Chapter 3.2 - Queens Gambit

The day of the trial had finally come.

Being the leader figure, Horikita voluntarily took the role of being Sudou's defendant, while Ayanokouji was decided to be her assistant. Unlike the novel, we were a team of five. Sudou, Sakura, Horikita, Ayanokouji and lastly, me.

As the bell rang for the end of class, the five of us stood up.

"Have you prepared for this, Sudou-kun?" Horikita questioned a nervous Sudou.

"Yeah... I'm good. I was born ready."

Sure you are...

"You might call me a complete idiot and make fun of me, but I'm me. If you have something you want to say, say it now."

"Don't do anything selfish. Don't make decisions for yourself. Don't try to start an argument. And most importantly, keep your mouth shut during the proceedings." I commanded.

This is a common statement made by just about every single lawyer ever. The most rationale option would be to not speak more than necessary during the trail. Speaking enthusiastically would not only bring suspicion on yourself, but it would also create multiple possibilities of accidental slip-ups, which may give away free opportunities to your opponent.

"Ugh. You sound like a lawyer."

Alright. I have decided to screw you... Your on your own.

"Do your best, Horikita-san. Sudou-kun." Kikyou cheered.

Horikita didn't respond at all, but Sudou pumped his fist to show resolve. I turned to check on Sakura who was still sitting down, her body rigid. She stood, her lips trembling slightly.

"Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah... I'm okay. Thank you..."

"Don't push yourself, Sakura-san."

When the five of us got to the faculty room, we saw a certain 'mature' person waiting for us.

"It seems the five of you are here. The discussion is about to begin. Well then, shall we be going?" she asked us.

"We're not going to do this in the faculty room, are we?"

"Of course not. This school does have rather complicated rules, but in cases such as these a settlement is reached between the homeroom teacher of the class in question, the concerned parties, and the student council."

Horikita froze the very moment she heard the words "student council."

Chabashira turned and glanced sharply at Horikita's face.

"If you want to stop, now's the time, Horikita."

Horikita was visibly hesitant. After everything that happened between Manabu and her that day, it was no surprise why she would feel overwhelmed. But the class trail was more important than her sibling relationship. Sudou's future depended on it. That's why no matter what, she mustn't back off.

"I'll go. I'm fine."

Horikita quickly glanced at me. Her look probably meant something like "Don't worry on my account." and well...

You're the key character. How can I not worry about you?

We left the first-floor faculty room and walked up three floors to the fourth. A placard that read "Student Council Room" was affixed to the wall near the doorway. Chabashira knocked, and we went inside.

Even though Horikita had winced, she immediately followed us. Inside, long tables had been arranged in rectangular formation. The three students from Class C had already arrived and were seated. Beside them sat their teacher, Sakagami.

"Sorry we're late," Chabashira said.

"It's before the scheduled start time. There's no need for apologies."

"Have you already met?" pointing towards Sakagami who was the homeroom teacher of Class C.

"This is Sakagami-sensei, the homeroom teacher for Class C. Now then."

One lone male student seated in the back of the room attracted everyone's attention.

"This is the student council president."

Horikita's older brother, Manabu. He took a small glance at everyone present there. But for some reason, when he noticed me sitting in the council room, his lips twisted upwards like a slight grin before poring over the documents on his desk.

Must be because of that night.

We all sat next to each other. Ayanokouji sat beside Sudou and Chabashira, while I sat amidst Sakura and Horikita. Even though Horikita decided not to show any emotion, her body language suggested otherwise. She was moving her body in a calculative motion. Her hands were shaking due to the pressure.

"Hey, Horikita?" I whispered to Horikita, who remained mute and kept her head down. If we wanted to stop Sudou from getting carried away, we had to take action sooner rather than later. However, she showed no reaction. It was as if her mind was gone.

Sigh.

I had already decided my path. Instead of sexually harassing Horikita in the middle of an ongoing class trial, I'd rather commit 'seppuku'. That's why I chose to cut my nose before it even began. I silently went behind Horikita. After carefully removing her hair, I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the worst.

I blew on her left ear.

Whoosh~

"Hyah?!"

.....

Horikita cried out in an abnormally girlish voice. For some reason she sounded dangerously erotic. However, this was not the time or place for me to focus on that.

Since she hadn't yet regained her sanity, I had no choice but to return back to the original tactic. I stretched both my arms out and grasped her sides as I could in order to tickle her.

"W-wait, Leven- Hya! S-stop, stop!"

No matter how upset or dazed a person was, if you stimulated the body enough, they'd come back to her senses. Even if they didn't like it. The teachers, even secretary Tachibana seemed somewhat taken aback by my actions. Manabu simply stared at our stupidity.

But right then I didn't care. When I believed I'd roused her enough, I let go. Horikita, looking like she was about to cry, glared at me with startling intensity.

Hey, it was your fault to begin with...

"Snap out of it, Horikita. Get a grip on yourself. At this rate, we're going to lose before the trial even begins. You have to fight!" I commented.

After I was done cutting my nose in front of the entire room, I sat back on my seat, waiting for the procedure to begin. It wasn't a surprise that we were being stared at by every single soul inside the room.

"Tch. How embarrassing!" Horikita silently rasped.

"Tell me about it." I murmured.

"Well then, I would now like to discuss the violent incident that occurred last Tuesday with the members of the student council, the involved parties, and their homeroom teachers. You may begin the proceedings, student council secretary Tachibana."

And so began the hearing of Sudou Ken.

_____________________________________________________

"Based on the aforementioned facts, we would like for you to identify which version of events is true." After completing her explanation and the preface to the proceedings, Secretary Tachibana turned her eyes toward us in Class D.

"Komiya-kun and two other members of the basketball club went to the special annex building after Sudou-kun called them there. There, they claim to have been beaten up in a one-sided brawl. Is this true?"

"What those guys said was a lie. I was the one that got called over to the special building," Sudou said. "That day, after practice, Komiya and Kondou asked me to go to the special annex building. Honestly, I thought it was kind of annoying, but I also thought it might've been because they were always hostile towards me. So, I went to meet them."

"....."

The fuck did I tell you before coming here, Sudou?

I started sensing murderous intent in the air. Horikita was glaring at Sudou, clearly disgusted by his casual way of talking. Sudou unintentionally gave away multiple footings for our opponent to work on. He didn't seem to understand the fact that without solid evidence, none of his statements would be considered viable. Thus the trail began exactly as chaotic as it was in the novel.

"That's a lie. Sudou-kun called us over to the special building."

"Don't screw with me, Komiya! You were the one who called me, you jerk!"

"You don't seem to remember your position here."

"You-!"

"Stop it, Sudou. Don't make this harder for us." Before things could escalate any further, Ayanokouji stopped Sudou.

"But-!"

"Please calm down, Sudou-kun. 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." Tachibana said.

"Puh, fine..."

"Both parties insist that the other called them over, so the accounts conflict. However, the stories share some commonality. There was a dispute between Sudou-kun, Komiya-kun, and Kondou-kun, correct?"

"I wouldn't call it a dispute. Sudou-kun's always picking fights with us."

"'Picking fights'?"

"Sudou's better at basketball than we are, so he's always bragging about it. We practice with everything we've got, but it doesn't exactly feel good when he makes fools out of us. So we often butt heads."

"Not one bit of what Komiya said was true. Those guys are just jealous of my talent. When I practice, they constantly get in my way. That's the truth."

Well it was natural. Under serious circumstances like this, no one would expose themselves to be guilty. Especially the opposing party who were the one's who set this up. If they failed to fulfill their capacity of expectations, not only would they be punished by the school, they'd also be punished by their leader, Ryuen.

However, for them...

... I wouldn't let that be the end of it.

"Both sides have given their grievances, but now we have to come to a judgment with the collected evidence."

"Excuse me. May I ask a question? Do you mind, president?" Horikita interjected, brimming with confidence in her voice.

"I'll allow it. However, please answer more quickly next time."

Horikita slowly rose out of her chair.

"Earlier, you said that Sudou-kun called you over to the special building. But who exactly did Sudou call, and why?"

Komiya and the other Class C students looked at one another, as if saying, Why is she asking that question now?

"Please answer." Horikita added those last two words to reinforce her aggressive style of questioning.

"Kondou and I don't know why he called us over. When we'd just finished up for the day and were changing, he said he wanted to talk to us for a minute. Wasn't the reason just that he didn't like us?"

"So then, why exactly were you in the special building, Ishizaki-kun? You're not on the basketball team, so you have no connection to this case. I'd think your presence there would be rather odd."

"That's... I came as a precaution. There were rumors that Sudou was violent. He's also in better shape than we are, physically. I had to go, didn't I?"

"So in other words, you felt the situation might turn violent?"

"Yeah." They answered in unison, almost as if they'd expected these questions. It appeared that the Class C students had thoroughly rehearsed for this conference.

"I see. So you brought along Ishizaki-kun as your bodyguard, since he was reputed to be rather good at fighting. Just in case there was an emergency."

"It was to protect ourselves. That was it. Besides, we didn't know that Ishizaki-kun was known for being good in a fight. We just considered him a reliable friend."

Horikita quietly listened to their responses, as if running various simulations in her head. Then she immediately made her next move.

"I do have some knowledge of martial arts, if only to a certain extent. I understand that when you're fighting against multiple enemies, victory becomes exponentially more difficult. So I don't understand 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."

"Because we didn't intend to fight."

"Are you trying to imply that during the time when the fight broke out, the three of you, including Ishizaki-kun who you brought along due to your safety concerns, simply stood there and accepted his assault? If I'm correct, the three of you are well-versed in athletics. Even if he did go berserk, it's really strange the fact that three of you 'athletic' students were beaten to pulp by a sole student. Something doesn't quite fit right, don't you think?"

Komiya, Kondou and Ishizaki froze in front of her sound logic.

Interesting. I had noticed that Horikita's attacks were comparably sharper, more logical and deadlier than in the novel. Bringing her back to her senses before the trail began was the correct decision. It gave her sufficient time to think and rearrange her thoughts. Somehow my actions disolved a big part of her restrictiveness in front of her brother's presence. Lucky me, huh?

"T-That way of thinking doesn't apply to Sudou-kun. He's exceptionally v-violent. Even if we were nonviolent, he'd still be mercilessly violent. That's what happened." Kondou stammered, slowly revealing his veil of lies. As a desperate attempt, he rolled over his sleeves to expose his injuries.

"Are you finished with your claims now, Class D?" said Manabu coldly.

"It's true that Sudou injured the other students. However, Class C started the fight. There is one student witness who saw the entire incident and can attest to this."

"Well then, Class D-if Class D's witness would please step up?"

"Yes!"

Sakura reluctantly stood up.

"1-D, Sakura Airi-san."

"I thought I'd heard something or other about a witness, but you're a Class D student?" Sakagami, the Class C's homeroom instructor, snickered while wiping his glasses.

"Is there a problem, Sakagami-sensei?

"No, no, please. Go ahead."

Sakagami-sensei and Chabashira-sensei exchanged looks.

"You may begin your testimony, if you wouldn't mind, Sakura-san."

"Y-yes, okay... Well... I..." She stopped speaking. A period of silence followed. Ten seconds.

Twenty seconds. Sakura steadily looked further downward, and her face became increasingly pale. At this rate everyone would be dismissive of Sakura's statements.

Although I had more than enough evidence to bury them six feet under, I still had to make Sakura go through that trail. The reason being the fact that her growth greatly depended on this obstacle. If I went ahead and skipped through this important event, it would be Sakura who'd receive the negative feedback.

However that didn't stop me from being a reliable wall to lean on.

"Don't worry. You've got this!" I silently encouraged Sakura.

"R-right... Thank you..." Sakura gave me a brief glance of thankfulness.

"Apparently she didn't witness anything. More of this would just be a waste of our time."

"You seem to be in quite a hurry, Sakagami-sensei. Are you perhaps afraid of the direction of this trail?" Horikita replied emotionlessly.

"I want to speed this along. If we waste time, my students will suffer. These students are the joyful heart of their class, so I've no doubt that their many friends are worried about them. Also, they're striving to improve their basketball skills, and we're depriving them of valuable practice time. As a teacher, I can't overlook this."

"Well you certainly can't overlook everything that's about to happen now." I replied in an icy tone. Noticing my sudden apparence in the spotlight, Sakagami's expression changed ever the slightest.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"I definitely saw what happened!" Sakura screamed.

"The students in Class C threw the first punch. There's no mistake about that!"

Sakura's words had a force that belied the image she'd presented at first. She spoke so desperately that you wanted to believe she was telling the truth. She certainly was telling the truth, but without proof they meant nothing.

"Excuse me, but may I say something?" asked Sakagami, raising his hand.

"Normally, teachers are asked to speak as little as possible, but this situation is just too pitiful. Student council president, do you mind?"

"I'll allow it."

"In regards to what you've said, Sakura-kun, I do not necessarily doubt you. However, I have one thing to ask. You've stepped forward to testify as a witness, but you were rather late in doing so. May I ask why? I would think if you really did see something, you would have come forward much earlier."

Sakagami-sensei harped on the same point that Chabashira-sensei had.

"That's... Well, that's... I didn't want to get involved..."

"Why didn't you want to get involved?"

"Because I'm not very good at talking with other people..."

"I see. I understand that. However, I'd like to say something else. You're not good at talking with others, and yet when the week was nearly out you stepped forward as a witness. Doesn't that seem rather odd? To my mind, it seems Class D secretly put a story together and are having you act as a false witness to give phony testimony."

I smiled.

"If you want proof... I'll give it to you!" Sakagami-sensei froze in response to Sakura's words.

"Please, let's not force this situation to continue. If there really was evidence, you would have presented it at an earlier stage-"

Sakura loudly slammed her hand on the desk, and threw down the pictures.

"What are those?"

"This is proof that I was in the special annex building that day!"

Secretary Tachibana walked over to Sakura and took the photos to Manabu.

"President."

After looking at the pictures for some time, Manabu laid them out on the desk so that we could see.

• •

It was... definitely something worth witnessing.

"I'm...I was looking for places where no one was around so I could take pictures of myself. The pictures also show the date and time, which proves that I was there when I said."

The date on the pictures definitely showed that they'd been taken in the evening one week ago. That would've been around the time that Sudou and the others finished their club activities for the day. Horikita unintentionally gasped in response to this new evidence. We began to see changes in the three Class C students, who up until now had been playing the part of victims. They were visibly shaking.

"What did you use to take these photos?" asked Sakagami.

"A digital...camera."

"You can alter the date rather easily with a digital camera, though. If you manipulated these photos on a computer, you could effectively set them at the time and date of the incident. This are inadequate evidence."

"But Sakagami-sensei, don't you think this photo is different?"

Manabu slid out one of the photos, which had contents clearly beyond Sakagami's expectations.

"Th-this?!"

The photo showed the fight itself; clearly there was no need to nitpick the time. The setting sun bathed the hallway in dusky light. The picture seemed to show what had happened immediately after Sudou hit Ishizaki.

"I think that you'll believe I was there after seeing...this."

"Thank you, Sakura-san."

"I see. Well, you do seem to be telling the truth about witnessing the incident. That much I simply must accept. However, I can't ascertain how the situation started from this picture. This doesn't prove that you saw the entire incident."

It was certainly true that this picture made it look like the fight had already ended. We couldn't call this definitive evidence.

"So, what do you think, Chabashira-sensei? Why not look for a compromise here?" Sakagami-sensei asked.

No thanks. I'd rather end this issue immediately instead of spending another day in anticipation.

Bzzt~

During the discussion, Manabu's cellphone vibrated. I initially thought that he would ignore his phone, he betrayed my expectations only to grab his cellphone. Although he didn't say anything, his facial expression was screaming the word "Interesting".

"It seems that Sudou has received some assistance at the very end." Manabu announced.

Sakagami clearly flabbergasted by those words looked towards Manabu.

"Assistance? Could you elaborate on that?"

"There's no need to elaborate, Sakagami-sensei. You'll see it for yourself."

In the projector screen, Manabu displayed what seemed to be a video clip. Judging by the thumbnail, one could guess what the clip was all about. Within a second, the clip started playing. Silence fell over the vicinity of the council room. Sakagami looked at the screen wide eyed, his mouth agape from pure shock. Fear and helplessness spread all over the faces of the class C 'victims'.

"W-what the hell?" One of the students unintentionally mumbled.

No one paid any attention to him. Everyone's gazes were fixed at the contents displayed on the projector screen. In about a little more than a minute, the clip ended.

Silence...

_____________________________________________________

It was a week before the trail began.

"Ichinose-san, can you go ahead? Let's talk again if you want."

"Alright. Talk to you later, Levent-kun."

There was a reason why I stayed up late continuously for the past few nights. I was crawling through the internet for a certain package. A hidden camera to be exact. In the end, I succeeded at purchasing a model from a local electronics store.

But even though it took me a good fifty-five hundred private points, I still can't believe something like this was accessable for a high school student like me. Regardless, it didn't matter as long as I received the leverage, I'm content.

It was a long button-faced spy camera, basically it looks like a button to act as camouflage. One could easily poke through a shirt. It was a convenient device for someone who intended to dig dirt on others. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't afford to be present there physically. Being there would've been a dead giveaway of my involvement in that incident. Which is why I had an alternative solution.

After I secured the model, I immediately went to a convenience store to buy a baseball cap. Then I cut off a hole in front of the cap. Through the cavity, I installed the 'button'. After a few more adjustments, I was satisfied with the results. It blended perfectly with the cap.

"I guess it works after all." I murmured after doing a test run.

.....

I walked inside the special annex building where the event took place. The club activities had already began, which led to no one paying any attention towards me. I carefully sneaked towards the crime spot.

"So this where it all begins..."

I activated the camera, then placed the baseball cap in a spot where no one would suspect. I double checked to see if the target spot was visible. After I placed my trap, I proceeded towards my way out.

But then it hit me. Sakura would also be there. She was talking a picture for her idol account somewhere nearby. In order to insure at least some growth, I mustn't stop her from interacting with this case. In short, I must avoid being seen by Sakura.

Fortunately, I made it outside without any issue. No one saw my movements during their training, nor did Sakura during her photoshoot. The trap was already set. All that was left for me to do was just wait and watch as the scene unfolds.

-

The club activities usually ended before 6. It was 5:45. I had to retrieve the bugged cap from the annex. Again, no one noticed me going inside, which made me slightly concerned for their sense of security. After reaching the spot, I noticed some fragment of the fight that took place. There was a few blood drops on the floor, quite possibly from the class C offenders.

Little did they know, all their beatings would go in vein.

I retrieved the cap and checked the footage. My objective was successfully completed. There was no reason for me to stay there any longer. Contemplating would only put my position in danger.

After getting out, I opened "secret-massage" website and sent the video clip to Ayanokouji, as backup.

_____________________________________________________

"See! I didn't start the fight! This jerk punched me first!" Sudou screamed while pointing towards Ishizaki.

"Do you have anything more to say Sakagami-sensei?" ignoring Sudou's roars, Manabu asked.

"I... I think there must be something wrong with the clip."

"Wrong? What could possibly be fabricated inside that clip, sensei?" Horikita asked.

"Maybe the students inside the clip were-"

"Get real, Sakagami-sensei. There's no doubt that the faces shown in this clip are of Koundo-kun, Komiya-kun, Ishizaki-kun and Sudou-kun's. The voices in the clip match their's too. It's practically impossible to fabricate a clip this realistic."

"That.. I suppose you have a point there." Sakagami looked down in defeat. Ignoring his existence, Horikita resumed her explanation.

"From the clip we've all seen that Ishizaki-kun punched Sudou-kun while continuously provoking him. That's why Sudou-kun retorted to violence. More than that, they also fabricated a web of lies as evidence against him. They tried to frame Sudou-kun who clearly acted in self defense. That's why I think the real victim here is Sudou-kun and not them."

"No, that's wrong! This has to be made up! There's no way we did this, I swear!" Komiya screamed. To think they'd go as far as to damn themselves by swearing on a lie.

"Silence." Manabu firmly calmed the chaos. "Class D do you have anything else to say?"

Horikita was standing in front of her brother Manabu, unwaveringly.

"I think that Sudou, who caused the incident, has a problem. He doesn't ever stop to consider his actions, which inconveniences everyone around him. He has a history of getting in fights. He's the type to raise his voice and fists right away whenever something displeases him. In the event of an uproar such as this, well, it should be obvious who caused it."

"H-hey!"

"You need to understand, Sudou-kun. Your attitude caused all of this." Horikita glared intensely over at Sudou, almost as if to outdo Sudou's own ferocity. "This is why I wasn't motivated at all to help Sudou-kun in the beginning. I knew that even if I forced myself to lend a hand, he would just repeat the same mistakes again and again."

"A very honest answer. The matter seems settled now, wouldn't you say?"

"Thank you very much. Please take your seat now," Secretary Tachibana said to Horikita.

Horikita sat down on her seat.

"Good job. You did great, lawyer-san." I teased.

"We're going to have a long conversation after this." Horikita glared at me.

"How scary~"

I looked at Ayanokouji who was apparently indulged in a conversation with Sudou and Chabashira. I didn't want to obstruct the development of his social skills.

After Manabu was done discussing with Tachibana and the other teachers, he was finally going to release the conclusion.

"Based on all the information and the provided evidence, the school and the student council has reached a final verdict.

The accusing party Ishizaki, Koundo and Komiya are proven guilty for inflicting violence, attempt of framing an innocent and fabricating and presenting false evidence in front of the trial. As punishment for their crimes, they shall be expelled from Ikusei Kyoudo High School. In addition, Sudou, the defendant is cleared of charge due to his actions being an act of self defense. This decision is final and will be effective immediately. That's all."

This feels like a courthouse all of a sudden.

Could it be that Manabu actually wants to study law and become a judge one day?

"You gotta be kidding me!" Koundo collapsed on the ground.

"It's all Ryuen's fault! We didn't want to do any of it! He forced us to do that! If we didn't do it, he would've beaten us to a pulp!" Komiya cried at Manabu.

Ishizaki simply remained silent, staring blankly at the ground.

"We've got nothing to do here. Let's go." I commanded.

Horikita and Sakura bowed before leaving the council room. After everyone walked away, I slowly closed the door, leaving three students in despair.

.....

.....

"Actually, you all can go. I have some business to care of."

_____________________________________________________

I was standing in front of the student council room, alongside Sakura. Even though I told her to leave, she insisted on staying with me. It wouldn't be a problem though. It's not like I would mind having a company.

"But I have to say Sakura-san, you were really brave out there!"

"But I didn't do anything of help today."

True.

"You don't realize how much of a help you were. More than that, you saving Sudou from the clutches of class C. Chin up, Sakura-san. You should hold your head high for that."

"Thank you for your kind words, Levent-kun."

"You're still here?"

Horikita's older brother and Secretary Tachibana came out of the student council room. Secretary Tachibana began locking the door with a key.

"So it was you who sent me the video?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I thought that when you came here with Suzune, you'd unveil some kind of master plan. You didn't disappoint me."

"I wonder what you're talking about."

*Clank!

Manabu pushed his hand towards my head. I instinctively dodged his hand, which made it seem like a "Kabedon" scenario. After hearing the sound both Sakura and Tachibana looked at us.

What's with this embarrassing situation?

"You're an interesting one, aren't you?"

"Sorry I'm a heterosexual teenager with a healthy mind. I don't swing that way."

"I just can't seem to understand your agenda. What are you trying to do, Levent? On hindsight, you are a perfectly average student when you're clearly above all. Just who are you?"

"I can't answer that."

"Really? And may I ask why?"

....

"Cause I don't even know myself."

"I see." Manabu released his Kabedon. "Well, in any case, I will remain silent as per our agreement from 'that night'. We're on equal terms now, correct?"

"Not quite, no. It would take you more than that to stop me."

Also could you please select your words carefully?

"I figured you'd say that."

Manabu left after leaving those words, as Tachibana followed behind.

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