Chapter 22: Sudou in Fight
The bad news just kept coming. During homeroom the following morning, as Chabashira-sensei was about to leave, she assaulted us with one of her infamously brief and off-hand announcements.
"I have an announcement for you all. There was a bit of trouble the other day, an incident between the student sitting there, Sudou, and some students from Class C. In short, there was a fight."
The classroom erupted. Depending on the degree of responsibility that Class C saddled him with, Sudou could face suspension, and everyone might see a reduction in our class points. Chabashira-sensei laid the whole situation bare for the class. Her face was so devoid of emotion or interest when she spoke that there was a certain serene beauty to it. She inserted no personal bias whatsoever when she addressed the class, and explained the situation from a position of neutrality.
"Umm. So why hasn't this issue been resolved already?" Hirata asked a rather reasonable question.
"The complaint came from Class C. They claim that the fight was one-sided. However, when we spoke to the accused, Sudou said that their claims were false. He insists that the students Class C called him over and started the fight."
"It wasn't my fault! It was self-defense! Self-defense, I tell you!" shouted Sudou as he shouldered his classmates' icy glares.
"But there's no evidence of that. Am I wrong?"
"What evidence? I don't have any."
"So in other words, we don't yet know the truth. Therefore, we have put our decision on hold for now. Our response, and the punishment, will come when we find out who was at fault."
"All I know is that I'm innocent. If anything, I ought to receive a settlement for my trouble."
"So speaks the accused, but I wouldn't say that you have a high level of credibility right now. If there is an eyewitness, as Sudou seems to believe, then the situation may change. If anyone here witnessed the fight, please raise your hand."
Chabashira-sensei continued talking in a robotic, flat voice. No students raised their hands in response to her question.
"Too bad, Sudou. It appears there are no witnesses in this class."
"Looks that way," he grumbled.
When Chabashira-sensei cast a doubtful look at Sudou, he glanced downward.
"To check for witnesses, every teacher will inform their classes of the details of this incident."
"Huh?! You're telling everyone?!"
The school probably had no say in the matter. Because Sudou had insisted it was a false charge and brought up a potential witness, the school had to be sure. For Sudou, who had hoped to hide the situation, none of this was good.
"Damn it!"
Sudou's plan had already fallen apart.
"Anyway, that is all. We'll make our final judgment next Tuesday, taking into account any eyewitnesses and evidence. With that, let's end homeroom for the day."
Chabashira-sensei left, and Sudou followed right after her. He probably realized that if he stayed in the classroom, he'd lose his temper with someone.
"Man, isn't Sudou just the worst?" A girl talked in class
"If we lose points because of Sudou, will we be at zero again this month?"
As uproar enveloped the classroom, things started to get out of hand. If we ended up losing points because of this, Sudou would most likely become the sole target of our class's frustrations. Naturally, Kushida didn't want this to happen.
"Everyone, can you please listen to what I have to say?" Kushida stood and tried to silence the commotion.
"What our teacher said seems to be true. Sudou-kun may have been in a fight. However, Sudou-kun was dragged into it."
"Kushida-chan, what do you mean? Do you believe Sudou?"
Kushida conveyed yesterday's story to the whole class. She told them how Sudou had been chosen as a candidate to play regularly on the basketball team. She also described how some students in the basketball club were envious of Sudou, and how they'd called Sudou out and threatened him to make him leave the team. She also explained that Sudou, acting in self-defense, had punched their lights out.
Most of the class listened to Kushida's heartfelt words in silence. If Sudou or someone else had tried to explain the situation in the same manner, they probably wouldn't have been nearly as effective. However, not everyone in class easily believed the story. Sudou's typically poor behavior made it difficult to swallow, no matter how reasonable it sounded.
"I'd like to ask you all again. If anyone knows someone who saw what happened, whether it's someone in class, a friend, or an upperclassman, please tell me. You can contact me at any time. I would sincerely appreciate it."
Even though she'd basically said the same thing as Chabashira-sensei, the class had a very different response. She had an innate ability to connect with people. Her presence glowed so bright that I could almost feel it.
Instantly, silence enveloped the classroom. The first to speak wasn't the eyewitness, but Yamauchi.
"Hey, Kushida-chan. I just can't believe what Sudou said. I think he lied so he could justify what he did. He talked about beating up kids all the time in junior high. He even told us how much fun it was to beat people up."
After Yamauchi voiced his concerns, the rest of the class murmured their dissatisfaction with Sudou in turn.
"I saw him grab some kid by the collar just because they bumped into each other in the hallway."
"I saw him cut in line in the cafeteria and lash out when someone tried
to tell him that wasn't okay."
Kushida's appeal for Sudou's innocence didn't seem to have reached anyone. They'd already hung Sudou out to dry because he was probably going to lose them their hard-earned points.
"I want to believe him."
Hirata, the class hero, uttered those words as he stood in support of Kushida. His appearance was dashing, and he clearly wasn't drunk on the same anti-Sudou Kool-Aid as everyone else.
"If a student in another class were casting doubt on him, I could understand it," Hirata said. "But I think it's wrong to doubt a fellow classmate right away. Shouldn't friends do everything within their power to help someone in need?"
"I agree!"
Karuizawa, heroic Hirata's girlfriend, called out in the agreement, brushing her bangs aside with her hand as she spoke.
"If it were a false charge, that'd be a problem, wouldn't it? In any case, you'd feel bad for him if he were innocent, right?"
If Kushida lived by the softness of her heart, then Karuizawa lived by the strength of her will. Perhaps it was because of Kushida and Karuizawa's influence that many of the girls started to express their support.
This was typical of Japanese people. They would follow suit when someone took the lead. Though they probably mocked him in their hearts, they would help Sudou a little bit. Sudou's critics stopped, at least for the time being. Hirata, Kushida, and Karuizawa had attracted the rest of our class's admiration.
"I'll try asking my friends!"
"Well then, I'll try asking the upperclassmen I know in the soccer
club!"
"I'll ask around, too."
Starting with those three, we launched our investigation to prove
Sudou's innocence.
Horikita was just silently listening to all this. She hadn't said a single thing since the event started.
Izumi looked at her and said, "Are you not gonna do anything? You did help Sudou last time."
"What about you Izumi? Didn't you plan the event before to take classes together and change them? And what happened? Getting alienated."
Izumi who heard this laughed.
"Hahaha! What are you saying Horikita? When did I help the class? They aren't even worth it. I helped a friend, but it seems you understand it. I guess I will stop myself."
Saying this Izumi stood up and started leaving.
"Wait a minute. I didn't mean---"
Izumi didn't let her speak and said loudly to make sure everyone in the class hears.
"I don't care Horikita. You didn't understand it again. It's your problem. I and Ayanokouji won't be participating in this matter. So, if you want to save him, then save, and if you don't want to. Then be sure to take all the 500,000 points, we used to prevent his expulsion. This isn't child's play anymore."
"Sensei, I will be going to the infirmary because I am not feeling well. Here is the application for it." Saying this Izumi left the class and left other's to think.
Sakura who was a neighbor of Sudou spoke to him for the first time.
"You still aren't changing at all Sudou kun. Seeing your behavior before, I thought you had changed, but it seems you are still the same."
The class remained silent as the teacher kept on teaching.
Lunch came, but Izumi still hadn't come to class. Horikita was worried about this but she was stopped by Ayanokouji.
"Until you understand the reason, don't think of approaching him or you will make it worse."
Ayanokouji left with Sakura as the duo went to the cafeteria to take Izumi's lunch. They had messaged him and asked where he was.
Izumi on the other hand was chatting with Nurse in the infirmary. When he saw her first, he couldn't believe it. It was Chisato Hasegawa, though she was married here or else...
Ayanokouji and Sakura came to the room, and they saw him chatting with Nurse freely.
'To think others were worried about him'
Entering the room, they introduced themself and ate lunch together. Izumi had told them to buy an extra lunch and Nurse paid for it.
As they were enjoying the lunch, on the other side,
In the class murmurs and chaos was going on. If before they had stopped talking about Sudoy due to Hiarata, Kushida, and Karuizawa, Now they kept on talking after hearing from Izumi.
A group consisting of Kushida, Horikita, Ike, Yamauchi, and Sudou went to the cafeteria. There was no getting around it. When lunchtime came, Kushida invited Horikita with a smile.
She'd said, "Want to get lunch?"
"You seem to get yourself into trouble time and time again, Sudou-
kun."
Horikita gave an exasperated sigh. Naturally, they were discussing how
to prove Sudou's innocence.
"Well, guess we don't have much choice. As your friends, we'll help you out, Sudou." Although Ike had been against Sudou in the beginning, his attitude had completely changed.
That was definitely because Kushida had appealed to him and asked him to help. Ignorant of Ike's true feelings on the matter, Sudou still apologized.
"I'm sorry, Horikita. I've caused trouble for you again. But it really wasn't my fault this time. All I did was blow up those Class C jerks' plans."
Sudou spoke to Horikita with indifference, almost as if he were describing someone else's problems. He still didn't know the gravity of the matter and if he would really get expelled, all the students would fall apart and blame him and Horikita, Hirata, and others who were the first ones to help.
"Sorry, but I don't feel like helping you this time." Horikita flatly refused Sudou's pleas for help.
"For Class D to rise through the ranks, it's important to recover the class points we lost as quickly as possible. However, we probably won't get any points now, thanks to you. You hindered those plans."
"Wait. You might be right about that, but I'm not the one at fault here!
Those guys picked a fight with me! What part of that is my fault?"
"You keep focusing on who started the fight, but that's a trivial detail.
Did you never consider that?"
"What's trivial about it? It makes all the difference! I didn't do anything wrong!"
"Is that so? Well, best of luck to you."
Horikita picked up her untouched tray and stood.
"So you're not gonna help? I thought we were friends!"
"Don't make me laugh. I've never once considered you a friend.
Nothing makes me more uncomfortable than being around someone who doesn't recognize his own stupidity."
"Still, If you were to get expelled, be sure to return the 500,000 points we used on you to save yourself. At that time, you had told everyone that you would change and make sure to return the points. But now, it seems everything was a show. And you didn't change at all. Goodbye."
Horikita appeared more exasperated than angry. She let out a deep sigh and left.
"What the hell is her deal?! Goddamn it!"
Unable to direct his rage anywhere else, Sudou slammed his fists on the cafeteria table, spilling a nearby student's miso soup. The student glared, but when he saw how scary Sudou looked, he remained silent.
"I guess it's just up to us."
"I knew for sure you'd understand, Yamauchi. I'm really counting on you."
"This is a little disheartening. I thought that preparing for that test together brought us all a bit closer," said a disappointed Ike.
They didn't discover anything and Horikita had distanced her from the group.
After school, the class was divided into groups to meet up with people and ask around. However, there weren't that many helping to search for an eyewitness. Hirata and Karuizawa led the Hero & Gal Team, while Kushida led the Beautiful Girl & Entourage Team. They intended to search the campus themselves. Even so, it'd be difficult to get results in such a short period.
There were around 400 students in this school. Even if you left out everyone from classes 1-D, it wouldn't make a big difference. Finding everyone would still be difficult even if you included break times, lunch, after class, and early morning.
"All right, I am going back to the dorms."
Horikita stood up and left the class under everyone's gaze who said, 'You are really leaving?'
She had just gotten close to class and now it would all fall apart again.
Both Izumi and Ayanokouji cursed under their breath, "Idiot."
Izumi also stood up and left the class but no one bothered with him because they knew he wouldn't help them.
Hirata wanted to talk to him but was stopped by Girls who said they didn't want him to join the class.
As Ayanokouji was leaving, Kushida came to him and asked, "You really won't help Ayanokouji kun?"
Shaking his head, Ayanokouji denied it.
"You heard Izumi in the morning. I won't help because there is no point. Sudou doesn't even understand what is wrong with the case? So, if he won't know understand or think anything, Then there is no point."
Hirata who heard this asked him, "Was that the same reason Horikita won't help?"
"Maybe. I don't know much."
As he was about to leave, Kushida rushed to him and said, "Ayanokouji help me, or I will tell the class about the incident that day."
Hearing her, Ayanokouji raised his eyebrows, he went to her and said in a cold voice, "You mean the day you fucked up and I found it. Bitch Please! I have had enough of your scheming and stopping me every time. I know that the juice on the dress was spilled and there are no prints on it. I was just playing with you and now I have gotten bored. So, leave, and don't even think of manipulating me."
"Or your secret might be known by everyone. Like the rumors you are spreading about Izumi."
Saying this Ayanokouji left Kushida in the place. Her hands trembled slightly but she calmed herself and came back to a cheerful expression.
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