#53 Delay?

Yuichi followed Sudo from a very safe distance until he arrived at the place where the other 3 students were waiting for Sudo. 2 of those students were from Class C from the basketball club who were always taunting Sudo so Yuichi assumed that the 3rd student is also from Class C.

'Sudo, you fucking idiot, I told you not to get into fights with them over their trivial comments' Yuichi thought while both sides started shouting at each other's insult.

Yuichi has the choice to step out and try to stop the situation from escalating any further or he can trust Sudo not to start the fight while recording them on his phone. Yuichi was tempted to step out but he felt as this wasn't what it seems like, there was no real reason for them to hate Sudo so much to gather 3 people to beat him...

'I will follow my gut feeling and record this, in case they start the fight and Sudo will be on the losing end, I will help out and we can even file a complaint against them. Or...I can get a few points this way.' Yuichi thought with a faint smile. He was aware that blackmailing was forbidden here, however it is not blackmailing if he will sell them the promise to never show the video to the school. It will be just any other trade among students.

As Yuichi thought, after a while of throwing insults, one of the Class C students punched Sudo into the face which finally prompted Sudo to beat them however Yuichi noticed that none of them were actually fighting back.

"He he. Do you really think this is the end of it, Sudo?" They kept taunting him despite being on the ground with bruises over their faces.

Sudo naturally was still filled with adrenaline so he picked up the guy by his collar and brought him eye-to-eye only a few centimeters away, glaring at him as if he wanted to kill him but in the end he just smirked and let go, making him fall on the ground on his ass.

'This isn't the end of this?' Yuichi narrowed his slightly dull eyes as the entire situation seemed very suspicious. They weren't fighting back, getting pummeled yet they seemed satisfied with the results.

As none of them could even stand up, Sudo's adrenaline quickly disappeared so he grabbed his bag, intending to leave.

"You are going to regret this later, Sudo. Hehe" One of them snapped with a smile, despite his swollen cheeks.

Sudo stopped walking and turned at them.

'Don't attack them now or this will truly be on you, Sudo!' Yuichi thought with narrowed eyes.

"Heh, do you think I am afraid of you? Next time, get more people." Yuichi's worries were for naught as Sudo replied with a snort before he once again started leaving.

"Is someone there?" Sudo suddenly snapped his head towards the opposite direction where Yuichi was hiding with a confused expression. Despite what just happened, he wasn't panicking if someone saw him, after all, he wasn't the one who started this brawl.

Yuichi also glanced towards the direction Sudo was looking at but he didn't see anyone, seeing how this entire matter ended, Yuichi decided to retreat without making any noise. When he was slowly going towards the stairs leading down, someone bumped into him right around the corner.

"Ah!"

Yuichi noticed that something has fallen out of the person's hands so he used his left foot to lessen the impact, trying to save the thing.

Thankfully, he still had skills he learned from soccer in his muscles so he was able to catch it without a problem.

"...Sakura-san?" Only now he looked at the person who bumped into him.

"Ah, I-I am sorry!" Sakura bowed down and apologized.

With the quick motion, Yuichi threw the digital camera up with his left leg and caught it into in hands.

"Not at all, it's none's fault, we didn't see each other, and I walked quite fast..." Yuichi said with a comforting smile while returning the camera.

"T-Thank you...Iwamura-kun" Sakura quickly took her camera back with a slightly panicked expression before calming down, still, Yuichi noticed that she was quite uptight.

'...Was she the one Sudo sensed? That would be quite a big coincidence but there isn't really a reason for her to be here so late...Anyway, is this really the so-called Shizuku?' Yuichi thought while observing Sakura with his bright green eyes.

Sakura stared for a few seconds into his eyes before recovering and looking down.

"Eh, do you want to go back to the dorms together or do you perhaps have other matters to attend to?" Yuichi asked with a slightly awkward smile while scratching the back of his head. The entire situation was turning awkward as they stood there, just staring at each other.

"Huh? I-...I have to go somewhere first so...I am sorry" She replied with a slightly startled expression.

"That's fine, have a nice rest of the day, Sakura-san" Yuichi replied with a faint smile, not wanting to apply any pressure on her.

"Y-yes, you too, Iwamura-kun. Thank you once again for catching my camera." She once again lightly bowed down before walking down the stairs.

While she was descending the stairs, she checked if her digital camera is still working before releasing a faint smile.

Yuichi's eyes turned slightly cold as he stood near the stairways leading to the lower floor with his hands in pockets, observing Sakura's back.

'Just by this interaction, I have doubts that she truly is Shizuku but there are undeniable facts that it is her. Anyway, I should go back to the place of the "crime"' Yuichi thought but before going back to where the brawl took place, he went outside of the building, waiting for 3 Class C students to walk out as well.

When they walked out of the building with slightly nervous expressions, Yuichi took discreetly a few photos of their faces, focusing especially on their wounds.

Yuichi decided to also follow them a bit and he discovered that they weren't going to the dorms or to school to report this, instead, they were heading towards the mall and when they arrived there, they walked into a karaoke.

'Tch, I guess I can't follow them inside if I don't want to be discovered' Yuichi thought while turning around to go back to the school building.

After a few minutes, he got to the place where the brawl took place.

'Hmm...There are no CCTVs in this hallway. Did they choose this location specifically because of this? And the way they were smiling even after they let themselves get beaten up...There is definitely much more into this then it seems. Also, why would they go to the karaoke instead of tending to their wounds or reporting this to school?' Yuichi thought with his hands in pockets while looking around at the scene with dull green eyes.

He also found interesting what was Sakura doing here, together with her camera at that. Maybe she was looking to snap another selfie.

*SIGH* Yuichi looked up before he looked in front of him and released a loud and long sigh. He was already aware that trouble was incoming, however, he didn't really want to go to school and report this because even though Sudo didn't start this brawl, it was hardly called self-defense when he beat them senseless.

'I will have to edit the video I just recorded a little bit but I rather not use the school's computers for such a thing. If I remember right, Sotomura should own a laptop...' Yuichi thought before contacting Sotomura in private chat through their boy's group chat.

Sotomura agreed to lend him his laptop for tonight but he was a bit reluctant to do that, because he apparently found a good bishōjo game with excellent art that he wanted to play.

Yuichi just promised that he just needs it for tonight and that he will buy him a meal the next day and Sotomura quickly agreed.

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Yuichi was currently in his room on the laptop, editing the video a bit, cutting unnecessary parts when Sudo beat them senseless, however he also kept a copy of the entire video in his phone just in case.

After that, he put the laptop into his bag and got ready to go to bed.

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The morning, of the new month, Yuichi checked the balance of his account and found out that he didn't receive any points.

[Private Points: 114.580 points]

When he came to the classroom, he immediately noticed how everyone was feeling tense. Everyone was aware that they didn't receive any points. Yuichi returned the laptop to Sotomura and went to sit down on his seat.

When the bell rang, Chabashira walked in the classroom and Hirata immediately questioned why they didn't receive any points.

Chabashira explained that the distribution of points for the 1st-years was a bit delayed due to some trouble and once resolved, everyone will receive their points.

Yuichi immediately frowned when he heard "trouble", he couldn't help but think about what happened very recently with Sudo's involvement.