Student Council Disciplinary Committee

"I have my own ways."

Facing this answer, which was essentially nonsense, Horikita Suzune felt a surge of irritation.

However, she also knew that in situations like this, unless one resorted to coerced confessions or a polygraph, it was nearly impossible to uncover the truth if the other party refused to speak.

Horikita Suzune stopped pressing the issue and instead asked, "Then what must I do for you to stop following me?"

"Then what must I do for you to let me follow you?"

Hearing this blatantly shameless retort, Horikita Suzune's patience finally reached its limit. She threw a sharp punch toward Kato Satsu's stomach.

Seeing her attack blocked and her fist firmly caught by Kato Satsu, she was taken aback, but immediately followed up with a fierce whip kick aimed at his waist.

This was undoubtedly a desperate, all-or-nothing move; after all, if her leg were caught as well, Kato Satsu could simply pull his hands, and she would inevitably hit the ground.

Yet, to her surprise, Kato Satsu chose to block the strike with his right forearm before using his left hand to shove her away with force.

After stumbling back a few steps and regaining her footing, Horikita Suzune resumed her stance but did not rush to attack again.

Has he trained too? But since he can keep up with my speed, why did he block instead of taking the opportunity to grab my leg? (Horikita Suzune)

And he actually took the initiative to push me away—does he even know how to fight? (Horikita Suzune)

How could I possibly have trained! Kato Satsu shouted internally.

He was only able to pull off those moves because of his mind-reading; almost everyone suffered from the same common flaw.

If their first attack was firmly blocked, their brains would subconsciously start calculating how to strike next.

The more experienced a fighter was, the more obvious this thinking became; they would even start calculating during their very first strike in hopes of ending the fight in one blow.

Even ordinary people would start thinking as a fight dragged on. But given Kato Satsu's build and strength, he likely wouldn't even reach that stage against an untrained person.

"Since you don't like me following you, I'll leave. You wouldn't want to be expelled for fighting right after school starts, would you?"

Seeing Kato Satsu back down, Horikita Suzune didn't continue her assault.

"At least tell me your name. We can consider this a case of 'not knowing each other without fighting'."

"With an intelligence network as impressive as yours, do you really need to ask for my name?" Horikita Suzune said.

"Fair point, Horikita Suzune. I look forward to working with you in the future!"

Looking at Kato Satsu's face, Horikita Suzune shook her head slightly: "Truly a problem child."

The opening ceremony at every school was boring, and this place was no exception. After a long-winded speech, the ceremony finally concluded.

Kato Satsu went straight to an electronics store to sell the tablet he had received for free, but even though it was brand new and fresh out of the box, the price was slashed significantly.

After a long bout of haggling, the deal was finally settled at 40,000 points.

Just as he stepped out of the shop, happily looking at his student ID, he suddenly heard someone call his name.

"Kato Satsu."

Turning around, he saw a girl with shoulder-length hair, her petite frame exuding the aura of a model student.

Seeing that Kato Satsu had noticed her, the girl spoke: "My name is Tachibana Akane, secretary of the Student Council."

Tachibana Akane didn't let Kato Satsu speak, cutting straight to the point: "Regarding the case of Nagasawa Kuraku of Class 2-C and his classmate Tano Matsuyama assaulting each other, as a direct eyewitness, you are required to attend the Student Council's Disciplinary Committee hearing."

This caught Kato Satsu off guard. The efficiency of this school's Student Council was far higher than he had imagined; he had originally expected them to intervene by tomorrow at the earliest.

But then again, the power and influence of the Student Council at this school were quite exaggerated, even compared to the world Kato Satsu came from.

This was a real Student Council, not one that just stood guard or checked dorms.

"What happens if I don't go?" Kato Satsu asked, testing the waters.

In the real world, if a student didn't cooperate, the Student Council would either back down or it would turn into an argument and be handed over to the teachers.

Kato Satsu really wanted to know how they handled things here.

"Failure to cooperate with a Student Council investigation results in the loss of your monthly 10,000 personal point deposit for the academic year; malicious resistance results in an additional 10,000 personal points being confiscated monthly on top of the previous penalty."

"If you cannot pay, it will be covered by an equivalent value of Class Points. If the Class Points are also insufficient, you will be expelled immediately."

"As a freshman, you might not know what this means. But my advice is that you had better attend, especially since you are in Class D."

Kato Satsu knew she wasn't bluffing; after all, as far as he knew, Class D wouldn't be receiving any points next month.

"I understand," Kato Satsu nodded and said.

The two arrived at the conference room almost last. Nagasawa Kuraku, Tano Matsuyama, their homeroom teacher, and Chabashira were sitting face-to-face with Horikita Suzune.

Horikita Manabu and Nagumo Miyabi sat side-by-side in the middle of the two parties. The overwhelming, serious atmosphere made Kato Satsu feel a hint of suffocation.

"President, the person has been brought here." Tachibana Akane said as she walked over to stand beside Horikita Manabu.

Kato Satsu silently sat down next to Horikita Suzune. He clearly noticed that something was wrong with her; she was keeping her head down, and her presence was noticeably wilted.

"Let the hearing begin," Horikita Manabu said with authority.

Tachibana Akane immediately took over: "Everyone, please look."

The group's gaze followed Tachibana Akane's direction toward the large screen, which was playing surveillance footage from the school building entrance.

"In the footage, it is very clear that after Nagasawa Kuraku and the other student were speaking with Kato-kun, Nagasawa Kuraku suddenly erupted and assaulted Tano Matsuyama."

"Nagasawa Kuraku, do you have anything to say in your defense regarding your actions?" Horikita Manabu asked.

"No!"

Kuraku's attitude was incredibly defiant, as if he were fully justified in beating someone up.

"Then, Tano Matsuyama. Do you have anything to say?"

"No."

Because two of his teeth had been knocked out, Matsuyama whistled through the gaps when he spoke, making him look both pathetic and laughable.

"Compared to that, I'm more curious. Kato Satsu, what exactly did you say to those two?" Nagumo spoke up, his tone carrying his signature playfulness and disdain.

"Judging by the surveillance footage, it seems Kuraku and the other came looking for trouble with you. What kind of words could achieve such an effect?"

"That's irrelevant to the outcome of this case, isn't it? No one has accused me of instigating this; I was just speaking normally."

Anyone could see that Satsu was dodging the question, and Nagumo tore through his facade without mercy.

"You seem to have taken that tablet from the surveillance footage, didn't you? You had your eye on that tablet from the very beginning, didn't you?"

Hearing this, Satsu slammed his hands on the table and stood up with a "bang": "Don't go spouting nonsense!"

He pointed his finger at Nagumo, shaking it rapidly up and down: "I'll sue you for defamation, you know! He's defaming me! He's defaming me!"

Seeing everyone just watching his exaggerated performance in silence, a sense of shame suddenly overcame his playfulness, and Satsu cleared his throat before slowly sitting back down.

"Since there are no objections," Horikita Manabu said as he stood up.

He ignored the question Nagumo had just thrown out; after all, the purpose of this Student Council Disciplinary Committee meeting was to judge the fighting incident involving Kuraku and the other.

Moreover, neither Kuraku nor Matsuyama had accused Satsu. In other words, Nagumo had absolutely no evidence.

Everyone else stood up as well, and Horikita Manabu glanced at Tachibana Akane, who quickly understood.

"The verdict is now being read! Nagasawa Kuraku, for intentionally assaulting your classmate Tano Matsuyama and causing him serious injury."

"The sentence is hereby handed down: Nagasawa Kuraku is expelled!"

As Tachibana Akane finished speaking, Horikita Manabu added coldly.

"You may go with your homeroom teacher now to process your expulsion paperwork."