Classroom of the Elite: The Eroge

by LanceSennin

When Ayanokouji Kiyotaka wished for something that can interest him in his new school, he didn't think it would be something like this. After waking up with some weird texts appearing around him and finding out that he is some kind of 'Protagonist' with the power of raising 'Flags', will he be able to survive what's about to come his way? Inspired by SaintInfernalNeos' fic.

23. This Case is Taking Forever!

1,000 follows for a dead archive in this site? Let this be the start of a new age of authors writing for the Classroom of the Elite archive with me leading the charge, as the Ace! More authors have to be convinced! Truthfully speaking, this milestone wouldn't have happened without all your support. Next stop, 1,000 faves! I will continue to push past boundaries as the Ace, mark my words.

COTE: The Eroge Playlist: h-t-t-p-s-:-/-/-you-tube-.-com-/-playlist-?-list=PLzapQr6Br4elz3lo7fOkE34DjcBEnJB87

Discord link: [discord . gg / 4y5QVPj]

Disclaimer: I don't own Classroom of the Elite but if I did, there will be MAJOR CHANGES.

---

The following day, which was a Sunday, Kiyotaka felt strangely motivated to do something that he can waste his time on. He had woken up from a particularly relaxing sleep, which was actually the seventh consecutive day that this happened, outside of when he woke up and saw that Ichika had been watching him sleep prior to it.

However, knowing the system, it's only a matter of time where it decides to mess with him again. There's no way that this string of good things is happening without some kind of consequence in the end. He was already preparing for it as early as now so when it comes, he wouldn't be caught off guard like he had been several times in the past. Example being? When he was asked by Yosuke to be Kei and Airi's tutor for the midterms.

Only one day remained before the scheduled hearing between Miyake and the three students of Class C, and if a certain someone had not spoken up about her possible contributions to the case, then Class D would have most likely lost the whole thing entirely. They would be one classmate less with Miyake being expelled as a result, and that is if Kiyotaka decided not to rely on his trump card which was in the hands of his chaotic roommate.

However, because Sakura Airi finally decided to admit that she had an involvement in the whole affair as its witness, Class D had no reason to worry anymore. As an added assurance, she even had a video file that showed everything that happened. Well, not exactly everything, but she managed to record the important part which was the fight itself and the people who were truly at fault.

Kiyotaka felt that he could just spend the whole day resting within the confines of his dorm unit, since their problems have already been solved with Airi's choice to present evidence and testify on behalf of Akito. However, he knew that there's no chance of that happening because he had an agreement with a select few people yesterday that they would be meeting with Chabashira-sensei in order to inform her about what Airi knew.

Well, he still had time before that happens at least… which is why the first thing he did after waking up was brew a quick cup of coffee and toast a few bread slices as a light breakfast. When Ichika woke up from her slumber not too long after, she was surprised that he was already awake because of how much he liked to sleep.

"You're awake earlier than usual, senpai. Do you have any plans today?" she asked him.

"Is it a bad thing for me to be up earlier than you, Amasawa?"

"No, but as far as I know, you'd never pass up on the opportunity to sleep if it's right in front of you, senpai~

After telling her that he was planning to have a little walk around campus for a morning exercise, Ichika quickly asked if she could come along, which he answered with a shrug.

Although, he did tell her that he wouldn't wait for her very long because sooner or later, a few of his classmates will ask him to join them in meeting up with their teacher. He wanted to have as much time to himself before that happens.

That was all that Ichika needed to hear. She quickly got off the bed and joined him for breakfast, not wanting to miss out on the opportunity to spend more time with her senpai on a weekend.

Kiyotaka took a quick shower after eating (surprisingly, Ichika was still embarrassed about the time that they took a bath together so she didn't go about with her usual shenanigans), before putting on a nice pair of blue track pants and a loose shirt. He then waited for her to be finished preparing, which took about ten minutes before joining him at the door as they left together.

For the next hour, the two went on a walk around the campus, working up a sweat and taking in the morning air. There weren't many people around yet because it was still very early in the morning, letting them do as they wished without any inconvenience.

"Man, it really is hot today, senpai…" Ichika complained as they passed by Keyaki Mall for the second time, her shirt almost completely stained with sweat.

"It's still early in the morning and you're complaining about how hot it is?" he gave her a look of wonder, unable to believe that someone from that place would complain about the morning heat. There's no way that she's not trying to fool around like she always does. "Maybe you should have stayed back in the apartment instead of going with me."

Ichika pouted and shook her head in response. "No way, I want to be with senpai while he's out here in the morning! Besides, it's more fun to do this while you're with someone else, you know?"

"Perhaps, if I was accompanied by someone who's less annoying."

"Hehe, you flatter me, senpai!" she giggled, switching moods in an instant as she winked at him. Oh, how she enjoyed and treasured these interactions she always has with her senpai. "Want me to hug you~?"

"Do it later, when you're not so sweaty and after a nice change of clothes."

"But that's the best part!" she whined playfully.

They continued to roam around the campus before stopping in front of the school building for a quick break. While Ichika sat at a bench to rest, Kiyotaka purchased two bottles of water for them both. After giving his companion her water bottle, he sat down beside her and leaned back, having a moment of peace to himself while things were still relatively normal around him.

"Senpai, if I sat on your lap, how would you react~?"

…and it's over just as it began. Great.

He took a glance at the young girl, who was already laughing at the possible response she would get from him.

Unfortunately for Amasawa, the young man was actually prepared for her today, so he knew the appropriate response to give her this time around.

"Ho? Where was this boldness when I was taking a shower earlier? Why didn't you ask me about taking a bath with me again? I was actually waiting for you to ask me again earlier, and I wondered why you didn't even bat an eye at me while I was heading to the bathroom. The whole time, you were only focused on eating breakfast and nothing else," Kiyotaka pointed out.

Ichika blinked, completely caught off guard with his words as she wasn't expecting him to bring that up. She thought that he would just give her a look of annoyance as he always does, then she'd laugh in amusement at his reaction. She didn't expect that he would bite back with a teasing remark of his own, and the worst part is that he was doing it with his usual blank expression.

"Could it be that you're still embarrassed about taking a bath with me, Amasawa? Is that memory still fresh in your mind?" he pressed on, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Sen—"

He silenced her by pressing a finger against her mouth, making her blush. "If you're going to make excuses, Amasawa, then don't bother. If you're going to tease me as you always do, just know that I'm the type of person who doesn't take things lying down. If you tease me, then I will tease you back."

With those words, Kiyotaka stopped his verbal attack on his roommate, who could only stare owlishly at him for what just happened. It took a while for her to respond but once she felt that she could speak again, she sighed in defeat but retained a teasing grin.

"Oh, fine… you win for now, senpai… that's really clever, by the way. Using my feelings for you to your advantage and making me embarrassed~" she chuckled in amusement while praising the person she looked up to the most. "As expected of the Masterpiece!"

[You have gained 5 Affection Points with Amasawa Ichika!]

[You are showing your heroines that you're not someone that can be teased around without consequences! You gained +15 in Charm!]

"Yeah, yeah…" he shook his head while ignoring those notifications. It didn't get Ichika to shut her mouth for very long, but his efforts at least got her to stop teasing him. "Can you not bother me for a while? I'd like to rest without thinking about anything right now. Sooner or later, Hasebe and the others will ask me to join them in meeting up with Chabashira-sensei."

Ichika shrugged in a playful manner. "Well, I suppose you do deserve it, senpai~ I suppose I'll walk around this area for a bit!"

Giving him another wink, Ichika stood up from the bench and left him alone for now, letting

His mind went back to yesterday's events, when he and Kushida secured Sakura's role as a witness in Miyake's trial tomorrow, a witness who had irrefutable evidence of his innocence. After making her intentions clear about helping their classmate, the pair informed Suzune (who felt a little bummed that she wasn't with them sooner) about Airi. After telling their raven-haired classmate about this new development, they told Akito and Haruka that they had succeeded in finding the witness, and that they'll bring her to them so they can see who it is.

They brought Airi to Akito's dorm unit, where the victim himself and Haruka were waiting for them. Suzune arrived soon after, followed by Kei (whom Kiyotaka informed about Airi's involvement since she was the girl's closest friend). Once they were all gathered together, Kikyo began to explain how Airi became an unintentional witness in the whole case, to which the girl herself could only respond by apologizing and promising to make up for her grave mistake no matter what. The first step to that was showing everyone the video she took of the whole fight, the solid evidence they had against the accusations towards Akito.

To Airi's surprise, Akito wasn't angry or displeased with her in any way. In fact, he even thanked her for stepping up with the evidence she possessed and only felt grateful that he wasn't alone. He also thanked her for helping him after he was attacked. When she tried to argue that if she only spoke up that time instead of acting all-cowardly, Akito made it clear that he didn't care and he was just glad that he wasn't alone.

Knowing that Miyake wasn't angry with him managed to ease the burden on poor Sakura Airi. She still felt that the blame was on her for the issue blowing up into this, but her worries regarding what Miyake thought of her made things better somewhat.

With Airi choosing to finally admit that she witnessed the incident as well as having taken a video of the whole scene when it happened, things should have ended well. Though the trial was on Monday, they now secured a guaranteed victory for them with their video evidence. However, one person in particular wasn't too accepting of it at first, even though she should have been.

---

"Sakura-san, why didn't you come out with this information earlier?"

While everyone else looked elated that their victory was all but guaranteed at this point, Haruka was the complete opposite. She wasn't smiling at all, even though she should be happy that her friend wasn't going to be pronounced guilty.

A deep frown formed on her face as she started walking slowly towards the red-haired girl and by now, everyone else in the room could already tell that this wasn't going to end well.

"I-I just—"

"We could have used this information earlier, so why is it that you waited until now to tell us that you were there the whole time, and you recorded what happened?"

Airi could only lower her head in shame, having no appropriate answer to that. She knew it was true and she knew how horrible her actions were. She had no excuse for herself, so all she could do was take all of it in while telling herself over and over that Haruka was right.

"Uhm, Hasebe-san, Sakura-san never wanted to wait until today to tell us," Kikyo spoke in a calm tone on behalf of the redhead.

"Really? Then why didn't she say anything? To Miyacchi? He was the victim, right? If not him, why not Ayanokouji-kun? She's always with him, correct?"

"She was just nervous about the attention she would have gotten from speaking up, that's all."

"Nervous about attention? What the hell is there to be nervous about? We would have been thankful to her for recording the whole thing, I don't get how she'd be nervous from people patting her on the back!" Haruka argued. "And now that Miyacchi's trial is only two days away, she finally says something? I don't get it. Tell me, Sakura-san! Why didn't you speak up sooner!"

"Hey, don't yell at Airi-chan like that, Hasebe-san!" Kei spoke up in defense of her friend. She stood in front of the red-haired girl in a protective manner, preventing Haruka from getting any closer. "She told us what she knows in the end, anyway. As far as I'm concerned, things turned out well."

"I just want to know why she didn't tell us about it earlier, Karuizawa-san. We could have known about this earlier. While we were searching for a witness, she was there this whole time. Must have been pretty good, watching everything unfold while you know something important."

"Haruka, stop being mad at her already."

This time, it was Akito who spoke on behalf of Airi.

Getting up from his seat, he walked over towards Haruka and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her away from Airi. The girl turned her head to glance at him, and she wasn't exactly pleased about being interrupted.

"Miyacchi, I need to know why—"

Akito frowned. "You don't need to know anything. Karuizawa already saw it, Haruka. Sakura came out with the information she had, that's what matters."

"I still don't get why she didn't tell anyone before this. I just want to know why she kept this to herself for almost a week."

He gave her a look of disappointment, before pointing towards Airi. "Look at her. You scared her to the point that she may not even talk to us anymore. It already took a lot out of her to even admit that she saw everything that happened. Don't make it worse, Haruka."

Kiyotaka and Suzune exchanged looks. Although they remained quiet throughout this whole ordeal, both had the same feelings regarding the situation.

This was going to take a while…

---

"At least Hasebe didn't remain emotional for very long."

Eventually, the issue was resolved and Haruka apologized for her behavior, both to Airi and everyone else. She had given in to her emotions right away after finding out that the witness they had been searching for this whole time, feeling that all the time they had spent searching for someone outside of the classroom had been for naught. Everyone who was in the dorm unit with her could understand her feelings, so no one really blamed her for her momentary outburst.

Even Airi couldn't blame her, though Haruka insisted that it was wrong of her to lash out at her without hearing her out first. The redhead subsequently accepted the apology, although Kiyotaka had a feeling that the two girls would never be seen alone together, or even within a few meters of each other. Whether it's out of fear or to prevent something bad from happening, he was quite certain that Airi will start avoiding Haruka as much as possible.

But who knows? Maybe they could be friends, in spite of the rocky start. It's pretty much how Suzune and Kikyo ended up as friends, no matter how much the latter denies it. Ironically, Kikyo was the one who wanted to be friends with her.

"Senpai, look at this!"

Hearing Ichika's voice calling out to him, Kiyotaka snapped himself out of his thoughts and turned towards his kouhai. At the very least, she allowed him a few minutes of peace and quiet before dragging him back to the real world for whatever reason… most likely to annoy him again, probably.

He turned his head to the direction of her voice, and he noticed that Ichika was standing right beside the bulletin board outside of the school building. From the looks of it, it seemed like she wanted him to look at something that was posted on it.

Walking over to the bulletin board, he noticed that there was indeed a peculiar object posted on it. A little poster on the board stated that they were looking for students with information related to Akito and Class C, or if they were anywhere near the public bath last Sunday.

"Someone put up a poster asking for information? I don't recall this being here back then," he tilted his head curiously, unable to recall any instance in the past week that this poster was here. It could only mean that this was recently attached, but who could have done it? Someone from his class? He doubted it, but it's certainly possible.

"I don't think it's gonna be of any help, senpai. The case is tomorrow," Ichika shrugged. "And you already have your witness, right?"

"That's true, but I think it'll be advantageous for our side. If anything, it'll make it seem like Class D still doesn't have any evidence to support Miyake. And I'm sure that the person behind this only wanted to help. There's nothing wrong with that."

"But with this poster being here, that also means Class C will end up seeing it. They'll be aware that you're looking for a witness, if they're not already aware, of course."

The 'Masterpiece' gave her a deadpan look. "They have no idea who the witness is, do they? I'm not worried about Class C in the very least."

"No matter what the odds are, you're not even bothered by what's coming your way… you're so amazing, senpai~!"

Ignoring the incoming barrage of praises from his roommate, Kiyotaka turned his attention solely towards the poster on the board. It couldn't have been any of his close acquaintances in the class, since they already had knowledge of who the witness was. However, that leaves the window open for someone like Hirata, Inogashira, or Mori since they were very willing to help Akito themselves. It could also have been done by someone outside of their class, with Ichinose being the first to come to mind.

Either way, somebody was trying to help. While the poster itself may seem like a weak effort, the one who made it also wrote that they'd be willing to give points to helpful informants. With that offer on the table, even those who are apathetic to the situation would pay attention. It's interesting that the person behind it would be willing to give away points for information though, which could only mean that it truly is someone outside of their class…

"Oh, Ayanokouji-kun! I didn't think I'd see you here on a Sunday. Good morning!" a familiar voice called out from behind him.

Kiyotaka turned around to see Honami approaching him, waving her hand in greeting. Talk about perfect timing. He returned the gesture right away before speaking up, "Hello, Ichinose."

Before Honami could say anything in return, a girl in twin-tails came out from behind Kiyotaka and waved her hand in greeting as well, before sending her a cheeky grin.

"Hi, Ichinose-senpai~"

"Uhm… hello," Honami waved at her just to be polite, before raising an eyebrow curiously. She had never seen this person before but somehow, the girl knew who she was and based on how she was addressed, it's someone who's younger than her. "How did you know who I was?"

"Didn't senpai here just say your name? Of course I know what your name is, Ichinose-senpai."

That response did nothing but create more confusion for the pink-haired girl. Is she supposed to be their junior? That wouldn't make sense, because she and Kiyotaka were freshmen themselves. Also, why does it seem like she knows him personally…?

"Ignore the smartass remark from the little devil. She just likes to mess with other people, especially those she finds interesting," Kiyotaka spoke up as he shook his head in exasperation.

"Do you know her, Ayanokouji-kun?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course he knows who I am~ I'm Ayanokouji-senpai's—"

The girl was cut off when Kiyotaka slapped his hand over her mouth, muffling her voice. "She's a relative of one of the staff here. I met her a week ago and ever since then, she never stopped following me around like an obsessed fangirl."

Ichika looked up at her senpai and gave him an annoyed expression, but didn't do anything to refute that claim. Since Kiyotaka didn't want her to have fun, there's no point in continuing to tease Honami.

"Oh," the pinkette blinked in surprise. "She must be really fond of you, huh?"

"You have no idea."

Honami chuckled at the tired expression on his face when he answered her question. Because of that, it may not be a good idea to continue with this topic, so she quickly thought of something else that they can talk about.

"Well then, what are you doing here, Ayanokouji-kun? Surely, it's not to go to your classes on a Sunday, right?"

Kiyotaka shrugged. "Went for a walk around the whole school since it's still early. Ran into this little devil on the way and she decided to just tag along. You?"

"I was just heading back to the dorms after buying some essentials at the convenience store," she replied, holding up a plastic bag that she had in her other hand.

"I see. Can I ask you something, Ichinose?" he asked, earning a nod from the girl. "I saw this poster on the bulletin board. I thought that someone from my class put it up there, but I found it to be unlikely. Was it someone from your class who posted it?"

Honami's eyes widened in interest as she joined him in looking at the board. She observed the poster before her while rubbing her chin in deep thought.

"Hmm. I see, I see. So this is what he did…"

"I'm right, then?"

"Yeah, this is what he told me when he said he'll— oh, he's actually here! Good morning, Kanzaki-kun."

Honami raised her arm and waved towards a newcomer who was about to jog past them. Kiyotaka turned around to see a young man who was about the same height as him, had violet hair, and purple eyes. The boy, who seemed like he had been jogging around the campus, saw Honami and stopped in his activity before approaching them.

"Did you put this up, Kanzaki-kun?" she asked, pointing to the poster on the board.

Kanzaki took a single glance at the poster and nodded. "Yeah. I made it and posted it on Friday. Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, no. Not at all. My friend here just wanted to know who did it," she smiled. "Ah, I'll introduce you two. Kanzaki Ryuuji from Class B, this is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka from Class D."

"Nice to meet you, Kanzaki."

"Same here."

As the two shook hands, Kiyotaka noticed that Honami's classmate appeared to be a stiff and serious student, but considering how he was the one who made the poster on the bulletin board, he's someone who's friendly and willing to help. A pretty boy like Hirata, but in a different way.

When Ichika looked like she was about to say something again, Kiyotaka quickly slapped his hand over her mouth again. Even if she only wanted to introduce herself to this Kanzaki, there's definitely a probable chance that she would mess around like she always does. It's already bad enough that Honami is now aware of her presence too, and not just his classmates.

"How's it going, Kanzaki-kun? Did you get anything reliable?" asked Honami.

Ryuuji shook his head. "Unfortunately, I haven't received any useful information."

"Funnily enough, you don't actually need to do anything anymore, Kanzaki," Kiyotaka stated, getting the attention of both Class B students. "That goes for you and the rest of Class B as well, Ichinose."

Honami blinked a few times in surprise. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"We actually found our witness already, just yesterday."

"That's so great to hear! Who was it?" she exclaimed, flashing a bright smile that can probably make even the gloomiest people happy with how contagious it is.

Kiyotaka thought about it for a moment, before shaking his head. The last thing Airi would want was for more people to know that she was the witness, even though she already admitted her involvement in the case. "I'm sorry, but I don't think it's a good idea to reveal who she is. She wishes for her identity to remain secret as much as possible."

"Ah, no worries then! I completely understand. I'm just really happy that your efforts to find that person bore fruit, Ayanokouji-kun. I wish that we could have helped a lot earlier, though. Maybe we would have found her a lot sooner too," she spoke in a solemn manner, a bit disappointed in herself for not being able to contribute more.

"Either way, it all ended well. We found her before Miyake's hearing tomorrow, and that's the important thing," Kiyotaka waved her concerns off as they didn't matter. What mattered was that their

Somehow, without being noticed by the two Class B students, Ichika had slipped away and chose to observe the interaction from afar. Since Kiyotaka wasn't going to let her speak up anyway, why bother staying? Plus, she couldn't really afford to let a lot of people know of her for now, not when this case was still ongoing.

Kanzaki nodded in agreement. "I am glad that the issue of a possible witness has been resolved, Ayanokouji. However, I wouldn't count this to be a completely fruitless effort just yet. We could still get valuable information about the incident that took place."

"Did you put up another poster elsewhere?"

"Have you ever checked out the school homepage, Ayanokouji-kun?" Honami smiled, going back to her usual self. "There's a message board where you can post concerns for the public to see. I requested that people come forward with any kind of information there last Friday. I said that if there's anyone who was passing by the public bath last Sunday or if they knew anything about the people involved, they can send me a message."

As she said those words, Ichinose showed him her phone's screen. It showed a message seeking out people who have possible knowledge of what happened, as well as a count for the number of people who'd viewed it. The displayed number was only in the dozens, but it was still an impressive number for a post that was made recently. Like the poster on the bulletin board, it offered compensation to witnesses and people with helpful information.

"You must have a lot of points to offer a reward just for simple information," he pointed out. At the same time, he felt impressed with this girl's dedication and efforts to help them, despite having no obligation to. "I think I speak for my classmates when I say that if they see this, they'll feel ashamed for making you do such a thing."

The girl chuckled in embarrassment. "Ah, you guys shouldn't worry about it! We just decided to do that on our own. It will probably be difficult to get new information without something in return, that's all."

"Then allow me to tell you this, which is what I personally feel about your actions, Ichinose." Kiyotaka then reached out with his hand and rested it atop her head, making her eyes widen in surprise. "You didn't have to go far for someone who's not even your classmate, but you did. I wouldn't do that thing myself, but it's your decision and I can't really say anything about it. All I can do is admire your kindness and your willingness to help other people."

The girl's cheeks turned completely red from every word that came out of his mouth, especially that last statement of his. Did he really think that way about her? Plus, she was starting to like the way he was stroking the top of her head! This was only the second time he did it too! Why is he doing this?! What even is it?! Why does it feel so good?! He was only patting her head! Honami didn't know why, but she wanted him to continue with it!

[You have gained 15 Affection Points with Ichinose Honami!]

[Relationship Status 'Fellow Leaders' has been maxed! Relationship Status with Ichinose Honami has been upgraded to 'The Hero She Needs'!]

"'The Hero She Needs'? Does it have something to do with her past?" Kiyotaka raised an eyebrow at the two notifications that suddenly showed up, recalling that it was stated in this girl's 'summary' that Ichinose had a troubled past. "I guess I have to help her with that eventually, huh… unless it means something else."

Honami tried to get something out of her mouth, no matter what it was, just as long as she could properly respond to him. She didn't want to remain speechless when Ayanokouji said all these nice things about her, but it was just too embarrassing!

And she had no idea why, but her heart began to beat faster as well. Why was she feeling this way?! Is this the same thing as what Chihiro felt towards her…?

"Uhm… that's… it's not like that… I just wanted to… a-ah!" she exclaimed by the end, noticing an important notification on her phone that caused her to snap out of her embarrassed state.

Kiyotaka blinked in surprise while removing his hand from her head. "What is it?"

"This is perfect timing! I got two messages regarding the post. There might be some information here that'll be useful for your class." Sighing in relief that that was over, Honami checked her phone for confirmation and after reading the messages, her smile returned. "Just like this!"

She showed him her phone, as well as the contents of the messages.

"It looks like one of the boys involved in the upcoming hearing, Ishizaki-kun from Class C, was a bad seed in junior high. He was good at fighting, and terrorized most of his peers. Someone who's from the same school as him was probably the sender. The other message said that Komiya-kun and Kondo-kun like to play dirty in basketball games during club activities. Their attitude has led to them being scolded and reprimanded multiple times by their club adviser, and it seems like they don't have a good reputation with their fellow athletes in general."

"Interesting," Kanzaki muttered, seemingly reading the messages on his phone when in truth, he was going through the pictures he took just now of Honami and Kiyotaka's interaction. "This should get Amikura to stop bothering me about a picture where Ichinose and Ayanokouji are together. Though I have to admit, it's pretty amusing to see our class leader losing her composure."

"Sudo said the same, except for the part that Ishizaki terrorized other students in his old school," Kiyotaka thought to himself while reading the messages. "He also said that Ishizaki is normally with his two friends who are in the Basketball Club. The three attackers are known troublemakers, yet they thought it's a good idea to accuse someone of attacking and injuring them? It would have been more believable for someone like Sudo to be accused."

If the world was perfect, then this case wouldn't have happened in the first place. The teachers would have smelled the bullshit off of the accusation that the three Class C students made and stopped the issue from blowing up. But alas, the world wasn't fair, especially in the eyes of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

Honami turned to her classmate. "Kanzaki-kun, what do you think?"

"It could be that the three of them injured themselves on purpose so they could pin the blame on Miyake. The place where the incident took place had no cameras around to record what happened, so their identities would have been protected. However, there was always the possibility of Miyake reporting what happened to him, so they tried to be faster in that aspect by accusing their victim of the whole thing."

"Yeah, I think so too. Great work, Kanzaki-kun. I just can't see any scenario where Miyake-kun can injure three other people on his own, let alone fight them off. Do you have the same thing in mind, Ayanokouji-kun?"

"You're not wrong with your assessment," Kiyotaka nodded while being in deep thought. "Honestly, I think this Ryuuen that Suzune talked about just wanted to mess with our class. He either beat up his own classmates to give them their injuries or he told them to do it to themselves… but I could be wrong. Who knows, it may not even be that complicated."

"I assume that the witness whom you found has irrefutable evidence that's strong enough to counter any possible argument that Class C could make, Ayanokouji?"

"That's what we hope for, because she's the only one to witness the fight in its entirety. Only she could describe the events as it happened, unless someone else miraculously steps up with knowledge of the incident. The outcome of the trial depends on her."

"You can be assured that me and the rest of Class B are cheering for you to win this case! Now we just have to transfer points over to the people who provided us with information," she "Oh dear, the senders were anonymous… how do I send points to that person without knowing who they are or their student IDs?"

"I know how." I said.

"Really?"

"I've given points to an anonymous person before. Do you know the person's number?" he asked, remembering how he discovered this particular mechanic the day after Ichika became his roommate.

When Ichika was put under his care by the chairman, she was also given the same ID card that all students which held her point balance, along with the same phone that everyone had. Kiyotaka tried to test if it was still possible to transfer points to her and vice versa, and it was. However, there was one big difference. Since Ichika wasn't an official student, she had no student ID and thus, made her an anonymous user.

It took a little bit of exploring possibilities with the point system, but Kiyotaka found out that the only important factor in the exchange of points was the person's phone number. The student ID number was just a way to make things easier because it provides identification.

"It's a toll-free number, but I remember it," Honami replied, feeling curious about what the young man had in mind.

"Come here then."

"Ah-!"

Grabbing the girl's arm, he pulled her towards him with one swift pull, making Honami yelp in response. Her blush returned full-force when their bodies bumped into each other, and she couldn't even do anything to stop him. Now they were literally next to each other, so much that her ample chest was pushing against his arm.

"A-Ayanokouji-kun, what are you—"

"Open up the points remittance screen. You should see your ID number in the upper left corner," he spoke, cutting through her words like they were glass.

"Um… okay…" With a burning red face, Honami opened up her points page that showed her balance. "W-What should I do now?"

"From your ID number, you can issue a temporary token key. If you open that, and send the key to the person that messaged you, you should get a request for payment. You can then enter the amount you want to send and the points will be transferred afterwards."

"I see. T-Thank you…"

Following those instructions in her mind, Ichinose managed to send 500 points each to the two people that responded to her message. After she was done, she immediately moved away from him with her head down, keeping her face hidden from Ayanokouji as much as possible while the young man himself just stared at her, particularly at her phone.

When she finally looked up at him, Ichinose couldn't stop herself from blushing furiously. It was too adorable to see.

"I should, uh… be getting back to my dorm room. See you tomorrow, Ayanokouji-kun!"

[You have gained 5 Affection Points with Ichinose Honami!]

Without even waiting for a reply from him, the pink-haired girl walked off with her head low again, hiding her red face from everyone else. Both Kiyotaka and Ryuuji watched her leave before the latter decided that he should move on and continue with his jog around the campus, while it was still early in the morning.

"Good luck with the hearing tomorrow, Ayanokouji. You have Class B's support the whole way."

Kiyotaka took a second to glance at Kanzaki. "I'll relay your words to Miyake."

Once Ichinose's classmate left, Ichika left her hiding spot and returned to Kiyotaka's side, and she couldn't stop herself from sending him her signature teasing grin. Oh, the photos she took of her senpai and poor Ichinose were too good to pass up on, and she will surely have fun showing them to him later on!

"Oh, senpai~ were my eyes only deceiving me earlier? Did you just flirt with Ichinose-senpai willingly? Oh, I'm glad I took pictures of what was happening!" she teased him. "For some reason, Kanzaki-senpai was also taking pictures of you two. I wonder why that is…"

However, Kiyotaka ignored her completely, as his attention was directed elsewhere.

Even if it was only for a few seconds, he saw something very strange on Honami's phone just a while ago.

In such a short time, the image had burned itself into his mind and wouldn't go away. His eyes couldn't have been playing tricks on him, but was it even possible to have that many in the span of two months?

With a point balance of over 2.5 million, Ichinose Honami just proved herself to be a more interesting leader than he initially thought.

---

Not long after the end of his morning walk, Kiyotaka received a message from Haruka that they'll be meeting Chabashira-sensei in an hour at the cafe outside of the school building to introduce Airi as the witness to Akito's case. Kiyotaka simply replied that he'll be there, before stepping into the bathroom for another quick shower, since he worked up a sweat from walking around the campus.

At first, he didn't think that Chabashira-sensei would even give them the time of day, especially on a weekend when the teachers were resting. But after he did a little convincing in the form of helping their class to be the new Class A over a call, she finally relented and agreed to meet with the witness to see the so-called 'evidence' for herself.

How did he get his teacher's number, by the way? It was actually part of the deal they made on the rooftop over a month ago, though he asked for it the day after it happened. Naturally, the woman refused at first, feeling appalled at the very thought of sharing her contact info to a student. However, Kiyotaka argued that it was absolutely necessary, because how else would they be able to relay important updates and information to each other about the state of Class D? The advantages obviously outweighed the disadvantages, and Sae hated it.

In the end, she gave up her number to him, but gave the young man a condition that he can only contact her when it is absolutely necessary, or else she would forget their deal entirely. He agreed to it, though he found it amusing that Chabashira-sensei was still trying to throw empty threats at him despite the outcome of their little confrontation at the school rooftop.

With Airi's decision to step up as a witness who has evidence, he figured that the time was right to give his homeroom teacher a call. During dinner yesterday, he sent a message to Sae that they managed to find the witness they were looking for today, and that she was willing to step up and testify for Akito. After a little back-and-forth argument through texts, she agreed to meet up at Pallette Cafe to speak with Airi personally.

It would have been more appropriate to use the teacher's lounge for a meeting such as this, but it wasn't accessible during weekends. They would just have to take extra precaution and keep any possible interlopers from getting a glimpse of the video that Sakura took.

When Airi learned that the meeting place wouldn't be a secluded area, she felt a bit discouraged that it ended up being a public one. However, she shook the feeling off and maintained her stance that she wanted to help no matter what.

Kiyotaka made sure to be at the cafe earlier than everyone else, as he didn't want Haruka nor Sae to know that he lived on the same floor as them. Not yet, anyways. Fortunately for him, he wouldn't have to wait for long because after five minutes, Airi arrived at the entrance of the cafe where he was. She carried her school bag with her for some reason, and the young man could only deduce that it contained her laptop within.

"G-Good morning, Ayanokouji-kun…" she smiled shyly.

"Hi, Sakura. I'm glad to see you here," he gave her a nod of acknowledgement before planting his hands into his pockets. "I almost thought that you'd be scared of facing Chabashira-sensei that you wouldn't show up at all."

Surprisingly, Airi understood the hidden meaning behind those words and could only chuckle in response despite being the subject. "Ahaha… I guess I can't blame you for thinking that way. I can kind of see myself doing that…"

"Well, clearly you didn't. You're here now, aren't you? You want to help Miyake with his case, and that's the important thing," he spoke in a reassuring tone despite his joke just now. "Did you bring what you were supposed to bring today?"

"I have it here. I also brought my laptop so Chabashira-sensei can watch the video," Airi explained while raising her school bag.

At that moment, the two were interrupted by two familiar voices, both of which belong to the two people who'll be accompanying them for their meeting with their teacher today.

"Good morning, Ayanokouji-kun! And, uh… to you as well, Sakura-san."

"Hey, Ayanokouji. Sakura."

Both Hasebe and Miyake greeted their classmates as they arrived at the supposed meeting place.

"Hello, Miyake-kun… Hasebe-san."

Kiyotaka just gave the two a look of sympathy, because these two were his heroines and naturally felt concerned for their well-being. He still wasn't an expert in social interactions, but he kind of expected this outcome after Haruka's outburst yesterday. After taking some time to calm down and think about everything, Haruka realized that she spoke out of turn and her words were hurtful. Now she just felt awkward talking to that person again, even though she apologized already.

Airi was kind of the same, only that she harbored no ill feelings for the blue-haired girl whatsoever. She truly felt that Haruka was justified in her outburst, so she wasn't angry or displeased in any way. It's more of wanting to keep her distance from Haruka so that nothing bad can happen again, because she didn't want to remind the other girl of unpleasant memories. It's really not because she disliked the blue-haired girl or anything.

Kiyotaka decided to speak up to save all of them from the miserable atmosphere that would have taken over if he ignored it. "Hey, you two. I guess we're just waiting for Chabashira-sensei now, huh?"

"Yeah. I hope she doesn't take long. I actually feel excited about this!" Haruka beamed in happiness, a stark contrast from her demeanor the previous day.

Both Kiyotaka and Airi were confused with the sudden change in her attitude, but it's not like it was unwelcomed. "Is that so? Why?" he asked.

"She's just really happy that Sakura took a video of what happened," Akito smirked.

"Hey, I was supposed to tell them!" the girl sent him a frown, to which he responded with a careless shrug. She heaved a deep sigh and turned to face the two who were only staring at her. "Sorry, you two. I know that I wasn't really pleasant to be with yesterday because of my attitude, especially to you, Sakura-san. But after I spent time thinking about all this and what it means for Miyacchi, I realized that this was great news. I didn't think about what Sakura-san felt when she showed it to us, I only thought about why it took her so long to say anything… so I really messed up there. It was unfair and selfish of me to judge you for what I personally felt."

After expressing her remorse for her behavior yesterday, Haruka bowed her head as an apology towards Airi, who was caught off guard by the sudden action.

"I-It's okay, Hasebe-san! I completely understand why you felt that way," Airi waved her hands furiously out of embarrassment, while telling the other girl that an apology was unnecessary.

Kiyotaka stared at them with a hint of surprise on his face. Well, what do you know? Looks like there may be hope for these two to make amends, after all. And he didn't even have to do anything for once! If only things could be this easy, but he already knew that the system wouldn't allow him that luxury. Perhaps his superpower was just being kind to him this one time…

"Why don't we go inside for now? If we're gonna wait for Chabashira-sensei, I don't really want to do it while we're out here," Akito suggested to his companions, who were all onboard with the idea right away. Sooner or later, it'll definitely be scorching hot and none of them didn't really want to stand out here when that happens.

"Well, you won't have to wait any longer."

Upon hearing that stern voice, the four teens turned their heads to the person that spoke and found themselves face-to-face with their homeroom teacher. They were all pleasantly surprised with what they saw because for once, the woman wasn't wearing her usual outfit when she's teaching them. Instead, she sported a white shirt, jeans, sneakers, and a red hooded jacket.

"Good morning, Chabashira-sensei," all four Class D students spoke at the same time as they bowed their heads in unison.

She acknowledged their greeting with a simple nod, before turning her attention solely towards the person who brought her here in the first place, narrowing her eyes at him. It's supposed to be a Sunday, a day of rest for teachers like her, yet this little shit comes out of nowhere to tell her that they had found their witness and that person wished to talk with her about it.

She was willingly taking some time out of this valuable day, when she could have been resting her body instead.

"You better not be wasting my time, Ayanokouji."

"I wouldn't dream of it, sensei," he replied in a calm tone, while making a mental note about the woman's choice of clothes. If he's going to stay ahead of her in every possible way, he'll have to cover all bases and make sure he knows everything about her, including her clothing and what she likes to wear.

He didn't think that Sae would wear something like this, though. He always thought she'd be the type to dress properly, no matter what. Her strict personality only added to that hypothesis, but it seems like he surprised even himself with this.

The woman narrowed her eyes for a few more seconds, before sighing in exasperation. She turned towards Airi, who froze momentarily at the woman's gaze that was now directed towards her.

"Is it her? The witness to Miyake's case?"

"Yes, sensei. Sakura-san saw everything from start to finish," Haruka spoke up.

After hearing those words, Sae walked up to the redhead and gave her a stern look. "So according to Ayanokouji and your classmates, you saw the fight between Miyake and the three Class C students."

Airi nodded furiously. "Y-Yes, sensei. I saw it."

"I understand what you're saying. However, I can't simply accept what you're telling me," the teacher replied, completely skeptical of Airi's words.

Both Akito and Haruka were surprised at Chabashira-sensei's words; they thought that with Airi stepping forward with information that's pivotal in winning this case, their teacher would show her support right away. On the other hand, Kiyotaka remained silent and simply decided to let things run their course. He didn't really want to be on his teacher's bad side right now and to some extent, he can already understand why she's skeptical.

"Sensei, what are you saying?" the blue-haired girl asked.

Sae gave her student a cold stare. "Why are you testifying now, Sakura? When I announced the issue during homeroom last week, I asked if there was anyone who witnessed the event. No one stepped forward, not even you. If you knew something, then why didn't you say anything back then? It's not like you were absent that day, right?"

Despite her growing nervousness upon being asked these questions, Airi still managed to muster enough courage to answer her teacher. "It's because… I'm just not good at talking with other people…"

"You're not good at talking with other people, and yet here you are wanting to testify? I find that a bit strange," the woman folded her arms across her chest, remaining skeptical still.

Maybe if Sakura had just stepped up back then with the information she knew, Chabashira-sensei wouldn't be hounding the poor girl right now. At the same time, she couldn't exactly be blamed for her reaction just like Hasebe, because it was justified.

Speaking of which, Haruka felt the need to help her classmate out. Right now, she realized that Chabashira-sensei was reacting in the same way as she did yesterday. Now that she was seeing with her own two eyes, she didn't like it. In fact, it only made her feel even more displeased with herself for how she acted yesterday.

"Sensei, Sakura-san is—"

"I'm speaking to Sakura right now, Hasebe," Chabashira silenced her other student with a glare, before shifting her gaze back towards Sakura.

"I wanted to say something that day… but I felt too nervous to do anything. But now that Miyake-kun's trial is near… I realized that I would regret it if I didn't say anything. I didn't want him to be expelled just because I was a nervous wreck. I had to do something to prevent it from happening, no matter how uncomfortable and nervous I felt."

As Airi explained her innermost thoughts regarding the whole situation, the girl started to feel frustration building up inside of her. Once again, she felt frustrated with herself because it took her this long to speak up on this case. She hated it, and she hated herself for being this way. The only way for her to make things right is to do whatever she can to help Akito, and it doesn't matter whether she's a nervous wreck or not!

Kiyotaka seemed to notice the internal dilemma that she was having, and he could only hope that Sae was the same. As their teacher, she should have understood what kind of girl Sakura was from the get-go, considering how Sae was able to predict Suzune's plan of action after learning she was sorted into Class D.

Therefore, she has to be aware that just by speaking up, no matter how long it took for her to do so, Airi was already taking great strides in improving herself. He could even say that she had come a long way from the girl whom he walked into while she was changing.

"Then you mustered up the courage to come forward?"

Airi gave a single, firm nod. "Yes."

"I see. While I think it was stupid that you withheld information for as long as you did, the fact that you are here shows you are willing to help your classmate at least. I'll relay this information to the school. However, while the school will listen to the whole story, Miyake may not be declared innocent."

"What do you mean, sensei?" asked Akito.

Sae's eyes narrowed. "Are you really the witness, Sakura? That's what I'm getting at. This might just be a lie made up by Class D because its students are afraid of the outcome of Miyake's upcoming trial."

"Chabashira-sensei, that's not fair!"

"Since I've noticed that you and Miyake have a close relationship, I'm surprised you are taking Sakura's side in this, Hasebe. Wasn't it her who withheld information from everyone else? If she really did witness what happened, she should have stepped up as soon as I asked the question," she asked the blue-haired girl, who was stunned at those words. "It's natural to feel suspicious when someone steps up just in the nick of time. Considering that the witness is from Class D, it's doubly suspicious. Any reasonable person would have doubts. Don't you think so? It's also suspicious that a student from the same class as Miyake happened to be at the same building and said that she witnessed the entire event."

Despite Sae's continuous pestering for a proper response from her student, Kiyotaka didn't bother to speak up in order to defend Airi. Sae still made some good points regarding the girl's silence until now, which is why he thought Haruka's outburst yesterday was justified. The fact that Sakura had witnessed the incident was too convenient on its own so naturally, people would have their doubts.

In fact, if the topic was brought up during the trial tomorrow, everyone would think Class D just made it up.

Unless, of course, a certain piece of evidence was presented…

And then, all of a sudden, the woman stopped glaring at Airi and pinched the bridge of her nose before releasing a massive sigh. "However, a witness is a witness. I cannot determine if Sakura is lying, so for the time being, I will accept her testimony. So, Sakura, I ask you this. Will you join us on the day of deliberation? I understand that you do not like attention and being with many people, and that's why I'm asking you. If you don't like it, you do have the option to withdraw. You can forget about being a witness entirely if you wish."

Again, she turned her gaze towards Airi, who felt like she was but a mere insect in her teacher's eyes. She considered the scenario in her mind; sitting in a room filled with people whom she didn't know, speaking in front of them and doing her best to sound believable, all while staying calm and keeping herself from freaking out.

Just thinking about it was already causing her legs to shake, something that Kiyotaka noticed immediately.

"Are you okay, Sakura?" he asked out of concern.

"Y-Yes…" she muttered, her voice becoming soft to the point that it could be barely heard by anyone. Their teacher's words shook her to the core and the scenarios that her mind thought of only made things worse, as they served to make her feel overwhelmed.

It seemed like she had no concrete answer to Chabashira-sensei's question… until she took a deep breath and spoke once more.

"Sensei, I wouldn't lie about this. I was there that day, and I saw what happened. I-I know that it's my mistake to let things come to this point because I didn't say anything… but it's not a mistake to take a risk and reveal what I know, even if people would be mad at me. Even though there's a big chance that nobody would believe me, I didn't want to hide anymore."

Sae's eyebrows raised slightly in surprise as Airi forced herself to put on a serious expression, which was taking a lot out of her to even pull off against a teacher, of all people. But she had to, for the sake of her classmate and Class D as a whole!

"Is that so? If you're bold enough to insist on that claim, then you must have proof of what you're saying. Show me that you were indeed at the scene of the incident when it happened."

"I do. It's in this," Airi brought out a flash drive from one of her bag's pockets and showed it to the woman. "I can show you the evidence if you let me, sensei."

Chabashira stared at her for a moment, observing the girl and her current demeanor which underwent a complete 180 out of nowhere. Just a while ago, she was attacked by a wave of nervousness again upon thinking of what would happen once she's at the hearing herself, but now she was completely serious. She was even willing to show evidence to her earlier than the actual case!

"Ayanokouji. Hasebe. Leave us alone for a while. Miyake, you stay with us. I'd like to see if Sakura here has enough mettle to be a witness for one of her classmates with the 'evidence' she has. If she doesn't, then I'll take back my words and reject her testimony altogether. As much as I would like to see my class winning this case, having my time wasted is something I dislike more."

Akito blinked in surprise at the switching of gears in Chabashira-sensei's mind, while Haruka looked confused. Why would she and Kiyotaka stay out of this?"

"Huh? But we already know what she—"

"We understand, Chabashira-sensei. We won't get in your way," Kiyotaka spoke up, cutting off the blue-haired girl

"H-Hey, wait—"

Kiyotaka didn't let her continue any further; he grabbed Haruka's wrist and began to walk away from the cafe. However, he made sure to look at Airi before doing so, and gave her a nod of acknowledgement.

"Good luck, Sakura. I have faith that you can do this."

The redhead blushed, but seemed to appreciate Kiyotaka's faith in her nonetheless. She then headed inside with Akito like what Chabashira-sensei asked of them, with the woman following right after. Now that their two classmates and teacher were out of sight, Haruka turned her attention towards Kiyotaka, who was dragging her away from the cafe.

"Let go of my wrist, Kiyopon!"

Seeing that they were already away from the cafe, the young man shrugged and decided to give her what she wanted. "Okay," he said in a nonchalant tone, before releasing her wrist from his grip.

Haruka immediately frowned and puffed her cheeks in a big pout. "You're a big, big idiot, Kiyopon. Why did you agree with Chabashira-sensei right away? We could have been with Sakura-san right now, supporting her if she needs us. If she has a hard time explaining stuff to Chabashira-sensei, then it'll be your fault."

"To prevent our evidence from being seen by other people," he explained his reason to her calmly. "A group of people gathered around a single laptop, watching something together. What do you think other people will do when they see a scenario like that?"

The girl thought about that question for a moment, before realization slowly hit her. "They'll try to see what that group is watching…"

He nodded. "By getting rid of us, Chabashira-sensei can watch the video that Sakura took without any problems. If someone tries to push their luck by sneaking a little glance, she'll be able to tell right away and hide the video before it's seen by another person."

"I guess that makes sense…" she sighed in defeat, surrendering to the logic of the situation. "I don't like it, though. We should be in there, supporting Sakura-san."

"Miyake is with her. She'll be fine."

"...you're right. I guess I'll have to put my faith in Miyacchi to be able to help her when she needs it."

"At least you calmed down fairly easily," he remarked while putting his hands in his pockets. "I thought you'd throw a tantrum like yesterday, only this time you'll march to the cafe so you can help out Sakura."

"Mou, don't remind me of that, Kiyopon! I'm really ashamed of it!" she pouted at him again.

"Well, like Sakura, I don't really blame you for having a little outburst. It's understandable why you lost your temper. Though I'm curious about something in particular," he shrugged carelessly before putting on a curious expression. "Even before Sakura admitted that she was the person we've been looking for, you already seemed quite agitated for some reason. Did something happen before that?"

"Just a little argument that I had with Miyacchi, nothing more. I guess I still felt a little frustrated about it that it affected me when Sakura-san admitted that she was the witness."

"I see," he nodded slowly. "I won't ask what happened then, because it's clearly a private matter between you two."

"No, no, I can tell you if you want. Since we're gonna be stuck here until Chabashira-sensei comes out with Miyacchi and Sakura-san, we might as well pass the time doing something," Haruka walked over to a nearby bench and sat down as she smirked. "That is, if you don't mind me rambling endlessly, Kiyopon. I can be very talkative sometimes, you know~?"

He followed the girl and sat down beside her. "I'm all ears."

Haruka chuckled for a moment at his quick response, before she leaned back to relax herself. "Well, first things first, I was ready to lose a full day of sleep just to find someone who could help Miyacchi yesterday. The hearing was on Monday and almost a week had passed, but we still didn't know anything about the case entirely. I wanted to spend the whole day yesterday looking for anyone with information. I woke up at 4:00 in the morning and prepared to leave by 5:30 so I could get started, because for sure, there would already be a few people roaming outside by that time."

Kiyotaka sent her a deadpan look. "That's definitely going overboard. Perhaps it's even more of a good thing that Sakura finally stepped up and told us that she's the witness."

"Hah, your reaction's nothing compared to Miyacchi when I told him what I planned to do," she shook her head in amusement. "I think he just woke up at that moment but after I told him what I was planning, he yelled at me over the phone while we were still in the middle of a call. He told me to stay where I was and not to go anywhere."

"I'm not surprised he would do that, after seeing how serious he can be when he stopped you from driving Sakura into a corner yesterday. It was almost like seeing a storm finally calming down after having a rampage on a poor town."

Haruka laughed at the analogy he came up with. "It was worse than that, Kiyopon. Even though he was on the 8th floor in his dorm, he ran all the way to the 4th floor where I was just to keep me from leaving my own dorm unit. Then after I let him inside, he started telling me that I'm stupid and that I shouldn't do anything for the rest of the day other than staying inside my room."

"I can't blame him for being like that. Out of everyone who's been helping in this whole thing, Hasebe's been pushing herself the hardest,"

"I was angry at him for a bit, because I thought he was giving up. I thought he didn't want to attend this school anymore. I thought he didn't want to graduate from this school with me anymore," she smiled sadly. "Then out of nowhere, he just tells me that I shouldn't push myself so hard anymore… Miyacchi is an idiot, really."

"I don't think he meant anything bad with what he said. Even I thought that you were pushing yourself too hard."

"Of course I would! Miyacchi is important to me, and as long as I can do something about it, I don't care if I work myself to death," she reaffirmed, showing her conviction to do what she can for her dear friend.

"And you're just as important in Miyake's eyes. Ever since it was announced that there would be a trial where he could prove his innocence, you've been working hard to the point that it caused him to worry. As much as Miyake appreciates your efforts, he's also looking out for your well-being."

She sighed in exasperation. "I hate that you're right, Kiyopon. But Miyacchi's still an idiot… he would have been doomed if Sakura-san didn't speak up. If he's not willing to work hard to show that he's innocent, then I am. No matter what, I wouldn't have given up in trying to prove his innocence."

"I can't say I disagree with your decision, but I don't blame him for looking out for your sake either. He just likes you that much, and it shows how important you are to him."

…

…

…

After several seconds of silence and no response of any kind from the girl, Kiyotaka was hit with a wave of realization that he may have said something that he wasn't supposed to say just now. It only became worse when he noticed that she was just staring at him blankly, leaving him with no clue

"I shouldn't have said that," he berated himself in his mind while thinking of a way to fix this problem before it could get any worse.

He didn't want the girl to deal with another dilemma when she already has her hands full dealing with Miyake's case, and he certainly didn't want to drive a wedge in her relationship with the guy. Haruka may be his heroine, but that doesn't mean he'd go out of his way to ruin another relationship! Nope, there's no way he would do such a thing…

"...uh, forget what I said. I was only trying to tease—"

Unfortunately for him, it was too late to try and salvage the situation when Haruka shook her head and sighed.

"No need to sugarcoat it, Kiyopon. I know…"

He blinked a few times in surprise. "You know—?"

"...that Miyacchi likes me? Yeah, I've known for a while. I'm more surprised that you know, Kiyopon. Unless you somehow knew by coincidence, I don't think Miyacchi would tell anyone something that personal, he's not really one to be open about what he feels most of the time, especially to other people."

Haruka turned to him with an eyebrow raised, indicating that she wanted an explanation for what he knew. The brown-haired teen thought about deflecting the question and talking about something else instead, but it wouldn't work when she could just work in reverse and ask Akito instead about how he knew. He had no way out of this one and once again, he had no one to blame but himself.

"I had a hunch about his feelings and I asked him about it as a joke at first. Then I noticed that it might actually be true, so I kind of pressed him about it. He eventually admitted it, and that's how I know," he confessed.

She smirked devilishly. "Bad Kiyopon. You shouldn't force other people to do things they're not comfortable with~"

For a brief moment, Kiyotaka looked relieved. At least she didn't react strongly or in an aggressive manner, which would have been the worse outcome. Perhaps it really is because Haruka already knew about this beforehand, that's why she's not surprised in any way.

"Since you already know about Miyake's feelings, what are you going to do about it?" he asked. It was clear that the girl knew of Miyake's hidden feelings for her, there should be no problem if he asked her about it, right?

"Well, he hasn't confronted me about the whole thing. I don't really want to talk about it when Miyacchi hasn't brought it up. In fact, I don't even want to think about it when we're already dealing with this whole case," she took a deep breath and turned to face her companion. "But I guess I can answer your questions for a bit, since I know you have a lot."

Not wanting to pass up on the opportunity to gain information, Kiyotaka decided to indulge her on that offer. "Then I'll make this quick, Hasebe. Are you waiting for Miyake to do something?"

With a sigh, Haruka folded her arms and shook her head. "No. Honestly, I hope Miyacchi doesn't think about it anymore. He shouldn't waste his time thinking about me."

"That sounds borderline crazy. Why would you want Miyake to just forget about his feelings for you?"

"It's better that way. If he doesn't talk about it with me, then I wouldn't have to turn him down…" she shifted her gaze downwards, a somber expression taking over her features. She feared the possible day where Akito decides to act on his feelings, and she hoped that it would never come. "The last thing I want to do is make him sad or worse, depressed. All because I broke his heart. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if that happened."

He tilted his head slightly. "So you don't like him in the same way?"

"Well… maybe I did? I don't really know myself, but one thing's clear. Miyacchi was the only boy who stuck with me while everyone else mostly stayed away. Even when I tried to push him away because I'm so used to being alone, he was just like me. We were both loners, so we decided to stick together as loners. I always felt happy and thankful that he was there for me, because for the first time, I wasn't alone. I had someone looking after me, and he's someone I could count on."

"Then I suppose you did, from how you're grateful that you met him. However, I'm saying that as someone who has never experienced these feelings before. For all I know, you didn't like him in that way and I'm just assuming things," Kiyotaka shrugged.

Haruka sighed. "Either way, I can't see him as anything more than a brother that I have to look out for. We're joined at the hip, but that's because we practically grew up together, Kiyopon. I don't know if Miyacchi told you, but we ended up going to the same school twice. Even though we were convinced that we'd end up in different high schools, even after crying like hell because we're not going to see each other again for a long time, we still ended up at the same school."

"I find that to be a very funny coincidence," he remarked, recalling how Akito basically said the same thing. "I can only imagine what your reaction was when you saw each other again here."

She chuckled, her demeanor undergoing a complete switch from how she was earlier. "We just laughed after convincing ourselves that we're never gonna be away from each other even if we tried. I wouldn't put it past us to end up having the same job at the same place by now."

"If that happens, then I can only applaud you two for consistency. Now I see what you meant when you said that you see him as a brother," Kiyotaka nodded a few times as it clicked into his mind. "You two are like twins who got separated at birth."

Haruka grinned. "I guess you're not wrong there. A lot of people said the same thing, honestly."

"This will be my last question. What will you do if Miyake ever decides to act on his feelings? It may or may not happen, but surely you can agree that you have to be prepared for the worst just in case."

She shrugged. "I don't know, really. I'm gonna hope it doesn't come to that point but if it does, then I guess I'll deal with it as it comes. I know I can't avoid the issue forever. Maybe if I tell Miyacchi the truth, he can move on and he won't think about me anymore."

"I see," he mumbled in a quiet voice, before bowing his head in gratitude. "Thank you for satisfying my curiosity, Hasebe."

Haruka stared at him for a moment, before she began to chuckle. "You know, Kiyopon… I never thought you'd be like this."

"What do you mean by that?"

"At first, I was kind of scared to approach you to help out Miyacchi. I almost didn't want to ask you for help when Ken-chan suggested that we should include you last week."

"Did she just use a cute nickname for Sudo? Oh, I can't wait for him to hear it from her," he snorted in his mind before shifting his attention back to the girl herself. "Is that so? Why did you feel that way?"

She scratched her head in embarrassment while smiling nervously. "It sounds completely ridiculous now, but when Kyo-chan, Kei-chin, and Matsushita-san kissed you in front of everyone else, I had the feeling that you must be a playboy who plays with girls' feelings because they were into you while you weren't even doing anything."

"That's a bit unfair, don't you think? They were the ones who made the move on me that time. I'm not the one at fault," he said in a blank tone.

"I know, I know… but I didn't realize it at the time. That's why I said it's just ridiculous now. And you even said that you've never experienced romance before, so it was unfair of me to judge you," Haruka hung her head in shame. "I guess that's my thing, huh? Judging people without even knowing them…"

"I don't believe that's your—"

Haruka immediately raised her head and flashed a big smile. "But after everything that you've done for me and Miyacchi, I can see why Kyo-chan, Kei-chin, and Matsushita-san like you. You're a good guy, Kiyopon. I think any of them would be lucky to have you as their boyfriend."

"It's actually all of them, plus several others and you as well…" the young man thought to himself sarcastically.

"So, have you chosen one of them already to be your girlfriend~?" she asked in a teasing manner.

"Not really," he shook his head while quickly thinking of a reasonable excuse that makes sense. As much as possible, his best move against these types of questions would be making up an answer on the fly or deflecting the question entirely. In the end, he chose to do the former. "I'm still trying to process what they did in front of everyone. Sure, I'm friends with the three of them, but I didn't think they would do such a thing in front of everyone…"

Luckily, Haruka seemed convinced of his answer, although he was unprepared for what she had in mind next.

"Oh. Well, how about that new girl who showed up at our classroom out of nowhere?"

"You mean Amasawa?"

She nodded. "Yeah, her. She seems to like you too, Kiyopon. Do you have your eyes on her instead?"

"No," he deadpanned.

If he was going to choose one just to keep up appearances and to hide the fact that he had a harem of beautiful girls from everyone else, then Ichika was far from being his first option. The idea alone would bring more harm than good.

Haruka was perplexed. "Huuuhhh? Why? You should give them an answer already!"

Bingo. Now he can steer the direction of this discussion somewhere else. "Now you're being a hypocrite, Hasebe. You shouldn't lecture me on this topic when you're incapable of doing the same regarding Miyake's feelings for you," he pointed out, redirecting the focus of the conversation back towards the girl.

"Ugh, fair enough…" she groaned in displeasure, before a bright idea came to her mind, something that would let her gain the edge over Kiyotaka. A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes, and Haruka smirked to herself. "Well, since it seems like you're not going to choose any of them, would you mind it if I called my shot and tried to win you over, Kiyopon~?"

"...what?"

"Just kidding!" she laughed, finding the look of confusion on his face to be absolutely hilarious. "You're probably already having a hard time with four girls, so I won't add myself to that. It'll be fun to see your reaction though, Kiyopon!"

[You have gained 25 Affection Points with Hasebe Haruka!]

"You think I'm dealing with four, Hasebe? If only you know…" he sighed at the predictable outcome that would likely end up happening, before snapping back to reality again. "You might want to be careful with your words, Hasebe. You never know, you might end up suffering the same fate as Kikyo, Kei, and Chiaki. As a matter of fact, I'm already nervous at the thought of you making a bold move just like the three of them in front of everyone else."

"Ohoho, why are you talking like you're enjoying the attention from our classmates? Am I right about my suspicions that you're really a playboy under that bored look on your face?" she teased back.

The two continued on with their conversation that they ended up losing track of time, and it reached the point that they were still going at it by the time Chabashira-sensei, Sakura, and Miyake were done with their business at the cafe.

Despite her earlier cries about being by Akito and Airi's side should they need help, Haruka ended up forgetting about the ordeal entirely because of a certain brown-haired teen whom she was growing fond of every time they were together.

Maybe her words might not be just a mere joke soon enough…

---

"I expect you to show yourself at the trial tomorrow, Sakura. Showing me your evidence isn't enough to prove Miyake's innocence, and you should know that."

Chabashira-sensei spoke in a very serious tone as she looked down at the red-haired girl who could only bow her head quietly. If she felt unnerved at her teacher's voice, then she was doing a very good job of hiding it. Surprisingly, Airi looked rather calm compared to her earlier demeanor as she gave a firm nod.

"Yes, sensei."

Satisfied with the answer she received, Sae turned to her other three students who watched the interaction between them. Haruka looked happy at this turn of events and Akito felt massive relief, while Kiyotaka had his attention on Airi the whole time, trying to see if the girl had really calmed down after being pressured by their teacher earlier for an explanation regarding her actions…

"If there's nothing else, I'll see all of you tomorrow."

With that, the woman acknowledged the four Class D students with a nod before walking away to head back to her dorm. Everyone watched her leave until she was out of sight, and that was when Haruka got everyone's attention with her tired voice.

"I guess I'll head home now too," she stretched her arms above her head and let out a massive yawn. "Working non-stop for the whole week took a lot out of me, and now I just want to jump on my bed and sleep for the rest of the day…"

"Finally, you decide to listen to me. And it only took you this long to finally realize that you were being stupid," Akito remarked, rolling his eyes at his friend out of extreme annoyance.

Haruka returned his expression with an annoyed look of her own. "Well, it's not like I had a choice, Miyacchi! You know I wasn't going to let you be expelled, no matter what!"

Kiyotaka then heard Akito mumbling about "blue-haired idiots who are too stubborn to know what's good for them" before he noticed Haruka walking up to Airi with a nervous smile on her face. It was quite a bizarre sight for someone who knew what Airi was normally like.

"Thank you again, Sakura-san. If it wasn't for you, we'd still be looking for clues to help save Miyacchi right now… and even after I pretty much yelled at you, you still wanted to help."

"I should be the one thanking you for giving me a chance to do the right thing, Hasebe-san." A smile slowly formed on the redhead's face as she spoke. "You can rest for as long as you want now, Hasebe-san. I'll make sure that Miyake-kun won't be expelled. That's a promise."

"Is this even Sakura, still? She's not showing any hint of nervousness anymore… or perhaps she's just hiding it so well that nobody can notice it?" Kiyotaka thought to himself.

"See you both tomorrow! Sakura-san! Kiyopon!" Haruka smiled at her two classmates before walking off, feeling content and happy with how everything turned out today. Now she felt like she could sleep the rest of the day without repercussions.

Akito watched her for a moment before deciding to follow after his dear friend. However, he made sure to face his two other classmates before doing anything else. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura. You too, Ayanokouji."

Both Airi and Kiyotaka stared at their classmates as they walked off, leaving the two of them on their own. Just when the young man was about to do the same and bid farewell to Airi, the girl spoke up and immediately ruined his chance at getting home right away.

"Ayanokouji-kun?"

"What is it, Sakura?" he asked, shifting his attention to his last companion.

Airi turned to face him, a flustered look plastered on her face. "W-Would you mind having lunch with me somewhere? I… need to talk to you about something."

"It almost seemed like her stutter had disappeared for good along with her shy nature earlier, but it's still a part of her. She really was just hiding it just now," he remarked while taking note of the nervous tone that returned in her voice. It's as if her earlier demeanor was nothing more than an act. "I don't mind at all. What place do you have in mind, Sakura?"

The girl thought about it for a moment. "Maybe somewhere small and not crowded?"

Kiyotaka shrugged, having no idea what place to suggest that fits her description because one, places with food are supposed to be crowded and two, almost every restaurant within the campus can be considered small because Keyaki Mall isn't a very big place.

"Well, I'm not really sure what your definition of 'small and not crowded' is, so I'll simply follow you wherever you choose to go."

A deep blush dusted Airi's cheeks, realizing that it's up to her to make a decision. "Okay, uhm… I think I know a place."

He only nodded and followed after the girl while she led the way to the mall, her nervous and shy nature returning in full-force.

After arriving at the mall, Airi chose a small burger joint that was free from any other student at the moment, making her and Kiyotaka the sole customers. The 'Masterpiece' could only wonder what the girl was thinking at the moment and what exactly she wanted to talk about. His first thought was that she would ask him something that's related to the trial tomorrow, but this could also be about something else entirely.

Upon taking their seats where they would wait for their respective orders to arrive, Kiyotaka decided to go straight to the point and ask Airi about her reasons for inviting him to eat with her.

"So what did you want to talk about, Sakura?"

Airi stared at him for a moment, before averting her gaze. "If I was absent from school tomorrow, what do you think would happen, Ayanokouji-kun?"

"Is this a serious question?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her in confusion.

"...yes."

Kiyotaka wondered what was the point of this for a brief moment, before deciding to humor the girl. "Well, considering you're in possession of the sole but very strong evidence that we have, it would obviously result in our loss if you're not present tomorrow."

"So there's no other way…"

"Are you having second thoughts about testifying for Miyake?"

"I… just feel nervous," she admitted, giving a vague answer instead.

"Is this about speaking in front of other people, Sakura?"

"It's just that… I don't think I'll be able to do it without stuttering and being nervous like I usually am. Especially in front of other people," she lowered her head with a dejected look on her face. "I've been terrible at it for so long… I can't change what I'm like in a snap."

"So why did you say the complete opposite to Chabashira-sensei and Hasebe earlier? If you still felt nervous, then you could have backed out of the whole thing."

"I've already disappointed enough people. I feel that if I said no earlier, I would hate myself forever. And I couldn't bear the thought of making Hasebe-san feel helpless, all because of my own issues," she frowned, disgusted with herself for even doing such a thing. However, there's nothing she could do about it now. "She looked so happy earlier, I couldn't bring myself to ruin it. So I just went along with it because it's what Hasebe-san wanted to hear."

Kiyotaka considered her answer in his mind, and thought about what he could tell her as a response. Airi looked so distressed that she had no choice but to rely on someone else right now, although he doubted that giving her a helping hand would actually solve her problem.

"Why did you decide to talk to me about this, Sakura?" he asked, deciding to go for a slightly different approach.

"B-Because… you're the only one I could trust about this, Ayanokouji-kun. You're… also my friend," her cheeks flared red in embarrassment.

"Isn't Kei your friend as well?"

She twiddled her fingers in a nervous manner, which was actually an adorable sight to see. "I feel that if I tell Kei-san about this, she'd just encourage me to do my best and nothing more. I think you'll be able to understand more and help me."

Kiyotaka shook his head. "I fear that you might be overestimating me, Sakura. I'm kind of in the same boat as you. I'm not used to dealing with attention. I don't know if I'm the right person to help you. Someone like Kikyo would've been the best person to talk to instead of me."

"But I trust you, Ayanokouji-kun. Shouldn't that be enough reason?" she refuted, pointing out their friendship as a viable reason for her to seek help from him. "You're always there for me when I need you, so I don't think it's surprising that I went to you, Ayanokouji-kun. And… you helped me with my camera yesterday too…"

Kiyotaka stared at her, having nothing to say against those words because he knew they were true. Of course she wouldn't approach someone whom she's not comfortable with and as kind as Kikyo was to her yesterday, Airi didn't think of her as a friend.

Taking his silence as a sign to continue, Airi took a deep breath and proceeded with what she ultimately wanted to ask him.

"I know that all I have to do is tell everyone what I saw, but just thinking about it gives me the jitters… how do I deal with it, Ayanokouji-kun?"

"Why bother? If you really don't want to testify at the trial tomorrow, then I can do it for you," he said in a nonchalant tone.

Airi's eyes widened in surprise. "Y-You can do that?"

"The matter of who's the witness doesn't really matter in this case. As long as we have the video of the incident, that's enough. It doesn't matter who testifies, unless Chabashira-sensei has already informed the school that you're the witness. However, I don't think she has done it yet. If you want to back out now, tell me so I can inform her before she does."

"And you're… fine with that, Ayanokouji-kun?" she asked, not liking the idea of passing on a task that she was supposed to do to other people, especially her friend.

"Like what Kikyo told you yesterday, no one is forcing you. If you don't want to speak up on Miyake's behalf then tell me. If you're too nervous to even speak in front of many people, then tell me right now so I can tell Chabashira-sensei about it."

The girl thought about it for a while, now caught in an internal dilemma on what she wanted to do and what she believes she should do. Within this time, their food had arrived but Kiyotaka didn't touch his meal yet. He kept his attention directed towards the girl and waited patiently for a response from her.

"Can I be honest, Ayanokouji-kun?" she let out a long, drawn-out sigh that perfectly conveyed her inner conflict at the moment. "I'm going to sound completely ridiculous, but… there's a part of me that wants to forget about this. But at the same time, I also don't want to make another mistake that I'll regret. So… even though I feel nervous about the whole thing, it would be more wrong if I quit now. I've come this far, I might as well go the whole way, no matter what I feel."

"If that's the case, then you'll be fine tomorrow," Kiyotaka shrugged.

Airi was surprised again. "H-How can you be sure?"

"The fact that you're not backing out of this even though I'm giving you the chance to says a lot. Words can only go so far, because actions will always show what a person is truly like. You say that you feel nervous, yet you haven't run away from this whole thing because your intentions are something else entirely."

The girl's already-red cheeks turned a shade deeper after hearing the valid points he made and little by little, she was starting to be convinced that maybe, just maybe, she can pull this off for the sake of her classmate and everyone else in their class.

"What do you think I should do then, Ayanokouji-kun?"

['To Protect Her Smile' has been Activated!]

Kiyotaka shrugged as he dug into the cheeseburger he had ordered. "I think you should do what you want, Sakura. You clearly want to help, right? You know what you have to do."

"But I'm asking what you think, Ayanokouji-kun."

"And will that change anything? Will you follow what I say?"

"...yes," she spoke in a quiet tone while nodding.

"My obvious answer is that you should just follow the events of the incident as it happened, Sakura. Only have knowledge of what went down as a spectator. You have the video that you took as reference if you get stuck in explaining. Speak what you truly feel, and you'll be fine."

"I see…" she looked down and took a deep breath, before she began to eat her own burger as well. "I guess I'll do my best. Whatever happens tomorrow, I'll try and stay calm no matter what. I don't want to disappoint the people who are counting on me, especially Hasebe-san and Miyake-kun."

Kiyotaka shook his head slowly. "No, that shouldn't be your priority."

"What?"

"For Miyake. For Hasebe. For Kei. For everyone else in the classroom. Throw all of those thoughts away, Sakura."

"Throw my… thoughts away?" she asked in confusion.

"When you testify tomorrow, speak for yourself. As someone who tells the truth of what she saw, as a witness. If you don't want to be pressured, don't tell the truth because you don't want to disappoint anyone. Tell the truth because you want to save Miyake from being expelled. Do that, and nothing bad will happen to Miyake. That's all you need to do."

That may just be Airi's problem this whole time. She thinks that she's supposed to do this because it's what people wanted her to do. It's what she expects herself to do, because she doesn't want to disappoint some people who have placed their trust in her. Perhaps the pressure of this whole situation was just weighing down on her, and she needed someone to snap her out of it. Or perhaps, she just needed a little guidance on what she has to do.

Kiyotaka had no idea how effective his words would be, or if it would even be effective in any way. He didn't really see himself as someone who can give reliable advice to another person but for Airi's sake, he was going to try and see where this goes.

"I'll make sure to do that," Airi nodded slowly as a smile once again made its way to her features. She heaved a massive sigh of relief, feeling as if a massive weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "Thank you, Ayanokouji-kun. You have no idea how much you've helped me with this."

"I'm sure anyone else would have said the same things as I did," he shrugged, playing it off as something that could have been done by anyone else and it would have yielded the same results.

"Maybe, but you know… the only reason why I'm here…" she admitted whilst turning her head elsewhere out of embarrassment. "...is because of you, Ayanokouji-kun."

"Me?" he asked, feigning a look of surprise.

Airi smiled shyly while her mind went back to the day when she heard those words from his mouth… the words that helped her understand what she had to do, the words that gave her the courage to finally step up after Kiyotaka helped her yesterday.

"Remember what you told me a few days ago? That taking risks is a part of life and that I should learn how to do it?"

"I do."

"It's because of what you said to me that I found the courage to tell you and Kushida-san what I know. It's because of what you said that I decided that I didn't want to be someone who only stands on the sidelines and watches what happens without doing anything."

Kiyotaka didn't show it on his face, but he felt pleased with the results he had gotten. It looks like his actions weren't for naught, and he ended up influencing Airi to change her mind about testifying for Akito's case. It was yet another example of how his 'superpower' can end up swaying things in his favor, because it's what drove him to help the girl in the first place.

"I didn't think it would have such an effect on you."

"Well, it turned out to be for the best, right? I'm lucky to have met you, Ayanokouji-kun. Ever since you became my tutor and helped me to pass the midterm exam, you've done nothing but help me at every turn. I feel like I'm not even worthy of your attention, honestly."

"Now you're being silly," he deadpanned. "Of course I would pay attention to you, Sakura. You would have had a low score in the midterms and subsequently get expelled if I wasn't there to give you attention. I guess I'll have to do it again with our final exams soon."

She covered her mouth to stifle a giggle. "I hope you haven't grown tired of us yet, Ayanokouji-kun."

[You have gained 4 Affection Points with Sakura Airi!]

Kiyotaka raised an eyebrow at that notification, finding it to be an unusual one compared to the rest. He was aware of how easy it was to raise Affection Points with Airi from the moment they met, so much that it's strange for him to get such a small number this time around. At the same time, he also knew that the Affection Points he had accumulated so far with the girl was close to 100, and now it was only one point less than that.

"I wonder why it stopped at 99 instead of just going through with it," he thought to himself as the two students continued on with their meals. "Don't tell me this is going to be like Kushida's situation where Sakura's hiding something that she doesn't want other people to know. Or is this about her other persona as a gravure idol?"

Either way, from his experience with Kikyo in the past, this could only mean that something has to happen for their relationship to progress and upgrade to the next level, and he could only speculate about what it could be…

---

After an interesting lunch [date] with Airi, the girl decided that she would go home to prepare for the trial tomorrow. When Kiyotaka expressed a hint of skepticism regarding her desire to actually help, she reassured him that she would be present and to prove her words, Airi recorded herself saying that she'll be at Miyake's hearing no matter what. She then sent the recording to him so that he would have proof of what she did just in case things go south.

It's almost like something that Kiyotaka himself would do…

Kiyotaka was slightly surprised at her action, almost thinking that it was completely out of character for her before telling Airi that he was convinced. He then bid farewell and watched Airi leave, feeling quite impressed with the sudden change in her attitude yet again. In the span of about two hours, she went from calm and collected, to nervous and confused, to being headstrong and determined.

Hmm… did he inspire her that much with only mere words…?

Nah, it's most likely because of the system's influence.

With Airi gone, Kiyotaka thought that this would be a good time to contact Suzune and Kikyo to tell them of what happened. Perhaps Kei as well, since she was the redhead's closest friend. No doubt that all three of them would be pleased once they know of what went down earlier, especially Suzune and Kei. Once he's done with that, he can then head back to his dorm and rest for the remainder of the day… assuming the system doesn't have any other plans for him today, that is.

After sending a message to the three of them about the success of Airi's little meeting with Chabashira-sensei, Kiyotaka would hear someone calling out his name which forced him to hide his phone almost immediately in his pocket.

"Is that you, Ayanokouji-kun? Man, we really have to stop meeting out of the blue. I'm starting to think that this isn't happening by coincidence."

The young man turned around to see two students from Class B approaching him, both of which he had met before and were apparently his heroines. Whether it's the system's actions that led to this moment or not, he wasn't expecting to run into either of them today. Hmm… should he start to expect random encounters like this as he acquires more heroines?

"Good afternoon, Himeno. May I ask if there's something wrong with seeing me by chance that would have you deem it as more than a coincidence?" he asked the twin-tailed virtuoso of Class B who looked amused upon seeing him again for the fourth time this week.

"Nothing, really. I just thought it's pretty strange that we've been seeing each other often recently," she shrugged carelessly before flashing him a smug look. "Are you still trying to score a date with me? It's gonna take more than this, you know… especially after what I found out about you last week."

"I am still focused on helping my class, and I'm not thinking of anything else that would prove to be a distraction," he deadpanned. As much as he wanted to forget about that moment when they first met, he could never live it down, so much to the point that he would likely curse himself and his dating sim power for the rest of his life.

It was just that embarrassing.

"D-D-D-D-Date…?!" the person who looked to be Yuki's companion squeaked out, causing Kiyotaka to turn towards her. This was only the second time that they had met, yet her face and her embarrassed expression were already two things about her that were ingrained into his mind.

…those two, along with her weird-ass 'Heroine Summary', but it's best not to talk about that anymore.

"Good afternoon to you as well, Shiranami. How have you been?"

The girl's eyes widened when she heard him call her by her name when she hadn't even introduced herself properly to him until now, but then she realized that Ichinose might have informed him about it last Friday.

Ichinose. Even if it was only a mere thought, the name still stung and caused her to shake her head to be rid of it. At this point, she wasn't even hurt by the rejection anymore. Ichinose's actions and thoughts that led to the actual rejection was what affected her more and felt like a betrayal of sorts because they were friends, so as much as possible, Chihiro was doing her best not to think of her in any way.

Still, she had to give Kiyotaka a response because he was waiting for her to say something. "Uhm… I guess I'm doing okay. W-What did Himeno-san mean by 'scoring a date with her', Ayanokouji-kun?"

"Don't think too much about it, Shiranami. It was just playful banter between us. I never thought that Himeno would be like that though, because all signs have pointed to the conclusion that she's someone who's serious all the time," he spoke, waving off her concerns before the issue can blow up.

Chihiro covered her mouth to stifle a giggle. "I think many of our classmates had the same impression of Himeno-san when classes started," she agreed with his assessment.

"Woah, woah, before you two laugh at me, back up. How do you two know each other?" Yuki intervened with a confused look on her face. "As far as I'm concerned, I've never seen you talk with someone else who's not from our class, Shiranami-san."

"I-I…" the blonde muttered, having no idea on what to say.

"Met her last week while I was walking around and asking people if they saw anyone or anything happen at the bathhouse last Sunday, which you already know. It's the same way we met, Himeno. We didn't know each other's classes until Friday, though."

Kiyotaka decided to speak up on the girl's behalf, knowing that their first meeting was a consequence of a pretty depressing event that Chihiro probably wanted to forget about. On that end, he came up with a response that was obviously a lie, but had a little bit of truth mixed in it.

"Y-Yes, Ayanokouji-kun's right!" Chihiro agreed, sending a thankful look at the young man for his quick and intelligent response.

Himeno narrowed her eyes at first. "That's a pretty strange way of meeting someone else, but it's not like I can say anything about it," she shrugged, remembering when she met Kiyotaka for the first time. "So what are you doing here on a Sunday?"

"I was talking with someone else before you two surprised me. What about you?"

"Shiranami-san asked me if I could help her buy a new pair of headphones since I'm the only one in our class who's really passionate about music," she smirked. "Because I had nothing else to do for the whole day, I decided to lend her a hand."

Chihiro didn't say anything, but the flustered look on her face was enough to convey her answer.

"I see."

A more serious expression then formed on Himeno's face, which Kiyotaka nonticed. "By the way, is it true? You found the witness to your classmate's case? Ichinose-san told us about it earlier through our class's group chat, but I'd like to hear it from you," asked Yuki, shifting the focus of the conversation elsewhere.

Kiyotaka nodded, confirming their classmate's words. "It's true. We found her yesterday by complete chance, and she said that she'll testify tomorrow for his case."

"I'm glad you found the person you and your class were looking for," Chihiro smiled.

"Better late than never, I suppose. I wonder why it took so long for you to find that person, though. This whole school can't be that big, right?" Yuki shrugged, in the same boat as her classmate. However, the girl did feel a bit disappointed with herself because it's clear to her that she didn't do much to help, as opposed to someone like Honami.

"Let's just say that she was pretty difficult to track down. At first, she didn't want to be found because she was scared of the attention, but she came around and decided to help."

Yuki raised an eyebrow. "I can't say I agree with her reasons for not wanting to be found, but eh… not like I'm any better since I don't like being the center of attention, either."

"I'm sure her intentions were pure. Maybe she was just nervous about being a witness for the case," Chihiro spoke up in defense of whoever the witness was.

"You're not wrong there, Shiranami…" Kiyotaka thought. He was incredibly fortunate that his decision to leave Airi alone while giving the girl some subtle encouragement worked out well but damn, was it close. If she didn't choose to reveal herself as the witness, he would have resorted to using Ichika's video instead.

"So what's your game plan for the trial tomorrow, Ayanokouji-kun?" asked Himeno.

"Well, I'm not really directly involved in it because I'm not a witness. All I've been doing is helping out in searching for clues and evidence. But now that we've found her, my work is pretty much over. I was actually on my way home when you called my attention, Himeno."

The twin-tailed girl narrowed her eyes and shook her head. "Nah, I don't believe you. At least not at all of it. You're here on a Sunday instead of just staying in your dorm, and you said that you talked with someone earlier. I'm betting it's someone who's important to this whole case and you're trying to come up with a plan for the hearing. I bet you were talking with whoever this witness is."

"Himeno-san, I don't think you should pressure Ayanokouji-kun to say anything."

"I'm not. It's up to Ayanokouji-kun if he wants to tell us something. I just said my reason why I don't believe him, that's all."

Kiyotaka was about to tell Himeno that he wasn't doing anything of the sort and she was just wrong, only for his eyes to notice someone observing them from behind him. Using the reflection on the glass window of a nearby store, he noticed a girl with reddish-brown hair leaning against the wall while using her phone.

The girl looked disinterested in everything else around her, but after seeing her take a quick glance at him and the two Class B students every few seconds, Kiyotaka came to the conclusion that she was listening to their conversation. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that she was recording everything using her phone too, and she's only pretending to do something else.

"I wonder who this is…" he thought, realizing that this was a completely new presence whom he had not seen before. This girl wasn't part of his class, nor was she a classmate of Himeno and Shiranami, otherwise they would have reacted to seeing her. That left Class A and Class C, and he had a strong feeling that it was the latter.

It was clear to him that this girl was listening to them. It also meant that she heard everything they talked about so far. It meant that the girl now knew that his class had found a witness, and if she really is a part of Class C, this is something he can't leave unchecked.

"I wonder if Ryuuen decided to send out his underlings randomly to see if we managed to gather any kind of evidence that we can use against him… or did he actually know who to send his classmates after?"

Either way, with this knowledge in mind, the young man decided to do something else entirely from what he initially had in mind.

"You're actually not wrong, Himeno. I was indeed talking with her earlier, but for confidential reasons, I won't reveal who she is. I suppose I can tell you about what we're planning to do, but that's it."

"That's completely fine," Yuki nodded.

On the other hand, Chihiro was surprised that Kiyotaka would willingly inform them of something detrimental to the hearing tomorrow without any hesitation. She wasn't going to say anything though, because she was pretty curious herself.

"The witness we found actually has a video file of what happened, and she plans to show it at the trial tomorrow. Somehow, she managed to get the whole incident on camera and nobody saw her. Now, we have irrefutable proof of our classmate's innocence. I doubt that anyone from Class C will be able to answer back against a video that was taken by a spectator."

"So this person's going to show that video at the trial tomorrow?" Chihiro asked.

He nodded.

"And because you only found this witness yesterday, then Class C has no idea that your class is now in possession of a video that shows the whole incident," Yuki added.

He nodded again.

"Cool," Yuki gave a nod of approval before throwing him a thumbs-up.

"That's great to hear! I'm cheering for you and your classmate, Ayanokouji-kun!" Chihiro smiled in support of him and Class D entirely.

"She'll definitely appreciate the words of encouragement," Kiyotaka remarked as he imagined Airi's possible reaction to their words.

She'd probably cover her face with her hands while losing the ability to speak, which would be quite an amusing sight to see.

Meanwhile, the girl with reddish-brown hair continued to listen to the ongoing conversation with her phone recording everything that she was hearing. So far, so good. None of them seem to be suspicious of her presence or if she was lucky, they had no idea that she was there at all.

"Why did it have to be me who's doing this? I'm sure Ibuki-san is more fit to do the spying stuff than someone like me," she thought to herself while doing her best to make it seem like she wasn't listening at all. "Whatever. I just hope this doesn't backfire on our class because I don't want to deal with the consequences at all…"

---

"I'm pretty sure this isn't happening because Kikyo wants to spend time with me, so I wonder what's the point of this."

Kiyotaka had been invited by Kikyo to come to her room and it's not just him. Suzune and Kei were apparently invited by Kikyo as well, telling all of them through a message that she had something important to share with them. All three were confused at why the beige-haired girl would call for them at this time of night, especially Kiyotaka (who was ready to have an early sleep when he received the text). However, they were also sure that Kikyo wouldn't do this for no reason as well, so they didn't see any reason to refuse their classmate.

Plus, it's not like they'd have to walk very far to get to Kikyo's dorm.

The three gathered in front of Kikyo's door at the same time as Suzune knocked on it. After a few seconds of waiting, Kikyo opened the door and greeted them with a smile, before inviting her classmates inside. Once they were all settled in and took their seats in various places, she closed the door and joined the three at the center of her dorm.

Suzune decided to go straight to the point so that they wouldn't waste time. "Have you learned of something else regarding Miyake-kun's case, Kushida-san?"

Kikyo chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of her head. "Well, not really, but I found something that you all have to see. Hang on, I'll send it to each of you!"

After fiddling with her phone for a while, her three classmates all received a message from her at the same time. Upon viewing it, they saw that it was just a link to a website that they knew nothing about. They turned back to Kikyo, who was waving her phone at them.

"Now open that link and look at what it has!"

Following Kikyo's instructions, the three opened their browsers and accessed the site themselves. It led to a blog that was rather elaborate, and the whole theme of it seemed to be centered around a single person whose pictures filled up the site. It should be noted that some of those pictures were rather… risque.

"Why are you showing us a blog site?"

"Look at the profile of the person that the whole blog focuses on," she told all of them, which they did right away. "That's Shizuku."

It was a young woman who looked to be the same age as them. She bore striking red hair that were tied in twin-tails, along with blue eyes that can soothe the emotions of any boy who comes across her gaze. She had a well-endowed figure and from the looks of it, she was a popular figure among the male population, whether they were teenagers or full-grown adults.

"Shizuku?" Kei parroted.

"She's a gravure idol. She was featured in a young men's magazine recently," the beige-haired girl explained.

Kiyotaka hid a look of interest behind his usual emotionless expression. "So she really did figure it out. Kikyo realized how similar they look yesterday and she tried asking Sakura if she could take her glasses off to confirm her suspicion. Unfortunately, Sakura denied her that opportunity when she refused, forcing Kikyo to do the research herself."

"I don't see how this is of any relevance to Miyake-kun's case," Suzune deadpanned. Now she was starting to think that she only wasted her time. If anything, this is something that their male classmates would want to hear more, especially the shameless perverts.

Kikyo sighed. "I know, but trust me on this, Horikita-san. Now, do you recognize her? Shizuku, I mean."

The three students observed the girl closely using the pictures of her that were all over the blog site. While Kiyotaka already knew who this girl really was and simply chose to remain quiet, the same can't be said for both Kei and Suzune.

"How are we supposed to recognize her? This is the first time that I've seen this girl in my life."

"My answer is the same as Karuizawa-san."

"Look closely," Kikyo insisted.

Kei rolled her eyes, already convinced that this was nothing but a waste of time. If she could, she'd head home now and get an early rest, but that would be disrespectful towards her classmate.

"...she's cute, but so what?"

On the other hand, Suzune's reaction had begun to change after a second observation. Her deadpan expression slowly turned into a frown of confusion, then into a look of realization.

"Hang on… this girl…" she mumbled, "...she looks similar to Sakura-san."

Upon hearing those words, the blonde girl's eyes widened.

"Wait, what…?! You're joking!" Kei cried out in disbelief as she took another look at the pictures of the gravure idol named Shizuku, now trying to liken her appearance to that of her friend within the class.

"I agree with you, Suzune. She does look like Sakura," Kiyotaka agreed, speaking up for the first time ever since they began this little rendezvous between them.

Suzune looked up at Kikyo and narrowed her eyes. "This is Sakura-san, isn't it?"

Her friend smiled and nodded. "That's right. It's Sakura-san, from our class."

"Huh? No way, no way. Airi-chan? I-I find that hard to believe…" Kei let out a boisterous laugh, but it was more to convince herself that what they're insinuating was only a mere joke.

"I don't know, Kei… if you remove her glasses and fix her hair a bit, I'm quite sure that Sakura is this Shizuku," Kiyotaka added while still in deep thought regarding the similarities between their classmate and this idol.

"But this girl is a gravure idol, Kiyotaka. If you're trying to convince me that Sakura is working as a gravure idol, it's not going to work. I'm gonna tell you that you're an idiot to even think of it," she pouted.

"I understand that Sakura is pretty much your best friend, but you don't even know everything there is to know about her. The same goes for her towards you. Perhaps there is more to Sakura than just being our classmate who's shy and nervous around everyone she comes across."

"Okay, fine, there's a slight resemblance," Kei relented a bit, though it didn't seem like she was giving up on her stance that this idol wasn't her friend. "But they're different people. Look at this girl's pictures, Kiyotaka. I can't even imagine Airi-chan doing all of this."

Among all the pictures that were shown on the blog site, most of them were selfies. While they involved the idol Shizuku pulling off various poses while smiling for the camera, there were also a select few ones where the girl was dressed in different bikinis. This was probably the main reason why Kei couldn't accept that her friend was this… this girl who doesn't seem to have any sense of shame.

"Perhaps Karuizawa-san needs some proof that this is indeed Sakura-san?" Suzune suggested.

"Here's the proof then. Observe the fourth image closely in the gallery that's featured there." Kiyotaka pointed out, as the three girls followed his instructions. He focused his attention on the one piece of evidence that proved Airi and Shizuku were one and the same. "You can barely see it, but the door to her dorm room is in this picture."

Kikyo nodded as she noticed the same thing. "Yep. It looks the same as the doors in our dorm."

In other words, it was likely she'd taken that picture at school.

"Although I find this knowledge to be quite enlightening, I don't really understand why you invited me here, Kushida-san. This has nothing to do with Miyake-kun's case," Suzune repeated her point from earlier.

"I wouldn't say that, Suzune. This does involve the witness to Miyake's case. It could be a possible reason why she had been hesitant to speak up before," Kiyotaka explained. When he saw her about to speak up again, he continued on. "It may not seem important at the moment, Suzune, but I believe this information will be useful in the long run because it involves our classmate."

Suzune stared at Kiyotaka for a few moments, before she heaved a sigh of defeat. She trusted his judgment and if he thinks that this will end up benefiting them, then she had no reason to refuse.

"Very well, I shall take this more seriously."

Kikyo sent her a grateful nod. "Thank you, Horikita-san. To be honest with you, this all came on a whim. It started when I saw a picture of Shizuku from Ike-kun reading a weekly magazine recently. Then yesterday, I got a good look at Sakura-san's picture when we were exchanging contact information. I had a sudden feeling that I'd seen Sakura-san somewhere before, so I asked her if she could take her glasses off."

"I assume that she didn't allow you the luxury of seeing her without her glasses."

"No, she didn't want to. She said that she has a hard time seeing things without her glasses."

The raven-haired girl narrowed her eyes. "But now that we have concluded that this 'Shizuku' is Sakura-san herself, it also means that her glasses are fake."

"Which also means that Sakura-san is aware that if she takes her glasses off, people would recognize who she is," Kikyo finished Suzune's thought as she arrived at the same conclusion.

"I'm having a hard time believing this…" Kei mumbled, unable to pry her gaze away from her phone as she continued to stare at the photos of Shizuku, even though a big part of her was screaming at herself to stop. Nonetheless, it looks like she was finally accepting the fact that Shizuku and Airi were the same person.

"From that blog, I've noticed that just when Shizuku started to become really popular, she became less and less active. She stopped posting entirely, but I guess it's because the school doesn't allow us to contact anyone outside, not even our relatives. Now I'm wondering if this is Sakura-san's real personality…" Kikyo muttered.

Suzune folded her arms before taking a deep breath. "If I have to give my opinion, I think that Sakura-san's idol self is more of a mask. In other words, she created a whole new personality for herself online by putting on a mask and makeup."

"You think Airi-chan's putting on a mask for this kind of thing?" asked Kei, finally inserting herself in the conversation.

"If she puts her mind into it, I think Sakura-san could smile in front of people."

"Are you sure about that, Horikita-san? Even if you don't know her that well, you must be aware of what Airi-chan is like at least. She's too shy to even do that without being nervous like hell," Kei frowned, obviously displeased at the conclusion that her two classmates have come up with.

Kikyo sighed and sent the blonde girl a look of sympathy. "I don't know what to tell you, Karuizawa-san. Everybody has their own secrets to hide. I think the more you deny that Shizuku is Sakura-san, the more it'll be hard for you to accept the truth."

Kei sighed deeply. "I'm trying, okay? It's not everyday you find out that your close friend is actually taking pictures of herself like this, all for a job that she's too young to even take. It's also not everyday that you find out that someone you thought you knew is leading a double life."

While the three girls continued to discuss their opinions and possible course of action regarding this information, Kiyotaka was quietly reading through the blog site. While sorting the posts, he saw that 'Shizuku' began the blog about two years ago. It also meant that Airi had spent two years being a gravure idol.

Other than pictures, she had posted some written text once in a while where she wrote her hopes and aspirations for the future. Apart from those however, there was nothing else that stood out.

"She's completely different as an idol compared to how she is. I imagine it would be quite taxing and nerve-wrecking for a second-year junior high student to be exposed to a completely new world online but somehow,

Remarkably, he noticed that Airi had updated the blog with new posts almost every single day for an entire year. She did that by writing what had happened to her on that day and her thoughts on everything. She also responded to almost every single comment from her fans but one day, about two days before the official start of classes in this school, she stopped replying. Airi had strictly adhered to the rule about contacting anyone outside of the campus, leading to many of her fans questioning her whereabouts and why she suddenly stopped updating the blog.

Considering her shy and nervous nature around other people, it's almost impossible to believe that she was fairly popular. Through a link in the blog that took him to another site, he noticed that Airi had over 5000 followers on Twitter alone. Many of them were fans that wanted her to return to doing gravure magazines really soon, or asked if she had any plans to appear on television.

Among those many comments, a post from three months ago immediately snagged Kiyotaka's attention, as it was around the same time that they had begun attending this school.

Do you believe in fate? I do. I believe we'll be together forever Shizuku1015.

If that had been the only post, it would've been considered as a delusional fantasy of a random fan online. But as he checked that fan's profile page, there was a post everyday mentioning the same person, to the point that it became alarming rather quickly.

I can always feel you close to me Shizuku1015.

Shizuku1015 You were even cuter today, huh?

Shizuku1015 Did you notice when our eyes met? I noticed.

If Airi still viewed her Twitter account every now and then, she would have likely seen these posts by now. If she had, then he could only imagine the poor girl's reaction to each of them. It's like this particular fan wanted to be as close to Shizuku as he can so he'd be able to whisper these words into her ear. And if Kiyotaka had to be honest, all these posts were getting to him too. The more he looked at them, the more he felt anger building up inside of him.

At the same time, within this heavily restricted school, only a very limited number of people could encounter Airi. Students, teachers, or anyone who did business with the school.

All of a sudden, a sudden memory of the man who worked at the campus electronic store hit him.

"That guy who I was tempted to kill…"

Then, at the same time, he noticed a post from yesterday by the same fan which caused him to narrow his eyes in realization.

God is real after all, Shizuka1015!

According to Airi herself, she bought her digital camera after enrolling in this school. She probably disguised herself that day, which was what she planned to do when she had to have her device repaired. Given their circumstances, it was nearly impossible for someone in Class D to buy a new one.

She'd been hesitant to go get her camera repaired because of the clerk. While she succeeded in that endeavor, it came at the cost of the creep seeing her up close because he and Kikyo had convinced her that wearing a disguise would only make her stand out more.

The clerk, on the other hand, had been in incredibly high spirits the whole time while conversing with her and Kikyo. After all, he had the chance to get his favorite idol's real name and phone number on the form she had to fill, which he managed to prevent by threatening to murder the bastard in cold blood.

"Our actions ended up creating more trouble for her, yet she pushed through and decided to help, nonetheless. All because she doesn't want to regret not helping out when she could have."

With this new knowledge, Kiyotaka felt the sudden urge to give the poor girl a comforting hug and a well-deserved headpat, all while he continued to read the posts that this crazy fan had written since yesterday, all with an interval of two hours between each one.

It's so mean for you to ignore me, Shizuku1015! Or perhaps you just didn't notice me?

What are you doing now, Shizuku1015? I want to meet you, I want to meet you, I want to meet you!

Are you alone, Shizuku1015? Let me come over and I'll make you feel better!

It's as if the creep was slowly losing his patience. Kiyotaka wondered if knowing that this stalker was so close had pushed Airi to the point of almost unimaginable terror. However, she had also promised to testify on Miyake's behalf tomorrow, meaning that she had thrown her fear to the side in favor of helping their class as a witness.

"It would be unsafe for her to leave her dorm in any way, now that that creep knows what she looks like. Sakura needs someone to walk with her to school tomorrow just to be safe."

The stalker was within the same campus as them, and while he may not know who Shizuku is and what her personal information was, he knew what she looked like and there's no doubt that he'll use that knowledge to look for Airi. To make matters more alarming, Airi is an important asset to their class as a witness, which means that she has to be on time for the actual hearing and nothing less.

Now, Kiyotaka had no way of predicting what will happen tomorrow during the hearing, but one thing that he can guarantee will happen, was one particular thought that involved the stalker who was a threat to one of his heroines.

"I'm burying him alive if I see him anywhere near Sakura tomorrow."

Number of days before Akito's trial: 0

---

MINASAN, YONDE KURETE ARIGATŌ! AISHITEMAAAAASUUUUU! *starts playing air guitar*

-Lance