In the solemn Student Council chamber, which looked almost like a courtroom, Horikita Manabu sat at the center of the table, with seats on either side.
Yep, the same place again!
Horikita Manabu gently rubbed his temples, his brows faintly furrowed. It felt as though only a moment had passed, yet here he was facing another sudden trial.
What gave him an even bigger headache was that Long Aotian was involved in this matter again.
"Tachibana Akane, you may have the defendants come in first."
Horikita Manabu spoke to the girl beside him.
Before long, three people slowly entered the room, presenting a striking sight.
One of them had a thick cast on his arm and looked to be in some pain.
Another sat in a wheelchair, his head, legs, and one arm tightly wrapped in bandages.
The girl following behind them was completely unharmed, her hands steady as she pushed the wheelchair.
They were Yamada, Ryuen, and Ibuki.
When Horikita Manabu saw them, surprise welled up inside him. His brows furrowed almost involuntarily, forming a small but distinct crease, as though even the dust in the air had frozen.
This was clearly a case of bullying!
Horikita Manabu looked once more at the sign marked "Defendants." His eyes were filled with confusion and disbelief, as if he were checking whether the sight before him was just an illusion.
These were the defendants?!!
He turned to the girl beside him and continued, "Tachibana Akane, please bring in the victims."
Tachibana Akane nodded, turned, and headed for the door.
Then the door was gently pushed open, and three people filed in, drawing a few curious glances.
The first to catch the eye was someone wrapped from head to toe in bandages, like a mummy out of an ancient legend. He sat quietly in a wheelchair, a resolute look visible through the gaps in the bandages.
Right behind him was a white-haired girl. She moved with light, steady steps, her hands resting gently on the wheelchair handles as she slowly pushed it forward, an elegant smile on her face.
As for the third person... She entered slowly, her gaze full of curiosity and scrutiny, as though she were both surprised and intrigued by this unexpected scene.
They were Long Aotian, Sakayanagi Arisu, and Kamuro Masumi.
?!!!
"Th-this... Could that be Long Aotian?" Horikita Manabu's eyes widened. He stared in disbelief at the bandage-wrapped, mummy-like figure, the corner of his mouth twitching involuntarily.
At the same time, his gaze drifted to the side and suddenly landed on Sakayanagi Arisu, standing there gracefully. The leg she had injured earlier seemed to have fully recovered, and she walked with ease. This only deepened his astonishment. His brows knitted together, and a look of disbelief flashed in his eyes.
Horikita Manabu wasn't the only one looking shocked. The three people opposite him wore dark expressions, their brows furrowed, each with what seemed like a giant question mark hanging over their heads. The atmosphere turned decidedly awkward (the Black people confused question-mark meme).
The Class C homeroom teacher on the left and the Class A homeroom teacher on the right were also present.
"What proof do you have that you're the victim? Can you provide evidence that you were injured?"
With a look of doubt and curiosity, Horikita Manabu slowly turned toward the person wrapped up like a mummy.
"I do! I really do have evidence!" The mummy struggled to raise his bandage-covered hand, moving slowly and with difficulty, as though every little motion brought him immense pain.
His voice, however, carried unmistakable pain and a barely perceptible tremble as he forced the words out from deep in his throat. A USB drive was clenched tightly between his fingers.
Sakayanagi Arisu and Kamuro Masumi turned their elegant necks almost in unison, their gazes immediately locking onto Long Aotian.
Long Aotian feigned composure. A subtle smile tugged at his lips, and a crafty glint shone in his eyes, as if he were enjoying this little "deception."
Sakayanagi Arisu's brows creased slightly, a keen look that seemed to see through everything flashing in her eyes. Kamuro Masumi's lips curled into an amused smile. Both of them thought, If we hadn't already known you were faking it, you might really have fooled us.
Ibuki slammed her hand on the table. The force of it made the things on the tabletop tremble, as if even the air had frozen in that instant.
Her face was full of anger, her eyes wide like two burning flames as she glared at the other side. Her voice turned sharp with emotion: "You're shameless!"
At the same time, a voice beside her rang out: "Aba aba! Aba! Aba!!"
It was Ryuen! His eyes were fixed on Long Aotian in terror as he trembled in his wheelchair. His voice was mixed with unbearable pain, and he mumbled something indistinctly, the sound seeming to come through a distant fog, its meaning impossible to make out.
Unlike Long Aotian's carefully staged act, Ryuen's condition was undeniably real. The bandages around his mouth were faintly stained red, clearly with blood from earlier. His face was swollen, and even speaking had become unusually difficult. He had obviously suffered serious injuries, to the point that his ability to speak had been affected.
Seeing this, Long Aotian couldn't help thinking that his own performance still hadn't been realistic enough.
Soon, Tachibana Akane came over and gently took the USB drive from Long Aotian's hand.
As the video played, it clearly showed the scene outside the KTV entrance. Three people stood outside, apparently talking in low voices. Then Long Aotian gently turned the doorknob and went in.
Next, two girls walked lightly toward the half-open door, their steps brisk and in sync as they reached for the handle.
Not long after, the two went inside. The scene shifted to Kamuro Masumi hurrying out with Long Aotian on her back (he had originally wanted her to support him, but later figured being carried on her back would look more convincing), while Sakayanagi Arisu walked away slowly with a smile.
"At the time, I was accompanying Classmate Sakayanagi to negotiate a deal with Ryuen. Not long after I went in, the three of them beat me up. When Classmate Sakayanagi and Classmate Kamuro heard me scream, they hurried over to save me and tried to push the door open, but it seemed like someone had locked it from the inside."
Long Aotian's voice trembled almost imperceptibly. He tried to lift a hand to brush away the tear hanging at the corner of his eye, as though it might disappear at any moment.
But when his gaze fell on his bandaged hand, which was clearly still injured, his movement stopped involuntarily.
His hand trembled faintly in midair, as if even that simple gesture took all his strength.
In the end, he could only sigh and slowly lower his hand. He wanted to squeeze out a few sparkling tears and let them roll down his cheeks. Well, he couldn't. As long as the emotion was there, that was enough.
Kamuro was struggling to hold back her laughter. She thought Long Aotian was truly shameless. The key was, she couldn't call him out, because he was acting so convincingly. Just look at him! Now that was a veteran actor.
Sakayanagi Arisu narrowed her eyes slightly, the corners of her lips curving into an enigmatic smile, as though she were enjoying the scene before her.
"Defendants, do you have anything else to say?"
Horikita Manabu nodded and turned toward the defendants.
Ryuen had never dreamed that, in this unbelievable cycle, the very tricks he had once used against Class D would now come back like a boomerang, slowly but surely turning against him.
At those words, Ibuki's face flushed red, as if it were about to burst into flames. "We were the ones who got beaten up! And you go and turn the whole thing upside down, then twist the facts!"
"Aba!!! (Exactly!!!)"
The author will translate it for you, so you don't have to worry about not understanding.
Yamada continued glaring darkly...
"Turn the whole thing upside down? What are you talking about? I'm clearly the victim."
Long Aotian glanced at Kamuro.
Kamuro stared blankly at the mummy. Why are you looking at me? No, wait—I can't even see your eyes.
She fell silent for a moment, her brows faintly furrowed as if she were thinking about something.
Suddenly! Her eyes lit up, as if she had realized something. Then her right hand moved swiftly, and with a sharp slap, she smacked a report down on the table.
Her movement carried an undeniable force. The paper trembled slightly on the tabletop, as if echoing her resolve.
Long Aotian didn't know whether the table had responded to her, because at that moment, he really wanted to smack Kamuro. Did she not understand the look-and-act signal?! The look-and-act signal!
The report was for Long Aotian's examination at the hospital after he left the KTV. It described where his bones were broken, what other serious injuries he had suffered, and where things weren't working.
Wait, what did it mean, "where things weren't working"?
Long Aotian stared at the report in confusion. It was a fake report he had arranged with a doctor at the hospital in exchange for points.
After bribing him, he'd taken the report and handed it to Kamuro without paying much attention to it. The doctor had looked at him with such confidence at the time. No wonder the cashier had given him such a strange look when he went to pay the points!
A moment later, Tachibana Akane hurried over with a report in hand and gently placed it before Horikita Manabu.
Horikita Manabu lowered his head and examined the report. His brows slowly furrowed, and surprise flashed in his eyes, as though he found its contents a little too exaggerated.
He looked up at Long Aotian with a strange expression, glanced down again, then turned toward the left side.
"Ahem. Do you have anything else to say?"
Hey! Hey! What was that look just now?!
Long Aotian cursed inwardly.
"We do too!"
Ibuki's right hand moved swiftly. With a sharp slap, she produced two reports and held them up.
Horikita Manabu soon took the two reports and looked them over. They were Ryuen's and Yamada's reports. Ibuki didn't have one, since she was fine.
Before you continue