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Chapter 84: Chapter 7 Part V

"I feel the same as ever."

This case would be settled today. I knew that it was not going to be easy, especially for me. I\'d declared that Sudou was completely innocent, after all. If my strategy failed, it would be for nothing. I thought that there was some value in sticking it out, so I\'d come up with this plan during this extension period.

If this strategy failed, though, it would likely devolve into a verbal battle where we hurled abuse at each other. In the end, the result would certainly be worse than the compromise that had been proposed at the previous hearing. Sudou-kun would hate me then. Well, he\'d be barking up the wrong tree. Still, I would have to acknowledge his complaints, because the appeal to the council was my responsibility.

Alternatively, I supposed that if Sudou-kun himself wished it, there was the possibility of meeting them halfway. They\'d probably want to shorten his suspension as much as possible. If we made that the focal point of our discussion, we might be able to arrange for Sudou-kun\'s sentence to be lightened as well.

Reconciliation was another name for defeat. Still, if the person in question wished for it, we would have no choice.

A short time later, the student council room doors opened. My heart started pounding at double the speed. My older brother... My words stuck in my chest and would not come out.

Even though I should have understood it, I felt attacked. I was wracked with various symptoms such as trembling, nervousness, and dizziness. But I couldn\'t repeat yesterday\'s mistakes.

I turned my eyes from my brother. There were other opponents I should have been facing.

"Oh, my. I see that the boy from yesterday isn\'t here."

Next came the Class C teacher, Sakagami-sensei. Chabashira-sensei was with him. "What happened to Ayanokouji, Horikita?" she asked.

"He\'s not participating."

"Not participating?"

Chabashira-sensei turned to the vacant seat with a puzzled look. She seemed concerned by his absence, as if the proceedings would be meaningless without him. No, not exactly meaningless, but... It was vague, but I had the gut feeling that what Chabashira-sensei was seeing was the evidence of Ayanokouji-kun\'s involvement.

"Well, even if he\'s not here, the results will be the same." I didn\'t want to admit it, but I did it almost as if to shake off the shadow.

"Well, whatever. It\'s up to you guys to decide."

Both teachers took their seats. We would begin deliberation as soon as the Class C students arrived. When that time came, how would the battle go? Well, that was simple. We would object to what the other side had to say. We would reiterate that the other side was lying, and then pierce through those lies before claiming that we were the ones telling the truth. That was it.

It would be the same for both sides. Through lies, we would arrive at the truth. This was a battle between truth and lies. We could bandy about ideas, but there could only be one solution.

Finally, the students from Class C arrived. They were all sweating, as if they\'d been hurrying.

"You made it just in the nick of time," said Sakagami-sensei to his students with a slight sigh of relief. "Well then, we would like to resume deliberations on this case, from where we left off yesterday. Please take your seat."

Tachibana-san urged the students from Class C to sit down. However, they didn\'t budge. Instead, they remained standing in front of Sakagami-sensei.

"Can you please sit down?" Tachibana-san repeated her request, but the three did not move.

"Umm... Sakagami-sensei."

"What is it?"

It wasn\'t just me. Everyone else noticed that this situation was strange.

"Would it be possible not to hold this trial?"

"What are you...? What in the world do you mean?" Sakagami-sensei stood up in response to this unexpected request.

"Did you want to come to an agreement? Or did you already do something to the effect?" My older brother gazed sharply at the Class C students. However, the three boys shook their heads in unison, signaling that no, they didn\'t want to compromise.

"We realized that we weren\'t really saying anything worthwhile about which side was at fault. Our complaint was a mistake. Therefore, we\'d like to withdraw it."

"You\'re withdrawing your complaint?" Chabashira-sensei chuckled as she spoke. She wore a thin smile, as if she found something amusing.

"What\'s so funny, Chabashira-sensei?" Sakagami-sensei did not seem to like her attitude, glaring at Chabashira-sensei in irritation.

"Oh, excuse me. I was just surprised because I hadn\'t foreseen this. I figured we would argue all day until one side collapsed, or until we could propose an acceptable compromise. However, unbelievably, they\'ve said that they want to withdraw the complaint."

"Teachers, members of this student council, we are sorry to have taken your time. However, after careful consideration this is the conclusion we\'ve all come to."

The three\'s ardent appeal signaled that their will was strong. It seemed that Ayanokouji-kun and Ichinose-san had handled things quite well. I tried to act calm and collected, without letting my relief show.

"Surely you can\'t accept this. You did nothing wrong. Sudou-kun caused all of this through one-sided intimidation and violence. Do you plan to just quietly sit there and take this?"

As if realizing something, Sakagami-sensei turned anger-filled eyes towards Sudou-kun and me.

"What did you do? Threaten my students with violence so they\'d withdraw their appeal?"

"Huh? Don\'t screw around. I didn\'t do anything," Sudou said.

"There\'s no way that my students would withdraw their complaint unless you had. Tell us the truth. If you do that, then we can do something about it."

"Sakagami-sensei...we\'re going to withdraw the complaint no matter what you say. Our decision won\'t change."

Sakagami-sensei, as if unable to comprehend what his students were saying, hung his head low and sat back down.

"If you say that you\'d like to withdraw your complaint, we will accept it. It is certainly rare to cancel deliberations during a case, but we can do it." My older brother, the student council president, tried to remain calm and composed.

"Wait. I don\'t get it. Why are you guys just withdrawing your complaint like that?"

I grabbed Sudou-kun\'s arm to prevent him from uttering another word.

"Horikita?"

"Shut up."

I had no time to explain, unfortunately, so I pulled strongly on Sudou-kun\'s arm and sat him down.

"If you wish to withdraw your complaint, we have no intention of fighting it. We accept."

Although I could understand Sudou-kun\'s dissatisfaction at being brought to trial based on a lie, if the complaint was withdrawn there would be no winners or losers. This was what we\'d been working toward.

"However, according to regulations, we will require a certain payment of points in order to cover of miscellaneous expenses incurred over the course of deliberations. Are there objections to this?"

This was the first time we\'d heard of such a thing. The students from Class C looked upset, but came to a conclusion right away.

"We understand... We will pay."

"Very well, the proceedings have come to an end. We will now call this discussion closed."

While we waited for the curtains to fall on this rather abrupt end, I wondered who could have predicted such an outcome. Meanwhile, I saw Chabashira-sensei direct a rather bold smile at me.

"Sudou-kun," I said. "You will no longer face suspension. The school will not consider you a problem child. You will be able to participate in club activities from today onward. Right?"

I looked to Chabashira-sensei for confirmation.

"Of course. The same goes for the students in Class C, naturally. Youthful zeal is a good quality. However, the next time you think about causing problems, you should remember this incident as an example. Do not forget. Okay?"

She emphasized this point strongly to both sides. Sudou-kun looked rather dissatisfied, but nodded. I supposed that his joy at being able to play basketball outweighed his dissatisfaction. Kushida-san and Hirata-kun\'s actions would be rewarded as well.

Sakagami-sensei slowly left with his students. The moment the door closed, it sounded like he started hounding his students for answers. But that didn\'t matter. We wouldn\'t have to deal with any more idiotic appeals after this, most likely.

"I\'m glad, Sudou," Chabashira-sensei said, sounding grateful.

"He he. Well, of course!"

"Personally, I think you should have been punished," she added, rather harshly. Her words condemned Sudou-kun, who was still joyful over his victory.

"The reason this incident occurred at all is because of your behavior. Who told the truth and who lied is trivial. It\'s important that you don\'t let this kind of thing happen again. You do understand that, yes?"

"Yeah..."

"However, admitting your own faults isn\'t \'cool.\' So even if you acknowledge that your personality was partly to blame, you act tough. You get stronger. That\'s fine. However, if you act like that, you won\'t be able to make real friends. Eventually, Horikita will abandon you. She\'ll leave."

"That\'s..." I wouldn\'t exactly call us friends.

"There\'s strength in admitting your mistakes, Sudou."

Chabashira-sensei had tried to reach out to one of her students for the first time, as a homeroom teacher. I think that Sudou-kun understood what she was saying, even if unconsciously. He hung his head low and sank in his chair.

"I understand... If I hadn\'t acted that way in the first place, then I wouldn\'t have hit those guys. It wouldn\'t have been such a big deal. I knew that, somewhere."

When this first came up, he\'d asserted that Class C had lied, and had continued to say only that.

"I always fought all I wanted for my own satisfaction. But it\'s not like that anymore... I\'m a Class D student, and my personal actions affect the entire class. Now I\'ve experienced that firsthand..."

Sudou-kun might actually be dealing with a great deal of anxiety and stress in ways I couldn\'t see.

"I won\'t cause problems again, sensei. Horikita."

Those were the first penitent words I\'d heard out of Sudou-kun\'s mouth. I wondered if Chabashira-sensei was surprised. If so, she shouldn\'t be. Sudou-kun might have understood this much, but he was still Sudou-kun. A person couldn\'t change in just one day.

"You shouldn\'t make promises so casually. You\'ll cause trouble soon again."

"Tch!"

Our teacher, who was rather perceptive about Sudou-kun\'s shortcomings, rejected his promise.

"What do you think, Horikita? Do you think that Sudou will become a model student?"

"No, I don\'t." I agreed with the teacher without hesitation. However, that wasn\'t all I had to say. "However...Sudou-kun certainly made some progress today. He admitted he was at fault. So I\'m sure that he\'ll grow more tomorrow."

"Y-yeah..." he said.

"I\'m glad to hear that, Sudou. It looks like Horikita hasn\'t abandoned you yet."

"No, I\'ve already abandoned him. I just won\'t allow him to run loose anymore."

"Wh-what does that mean?!" Sudou-kun scratched his head and smiled, as if he just shaken off something heavy. "Well, I\'m gonna get going. I have club activities. See you later, Horikita."

With those words, Sudou-kun hurriedly stepped out of the room and into the hallway. He was not remorseful. He was definitely going to cause trouble for us again soon. He was a nuisance.

"May I leave now, Chabashira-sensei?"

"Wait just a moment. There\'s something I want to talk to you about, Horikita. You two leave first, though."

Chabashira-sensei urged my older brother and Tachibana-san to leave.

Once they were gone, she looked deeply interested, crossing her arms before her on the table.

"So. What methods did you use, Horikita?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don\'t try to dodge the question. They wouldn\'t withdraw their complaint without a reason, would they?"

"I\'ll leave that to your imagination."

We\'d fabricated a lie because we were backed into a corner.

"So it\'s a secret, hmm? Well, allow me to change the question. Who came up with the strategy that defeated Class C?

"Why do you care about that?"

"Ayanokouji isn\'t here, so I\'m a little curious."

Chabashira-sensei had been rather preoccupied with Ayanokouji-kun ever since we started school. I could somewhat understand why, now.

"I don\'t want to admit this, but Ayanokouji-kun...might have something exceptional to him."

I surprised myself by saying this, which could be taken as an admission of defeat. However, our victory would not have been as decisive without him.

"I see. So you recognize that, hmm?"

"Is that surprising? You were the one who first put me together with Ayanokouji-kun, Chabashira-sensei. You did it because you couldn\'t overlook Ayanokouji-kun\'s potential, right?"

"His potential, hmm?"

"Though he does try to hide his ability by pretending to be an idiot, for some mysterious reason."

Yes, he was truly incomprehensible. I could not find meaning in such behavior. It was likely that he was simply being absurd.

"There are various things to consider. But if you want to reach Class A, I\'ll give you one bit of advice."

"Advice?"

"The students in Class D all have some kind of defect, more or less. To borrow an expression used by others in this school, Class D is an assemblage of people that could be called \'defective products.\' You already understand this quite well though, don\'t you?"

"I don\'t intend to admit that I have a defect. But I do understand."

"Well, what do you think is Ayanokouji\'s defect?"

Ayanokouji-kun\'s defect...One thing immediately came to mind.

"We\'ve already established it. He already knows what his own defect is."

"Oh? And what is it?"

"He \'dislikes trouble,\'" I answered, with confidence. However, I felt a strange sense of discomfort that I couldn\'t explain.

"He dislikes trouble, hmm? Is that what you perceive when you look at Ayanokouji?"

"No... It\'s because he said it himself."

Chabashira-sensei snorted and chuckled. She spoke again, her tone firm.

"Well, Horikita. Let\'s try to learn as much as we possibly can about the boy called Ayanokouji, without delay, shall we? Otherwise, it\'ll be too late. You already seem to have fallen into Ayanokouji\'s trap."

"What do you mean?" Fallen into his trap? That was nonsense.

"Why do you think Ayanokouji purposefully got scores of 50 points across on the board on his entrance examination? Why do you think Ayanokouji is helping you? Why do you think that Ayanokouji doesn\'t put himself forward as a superior student, despite having superior ability? Is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka really someone who \'dislikes trouble\'?"

"That\'s..."

If he truly wanted to prioritize peace and tranquility, then why score 50 points in all subjects and allow himself to draw this much attention? Had he deliberately poked his nose into this incident as well? I wondered if he ought to have been carefully monitored, like many other students. As Chabashira-sensei said, his behavior didn\'t fit the pattern of someone who "disliked trouble." That unconscious realization must have been the cause of my earlier discomfort.

"In my personal opinion, Ayanokouji is the most defective student in Class D."

"He\'s the most defective?"

"Higher functioning products are more difficult to handle. If you misunderstand how to handle him, the class might be completely destroyed in short order."

"Chabashira-sensei, do you really understand what about him can be considered defective?"

"Get to know the person called Ayanokouji. What is he thinking? What focal point does he base his actions around? What is his fatal flaw? There\'s definitely an answer there."

Why was Chabashira-sensei telling me such things? As our homeroom teacher, she usually appeared unaware of and unconcerned with her class. But, if someone so disinterested thought this way, then...

Chabashira-sensei said nothing more.