"Then, at the same time tomorrow, the Student Council will hold another meeting. If neither side presents new evidence or admits fault, we will make our decision based on the evidence currently available.
"I must warn Class D that, given the current circumstances, you need to be prepared for expulsion or an even harsher punishment. That is all."
Seeing the leaders of Classes C and D agree to postpone the hearing, Horikita Manabu sighed. He had already seen through Class C's intentions. Rising to his feet, he announced the decision to postpone the hearing.
"You two Class D leaders, don't rush off. Come with us to Class C first. We have decisive evidence. If you don't come prepared to negotiate in good faith, then this time tomorrow will be the end of Class D."
After leaving the Student Council, Ryuen called out to Hirata and Kushida, inviting them to negotiate.
To keep the class stable, Hirata had no choice but to follow Ryuen.
And to stop Hirata from keeping the class stable too easily, Kushida had no choice but to follow Hirata.
"Then I'll lay out my terms first.
"First, in front of the four victims from our class, Sudo must go to the Traditional Literature Club's Activity Room, sincerely kneel down, and apologize with three kowtows.
"Second, Class D must put together 2 million personal points to buy the information I previously gave your class as charity. Don't worry, I'm not deliberately overcharging you. You'd pay the same amount if you bought this information from your homeroom teacher.
"Third, Class D must provide me with 1 million personal points every month until graduation."
Ryuen made an outrageous demand, proposing an unequal treaty to Class D. Of his three terms, the first was nonnegotiable. I'd already made preparations for that, and I intended to use it as a weapon to crush Class B's spirit.
The second and third terms, those concerning personal points, could be negotiated. It all depended on whether Class D had what it took.
"Impossible. Class D doesn't have that many personal points."
As soon as Ryuen stated his terms, Hirata flatly rejected them. Class D only received 4 million personal points each month, and Ryuen was asking for 3 million at once, followed by another million every month. Class D couldn't accept that.
Besides, Hirata wasn't confident he could persuade the other students in Class D to pool their points to save Sudo. And from what he knew, many students in Class D had already spent most of their points. There was no way the class could scrape together that much.
"Don't panic. Take a look at this photo first. What do you think? Pretty clear, isn't it? Your classmate Sudo looks dazzling as he bullies another student!"
Ryuen pulled a photo from his pocket. It was a head-on shot of Sudo, taken by Hiyori, who had been lying in wait inside the Activity Room.
The photo showed Sudo sitting on a chair with blood on both hands, his expression slightly twisted. Ishizaki lay at his feet, blood pouring from his wounds.
I'd taken that staged photo with Ishizaki and the others while Sudo was dazed. With a photo like that, Sudo could have a hundred mouths and still never prove his innocence.
"What's wrong? Scared? I'm a kind person; I can't stand seeing others suffer. How about I throw in a bonus? Take a look at this second photo."
After putting away the first photo, Ryuen took out another. It had been taken by a Class C student who had been blocking the doorway at the time.
The photo showed Sudo with blood dripping from his hands and me lying on the ground, clutching my stomach.
"How about it? Remember what the Student Council president said when he announced the meeting was adjourned? Expulsion or a harsher punishment. Sudo's expulsion alone will cost you 300 Class Points.
"But if I submit these photos as evidence, then, on top of your blatant perjury, even a deduction of 500 Class Points would be getting off lightly.
"If you accept my terms, Class C will withdraw its complaint. You can save your classmate and keep your Class Points.
"You can choose: lose more than half your Class Points all at once, or protect those points and your classmate. Go on."
Ryuen could barely contain his grin. He embodied every trait of a villain.
"Class D will never abandon Sudo! E-even if Sudo really did something that awful, he's already shown remorse.
"From what I've heard, your classmate Ishizaki has been a delinquent since middle school. Students from his hometown told me he was a skilled fighter and that local students feared him back then.
"I can't believe three people would lose to Sudo. So even if Sudo was ninety-nine percent at fault, doesn't that mean Ishizaki and the others were at least one percent at fault too?
"Class D simply can't come up with that many points. This incident also began because of a misunderstanding between students from our two classes, so I think Class C should bear some responsibility too. I'm asking for a reduction in the number of points we have to pay!"
When she realized there was no way to salvage the situation, Hirata fell silent. Kushida knew it was time for her to step in.
The compensation was inevitable, so all she could do was try to reduce the amount.
That way, once she returned to class, she could say she'd done everything she could to get part of the debt waived. And she could leave Hirata to explain why they had to compensate Class C at all.
"True, some of our students spoke without thinking. How about this?
"We'll split responsibility for what started this incident, three to seven. After all, our Ishizaki was trying to mediate the dispute when your Sudo attacked him.
"You'll take full responsibility for the chase that followed and what happened in the Activity Room.
"The first two terms remain unchanged. For the third, I'll allow you to provide us with only 900,000 personal points each month."
When Kushida eagerly signaled that she wanted to negotiate a lower price, Ryuen knew his chance had come. He readily gave her what she wanted.
"But Class D really doesn't have that many personal points. Even if we persuade our classmates to hand over every point they have, we still can't raise 2.9 million. I'm sure the same is true of your class, Ryuen."
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