Chapter 1 Part IV

That was the conclusion of my little talk with Chairman Sakayanagi yesterday.

And now, I'm headed towards the arranged reception room by myself.

I reached the door of the reception room. Had anyone arrived already, or was I the first?

"Excuse me."

After knocking, I entered the room and was greeted by Chabashira-sensei.

She stood by the window and looked at me.

"You're early, Ayanokouji. There's still 10 minutes before the designated time."

"It doesn't make a difference. You're early as well."

Chabashira stared at me, contemplating how she should reply.

I could more or less guess what was going on in her mind when Chairman Sakayanagi told her about the situation. 

The sofa was unoccupied, but neither of us sat down.

"Where's Mashima-sensei?"

"I've already met up with him, but it wasn't suitable for him to come with me. This is a bold move, Ayanokouji. Didn't you want to live a peaceful school life?"

Before Mashima-sensei arrived, I'll play along with Chabashira-sensei. 

"You say that, but you were the one that initially disrupted that peaceful school life."

"No matter what, that isn't how you should speak to a teacher. You might want to correct your attitude."

"I'd say my attitude is appropriate considering that what you've done back then wasn't something a teacher should have done."

Chabashira-sensei, who wanted Class D to rise to Class A, even resorted to threatening me, a student, to accomplish what she wanted. Ever since, I've always had a sense of distrust…No, disgust, for her.

Chabashira-sensei looked away, seemingly ashamed.

"I can't deny that."

Her desire for reaching Class A was too strong.

Because Chairman Sakayanagi trusted her, she couldn't blatantly use me, but she could have handled it more smoothly.

No. No matter what she did, the result would have been the same.

Even if Chabashira tried to talk me over, my stance wouldn't have changed.

But then again, my situation had changed a lot since the beginning.

"Since you hate me, why call me here, Ayanokouji?"

It seemed that she was surprised that I called her over in this situation.

Although her purpose was to just get Mashima-sensei involved, I still could have chosen to exclude her.

It wasn't hard to find out why I didn't do that.

"At the very least, it's true that I don't like you."

"It seems so."

No matter what my feelings were, I must use whatever I could.

Like and dislike was a separate matter than loss and gain.

That's because I judged that the presence of Chabashira would increase the chance of bringing Mashima-sensei to our side, even by a millimetre.

I had judged that the presence of Chabashira would increase the chance of bringing Mashima-sensei over, and so I had chosen to involve her.

"How much did he tell you?"

"He asked me to prepare the meeting by contacting Mashima-sensei. He also said you had something important to talk about, and asked me to help you, but…"

Did she know anything about the situation with Tsukishiro?"

It seems like the Chairman intended for me to have all the power in this situation.

"What's the reason you wanted to talk to us then?"

"I'll say it once Mashima-sensei comes. I don't want to say it twice."

"Although I don't know what you got yourself into, if you want my help, shouldn't you use a more suitable tone?"

She was defiant, and that was perhaps because she was on the defensive in this situation.

"As a teacher, I will obey the instructions of Chairman Sakayanagi, but his word isn't absolute. Do you know what I mean by that?"

"Do you dislike my attitude that much?"

"Heh, I hate it. Although you are an excellent student to an extent, You're still only a 1st-year high school student, aren't you? And although it was a confrontation between classes, you were defeated by Sakayanagi at the end of year exam. Looks like you don't actually have the extraordinary strength I expected of you."

So she was disappointed that I didn't have the power she thought I had.

"If you have the necessary ability, I will tolerate what you say and what you do. However, if what you've displayed up to now was the extent of your power, it's a different story."

If I couldn't defeat Sakayanagi of Class A, then what Chabashira wanted couldn't be achieved.

It seemed like she could no longer hold in what she wanted to say to me in this situation where I held the advantage.

Although Chabashira was a teacher, what she was doing right now was already beyond the scope of a teacher's duties.

Depending on the content of the conversation, she could, of course, refuse to help.

Depending on the situation, she might even choose to go over to Tsukishiro's side.

If I kept mentioning the fact that I wasn't in her control any longer, it would only be counterproductive.

I breathed out a sigh of relief, seeing that she had some kind of knowledge about me and my situation.

"I understand, my attitude will change, Chabashira-sensei."

"What?"

Chabashira was surprised by my outspoken agreement.

I guess she didn't expect that her defiance on that level would make me yield to her.

Although it seemed like I wanted to change the topic, it was mainly because I wanted to leave her with the possibility that I could be tamed.

However, despite this possibility, Chabashira still couldn't trust me entirely.

She could also be thinking that I was laughing at her in secret while I said that.

I intended to express the fact that I was a "positive presence' for the whole of Class D.

"My way of thinking has changed. After April, I plan to seriously target Class A."

"What's the joke here? Preparing this meeting as well, what are you thinking?"

"I'm completely serious. I plan to break away from being labelled as Class D or Class C. However, because of the differences in Class Points, there's no guarantee to be promoted to Class A at the end of the next year. But I'm confident that we'll be able to rise to Class B."

For Chabashira, this was the thing she desired the most.

Rising from Class D to Class A.

That was something that had never happened in this school before.

"It seems like you've finally come to realise…but anything coming out of your mouth would mean nothing if you don't actually intend to do anything."

"That's true. But don't you want to keep your ticket to Class A?"

Regardless if this ticket was real or fake, it was better than having nothing.

"I've already said this, but you lost against Class A at the end of year exam. Although you held an admirable record of 3 wins and 4 losses, a loss is still a loss. Although the exam required a certain amount of luck, I can't let you use that as an excuse."

She re-emphasized what was said before.

"No matter who the opponent is, and no matter what the exam is, even if you win, it seemed like I had been expecting a little too much out of you."

It seems like she had some sort of fantasy about me.

"You'll learn the truth later in the meeting."

"Learn the truth…..?

"Listen to me until the end, and if you still can't trust my strength, you can do whatever you want."

"What is this-"

Although Chabashira wanted an answer, a loud knocking sound blocked out her voice.

"…Please come in."

As soon as Chabashira replied, Mashima-sensei entered the reception room.

"It seems like you were already here."

And immediately after-

"Hello."

A student of Class A, Sayakanagi Arisu.

She came in with Mashima-sensei. An unexpected guest.

I didn't remember calling her, and I didn't think Mashima-sensei would bring her here himself.

"I'm a student of Class A, so even if others see me walking with Mashima-sensei, there's isn't a problem."

Needless to say, Sakayanagi must have followed Mashima-sensei here.

"I received a notification from Chabashira-sensei. But Sakayanagi here said she was related to this incident, so I brought her…"

Chairman Sakayanagi probably told his daughter about the phone call to confirm that I had contacted him through his daughter.

But was that really related to why Sakayanagi was here?

Was she following orders, or was this just mere curiosity?

9 times out of 10, it's the latter.

"No problem, it's within the realms of my expectations."

I accepted this visitor as someone I should welcome and responded accordingly.

Sakayanagi nodded slightly with a smile.

Then, without even looking at Chabashira's direction, Mashima-sensei closed the door to the reception room.

It seems like Chabashira couldn't understand why Sakayanagi was here.

Mashima-sensei was the same.

Regardless of that, all the necessary people were in place.

This limited amount of time must be used meaningfully.

"You seem to have something to say to us, Ayanokouji. Making a special announcement through Chairman Sakayanagi, allowing us to skip the closing ceremony to have a secret meeting… What's the big deal? What's going on?"

"I will explain that now."

I first urged the two teachers to sit down.

But Mashima-sensei told Sakayanagi to sit down first.

"Ah, thank you."

Mashima-sensei stood, letting the crippled Sakayanagi sit, crossing his arms.

It seemed that whether if he would sit depended on the contents of the conversation. Chabashira seemed to do the same as him.

The three other people in the room all looked towards me.

20-30 minutes was the maximum amount of time they could slip out of the closing ceremony, so time was minimal.

Although I wanted to get straight to the point, I didn't know how long it would take for them to understand.

Because the current situation wasn't something that could be easily understood with just one explanation.

Time was precious, so I started with the matter of Acting Director Tsukishiro.

"You might be wondering why we're meeting at such a busy time, and that's because of important matters relating to Acting Director Tsukishiro."

"Important matters relating to Acting Director Tsukishiro? What are you talking about?"

Mashima-sensei's face had a perplexed expression, due to my unexpected statement right from the start.

Hearing a student saying such a thing, the expression that he had was understandable.

Chabashira also seemed unable to keep up with this, and instead turned her attention to the unexpected turnup. Sakayanagi, who confronted the attention head first, flashed an innocent smile.

An expression which seemed to express her superior knowledge of the situation.

This cheerful expression that was on her face, that's the classic manner of Sakayanagi.

<Illustration >

"The current events are affecting the school's operations, and it has reached the point in which we cannot ignore it. To smoothly settle this situation, I hope that you two teachers can help me while keeping this case confidential." 

"I heard that there was something important to tell me… Is this a joke? Chabashira-sensei."

While finding it very difficult to believe, Mashima-sensei asked Chabashira sensei for an explanation. 

"I didn't intend to make fun of you. Did you think I'm someone who does meaningless things like Hoshinomiya-sensei?"

"That's what you say, but I don't understand the situation at all. Right now, there's also a closing ceremony going on which I should be at." 

This was originally going to be a valuable time to interact with the graduates. 

He showed no interest in listening to a child's imagination run wild. 

"What does Ayanokouji want to do?"

"I don't know, even if I want to explain, I can't. Like I said yesterday, I just prepared this location under Chairman Sakayangi's orders. I also need an explanation for me to understand what's going on."

Both teachers cast a doubtful gaze at me, but I continued to explain. 

"If I said that I'm the reason why Tsukishiro replaced Chairman Sakayanagi after being confined for suspected wrongdoing, what would you say, Mashima-sensei?"

"What?"

Even if we get straight into the topic, it wouldn't be easy to progress in this situation.

Not only that, but Mashima-sensei's doubts are growing deeper.

"This makes no sense. Why is it because of you?"

Of course, this would be the natural reaction.

He would never have thought that a student would shape the very structure of the school itself.

Sure enough, we should start with the end of year exam. 

"Let me explain what happened—"

When I wanted to bring up the end of year exam, Sakayanagi raised her hand. 

"Sorry, but is it alright for me to explain?".

Sakayanagi seemed to have anticipated this would happen and suggested to explain it herself.

"Sakayanagi, you said you knew about the situation right? "

"Well, if you may excuse my rudeness, I think I understand the situation a little better than you teachers."

Sakayanagi acted immediately. Maybe she thought that rather than having someone merely involved explain, it would be faster for someone who understood the situation to explain. I nodded slightly, so Sakayanagi turned her attention to Mashima-sensei.

"Are you saying that you've already heard about this from the Chairman?"

"No, it's just from what I've gathered. Ayanokouji-kun and I- How should I say this… Simply put, we're like childhood friends."

Sakayangi said this happily. Although I wasn't sure how the others would react to this, the teachers seemed surprised, at the very least.

"I never expected you two to be… childhood friends…"

Sakayangi explained to Chabashira what she meant. 

"It's just something similar to that. Anyways, I'll explain the situtation to you."

The matter of the childhood friends was glossed over by Sakayanagi, and she began explaining the situation.

"Let's review what happened during the confrontation between Ayanokouji-kun and me as the two commander towers at the end of year exam held a few days ago. Back then, my victory during the final chess event determined the outcome of the exam."

This was the result, which was a fact, at least as far as the school knew.

"What happened then?"

Of course, Mashima-sensei and Chabashira wouldn't have any doubts about what happened. 

"What if I said during then, someone stepped in to interfere with the match, which changed the outcome, and therefore had a great impact on the test results? Wouldn't that be a serious issue?" 

"Exams are carried out very strictly, and there was, and will be, no problems with how they're conducted."

"Let me ask, on what basis are you to say that the exam was strictly run? Neither of you were present during the exam."

Because they couldn't serve as an invigilator for their own class, Chabashira and Mashima-sensei were in charge of Ichinose's and Ryuuen's class. In other words, they did not see our exam take place in person.

"I was originally the loser of that chess game, Ayanokouji-kun came out victorious."

"Ayanokouji won that match? But I saw the results of the match, and I've also seen what happened during the match."

The first person to say something about this was not Mashima-sensei, but Chabashira. 

It was because of Class C's defeat in chess that led to her class falling back to Class D, which was why she cared so much about this issue.

"You still don't get it?"

Sakayanagi used that question to sound out Mashima-sensei and Chabashira. 

"What are you trying to say? Could it be that acting director Tsukishiro manipulated the results of the chess game? Sakagami-sensei and Hoshinomiya-sensei met up after the exam, and they didn't find anything irregular had happened."

"The thing that has changed wasn't the result, but the process. It's impossible to see the truth if one is bound by common sense. The orders that the commanding tower sends out wasn't directly sent to the students. Instead, it was passed onto the school to review, and then after that, finally sent through the headphones."

Did they understand now? Just like that, Sakayanagi made them slowly come to an understanding.

For the first time, doubts about Acting Director Tsukishiro and the end of year exam exam flashed through Mashima-sensei's mind.

"It was rare to have an exam that made use of such large scale equipment and the teachers knew that, but the fact of the matter is that Acting Director Tsukishiro prepared that in order to illegal intervene with the exam."

Sakayagani subtly intertwined lies, mysteries, as well as the truth together.

Because of how much Tsukishiro had planned out, only he would know the situation completely.

Instead of confirming the facts, it was an appropriate explanation based on her conjectures, and she acted as if it were the truth.

Such words will be accepted by the teachers.

Mashima-sensei and Chabashira wouldn't be able to understand it entirely due to the sheer volume of information just revealed to them. As Sakayagani was still explaining the topic, in order to keep up with her, their minds will have to treat what she said as a fact.

"That is to say that the information Ayanokouji-kun inputted and the information Horikita-san heard- that is, the content read by the machine, was different. If she had followed Ayanokouji-kun's real instructions, I would have lost instead. Do you understand what that means?"

Sakayagani smiled, testing their ability to understand.

Could they understand with just that? This restricted the answer of the other party to only one possibility.

"You mean that Acting Director Tsukishiro-manipulated the results from behind the scenes?"

"Because for him, the protection points Ayanokouji-kun holds was in the way of his true objective, to get Ayanokouji-kun expelled."

The two teachers did not speak.

But before long, Mashima-sensei asked something.

"Was what Sakayagani said true, Ayanokouji?"

"Yes, it's as she said."

"I'll admit that what you both said made some sense. As I've been Sakayanagi's teacher for a year, I have a certain understanding of her personality and how she thinks. If she really wanted to lose against Ayanokouji deliberately, she just needed to choose different examination events carefully to manipulate the results to what she wanted, including the chess event. You couldn't gain anything by lowering yourself in order to elevate Ayanokouji."

As the leader of Class A, even if Sakayagani was lying, admitting her defeat would have no benefits.

It's as Mashima-sensei said. If she wanted me to win due to personal reasons, there were many ways to concede victory, either by exceeding the time limit or some other method.

There was no need to deliberately set up something while also saying something of doubtful reliability.

"But even if you do know the whole sequence of events, there isn't a way for a third party to confirm it's authenticity, right?"

Chabashira replied to Sakayagani's unfounded argument.

"This was hard to believe at the start….what do you think?"

Chabashira asked the opinion of Mashima-sensei, who was intently listening to what was said.

"Never mind what I think, the current situation is hard for anyone to accept."

Just when Mashima-sensei wanted to step back for a bit, Chabashira stopped him.

"My personal opinion is that what these two said has some kind of truth in it. Ever since Acting Director Tsukishiro came to this school, the whole school feels a bit abnormal."

"If you believe that only because of your personal feelings towards Tsukihiro, then I don't need to consider what you think. It's the same as thinking your class can win."

Mashima-sensei spoke sternly towards Chabashira in front of us.

And then immediately talked to us students.

 "Do you two have any evidence?"

"If we said we heard about the improper behaviour directly from Tsukishiro himself, would you believe us?"

"…Of course not."

A person who engaged in improper conduct behind the scenes would not reveal their behaviour.

Even if the matter came up, that person wouldn't respond to anything. That was something which everyone understood.

"It's hard to believe that there is a child that wants something similar to what Acting Director Tsukishiro wants. To get rid of each other. Tha is what I truly think."

"It's the truth."

"I don't want to doubt what you students say. I also don't think that you're stupid enough to realize that lying right now won't do you any good. But this lacks any basis, as well as evidence."

Even though he really wanted to believe it, if there were no reliable evidence, Mashima-sensei would not accept it.

"What kind of person are you, Ayanokouji? Please tell me."

It was only a matter of time before Mashima-sensei asked that question. 

Chairman Sakayanagi was confined for suspected wrongdoing, so a man named Tsukishiro was sent to this school. 

Tsukishiro started acting for me to drop out of school. Even if it meant interfering with a special exam, he had to carry out his order. So it was inevitable that questions would arise about myself.

Should I explain it myself, or leave it to someone else.

Seeing that there was no response from me, Mashima-sensei turned to Chabashira. 

"Do you know anything about Ayanokouji?"

Mashima-sensei asked Chabashira, who believed what we said to a certain extent. 

"To be honest… From my past experiences, I only know a little."

She glanced at me. I coldly ignored her. 

There was no harm in Chabashira-sensei exposing some superficial information about me.

"I looked at Ayanokouji's entrance exam results, and he scored 50 on all subjects, which I thought was extremely peculiar."

"50 points for each subject… does that mean he deliberately tried to score half marks for every subject?"

"If you investigate deeper yourself, you should see that it's true."

"Hou? How intruiging."

"But this doesn't prove anything. In general, students won't hold back their abilities during the entrance exam, but if you have high academic ability, it is not difficult to attain scores like that. In fact, the method I used to calculate the scores of the entrance exam was actually very simple."

"Also, when Ayanokouji enrolled in this school, Chairman Sakayanagi told me that he was a special student."

"Chairman Sakayanagi said that? Is that why you are here? Chabashira-sensei?"

Chabashira-sensei nodded and began talking about what happened at that time. 

"He entrusted me, as his class teacher, with the duty of reporting back to him any inconveniences relating to Ayanokouji. As far as I know, Ayanokouji's father is a very authoritative person, and he didn't want him to enter this school in the first place. Chairman Sakayagani had to use various forceful methods in order to permit him to enter the school in the first place."

"So you've enrolled into this school without your guardian's permission? Looks like the Chairman is also someone willing to use such forceful means.."

If we ignored compulsory education, every ordinary child needed their parent's permission in order to enter high school. The world wasn't so naive to let children do as they wish.

"Because of the fact my father and Ayanokouji-kun had some sort of relationship, I sympathise with his unfortunate situation and will assist him when needed. But now, various problems have arisen because of this incident. The Acting Director, Tsukishiro, fabricated evidence in order to restrain my father on terms of dishonest behavior, and tried to get Ayanokouji expelled."

That was the most important point for Mashima-sensei.

"The father was against his child entering this school, so he sent Acting Director Tsukishiro here…"

This wasn't something that an ordinary person's authority could achieve.

"He didn't need to do all this, he just had to complain to the school itself."

"His father had already set up a meeting between him, the chairman, and Ayanokouji himself after he enrolled."

"So you're saying that his guardian had already communicated with the school with the wish that he wanted Ayanokouji to withdraw from the school?:

"Yes. It's as Chabashira-sensei says. I once talked with Chairman Sakayanagi and my father in this very room. You can check the surveillance cameras out in the corridor to confirm if that's the truth."

"And since that, since you're is still at the school, does that mean that the Chairman had rejected the withdrawal application?"

"Yes."

Mashima-sensei wanted to confirm that fact, so Chabashira nodded her head.

"Chairman Sakayanagi respected the will of the students. Although this was just a temporary replacement…I didn't expect Acting Director Tsukishiro to be sent to the school just to get Ayanokouji expelled."

Sakaygani jumped on what Chabashira said.

"That isn't a surprise, it seems like Chabashira-sensei doesn't actually know anything about the situation."

"It seems that you're confident of that."

"Yes. I understand Ayanokouji-kun more than you do, Chabashira-sensei."

Sakayagani always had this unnecessary aura of superiority.

"Seeing me come here without an invitation without even objecting to my presence, wouldn't it be obvious?"

Presenting indisputable facts, Sakayanagi smiled haughtily.

"Finally, I get to understand the big picture. At least the part about the father that wanted his child back, I can accept that as a fact."

Mashima-sensei had figured out what was happening in the current situation but still couldn't accept most of it.

"But…although I don't know the extent of Ayanokoji's father's authority, why did he have to try to get Ayanokouji expelled in this way? This doesn't seem realistic."

"Because Ayanokouji-kun possesses means that other ordinary people do not."

"I've taken a look at Ayanokouji's exam results from the past few days. In terms of calculation and processing speed as well as choosing chess moves, he's definitely top tier. But there are other similarly outstanding students, and it shouldn't be enough to label him as an extraordinary specimen."

"Mashima-sensei. I won't try to reject the method in how you've attempted to accept this situation. But have you actually thought about what's going on? From the start of school, my father had been paying attention to him, and then Acting Director Tsukishiro tried to use dishonest means to expel him from school. This is a fact, and the only truth."

Mashima folded his arms and closed his eyes.

"Mashima-sensei presumably has reached his verdict. You can look for evidence in the future yourself."

After staying silent, he opened his eyes and looked at me, Sakayagani, and finally, Chabashira.

"Yeah…The part about how the father was dissatisfied with his child's decision to enrol into the school and tried to get him expelled, I believe. And I don't want to help him with that. I'm sure you're clear with why."

Mashima-sensei understood the surface of the situation we were talking about very well.

"Aren't you going to tell me everything?"

It seems that Mashima-sensei had figured out something that was kept secret during the conversation by organising the contents of the discussion in his head.

But if he couldn't even decipher something on this level, then I'll be troubled.

"Yeah. Even if I told you, it wouldn't be of any help… no, it would be meaningless."

Even if I talked about the white room from the very start, I'm afraid the adults wouldn't be able to understand it.

Even if you relied on only common sense, it was obvious that that man was doing something suspicious.

And, even if I talked about the white room here, it was still difficult to reach the truth.

Because that matter would have been completely covered up by now.

That being the case, there wasn't any point in doing such meaningless things.

"What if I refuse to assist you?"

"Although I don't intend to do nothing, if you refuse, it'll be a headache when dealing with Acting Director Tsukisiro. The school's events, whether it's a special exam or something else, would be a lot easier for him to intervene illegally. You can see that in the event selection exam, as it had already happened."

Students alone couoldn't prevent that from happening.

If we could convey that fact to Mashima-sensei, we could determine if he was a person who would turn a blind eye to that sort of thing.

"Are you trying to feel me out, Ayanokouji? …Fine. In future special examinations and tests, I will handle it appropriately, and will not allow Acting Director Tsukishiro to engage in illegal participation."

Finally, Mashima-sensei had said that he stood on our side.

"Mashima-sensei, you do realise that this isn't such a simple thing to do, right?"

Chabashira warned Mashima-sensei, who had accepted all of this.

"Even it's true that he did something against the rules, if we aren't careful, we could get fired."

I could understand why Chabashira said that.

Resisting against Tsukishiro would undoubtedly threaten their career.

The opponent this time wasn't someone you could fight against with just a strong sense of justice.

"Although I don't fully believe this, if what you said was true, then it'd be a grave matter. The school should never manipulate the course of the exam and change the results at will. If you're going to do this, you'll have to do this thoroughly and carefully."

"But, wouldn't it better if you just paid a blind eye towards these issues? You just got your wages cut this morning for violating the rules during the event selection exam anyway."

Sakayanagi thought that was interesting, so she pounced on the opportunity.

"Pay cuts for violating violations? What exactly did you do?"

"I'm not going to tell you that."

"Is it because of something that happened during Class B and D's exam? We'll hear about this sooner or later. But if it has something to do with the Tsukishiro's improper acts, I think it's better to speak out now, or problems may occur later."

"That has nothing to do with the current situation."

Instead of Mashima-sensei who was not planning to explain, it was Chabashira-sensei that spoke up. 

"Let me explain. During the selection event of class B and D, one of the selected events of Class D was Judo. The student participating was Albert Yamada. Class B's Ichinose lost her all her fighting spirit during then, which resulted in her failing to select a student to participate. 

"Because the opponent was Yamada-kun, this was expected. Probably no-one among the first year can beat him in judo."

"Of course, Ichinose had already decided on who was going to participate in the judo event. However, if the student was chosen randomly, just like that, what would happen? Something unpredictable would occur. You should be aware of this."

Once the time was up, students who hadn't yet participated in any events would be automatically selected. 

Not only the boys, but girls are also no exception too.

 "Even if they had lost immediately, nothing would have happened as a result. But this was Class B, and they would do anything for the sake of their companions. The selected students will most likely go all out for Ichinose."

No matter who the opponent was, Albert would not hold back in order to bring them down. 

In that case, it was likely it would have resulted in a major accident.

As a result, Mashima-sensei decided that Class B was defeated, wihtout even having a fight. This might have caused Acting Director Tsukishiro to become unhappy with him. 

Was that why Mashima-sensei wages got cut as a punishment? If I had to say whether this violated the rules or not, it indeed would be considered a violation. 

"Both these situations are connected. If something is considered dangerous to the students, I'll quickly stop it. If there's improper behaviour, I'll quickly see it corrected. We teach them this, so what would happen if we teachers don't even apply what we teach to ourselves?"

And for that reason, even if he got fired, he would not regret anything. 

"It looks like I can't stop you."

"I've always consciously done my job as a teacher."

The words he said seemed simple, but Mashima-sensei really was an excellent person who was able to do what he said.

"Your…no, if Mashima-sensei's decision is final, I will have nothing else to say."

"Is this a temporary agreement?"

Sakayanagi asked me, and I nodded in agreement.

Chabashira backed down, presumably because she realised that trying to persuade Mashima-sensei was pointless.

"Since Mashima-sensei agreed, I'll help as well. Is that fine, Ayanokouji?"

"An additional person on our side is greatly appreciated."

"Let's put an end to this discussion now. I'll keep this to myself. There's no problem with that right?"

"Of course."

After all, both Mashima-sensei and Chabashira hadn't actually seen Tsukishiro's wrongdoings with their own eyes.

And if we increase the number of teachers who are in the know, the chances of a leakage of information increase substantially.

Once Tsukishiro finds out that there are people who are trying to expose his wrongdoings, then he would naturally be more alert.

"I also intend to stand at Ayanokouji's side at the time being."

"Sakaygani. Even if you do know Ayanokouji's situation, if people see you giving special treatment to him, it will raise some questions."

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm going give him special treatment. I've got the right to do so."

Sakayanagi rebutted against Mashima's words.

"…What right?"

"Well, although this school's system revolves around competition between the classes, the students themselves will l have various situations among them. Some of them might have friends or lovers in other classes that they'll have to betray, and some might have relationships that revolve money, which can be mutually beneficial or commensal. Sometimes, one's feelings can go beyond the boundaries of classes, forming mutually beneficial relationships with people in other classes. Is the social climate of this school always the same? No, it's constantly changing. In that way, it's the same as society itself, isn't it?"

It didn't matter if Chairman Sakayagani had someone he wanted to protect, he had no power to do anything.

"Even if I only was able to save Ayanokouji-kun and left my classmates in Class A, the teachers won't have any reason to blame me. The only ones who can resent me will be the students I have betrayed."

Mashima-sensei may be dissatisfied with what Sakayanagi said, but he did not retort.

"But-he may find special treatment to be unwelcoming."

"Why?"

 "I'll wait until the Acting Director is gone, but after that, things will be different. And if Class D obstructs Class A, I will beat them out mercilessly at any time."

"Will you? That's good."

Mashima-sensei accepted that and faced Sakayanagi determinedly. 

"Let's recap. Right now, you couldn't find any evidence to prove that Acting Director Tsukishiro has committed wrongdoing, is that right?"

"Evidence has been erased, so it would be meaningless to investigate now."

He would not do something as foolish as deliberately leaving evidence. 

"Then, it seems that we can only wait for his next move."

The teachers have a better understanding of the exams we will face after we become 2nd years. 

As for what Tsukishiro will do, I'll leave that to Mashima-sensei to think about. 

"It's been more than 30 minutes, and it won't be good to be absent from the closing ceremony for too long. You students head out first, then we'll leave the room separately."

"Got it."

Sakayanagi and I walked out of the reception room and out to the corridor at the same time.

Then the two of us walked side by side together.

"Although it's a bold move, it's very beneficial to have Mashima-sensei on our side. As the person in charge of the first year, he's closer to the acting director than anyone else."

"Heh. Even if it doesn't stop Tsukishiro completely, if it'll restrain him, then it'll be a good result."

"But the problem of too strong a sense of righteousness is a little worrying. That should be considered one of Mashima-sensei disadvantages."

"Yeah. Although he's beneficial, there are also situations where he can't be used in."

"If he gets involved too deeply, Mashima-sensei will get fired. But since he's this sort of person, it will happen sooner or later anyway."

Sakayagani said. Looking at the side of her face, it seemed like she was happy.

"You seem happy."

"I'm delighted. Aren't you happy?"

"It's hard to say. The situation I'm in is a bit troublesome after all. For example, that the reason you're here is that-"

"Yes, I'm here because this seems like fun. Did I bother you?"

Sakayagani immediately admitted all that.

"No. Because your appearance improved my chances of persuading Mashima-sense, I thank you for that."

"Well, that's great then."

Sakayanagi turned to face my direction and smiled.

"I won't allow the school to repeatedly interfere with the outcome of our battles."

Sakayanagi was extremely angry at what Tsukishiro did to her.

Afterwards, she said she would face a complete battle with Tsukishiro, and work towards removing him from the school.

"The enemy that's right in front of us is carelessness, and we should resolve that as soon as possible."

In Tsukishiro's eyes, we're nothing more than a few high school students. No matter how much we try, we can't create a big enough storm to affect him.

If he thought like taht, mistakes would occur. 

"Ayanokouji-kun. At the moment, please let me work towards getting rid of Acting Director Tsukishiro."

"Thanks for your help."

Whether she can be trusted wasn't something that needed to be considered as a critical issue.

Because based on our previous interactions, I was already familiar with Sakayanagi's personality.