Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Kiro
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 43
My morning alarm went off.
I slowly raised my upper body and rubbed my sleepy eyes.
My body felt heavy. Yesterday’s fatigue didn’t seem to go away overnight. I wanted to rest my body, but I recalled the promise I made with Kiyotaka yesterday. So I quickly changed my mind.
“Ah… good morning. I’m truly sorry about yesterday.”
“…Hm~ what are you talking about?”
Arisu-chan woke up ahead of me. She saw me wake up and suddenly apologized to me, but I didn’t understand why and was confused. Did something happen yesterday…?
…I remembered. When I came back, Arisu-chan was sulking.
I would normally consider that as cute, but I was battered and exhausted yesterday. Because the long-distance running I wasn’t used to and the exchange with Honami pushed me to my physical and mental limit. I simply had no energy left to care about Arisu-chan.
Because of that, I ignored the dissatisfied Arisu-chan, took a bath, and immediately slept deeply yesterday. It seemed that she interpreted my actions as me being angry towards her.
“I shouldn’t be dissatisfied with your actions… but because I’ve been spoiled by you recently, I forgot such a basic thing. I’m sorry for being a terrible lover.”
“Err, yeah. I’m not angry at all, or rather, I don’t even feel bothered by it.”
If I looked closely, I could see traces of tears on her cheeks. Her eyes were a little bloodshot, and she didn’t seem to be able to sleep.
It seemed she was quite wounded by my blunt attitude. It was really my fault.
“I will never behave like that again. Will you please forgive me?”
“…I was just so tired yesterday that I had no energy. Not only should I forgive you, I am the one at fault here. I made you wait for such a long time, so it is I who should be apologizing, right?”
I should do better next time. I should prioritize taking care of Arisu-chan and not use exhaustion and sleepiness as excuses to not do so. In the first place, it was easier compared to when I had to wake up at 5 a.m. every morning to prepare. I reflected on my negligence.
“T-that’s… There’s nothing for Haruto-kun to apologize about.”
She appeared to be still bothered a little, but thanks to that, she was able to regain her spirit.
After taking a deep breath, I stood up. Let’s start our morning routine.
When I stopped by Class A’s classroom, I learned that Honami was absent from school.
It was said she was sick and the students there were worried about her, but it seemed she sent a message to Kanzaki saying “I’ll be coming tomorrow,” so the panic subsided after that.
…That definitely didn’t sound like she was sick. Perhaps she was having a blast right away?
Then lunch break came. As promised, we went to visit Kiyotaka. Perhaps it was something that he didn’t want to discuss in class, so he guided us to a place with nobody around… to the rooftop where I talked with Honami yesterday.
“Thanks for yesterday. Now it’s my turn to listen to your request.”
“Thank you for that. I just want to request one thing. I want you to participate in the deliberations between the teacher and the student council after school today. It’ll be more advantageous to have a witness.”
“…Deliberation?”
“Aah, it’s about the incident where the Manabe group conducted violence on Kei. I brought up that incident as a bullying case. I already provided the sound and video recording as evidence.”
“It seems things progressed without me knowing.”
“Yeah. It was already decided that they would be punished. What will be discussed today is the content of their punishment. I want to use that to deal the finishing blow.”
…If it has already progressed to that point, then I guess ad-libbing would be plenty. It wasn’t that hard to do.
“Roger that. I’ll testify to it nicely.”
“That would be helpful. By the way, it seems the standard for violent incidents would be a week’s suspension at lightest to expulsion at heaviest. However, considering it was done in a group, the punishment shouldn’t be light.”
In other words, at least a week’s suspension was certain even if nothing was done. That should be plenty for Kiyotaka. After all, those four wouldn’t be able to participate in the sports festival that came within a week.
It might be manageable if it was just a person or two, but having 4 people miss their events was quite painful. After all, even though the participants of the recommended participation event could be replaced, they would still be at a disadvantage in the all-class participation event.
The fact that the four of them were girls made it even more painful. Limited to the girl’s category, their class already lost 20% of the personnel. Since most competitions were limited by gender, a tough result could already be expected.
I feel sorry for Ryuuen, but it was already beyond what could be manageable by mere tactics. Perhaps this was the reason Kiyotaka let Horikita act as she liked. It really made me convinced.
The battle concluded before it began. It was so Kiyotaka-like that I burst out laughing.
“From now on, we will hold the final deliberations on the group violence incident that occurred in August.”
The deliberations began with the words of the student council secretary, Tachibana Akane.
Before it began, I heard that two rounds of deliberations were already carried out. This time, it would be a discussion regarding what to do with the ‘judgment.’
Tachibana read out Manabe’s crimes.
It was so accurate that it made me have a flashback of what occurred that day. As the topic progressed, the four perpetrators became increasingly pale. I assumed they were already told of this in previous deliberations, but being exposed to their crimes one by one like this probably felt really painful.
After reading the last sentence, Tachibana turned to me.
“In consideration of the punishment of the four perpetrators, we asked Takashiro Haruto, a member of Class 1-B, to come this time. Although he didn’t see the scene of the assault directly, he was the only third party who was aware of the situation at the time, and as such his testimony has a certain value.”
I didn’t watch, I just mostly listened though. Well, I guess putting it that way would be more convenient.
Since my name was called, I stood up on the spot.
“I’m Takashiro Haruto, please take care of me.”
“Please take care of me as well. If you may, please tell us about the day of the incident.”
“Yes. I was just walking around the ship with no particular purpose that day. While I was at it, I heard the voices of women from a restricted area. It was mixed with screams, so I got curious and came closer.”
When we rushed to the restricted business area, Kiyotaka moved to the secluded area first and I came there a few minutes later. I realized that was his alibi maneuver.
“I understand. Please continue.”
“…As I walked toward the voices, I arrived at a room lined with countless electronic devices. In there, I saw Karuizawa-san, who was injured and battered, Ayanokouji-kun, who stood to protect her, and the four people lined up here… Yes, there’s no doubt about it. There are a total of six people there.”
“So the situation matches the evidence. I would like to ask you one question. These four proclaimed they were subjected to severe assault by Ayanokouji-kun after they committed their group violence toward Karuizawa-san. Do you know anything about that matter?”
I see. So that was their objection. They admitted their crime while pointing out the other party’s fault.
It seemed like a pretty painful resistance, but I guessed they just had no other way.
“…The situation when I arrived was just as I mentioned earlier. I have no idea whether Ayanokouji-kun actually subjected them to violence, but as soon as the four people saw me, they immediately scattered like spiderlings. At the very least, I don’t think that’s the reaction heavily injured people should be capable of.”
“Since Ayanokouji-kun intervened at the scene of the group violence, it was only natural that the assailants would be injured to some extent. They claim that the violence he subjected to them was to an excessive degree, but hearing the testimony of Takashiro-kun, the chance of that seems pretty low.”
Tachibana nodded at my words and took notes.
…I didn’t give a damn about the Manabe group, but I get the feeling that this Tachibana supported Kiyotaka for a while. Was that really okay as a member of the student council?
“Thank you for your cooperation. You may return to your seat.”
I sat back in my seat after being prompted. Rather than the result of deliberation, I was more curious about Tachibana’s attitude.
She didn’t seem the type who would play favorites on her duty. That was why I couldn’t help but feel that something was seriously off.
Was there something that made this normally calm girl act like that?
“President, regarding the evidence that was newly submitted yesterday…”
“We can’t disclose it for the sake of protecting the victim. Of course, we will treat it as important evidence.”
Tachibana spoke to President Horikita with a clearly shaken tone.
So the evidence was the cause. As I thought, something was really off here.
“Could you explain why the evidence can’t be disclosed?”
Sakagami Kazuma, the homeroom teacher of Class D, asked the question. It was a natural question.
Tachibana glared at him with an angry expression.
“There was a big scar that looked like it had been gouged out by a knife. It was around her stomach. That’s something that will remain for the rest of her life. What a terrible thing to do to the precious body of a woman…”
…Eh.
“Tachibana, this is a place for deliberation. Refrain from getting emotional.”
“I’m terribly sorry.”
Wait a minute, a scar around Kei-chan’s stomach… eeh.
He seriously did that? I looked at Kiyotaka’s face, but he remained expressionless as usual.
Did you make use of Kei-chan’s old wound and claim it as Manabe group’s fault?
Everything was connected. So that was the reason why he visited the student council room yesterday.
It seemed I misunderstood something. The reason he waited a month and a half before bringing up the case wasn’t to match the timing with the special exam. It was to camouflage an old wound as something that happened in that incident.
“I-I didn’t go that far! I didn’t even use any sharp tools!”
Manabe desperately refuted, but the reaction of those around her was cold. Her image was already dropped to the ground and nobody would think her words were true. So this was the result of submitting the evidence later.
As expected of Kiyotaka, I was amazed by his cunningness.
“See, it’s not even in the video recording. That’s definitely a lie!”
“…The voice data was cut off in the middle. The video recording is a piece of evidence, but it doesn’t mean you are innocent just because it’s not recorded. It’s pointless to cling to a thread at this point.”
The person who was silent all this time, the homeroom teacher of Class C Chabashira Sae, said that coldly.
Manabe had a face of despair and slumped in her chair.
If they take a long time to check things properly, perhaps they will realize that the wound wasn’t something that happened recently. However, since they had to come to a conclusion quickly, that wasn’t a realistic option.
Even in the unlikely chance it was discovered, it didn’t matter much. Given the nature of this case, it was only natural to submit the image of the wound on the body. There were already countless wounds that were recorded on the day of the incident that already served as evidence, so it only served to lighten the punishment.
Well, I doubt it could become like that. It was hard to prove that Manabe “didn’t do it.”
This was a deliberation in the student council, not a place for justice.
…Now it came to this, it was easy to see Kiyotaka’s purpose.
It was definitely not about winning the sports festival.
It was to expel the Manabe group all at once. That was his true goal.
After that, there were no particularly conspicuous remarks and the deliberation ended surprisingly quietly.
The president explained that the punishment of the four perpetrators would be decided within three days.
“Thank you, you gave the perfect answer.”
“I’m glad then.”
Before we parted, Kiyotaka thanked me. Did I manage to repay the favor from yesterday?
“I would like to say my gratitude as well. Thanks.”
“Ou, Kei-chan did a great job too.”
Kei-chan didn’t say anything at all throughout the deliberation, but that was correct. By having a normally cheerful person stay silent, she would have the atmosphere of a wounded victim. It would draw the sympathies of people around.
…She should have felt considerable resistance to using her scar this way. It was something that was only possible because of her deep trust in Kiyotaka.
“Would they get expelled from the school?”
“There’s Morifuji Rika. She’s the only one who didn’t admit that she participated in the direct violence, so she might end up just getting suspended. However, there’s enough possibility for the other three to get expelled.”
In response to my question, Kiyotaka answered without changing his expression as usual.
He had the attitude that he didn’t give a damn about how the four ended up becoming. Well, I was the same.
“I’m really glad that Kiyotaka is my boyfriend. Let’s be together forever!”
Kei-chan smiled happily as she said that. Since she could smile at this point, perhaps she had similar thoughts as us? She originally had a selfish personality, so I guess she didn’t care about other people getting expelled…
“Recently, you’re becoming similar to Kiyotaka.”
She became able to make use of even her past wound as a weapon to crush her enemies.
It was just like Kiyotaka’s policy of using whatever he could to win.
“Ehehe, thanks. It made me feel really good. I want to quickly become a married couple with him~”
Perhaps instilling his philosophy in her was one of his goals.
It was the day that I reconfirmed that Kiyotaka wasn’t an ordinary person after all.
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