Disclaimer: Detective Conan and all of its characters belong to Aoyama Gosho, but this fanfiction and my OCs are mine.

Chapter 3

Catching the Rulebreaker

The moment Asagi said that, Ueda became paler. "Pre-President…"

"Easy. I only want to see it."

"T-that…"

"If you're truly sorry, then let me see it, Ueda."

There was an eerie silence hanging between them. Asagi kept looking at Ueda with a relaxed manner and friendly smile while in contrast, Ueda was looking down anxiously. However, not long after, Ueda reached his bag and took out a notebook from there. With a trembled hand, he handed it over to the president. Asagi's smile, which looked warm at first, changed into a victorious smile as he took the notebook from Ueda's hand. He read the name written on the cover before smiling knowingly. He and Inaba were right. The book was for science assignment, physics, and it was not Ueda's.

He opened the book, looking at numbers, formulas, calculations, and marks written in there. The handwriting was similar from the first to the last written page, which meant Ueda had been doing this guy's homework ever since the very front page. There were not many pages written inside, not even half of the book, so Asagi concluded that the book was new when it was given to Ueda and it was only given to him recently. To make sure of his conjecture, he asked Ueda to show his own notebook to him. After comparing the handwriting between the two books, he was certain that both books had Ueda's handwriting in it.

"I'll be taking this with me," Asagi said as he took the notebook that was not Ueda's. "Oh, and your phone as well."

"M-my phone?" Ueda stuttered in panic. "But… President, I need it for my part-time job…"

"Then meet me in the student council's room after school and explain this," the president tapped his index finger on the notebook. "Only after that will I return your phone to you."

"B-but I have to go to my part-time job after school…"

"Call them now. Tell them you can't go today. Or make a replacement schedule. Up to you, but I will still confiscate your phone until you explain everything."

Ueda looked more and more stressed. "Y-you said you only wanted to see it…"

"Yes, if it's your own notebook. But unfortunately, it isn't, and I have confirmed that the handwriting here is yours even though the book isn't yours, so don't blame me for doing this."

Another moment of silence before Ueda nodded in resignation. Under Asagi's watch, he called his superior, informing that he could not go to the part-time job today and requesting a leave or change of schedule. After that, he handed his phone to Asagi. The president took it after asking the owner to unlock the phone, and then changed the setting so that it was not locked anymore. He quickly put it into his pocket before anyone noticed that he had Ueda's phone with him. After all, it would be troublesome to explain why he had his classmate's phone because he did not want to tell anyone that he confiscated it. He did not want to tell the whole class that Ueda had broken the school's rule.

After thanking Ueda for his cooperation, Asagi went outside to meet Inaba. The vice president had been eavesdropping behind the wall near the front door, so when Asagi saw him outside, he did not make a single question about his conversation with Ueda. Instead, they went to a relatively empty hallway nearby to discuss their next plan.

"Are we really going to ask him after school?" Inaba started.

"Yeah, you heard what I said," Asagi said. "Can I ask you to prepare the student council room?"

"That won't be a problem. Should I tell Yoshino and Asakura to come?"

"Ah? Oh," Asagi was taken aback for a moment. He already knew Yoshino, but he did not know the other one. However, strangely he felt familiar with that name. Since Inaba mentioned it alongside Yoshino, he assumed it was the name of another member of the student council. "Yes. Thanks," he said, thinking that it was a chance for him to know the student council better.

"No problem. By the way, what are you going to do with his phone?"

"Since it's impossible for me to check it out now, we will do it together with the others after school as we interrogate Ueda."

"Interrogate… that's quite a harsh word," the vice president remarked with a complicated look. "In that case, should I check it out for you? I know you said it's impossible because you can't let your classmates notice that you have Ueda's phone, but it should be okay if it's me, right?"

"I guess… then, can I trouble you with this?" Actually, Asagi had been meaning to ask this favor, but after asking Inaba to prepare the room and tell the other members, he became reluctant in asking more.

"No problem. You just sit tightly and watch over our culprit. We can't let him get away," Inaba grinned, earning him an amused grin from his president in return.

"Then here. I leave it to you." Asagi handed the phone to him, feeling grateful for the help. Inaba quickly took it and hide it inside his pocket.

"I should get going now, President. We'll meet again after school."

"Mm. I'll see you at the student council room."

Inaba nodded before returning to his own class. Asagi also did not stay any longer in the hallway. As soon as he had determined which class Inaba belonged to (it was class 2-D), He too returned to his class, back to his seat. However, just as he was about to think on how to interrogate the culprit quickly to shorten the meeting time, he remembered a more pressing matter that should have become his priority over anything else.

He did not know where the student council room was.

Aaahhhh! I'm an idiooottt!

How could he?! How could he forget such an important thing?! What should he do now? He did not know where the meeting room (or interrogation room?) was, so how come he could calmly decide to use that room in front of Ueda and Inaba? He was not even the real president—yes, he was not!—so just where did his confidence come from? Just what the hell is wrong with him?!

Done freaking out, Asagi lay his head on the desk, feeling dejected by his stupidity. He did not even understand where did that stupidity come from. He admitted he was not as brilliant as Shinichi, but usually he was not this dumb either.

Asagi was still questioning his current intelligence when he felt a faint vibration from his schoolbag that was hanged at the side of his desk. He reached his schoolbag, looking for the source of the vibration inside, and as the result, he found a phone.

It was a dark blue smartphone. The size was more or less close to his smartphone back in the real world. The brand was different, but the only difference was it lacked one character. Add a certain character and the brand would be his smartphone's brand. One last thing, it was locked with a pattern.

Asagi could see from the notification showed on the lock screen that he received chats, but he could not read it because the phone was locked.

Hah, isn't this great, he grumbled inwardly. Until now, he had no idea he had a smartphone. He did not even think that he would have one in this world. When he prepared books for today's schedule, he did not notice that there was a smartphone inside his schoolbag. It was understandable since the phone was in a different pocket, but to think that he failed to even remember such an important item, Asagi felt like his intelligence truly needed to be questioned, but that was not the only concern he had regarding his phone.

He remembered he did not have a smartphone during high school. It had not even invented yet, but now, he as a high school student suddenly had one in his possession. That meant he became twelve years younger, but he lived in the era when he should already reach his original age. It was such a contradiction that even though he knew it was possible because he was kind of transmigrated, he still had a hard time accepting this situation.

Before he went insane thinking about all the strange things that happened to him, Asagi decided to divert his attention to something else, like his phone's lock. He had no idea what pattern did the Asagi of this world use, so he figured he could only try until he succeeded or find another way, like returning the setting to the default by asking someone from the service center. The problem was: he had no idea where the service center was. On top of it, the new chats he received were from the student council chatgroup. He had to read it as soon as possible since he was about to interrogate a certain rulebreaker as the student council president.

Asagi sighed. It seemed he had no other way but to draw random patterns to unlock his phone.

In that case, let's begin with my pattern. When he thought that, he was thinking about the pattern of his phone in the real world. He drew the pattern on the lock screen and the result was… it unlocked.

Heh?! Asagi could not believe his eyes. Seriously? This easy?

Not only did the Asagi of this world like blue just like him, he also used the same lock pattern for his phone?! Was there any more similarity between them? And more importantly, who exactly was he? Were he and the Asagi of this world the same person or were they a totally different person? The more he spent time in this world, the more confused he was.

"Anyway, let's see the chats," he mumbled as he recalled why he unlocked the phone in the first place. He opened the chat app and clicked on the student council chatgroup. There were chats from Inaba and the other members of the student council. Inaba told the student council to gather in the student council room after school to "interrogate" a rulebreaker as the president instructed. The other members, Yoshino and Asakura, confirmed that they would attend.

Drrtt. His phone vibrated again. This time it was a private chat from Inaba. He told him that he had figured out the rulebreaker's deal with his client through the rulebreaker's phone. He said that he was going to screenshot everything incriminating and then transfer all the pictures to his own phone.

Asagi got good news, but he still felt dejected because he had no idea where the student council room was. Should he run to Inaba's class after school and ask him to go together? But he asked him to prepare the room. He felt he might fall into another trouble if he decided to go together with him. After all, not only did he not have any idea where the student council room was, he also did not know where to get the key to the room.

Then, maybe I should go with Yoshino?

Right, he could try to go with Yoshino and Ueda. Yoshino would lead the way while he would pretend to guard Ueda by walking by his side or behind him so that he would not run away easily. Yes, that sounded good. Let's try that.

Once he made that decision, Asagi immediately contacted Yoshino through his phone. He told her in their chatgroup to come to the student council room with him. He also said that he planned to bring Ueda with him. Yoshino replied immediately, confirming with a single word okay and a cheerful emoticon.

Good. Now that settles. Asagi felt more relieved now. The only thing he had to do was watching over the culprit in his class until school was over. It should not be a problem for him.

~o0o~

The plan was successful!

Asagi breathed in relief when they arrived at the student council room. Like his plan, Yoshino led the way while he walked behind Ueda. They made sure they did not stand out to keep Ueda's matter secret; Yoshino humming happily as she walked at the front, keeping a distance from the two boys behind her while Asagi made an indifferent face, looking like he had nothing else to do. Ueda who was going to be interrogated also looked calm, adjusting himself with the mood of the student council members around him. It was as if he was just walking casually across the hallway even though the truth was he felt very nervous. Once they arrived, they had to wait until Inaba came with the key, but they did not need to wait long because he came in the next minute, but he did not come alone. He brought a long and wavy black-haired girl with him. The moment his eyes caught sight of her, Asagi immediately knew who she was.

Asakura Kaede, the student council's treasurer.

She looks gentle and modest, that was Asagi's first impression of her. She wore a pair of glasses and a pair of hair clips to keep her hair out of her eyes. Her skirt covered her knees, unlike most girls in Teitan High whose skirts were above their knees. She was slightly shorter than the average height of female students, but it only added to her charm, making her look cute and appealing. She wore a warm smile on her face, giving off the impression that she was kind and approachable. To sum it up, she looked like an ideal depiction of an intelligent young lady from a prominent family, elegant and dignified.

"Good afternoon, President, Sumire-san," she greeted them politely the moment she arrived, something that Asagi never expected in a school environment. She was really like a noble lady. Not only did she have the appearance of one, her behavior also supported her appearance. It made Asagi wonder what kind of family she had and with what kind of upbringing she was raised.

"Good afternoon," Asagi greeted her back with the same politeness, but Yoshino jumped at her happily as she returned her greeting, treating her like her bestest friend by hugging her closely.

"Kaede-chan! You changed your hairstyle! I like the loose braid from yesterday, but this style looks good as well! Aaahh, you're the cutest!" Yoshino exclaimed exaggeratedly, but the treasurer only laughed at her act, did not seem to mind her at all. It made Asagi think that the girls had a nice relationship. They seemed close.

"Alright, I've unlocked the door. Let's get inside," Inaba said, turning all attention to him. The vice president opened the door before striding inside, followed by the girls. Asagi signaled Ueda to go inside before him. When all the necessary people including him had gotten inside, as the last person to enter, Asagi closed the door. He then walked towards his seat beside the vice president almost on autopilot. He had expected he would not know where to sit just like this morning in his class, but strangely, this time he just knew where his seat was and even went there almost in autopilot mode as if his body was moving on its own. To add to his confusion, he also felt familiar with this room. Sure, there was nothing special in the student council room. It was only a classroom with different arrangements and purposes. Unlike a normal classroom that had desks arranged in rows, the desks here were arranged to form a shape of a rectangle. At the front of the room, there were several other desks arranged to face the rectangular desks. Also, there was a desktop PC to assist the student council's work and bookshelves to store documents, but that was the only addition that made the room different compared to a normal classroom. All in all, the student council room looked like a meeting room instead of a classroom, but that was it. Nothing else was different compared to a normal classroom, so Asagi wondered why he felt familiar with it even though he did not have any feelings towards his own class.

"Well then, shall we start the meeting, President?" Asakura said, returning him from his reverie.

"Ehm. Right," Asagi coughed. He took a look around, making sure everyone was already seated. The student council members sat behind the desks at the front of the room while Ueda sat on a single chair, facing the student council members. On Yoshino's desk were a note and a phone, readied by the secretary to record the meeting. On Inaba's desk was Ueda's phone, presented as evidence of a violation. Even Asakura, the treasurer, also brought out her own notebook in case there was something she needed to note from this meeting. The only thing missing was another evidence, Ueda's client's notebook. Asagi took out the book from his schoolbag and placed it on his desk. Now, they were all ready.

"Student of class 2-C, Ueda Naoki-san," he started, "we have found you to be guilty of doing other student's homework more than once. We have your phone and the other student's notebook as evidence. Do you have any explanation for this?"

"I…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…" Ueda muttered, looking resigned but at the same time scared.

"Ueda, I'm asking you if you have any explanation for your misconduct," Asagi repeated. "I know you're sorry, but even if we forgive you, that doesn't mean we will just let it slide without explanation. Do you understand?"

"Ye-yes…"

"Since you've understood, then explain to us. Explain why you violate the rule by doing other's homework, who is the other student, and how the two of you finally made this deal."

Ueda bit his lips. He did not say anything, but Asagi and the others were patiently waiting. After a while, the scared guy finally spoke up.

"I… I did it because I need money… he said he will pay me, so… so I did it…"

"How much does he pay you?"

"2000 yen per assignment."

"How long have you been working for him?"

"Around a month, I think."

"Does he want you to work only in physics? Or does he ask you for another subject as well?"

"No, just physics."

"Why?"

"I don't know. He just said he needed me to do it."

"Hmm…" as Asagi questioning Ueda, a sound of a pen scratching the paper could be heard in the quiet room. Yoshino was diligently writing everything even though her phone had been recording since the start. Meanwhile, Asakura was only sitting silently with her hands on her lap, waiting to move the pen readied on the desk while at the same time, Inaba was marking something on his phone, cross-checking some facts that he had gathered from Ueda's phone.

"You said you need money," Asagi continued, "but you also told me that you go to a part-time job. Is your salary from your part-time job not sufficient? You even violate the school rule to get some money. Why are you so desperate to get money?"

"Uh… that…" Ueda fidgeted at his seat, looking very troubled by the question. "President, can I not answer this?"

"No. Answer," Asagi replied shortly and demandingly. He left no room to talk, so in the end, the poor guy was forced to answer.

"My mom… she is ill."

"How ill? Since when?"

"She's got colorectal cancer. It's been over a month."

"You mean you need money to pay your mother's treatment?"

"Yes, and… because her illness is grave, she has to resign from her job."

"What was your mother's job?"

"My mom was a childcare worker."

"What about your father?"

Ueda shook his head. "Mom is a single parent. I never know who my dad is."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"No."

"Relative?"

"No. Mom… she left her family after she got pregnant with me."

"I see…" Asagi paused. So this student was having a financial problem due to his mother's illness. That was quite a sad story. He noticed that his friends also seemed to agree with him. It was obvious judging by how they look. Asakura was gloomy, Yoshino was teary-eyed, and Inaba was frowning deeply, looking pained and concerned.

I guess it's good that they are sad. It means they are all good people, he thought. But it wouldn't do if they took everything that they heard without confirming.

"You should have told us everything before making such a dirty deal," Asagi rebuked his classmate. "You wouldn't have to violate the rule if you've told us or your homeroom teacher at least. We would've helped you and your mother."

"I'm sorry… I just… I don't want to be a burden…" Ueda said pathetically. From the look on his face, Asagi could see that he was remorseful of what he had done.

"Sometimes it's better to ask someone for help rather than endure everything alone. You have to remember that humans are social creatures that can't live alone."

"Yes…"

"Well, enough with that. Tell me about your client," Asagi shifted the topic. He could feel that the atmosphere around him turned serious again. His friends straightened their back and returned their focus to the problem at hand, completely discarded their previous sadness.

"He's from class 1-A. His name is Hasegawa Ryuta."

Hasegawa Ryuta, 1-A. That information was also written on the notebook that he confiscated.

"Hasegawa… Ryuta?" Yoshino looked so surprised. "Hasegawa Ryuta, class 1-A?"

"Yes," Ueda nodded.

"What's wrong, Yoshino?" Asagi asked, quite curious with her sudden reaction.

"It's Hasegawa-kun! His sister is a famous voice actress! I'm her fan!" the girl replied in shock. "Are you sure it's him? Hey, don't lie to me!"

"It's him! I'm really sure. I know him," Ueda insisted. "Really, I'm not lying!"

"Okay, that's enough, Yoshino," the president stopped them before their argument became something bigger. To divert their focus back to the main topic, he then immediately asked Ueda, "Do you know anything about Hasegawa?"

"Yes, well… He's rich, obviously. His older sister is a voice actress, just like Yoshino said before. I heard he himself was scouted by a model agency recently," he answered.

"That's right! He is a model now," Yoshino confirmed abruptly in excitement. "I can assure you he's right, President. We have the background record of all students including him. I also have his photo during his debut."

"When exactly was he scouted? And when was his debut?" this time, Asagi asked his secretary. To have a student in his school working as a model, that was a new experience for him. During his high-school days, his school prohibited the student from working as a celebrity, so being a model was of course not allowed. That was why, when he found out that there was a student who worked as a model, he felt quite interested.

"I'm not sure, but he already joined the agency two months ago. He bragged to everyone on social media that he had become a model," Yoshino answered. "Regarding his debut, it was a month ago. He was in a teenage magazine—oh, right, I told you I have his debut photo. I have his first magazine, President!"

"You seem to like him a lot," Asagi remarked amusedly.

"Well… I told you I'm his sister's fan. He himself is quite attractive… ehehe…" Yoshino smiled sheepishly, looking like a devoted fangirl. It had been a long time since Asagi saw this kind of expression because in the real world, people around him were mostly adults who did not care much about celebrities in their life. Even if they were admiring some celebrities, their adult mentality would help them keep their emotion in check, so such feelings could rarely be seen on their face. Now that he had a chance to witness it so clearly, he had to admit he felt quite amused.

"Since you're their fans, do you know where they live and with whom?" Asagi asked her.

"Of course! They live in a moderate apartment, just the two of them. They have a housekeeper that works on Monday, Thursday, and Friday," when she said this, Yoshino looked so proud. Again, Asagi was amused seeing this.

"You said they lived alone? What about their parents?"

"Their parents divorced. They used to live with their mother after the divorce, but then their mother remarried. Since then, they started to live by themselves."

"Okay." Asagi turned his attention back to his classmate. "Ueda, tell me how you met Hasegawa."

"We met coincidentally during my part-time job. I was working in a convenience store and he was there to buy something. He recognized me and started talking to me. I didn't mind because he was the only customer at the time. I told him about my mother, about my condition, and then, he just offered me that deal," Ueda answered.

"Did you accept it immediately?"

"No… I was hesitating because I knew I would break the rule… but after a week, I started to notice how much trouble I was in. I take more than one job—uh, three part-time jobs, in fact, but it barely covers my living expense. As for mom's treatment, I still rely on mom's savings, but I know it will all be used up if I don't earn more cash… Not to mention I still have to pay my school tuition and save some cash for the field trip. Mom's treatment will take a long time. Also, she may not be able to work immediately after she finishes her treatment. I have to get a job with a higher salary to cover our living expense… but I'm just a high school student, so there isn't much I can do, and taking three part-time jobs is already my limit; if I take more, I'm afraid I will violate the maximum hour of part-time job for student." Ueda paused, taking a breath before continuing, "That's why I finally took up his offer. The payment per assignment also sounds very generous to me. I'm good at physics—I can finish the assignment in less than two hours—and at most I only have to work on the assignment twice a week. It's a good offer."

"Have you told him about me suspecting you?"

"Yes, but until you confiscated my phone, I haven't gotten any reply."

"Inaba?" this time, Asagi turned to his vice president, wanting to confirm if Ueda's claim was true.

"He told Hasegawa-kun that you might have been suspecting him, that's true," Inaba confirmed, "but he did reply when the phone was in my hand."

"What did he say?"

"He asked to return his book tomorrow morning. He also said that they shouldn't contact each other for a while."

"Hmm, why tomorrow morning? Why not today after school?" Asagi pondered loudly. "Can you answer me, Ueda?"

"That… maybe because he just handed his book to me this morning. He must be thinking I won't be able to finish his homework today."

"Wait, there's something strange in your excuse," Asakura suddenly interjected. "We're just returning to school after winter vacation, so there should be no homework yet this week. I take it that Hasegawa-kun's homework is his winter vacation assignment?"

Asagi was surprised. it was his first time hearing that they were actually just returning to school again after winter vacation and that there should be no homework this week other than the homework for winter vacation. He stared at Ueda again, demanding his explanation.

"Is that true?"

"Yes," Ueda admitted.

"Then why did he only hand his book to you this morning? He should've been able to do that during holidays."

"I-I don't know," Ueda nervously answered. He squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, looking very uneasy. "Really, he just gave me the book this morning. I'm not lying to you."

"Maybe Hasegawa-kun was busy during the holiday. After all, he's a model now," Yoshino guessed. "Or maybe he forgot until recently."

"That may be possible. Alright, let's just assume you're telling us the truth," Asagi said. "I still have a question about your previous claim, though. You said you haven't finished it?" He opened the notebook, checking out the last page to see it for himself. However, he just remembered that he was not good at physics and it had been years since the last time he learned it, so he could not confirm for sure whether or not Ueda had finished it.

"Y-yes. There are still three problems to solve. I… I stopped when you approached me this morning, President," Ueda answered.

"Is that so. What do you think, Inaba?" the president shifted the notebook to Inaba's desk, asking him to check it out.

"Well, this problem is pretty much solved," he answered a moment later as he pointed the last problem-solving in the notebook, "but if he said there are still three problems to go, maybe the problems itself hasn't been copied to this notebook."

"You mean these physics questions are from the textbook?"

"Yes. He got the problems from the picture sent by Hasegawa. Look here, President," this time, Inaba showed him a picture on his phone. Indeed, it was a picture of physics questions from a textbook. There were several of them, each of them had different questions.

"I see. Thanks, Inaba." Asagi was about to return his attention to Ueda again, but he spotted a name in the picture that Inaba showed him. It was the short version of Hasegawa's first name, Ryu.

"Say, Ueda, are you close to Hasegawa? Are you two good friends?"

"Huh?" Ueda seemed to be taken aback. "No, not at all."

"But you called him Ryu in your phone."

"That's just how I named his contact. I reckoned it would be too dangerous if I named his contact with his surname or his full given name."

"Ooh, so you were being careful," Asagi replied, "but why did you do his homework at school? It would be safer if you did it at home, right?"

"I don't usually have much time. Every morning I have to work part-time, and then visit my mom in the hospital before school. After school, I will have to work on another part-time job and it will only end after dinner. I also have my own homework to finish. After dinner is supposed to be the time for studying and doing my own homework before going to bed. That's why I have to finish Hasegawa's homework at school. I can't delay it too since he wanted me to submit it tomorrow because the due date is the day after tomorrow."

"So even without him asking to return the book tomorrow, you will still return it tomorrow."

"Yes. If there's nothing wrong, it should be okay to return it tomorrow after school, but now…"

"It can't be helped. He must be scared when you told him how the president might have suspected you. It would be best if the book was returned to him as soon as possible before the president noticed," Asakura chimed in. "In any case, it's clear that Hasegawa-kun will collect his notebook tomorrow morning. I think we can probably catch him red-handed then."

"Wait, if we do that, we will implicate Ueda. He's come here to admit his mistake, so catching him red-handed when he's returning Hasegawa's homework will sully his name as well. It will be unfair to him," Inaba quickly rejected. "Isn't it better to catch him with another way?"

"For instance?"

"Well, like telling his teacher about his misconduct first, and then let the teacher call him to settle the problem?" Inaba suggested. "Of course, we will also tell Ueda's teacher too, but his punishment should be lighter since he has come forward to admit his mistake to us."

"He wouldn't admit it if President didn't notice him working on Hasegawa-kun's homework. He was just caught red-handed."

"That… uh, I guess that's true, but hey, he was forced by his circumstance to do it. At least we should sympathize with this."

"I agree with Vice President," this time it was Yoshino. "No need to catch them red-handed. If we do that, we may create another bullying in the future. After all, not everyone here is forgiving and kind and we still have a bullying case to solve. We don't need to add our problems."

Asakura stared at her accusingly. "You just want to protect your dear Hasegawa-kun, don't you? That's why you agree with him."

"What?! No, I don't!"

"No need to pretend. You're his sister's fan after all."

"Kaede-chan, I told you that's not true!"

As his friends presenting their opinion complete with their argument, Asagi was listening in silence, contemplating. Each of them had a sound argument. Inaba was right that they should sympathize with Ueda, Asakura was right that Ueda was caught red-handed, and Yoshino was right that catching Ueda and Hasegawa red-handed together might cause another bullying. On the surface, it seemed it would be best to agree with Inaba, but Asagi could not immediately make that decision because while it was true that they had to sympathize with Ueda, he was also aware that Inaba had that thought because he trusted Ueda. Asagi could not trust anyone that easily, not without any proof. Besides, even if Ueda was right and they all agreed with Inaba, it still did not guarantee that there would not be any bullying because at the end of the day, the final decision would not be in the hands of the student council, but the teachers. If the teachers decided to share Ueda dan Hasegawa's misconduct with the entire school as an example, who could guarantee they would not be bullied? Not only that, if they caught them red-handed, they might cause a dispute between Hasegawa and Ueda because there was a possibility of Hasegawa thinking that Ueda had betrayed him. Hasegawa was rich while on the contrary if what he claimed was right, Ueda was poor. Who knows what he could do to Ueda if he really thought that the guy had betrayed him?

"Let's just go with Inaba's plan for now," Asagi decided, stopping the girls from arguing about the model. "Inaba and Yoshino have a point. We can't catch Hasegawa red-handed whether publicly or privately. Let's leave it to the teachers."

"President, are you suggesting us to hide their misconduct? We can't!" Asakura argued, still insisted on her own idea.

"You're wrong, Asakura. I don't intend to hide their mistake. I only intend to let them be punished without the need of publicizing it to the whole school," the president straightened his point. "We can't implicate Ueda, just like Inaba said, because according to him, he is forced by his circumstances. Yoshino was right as well that if we catch them red-handed, we may cause another bullying. That's why, let's just deal with it quietly. The teachers will know their misconduct and punish them fairly, but we don't need the other students to know."

"Fine, we can't implicate Ueda-kun, but what about Hasegawa-kun? Why must we be quiet when he's the one who started the deal in the first place? Are you sure you're not trying to protect his reputation as a model?"

"I don't have any reason to protect his reputation, but he does. What do you think will happen if we catch them red-handed? Do you think Hasegawa will just keep quiet and accept his punishment? He's rich and has a reputation to protect. Do you think he will just let it go? He may not be able to do anything about his punishment, but what about the one who makes him get punished?"

"As if he can do anything to our teacher. He may be rich and famous, but he isn't that powerful, President."

"No. What I mean isn't teachers, nor us the student council," Asagi said sharply. "I mean the one who gives us his testimony. The one who tells us about him. I mean Ueda."

For a moment, the room was filled with silence. Ueda gaped in shock while the other members of the student council only stared at the president with wide eyes. Their thoughts were obvious: they never thought that far ahead.

"You all agree not to implicate Ueda and not to cause more bullying, so you should be able to understand now how dangerous it can be if we catch them red-handed tomorrow," Asagi continued after a while. "Of course, reporting it to the teachers doesn't guarantee other students will not know. The teachers may decide that they should let the other students know to make an example, so the bullying will probably still happen in the end. It also doesn't guarantee that Hasegawa won't blame Ueda for the punishment he receives. It's still possible he will bear grudge against him even if we catch them separately. After all, Ueda did tell us about him and hand his book to us, but my point is, let's just do what we can to avoid causing such atrocity because if we catch them together, it will only make Ueda look more convincing to be a traitor who deliberately betrays Hasegawa."

The other three finally agreed with Inaba's plan after Asagi persuaded them with his explanation. Ueda was thankful and relieved as well. They chatted for another few minutes, planning their next step as well as collecting Ueda's home address, his mother's hospital, and his part-time job location as a precaution in case something unexpected happened and they needed to find him. After that, Asagi returned Ueda's phone and let him leave the school safely. After Ueda left the school, the president made another instruction to his fellow student council members.

"I need two people to investigate Ueda's claim. Go to his home, his workplaces, and his mother's hospital, see if his circumstances are just as he told us. The rest will go with me to report to our advisor. I'm sorry to say this, but I'm not the best choice to investigate right now. It will be best if I am the one who reports to our advisor since Ueda is my classmate and I was the one who caught him red-handed."

"That's fine, but Nagayama, are you implying that you don't trust Ueda?" Inaba was surprised hearing the instruction. "But I thought you believed him—you said you agreed with me!"

"I don't trust anyone easily without proof. I can't just swallow everything I've been fed with."

"Ah…" the vice president was stunned the moment he got a reply. "Oh, haha… I guess you're right. Sorry." He scratched his head awkwardly, seemingly noticing his mistake for trusting Ueda too much without any proof. Yoshino was the same as well, laughing stiffly and avoiding her president's eyes. Asakura was silent, but the way she clamped her mouth and gripped her pen tightly gave away her thought. Clearly, just like the other two, she had realized her naivety and was even ashamed of it.

"So, I take it all of you do agree with me?" Asagi asked his friends again. When he received their positive reply, he thanked them before asking, "So who is going to investigate?"

Yoshino volunteered because she said that one of Ueda's workplaces was near her home. Inaba then volunteered to go with her because he feared a girl would be in trouble if she went around investigating by herself, which meant Asakura would be the one who accompanied Asagi to report to their advisor. Once the decision was made, Asagi copied Ueda's phone evidences from Inaba's phone before ended the meeting. He then split up with Inaba and Yoshino. They went to do their own job as did he with Asakura.

"Shall we go, President?" Asakura asked after their two friends were gone. One of her hands was holding onto her schoolbag while the other had a student council room key, the key that Inaba had left with her to be returned. Asagi wanted to nod at her immediately, but he stopped when suddenly a problem arose in his head: he did not know where and who the advisor was. However, that problem was soon solved when he thought he could ask Asakura to lead the way.

"Yes." At last, he answered. "Asakura, please lead the way."

~o0o~

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