26 Chapter 26

"I suppose you haven't come back empty-handed."

"Yes!"

Akane Tachibana nodded resolutely, as the secretary it was her duty to fulfil his commands to the best of her abilities. 

Horikita Manabu nodded and extended his empty hand toward her and she jogged to him before handing him the file.

He opened the file and read the information of the clerk.

'I wonder if I can find something from this. Yukitsu Kusuda huh?'

The first few hundred words were meaningless drivel. Things like his past, track record and behaviour etc.

He had to hand it to his secretary.

While Akane was a bit clumsy she was truly talented in the field of gathering information.

In only an hour she had brought five pages worth of information in under an hour. That too regarding an ordinary unassuming clerk. 

As he read through the file he suddenly paused at a certain string of words.

'I see. No wonder Akane looked angry.'

[Suspected of harassing and stalking a Class 1-D student.]

The glow in his eyes didn't escape Nagumo who was attentively observing him.

"Did you happen to find something Horikita-senpai?" He asked with an innocent smile and his expression caused Manabu to sigh.

"It seems like this Yukitsu Kusuda was stalking and harassing one of the new freshers."

"Hah?" Kiriyama let out a gasp of disbelief. He was going to curse the guy but remembering that he was already far beyond cursed he let it rest.

"Oh? Who's this student?" Nagumo continued to ask.

A certain feeling in his heart was telling him that if kept on asking something unexpected would surface.

"Sakura Airi from Class 1-D. A very shy and introverted student. Not good in either academics or sports nor has any friends. Ordinary looks."

"Well, that's a bit... I guess that's worthy of a student belonging to Class D." Nagumo mercilessly gave his judgement but no one was phased.

It was reality.

"But-" Nagumo didn't stop. "Doesn't it seem odd for this clerk to go after such a student? I believe if lust was a major factor in his actions there were many better options among the students in this school."

Manabu nodded, "What you say isn't wrong. Even if we assume he excluded the second and third years because he wanted to take advantage of a naive first year there were certainly better options."

"Maybe he felt that an ordinary girl like Sakura was insecure and wouldn't tattle on him easily. Could also be that he was investigating her and found out that she didn't have friends making her an easy target." Kiriyama who had been silently listening chipped in.

Both Nagumo and Manabu agreed with him.

Manabu scanned the last page of the file and raised an eyebrow in interest. He posed a questioning look towards Akane.

Seeing this Akane fiddled with her fingers before answering, "W-Well... I thought that since Sakura-chan was involved I would also ask for her whereabouts from today. It was just a random thought."

"I heard that some people saw her with Ichinose. Though it was hard to recognise her due to her new hairstyle and... lack of glasses."

She quickly pulled out a photo on her phone and transferred it to Manabu's phone. The person she was talking with was an admirer of Ichinose, he had taken a photo of her.

After chiding said student about such bad behaviour she forcibly took the photo from him.

Manabu feeling his phone buzz took it out and looked at the photo. A look of genuine interest took over his face.

"I see. It makes sense now."

As Nagumo and Kiriyama were puzzled Manabu sent both of them the photo.

Nagumo's eyes widened in surprise similar to Kiriyama's look of disbelief.

"Well, there goes our theories about why he chose her." He lamented with a sigh.

Everyone agreed with his words.

She was very beautiful. If she displayed herself like that every day her popularity would soon overtake Ichinose and Kushida, both the most popular girls from the first years.

"Looks like she's close with that tall guy among them. What was his name...?" Kiriyama muttered the last part to himself.

"Ah! It's Tatsuya Yamamoto from Class D. It's unofficial but it seems like he's the leader of the Class."

"Class D's leader huh..." Manabu nodded hearing that. "So she went to Keyaki Mall with Yamamoto-kun today? Is he involved somehow? Was it a coincidence or..." He continued.

"Horikita-senpai that's a bit far-fetched don't you think?" Nagumo quickly cut him off.

"Well, can you say with 100% certainty that they're not involved?" His sharp rebuttal caused Nagumo to turn silent.

Indeed, he had no basis for his claims.

"Call Ichinose from Class 1-B here," Manabu told Akane and she rushed off.

"Wasting no time eh? That's just like you." Nagumo said but Manabu was indifferent to his praise.

That didn't affect Nagumo though.

"According to how you do things you should already have tried to get some of Yukitsu Kusuda's personal stuff."

Manabu frowned after hearing that, "I did. Unfortunately, the authorities intervened. A mere student like me wasn't allowed to interfere in the matter. Most of Yukitsu Kusuda's stuff has been confiscated."

"I see... Speaking of Class D... Senpai, your little sister seems to be in Class D. If I remember correctly, Horikita Suzune, right?"

Kiriyama's eyes widened and the air between the two turned tense.

While Manabu still had the same expression as ever there was something different about it.

"Yes."

It was a simple yet intimidating affirmation.

"Don't you think it's unfair that your sister of all people was placed in Class D?"

"Hmph, genes for most of the part have nothing to do with individual capabilities. She has shown no feat worthy of being in any class higher than D."

"How harsh." Nagumo wasn't teasing him anymore, he was genuinely surprised.

'Seems like the siblings don't have a good relationship.'

"Shouldn't you have called Sakura and Yamamoto? Why bother with Ichinose?" Kiriyama was a little puzzled.

"I wanted to confirm some things from a third party's view before talking to the suspects. Nothing more."

"Ah "

Just as Kiriyama nodded a knock was heard on the door.

Seems like Ichinose was here.

***

Advanced Chapters- Patreon.com/AlmightySkyDxddy

Damn we're incredibly close to top 3, Can we get there by the end of the week? A part of hopes and a part of me doesn't since it'll be a pain to write three extra chapters ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯