Is Iamfanfictioner a hypocrite who said I'm not changing canon while also complaining that this Kiyotaka doesn't even help much like canon?

Yes.

Is Iamfanfictioner a hopeless simp who just wants Chabashira route to progress quickly because Kiyotaka promised her something?

Yes.

Is Iamfanfictioner an uncultured swine for hating on several chapters where one girl was given a lot of development?

Yes.

Is Iamfanfictioner a brainless retard for not knowing what he wants?

Yes.

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.

Shiina Hiyori was never someone who considered herself to be in constant odds against time and other things that normal people have no means of fighting against, because she was the type of person to accept whatever it is that comes her way and she simply adapts to it.

Through this, she was able to cultivate a relatively normal educational journey from her childhood up until now, with her only flaw being that she's someone who likes to keep other people at arm's length.

Well, it could hardly be called a 'flaw'. Hiyori didn't think of it as one, at least. She didn't really see anything wrong with keeping a friendly face and at the same time, refraining from being close to just anyone. It helped in creating a quiet school life for herself, free from trouble and conflict because she's not involved with anything on a personal basis.

…up until now, that is.

"So… Class D found a witness after all this time. And whoever that is took a video of the whole thing when it happened," Ryuuen Kakeru smirked victoriously after playing the recording sent to him by one of his classmates. He had told the whole class to shut their mouths and listen beforehand, while his phone played the recording at full volume so that everyone could hear it. "I have to commend them for not giving up, but now it's pointless."

"We're sorry, Ryuuen-san! We should have checked the whole area before we made our move!" Ishizaki Daichi bowed his head along with his two friends, all of whom were the ones who attacked Miyake the previous week.

Ryuuen folded his arms"Don't worry about it. In the end, it won't matter. All they have is one piece of evidence from one person, nothing more. I wonder what the idiots in that class would do if their evidence got destroyed, but before that… Hiyori."

The silver-haired girl was snapped out of trance when she heard her name being called. Until now, she was only listening to what was going on while using her phone and almost immediately, she was completely surprised when she heard Kiyotaka's voice in the recording that Kakeru played. She didn't think that her friend from Class D would be caught like this.

But now, all pairs of eyes had turned towards her after Kakeru singled her out. She blinked a few times in surprise, wondering why he would announce her name all of a sudden, only to be hit with realization.

The magenta-haired leader of Class C sent her a frown. "Who were you talking to last Thursday?"

Despite the serious accusation by her classmate, Hiyori managed to remain calm and simply tilted her head curiously. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you are trying to ask me, Ryuuen-kun."

"You thought I wouldn't notice you taking a picture of Ishizaki, Komiya, and Kondo on the same day last week?" Ryuuen smirked. "At first, I thought it was nothing harmless, but then I see you're sending a message to someone else who's not in our class and wishing them good luck."

Her eyes widened slightly, before she quickly snapped out of it.

Upon hearing that statement, Shiina's hands started to shake but she willed herself to keep them still. All she could do right now was alter the text message that she was typing just before Ryuuen called her out, and she didn't even have any time left when he began to slowly advance towards her desk.

"Who was it, Hiyori? A member of Class D that you leaked information to last week? Someone that you'll betray your own class for. Don't you know how much it hurts to be betrayed by someone you considered an ally?" he asked with sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Ryuuen stood in front of her, his whole figure towering over her small frame which was effective as an intimidation method. Shiina had a bad feeling about what was to come and she hesitated to say anything… for the moment, at least. A part of her wanted to stay silent and keep herself from saying anything about Class D, but there's also a part of her that was afraid of Ryuuen and what he's capable of doing. She didn't know what to do exactly.

"If you don't want to say anything, I won't force you. Hand over your phone instead," Kakeru demanded, leaving his hand open in front of Hiyori as he waited for her to do as she was told.

"Hey, you're going too far! Leave Shiina alone if she doesn't want to say anything," Ibuki Mio stood from her seat and spoke up in defense of the poor girl who was being bullied into submission. However, it would ultimately lead nowhere when Hiyori slowly handed over her phone without saying anything.

"Kuku, that wasn't hard, was it?" Kakeru laughed at the defeated look that formed on the girl's face and decided to twist the knife a little further. "Don't worry, I'm not going to tamper with anything here or invade your privacy. I just want to know who you were talking to, that's it."

"I'm sorry, Ayanokouji-kun. I failed you as a friend," Hiyori hung her head in utter shame as her class leader checked her phone for any useful information.

"Let's see here… Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, huh? What a damn coincidence, it's the same guy that Nishino tailed yesterday. He must be the one you were talking to last week, huh?" he chuckled in amusement before exiting the app, where he noticed something interesting. "And would you look at that… this guy is even your wallpaper? Hiyori here might actually have a crush on someone, hahahaha!"

"Wait, seriously…?!"

"There's no way…"

"Shiina-san likes someone?!"

"Who does she have a crush on…?!"

"She likes me, right?"

A significant portion of the class were collectively shocked at what Ryuuen just announced, to the point that they thought they were only hearing things. Perhaps it was too hard for them to accept that Shiina, who was normally seen as a kind and innocent angel in their eyes, was actually interested in someone.

"Oh, there's no need to lose your minds, you idiots. I don't think that's the case. This Ayanokouji is probably just someone Hiyori talks to when there's no classes, and he happens to be from Class D. What a convenient way of getting information on Class C using our own classmate," Ryuuen immediately cleared everyone's suspicions before things could go south, though he did get a good laugh out of it. "You know, I was thinking of giving you an appropriate punishment, Hiyori. But since you cooperated with me, I'll forgive you for your betrayal this time, kukuku."

Hiyori remained silent while keeping her gaze downwards, too ashamed to even raise her head..

"I swear, if you try to hurt her, Ryuuen…"

"Oh, calm your tits, Ibuki. I'm not going to do anything to her. In fact, here. I'm returning her phone to her. I got what I wanted anyway."

While Mio looked both gobsmacked and furious at that remark, Kakeru handed the phone back to his silver-haired classmate with a smug look on his face.

Why wouldn't he? He managed to learn two important things ahead of the hearing that will take place later this afternoon. The first of which was the fact that Class D somehow managed to find evidence against them, and the second is that Hiyori had met with a guy named Kiyotaka last week to feed him information about them.

The best part about it? The same guy that one of his classmates followed around for a bit was the same person that Hiyori came into contact with. It was essentially killing two birds with one stone, and he felt so good about it.

All of a sudden, in a move that caught everyone off guard (even Kakeru himself), Hiyori stood up from her seat and swiped her phone off his hand so fast that it seemed like she was angry about something. However, with her head down and her hair shadowing over her face, it was hard to determine what her exact expression was.

Hiyori walked out of the classroom right away, leaving her entire class completely speechless at her actions. For as long as they knew the girl, she was quiet and mostly kept to herself, only interacting with others when she had to and nothing more. Apart from that, she was also friendly and spoke up here and there about getting along with no further conflict needed, earning her a good reputation among her classmates.

Walking out on everyone and hiding her face from everyone else, none of them could have seen this coming from Hiyori. Even after she had left the room, everyone was still in disbelief at the change in her demeanor that nobody could say anything for the next few moments.

Ishizaki was the first to snap out of his trance and even so, he didn't know what to say at first. After being left in disbelief at the girl's shift in behavior, all that was left in him was confusion.

"...that was weird. Ryuuen-san, what's gotten into her?"

Kakeru woke up from his own trance but like his classmate, he was confused as well. As far as he knew, Hiyori was always calm and maintained a cool aura despite his… methods. She couldn't have been scared, right?

"I have no idea," he shrugged.

Oh, well. In the end, Kakeru didn't really care if there was a change within Hiyori. As long as she follows him and doesn't betray him again, then he couldn't care less about how she handles herself.

"Maybe it's because you were scaring her, jerk…" Mio chimed in while glaring at their leader.

"Unlikely, Ibuki-san. If she was scared, then Shiina-san would have been hesitant to take her phone back at least," Kaneda Satoru argued calmly, pushing his glasses up as he too snapped out of his state of disbelief.

"But Ryuuen was raising his voice at her! How could she not be scared?!"

The magenta-haired leader of Class C scoffed. "Why are you two even arguing about something like that? The only thing that matters is now I know that Hiyori tried to help someone—"

*SPLAT!*

Ryuuen was cut off from his words when a pie came flying at him out of nowhere and hit him square in the face, leading to a big mess with strawberry jam that covered his entire face as a result. The impact even caused him to take a step back! It happened so fast that everyone in class was caught off guard and even caused some of them to scream in fright.

"Ahhh!" Ishizaki shrieked, literally jumping out of his chair as if a ghost had appeared.

"Boss!" Yamada Albert cried out in worry as he immediately flocked over to where their leader was to offer his help.

"Woah, what the hell?!" Mio exclaimed, taking a step back while looking on in shock.

Once he had regained his bearings and had a clear grasp on what just happened, Ryuuen was beyond livid. He was like a time bomb that's about to explode at any second.

How dare someone throw something at him?! Much less a freaking pie?! How dare someone humiliate him like this?! Don't they know that he can break a person in two if they even choose to mess with him?! Oh, he would make the person behind this pay! He would break every bone in that person's body and leave him half-dead! Nobody messes with him and walks away without consequences!

"Who the fuck threw that pie at me?!" he roared at the entirety of Class C with his face still covered in strawberry jam. It was an amusing sight if one had to be honest, but nobody would actually think that way while Kakeru is this angry. "If nobody answers me, then I'll make sure to loosen up every single one of your tongues until someone admits it!"

"R-Ryuuen-san, calm down!" Daichi spoke up in an attempt to cool him down, even trying to approach him despite the risk

Kakeru glared daggers at him. "Was it you, Ishizaki?! Do you want to die?!"

"No, no, it wasn't me! I swear!"

"Get me a damn towel now!" Kakeru barked at him, and Daichi immediately went around asking their classmates if they had any towels or handkerchiefs they could use. Meanwhile, the magenta-haired teen turned towards one of his other subordinates in his continued pursuit of answers. "Albert! Who the hell threw that pie?!"

The big, dark-skinned young man shrugged, having no clue on who could have done such a thing. His eyes never caught wind of anything, and he was just as shocked as everyone else when the pie hit his leader's face.

When that failed, Kakeru turned his attention to the rest of his classmates, only to get the same results. Everyone else who was present in the classroom collectively shook their heads, having nothing to do with what happened. There were a few of them who were about to lose a battle within themselves to contain their laughter, though. It's only because of their fear of him that they stayed quiet.

However, that didn't mean they would stay quiet forever. The first to give in was Ibuki, who couldn't stop herself from throwing her head back and letting out a loud laugh that filled the entire room.

"Hahahahahaha, guess you didn't see that coming, did you?! Hahahahahaha! This is hilarious!"

"Ibuki…" Ryuuen seethed as Ishizaki handed him a dry towel, which he immediately used to wipe his face clean from the strawberry jam and pie crust.

She shook her head furiously. "No, I don't know who threw it! I wish I knew, though! Their aim was perfect! Oh my god, I can't breathe…!"

Seeing Ibuki laugh was enough for everyone else to follow along and in no time, almost the entirety of Class C were on the same boat. The only ones who weren't laughing were Ishizaki, Komiya, Kondo, Kaneda, and Yamada.

As much as Ryuuen wanted to threaten all of his classmates for even laughing at him, he knew that it would be a waste of time. With every passing second, the culprit who did this heinous offense to him was getting away and he couldn't afford that to happen.

"Check the fucking windows! The fucker who did it couldn't have gotten far yet, I'll chase him down myself!" he shouted at his lackeys

Albert pointed to the windows and strangely enough, they all looked untouched. "The windows have been closed this whole time, Boss."

Kakeru looked like he was about to lose it, while the rest of Class C continued to laugh at his misfortune. "That's impossible! Get out of my way, I'll look for him myself!"

While this was happening inside of the classroom, Hiyori watched the whole thing unfold out in the hallway and saw everything that happened. Like her classmates, she was left shocked at what just transpired. That pie came flying towards Kakeru out of nowhere and if there was even a culprit, she didn't see anyone leaving the classroom.

At the moment though, she was holding her phone up to her ear and seemed like she was in the middle of a call. The events inside her classroom had interrupted her conversation with the person on the other side.

Slowly but surely, the look of shock on her face slowly turned into a smile which was the complete opposite of how she felt just earlier.

"Pfft…! Ahahahaha…"

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

"Why the hell would it activate now, of all times?"

Kiyotaka's eyes widened as he saw that notification pop up in front of him, although he was able to hide his shock behind his usual impassive look before anyone could notice.

He was perfectly aware of the prerequisite for this overpowered skill to activate, but he didn't see anything around him that could have triggered it… unless the system had finally dedicated itself to making his life as miserable as possible, that is.

His heroines couldn't have been feeling sad, when none of them looked that way. Suzune looked determined more than anything else (she had volunteered to speak in Miyake's defense for the trial later), Kikyo was happily chatting with Haruka, Kei and Airi were locked in a conversation of their own, and Chiaki was busy scrolling through her phone's news feed.

None of them looked sad right now, which means it's… someone who's not in his class.

Tsubasa? Unlikely. She's the only heroine of his who wasn't in this school and so far, nothing ridiculous has happened, like teleporting him to wherever she was just to make her happy. Ichika? Hell no, he had specifically instructed her to stay in their dorm unit she's likely keeping herself busy entertaining herself. Sae? She may not be here in the classroom yet, but he can confidently say that there's nothing wrong with her. She's probably still at the teacher's lounge or she's on her way here. Arisu? That's also unlikely when today is a school day and she's in her own classroom. It's kind of impossible to imagine her being sad out of nowhere, but who knows? He firmly believed that it's not her, regardless.

That left Honami and Hiyori as the only possible reasons for the skill activating, but there's a little problem with that conclusion.

Like Arisu, Kiyotaka was having a hard time imagining either of those two girls being sad as well. Honami is like the embodiment of positivity, and Hiyori is the embodiment of innocence. That didn't mean they couldn't be in touch with their emotions, though. It's simply a hard task to picture either of them with a sad look but if one of them indeed felt that way, then something very serious must have happened.

The only question now… is which one of them caused his reality-warping skill to activate?

Little did Kiyotaka know that he would receive an answer almost immediately, particularly when he felt someone tapping on his shoulder which snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Ayanokouji-kun."

He turned his head to face the black-haired girl. "Yes, Suzune?"

"Shiina-san is calling me, and it appears that she wishes to speak with you for whatever reason," she explained, showing him an ongoing call she was having with the Class C student. "Could it be that she wants to talk about the hearing later on?"

"Does she still have any information to tell us, though?" he thought to himself, before realizing that this must be the answer he's looking for. Shiina must be the heroine that caused the skill to activate, although it's quite surprising that all it did was cause her to talk to him over the phone.

Knowing how utterly ridiculous the system is and what it's capable of, it's surprising that it didn't teleport him to where Hiyori is or vice versa, and have him deal with whatever her problem was. Anyway, he wasn't going to complain about this since it makes things easier, though he now wondered what could have made her sad.

There's already a lingering feeling inside of him that's telling him it won't be the most pleasing news…

"I suppose I'll find out. Is it fine if I borrow your phone while I talk to her?" he asked.

Suzune nodded and handed over her phone without saying anything else.

Satisfied with the answer he received, he took the gadget from her and walked out of the classroom where he couldn't be bothered by anyone else. After making sure that Chabashira-sensei was nowhere in sight for now, Kiyotaka shifted his attention to the girl who was waiting for him to respond.

"What's going on, Shiina?" he asked.

"Ayanokouji-kun…" her voice was soft and weak, confirming his suspicion that she was the heroine who needed him right now. It was almost bizarre to think of her being sad, but it was happening. "I'm sorry. To you, Horikita-san, Kushida-san, and Class D. I'm sorry."

A twinge of worry sprouted in him upon hearing her voice alone, and the sudden apology only made it worse. "What are you apologizing for?"

"Ryuuen-kun… he found out that your class found a witness."

"I expected that, but why is she apologizing?" he asked himself. The girl had nothing to do with his conversation with the two Class B students yesterday, so why is she speaking as if she's blaming herself for it? "Why are you apologizing, Shiina?"

He could hear her sniffling from the other side. "I was going to send Horikita-san a message wishing you and your class good luck, but Ryuuen-kun called me out and demanded that I hand over my phone to him. Apparently, he knew that I was talking to someone last Thursday and he demanded answers from me."

"That's the same day when Suzune and Kikyo talked to her. Does Ryuuen know about them?" he considered her words for a moment as he thought about the possibility of Suzune and Kikyo being seen by a Class C student while they were unaware of it. "So he knows that you met with two of my classmates…"

"He doesn't know that I talked with Kushida-san and Horikita-san, but he knows about you."

"How? I wasn't the one who spoke with you that day."

"One of my classmates, Nishino-san, managed to follow you around yesterday. She recorded a conversation you had with two other students, I think… and you were talking to them about what Class D is planning to do at the upcoming trial. When Ryuuen-kun asked me to hand my phone over, I managed to erase Horikita-san's name, but I couldn't do the same for yours. Now he thinks that it was also you who I spoke to last week."

"I see."

"I'm sorry, Ayanokouji-kun. If I was more careful, then this wouldn't happen…" she apologized again, and he could only imagine what's the expression on Hiyori's face at the moment.

He took a deep breath. "It wasn't your fault at all, so please don't blame yourself. If anything, the fault lies within me. I wasn't checking my surroundings and therefore, it led to myself being recorded while I was unaware of it."

While he knew that there was someone from Class C who recorded his conversation with Himeno and Shiranami yesterday, Ryuuen having knowledge of Shiina's betrayal was something he didn't expect. Sure, there was always the chance of it happening in the back of his mind, but since Kushida and Horikita didn't say anything about any possible eavesdroppers, he didn't think much of it and kept his focus towards Sakura.

It seems those two still have more to learn while being in this situation, but oh well. At the very least, Ryuuen only has knowledge of Shiina interacting with someone from Class D, and the guy thinks it's him. Things could have definitely been worse.

"You're not… angry…?" the girl asked in a confused tone.

"Why would I be angry?"

"Because today is the hearing, right…? Ryuuen-kun knows that Class D has evidence against Class C, which means he'll be prepared for you."

Kiyotaka sighed. "It was out of your control. I'm not going to blame you for something like that, Shiina."

"But this wouldn't have happened if I was careful. Ryuuen-kun demanded that I hand over my phone, and I had no choice but to follow him. Because of that, he found out about you."

"And like I said, it wasn't your fault.," he insisted while hoping that his attempt to cheer her up was working. That's the goal right now and since nothing particularly crazy has happened yet, it must mean that the system is letting him solve this problem on his own. "Did Ryuuen hurt you in any way?"

"N-No. Although he said that he forgives me for betraying him because I cooperated with him, he must have thought about hurting me at least."

His eyes widened for a brief moment before they narrowed in a very uncharacteristic move for him. Anger slowly began to build inside him as he heard those words. Kiyotaka almost thought he was hearing things, even. Ryuuen would even go as far as to threaten Shiina with violence? Shiina, a girl who wants nothing to do with conflict and class competitions? That's something the young man can't accept, especially when it involves one of his heroines.

"Initially, I was going to be satisfied with seeing your class lose, Ryuuen. Now I will take great pleasure in crushing your classmates in this hearing," he said in his thoughts, vowing that the only thing that the leader of Class C would feel after this is the crushing taste of defeat. "What is Ryuuen doing right now, Shiina? Are you nowhere near him?"

"I'm outside my classroom. I guess I'll see what's happening inside…"

A period of silence followed afterwards, which Kiyotaka took as Hiyori trying to observe the Class C leader from where she was. While he waited for Hiyori's answer, Kiyotaka thought about how the trial would go about later on. His initial plan was that he would only bring Airi to the venue and stay quiet for the rest of the hearing, and that's because the red-haired girl asked if he could be present there as a form of support.

Even though he didn't really want to be there, Kiyotaka knew that his hands were tied in this situation either way. Airi might see his presence as comforting, and he couldn't do anything other than to give her his support so she can handle herself… lest he cause her to feel nervous and subsequently, upset.

But now that he had learned of what Ryuuen acted towards Hiyori and for what he almost did to her, a simple defeat for him would be too easy. No, he has to suffer for even thinking of harming an innocent soul who—

"Pfft…! Ahahahaha…" he then heard Hiyori laugh for some reason, which snapped him out of his thoughts. This came as an immediate surprise because she sounded sad and gloomy just a while ago.

Did the system do something while he's unaware of it?

"What happened?" he asked.

All he could hear for the next few seconds was Hiyori's cute giggles, until the girl finally spoke up again. "I-I don't know how, but… haha… someone threw a pie at Ryuuen-kun's face…!"

All he could do was raise an eyebrow in confusion. That was a ridiculous notion on its own, because who exactly would do such a thing to someone who leads his class through violence? The person who did it must have had balls of steel, or they were just plain crazy. It also sounded too out of nowhere that he couldn't think of a logical reason for a person to throw a pie in another's face.

Hmm… perhaps they may be more to this than being a bizarre occurrence.

"Someone threw a pie at him?" Kiyotaka asked, wanting to make sure that he wasn't hearing things or anything.

She giggled cutely. "Yes, at Ryuuen-kun's face."

"Who did it?" he asked the question that was bothering his mind.

"I don't know, it happened so fast. I didn't even see anyone go inside our classroom, nor was there someone who left. He was caught off guard by it, and…" Hiyori tried her best, but failed, to even contain her amusement. "He's trying to find out who did it, but now everyone is just laughing, ahahaha…"

He blinked a few times in realization. "I get it. This is the work of the system. This was not as ridiculous as I thought it would be, but I suppose it works. She sounded like she was about to cry earlier, but now she's laughing."

Crisis averted, thankfully. Bonus points too because his superpower didn't do anything too drastic, which would have been harder to deal with on the same day of Miyake's trial. He really didn't need anything else bothering him, though it was worth it to hear Hiyori being joyful again. As a matter of fact, he let out a massive sigh of relief because he resolved this little problem without much difficulty.

"Now that you seem to be happy again, I guess all you needed was a good laugh for you to stop being sad about the whole thing,"

The girl stopped giggling right away, likely feeling embarrassed about being called out like that. "Uhm… I… still feel responsible for it, if I have to be honest."

Kiyotaka shook his head in amusement. "And I'll reiterate what I said. It wasn't your fault. It was out of your control, and you couldn't have known that Ryuuen would somehow know that you talked with Suzune and Kikyo last week. We're just fortunate that he doesn't know either of them and instead, he thinks you were with me."

Although she had calmed down considerably, the girl still felt worried for her friend. "But what will you and your class do now, Ayanokouji-kun? Ryuuen-kun knows you found a witness who will help you win this case against Class C. He might do something bad with the knowledge he now possesses…"

He leaned against the wall behind him. "Let us worry about that. Truth be told, you're already helping us, Shiina. If you didn't tell me about this, then I wouldn't even know of the danger our class is now in. Now I can inform my classmates of this information and we can think of what we can do to deal with this new problem then."

"I suppose I didn't think of that…" she mumbled.

"Focus on yourself, and stay wary of suspicion. This was never your problem in the first place, it's ours. We're the ones who have to deal with this whole case. You shouldn't have been involved in this in the first place, Shiina."

Hiyori was silent for a few moments, before she finally blurted out a response. "I'll put my faith in you then, Ayanokouji-kun."

"That is good to hear. I would recommend you delete this call from your history once this is over, though. Or at the very least, change Suzune and Kikyo's names in your contact list for the moment. Ryuuen may know who I am, but he doesn't know who they are. Let him think that I was indeed the one you were in contact with."

"But that would make him turn his attention to you next," she pointed out, her tone now filled with worry.

A serious look formed on his face, even if the girl wasn't around to see him. "I don't care. You already got in trouble because you shared information about your class with us, I won't let that happen again. Let him turn his attention to me and my classmates instead. Specifically, me."

"...I understand."

[You have gained 30 Affection Points with Shiina Hiyori!]

Upon receiving that notification, Kiyotaka allowed himself a sigh of relief. Now he can truly say that the danger has passed and he had nothing to worry about anymore regarding his silver-haired heroine from another class…

…because he had something else to worry about now.

From the corner of his eye, he saw that Sae was heading this way with her clipboard and it seemed that she noticed him as well when the woman raised an eyebrow curiously. With the clear indication that homeroom's gonna start for Class D soon, Kiyotaka had to finish this conversation now and get back inside the classroom before his teacher arrives.

"I'm going to end this call now, Shiina. Chabashira-sensei is heading to our classroom, and I don't think she'll appreciate me being out here even when homeroom hasn't begun yet."

Hiyori chuckled softly. "Good luck later, Ayanokouji-kun. I hope you and your class win this case."

"Your words are appreciated, Shiina."

"Mm."

Kiyotaka ended the call right after that, before he headed back inside the classroom. As he went back to his seat and returned Suzune's phone, there was only one thing on his mind right now.

"A pie being thrown at Ryuuen's face, huh? How I wish I could have seen that for myself, but as long as Shiina is okay, it's fine. A pie being thrown at his face will be the last thing Ryuuen worries about when this day is over. He should be grateful that the system was kind enough to just throw a pie at him as a prank of sorts, because I won't be as merciful."

Nobody makes his heroines sad and gets away with it.

And with that, he opened his phone with the intention of messaging a certain someone…

As the final period for the day came to a close, everyone packed up their things and things and slowly left the classroom to go home. Everyone except for the ones who were still deeply involved in an ongoing case, that is. Kiyotaka, Suzune, Airi, Haruka, and Akito waited for most of their classmates to depart the room before they too fixed their things and prepared to leave. But unlike most of their classmates, it wasn't time for them to go home yet.

Because it was finally time for the hearing between Miyake Akito against the three students of Class C, all of whom had accused him of attacking and injuring them the day after the incident.

"Are you ready for this, Miyake-kun?" Suzune asked their magenta-haired classmate

Akito shrugged. "I just want to get this over with, so yeah."

The girl took notice of his nonchalant demeanor, which was quite similar to Kiyotaka in some way."You're not bothered at all?"

"I know the truth, and my conscience is clean. Plus we have evidence of what really happened. I don't think there's anything I should be worried about."

"You are still the defendant as of now. The one who is accused. The pressure is on our class and not only are we supposed to prove you are innocent, but to also show that Class C were the culprits all along," Suzune pointed out. She didn't think there's anything wrong with being calm under pressure, but feeling complacent simply because of the evidence they possessed is not an option.

"Nope, I don't feel worried at all. But if it's any consolation, Haruka's the one who's been worried for me this whole time. Guess you can consider her as me being worried," Akito shifted the attention elsewhere as he pointed to his blue-haired friend.

The girl in question frowned slightly. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean, Miyacchi?"

"That you're an idiot who's willing to get herself sick just for the sake of someone else."

Haruka didn't say anything, because she had no appropriate response to those words. Instead, she just pouted and focused on packing up her things. It was quite an adorable sight to see

Kiyotaka watched the two friends with an amused look. Seeing them have a playful banter like this really shows Haruka's point about them being more like siblings, if not very close friends who grew up together. They were at a point where verbal back-and-forths is a normal occurrence between them

"Give it your all, Horikita-san! Miyake-kun! Sakura-san!" Kikyo offered her support to her classmates through words and her positive aura, before leaving the room. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be part of the people who would be showing support for Akito up close, because only a limited number of people were allowed to be with the defendant for his hearing.

Suzune would represent their whole class as their leader and speak in defense of her classmate, Airi was their witness who will explain the events based on how she saw them, Haruka was Akito's closest acquaintance who was allowed to be present for the trial, and Kiyotaka will play the video evidence that they had later on.

The raven-haired girl looked stiff in her expression, but it definitely seemed like she appreciated her friend's words. Akito sent a nod towards Kikyo and so did Haruka, both feeling grateful for their classmate's full support. In Airi's case, her eyes widened as she wasn't expecting the show of support from her classmate, but she wasn't going to complain about it.

Speaking of which…

"Sakura. You know what to do, right?" asked Kiyotaka, turning his attention to the red-haired girl who snapped out of her temporary trance and put on a more serious expression.

"Yes. I'll head to the student council room right after I get it!" she nodded.

Kei then walked up to them with a smile. "I'll go with Airi-chan so she won't be alone, Kiyotaka. I'll make sure she gets to that hearing in no time at all!"

Kiyotaka shrugged. "Do what you want."

"Thanks again, Sakura. You don't know how thankful I am that you're here to be a witness," Akito stepped forward and smiled at the red-haired girl.

At one point, the young man indeed thought that he would end up getting expelled because their efforts to search for a witness yielded no results. When Airi told them that she was there when he was attacked and managed to take a video of what happened, Akito saw it as a miracle. That's why, even though he could understand why Haruka was angry with Airi last Saturday, he couldn't bring himself to feel the same way.

"I won't let you down," Airi bowed her head, repeating to herself over and over that there are many people who are depending on her right now. For the sake of those people, she absolutely cannot fail this. "I don't want to let anyone else down this time."

After uttering those words, the girl then felt a pair of arms wrap around her from behind, causing her to squeak in surprise as she got pulled into a hug.

"Oh, I'm so proud of you, Airi-chan! You're finally being more confident in yourself! I knew you could do it!" she laughed and hugged her best friend happily.

"S-Stop it, Kei-san…" Airi mumbled with a red face, losing her composure almost immediately when her friend started gushing about her apparent development. It's even more embarrassing that she's doing this in front of everyone!

Kei grinned and shook her head. "Oh hell no, I'm considering this as a milestone for you, Airi-chan. Look how far you've come since we first met! I think this warrants a celebration!"

"Well… maybe after the trial? There's really nothing to celebrate right now, Kei-san."

The blonde gyaru rolled her eyes in a playful manner. "Fine, I guess that's fair enough. But that doesn't stop me from being proud of you! I still remember the time when you couldn't even talk to me without stuttering every few seconds, you know?"

"I guess you make a good point…"

The two continued on with their discussion even as they left the classroom, with everyone else watching them walk off. While Kiyotaka, Akito, and Haruka looked amused at the dynamic between the two friends, Suzune watched on with a curious expression instead.

"Sakura-san seems different," she noted. "She's more confident now. More confident than what she has shown us in the past days."

"I'd say that's a good thing," Kiyotaka shrugged. "As someone who's afraid of being around many people, it took a lot out of Sakura to even accept me as a tutor. Slowly but surely, she got used to my presence and accepted Kei as her friend not long after. I agree with Kei that she has come a long way."

"You were her tutor, so I will take your word for it. Though we really could have saved a lot more time if she spoke up about what she knew earlier than before," Suzune commented while folding her arms across her chest. "At the same time, that'll be the only thing I'll say about this issue, otherwise I will be imitating Hasebe-san's actions last Saturday."

Kiyotaka gave her a nod of acknowledgement. "That's sensible of you, Suzune. You need to keep this up because you'll be acting as if you're Miyake's lawyer later on."

Suzune shrugged. "I believe you would have been the better choice to speak up instead of me, but I can't go back on my word now."

"Are you kidding? With the way I speak, I wouldn't be fit to be a lawyer of any kind at all. I'm perfectly fine with my role later on."

She frowned at him. "Your tone and voice wouldn't matter in any case at all, idiot. The facts and evidence that you provide is all that matters in everyone's eyes. Your manner of speaking will not dictate the result of a hearing."

"I'm inclined to disagree with you, Suzune. What if my voice was meek and shy like Sakura's? I would hardly sound convincing in front of anyone and whatever I say will only be used as a weapon against me and whoever I'm supporting."

"I highly doubt that would even be possible. Why would someone like that even become a lawyer in the first place? How would that person even earn his license if he doesn't know how to speak properly in front of other people?"

He stared at her for a moment. "...it was just a hypothetical scenario that I used as an example."

She gave him a deadpan stare. "Your example makes no sense at all, rendering it meaningless."

"Kiyopon. Hori-chan. If you two are done arguing like an old married couple, I think we should get going."

Haruka's voice then interrupted their current conversation, causing the two to turn to their classmate with different reactions on their faces.

"M-Me and him… married…?!" the dark-haired girl stammered, her face slowly turning red as the implication of her classmate's words invaded her mind. She didn't say anything for a while, only taking a few glances here and there towards Kiyotaka because of what she heard.

It was clear Hasebe's words had gotten under her skin, and not in a good way. On the other hand, Kiyotaka didn't seem affected because he still had the same emotionless look on his face. His thoughts were a different story though, because right after Haruka made that remark, the young man couldn't stop himself from thinking about Suzune as his wife for a moment.

"It might not be the worst thing to happen," he thought to himself while making a mental note to think about this later.

After a while, Suzune put on a frown and turned her head away with a huff. "Stop making such baseless jokes, Hasebe-san. They are not funny in any way. As a matter of fact, I would appreciate it if you don't do something like that again."

To save herself from further embarrassment, the girl grabbed her bag and stomped out of the room and headed to the student council on her own. She had been planning to walk with her friend all the way, but Hasebe's embarrassing comment about her and Ayanokouji made her reconsider it. What's worse is that she can't be thinking like this, because she has to focus on Miyake's case and nothing more!

Haruka watched as Suzune left, feeling ashamed of herself that she let this happen. "Uhm… sorry?" she turned to face Kiyotaka with an apologetic look.

"Don't worry about it. Suzune is not someone who's used to jokes and typical teenage humor, that's all. I think it's better if you do as she says, though."

"No more making bad jokes with Hori-chan around. I guess I can do that," Haruka nodded while sighing wistfully. That didn't last long though, because she would smile again no less than a few seconds later as though she wasn't bothered at all. "But it only means that I have to work harder on coming up with something that can make her laugh or smile at least!"

"Your persistence is admirable, that's for sure," Kiyotaka shook his head in amusement before he grabbed his bag as well. "Let's get going, otherwise Suzune will probably be angry that we're still here in the classroom."

Akito snorted as he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and you were the one who wanted to leave, Haruka."

"Ehhhh? What's wrong with making one harmless joke? It didn't even take that long!"

The three students left the classroom altogether and just when they were about to leave for the venue of the hearing, they heard a pair of voices calling out to them from nearby. To be more specific, they were calling out to only one person in particular and it made the trio stop in their tracks for the moment.

"Miyake-kun!"

"What—"

Hearing those voices calling out his name, the magenta-haired teen turned around to see who it was, only for him to be surprised when two pairs of arms wrapped around his body. Before he could realize what was going on, two girls lunged at him so fast that they almost crashed into the young man. Fortunately, Akito was able to stay upright and keep himself on his feet.

"What are you two doing?" he asked, staring in confusion at Inogashira and Mori who were hugging him for some reason. His face started to turn red too, though Akito managed to keep his growing embarrassment under wraps despite the fact that there were two beautiful girls who were literally all over him right now.

Seriously, what is with these girls? Why are they hugging him? They've been strangely attached to him since last week, and he couldn't understand why. As far as he knew, he's not an ikemen like Hirata. It'd make a lot more sense if these two did this towards that guy instead.

Despite that thought, he didn't push them away or did anything rude to them.

"We'll be rooting for you, okay?"

"We believe in you, Miyake-kun!"

While they hugged him, Kokoro and Nene offered the young man some support of their own through words before he attended his trial. Throughout the week, the two have been helping out Akito any way they can that they were as dedicated as Haruka at one point. The only thing is that their efforts didn't bear any fruit and ended up spending the whole week doing nothing substantial.

"Uh… thanks."

It saddened the two that they weren't able to be of much help to the whole thing, especially when the day of the hearing drew nearer and nearer. All they were able to accomplish was the same as everyone else who did, asking questions to everyone they came across and yet never getting any closer to finding out the truth.

When it was revealed to the class earlier that Sakura Airi was the witness and that they'll be able to win the case through a video that she took of the incident, both Nene and Kokoro felt that they didn't do enough to lend a hand to the person whom they swore to help a week ago. If it was possible, then they would stand by Akito's side during the actual trial but alas, it wasn't allowed.

Kokoro and Nene simply felt that they had failed to help him as much as they hoped, nothing more.

"We tried our best, Miyake-kun… but we were useless in the end…" Inogashira muttered sadly.

"We weren't able to help much like Hasebe-san, Ayanokouji-kun, Kushida-san, Horikita-san, and even Sakura-san…" Mori whispered, her voice so soft and weak that it was a clear indication of her feelings.

Akito shook his head. "Don't be stupid. Who cares about that? I know the two of you have been helping us out since the beginning and that's all that matters. Unlike most of the guys in the room who just forgot about the whole thing, you two never stopped lending a hand, Mori. Inogashira."

Both girls looked up at him in surprise.

"Really?"

"Do you mean that, Miyake-kun?"

He heaved a deep sigh before flashing them a smile. "You two are here to wish me good luck, aren't you? I appreciate it either way."

After being borderline hypnotized by the smile on his face. he two girls then looked at one another, having the same thing in mind. Now, one would think that they would start fighting each other for Akito's attention by now, but they didn't do anything of the sort. Instead, they smiled at one another before turning back to the young man.

"Then we won't keep you here for long. Good luck, Miyake-kun!"

"We'll be waiting for you to come back with great news."

This time, Akito didn't say anything. He simply let them do as they wished which, in this case, was hugging him. Even when they tightened their embrace a little bit, he didn't do anything to push them away from him. His face did turn redder though, mainly because of how affectionate these two girls were towards him.

After a few more seconds of enjoying the warm comfort that was brought by the hug, both Nene and Kokoro let go of him. After wishing him good luck for the last time, the two girls bid him farewell and walked away in the opposite direction. With their departure, Akito turned his attention back to his two other classmates, who were simply watching the whole scene play out before their eyes. Kiyotaka had a bored expression as he always does, while Haruka looked as if she had seen a ghost.

"What are you two staring at?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at them both.

"Ne, Miyacchi~" A teasing smile formed on Haruka's face right away, which was a sight that Akito was completely used to already. It meant that the girl had found new ammunition that she could use to tease someone. "Inogashira-san and Mori-san must be really fond of you if they're willing to hug you like that, huh?"

"Shut up," Akito shook his head and prepared to shut her out of his mind, lest he gets dragged into a pointless argument with Haruka, which he had no time for. "They were just wishing me good luck, that's all."

"A pretty touchy way of wishing you good luck, if you ask me. They weren't like that last week. Could it be that they're both interested in you now and they're trying to get your attention, Miyacchi~?"

He walked past her and led the way to the venue of the hearing, with Kiyotaka following behind him. "Hell no, they're just worried that one of their classmates is in danger of being expelled. You and your teasing, honestly… this is exactly why Horikita stormed off earlier, Haruka."

"Okay, okay, whatever you say…" she shrugged and decided to let this matter be… for now, that is. She'd definitely bring this up again in the future to tease her friend but right now, it really wasn't the appropriate time for jokes.

"It displeases me to see that I arrived here first than the rest of you," Chabashira-sensei frowned at her three students who only got here just now. "But you weren't completely late at least. That's a sign that you're taking this seriously. Especially in your case, Miyake."

The brown-haired teacher had arrived at the student council room way before them, excluding Horikita, and she wasn't exactly pleased with that. Horikita was a different case, though. Whether it was by some stroke of luck or by total coincidence, Chabashira actually arrived at the same time as Horikita, so she was spared from being scolded by the older woman this time.

Still, it's not like they were completely late to the point that everyone was waiting for them to arrive. The hearing was scheduled to begin at four in the afternoon and right now, there's only less than ten minutes before the target time of this particular event. No matter how displeased she felt, Miyake and his supporters weren't late to the trial.

"Sorry about that, Chabashira-sensei. There was something that made us hang back for a while longer," Haruka spoke up for the three of them whilst letting out a nervous chuckle. The girl was in a very good mood today, and why wouldn't she be?

They had evidence that proves Akito was innocent and it was actually the other way around. The odds were in their favor right now, and she was confident that they'll be able to win this. There's nothing that could possibly ruin their chances now!

"At least you're all taking this seriously. Now, I noticed that there's only four of you right now, when there's supposed to be five. Can someone tell me where Sakura is?"

This time, it was Suzune who spoke up. "She went back to her dorm room to get the flash drive that contains her evidence, sensei."

"Good grief," the woman groaned and massaged her forehead with her fingers to alleviate her growing stress. "She couldn't have brought it with her when she attended her classes?"

No one could answer that question, because they didn't know what to say. Except for Kiyotaka, that is. However, the young man chose to keep quiet because he intended for this to happen; he had told Airi beforehand to leave her flash drive at home before going to school. While the girl was curious about what he was planning, she followed his directions and agreed to simply go home and retrieve it once it's time for the trial.

After a few moments, Sae shook her head. "It doesn't matter, I suppose. I didn't expect much from your classmate in the first place. I don't have anything to lose if Sakura doesn't show herself, but the same can't be said for all of you."

"We don't believe that, sensei. Sakura-san will come and help us," Haruka said firmly. She didn't believe their teacher's words for a second, because Airi will help them. Their red-haired classmate even promised them that she would and Haruka trusted her.

"We'll see if your words can hold up, Hasebe. Now let us head inside."

As the whole group turned their attention to the room where the hearing would be taking place, they were suddenly met with the homeroom teacher of Class B, who waved happily before approaching them.

"Hello, Class D students! Hello to you too, Sae-chan!" Hoshinomiya Chie greeted them with a big smile on her face. Her eyes were sparkling too, as if she just came across something exciting."You all look like you're preparing for something big!"

"What are you doing this time?" Chabashira-sensei muttered, while letting out a sigh of exasperation. She didn't have any time to deal with her fellow teacher's antics, especially now.

Chie placed a hand over her mouth, feigning surprise. "Oh no. Sae-chan caught me already?"

"Instead of being at the faculty lounge, you're here by the student council room when there's no reason for you to be here in the first place," Sae glared at her, to which the other teacher replied by bumping her head with her fist in a silly manner.

"Hehe. So I guess I can't join in and watch, huh?"

"Of course you can't. You know that outsiders cannot participate."

"Aw, that's too bad. I would have liked to see what Ayanokouji-kun plans to do during the trial. Honami-chan couldn't stop talking about him since last week when this whole issue started. Even Yuki-chan had a few things to say about him, and she almost never talks! I was really surprised when she started talking about a guy!"

Somehow, that got Sae to raise an eyebrow before shifting her attention towards her brown-haired student, her interest piqued thanks to her fellow teacher's words. On the other hand, Kiyotaka shifted his gaze elsewhere like he wasn't listening at all. No way was he going to get involved in this.

"Waaaaah, I'm so jealous of Sae-chan! You should have been in my class, Ayanokouji-kun! We would have had a lot of fun together!" Hoshinomiya cried while she lunged towards the brown-haired teen, even though he was clearly ignoring her.

Before she could get to him though, Sae grabbed her shoulder and prevented her from going any further. When Chie tried breaking free, she tightened her grip and made the Class B teacher yelp in pain as a result.

"Hands off my student, Hoshinomiya," Sae warned.

"Ara, is Sae-chan protective of her student~?" Chie teased.

The Class D teacher deepened her frown. "Considering your attitude and what you're normally like, of course I would worry for my students. Get back to the faculty lounge before I make you go there."

"Oh, fine. I'll know what happens later anyway," Hoshinomiya-sensei shrugged, showing that she wasn't bothered by this either way. However, she kept her attention on Kiyotaka like she was eyeing a piece of meat, and that's not really a good thing. "But that doesn't stop me from being curious regarding your student, Sae-chan. If it was me, I'd treat Ayanokouji-kun a lot better than you do, you know? I wouldn't even mind spending time with him~"

Sae rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Keep your fantasies to yourself. The boy is in my class and not yours."

Chie just stuck her tongue out in response, before walking off in the direction of the teacher's lounge. Kiyotaka sighed in relief, because things might have become worse if that woman continued to stick around. He didn't need any kind of attention right now.

From the corner of his eye, he saw that Haruka was ready to make a comment on what she just witnessed, but Akito immediately slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her voice. Kiyotaka sent him a grateful nod for his quick thinking. That girl should learn a thing or two about making jokes and teasing others at the right time, honestly.

"Well then, shall we head inside?" Chabashira-sensei asked her students after her fellow teacher finally left. "The student council is in there, waiting for us to arrive."

A nervous look washed over Suzune's face upon being reminded that her brother was likely in there, and that they would meet again two months after the last time they encountered each other. It was easy for the girl to think that she'll be able fulfill her role while she wasn't here but now that she was, it finally dawned on her the amount of pressure that's on their class and by extension, on her for this whole case.

And not just that, her brother was here too. As the student council president, he would be presiding over the whole case which means that he will be the one who'll decide the outcome in the end. As the representative of Class D, it's up to her to ensure that their side wins this case. Airi may have the evidence that will seal the victory, but it's up to her to lead them there…

Kiyotaka noticed the expression on her face and almost immediately, he placed a hand on her shoulder"Are you okay? Are you nervous about seeing your brother again?"

His voice was enough to snap the girl out of her trance, as she looked up at him. Suzune took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

"…I'm fine. Though I cannot deny that I do feel a bit nervous about seeing Nii-san again, I have to do this for our class as a whole. Just as the outcome of this hearing falls on Sakura-san and her evidence, it falls on me to keep us from being on the receiving end of accusations. Even though I would have preferred to be accompanied by my two friends, I won't blame Kushida-san for not being here. At the very least, you're here with me, Ayanokouji-kun."

The girl then flashed him a small smile for a brief moment, which Kiyotaka felt compelled to answer back with one of his own if it wasn't for the door to the student council room being opened. Content with ingraining the image of Suzune's beautiful smile in his mind, he followed after their teacher inside the room with everyone else.

Inside, long tables had been arranged in rectangular formation with respective chairs for the people involved. The three students from Class C had already arrived and were seated, their faces still sporting bandages from the 'injuries' that they sustained. Beside them sat a bespectacled male teacher in his 30s who had a very serious look on his face.

"Sorry we're late," said Sae as she instructed her students to take their seats.

The man pushed his glasses up coolly. "It's before the scheduled start time. There is no need for apologies."

"This is Sakagami-sensei, the homeroom teacher for Class C," Sae introduced the man to her students. She then looked towards the back of the room, where one lone male was seated and appeared to be looking over some documents with a purple-haired girl. "I'm sure you have already seen him, but that's the student council president."

As expected, Suzune directed her gaze at her brother for a short while, before she shook her head and shifted her focus entirely on the task at hand. She wasn't here to meet her brother, she's here to defend her classmate against an accusation that was made against him. She could think about her brother some other time.

After he was done checking through a stack of documents, Horikita Manabu turned his attention to all the people who were present in the room. Donning a serious look, he began to speak.

"Now that both parties are here, this hearing will now begin. I would like to discuss the violent incident that occurred last Sunday between a student of Class D and three Class C students. It will be discussed with the members of the student council, the involved parties, and their homeroom teachers. You may begin the proceedings, Tachibana."

Tachibana Akane gave a slight bow as she stood beside her leader. "Considering the magnitude of this dispute, there are times when the student council president will take over, as there are several unusual things about this incident. Other than that, I will handle the bulk of the proceedings."

"Because I am quite busy, there are certain agenda topics that I would defer for another time. As a general rule, though, I would prefer to attend to these issues, as I'm entrusted to lead this student council. This case in particular caught my attention and now here we are."

"Fingers crossed, he chose to do this because his sister's class is involved," Kiyotaka thought to himself while taking a glance at Suzune. There was no doubt that the girl felt nervous because of her brother, though she was doing a good job of hiding it behind a stern expression.

He could only hope that she can pull this off, because even before they could show their evidence, everything rests on Suzune being able to make a convincing argument that Akito was innocent. Either way, their side was at a disadvantage because of Suzune's little dilemma.

Tachibana summarized everything to both sides in an easy-to-understand manner. Horikita Manabu had enrolled in Class A and immediately took office as secretary for the student council in his freshman year. Later that same year, he became the student council president after receiving an overwhelming amount of support in the election. Although some senior students had naturally voiced their displeasure to that, the fact that he was still the student council president three years later spoke to his incredible abilities.

"Now then, concerning the case itself. Based on the accusation made by the students of Class C, we would like to know what really happened on the day of the incident."

After completing her explanation and the preface to the proceedings, the student council secretary turned her eyes toward us in Class D.

"Ishizaki-kun and two members of the basketball club went behind the 'Heaven on Earth' bathhouse because Miyake-kun called them there. There, they claim to have been beaten up in a one-sided fight. Is this true?"

"That couldn't have been any farther from the truth," Miyake said calmly. "That day, I was having an early morning jog when they blocked my path out of nowhere. I tried telling them to get out of my way as politely as I could, but they didn't budge. Then they dragged me behind the public bath and ganged up on me."

Despite his current situation, Akito remained calm and collected as if this didn't bother him at all. His statement clearly didn't sit well with the three Class C students, who all glared at the magenta-haired teen afterwards.

"That's a lie. He called us to that place and did a number on us," Komiya insisted.

Miyake folded his arms across his chest. "I didn't even know who you were until you and your friends decided it would be fun to take this mess to a courthouse. You could have at least introduced yourselves before beating me senseless."

The purple-haired woman raised her hand. "Please cease this growing argument. We are here to learn the truth, and we will do it in the proper way."

Miyake shrugged and didn't say anything more, keeping his composure strong until now. On the other hand, Komiya and his two classmates continued to glare at the Class D student because it doesn't even seem like he was bothered by his situation. And that's what's pissing them off!

"Right now, we're merely listening to what both parties have to say. Komiya-kun, we ask that you too please show some restraint, and not interrupt. That goes for your classmates as well."

"Tch, fine…"

Tachibana let things simmer down for a few moments before she spoke up again."Both parties insist on their own stories being true, and that is where the conflict lies. Both sides have given their grievances, but now we have to come to a judgment with the collected evidence so far."

Naturally, both sides claimed that the other party was at fault and that they were innocent.

"Miyake beat us senseless. It was a one-sided fight," Kondo added.

From the beginning, Class C seemed dead set on keeping the topic of discussion on their injuries. To be fair, the three students did seem to have black-and-blue faces compared to Akito who was almost completely healed. That was undeniable, but it was also suspicious. It has been a week since the incident, and yet they are still injured? Did they even once think of heading to the clinic to get themselves treated?

Akito shook his head. At this point, he just felt amused with their attempts to point towards him as the one at fault in this whole case. "That's a weird way of describing what happened to me."

While the back-and-forth exchange continued on between Akito and the three Class C students, Kiyotaka felt someone tapping on his shoulder. When he turned his head to the girl who was sitting beside him, he saw that Suzune bore a confused look on her face.

"Ayanokouji-kun, don't you think that Sakura-san is taking too long? It shouldn't be hard to get a flash drive from her home and follow us, yet she still hasn't arrived," she pointed out while keeping her voice low to avoid being heard by anyone else.

Kiyotaka looked at the door for a moment as he thought about her words. "You're right. It is strange," he agreed.

"Does Sakura-san know where the student council room is?"

He nodded. "She does. Chabashira-sensei told her yesterday."

"I see…"

The young man observed the thoughtful expression on her face and from that alone, he immediately thought that Suzune was concerned about something. If he had to be honest, he was also concerned at the moment, but were they thinking about the same thing?

"Do you think something might have happened to Sakura?" he asked, sharing his thoughts with her.

Suzune took a deep breath and looked down at the table. "Perhaps. But I hope I am wrong and that she's on her way here."

"I have the same thing in mind, actually."

Those words only made the girl even more concerned. "You have her contact information, right? Perhaps you can send a message to Sakura-san?"

Kiyotaka raised an eyebrow slightly. "Are you sure about that? I have no problem doing it, but you're asking me to use my phone in the middle of a hearing, with your brother watching over everything that's happening."

"Just keep it subtle. I don't think Nii-san would notice unless your phone isn't on silent mode," she told him while sneaking a glance at her brother. Manabu still seemed like he had his attention on the two conflicting parties, she hoped that was the case at least.

After taking a moment to mentally applaud Suzune for her drive to take action in spite of the nervousness she felt with her brother around, Kiyotaka did as she asked. But upon checking his phone, he was met with a bombardment of different notifications.

"I got three missed calls and a ton of messages from Kei. I guess I wasn't able to notice because I put this in silent mode earlier," he muttered, causing Suzune to look at him in surprise; she definitely wasn't expecting to hear such a thing right off the bat. When Kiyotaka checked one of the latest messages he received, he frowned slightly at what he read. "This is bad."

"What is it?"

"A pair of students bumped into Kei and Sakura while they were on their way here. According to Kei, Sakura was knocked to the ground so hard that her flash drive flew out of her hand and landed on the ground," he read the contents of the message for his classmate to hear. "So this is what he came up with as a way to ensure we won't get to present anything. I'm starting to think you're more predictable than what I initially thought, Ryuuen."

"That doesn't seem too bad," Suzune commented.

Kiyotaka shook his head and quietly handed his phone to the girl so she could read it for herself. "It gets worse. One of those students intentionally stomped on the flash drive several times, as if that person was deliberately trying to break it. When Kei tried to stop whoever it was, that person made a run for it with his companion. She wasn't able to figure out who did it."

She read through the message several times just to make sure that she wasn't seeing things. After telling herself that their witness truly got into a dilemma regarding her evidence, a look of worry crossed her features for a brief moment.

"…the flash drive would still work regardless, right?"

"There's a chance that it could, but there's also a chance it would do otherwise. I'm leaning more towards the latter. It would be better if we had another option at our hands in case it doesn't."

Suzune then narrowed her eyes at the three students before them, and they were fortunate that they weren't looking at her right now. If they were, they would have keeled over from the sheer intensity of her gaze alone.

"This is the work of Class C. It has to be," she seethed quietly as she slowly clenched her fists in frustration. "Ryuuen-kun somehow knew that we had evidence beforehand and so he sent a few of his classmates to sabotage Sakura-san."

Kiyotaka placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down before she could attract attention. "It may be, but I don't think it's a good thing for us to accuse them of something that happened outside of this trial. Our classmate is already being accused of a serious issue, doing the same towards Class C won't exactly solve anything. In fact, I think it would only ruin our chances of winning even more."

The girl thought about his words for a few moments, before she took a deep breath to calm herself. As much as she hated it, he was right. Losing her composure will do nothing good other than to shift the attention of the hearing to herself.

"Then what do we do, Ayanokouji-kun?"

Kiyotaka didn't need to be asked twice. He already knew what to do. "I could still bring Sakura here. Regardless of whether the video can be played or not, she is the only witness to the incident and her presence will still be a factor in deciding the outcome. You stay here and keep the trial going in any way you can. No matter what, you can't let Miyake be deemed guilty."

Suzune stared at the young man with wide eyes. "Are you crazy? The hearing is already underway. Nii-san would never let you do that."

"Tell me what other option we have. Have you thought of any?" he asserted, ruining any possible chance of Suzune coming up with a proper response.

She tried to open her mouth to respond somehow, but she didn't have anything to say. Her mind was already preoccupied with the thought of speaking up in Akito's defense that she couldn't focus on anything else.

[A Special Event Has Been Triggered!]

"I guess that's my cue," Kiyotaka thought as this particular notification appeared before his eyes. He had actually been waiting for this to show up ever since he arrived here with his classmates. Well, this or the activation of his reality-warping skill, actually.

Why?

It would act as a siren of sorts, telling him when he should go out and look for Airi. He already knew that the girl would run into some complications on her way here, and he knew that he would have to go out and help her in any way subsequently.

All this time, Kiyotaka had been treating this dating sim superpower of his as a half-blessing and half-curse, and he was certainly not wrong for that.

However, as much as he dreaded it whenever this notification appeared before him, it also meant that something of huge significance was going to happen that involved his heroines. From a practical standpoint, it's through this certain mechanic of the system that he can know if one of them needed help.

And in this case, he was absolutely sure that this new 'special event' involved Airi.

Kiyotaka turned to the girl again as the notification disappeared. "Trust me, Suzune."

"If Class D has no further proof to offer, would you mind if we continued the proceedings?" Tachibana asked the defendant's side after having to calm down the students of Class C yet again. It was strange to see Miyake being calm despite his situation, while the other three looked displeased for some reason.

At that moment, Kiyotaka's hand shot up in the air which drew everyone's attention.

Instead of Akane, Manabu was the one to acknowledge his action as he raised an eyebrow at the brown-haired teen.

"Yes, Ayanokouji-kun?"

"It seems that our witness ran into a bit of trouble on her way here. Horikita-senpai, would it be fine if I excuse myself for a bit so I can bring her here?" he asked without hesitation.

His question caught everyone off guard except for the president himself and his sister, for different reasons. Miyake, Hasebe, and Chabashira weren't expecting to hear that something happened with Airi that caused her to be late this whole thing. The three Class C students were surprised too, but it seemed more like they were only pretending to be that way. Tachibana and Sakagami were simply shocked that the boy would ask such a thing in the middle of a hearing, and to the student council president, no less.

"Why would you even do that? Does she not know about this hearing in the first place?" asked Akane as soon as the girl snapped out of her shock.

Kiyotaka nodded. "She does, Tachibana-senpai. It's also the reason why I'm here, to help our witness in any way."

"I find this to be highly suspicious. Are you sure you are not fabricating a story as an attempt to save your classmate?" Sakagami-sensei spoke as a frown crossed his features. "We appreciate the lengths you are willing to go through in order to defend one of your own, but that doesn't mean the school will tolerate inventing stories, young man. It will not help your case at all."

"Please be quiet, Sakagami-sensei. I would like to hear his reasons for excusing himself," Manabu interjected before looking back at Kiyotaka. The man felt disrespected with that remark, but nobody paid him any attention. "Why would there be a need for you to go out and bring your witness here from wherever she currently is, Ayanokouji-kun?"

"She got into some trouble while she was heading here. I received several calls and messages asking for my help as the trial was going on," he explained.

Manabu narrowed his eyes. "Then shouldn't you have brought her with you when you arrived with your classmates? If you had not said this, I would have assumed that the other girl who's with you was the person who witnessed the incident."

"She went back to her dorm to get the evidence that she wishes to present."

"Why was there a need for her to do that? Would it not have been more convenient to bring it with her before leaving for her classes today so that she can attend this hearing with no problems?"

"The truth will be revealed later, Horikita-senpai. I can assure you that," Kiyotaka spoke in a nonchalant tone that made it seem like he either didn't care much, or he was very confident in the evidence they apparently possessed.

It's like it didn't matter that he is talking to the student council president himself, which didn't sit well at all with the purple-haired secretary. She was ready to call him out for his apparent disrespect, but someone else beat her to it.

Sakagami-sensei threw a look of disgust at the boy. "What utter nonsense. Horikita-kun, let us simply continue on with the proceedings. It is obvious that their side has no evidence to back up their claim that they are resorting to fabricating any kind of excuse at this point. Ridiculous. Is this what you are teaching in your class, Chabashira-sensei?"

"I have nothing to do with this."

Chabashira shrugged, also feeling the urge to silence the young man herself and throw him out of the room. It's already embarrassing enough that her class was in this situation, she didn't want them to dig their own grave even deeper than before. But thanks to whatever stunt Ayanokouji was pulling off right now, it may just happen anyway.

To everyone's complete disbelief, however, Manabu breathed into his hands and nodded slowly.

"Very well. I shall allow it. But the case will continue even without you, Ayanokouji. I hope you know that. You may be able to bring whoever it is you want to bring here, but it won't matter if this hearing is over when you return."

"Horikita-kun, are you sure about this?" Akane asked him with a confused look on her face, but the man ignored her. It's quite clear that his decision won't change, though it didn't make things any less confusing.

The brown-haired teen took a quick glance at Suzune, before bowing his head"Then I won't be long, Horikita-senpai."

As Kiyotaka left the student council room, the whole place had gone quiet like someone died. Just like that, someone had left the hearing while it was still underway and it's because he was off to find another person who's a pivotal part of this whole case.

Suzune, in particular, was amazed and confused at the same time. She was amazed that her classmate was able to turn things in their favor by convincing her brother to allow him to leave in order to find Airi. On the other hand, she was also confused because as far as she knew her brother, he was strict and adhered to the rules as much as possible. Because of that, she almost thought that she was dreaming when Manabu allowed her classmate to leave with only a little warning if he failed to return.

Everyone else who was present continued to sit in complete silence, still in disbelief over the decision he made. Honestly, no one could blame them for it, because it was completely unexpected and even inappropriate for how a student leader should act. At least, that's how they think of it.

But in spite of the quiet atmosphere that loomed over the whole room, Manabu's booming voice snapped everyone out of their stupor and made them focus on the issue at hand once again.

"Now then, this hearing will continue regardless of one or two people not being present, given the arguments we've heard thus far." the student council president continued, proceeding with the case as if nothing of significance happened.

"Horikita-kun, it is obvious that Class D is—"

"Regardless of which party called the other over, it appears to have been a one-sided fight between Miyake and these other students. We can clearly see that from the injuries they sustained. As it stands right now, we can still come up with a conclusion based on that."

"Wait a second, that's not fair! Miyacchi had to defend himself against them!" Haruka cried out, speaking up for the first time ever since the trial began. The fact that they were missing Airi's presence until now made the girl realize that this trial may not go the way she hoped it would, and so she would have to step into the fray herself.

"Can it really be considered self-defense when only my students sustained injuries?" the Class C teacher argued.

Haruka frowned. "Miyacchi was injured too and he had to get himself treated at the clinic. I have no idea why those three are even like that right now, even though it's already been a whole week. Do they want to show off that they got beaten up or something?"

Tachibana nodded in agreement. "She does have a point. Did you not even think of going to the clinic to get yourselves treated, you three?"

Komiya scoffed. "It's because Miyake beat us senseless, that's why. We already went to the clinic and were given painkillers and other stuff, but our faces still looked banged up from the damage he did to us."

"But Miyacchi was up against three of them! Three people!"

"We're the ones who are still banged up until now. What about him?"

The verbal exchange between Haruka and the opposing side was getting heated, and it was clear from the expression on her face that she was getting frustrated. Suzune knew that it wouldn't take long before the blue-haired girl would lose her cool completely, after seeing how she berated Airi last Saturday when she came out with the knowledge she possessed.

With Kiyotaka gone, the girl knew that it fell on her to keep this trial from ending in their loss. He said so before he left to find Airi, and she understood what must be done. At the same time, she felt nervous because of her brother's presence. Although their last meeting ended on a confusing note because of Kiyotaka's words that her brother was 'testing' her somehow, the girl still felt insecure while she was around him.

However, things were different this time around.

"I won't let Ayanokouji-kun's faith in me be for nothing. He placed his trust in me, and I can't do anything less than doing what he asked of me," she recited in her thoughts. "For him, for my class, and for my brother as well, I will lead us to victory. If I can't, then I can at least keep us from losing until Ayanokouji-kun returns with Sakura-san."

When Haruka was about to stand up from her seat and call out the students of Class C for the frauds that they were, Suzune placed a hand on her shoulder and kept her where she was. When Haruka turned towards the raven-haired girl, Suzune only shook her head before she began to speak.

"Forgive me for my words, but I find your reason laughable. You keep on insisting that Miyake-kun gave you those injuries as if you can't accept any scenario that would result in him being at fault."

"Because that's what happened, obviously!" Kondo snarled in annoyance.

Suzune folded her arms"I wonder how it went down. Did Miyake-kun fight you all at once or did he focus on one individual at a time?"

That caused the three to freeze for a few moments, unsure of what to say in response.

"He… took on all of us at the same time," Ishizaki blurted out after a brief period of silence.

The raven-haired girl didn't look convinced at all, but she didn't speak up about it yet. Instead, she turned her attention to her brother and pushed down the growing feeling of nervousness inside her. "May I ask them a question, President?" she asked calmly.

Manabu raised an eyebrow at his sister's strange request, before nodding slowly. It wasn't visible on his face, but he was curious about what Suzune was planning right now.

"Go on."

Suzune turned back to the three students, who were all wondering about what she had in mind. "Are you insinuating that Miyake-kun is capable of fighting against three people all at the same time?"

"Obviously, that's why we're injured!"

"But how is it that Miyake-kun came out of the conflict with injuries of his own too? If he took on all three of you at once and managed to leave those injuries on you, why did he suffer the same? Based on how you are insinuating things, you are implying that Miyake-kun took down you three without breaking a sweat."

A bead of sweat ran down Komiya's forehead. "W-We still had to defend ourselves! What, you expected us to keel over without a fight?"

The girl raised an eyebrow at what he said. "Then you were fortunate enough that Ishizaki-kun was with the two of you that day. According to one of my classmates, Ishizaki is said to be rather good at fighting."

"W-We didn't know that Ishizaki was known for being good in a fight. We just considered him a friend," Kondo added.

"I understand that. What I do not understand is how you were defeated so handily, how the fight could be so one-sided, when you had a skilled fighter like Ishizaki-kun with you. My knowledge in basketball is limited, but I do know that one has to be physically strong to be able to play the sport. You two are a part of the basketball club, but not Miyake-kun."

Everyone else who was there watched as Suzune stood up and frowned at the Class C students, her gaze alone managing to send chills down their spines. Because all pairs of eyes were directed towards the girl, nobody noticed her older brother donning a proud smirk on his face for the briefest of moments before reverting back to a stern look.

"If anything, it makes it unlikely for Miyake-kun to be victorious. When you're fighting against multiple enemies, victory becomes exponentially more difficult, especially if someone like Ishizaki was by your side."

"We didn't go there looking for a fight. He was. He even threw the first punch!" Ishizaki argued.

"Chabashira-sensei can attest to the fact that Miyake-kun has never been violent with other people. He has never committed any sort of offense towards his classmates. I doubt that he would lose his temper over the three of you when he has been calm and composed this entire time, despite being accused of a serious allegation."

With that, everyone's attention flew towards the brown-haired teacher of Class D, who was taken aback at Suzune's action. She didn't expect to be included in this in any way other than to represent her class as its homeroom teacher. Regardless, she had to give a response of any sort which would either confirm or deny her student's words.

"She's telling the truth," the woman shrugged, not seeing any reason for her to hide such a thing. "Quite frankly, even I was surprised that someone accused him of beating three students up. Last week."

Sakagami-sensei glared at her. "Some students can be completely different from what you thought they were like, Chabashira-sensei."

Sae scoffed at that and leaned back against her seat, as the attention was once again directed towards Suzune. At least that's over and she can just watch from now on, though she will definitely have a few words with her student about involving her in the equation without informing her beforehand…

"It would have been more believable if it was someone like Sudo-kun who was accused of being fighting with you," Suzune continued on, and this particular statement actually got a noticeable reaction from Kondo and Komiya. "I'm sure you know who he is, considering Kondo-kun and Komiya-kun are part of the same club as him."

"This Sudo-kun has nothing to do with the case, Horikita-san. Please remain on topic," Tachibana spoke up, cutting their little argument short.

"Very well. Let us talk about something else instead," Suzune took a deep breath before sitting down. "A while ago, Chabashira-sensei gave her honest remark about Miyake-kun's behavior within our class. I would like to know what Sakagami-sensei thinks of his students in return. Are they well-behaved or are they troublemakers?"

Chabashira allowed a small but visible smirk to form on her face as Class C, along with its teacher, were now thrusted into the spotlight with that question alone. It was all the more satisfying when Sakagami glared at her student.

Her class might not be winning this case but hey, that doesn't mean she couldn't enjoy the little things like this.

After getting her flash drive from her dorm, Airi and Kei immediately headed back to school with their destination being the student council room. As soon as they left the dormitories, both received a message from Kiyotaka saying that the group was heading to the venue of the hearing and told them not to take too long.

When Airi suggested that they could run all the way back to school, Kei adamantly refused. The blonde gyaru made it clear that if they do just that, it would ruin Airi's presentable look in front of everyone who's present at the hearing. Even

As they walked in peace, Kei couldn't help but sneak a glance at her friend. Though she tried to keep it in the back of her mind, she couldn't stop thinking about yesterday's events as they were still fresh in her memory.

To her utter disbelief, the shy and timid friend that she had grown close to actually led a double life. Somehow, Sakura Airi was a normal student on one end and on the other, she was a rising gravure idol for several years now.

Kei tried to deny it at first, mainly because she couldn't imagine her friend to have such a profession, especially upon realizing that she began being a gravure idol during her middle school years. However, Kikyo and Kiyotaka both made very convincing arguments that Airi and Shizuku were indeed the same person, to the point that she was the only one who's left in denial.

It didn't help that once she imagined Airi not wearing her glasses, she looked exactly like the idol Shizuku.

Still, the blonde needed to hear it from Airi herself. Maybe it would finally put her worries to rest and get her to move on, because as much as she wanted to accept that her best friend was keeping a big secret like this from her, there was a part of her that continued to deny it. That didn't stop her from cursing herself in her mind, because this just had to happen while their class was in the midst of an important issue…

"Say, Airi-chan…" she began to speak, getting the redhead's attention.

"What is it, Kei-san?"

Kei was stumped for a moment, wondering how she could steer the conversation into the topic that she wished to discuss. "Let's say you're friends with a person… and you somehow learn a deep secret that she's been hiding from you the whole time. What would you do if you were the one who learned what that secret was?"

Airi raised an eyebrow, a bit curious on what this was about. "Uhm… is this a serious question?"

"Y-Yeah. Yeah, it is…" Kei chuckled nervously.

The red-haired girl was still curious, but thought about her answer anyway. "Well… I guess I wouldn't say anything, really. If it's a secret, then there must be a reason why my friend has been keeping it as one. If she wants it to stay as a secret, then I'll respect her decision. If she ever wants to tell me about it, then I'll listen to her."

"You're just going to ignore what your friend is keeping from you…?"

Airi shook her head. "I wouldn't say I'm ignoring it, I just wouldn't think about it. W-Whatever that secret is, I don't want it to determine what my friendship with that person would be."

Kei's eyes widened upon hearing those words, as Airi unintentionally gave her something to think about. For almost an entire day, her mind had been focused solely on the revelation regarding Airi that she had almost forgotten about everything else.

Her confusion and disbelief towards this whole issue almost caused her to disregard their entire relationship, all because of what she learned about Airi and the fact that her friend never said anything.

"I see…" she mumbled.

"Why were you asking, Kei-san?"

"Oh, nothing! It's nothing," the blonde laughed nervously before retreating into her thoughts. "I'm not going to bring it up out of nowhere. I'll let Airi-chan decide when she wants to tell me about it, because she's my friend. If she doesn't want to tell me, it's fine. Besides, I have my own secret that I've been keeping to myself. I've only told Kiyotaka about it when I asked him to be my boyfriend. I'm not in any place to ask why she's been keeping this secret from me. Ugh, I can't believe I've been a hypocrite about this!"

While Kei berated and cursed herself in her mind for her idiocy, Airi only stared at her in mild confusion.

"If you say so…"

"Don't worry about it, Airi-chan!" Kei quickly flashed a bright smile as she tried to steer the direction of this conversation elsewhere. "Anyway, are you still up for testifying for Miyake-kun? Or are you going to back out?"

Sakura blushed at the teasing smile on her friend's face, before taking a deep breath to calm herself. She raised the flash drive that contained the video she took and uttered her response.

"I can't deny that I still feel a little nervous, but it also can't compare to the guilt that I'd feel if I didn't do anything. I have to do this, I need to do this, and I want to do this."

"That's the spirit, Airi-chan! This is why I believe you'll be able to pull this off without a sweat! As long as you keep your head high and don't think about anything else while telling everyone what you saw, you shouldn't have any problems."

The red hue on Airi's face deepened before she smiled as well. "T-Thank you, Kei-san. It's because of you and Ayanokouji-kun that I'm here right now, honestly."

"What are you talking about? I can understand Kiyotaka, but not me. This was all you! I didn't do anything at all. I just acted like how I normally am when I'm around you."

"That's true, but… I can't imagine myself having the confidence to do this if it wasn't for your friendship too. You and Ayanokouji-kun helped me find my voice when I thought I didn't have it."

"Jeez, stop talking down on yourself! You're gonna end up inviting the waterworks if you keep it up with the emotional talk. Save it for when the trial is over," Kei grinned.

"H-Hey, I'm not a crybaby!" Airi pouted, albeit in a more playful manner.

"Well, you're gonna end up crying the more you do that! You don't want to show up at the trial looking like— OW!"

"AH!"

Both girls yelped when an unknown force collided with them from behind, which caught them completely by surprise. They were unprepared for it and had no clue of what was happening, so much that they almost didn't realize they were knocked to the ground by something.

It even caused Airi's flash drive to fly out of her hand as it landed on the ground a few meters away from them. Even her glasses flew off her face from the impact of the collision and it's only a miracle that its lens suffered no cracks or anything worse.

"Argh!"

"-yah!"

Kei and Airi cried out in pain from the landing and if it wasn't for their arms keeping themselves off the solid concrete, their faces would have been riddled with abrasions all over. They were also fortunate that neither or their legs nor ankles were injured as a result of the fall.

"What the hell…" Kei groaned as she sat up with an annoyed look. "Who did that?!"

She turned her head in several directions to search for the culprit, and that's when she saw two individuals standing before them. With the caps that they were wearing on their heads, it would almost be an impossible challenge to recognize who they were. Regardless, Kei was completely sure that these were the people who knocked them over for some reason.

"Hey! What's the big idea?!" she yelled at them.

At the same time, Airi had recovered from the fall and with a desperate look, she grabbed her fallen glasses and put them on immediately before anyone could notice. Airi then turned her attention to the two individuals before them, and her eyes widened in fear when she noticed a particular thing resting by their feet.

"No…!" she gasped, hopelessly reaching out for her flash drive.

After hearing the girls' voices, the two people who looked to be students immediately realized that they had been caught in the act. Wasting no time, they began stomping on the flash drive with the full intent of breaking the thing into pieces if possible.

"Hey, what the fuck are you doing?! Stop that!"

"Stop! Please, you have to stop!"

The two unknown boys continued to stomp on the flash drive despite their cries, and it didn't seem like they had any intention of stopping at all. The girls, wondering why these people were doing this in the first place. Who were they even? What are they trying to accomplish by doing this? It didn't make sense at all!

"No…" Airi breathed out, realizing that her one chance to help her class and save her classmate from expulsion may have just been crushed into a million pieces.

When Kei saw a tear fall from Airi's eye, the blonde-haired gyaru felt a surge of rage and adrenaline that she had never felt before. This was far from the first time that she felt this way, but it's definitely the first instance where she felt such an intense urge to fight back.

It has been very long since the last time Kei actually stood up to someone else, and it resulted in her being 'punished' for even attempting to fight back against her 'superiors'. From there, she tried her best to stay away from trouble and simply latched on to whatever form of protection there was against her bullies, like a parasite.

This time, though… Kei didn't care anymore.

"Oh, that's how it is? I'm going to knock you two over like how you did to us and stomp on you both like hell! Let's see how you like it!"

As soon as she was back to her feet, the two individuals realized that it was time for them to make a run for it. They quickly ran off to who-knows-where without another word just as Kei stormed over to where they were. The two didn't turn back or stop even with Kei's cries about them being faceless cowards who can't handle shit.

"No…" Airi mumbled, a few more tears escaping her eyes after what she just witnessed.

Calming down from her moment of rage, Karuizawa shifted her attention to her friend, who was in need of comfort now more than ever. She quickly grabbed the damaged flash drive and walked over to Airi.

"Airi-chan, come on. Let's get you up, okay?" she brought the redhead into a side-hug, before helping her get back to her feet. While there was nothing wrong with Airi physically, she looked completely out of it and almost seemed like she wasn't there anymore.

"It's gone…" the red-haired girl mumbled again in a low tone, almost as if a piece of her just died.

It hurt Kei deep down to see her friend like this, especially after how she pushed herself to be courageous enough to come out with the knowledge she possessed regarding the case.

"Look, it's gonna be fine. I'll call Kiyotaka and tell him about what happened. Just… Just calm down and don't panic, okay?" she said in an attempt to cheer her friend up or to keep her calm at least.

And so, Kei tried to contact the only person who could probably think of a solution to their current problem.

Keyword: Tried.

Despite her numerous attempts to call him and the dozens of messages that she sent to him for the next several minutes, there wasn't any kind of response on Kiyotaka's end. Within that time, Airi managed to calm down from her earlier state, though she still felt devastated at what happened. Now she was

"Ugh, why won't he reply to me?! What the hell is he even doing right now?!"

"Ayanokouji-kun and the others are all probably busy with the trial… I think it already started, Kei-san…" Airi muttered sadly.

"Argh, screw this then! Just stay here, Airi-chan! Okay?" Kei turned to her friend for a moment, a look of frustration plastered on her face. "I'm going to run to where Kiyotaka is and tell him. Don't worry, okay? It'll be fine."

"But I could also go back home and see if my flash drive can still play the video…" Airi suggested.

"No, that would take longer! What if it can't? It'll be for nothing! Stay here, don't go anywhere yet."

"But that would also take time! I'll just go with you so I can be at the hearing, Kei-san! What if this can still work and we're being worried for nothing? Ayanokouji-kun, Miyake-kun, and Hasebe-san are all waiting for me…"

Kei heaved a deep sigh as she placed a hand on Airi's shoulder. "Let me try to call Kiyotaka at least, Airi-chan. He should know what to do. Is that fine with you?"

Airi frowned slightly. She understood what her friend wanted and the logic behind her actions, but she didn't like it. Once again, she would be doing nothing of importance, even though she wanted to do better and actually help out this time around.

"But you've been calling him, haven't you? And Ayanokouji-kun still hasn't answered…"

A serious look formed on her face. "I'll keep on trying until he answers me! Just stay where you are, okay?! Don't go anywhere!"

With those words, Kei ran off in the direction of the school building, leaving a low-spirited Airi behind with the flash drive that was all but useless now.

Along the way, Kei continued to try and call Ayanokouji to inform him of what just transpired, even though nobody was answering from the other end. She had no idea why he still wasn't answering her, but she didn't care. She'll keep on calling him until he answers, for the sake of her best friend who is completely helpless right now.

However, right as she was about to reach the school's front gate, the person she had been trying to contact this whole time finally answered back.

"Kiyotaka? Kiyotaka! Kiyotaka, can you hear me?!" the girl almost screamed at her phone as she stopped in her tracks for the moment.

"I'm here. Is Sakura with you right now?"

Kei took a few deep breaths to regulate her breathing, the exhaustion brought by running all the way here kicking in. "N-No, I left her behind for a bit. Thank god you finally answered! Did the whole trial already start?"

"Stay where you are and don't go anywhere. I'm heading to your location right now."

"What? Wait just a moment, I need to tell you something! It's about—" Kei stopped herself when she realized what he just said. "Wait, did you see the messages I sent you?"

"I did."

A tick mark appeared on her head as she clenched her fists in anger. "Then why the hell were you ignoring me?! I called you a few times but you didn't answer at all!"

"I turned my phone on silent mode after we went inside the student council room for the hearing. I only noticed the missed calls and messages when we realized that Sakura was running late. I managed to convince the student council to let me leave for a while to bring her there," he calmly replied, while also answering her first question earlier.

"So you already know…" she muttered, realizing that there's no need for her to even recount what happened.

"This is no time for sulking, Kei. I need to know where Sakura is. Where did you leave her?"

"Uh, we stopped at Keyaki Mall, I think…" Kei turned around and stared off into the distance, hoping that Airi was still at the place she left her and not anywhere else. "We got knocked over while we were passing by. We didn't notice because we were busy talking to each other, but you already know that."

"I'll go to where Sakura is. In the meantime, I need you to do something for me, Kei."

"Huh?" she asked in confusion.

"It's something important," he reaffirmed.

"There's no time for that! What the hell do we do now, Kiyotaka? If the USB can't play Airi-chan's video, then how will we even win this case…? She's still by the mall, waiting for me to tell her what we'll do because she doesn't know what to do!"

"This is regarding Miyake's trial, Kei. But before that, our primary concern is Sakura herself, not the evidence she possesses."

"What are you talking about? Is something wrong with Airi-chan?" the girl asked, a twinge of worry in her voice as she began to think about her dear friend.

She could hear the young man sigh from the other end.

"I wish there wasn't, Kei…"

No one would be able to notice it from the impassive look on his face, but Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was worried and angry at the same time. After leaving the student council room earlier, he immediately called Karuizawa and asked her for Sakura's whereabouts.

When his blonde heroine told him that Sakura was by the mall, Kiyotaka didn't waste any time and headed towards there with eyes full of determination. Since he was running on a time limit, he knew that he couldn't take too long finding her, otherwise their class would lose this case.

It doesn't matter if her flash drive had truly become corrupted from what those unknown students did to it. He still had a contingency plan but for that to be put into action, he needed Airi's presence.

Upon reaching the mall, the young man immediately scouted the area for people with red hair, because it was Airi's most recognizable trait. While there were many students around because classes were already over for the day, it's not really hard to spot those who have long red hair. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the girl outside of the mall, which led to two possibilities.

Airi either went inside the place, or she was somewhere out here and he would just have to look for her.

"I don't think she went inside. Either she went back to her dorm to check if the flash drive can still play the video, she went on ahead and followed Karuizawa, or she's still here and I just have to look for her," the young man thought while slowly looking around for any individuals with striking red hair.

The young man then decided to rely on using messages to determine where she is while he's walking around, just to make this quicker because he had no idea how long Suzune could stall the hearing and keep it from ending.

However, as he was walking past several stores along the entrance of Keyaki Mall, a familiar voice would then ring in his ears from within a dark alley that was right beside him.

"I don't have time for whatever this is, please leave me alone!"

Kiyotaka immediately hid himself behind a wall before he could be noticed. Slowly but surely, he peeked out from his hiding spot and observed

Confirming his suspicion, the voice he heard indeed came from Airi who was driven to a corner by a certain someone…

"This bastard didn't learn from last time, huh?"

It was the same creep whom they had encountered at the electronics store last Saturday, who also happened to be the same guy that stalked the idol Shizuku's blog and Twitter account. This realization was enough for Kiyotaka to almost charge in there and beat the man to a pulp for even being near his red-haired heroine, but he kept himself where he was for now. He was having a hard time doing that, though.

Instead, a scowl formed on his face as he gave the perverted stalker a look of disgust, something that one would never see Ayanokouji Kiyotaka do… unless you're a total creep that not even the 'Masterpiece' can stomach what you're like.

"I can't believe I'm letting this happen, but this should keep him away from Sakura for good afterwards."

As much as he hated it, Kiyotaka kept himself where he was and proceeded to record what was happening in front of him using his phone, mainly because he noticed that there weren't any cameras around this area. That didn't stop him from glaring hatefully at the perverted creep, though.

Oh, if only there was no consequence for murdering someone in cold blood within the school premises…

"Why would you say something like that? Nothing else matters anymore, Shizuku-chan. You're my treasure… ever since I first saw you in a magazine, I've loved you. Meeting you again here, I felt like it was destiny. I love you… I can't stop feeling this way about you, Shizuku-chan~!" the creep expressed his feelings as if he was singing in an opera, which only made the girl even more uncomfortable.

"I'm not interested in whatever this is, please leave me be!"

Unfortunately, the man wasn't listening at all. It's like he had lost even the ability to think clearly just by being this close to the idol he fantasized about for so long. "I was planning to send you these letters too as a sign of my love… but I didn't know where you lived. Oh, but this is perfect! I'll give them to you right now so you can read them~!"

The stalker brought out a small stack of letters from his pocket and handed them over to the poor girl, thinking that she would read all of them and realize that his feelings for her were genuine. To his complete shock however, Airi slapped the letters out of his hand

Even Kiyotaka, who recorded the scene with a displeased look on his face, was surprised at her action.

"Please stop it. This is bothering me! I don't know who you are and I don't want to be around you. Stay away!"

"Why… Why would you do something like that? Even after I wrote out my feelings to you!" he demanded, unable to handle the hurt brought by his letters being rejected like trash.

"D-Don't come any closer!"

Airi tried to make a run for it, but the bastard was quicker. He closed the distance between him and the girl, his crazed expression becoming so intense that he looked as though he was about to attack her. Grabbing the girl's arm, he shoved her up against the wall behind her, giving her no chance of escape.

"I'll just show you how much I love you… if I do that, then you'll understand, Shizuku-chan~"

"No, let me go!"

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

"You're dead," Kiyotaka ended the recording abruptly at that moment and took off like a speeding bullet train towards Airi and her harasser.

Just before the bastard's ugly face was within inches of the girl, he was tackled to the ground so hard that he almost took Sakura with him. However, the girl was able to free herself from his grip just in time, which enabled her to see just who exactly saved her from an unfortunate fate.

"A-Ayanokouji-kun…?!" she cried out in surprise.

His mind clouded with rage and bloodlust, Kiyotaka mounted the man and grasped his collar tightly, almost to the point of choking him.

"I gave you a chance to redeem yourself, and you wasted it. I feel bad for whoever has to clean this up when I'm done."

"P-Please don't kill me…" the man wheezed out, feeling as if he's currently staring into the eyes of the devil himself.

"I'm not going to kill you. But I'm going to make you wish I did."

That was all Kiyotaka said before he delivered the first punch. Which was followed by a second. And another. And another. And another. And another. He had lost count after that, but not like it matters. Kiyotaka didn't care about how many times he swung his arm. All that mattered to him right now was making this bastard pay for what he was about to do to his girl.

Whatever it was, it's unacceptable.

It didn't even matter to him that the stalker's face was already swelling, full of bruises, and bleeding all over. As a matter of fact, he didn't even care if he ends up killing this bastard once he's done! Hell, it'll actually be a fitting punishment for the unfortunate and stupid decision he made in trying to harass Sakura. It's what he deserves for trying to prey on what's his…

Kiyotaka didn't know when, but he was eventually snapped out of his bloodlust when he felt his arm being grabbed by Airi herself.

"Ayanokouji-kun, stop! Please stop already! You're going to kill him if you keep this up!" she cried, struggling to hold him back even though she was only grabbing one of his arms.

Was he always strong like this and she just didn't realize it?

He stared at Airi for a moment, before looking back at the bloody mess he ended up making. He could definitely keep on going and completely destroy this bastard's face that he won't have anything left to look at in a mirror but at the same time, Airi was looking at him with begging eyes, pleading with him to stop and that what he did was already enough.

Taking a deep breath, Kiyotaka shook his head and moved away from the perverted creep like he's nothing more than a pile of trash. In return, Airi felt relieved that she managed to stop him from doing anything crazy, as much as she wanted him to.

"You know, he was just about to violate you," Kiyotaka pointed out.

Airi shook her head. "He's not worth it, Ayanokouji-kun."

"S-Shizuku-chan? You saved me from this monster! You've finally realized your love for me, haven't you?! Oh, I love you so much, Shizuku-chan!"

Somehow, despite his face being completely banged up and his body almost unresponsive from so much pain, the perverted creep still managed to find his voice. He felt his heart swelling up in joy at his beloved idol saving him from this devil. It's almost like a dream come true, and it made the pain he felt worth it!

"Shut up!"

With a burst of strength that she never knew she had, Airi raised her leg and brought it down on the man's crotch hard, drawing out a loud shriek of pain from the ugly creep. He rolled around and cried in agony while clutching his jewels, as Airi stood over him with a cold glare on her face.

"Never come near me again," she spat out with venom in her tone, showing no sign of the shy and nervous girl that she usually is.

Kiyotaka watched her with a look of interest and he felt impressed with how she handled herself just now. Was this really the same Airi as the one who was completely shy around other people and had a difficult time conversing with others?

If so, then he sure as hell wasn't expecting this development.

"If I knew you were gonna do that, then I would have stopped long ago and let you finish the job," Kiyotaka remarked.

And just like that, Sakura's moment of seriousness ended as soon as it began when a deep red blush appeared on her face. It's like she just tapped into a hidden side out of nowhere, and now she's back to her normal self. It was quite amusing to see.

"U-Uhm… it was… just in the heat of the moment. That's all!" she blurted out in embarrassment.

He raised an eyebrow, showing clear doubt on his part. "In the heat of the moment? It seems that you enjoyed doing that, though."

"Well, it… does feel liberating, to be honest…" she muttered, turning her gaze to the side for some reason.

Kiyotaka took a step closer to the girl and thankfully, she wasn't shaking in fear or anything. Airi also didn't react in a violent manner when he placed a hand on her shoulder. That was good at least, because so help him, the school will have to expel his ass for committing a murder within the campus premises after this.

"Are you okay?" he asked, feeling worried about her mental state.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine, I… I…"

The girl continued to look away, like she was hiding her face from him. However, she couldn't keep herself bottled up inside for long. Especially when her voice started to crack and slowly revealed her true feelings under the facade she was trying to put up.

But, as expected, the girl couldn't keep herself together for very long.

With tears in her eyes, Airi lunged towards Kiyotaka and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into his chest as he could feel her tears staining his shirt. In return, he slowly wrapped his arms around her in a hug of his own, feeling himself overcome with relief that he allowed himself this moment of temporary peace with his heroine.

"Thank you… Ayanokouji-kun. I-I don't know what would have happened if you weren't here."

"I'm glad I got here in the nick of time, Sakura." Kiyotaka embraced the girl and even patted her back several times, allowing the girl to cry on him as much as she wanted to.

[You are willing to tap into a darker side of yourself for your Heroines' sake! You gained +40 in Aura!]

[Special Event 'Metamorphosis Averted/Not Averted' has been cleared! You gained 50 Affection Points with Sakura Airi!]

[Relationship Status 'An Accidental Misunderstanding' has been maxed! Relationship Status with Sakura Airi has been upgraded to 'Unrequited Love, or so she Thought'!]

Kiyotaka ignored the two notifications that appeared in front of him, keeping his focus entirely on hugging the girl who must be shaken by what just happened. The two enjoyed this brief moment of peace between them until a new voice burst into the scene, one that belonged to a certain blonde gyaru that they were familiar with.

"There he is! That's the ugly creep that was harassing my friend!"

With two security guards by her side, Karuizawa Kei pointed to the ugly stalker at the end of the alley with a look of disgust on her face. The man was still rolling and crying on the ground in agony that the guards who came to take him away actually had a bit of a hard time doing so, simply because of how much he was thrashing around and whining in pain at the same time.

"Kei-san?" asked Airi, breaking away from her and Kiyotaka's embrace as she noticed her friend at the other end of the alley.

"Airi-chan!"

With a teary look of her own, Kei rushed towards her best friend and wrapped her in a tight hug, so tight that the blonde was afraid of even letting go.

"I'm so glad you're safe…" Kei whispered, her tone filled with relief that nothing bad happened to Airi. With this knowledge in mind, she let out a massive sigh of relief and allowed herself to breathe normally again. "Thank god nothing happened to you…"

"It's because Ayanokouji-kun saved me," Airi smiled despite her tears, returning the hug as she patted the blonde gyaru on the back.

"I'm sorry, Airi-chan. If I stayed with you, then this wouldn't have happened. I'm sorry for leaving you behind. I should have stayed with you instead," Kei sniffled, having no one to blame but herself for what almost happened to her best friend.

A few more tears escaped Airi's eyes, but she didn't bother wiping them off. "It's okay, Kei-san. You shouldn't blame yourself for anything. If anything, it's my fault that this happened to me."

"Why would it be your fault, Airi-chan?" asked Kei, pulling away from the hug as she donned a look of confusion.

"That's…" she seemed hesitant to continue at first, but Airi shook her head to get rid of whatever hesitation she had left. She then took a deep breath, before finally uttering her response. "It's because he recognized me."

"He recognized you…?"

Kiyotaka sent another hateful look at the bastard who was being cuffed by guards, before deciding to speak up. "That creep recognized you as the idol Shizuku, right?"

Airi widened her eyes at the brown-haired teen, completely shocked that the young man knew her secret before this. How did he…?

"Y-You know, Ayanokouji-kun…?"

"Kikyo had her suspicions and she told me and Suzune about them last Saturday. Kei was there as well so she knows too, but it took a lot of convincing before she finally accepted the possibility that you were secretly an idol," he explained while rubbing the back of his head. "Er, sorry that we already knew before you could tell us about it."

"N-No, it's fine. I guess this makes things easier to admit… and I actually feel kind of glad. Now I have nothing else to hide from the both of you," the girl felt immense relief that the two people whom she was scared of telling her secret to didn't seem like they were going to treat her differently.

It took a lot out of her to even consider telling her dear friends her deepest secret, but it had been for nothing in the end. Kiyotaka and Kei accepted her just fine and had no problems with her whatsoever, both treating her the same way they always have and she was fine with that.

"You just have to take a risk and be confident in yourself that you can do it."

Recalling the brown-haired teen's words to her a few days ago, Airi decided to do something that never could have imagined herself doing in a million years, knowing what she's been like her whole life. There have been many times where she wanted to change herself for the better, but she had been too cowardly and shy to fully commit herself to it.

After what she almost went through today and seeing how two dearest people accepted who she was without any violent reactions, Airi realized that it was now or never.

"Kei-san. Ayanokouji-kun," she called out to them, getting their attention. "Do you think everyone would notice if I came to class without my glasses, while having a completely different hairstyle?"

Kiyotaka painted the mental image in his thoughts, where he could see Airi walking into their classroom with a new look, and immediately causing her popularity to skyrocket. She would then be surrounded by several boys in their class who would then swear undying loyalty to her just like how they did for Kikyo back then. Heck, she might even be surrounded by girls who would ask for an explanation on her new look.

He honestly didn't like that scenario in general so Kiyotaka simply stopped thinking about it.

"I think there's a possibility that people at school might panic when they notice… but I think it'll be fine. Unless they happen to be massive idol fans and they can recognize you at first glance, of course."

On the other hand, the blonde-haired girl only looked at her in wonder and surprise.

"A-Are you serious, Airi-chan?"

In response, Airi simply took off the hair ties and allowed her long red hair to flow freely. She took off her glasses next and with this action, she now looked exactly like the idol Shizuku, which Kei had tried to deny strongly at first.

"I started wearing this to avoid attention from other people. Turns out that it wasn't of any help at all," Airi let out a sad sigh before letting the accessory fall to the ground. It wasn't broken yet, but when she stepped over it as hard as she could, the audible crack that they heard was enough to confirm its end.

Kei couldn't help but be impressed not just with her friend's resolve, but with how Airi looked without her glasses too. "Whoa… you're even cuter without your glasses, Airi-chan! And your hair while it's let down like this… oh my god, you look really beautiful too! I don't think those pictures in that blog of yours do you justice, Airi-chan!"

"I'm sorry for not telling you," the red-haired girl smiled sadly.

"It's nothing you have to apologize for. Every person has their own secrets, so it's totally fine with me. It's like what you said to me earlier," Kei smiled and brought her friend in for another embrace. "You had a good reason for keeping this as a secret from everyone, so I can't really do anything other than to respect it. Besides, I consider it even better that you decided to tell me about this willingly, Airi-chan!"

Airi returned the hug happily. "I don't have anything to hide anymore, Kei-chan."

Kei's eyes widened at the slight change in her pattern of speech, before she laughed in pure, unbridled joy. She continued to laugh for a while before she was hit with a massive realization… one that caused her worries to come back in full force.

They had been too focused on Airi until now that they forgot about something more urgent at the moment.

"W-Wait a second! What the hell are we going to do about the trial?! It's still happening, right?!" she asked, turning her attention back to Kiyotaka.

The young man quickly checked his phone for any kind of notification from the people who were at the student council room, but there wasn't any. "Since I haven't received any update from Suzune, Hasebe, or Miyake until now, I would assume that it's still ongoing. Suzune must be doing a good job stalling it however she can, but that only means we have to hurry back and get there."

Airi's gaze shifted to the ground, a defeated look on her face. She couldn't even bring herself to cry anymore. "I don't think I'll be able to help anymore, Ayanokouji-kun. Kei-chan must have told you already by now, but I think my flash drive got corrupted because of what those two people did earlier. I guess I'll still try to tell everyone about what I saw that day, though…"

"It may be, but we can still turn this around and win the case," he said as if this hindrance was nothing and that they will still win regardless.

"How?"

"Is there still time for me to go back home and copy the video file again?"

Both Kei and Airi stared at him curiously, wondering if there was still a way for them to recover a video that was likely corrupt by now. If not that, then it must be another piece of evidence that they could use against the three Class C students.

"There's no need for you to do that," he shook his head. "Check your email, Sakura."

Airi blinked in surprise, before she followed his instructions anyway. Upon opening her phone, she checked her email, where she saw a recent message sent to her by an anonymous person a few minutes ago. She raised an eyebrow at this, especially at the media that was attached to the message, entitled "You're actually more interesting than I thought, senpai".

"What is it, Airi-chan?"

Airi frowned slightly. "I'm not sure, but this is pretty suspicious…"

The girl was confused at the name of the file alone because she had no idea what it meant, but she was also curious on what this file could be. As soon as she opened the attachment though, her jaw fell upon what she saw.

"T-The video?! But how…? I never sent it to anyone!" she cried out in surprise as the file played a video of the incident from last Sunday, which was taken from the same angle where she was supposed to be at that time. It's like she was watching a 1:1 replica of the file that was in her flash drive at the moment, the one that's more or less corrupted by now.

"Wait, what…?!" Overwhelmed with curiosity and confusion, Kei took a look at her friend's phone to see it for herself and like Airi, she was left speechless at seeing an almost exact replica of the file that her friend had, at least she was sure that it was the same thing. "Are you sure you didn't send that to anyone, Airi-chan?"

"I-I'm sure! I only showed it to other people, but I never gave anyone the file!"

"No time to explain. Let's just head to the hearing while we still can," Kiyotaka interjected, getting both girls' attention. "If we hurry, we can still turn this case around and have it be in our favor. But I have to ask you, Airi. Are you prepared for this?"

Airi stared at the video on her phone for a few moments, before she gripped her device tightly. As confused as she was regarding this whole new situation about a video that's supposed to be hers, Airi knew that there's something else that takes precedence and she's been late to it for long enough. She could think about this later on but for now, they had a trial to win.

"Let's do it."

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

-Lance