Recordings and Surveillance

As soon as the last class of the morning ended, Gu Heng left the classroom.

He did not return to his seat.

Instead, he went straight to the covered walkway behind the gymnasium.

Hirata arrived first.

There was still sweat on his forehead.

"I've kept the class under control for now."

He said, "But people are still whispering that Sudo will probably get a major demerit this time."

Gu Heng looked up.

"Who said it first?"

"I noted down two names."

Hirata lowered his voice. "Their wording was almost identical. It didn't sound like their own guess."

"Keep them."

Gu Heng leaned against the railing.

"The more rehearsed it sounds, the more useful it is."

Hirata's expression shifted slightly.

He had only felt that something was off about the direction things were taking.

But with Gu Heng's observation, it immediately took on a different meaning.

"So that was why you had me watch who spoke first yesterday."

Hirata spoke quietly.

"Yes."

Gu Heng looked toward the distant field. "The most dangerous thing right now isn't Sudo's kick."

"It's that someone is preparing to tell the whole story before anyone else can."

Hirata fell silent for a moment.

His fingers slowly clenched into fists.

A few minutes later, Horikita arrived with Sudo.

More precisely, Horikita walked ahead while Sudo followed behind her with an irritated look on his face.

"His version is still full of gaps."

Horikita spoke as soon as she arrived. "Ask him yourself."

Gu Heng looked at Sudo.

"The afternoon before yesterday, behind the gymnasium."

"Tell me everything about the incident people are most likely to use against you."

Sudo's face darkened at once.

"Those Class C guys started talking shit first. I talked back, then we got into a fight. Isn't that it?"

"Names."

"Ishizaki, Kondo, Albert, and another shorter guy. I don't remember him clearly."

"Who spoke first?"

"They did."

Sudo gritted his teeth. "They said Class D was a garbage dump, that a class like ours wasn't even worthy of playing basketball with them."

"And then?"

"I went over and asked them about it. Ishizaki started stirring things up."

"And then?"

Sudo frowned.

"We shoved each other a couple of times and traded insults."

Gu Heng stared at him.

"Just shoved?"

Sudo turned his head away.

Half a second of silence passed.

"...I shoved first."

"What happened after that?"

"I kicked him."

"Who?"

"Ishizaki."

"Where did you kick him?"

"His side, around the waist."

Gu Heng offered no comment.

He only kept pressing.

"Did anyone see?"

"Yes."

Sudo frowned. "There were a few girls outside the fence, and the teacher on duty inside the gym looked over here too."

Horikita added from beside him:

"There's also a security camera at the corner of the corridor."

Gu Heng turned his head toward her.

"You checked?"

"I glanced at it while passing by just now."

Horikita said, "It doesn't cover the entire back court, but it catches about half of it."

Gu Heng gave a quiet hum.

Then he looked back at Sudo.

"Did anyone have a phone out?"

Sudo froze for a moment.

"Kondo had one clenched in his hand the whole time."

"Recording, photos, surveillance footage."

Gu Heng's tone remained even. "If even one of those is involved, this won't be something that ends after an argument."

Sudo had been about to snap back.

But after hearing that, his lips moved without producing a response.

The walkway fell silent for two seconds.

Gu Heng raised a hand and lightly tapped the railing four times.

Time.

Place.

People.

Sequence.

"What are you smiling about?"

Sudo suddenly frowned.

Gu Heng came back to himself.

"I'm smiling because you're not dead yet."

Sudo blinked.

Horikita and Hirata both looked over.

"If they already had airtight evidence."

Gu Heng looked at them. "They wouldn't be spreading rumors right now."

"The teachers would have come down on you first."

"But so far, what's spreading is still just the students' version of events."

Hirata caught on quickly.

"In other words, they haven't completely sealed this off yet."

"Right."

Gu Heng nodded. "Either the evidence isn't complete enough, or they still need a more useful mouthpiece."

Horikita frowned.

"Which lead do we pursue first?"

"All three at once."

Gu Heng straightened up.

"Hirata, piece together the timeline."

"Don't ask useless questions like whether Sudo hit someone. Only ask who surrounded whom first, who spoke first, who had a phone, and who started spreading the story after the conflict."

Hirata nodded.

"Understood."

"Also, write down the names of everyone who first said things like 'Sudo is finished' or 'he might get a major demerit.'"

"Okay."

Gu Heng turned to Horikita.

"You check the scene."

"Figure out what the camera could capture, where the blind spots are, where the girls were standing, and roughly what angle the teacher on duty saw things from. Remember all of it clearly."

Horikita's expression turned a little cold.

"You're asking me to reconstruct a fight scene for someone like him?"

"Yes."

Gu Heng did not beat around the bush. "Because you're the least likely to cover for him."

Horikita stared at him for two seconds.

Her displeasure was obvious.

But she still nodded.

Only then did Gu Heng look at Sudo.

"Don't wander off today."

"If you remember anything you left out, tell Horikita immediately."

"And from now on, don't argue with anyone alone."

Sudo's face darkened frighteningly.

"Do I really look like I'm about to explode at any moment?"

"Yes."

The answer came too quickly.

Even Hirata could not stop the corner of his mouth from twitching.

Sudo nearly blew up on the spot.

But Gu Heng did not give him time to.

"There's one last lead."

Gu Heng said, "The girls."

Horikita immediately understood what he meant.

Her expression grew even colder.

"You're going to find Kushida?"

"Yes."

"She isn't trustworthy."

"I wasn't planning to trust her."

Gu Heng said, "What I need is her speed."

Hirata frowned as well.

"Would she be willing to help?"

Gu Heng glanced at him.

"When something like this gets messy, Kushida won't allow herself to be left out of the information loop."

"She might not care about Sudo."

"But she definitely cares about who finds out first and who gets to have a say first."

After saying that, Gu Heng did not linger.

He turned and went back to the school building.

By the time he returned to the classroom, more than half the room was empty.

Most of the students had gone to the cafeteria.

But Kushida was still there.

She sat by the window, sunlight falling across the side of her face.

Even that small smile of hers looked as though it had been prepared in advance.

"I thought you'd go find someone more reliable first today."

When she saw Gu Heng enter, her eyes curved into a smile.

"Reliable people aren't necessarily faster than you."

Gu Heng sat down across from her.

Kushida's smile deepened slightly.

"That doesn't sound like a compliment."

"It wasn't."

Gu Heng looked at her. "I came to ask you to help me ask two questions."

"What questions?"

"First, near the gymnasium that day, who was the first to say, 'The teacher saw Sudo kick someone.'"

"Second, who was the first to steer it toward 'he might get a major demerit.'"

Kushida blinked.

The smile on her face did not fade in the slightest.

"That's dangerous."

Her voice was soft. "Gu Heng, you're asking me to cross that kind of line right from the start?"

"You're the most suitable person."

"Why?"

"If someone else asks, it'll look like they're fishing for information."

Gu Heng looked at her.

"If you ask, it'll just seem like chatting."

That made Kushida fall silent for less than a second.

Then she smiled again.

"Then why should I help you?"

"It's not help."

Gu Heng's tone was calm. "It's a trade."

"If what you bring back is valuable, I'll give you a piece of information that's just as valuable."

Kushida lightly tapped the edge of the table with one finger.

"Aren't you afraid I'll conveniently spread around what you're investigating too?"

"I am."

Gu Heng nodded. "That's why I'll only give you a direction, not the full story."

"You really are practical."

"You don't like that?"

"No."

Kushida smiled, her eyes curving. "On the contrary, I rather like people who make things clear."

She stood up.

She slipped her phone into her skirt pocket.

"Sure."

She looked at Gu Heng, her voice soft and sweet. "I'll give it a try."

"But let's make this clear first."

"If I really find out something, don't try to brush me off with just a 'thank you.'"

"I won't."

Gu Heng said, "I never use thanks as payment."

Kushida laughed.

"Then I'll remember that."

She turned and walked out.

As she passed Gu Heng, her footsteps were light.

As if she had merely agreed to do a small favor in passing.

Gu Heng raised his eyes and looked at the faintly shifting numbers above her head.

Testing 84

Curiosity 77

Eliminate Threat 86

Gu Heng looked at those three words without saying anything.

Kushida had agreed sweetly.

But beneath that smiling face, she clearly intended to do more than simply lend a hand.