Chapter 68: Chapter 5: Each and Every Prediction
It was just one day until the eting between Sudou and Class C. With Horikita's cooperation and Sakura's testimony, as well as Kushida and Hirata's actions, our entire class felt spirited and courageous. You could say that we were united. However, it was obvious that we lacked firm, irrefutable evidence, and it would still be difficult to prove Sudou's innocence. Our deliberation would decide the outco.
"Man, it really is hot today..."
I never thought about global warming more than when I exited a building with working air conditioning. Considering I'd likely suffer every day until August, my spirits remained low. The mont I left my dorm's lobby, hot and humid air assaulted . While I endured the pain of my burning skin, I walked the path to school lined with green, leafy trees.
Sothing was different today, though. There was sothing on the bulletin board by the stairway's landing, a little in front of the shoe cubbies. A paper on the board said that they were looking for students with information related to Sudou and Class C.
"This—"
Clearly, sobody was trying to help. It was sincerely appreciated, because we hadn't even considered taking such asures ourselves. This mystery person was action-oriented. Furthermore, while the sign itself might have appeared a weak effort, the author also wrote that they'd be willing to give points to helpful informants. In that case, even apathetic students would pay attention.
As I scanned the ssage, I was quite impressed...
"Good morning, Ayanokouji-kun!" Ichinose called out from behind .
She must have just arrived.
"I saw the paper on the bulletin board. Did you post it, Ichinose?"
Ichinose joined
in looking at the board. She appeared deeply interested.
"Hmm. I see, I see. So there's this thod, too."
"Huh? This wasn't you?"
I'd thought that surely this was her strategy.
"This was probably— Ah, he's here! Good morning, Kanzaki-kun."
Ichinose raised her hand up and signaled to a lone male student. The boy noticed Ichinose, and approached us with quiet steps.
"Did you put this up, Kanzaki-kun?"
"Yeah. I made and posted it on Friday. Is there sothing wrong?"
"Oh, no. Not at all. My friend here just wanted to know who did it. Ah, I'll introduce you two. Kanzaki-kun from Class B, this is Ayanokouji-kun from Class D."
"Nice to et you, Kanzaki."
His deanor was stiff, but he appeared to be a serious student. He was tall and slender. A pretty boy, but in a different way from Hirata. I took his outstretched hand.
"How's it going, Kanzaki-kun? Did you get anything reliable?"
"Unfortunately, I haven't received any useful information."
"I see. Well, how about we look at the bulletin board."
"At the bulletin board? Did you put up another poster?"
Ichinose wore a thin smile, indicating it was sothing else.
"Have you ever checked out the school hopage? There's a ssage board. I requested that people co forward with information there. I said that if there anyone witnessed a violent incident at our school, I'd like to hear about it."
After she said that, Ichinose showed us her phone's screen. It showed a ssage seeking out witnesses, as well as a count for the number of people who'd viewed it. The displayed number was still only in the dozens, but it was much more efficient than asking people directly. Also, the ssage posted to the hopage offered compensation to witnesses and people with helpful information.
"Ah, regarding the stuff about points, don't worry. We just decided to do that on our own. Besides, it will probably be difficult for us to get new information now. Ah!"
"What's the matter?"
"It looks like I just got two ssages regarding the post. There might be a little information."
Ichinose checked her phone for confirmation. After she'd read the ssages, a slight smile crept onto her face.
"Just like this."
She showed
her phone so I could read the ssage for myself.
"It looks like one of the boys from Class C, Ishizaki-kun, was a bad seed in junior high. He was good at fighting, and terrorized the locals. A kid from his hotown probably leaked this."
"Interesting," Kanzaki muttered, also reading the ssage.
Like Kanzaki, I found the information quite interesting. Everyone had assud that the three students Sudou fought were normal kids. However, if they were troublemakers too, then that was a different story. As for the other two, being basketball players ant they probably had good motor skills. Yet Sudou had turned the tables, and beat them all without once being hit himself. I couldn't help but feel there was sothing unnatural about that.
"Kanzaki-kun, what do you think?"
"Perhaps they let Sudou beat them up on purpose. If the three of them had wanted to set a trap for Sudou, the story would make perfect sense. The connection seems natural."
"Yeah, I think so too. I knew you'd figure it out, Kanzaki-kun. Great work. If we can verify this information, then we could be one step closer to proving Sudou-kun's innocence. But what we have is still pretty weak, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Even if we managed to convince people with this new evidence, we're really only halfway there. The fact that it was such a one-sided fight definitely puts a lot of pressure on us."
Sudou probably wouldn't want to shoulder so of the guilt alongside the others. Neither party wanted to be liable for this situation. If we got testimony from Class D, though, our chances would probably be 6 to 4, or maybe 7 to 3.
"No, we can't say anything yet." I concealed Sakura's na since we were still negotiating.
"I see. Is there so reason why?"
Since the whole Sakura situation was rather delicate, I avoided explaining in detail. After all, she might decide to quit after all, even on the day of the decision. I wanted to have an escape route.
"There've been no reports of another witness, just as I thought. It would've been interesting if one had stepped forward, but I suppose it was tough. We're out of ti. Our only choice now is to wait for more information from either the Internet or the bulletin board, right?"
"Is it okay to wait that long, though? I an, those Class C guys might zero in on us."
"It'll be okay. Besides, both Class C and Class A originally targeted us, anyway."
"Ichinose is right. Besides, even if you wanted to stick by the rules, everyone is acting out of bounds. I think it's okay to ask for forgiveness this ti."
Ichinose and Kanzaki made it pretty clear that they wanted to be fair and square when competing against the school and the other students.
"Anyway, we'll have to transfer points over to anyone who provides us with information. Ah, but what if soone does so anonymously? In that case, how would we transfer over the points?"
"We can tell you, if you'd like. Do you want
to?" I said.
"Do you know sothing, Ayanokouji-kun?"
"I just rembered sothing when I was ssing around on my phone. Do you know the person's number?"
"It's a toll-free number, but I rember it."
Ichinose drew close and pointed at her phone. Being this near to sobody usually made people feel defenseless. I'd thought that a girl wouldn't want a man to be in her intimate space...and I didn't know exactly what it was, but Ichinose had a pleasant scent about her.
"Here, open up the points remittance screen. You should see your ID number in the upper left corner."
As I instructed her, my heart rate began to skyrocket.
"Umm..."
Ichinose's fingers were nimble. She pressed the button to open up her own points page. After the page loaded, it was displayed on the screen.
"Yep, yep. There it is. So what should I do now that I can see the ID number?"
"From your ID number, you can issue a temporary token key. If you open that, and send the key, you should get a request for paynt."
"I see. Thank you!"
"Okay. Let's go, Ayanokouji-kun."
"Sure."
Ichinose started walking.
"..."
Just then, for a split second, I had seen sothing on Ichinose's phone. The fragnt of screen I'd noticed had burned itself into my mind and wouldn't go away. What should I do? Was what I'd seen even possible? Ichinose might prove a huge obstacle for Horikita in her quest to reach Class A.
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