Chapter 23: Izumi slips up
It was just one day until the meeting between Sudou and Class C. Without Horikita's cooperation and Sakura's normal behavior which deflected the testimony from her, the entire class was depressed and silent. Now they weren't even united anymore, and they all knew it would be near to impossible to prove Sudous innocence.
Even if Kushida had talked with Ichinose, they couldn't come up with a shred of solid evidence nor did they find any witness.
"Man, It's really Hot Today," Izumi said as he exited the air-conditioned building. The moment he left the dorm, hot and humid air assaulted him as he endured the heat and walked to the school in the shade of green, leafy trees.
As he was walking, his eyes fell on the bulletin board, a piece of paper plastered on which stated that the person who had posted it was looking for information related to Class C and Sudou.
'It seems Ichinose and her classmate is still helping Kushida and others.'
It was a gesture to be appreciated but Izumi knew that nothing would come out of it. As the author wrote that they would be willing to give the points, even apathetic students might try to do something.
"Good Morning, Izumi Kun," said Ichinose as she came to Izumi.
"Good Morning, Ichinose. I saw the paper on the bulletin board. Did you post it, Ichinose?"
Ichinose joined Izumi in looking at the board. She appeared deeply interested.
"Hmm. I see, I see. So there's this method, too."
"Huh? This wasn't you?"
"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 something 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 Izumi-kun from Class D."
"Nice to meet you, Kanzaki."
His demeanor 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.
"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 something else.
"Have you ever checked out the school homepage? There's a message
board. I requested that people come 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 message 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 message posted on the homepage 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 messages regarding the post. There might be a little information."
Ichinose checked her phone for confirmation. After she'd read the messages, a slight smile crept onto her face.
"Just like this."
She showed me her phone so Izumi could read the message.
"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 terrorizing the locals. A kid from his hometown probably leaked this."
"Interesting," Kanzaki muttered, also reading the message.
Izumi who already knew this showed a surprised expression.
"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."
"And I think it would be better if you talk with Kushida about this."
Ichinose showed a surprised expression at this.
'It seems others don't know that I was not participating in this investigation.'
"Why do you say that Izumi-Kun?" Kanzaki asked.
"Well! You all don't know but the relationship between Sudou and me is a bit bad. And I am not participating in this investigation."
"But! Even if the relationship is a bit messy, You should still help Sudou in this matter."
"Ah! Ichinose San, you are too kind and innocent. Haven't you already heard rumors about me and what happened during the midterm?" Izumi asked as he saw Ichinose's and Kanzaki's sad expressions.
"Yeah, we have heard the rumors and I could say that most of them were false. And for the things that happened in Midterm, You were obviously teaching them."
As Ichinose said that Kanzaki shook his head, "Ichinose San, Only a few understand he was teaching them, most of them see him as someone who is petty and could expel his classmates for a petty act of revenge. Even a few in our class were talking about him and I had to explain them."
A grim expression appeared on Ichinose's face while Izumi smiled and shook his head, "For me, It doesn't matter what the rumors say. And I know in this case Sudou was at fault. Even after all the things that happened in the class, he still hadn't changed. Well! Looks like our class is here. See Ya, Ichinose San, Kanzaki."
Both of them also said goodbye and left for class B.
Entering the class, Izumi went to Kushida and said, "Ichinose has something to tell to you. You can talk to her later."
Then he went to his seat and sat down without hearing Kushida's reply.
As he saw that class's grim atmosphere, Izumi tuned to his neighbor Horikita and said, "Do you really not plan to do anything?"
Horikita turned to the side and said, "What about you Izumi? Didn't you say you won't help? What did you say to Kushida San?"
"Hah! It was Ichinose, she had got some information and met me before. So, I suggested she talk to Ichinose."
"And what did the information say?"
"One of the three students was bully in middle school and terrorized the area as delinquent while the other two are in basketball and still the trio got beaten by Sudou. Sudou must be strong to hurt them." Izumi said in a loud voice so that everyone in class hears it.
A fearful look appeared on a few students who didn't understand Izumi's sarcasm while a few like Hirat, Kushida, and Horikita understood what Izumi wanted to say.
Sudou who heard this, didn't say anything.
Hirata stood up and went to Izumi's seat and asked, "Izumi kun, You mean to say that it was intentional and the three purposely got beaten by Sudou."
"I didn't say anything. I don't know just how much of an idiot can a person be. Someone used your phone to message others, You didn't know. You were called to an unknown silent area, and instead of telling others, you ran to them. In the fight, you overwhelmed three people who played basketball with you and you still didn't get anything. The next day, no one knows that the thing happened, and only after Sae-sensei said, did everyone in the class Know. Even if the idiot knew that he shouldn't fight and even Sae-sensei said before, 'Don't mess with the wrong people', he didn't understand. I mean, the fuck is that Sudou, Are you happy now seeing the class's depressing atmosphere, they are asking for help here and there to help you."
"Fucking Idiot!"
Izumi who had enough started to say all these things, for the past week, every day the class was getting more and more depressing.
Everyone in the class was now glaring daggers at Sudou and even Hirata and Kushida who always helped others didn't say anything to this.
As for Sudou, all he could do was grit his teeth and remained silent.
Horikita who has been silent, asked Izumi, "Have you checked the area where he fought?"
"Yeah, there are no cameras there to testify anything," Hirata spoke first.
"Just add a camera and then force the weakest of the class C trio to speak and tell him that if he didn't, the camera will still show everything."
Izumi spoke without thinking and when he was done, he looked up and said, "Oh Shit! I wasn't planning on helping. Well! even if you could do it, it would be difficult for you all to get the proof."
As Izumi said, the teacher entered and the class started.
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