case?" Horikita Manabu gave a slight nod, his fingers tapping across the keyboard as he asked for his opinion.
"I think Class C laid a trap and deliberately lured the Class D students in, but they chose their target well." Shiraishi Makoto considered his wording before speaking. "Even Class D's own classmates wouldn't be surprised to hear that Sudo had hit someone, would they?"
"The application has been approved. Just go directly to the surveillance room and find the teacher in charge." Horikita Manabu stopped what he was doing. "No matter what, a class should trust its own students."
"I'll investigate first. For Class D, this incident is a very good test." Shiraishi Makoto did not name anyone, but Horikita Manabu knew he was referring to Horikita Suzune.
Class D had spent hundreds of thousands of Private Points just last month to keep Sudo Ken enrolled. It would be a real shame if he was expelled before he could even prove useful.
"I'll be looking forward to their performance." Horikita Manabu gave a faint wave, signaling that he could leave.
Shiraishi Makoto left the Student Council office and headed to the surveillance room.
According to the testimony submitted by Class C, they had entered the Special Building with Sudo Ken after school on the afternoon of June 27. Shiraishi Makoto therefore retrieved the surveillance footage from that time period.
However, the Special Building had many surveillance blind spots. There were not even cameras in the corridors. Ryuen Kakeru was not stupid either; he had already scoped the place out for them. There were no cameras covering the site where the incident had occurred.
Still, there were cameras at the entrance and in several classrooms containing valuable equipment or chemicals. After searching for a while, Shiraishi Makoto found a camera at the entrance with a suitable angle and a fairly clear view.
The camera had fully recorded all four entering the Special Building one after another. After some time, Sudo Ken was the first to emerge. A while later, the three Class C students came out of the Special Building with injuries.
Shiraishi Makoto carefully examined the extent of their injuries at that point and confirmed that Ryuen Kakeru had indeed struck them himself.
Shiraishi Makoto continued dragging the timeline, switching between cameras as he followed the three of them, until the footage led all the way to a private room at the KTV in Keyaki Mall.
There were no cameras inside the KTV's private rooms, but there were cameras in the corridors. So Shiraishi Makoto kept moving the footage forward and waited for them to come out.
Before long, the three emerged from the room. The cameras clearly showed that their injuries had become more severe; they were even limping as they walked.
If he waited a little longer, he could also capture footage of Ryuen Kakeru leaving the KTV, but Shiraishi Makoto felt that the evidence he had was already sufficient.
Shiraishi Makoto did not choose to extract the video footage. After all, the materials had to be submitted to the Student Council. He only needed to submit an "incident verification report."
Shiraishi Makoto returned to the Student Council office. After archiving the materials he had collected, he still had a few questions for Horikita Manabu.
"President, has the school always tested students like this?" Shiraishi Makoto asked curiously.
Although Ryuen Kakeru had covered his tracks fairly well, that only meant students from the other classes could not find any clues. The school could clearly resolve the matter easily, yet it merely stood by coldly and could even tolerate wrongful convictions.
"Even the police encounter cases they cannot solve, so everyone should be more careful to protect themselves." Horikita Manabu nodded lightly. "You should understand that well. This is part of class competition. If you cannot handle attacks from other classes, then you cannot blame anyone else for being expelled."
It felt somewhat strange to hear such words, so steeped in the idea of supremacy through strength, coming from Horikita Manabu.
After all, his Class 3-A was actually a class with relatively weak overall ability. It had only maintained its Class A position through his full protection.
Shiraishi Makoto suppressed his thoughts and asked his second question. "Then for my second question, I found something while reviewing the clues. Can I conduct a private transaction?"
"No, you cannot." Horikita Manabu shook his head. Shiraishi Makoto had used the Student Council's authority, so that would be using public power for private gain.
"I understand. Then how many Private Points would I need to spend to buy it?" Since he could not get it for free, Shiraishi Makoto chose to use the power of money.
"I honestly don't know how much it would cost, but you can directly apply to your homeroom teacher to purchase it." Horikita Manabu said.
In many situations, this school's homeroom teachers were practically equivalent to the school itself. Especially when it came to buying rules or points, homeroom teachers even held a certain degree of influence.
Shiraishi Makoto contacted his homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya Chie, and ultimately spent 50,000 Private Points to buy the extracted files of the two video clips from the school.
"Then I'll be leaving, President." With everything he needed to handle finished, Shiraishi Makoto bid Horikita Manabu farewell and left the Student Council office.
Holding the materials in his hands, Shiraishi Makoto's mind was full of thoughts.
These materials carried considerable weight. If he wanted to, Ryuen Kakeru could be expelled right now.
However, doing so would bring no benefit to Shiraishi Makoto or Class A. After all, Class C was targeting Class D, which had little to do with Class A. Moreover, Shiraishi Makoto still needed Ryuen Kakeru to keep advancing the plot in the upcoming Uninhabited Island Exam, so he had no intention of having Ryuen Kakeru expelled at this point. "But I can use this opportunity to threaten him."
Before you continue