"Three students, Komiya and the others, claimed that Sudo had called them to the special teaching building and assaulted them."
"But Sudo denied this, claiming that Komiya and the others had called him out instead."
"Their accounts conflict, but there's only one fact we can confirm."
"That Komiya, Kondo, and Ishizaki were injured as a result of Sudo's actions, making them the victims."
"I'm not mistaken, am I?" Kitahara asked, looking at everyone.
"That's right," Banjo said with a nod.
"I may have hit you, but you provoked me first!" Sudo stood up and pointed at them.
Watching this, Kitahara could only shake his head helplessly. He didn't stop Sudo.
At the same time, Ayanokoji looked at him and thought:
Now that the discussion has centered on the injuries, I can't let Sudo keep saying whatever he wants.
So he called out, "Horikita."
But Horikita's thoughts were already far away.
"You were just jealous that I made the starting lineup. You kept getting in my way during practice, too!" Sudo continued to rant.
Seeing that Ayanokoji and the others still weren't doing anything, Kitahara decided not to wait any longer. "Please be quiet."
"If there's no new testimony, we'll continue."
"Is that all right?"
Kitahara looked around. When they remained silent, he continued:
"Judging from the victims' injuries, the one-sided assault is already a fact. Based on that, I think the outcome is obvious."
"Class D's claim of self-defense and Sudo's plea of not guilty..."
Before Kitahara could finish, Horikita stood up, prompted by Ayanokoji.
Ayanokoji told Horikita, "If you don't fight back, we'll lose."
After hearing him, Horikita looked at us and said, "Excuse me. May I ask a few questions?"
"Go ahead," the student council president sitting nearby answered before Kitahara could.
Ignoring Kitahara's resentful look, Horikita quietly watched her brother.
Feeling her brother's gaze, Horikita trembled slightly, then looked across at Class C and said firmly:
"What exactly did Sudo say when he called you out?"
"Please answer me."
"He just said, 'Come over after club activities,'" Komiya replied from across the room.
"Then why did Ishizaki show up at the special teaching building, too?"
"He's not on the basketball team. I don't see why he would be there," Horikita continued.
"It was just in case."
"In case of what?"
"There were rumors that Sudo had violent tendencies, and he's bigger than we are."
"So you thought he might beat you up, is that it?"
"That's right."
"You brought Ishizaki along as a bodyguard because he was good at fighting even back in middle school, right?"
"We were just trying to protect ourselves."
"I have some martial arts training myself, so I know how much harder it is to fight multiple opponents. The difficulty increases exponentially. I find it hard to believe that three of you were beaten one-sidedly by a single person."
"That's because we didn't want to fight him."
"When your opponent has no intention of fighting or makes no attempt to resist, the chances of three people getting hurt are very low."
"That's generally true," Chabashira agreed.
"But that doesn't apply to Sudo. He's a very violent person," Ishizaki said.
"One student witnessed the whole thing," Horikita said.
"The witness is waiting outside."
As she spoke, Sakura opened the door and came in, to the surprise of the Class C students.
"I'm Sakura Airi from Class 1-D."
Once she sat down, Kitahara continued.
"Please begin your testimony."
"I saw everything. The Class C students were the ones who hit Sudo first. That's the truth."
After Sakura finished, Banjo spoke up. "You're Sakura, right? If you really saw it, why didn't you come forward sooner?"
"That's because..."
"They probably forced you to come here and lie, didn't they? You're trying to save Sudo."
"I'm just telling the truth..."
Seeing that Sakura had fallen into the other side's rhythm, Horikita said:
"Sakura is here because she really did witness the incident. Otherwise, even if we asked her, she might not have agreed to come forward."
"Oh..."
"If we just wanted someone to show up here, we could have chosen anyone, couldn't we?"
"You're using someone with her personality to make her claim that she witnessed it seem more believable," Banjo replied.
Seeing that neither side could convince the other, Kitahara looked at Sakura and asked:
"Do you have any other evidence to support your account?"
"I do..."
"Don't push yourself," Banjo said.
"This is proof that I was at the special teaching building that day." Under everyone's gaze, Sakura took out the camera's memory card.
"Let's see it," Kitahara said.
After a brief screening, Banjo said:
"I see. It looks like you really were there, but we still don't know who struck first."
"And there's no proof that you saw everything that happened."
"Well..."
"Then let's find a compromise," Banjo said, turning to Chabashira.
"A compromise?"
"Even with these photos, we still don't have decisive evidence."
"But the Class C students bear some responsibility."
"How about suspending Sudo for two weeks and the Class C students for one week?"
"The severity of the punishment depends on whether anyone was injured."
"So, Chabashira-sensei, what do you think?"
"The conclusion should already be clear," Chabashira replied.
"Then this matter should be settled. What's your opinion, Horikita Suzune, representative of Class D?"
But, to everyone's surprise, Horikita firmly stated that Sudo had done nothing wrong. He only needed to reflect on his usual behavior and change it.
She also said that this had been a premeditated scheme by Class C.
Therefore, I still maintain that Sudo is innocent.
After Horikita finished speaking, Banjo of Class C said mockingly:
"I never expected the student council president's little sister to..."
Before he could finish, Horikita looked at us and continued:
"According to the witness's testimony, Sudo was the victim. I ask you to make the right judgment."
"We're the victims!" Ishizaki protested from across the room.
"..."
While everyone argued without end, Kitahara spoke up:
"Your testimonies contradict each other, which means one side must have given false testimony. Until we find new evidence, this meeting will be adjourned and reconvened at a later date."
"Once a final decision is reached, the side that gave false testimony will receive a harsher punishment."
"That concludes this meeting."