Perjury Caught Red-Handed

"Then—"

"Objection! We have witness testimony from other members of the Basketball Club who were training on the court at the time. This was obtained under the witness of Vice President Kiriyama of the Student Council during his investigation."

Just as Secretary Tachibana was about to ask Class D to produce evidence, Class C stepped forward with their witnesses.

A statement signed by several Basketball Club members and the vice-captain was placed on the table; these were members who felt dissatisfied with or jealous of Sudo.

If this incident had occurred a month later, the credibility of this testimony would have plummeted.

Precisely because the school year had just begun and Sudo and his peers were new members, they had not yet established any chain of interests with the upperclassmen in the club.

Without conflict or disputes over benefits, this testimony carried significant weight.

"Does Class D have any evidence to overturn the claims made by Class C? If not, the cause of this incident will be determined according to Class C's account."

Looking at the testimony handed to her, Secretary Tachibana felt that things were looking grim for Class D.

"Those guys are lying! I've had my eye on them for a long time!"

Seeing the others from the Basketball Club colluding to frame him, Sudo slammed his fist onto the table in a fit of rage.

The members of Class D were also deeply annoyed by Sudo's reckless attitude; "useless teammates" were objects of disdain no matter where they were found.

"We also have testimony from members of the Basketball Club regarding this incident. Although this evidence lacks the witness of a Student Council officer, the Student Council can send someone to verify its authenticity right now."

Hirata produced a statement signed by several Basketball Club members, but none of the members of Class D noticed the faint smiles that appeared on the faces of the Class C students when he presented it.

"Our side has one more piece of decisive evidence regarding the cause of this incident to provide to the Student Council. However, I ask that Secretary Tachibana play it only after verifying the authenticity of Class D's testimony."

Standing behind Ishizaki, Ryuen handed a digital voice recorder to Secretary Tachibana.

Some time passed, and Secretary Tachibana's team finished verifying the testimonies from both sides.

"Based on the Student Council's verification of the evidence provided by both parties, the Student Council will accept the evidence provided by Class C. The evidence provided by Class D is invalid. I will now play the audio evidence provided by Class C."

"Why—?"

Just as Kushida was about to ask for the reason, the audio played by Secretary Tachibana gave her the answer.

It was a recording of the members of Class D using private points to bribe members of the Basketball Club into giving false testimony.

In this incident, the only aspect involving outsiders had been under Ryuen's close watch from the very beginning.

Class D had paid a significant amount of points, but some members of the Basketball Club had already signed an agreement with Ryuen in advance.

Whenever Class D sought help from other club members, those members would proactively approach them with a voice recorder to "help" Class D out.

Even the decision for Class D to approach the Basketball Club had been induced by Ryuen.

Because Ryuen had learned of Class B's efforts yesterday, he had anonymously provided a lead pointing toward the Basketball Club.

After the message was relayed to Class D through Class B, they took the bait exactly as expected.

"To think that you in Class D would stoop to such despicable means as perjury! You are truly shameless!"

As soon as the audio finished playing, the members of Class C began to lash out at Class D, using this momentum to continuously suppress them.

Even Horikita Manabu cast a look of disappointment toward Horikita Suzune.

"Next, we will discuss the actual situation during the pursuit between the two parties involved in this incident.

Since the surveillance footage shows that the defendant continued to attack the plaintiff during the pursuit, the Student Council will default to the account provided by the plaintiff. Does the defendant have any new evidence to provide?"

This part of the pursuit was the most irrefutable point of the entire incident, as the whole sequence was captured on surveillance, including the kick Sudo used to violently break down the door.

Seeing the video recorded by the surveillance, the members of Class D indicated that they had no evidence to present.

"Then, we arrive at the most important point of this incident: what happened after both students entered the activity room of the Traditional Literature Club.

The defendant will state their case first. If you have evidence, you may present it, but it must be authentic. If the defendant commits perjury again, the Student Council will rule in favor of the plaintiff and impose the maximum requested compensation."

Given that Class D had already committed perjury, Secretary Tachibana's attitude toward them had shifted.

After all, what real victim would commit perjury? If this were a real court, the students of Class D would already be behind bars.

"I really didn't hit anyone after I walked in, you have to believe me! It was them who did it to themselves.

And that president of the, uh, whatever-literature-club, I don't even know him! How could I have hit him!

After I walked in, I just saw the three of them lying on the ground with blood everywhere, and then he brought over a stool! He smeared blood on my hands!"

At this final stage, Sudo used all his strength to defend himself.

However, words without supporting evidence were pale; despite Sudo's indignant expression, he lacked any persuasiveness.

"If Class D has no evidence—"

"There is evidence! There must be evidence to prove my innocence! There were many people from other clubs at the door watching, and some even took photos. There must be witnesses who can prove my innocence!"

Sudo repeated the same few lines over and over, and Secretary Tachibana, unable to listen any longer, took the initiative to steer the conversation back on track.

"Can Class D provide the Student Council with witness testimony or physical evidence in the form of photos?"

"I'm sorry, we haven't been able to find them, but if you could give us a little more time, we definitely could—"

"Fine! I will give you one more day! I want to see how you intend to twist the truth!"

The witnesses and photos Sudo spoke of were exactly what Class D and Class B had been searching for all these days.

But what they didn't know was that those so-called witnesses were actually all students from Class C. If the photos they had taken were presented as evidence, Sudo would be doomed beyond redemption.

Considering that Class C would not be able to reap the maximum benefits if this matter were settled definitively now, Ryuen immediately agreed after Hirata requested more time, intending to settle the matter privately with Class D over the next day.