Student Council Disciplinary Committee

"I have my own way."

Faced with Satsu's worthless answer, Suzune felt annoyed.

But she knew that when someone didn't want to talk, it was hard to learn the truth unless you beat it out of them or used a lie detector.

Suzune stopped pressing him on the matter and asked instead, "Then what do I have to do to get you to stop following me?"

"Then what do I have to do to get you to let me follow you?"

Hearing this blatantly shameless reply, Suzune's patience finally ran out. She clenched one hand into a fist and struck sharply at Satsu's stomach.

When her attack was blocked and Satsu clamped a firm grip on the hand she'd thrown, Suzune kicked fiercely at his waist with a sudden roundhouse.

It was undoubtedly an all-or-nothing move. If he caught her foot too, all Satsu would have to do was pull with both hands, and Suzune would certainly hit the ground.

But to Suzune's surprise, Satsu chose to block the attack with his right forearm, then shoved her away with his left hand.

After stumbling back a few steps, Suzune regained her footing and resumed her stance, but didn't rush to attack.

He's trained too? But if he could keep up with my speed, why block my leg instead of catching it? (Horikita Suzune)

And he even pushed me away on purpose. Does he really know how to fight? (Horikita Suzune)

How could I possibly have trained? Satsu shouted inwardly.

He'd managed those moves just now through mind-reading. Nearly everyone had the same bad habit.

When their first attack was firmly blocked, they instinctively started thinking about what to do next.

The better someone was at fighting, the more obvious the thought process became. Some even thought through their first attack, hoping to win with a single strike.

Even ordinary people started thinking as a fight went on. But given Satsu's build and strength, a fight against an ordinary person who couldn't fight probably wouldn't get that far.

"If you don't like me following you, I'll go. You don't want to get expelled for fighting on the first day of school, do you?"

Seeing that Satsu had backed down, Suzune didn't press the matter.

"At least tell me your name. You could say we've gotten to know each other through fighting."

"With that impressive intelligence network of yours, you still need to ask my name?" Suzune said.

"Fair enough. Horikita Suzune. I look forward to working with you!"

Looking at Satsu's face, Suzune shook her head slightly. "As expected, you're a problem child."

Opening ceremonies were boring at every school, and this one was no exception. After a long series of speeches, the ceremony finally ended.

Satsu went straight to an electronics store and sold the tablet he'd gotten for free. But even though it was brand-new, fresh out of the box, they offered him a ridiculously low price.

After a long haggle, they finally settled on 40,000 points.

Just after leaving the store, Satsu was admiring his student ID, pleased with himself, when he suddenly heard someone call his name.

"Kato Satsu."

He turned and saw a girl with shoulder-length hair. Her petite frame gave off the air of a model student.

When she saw that Satsu had noticed her, the girl introduced herself. "I'm Tachibana Akane, the Student Council secretary."

Tachibana didn't give Satsu a chance to speak and went straight to the point. "Regarding the fight between Nagasawa Kuraku of Class 2-C and his classmate Tano Matsuyama, you were a direct witness, so you'll need to attend the Student Council Disciplinary Committee hearing."

Satsu was taken aback. The Student Council at this school was far more efficient than he'd imagined. He'd expected them to get involved tomorrow at the earliest.

But when he thought about it, the Student Council's authority and influence at this school would have been outrageous even in the world he'd come from.

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

"What happens if I don't go?" Satsu asked cautiously.

In the real world, if a student refused to cooperate, the Student Council would either back down or argue with them before handing the matter over to a teacher.

Satsu really wanted to know how things worked here.

"Refusing to cooperate with the Student Council's investigation will cost you 10,000 personal points each month for the rest of this academic year. If you deliberately obstruct the investigation, you'll have to pay an additional 10,000 personal points per month on top of that."

"If you can't pay, the equivalent amount will be deducted from your class points. If you can't pay with class points either, you'll be expelled."

"As a new student, you may not know what that means. But I advise you to attend, especially since you're in Class D."

Satsu knew she wasn't bluffing. As far as he knew, Class D wouldn't receive any points next month.

"Understood," Satsu said with a nod.

The two arrived at the conference room almost last. Kuraku, Matsuyama, and their homeroom teacher sat facing Chabashira and Suzune.

Horikita Manabu and Miyabi Nagumo sat between the two groups. The oppressive atmosphere was so heavy that Satsu felt almost suffocated.

"President, I've brought him," Tachibana said, then went to stand beside Horikita Manabu.

Satsu quietly sat down beside Suzune. He immediately noticed that something was wrong with her. Her head was bowed, and her presence seemed noticeably diminished.

"We will now begin the hearing," Horikita Manabu said solemnly.

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

Following Tachibana's gesture, everyone turned to the large screen, where security footage of the entrance to the school building was playing.

"The footage clearly shows that after Kuraku and the other student spoke with Satsu, Kuraku suddenly attacked Matsuyama."

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

"No!"

Kuraku was defiant, as if he were in the right to have attacked someone.

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

"No."

Since he'd lost two teeth in the attack, Matsuyama was lisping as he spoke, which was both funny and pitiful.

"More than that, I'm curious. Kato Satsu, what exactly did you say to those two?" Nagumo asked, his voice carrying his trademark amusement and contempt.

"From the footage, it looks like Kuraku and the other student came looking for trouble with you. What could you have said to provoke that?"

"That has nothing to do with the outcome of this case. No one has accused me of ordering them to fight. I was just having a normal conversation."

Anyone could see that Satsu was dodging the question, and Nagumo called him out without hesitation.

"Looks like you took the tablet in the footage. You had your eye on it from the start, didn't you?"

At that, Satsu slammed his hand on the table and sprang to his feet. "Don't go making things up!"

He pointed at Nagumo, jabbing his finger up and down rapidly. "I'll sue you for defamation, you know! He's slandering me! He's slandering me!"

When everyone simply watched his exaggerated performance in silence, his embarrassment finally overwhelmed his urge to play around. Satsu cleared his throat and slowly sat down.

"Since there are no objections..." As he spoke, Horikita Manabu stood up.

He ignored the question Nagumo had raised. After all, the purpose of the hearing was to judge the fight between Kuraku and Matsuyama.

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

Everyone else stood too. Horikita Manabu glanced at Tachibana, who quickly understood.

"I will now announce the verdict! Nagasawa Kuraku, for deliberately assaulting your classmate, Tano Matsuyama, and causing him serious injury..."

"The verdict is expulsion for Nagasawa Kuraku!"

As Tachibana finished speaking, Horikita Manabu added only a brief remark.

"You can go with your homeroom teacher now and complete the withdrawal procedures."