Ichinose Honami Is Attacked! 5k (Continued)

But Horikita's actions mean that...

Um.

That's the one, right?

She arrived at school very early, then went to change her shoes, and that's when she found the letter.

So he took the letter to the classroom instead of waiting by the shoe locker to see how things would develop.

Can.

This is very Suzune Horikita.

"Yes, you probably didn't see it, but not only Ichinose, but even Sakayanagi Arisu, whose name was mentioned on the letter, came forward," Hachiman said. "I arrived a little late because they were in a standoff."

"So... how credible do you think it is?" Horikita asked. "Is this Itayagi's conspiracy, or is there someone else behind it?"

However, after asking this question, she didn't seem to want an answer, and said directly, "But no matter what, Ichinose is in danger, isn't she?"

Suzune Horikita initially rejected Kushida's image as a good person.

However, when she met Ichiya Haho, who shared the same friendly stance as Kushida, she found that she neither disliked nor particularly rejected Ichinose.

Of course, it's not that she wanted to help Ichinose.

Instead, they felt that such methods were going too far.

Moreover, for this exam, Class Ichinose even arranged for a top student to come.

Although the previous alliance agreement had long expired, she still had a relatively high opinion of Ichinose.

"You probably found this complaint letter in the shoe cabinet and came straight here, but you didn't notice that the matter of the complaint letter has already been resolved," Hachiman said, shaking his head.

"Has it been resolved?"

Suzune's eyes widened slightly.

Because she herself had experienced the harm of rumors during previous pairing exams, she knew how terrible it felt to be framed.

Being reported like this must be very upsetting for Ichinose.

"Yes, it's resolved," Hachiman said. "The same complaint letter was stuffed into every student's shoe locker, and Ichinose became the focus of attention as soon as she appeared. She has applied to the Student Council to prove her innocence, and her personal charm also prevents others from questioning her, let alone saying anything bad about her."

"Oh, this."

Suzune was stunned for a moment.

Because.

When she was caught in a crisis of rumors, Hachiman Hikigaya took her away.

It wasn't until the second day that the problem was finally resolved.

But Ichinose... did it really end so simply and directly?

The comparison between the two made her feel that she might not be a Horikita's little sister, or even as good as Ichinose.

This is a sad emotion.

"But more importantly, we need to see what moves they will use against Ichinose next," Hachiman added. "That's something we need to keep an eye on."

Because of a small whistleblower letter.

Ichinose believes that someone is targeting her.

Sakayanagi believes that someone is targeting her.

Therefore...

Is that really the case? Is that all there is to it?

Hachiman doesn't like to categorize things arbitrarily, but he feels that this matter is probably not that simple.

Because.

Horikita received a letter, as did Hachiman; all the first-year students found letters in their shoe lockers.

Who would mail letters into everyone's shoe cabinet?

There are a total of 159 first-year students.

That means there are 159 shoe cabinets.

Who has so much patience?

Moreover, simply reporting a claim of possessing a huge number of points is easily cracked.

Is it really necessary to go to such lengths?

Or is it...?

Or is it that they wanted to attract everyone's attention from the beginning, hoping that everyone would start discussing it, and then the other party would continue to take action?

The next step is what the other party wants to do.

"... Then what this guy who sent the whistleblower letter did was truly despicable. I thought Ryuen was just a despicable person who liked to use such underhanded tactics, but it seems there are quite a few people like Ryuen in this school who enjoy scheming." Horikita sighed, "I have absolutely no vision of the future of society."

She is right.

The purpose of Advanced Nurturing High School is to cultivate outstanding talents for society. But if these talents all prefer to use underhanded tactics, then the very foundation of the institution is rotten.

That's why she made that remark.

But Horikita, the adult world isn't all that wonderful.

Even without such training, many people may not necessarily become beneficial to society after they grow up.

"Furthermore... if a whistleblower letter was sent to every first-year student, it would be very difficult to find out who is behind the scenes controlling things," Horikita added.

"Since there are no cameras near the shoe cabinet, that makes sense," Hachiman nodded. But then he shook his head. "However, it's not like there are absolutely no clues."

"What do you mean?" Suzune looked over, puzzled.

"After Ichinose and Sakayanagi arrived and left separately, the students also left."

"However, I arranged for someone to wait over there for a while," Hachiman said.

"They even arranged for someone to be near the shoe cabinet? Did they think the prisoner would show up? No..." Horikita shook his head after thinking about it for a moment.

As Hachiman said this, his phone notified him that he had received a photo.

"This is..."

Horikita, who was originally sitting next to Hachiman, noticed this action and walked over to him.

Hachiman Hikigaya quickly noticed that she had switched to the same shampoo as Kamuro yesterday, both of which had a jasmine scent.

"..." Hachiman Hikigaya.

Wrong.

That's not what I'm thinking about.

Since it wasn't a secret that couldn't be told to others, Hachiman opened the message he received.

It was a photo sent by Karuizawa.

It's a shoe cabinet.

I only took a picture of one of my classmates' shoe cabinets.

The shoe cabinet was opened, and inside was only a pair of white indoor shoes.

"This is Shiho Manabe's shoe locker," Hachiman said. "It's been more than half a month since Manabe dropped out of school."

"However, the school is not as diligent as it would be if the class evaluation score changed and someone was immediately arranged to change the class sign."

"Manabe's shoe locker hasn't been removed yet."

As she said this, Karuizawa sent another photo.

This is what the shoe cabinet looks like when it's closed.

The name on the shoe cabinet is Shiho Manabe.

"Manabe's shoe locker is located in the middle. If someone were to drop envelopes into each shoe locker one by one, her shoe locker should have received envelopes as well."

"But actually, there were no envelopes in her shoe cabinet," Hachiman said.

"So, this suspect actually knew Manabe was a dropout, so even if he left the envelope, it wouldn't have mattered." Suzune Horikita understood. "Then, the suspect's identity is actually..."

Actually, he's a first-year student.

In other words, this was a betrayal by a classmate.

During his lunch break, Hachiman went to the third floor as agreed.

But.

"Meow—"

As soon as Hachiman arrived at the private room, he saw a fluffy cat with black ears running towards him.

He seems to have had a natural affinity for small animals since childhood.

Only.

Hachiman crouched down and patted the cat's head, which had deliberately rubbed against him.

How pitiful.

It was originally a very cute cat, but now it has gradually lost its cuteness and is developing in the direction of becoming more beautiful.

It has fluffy, silvery-white fur and deep blue eyes.

And then there's that familiar, family-like demeanor.

She's already transformed into a princess- Ragdoll cat.

"Hachiman, you seem to really like small animals." Classmate Sakayanagi was already in the private room.

And this cat was the one she had adopted before.

Unfortunately, the cat has grown from 2 pounds to 7 pounds.

Moreover, Ragdoll cat are large breeds whose weight doesn't stop growing, so they might grow to 14 pounds.

"I have a cat at home," Hachiman said. "That's probably why I'm more affectionate towards cats."

"Oh."

Sakayanagi had probably just asked casually. The topic wasn't pursued further.

Hachiman did not shirk his responsibility.

"I didn't do this. I have no reason to do it."

"Then."

"Besides, I don't have any dogs. I just assign people to do the work, but I won't put all 159 shoe cabinets into envelopes one by one," Hachiman said.

"This project is too large."

Is that so?

So the perpetrator is either a male or someone who can instruct females to do these things and has no regard for women's feelings.

From this perspective, Sakayanagi actually had a candidate in mind.

"What are you planning to do next?" Hachiman asked, noticing that Classmate Sakayanagi seemed to be deep in thought.

Because he had already revealed several pieces of information from his words.

First, he must prove his innocence.

Then there are 159 shoe cabinets.

There are 160 shoe lockers for first-year students, so this reminder might prompt her to check the shoe locker of Manabe, the student who dropped out.

Once Manabe's shoe locker is located, it should be easy to find out that the culprit is a first-year student.

"I don't like being looked down upon," Sakayanagi said. Although she maintained an elegant and proper smile, her words were dangerous. "And since you've attacked me, it's not right for me to escape unscathed."

I see.