AT 3:00 P.M, my job at the festival had come to an end.
I left the classroom, leaving Ayanokōji-kun in charge, just as our hidden gem made an exciting appearance.
"I never thought that you would really make Chabashira-sensei into a maid."
Ayanokōji-kun and I had discussed all the preparations in advance for this festival. I had heard that Chabashira-sensei would be used for the last hour of the show, but I was skeptical that it would be possible. However, not only did he make it happen, but she was creating a tremendous effect. Every time I walked down the corridor, I heard the rumors of Chabashira-sensei's maid costume circulating.
Anyway, Chabashira-sensei's participation was an opportune event for me personally. The large amount of attention drawn to the special wing would inevitably draw people away from other places.
After sending them a message on my cell phone and making sure it was read, I decided to head to the student council room. The reason for this was that I wanted to go over the notes again.
Of course, I could have asked Yagami-kun on the day of the student council meeting, but that would have made it impossible for me to calmly observe the notes. He was a person who may end up being a reason for Ayanokōji-kun to leave school. He seemed to have a connection with Amasawa-san and was extremely physically dangerous.
Besides, if it was Yagami-kun, asking him to show me the notes again would let him know I'm suspicious of him.
No. If you assume that he was the culprit, it was better to assume that he had already thought so. Anyway, in order to be sure without being found, it was necessary to aim for a time when no one was around.
The student council was closed for a while due to the circumstances of Student Council President Nagumo. This meant that the opportunity to spy on the proceedings had been restricted, but conversely, the unnecessary dispersing of the members had been done naturally.
I thought the timing of the festival would be the best time to take advantage of this opportunity. I reported to Chabashira-sensei in the morning that I had most likely left my notebook in the Student Council Room, and she gave me permission to go to the staff room during break time to get the key and pick it up.
Even if I stepped into the student council room now and was seen, I would
still have a good reason. I quickly changed out of my maid's uniform into my school uniform and headed for the staff room.
"Fifty minutes to go, huh?"
I exhaled as I walked by the student council office and looked at the clock in the hallway. Today has been a busy day. It wasn't over yet, but my shift of the day was done. Due to the requirement that I must take a break for an hour, the festival will end as soon as my break is over.
I was really busy from the morning, putting on my maid's uniform and working without a break. I changed back into my uniform and walked to the student council office and quietly inserted the key into the door.
The student council room was empty today, as the members of the Student Council were busy with the festival. This meant that it would not be difficult to go over the notes again and take a picture of the writing on my phone.
That's what I thought, but then I turned and...
My phone trembled in my pocket from an incoming call. I was startled to see the name of the caller.
Yagami Takuya. Why would he be calling me at this time? Feeling that this was a scary coincidence, I answered the call.
"Hello?"
"Horikita-senpai." Yagami-kun's voice, which should be over the phone, directly reached my ears from a small distance away.
The person I least wanted to see right now turned to me and waved with a smile. I felt chills all over my body, as if my heart had been directly doused with cold water.
"Did I startle you?"
With that he stepped closer to my side as he hung up his cell phone.
"Yagami-kun, why are you here?"
"What do you mean, senpai? Didn't you notice that I called from nearby?"
I was so focused on other things that maybe I wasn't able to see him. It was as if Yagami-kun was trying to figure out how upset or flustered I was.
"By the way, why are you in such an deserted place, senpai? Isn't it time to make the final push as the festival enters its climax?"
"I'm on break, so my role in the festival is over. I just wanted to be alone for a little while."
"A break at 3 p.m.? You chose an unusual time, didn't you?"
Unusual, perhaps. I had never experienced a festival of this type before, so I had no criteria to judge. However, since the rule was that all participants must take a one-hour break, there must be a certain percentage of students like me who chose to take a break at 3:00 PM.
My train of thought failed to come up with an immediate answer, and I fell silent for a few seconds.
Then I realized. Yagami-kun's words, "unusual time," were neither true nor false. It was merely an attempt to find out whether I had chosen 3:00 p.m. as my break time without any intention, or whether I had chosen it purposely.
In fact, I was too upset to respond immediately. No matter how I responded afterwards. I may have already fallen into the trap.
No, not yet. There was an option here to go through with it since I have delayed my response. The uncomfortable phrase "unusual time" could only be heard once.
"Why is Yagami-kun here?"
"I found Horikita-senpai with a grim face, so I was curious and followed you."
"Excuse me? Whatever the reason, I'm not impressed with you following a girl."
"I thought I called out to you properly, but I guess you didn't hear me in the bustle."
On my way here, I was definitely thinking. But that wouldn't stop me from noticing if he called out to me. I couldn't help but feel that I was being swayed in the same way as before, but there may be no real meaning to this whole sequence of events. Besides, he could have called out to me any number of times before coming here. Or maybe he did not follow me, but was in the vicinity around me…
from the beginning?
All of this assumed that Yagami-kun was the person I have been following who wrote well. If it's irrelevant, I guess I'll have to apologize later for being so skeptical.
"Are you allowed to leave the festival?"
"I've done what I had to do. It's not a break, but I have free time because there is no rule that says you can't take a break for more than an hour."
Was it still just a coincidence? No, don't get that idea. If it turns out to be a coincidence later, then there is no problem. But if it wasn't a coincidence, then I'm in trouble now.
"What do you want in the student council room? It's locked and I don't think anyone is in there." Yagami-kun asked looking at the door of the student council room as if he anticipated my arrival.
"I'm looking for something. I borrowed the key from the staff room, so it's no problem."
"You're looking for something? If that's the case, I can help you find it."
Calmness and impatience began to compete in my mind. I can't clearly
determine if his statement was only well-meaning or if he had malicious intent.
"It's not like I need your help."
"It's so important that you went to the trouble of looking for it in the middle of a cultural festival, isn't it?"
It sounded like a statement that striped me naked and saw through my thoughts.
"It's a notebook. I bought it some time ago and I'm having trouble finding it.
It's not good for my mental health to think that someone else might pick it up and read it. I almost gave up on it, but it still bothers me. The only place I haven't looked through is the student council office."
There was no point in spending any more time here. I told Yagami-kun the lie that I had told the teachers.
"Then I'll help with the search. It will be twice as efficient to search with two people rather than one, won't it?"
"Yes, that's right."
I slowly unlocked the door and opened it. I stoped moving to step into the student council room one step ahead of Yagami-kun, who was standing right beside me.
"Horikita-senpai? Do we need two people to search the student council room for a forgotten item? Is there something else you're after?"
"Eh?" Under the circumstances, I dared to fight back. "I tried to refuse your help because I honestly felt a little scared."
"You're scared... why?"
"Don't you understand?"
"I have no idea."
"We're in an empty student council room. Before, you said you called out to me, but I didn't notice. It was as if I was being followed while we were alone. Do you know what that means for a girl?"
This was where I set him up, not in terms of Horikita Suzune as an individual, but in terms of social gender differences. I could get rid of him in an absolute way, regardless of whether he was persistent or not.
"Oh dear, I see. I'm sorry, I hadn't thought of that at all. I see…"
This made it impossible to bypass the student council room and also made it impossible to wait in the hallway. It would be too creepy to do that.
"I'm sorry. I certainly think my behavior was wrong." Yagami-kun bowed deeply. "But, at the risk of sounding rude, may I just say one thing?"
"I'm sorry?"
He kept his head bowed and did not raise it, so what was he going to say at this point?
"The true purpose of Horikita-senpai's visit to the student council room…"
Yagami-kun looked up, and right after that...
Yagami-kun's posture suddenly collapsed in front of me, and his upper body was bent.
No, he was attacked.
"I got him!"
With a voice like that, Ibuki-san appeared, dressed in a kimono.
"Wait, Ibuki-san!"
"Don't just stand there, let me in, Horikita!"
It would be a big problem if they found me, as it certainly looked like an obvious act of violence. I opened the door to the student council room and Ibuki-san forcefully pushed Yagami-kun to enter.
"Hey, what are you doing?" The first one to speak out was, of course, Yagami-kun, the victim.
Ibuki-san appeared from behind, confused by the situation, having detained Yagami-kun.
"You've been saved again by my exploits, Horikita."
"Saved? I didn't ask anything of you..."
"You told me to be very careful with this guy. And you were being pressed by this guy. It's normal to think there's something going on." She blurted out things she didn't have to say all at once.
Her single-minded behavior had rendered all my previous conversations useless. To say that I had warned her in front of the person in question was nothing short of nonsense.
"Um, who do you want me to pay attention to?"
Yagami-kun, unable to move, asked the question in a natural way. Now that it's come to this, I had no choice but to throw it all at him.
"I apologize for the violent formality. But I have something on my mind about you. Do you remember the other day when you showed me the notes from the meeting?"
"It was in regards to the comments made by Student Council President Nagumo, wasn't it?"
"Yes. I wanted to check again what you wrote in the notebook. Specifically, your handwriting of the letters."
"Letters? I'm not sure, but what you're really looking for is the notebook full of the meeting records, right?" Yagami-kun continued, looking puzzled. "You said you wanted to check my handwriting, but what is your true intention?"
I continued my explanation, although I was curious about what he was about to say before Ibuki-san appeared. I explained how a piece of paper was inserted into my tent during the special uninhabited island exam. Yagami-kun listened silently while being restrained, wanting to know who the sender of that paper was.
"You mean because the handwriting in my records and the handwriting on that paper were similar?"
"Yes, that is correct."
"If that story is true, I can certainly understand your wariness of me. And in order to confirm it secretly, it would have been best to aim for such a timing."
Because of the preparation period for the festival, people were coming and going on Saturdays and Sundays, and students were walking all over the school to scout for potential stall locations, so I couldn't take the option of collecting them then.
"But I am not the sender of the letter."
Yagami-kun denied it once and for all, and although I was inclined to believe him, I wasn't sure if I should...
When I was unable to honestly accept it, he became a little more emphatic.
"Do you have any reason for your doubt?"
"Unfortunately, I don't have any grounds. I just can't expect you to honestly admit it."
"If you don't mind, could you show me that paper once? Then I think I can ask you to compare the letters with my handwriting, and I should be able to prove my innocence."
"I'm afraid that's impossible. I had a little trouble and lost that paper."
Amasawa-san confronted me on the island and tore it up into little pieces.
"That's a problem. Doesn't that mean I can't prove my innocence?"
"That's why I want to recheck the notes first."
"Even if you reconfirm them, you can't be certain of their consistency with your memory, can you? Rather, Horikita-senpai now strongly suspects me. If that is the case, the possibility of being made the culprit because of a blurry memory is not small at all. The odds are clearly stacked against me."
"You may be right."
I didn't want it to be Yagami-kun, but I strongly felt that I found the culprit. I could understand his concern about the developments that would take place.
"It's not right for me to be suspected, but anyway can you let go of my hand?
Either way, I think it would be a welcome thing for both of you to back off before it's too late. How are you going to excuse yourself if Student Council President Nagumo sees a scene like this later?"
We were restraining a first-year boy for no reason. Surely this situation was nothing but a mass of inconvenience for us. It would be a different story if we had been assaulted, etc., but he had done nothing.
"Ibuki-san, let him go." I instructed Ibuki-san to follow his words.
But Ibuki-san's expression was grim and unruffled as she held Yagami-kun down.
"I'm sorry, but that's not how it works."
"Why not?"
"Because my intuition tells me that harmless-looking people like you are the most dangerous."
That's what she had learned before with Ayanokōji-kun. But it was clear from her demeanor that it wasn't just a matter of looks.
"Do you have any other grounds?"
"You have a habit of looking weak at a quick glance, but you have a bad sense of humor flying around. You're not just a scrawny kid, are you?"
I thought it was because Ibuki-san was in direct contact with him that I knew what she was thinking. The part about the possibility that the person we were
looking for was quite skilled. If that was indeed the case with Yagami-kun, then it was no wonder that he was a strong suspect.
"The message sent to me is very similar to Yagami-kun's handwriting. Add to that, the hidden physical ability, and the fact that he appeared here."
"It's true that I don't mind working out, so I have some confidence in my body." Sighing in irritation, Yagami-kun raised his gaze slightly and looked at me.
"I'm a little angry with you too. This situation is too one-sided."
It would not be surprising if Yagami-kun had some high physical ability as Ibuki-san had read. Originally, his OAA grade was C, which was average. It was possible that Yagami-kun's running speed and sports ability were low, with him only being proficient in martial arts.
Was he a white or black belt? As the judgment was pressed for time, the silence was broken in an unexpected way.
The door to the student council room, where no one was supposed to come, opened without warning.
"Oh shit, this is quite an unusual situation, isn't it?"
The one who showed up was Student Council President Nagumo, only Yagami-kun didn't change his attitude, but Ibuki-san and I were terribly surprised because of our guilty behavior.
"Student council president, why are you here ...?"
"What is this about?"
By "this" he meant mainly that Ibuki-san was restraining Yagami-kun.
"If it took two girls to bully a junior student, that's a big problem, man."
Ibuki-san couldn't continue restraining him, so she released Yagami-kun with both hands.
"Thank you for saving me, Student Council President Nagumo." Yagami-kun looked calm and fixed his ruffled uniform.
What was with Yagami-kun's calm demeanor, as if he had known that the student council president was coming?
"Then, let's ask you to explain why you're here without permission."
If I said I lost my notebook, Yagami-kun might've pointed out that I was lying. On the other hand, if I brought up the subject of the notes, the story would spread to Student Council President Nagumo.
"Horikita-senpai seemed to have lost her notebook, and I was going to help her find it… Ibuki-senpai seemed to have mistakenly thought that I was attacking Horikita-senpai and acted like she did for no apparent reason." He replied, not trying to corner me, but to defend my lie.
"I see, so that's the reason for the restraint."
"I think the misunderstanding has been cleared up, and I don't particularly
intend to make an issue of it."
"Then there's no need for further mention. So, did you find the notebook?"
If he was willing to talk back, I was grateful to go along with the process.
"No, I did not find it. This was the last place I placed it. Maybe I mistook it for trash and threw it away. I'll just give up."
Although he could check himself, he probably didn't care about the whereabouts of the notebook. The student body president looked away from me, as if he wasn't interested, and then sat down in his usual seat.
"Whatever the reason, this isn't something you should be doing in the middle of a cultural festival. Break it up now."
Even if I persisted here, I could no longer see the meeting notes. I just had to back off quietly for now. With that thought in mind, I was about to leave the room with Ibuki-san, but then...
"By the way, Student Council President Nagumo, how did you know we were here?"
Yagami-kun asked such a question beside me and Ibuki-san.
"Are you curious?"
"The door to the student council room was supposed to be locked. But the student council president didn't hesitate to enter the room, so I was a little concerned."
It was certainly unnatural. I didn't know if the student body president had a spare key or not, but he should have tried to open the door by inserting the key at least once. It was understandable to be suspicious that he entered the room so naturally without question. It was as if he knew from the beginning that something was going on...
Were Student Council President Nagumo and Yagami-kun planning to meet up here? If so, then Yagami-kun's prediction that the student body president would come would make sense. But, the exchange between the two was far from indicative.
"I'd be happy to answer you, but before I do, I wanted to ask Yagami-kun something too."
"Me?"
"You remember the matter we talked about in the student council room the other day, don't you? I told you that there's a rumor that I'm trying to expel some students with a lot of money."
"Of course. I've been doing some digging on my end, but I haven't been able to find out where the rumors are coming from."
I couldn't keep up with the sudden rehash of the story.
"But you know, don't you? Where the rumors are coming from."
"Pardon me?"
"I mean, you're the one who started them, aren't you?"
Student Council President Nagumo kicked the underside of the desk lightly in frustration.
"Wait, please. What in the world is going on all of a sudden? Why would I do such a thing?"
Just as he was suspected by us, now he was suspected by Student Council President Nagumo. And it was completely unrelated.
"The reason for you doing it is quite clear. It was a special exam among first-year students where certain students were expelled for a prize money. You were one of the few who participated."
Yagami-kun's expression clouded slightly here. It contained irritation, just like Student Council President Nagumo's.
"What do you mean, Student Council President Nagumo, what on earth are you talking about?"
"You denied it at the student council meeting, but it was a fact."
"Well, you were involved too, weren't you?"
"But I didn't break any rules, you know? It's just school policy. I was standing in as student council president with Director Tsukishiro to maintain fairness. Am I right? Yagami."
There had been relentless special exams at this school, but I didn't think that was even possible.
"Wasn't it a rule not to talk about that special exam and its participants?"
"You broke that rule first, didn't you?"
"It wasn't me. There is no merit in embarrassing Student Council President Nagumo. Besides, there were several other first-year students who received the same explanation."
"Well, yeah. But you showed up here. It's tempting to speculate."
"That's just a coincidence."
Student Council President Nagumo was facing Yagami-kun, but changed his gaze to us.
"You guys go back now. I'll talk to Yagami from here."
"I did not know about that matter, but please allow me to speak."
"Horikita-senpai, what are you going to say?"
Yagami-kun attempted to restrain me with his eyes. 'I covered for you earlier, return the favor' he seemed to be saying. I had to ignore such a gaze.
"Tell me."
"I don't know if he was the one who spread the rumor about that special exam. But I don't think it's a coincidence that he showed up here; Yagami-kun was
following me. Or I now strongly feel that he has been watching around this student council room from the beginning."
"You think so, Suzune? Is this true, Yagami?"
Yagami-kun's expression hardened as he was caught between the two sides, but then he exhaled in irritation.
"I understand. You two were working together from the beginning, weren't you? From the moment you handed me that letter disguised as a love letter, you decided to force me into a corner here, didn't you?"
"The letter disguised as a love letter?"
"You mean this one?"
Student Council President Nagumo took out from his pocket the love letter I had received from Ichihashi-san.
What did he mean by a letter disguised as a love letter?
"I don't understand. It's just a love letter from an unknown sender, with true feelings for me written on it."
"No, it's not. The letter is indeed a love letter at first glance, but it says,
"Cultural Festival, 3:00 p.m., Student Council Room." Other words like
"important," "expulsion," and "secret" are everywhere. No?"
Opening the already sealed letter, Student Council President Nagumo looked it over.
"Where is that written? I have no idea."
With that, Student Council President Nagumo moved to hand me the love letter.
"Excuse me."
I borrowed the letter and look through the contents. But I couldn't find the letter Yagami-kun mentioned anywhere.
Ibuki-san was also curious and took a peek at the note, but her reaction was the same as ours. Such was the content:
[I want you to forgive me for confessing without telling you my name. I have always loved you.]
"Please stop playing games . If you analyze the anagrams, you will find the truth."
"What's an anagram?"
Unlike Ibuki-san, who didn't understand the meaning of the word itself, I wondered if he meant to say that this letter was written with an anagram? An anagram is a rearrangement of letters to change their meanings. A play on words.
Even if you try to find the answer repeatedly, you won't find it right away.
Maybe you could find it with time, but it's not possible to instantly recognize it.
"You are very clever, Yagami. Apparently neither Suzune nor I can analyze
anagrams right away, right?"
Yagami-kun was just as highly wary of us as we were of his growing skepticism.
"Could it have been written by one of you two? Or was it someone you know in common?"
"Common acquaintance? Who the hell are you talking about?"
"I don't know that. But you can trust that I followed the anagram to this place."
If that was so… no, he said something completely strange.
"I don't care at this point if it's an anagram or not. How do you know in advance what's in this love letter? You read it before you handed it to me, right?"
Yes. There was no other way to know.
"It's from coincidence. When I dropped the letter, the seal came off and the contents came out. I wasn't supposed to look at it, but I couldn't resist looking through it."
"That's not very good behavior for a member of the student council."
I understood the temptation to steal a glance, but I would usually restrain myself. And even more so if it was a letter exchanged by a third party who had nothing to do with me. Would I take the risk of checking the contents of a letter exchanged between third parties with whom I have nothing to do? It was true that not knowing the sender's name tickled my curiosity, but whether I'd even check the contents of the letter was another matter.
"You checked inside because you usually have bad morals, right? I had a hunch that I was being set up in some kind of trap."
"It doesn't sound like we can quite believe your words at the moment."
I was feeling strangely uncomfortable about this whole discussion. The world as I saw it, the world as Yagami-kun saw it, and the world as President Nagumo saw it. I couldn't help but feel that they were all slightly different from each other.
They seemed to be meshing, but they were not. I felt uncomfortable as if something was stuck in my back teeth.
It was bad enough that Yagami-kun read the letter without permission.
However, the fact that he spread a bad rumor about Student Council President Nagumo, not to mention the ambiguous meeting notes, made it worse. We couldn't determine with certainty whether his appearance in front of this student council room was intentional or coincidental either. There was no way to go on blaming Yagami-kun any further here...
Yagami-kun looked at me and Student Council President Nagumo alternately and gave a small laugh.
"Isn't it about time for you to answer the question? The truth is, you all already know, don't you?" After a moment of silence, perhaps having sorted out the situation in his mind, Yagami-kun spoke up. "Horikita-senpai, you were shown the meeting notes, associated the paper with the one you received during the uninhabited island, and thought I was the culprit. Then you gave a letter to Student Council President Nagumo, disguised as a love letter, and secretly sent him a message."
For some reason, he started mentioning the notes and paper himself, which he had not mentioned up to this point.
"Why do you have to go through all that trouble? You could have just called or chatted. Isn't it so you don't leave evidence that you suspect me? You can make any number of requests with this letter disguised as a love letter. And Student Council President Nagumo would be willing to go over the meeting records with you to determine if I am the person Horikita-senpai is looking for."
"The island? The Notes? The person Suzune is looking for? What are you talking about?"
"Are you still going to continue your act, Student Council President Nagumo? I already know that you and Horikita-senpai are acting under the direction of a certain person. Everything is under the direction of Ayanokōji-senpai, who created the anagram of this letter, isn't it? I feel bad for him. I'm sure he had already arrived at this conclusion far before I even had to show you the notes, Horikita-senpai."
"Why is Ayanokōji-kun's name mentioned here?"
"He's going around a lot, isn't he? I thought he didn't like to be publicized, but I didn't expect him to contact me in this way." He laughed amusedly. Yagami-kun's attitude had clearly changed from before.
"So what happens after this? Are we finally going to meet Ayanokōji-senpai?"
Yagami-kun looked at the doorway like a child with a toy gift box in front of him.
"I'm impatient. Can you tell me what you have heard about me before he arrives? I would especially like to hear it from your mouth, Horikita-senpai."
"Wait. I really don't know what you are talking about. I suspected that you came to my tent and put the letter in there, but I only talked to Ibuki-san about it."
Even when I told him the truth, Yagami-kun did not seem to believe me.
"Explain it to me so I can understand, Yagami."
"Fuu~ I'm getting tired of your quicksand, Student Council President Nagumo. You were going to meet up with Ayanokōji-senpai here along with Horikita-senpai through the letter. And he was going to talk to me. He must have
thought it was dangerous to meet with me alone. Yeah, it was a wise decision."
"Sorry to interrupt your heated mood, Yagami, but I'll tell you why I came to the student council room."
Student Council President Nagumo pulled out his cell phone and turned the screen toward us. A phone number was displayed, as if there was an incoming call from someone.
"Looks like you've arrived. Come in."
The other end of the phone hung up.
"Ha-ha-ha! I knew Ayanokōji-senpai was here! I'm so happy!"
Yagami-kun laughed loudly and opened his arms to welcome the slowly opening door.
"It seems I'm a little unexpected."
With these words, a person who went beyond my expectations entered the room. The first to react was not me, Student Council President Nagumo, or Yagami-kun, but Ibuki-san.
"What? Ryūen? What are you doing here?"
Ryūen-kun was not the only one who showed up. Two of his classmates also showed up.
"Oh, you look pretty good in that outfit, Ibuki. What do you think, Kinoshita?"
"Honestly. I think you look cute with your little bow."
"What? Wait, Komiya? And even Kinoshita is...?
And to top it off, Sakagami-sensei and Mashima-sensei also showed up later in the student council room.
"What is... This...?"
The most stunned person was Yagami-kun, who was mouthing something incomprehensible.
"I came to the student council room to talk to Ryūen and the others. Isn't that right?"
"Yeah, that was the plan, but were you in the middle of taking them in?"
Yagami-kun looking at them also had a grim look on his face, as if he did not understand the current situation.
Student Council President Nagumo stood up and forced the letter onto Yagami-kun's chest.
"Anagrams masquerading as love letters, secret notes, this doesn't make any sense to me, Yagami."
"This can't be true... what's going on?"
Ryūen-kun approached Yagami-kun, who could not hide his confusion.
Then he pointed his finger and said.
"This is the one you guys were talking about, right?"
Ryūen-kun asked Komiya-kun and the others standing discreetly behind him, confirming something. Both of them nodded strongly with nervous looks on their faces.
"Yes, sir. I'm sure of it."
"Yes. I'm sure."
Ryūen-kun heard this and, with a wan smile on his face as usual, moved even closer to Yagami-kun. He was so close that he could reach Yagami-kun if he stretched out his arm.
"I'm going to have to have a long talk with you, aren't I?"
"About what?"
Ryūen-kun laughed, extended his right arm, and suddenly grabbed Yagami-kun by the bangs.
"Ryūen!" Mashima-sensei scolded him for his violent behavior, but he showed no sign of paying attention.
"Yo, what's your name again?"
"Yagami, Yagami Takuya, Ryūen-senpai."
Ryūen-san pulled up his hair and his face changed to one of anguish.
"So you're Yagami. I heard you're the one who took care of Komiya and Kinoshita."
"What do you mean? I don't understand."
"Don't play dumb. Komiya and Kinoshita reminded me just the other day.
The reason they got seriously injured during the desert island test was because you violently attacked them."
Severe injuries on a deserted island. I knew that they were seriously injured with broken bones, but that was an accident caused by carelessness, as I recalled.
"Me? What in the world is going on?!"
"These guys had lost their memories due to the shock of their injuries, but once it was put away as an accident, they remembered. They remember now that you were the culprit."
As if in response to this statement, Student Council President Nagumo also commented.
"It was just yesterday. We were going to have a discussion today, just me, Ryūen, and Komiya and Kinoshita. Why are the teachers here?"
"I called them here to save you the trouble. I heard that Sakagami rushed over when the two of you were injured."
"Speaking of Yagami-kun, I'm sure Mashima-sensei recalls as well."
Sakagami-sensei confirmed Mashima-sensei, as if remembering something.
"Yes, I don't want to do anything to suspect the students, but I can't deny the
possibility."
"Hey, what are you saying? I didn't do anything!"
No wonder he was so flustered. I was not able to clear my head either.
"Yagami. I know that the GPS on your watch was not functioning when the two alerts went off that day. There were several students whose watches were broken during the special exam, but only two, including you, were able to contact Komiya and the others from the point where you last disappeared. Of course, at the time, Komiya, Kinoshita, and Shinohara could only say that someone had injured them, but they could not give their names. Therefore, we had no choice but to treat it as an accident…"
"He couldn't remember, but later he remembered and gave my name? That's impossible! It's obvious that the two of them must have talked past each other to come up with my name!"
"Mutual back-channeling? The fact that your watch was broken is a fact that the average student does not know."
Over 400 people were taking the test on a deserted island. Two of them were wearing watches with broken GPS at the time they were injured. Surely the odds are too low to call it a coincidence.
"They recall seeing the culprit. What's your basis for your doubts about their claims? Tell me."
With more strength in his fingertips, Ryūen-kun pulled on Yagami-kun's hair.
"Gghh! That's..."
"'No one could have seen me, I must have done it perfectly well.' That's what you think, right?"
"Well, wait a minute. I didn't do anything. Do you think I'm capable of such a terrible thing?"
Yagami-kun was not a big man. To the casual observer, it would seem strange. But Ryūen-kun didn't trust Yagami-kun's words at all.
"I've learned from the past that the ones who look harmless are the most troublesome. Isn't that right, Ibuki?"
"No doubt, this guy is strong. He can at least seriously injure Komiya and the others without them noticing."
"Normally, I'd have you suffer an equal or greater injury to avenge our enemy, but unfortunately, we're in front of Sensei. I'll give you a break. What awaits you is nothing but expulsion."
If the facts were confirmed and it was proven that Yagami-kun caused serious injury to Komiya-kun and the others, that it would be more than a suspension. Expulsion was inevitable, even with no extenuating circumstances.
Yagami-kun tilted his face down as Ryūen-kun removed his hand from his hair.
"So? What are you doing here, Suzune?"
"I had some research to do on Yagami-kun too."
"Oh? What's that?"
I came this far, I had no choice but to tell them all about it. I told them what had happened on the deserted island, that I had been looking for a student with beautiful handwriting, that I had come here to check the notes because they were similar to Yagami-kun's. I pulled out the notebook and opened it to Yagami-kun's page.
"The handwriting and Yagami-kun's handwriting are almost identical. It also matches my memory."
"Let me ask you to explain what this means, Yagami."
Student Council President Nagumo asked, even though he didn't have a full grasp of what's going on. The only thing that was certain was that something mysterious was going on in this place. While all of us were related to Yagami-kun, there wasn't a definitive key.
There was no one who could be the most important key. How was such a thing possible? What if it had all started with that one love letter... And I entrusted it to Yagami-kun, and Yagami-kun saw what was inside, too?
They knew for sure that Yagami-kun would analyse the anagram inside of it... But they didn't know that I had seen Yagami-kun's notes.
No, I wonder if that had anything to do with it. I was an outsider, and Ibuki-san was an outsider with me.
Even if Ibuki-san and I were not here, this sequence of events would've continued. Yagami-kun, who was lured by the letter and came to the student council room, would have been questioned by President Nagumo.
But was such a thing possible? Even if it were possible, who would do it?
When and where?
No, this kind of question itself may be wrong. It would not be at all surprising... if Ayanokōji-kun was behind this event.
Ryūen-kun, Komiya-kun and others who unexpectedly appeared as well as the teachers. It was a place to surround Yagami-kun, who was evasive, from all sides.
"Kuku, I'm surprised too, but I can't help it. He was playing with fire too much."
Ryūen-kun started laughing, perhaps feeling the same way I did.
"Why is this happening, this is beyond stupid."
"I don't know what kind of background you have, but you're trapped."
"I-I'm still in a state where I can't even fight him!? This is where it ends? It can't be over, that's ridiculous!" Yagami-kun, his whole body trembling, shouted in a voice never heard before. "You mean you don't... even have to deal with me directly? Heh… ha… hahaha! Don't fuck with me... don't fuck with me!"
"Shut up. Don't yell so close to me, you little bitch." Ryūen-kun sticked his pinky in his right ear and muttered in exasperation.
Yagami-kun's excitement did not subside.
"Okay~" Yagami-kun said, "I'm going to do it now. I'm going to kill him with my own hands! Then I'll go back to where I belong, and get my rightful place! I'll take his dead body back with me!"
There were two teachers here, as if that didn't matter at all. In a clear sign of change, Ibuki-san jumped toward Yagami-kun from behind just as he was about to take a bold step toward Ryūen-kun. Without looking back, Yagami-kun quickly dealt with it and slammed his elbow into her abdomen.
"Guh!"
Just one shot and Ibuki-san crumpled to the ground, unable to stand up.
"Stop it, Yagami!"
When the teachers started to run to stop Yagami-san, Ryūen-kun stopped them.
"Pull back. He's not fucking around. Guess it's time for me to step up, isn't it?" Ryūen-kun, without regard to the fact that this was the student council chambers, clenched his fist.
"Oh my god, you can't stop me. I'm not going to tolerate anyone who stands in front of me from now on. I don't care if it's a woman or a teacher. If you don't want to see yourself get hurt like Komiya and the others, then shut up and back off."
"Kuku. So that's your true nature. That's funny, isn't it?"
Without hesitation, Ryūen-kun took a step forward and lightly spread his arms out as if to provoke.
"I'll gladly stand in your way, so come at me. You're only a punk."
Ryūen-kun was determined, but I didn't think Yagami-kun could be stopped.
However, We must do something to hold him here. He was driven by the urge to destroy everything, regardless of the teachers' presence. If we let him go, there is no guarantee that we will be able to stop his rampage.
And where he was headed… was to Ayanokōji-kun. If something like this happened in the middle of a cultural festival, a warning won't do.
"Stop it, Yagami. And Ryūen, too. If you cause a commotion here, it will be a serious penalty."
"My expulsion is 100% inevitable. If that's the case, there's no reason to stop it, right Mashima?"
Yagami-kun called him out without even addressing him as sensei, and discarded him.
Still, Mashima-sensei, as a teacher, stepped in between Yagami-kun and Ryūen-kun.
"Get lost." He kicked Mashima-sensei in the knee, and when he staggered over, he slammed his fist into his face.
Sakagami-sensei witnessed it up close and took a frightened step away.
Ryūen-kun, excited at the start of a perfect fight, was just about to jump on Yagami-kun.
"Let's stop now, Takuya."
The door to the student council room opened, revealing Amasawa-san with red, swollen eyes.
"Ah? Why are you here?"
Yagami-kun stopped moving in a situation where no one's words were likely to reach him.
"What's it going to take for you to get any more out of control? Do you think that will make them accept you? They're already done with-"
"No, it's not! The instructors are waiting for me! I'm going to be the best!"
Who are the instructors, I wondered? At least I could guess that they were not the teachers of this school.
"I was just going to close out the cultural festival today in an interesting way by exposing that guy's past, but he's done something absurd."
"Takuya, I knew you were going to do that. ..."
"Get out of my way; I'm going to make Ayanokōji regret it. I'll make it so funny you won't stop laughing."
"If you insist on going to Ayanokōji-senpai, I'll stop you before you do."
"You? You've never beaten me once. Don't make me laugh."
"Maybe I can't beat you with force. But I'll give it a try.
"I knew you were devoted to Ayanokōji, but I didn't know you were that stupid."
"I just learned that a frog in a well doesn't know the ocean. It's just like that story we learned about before... Don't you remember?"
Amasawa had a sad look in her eyes. Yagami-kun seemed to falter for a moment, before returning to his murderous gaze.
"Then it's time for you to die. There is no reason for you to be alive."
Just as Amasawa-san was about to make up her mind, we heard multiple footsteps coming from the other side of the hallway.
Five adults steped into the student council room with blank expressions on their faces. Not all of them were recognizable, but two of the five were guests of honor who had also shown up at the maid cafe.
Yagami-kun, who had been untouchable until a moment ago, suddenly began to tremble.
"W-why are you guys here? Hey, why...?"
"We even got a call to come pick you up at the student council office. It wasn't exactly what we had in mind."
Yagami-kun, who had been on a killing spree just a short time ago, found himself squeezed like a child. It was almost as if a child had been caught by his parents and was scared of the punishment.
Surrounded by adults, Yagami-kun was taken away without resistance.
Amasawa-san walked with him.
"You people are..."
Mashima-sensei confirmed as he stood up in pain.
"We are related to Yagami and Amasawa. We will settle this situation, so please go ahead and get treated. Please do not tell anyone about what happened here, not even the teachers and students. Rest assured that we will pass everything on to Chairman Sakayanagi."
"I understand."
With Sakagami-sensei's help, Mashima-sensei left the student council room.
The room, which had been so noisy, was suddenly enveloped in silence.
"Get up Ibuki, let's pull out."
"Come on, at least give me a hand!"
Ryūen-kun gave instructions to Komiya-kun with his chin to Ibuki-san, who still could not stand up, and then lent her a hand and left the room.
Only me and Student Council President Nagumo were left in the Student Council Room.
"So much for this. A lot of things have gone wrong, but I guess we've settled the matter once and for all."
"How much did you know about today's incident involving Ayanokōji-kun?"
"What are you talking about? As I said before, I just came here with the intention of talking to Ryūen."
"Then you didn't need to bring that letter."
The love letter remained crumpled and fallen on the floor in emptiness.
"To borrow Yagami's words, it was a coincidence. It just happened to be still in my pocket." A simple lie. There was nothing more to say, such was the notice from the student body president.
"The noisy festival is over. You too, go back."
"I understand."
I turned to leave the room, and saw Nagumo settling into his chair, eyes closed, with a slight grin on his face.