Act 15: Scene 1

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"So why did you want us to come here? Is it about Chabashira-sensei wanting to talk with Miyake earlier?" Kiyotaka asked, going straight to the point regarding the possible reason why Haruka wanted them to come here.

"Yeah, come on in. We'll tell you all about it."

Haruka nodded and gestured for her three classmates to step inside. As the three went inside the dorm unit, Kikyo then had a moment of realization.

"Wait, so... did Chabashira-sensei really punish Miyake-kun for something he did? A lot of our classmates were speculating about the reason why he was called to the teacher's lounge, and most of them were thinking that he did something wrong..."

"That's pretty much the gist of it..." Haruka shrugged before closing the door after all of them were inside.

"Hang on a minute... is this the reason why we haven't gotten our points for this month? Because Miyake-kun did something that Chabashira-sensei didn't like?" asked Kei, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

Haruka sighed, before turning to her classmates with a pleading look on her face.

"I have no idea but please, I need you three to listen to everything that Miyacchi will say for now. Save the questions once we're done, okay?"

Kiyotaka only nodded, while Kikyo and Kei looked at each other first before muttering out, "Okay, Hasebe-san."

Haruka let out a huge sigh of relief afterwards. "Thanks for understanding."

With that, the blue-haired girl led the three further inside the dorm room where they were greeted with the sight of Sudo Ken and Onodera Kayano standing by the sliding door that led to the balcony. Aside from them, only one other person was there, and he was sitting on the bed with his head down as though he was depressed about something.

"Sudo-kun, he's here."

"Ah, Ayanokouji! Good to see you here," Ken greeted his friend with a wave and Kayano did the same.

"Sudo. Onodera. Shouldn't you two be handling club activities right now?" asked Kiyotaka, raising an eyebrow curiously at them.

"Yeah, but many members of the basketball team couldn't attend, so they just canceled our training today."

"Today's a free day for me. I was with Sudo-kun the entire time when Hasebe-san sent him a message saying she wanted him to go here."

Kiyotaka nodded after hearing those reasons. "So why are you two here then?"

"Because of him," Haruka pointed to the person sitting on the bed before tapping his shoulder to get his attention. "Hey, Miyacchi. Ayanokouji-kun's here, and he brought Kushida-san and Karuizawa-san with him."

The magenta-haired student was silent for a few moments, before he spoke.

"Will he really help, though?" asked Akito, keeping his head low.

"Sudo-kun said that Ayanokouji-kun can help us out, Miyacchi. I don't think he has any reason to lie, and he did come all this way to help."

He looked up at Haruka for a brief moment, as though he was testing her words. Kiyotaka, Kei, and Kikyo only stared at him, waiting for the young man to say something... if he wanted to, that is.

"Ayanokouji," Akito began, getting the brown-haired teen's attention. "What do you know about Class C?"

"He's asking about Class C... perhaps Miyake got himself involved in some trouble with one of the students in that class?" Kiyotaka thought, taking a moment to digest the question that was asked.

He actually wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. However, the strange thing about that if it was true would be that Akito either provoked a student or two from Class C, or he was cornered and beaten up by those students.

Well, he was completely sure that his own classmate wouldn't go out looking for trouble, so it must be the second scenario. His classmate just didn't seem like the type of student to create mischief for any reason and from his own observation, Akito was a person who's mostly quiet and rarely talked to anyone, save for Haruka and the people who were in the same study group as him in the past month.

Kiyotaka simply had a hard time picturing that Akito would go look for trouble for no reason but then again, he had no context regarding the situation.

"Why are you asking?" he replied after a few moments of silence.

"You know why Chabashira-sensei wanted to talk to me earlier?" Akito continued, finally looking up at his classmates while letting out a deep sigh. "She told me that I might get suspended. For a long time."

"S-Suspended?" Kikyo said in a worried tone.

Akito's words quickly registered in everyone's minds except Haruka's. None of them had expected to hear such a thing. They only thought that he got scolded personally for a minor issue and was warned not to do it again. They never could have seen something like this coming.

"What exactly did you do?" Kiyotaka asked.

"Uh, Miyake-kun? Did you insult Chabashira-sensei or something?" asked Kayano, who recovered from her state of shock rather quickly.

Her idea had merit, and it immediately sparked as a possible reason in everyone's minds. Miyake might have said something reckless that led to him being punished by their homeroom teacher, even if Kiyotaka didn't think that it was likely.

Akito shook his head. "That's not it."

"Then what? Did you grab her by the collar or something?" Kei suggested.

"That's not it, either."

"Oh, I got it. Miyake-kun got into a physical fight with Chabashira-sensei and now he's being punished for it!" Kushida cried, her mouth hanging open as she pointed at Akito accusingly.

Sudo, of all people, looked horrified at that suggestion. "Kushida, that's going too far!"

Kikyo then giggled, before shaking her head. "Hahaha, I'm only joking! I know Miyake-kun wouldn't do something like that."

Despite it being a joke, Miyake didn't say anything nor did he react in any way to Kushida's words unlike his responses to Onodera and Karuizawa's suggestions earlier. In Ayanokouji's eyes, that was already proof that something was up, but could it really be that Miyake was the one to instigate the conflict?

"What exactly happened?" asked Kiyotaka.

"I was beaten up by three students from Class C yesterday. Then, for some reason, I got suspended. But on the bright side, those students were suspended too."

Everyone other than Hasebe was shocked by his words. While Kushida, Sudo, Onodera, and Karuizawa looked at him like they couldn't believe what they were hearing, Ayanokouji felt relieved and curious at the same time. He was relieved that Miyake didn't instigate anything, but he was also curious at why he was punished when he was the victim.

No wonder he had a few band-aids around his face right now. Nobody else from their class either cared nor thought it was anything big, but it seems that this truly is a major issue that they would have to deal with.

"They beat you up, and yet you were suspended?" he asked, wanting to confirm if he heard the magenta-haired teen right.

"I had no idea why I got beaten up. Out of nowhere, those cowards from Class C blocked my way while I was having a morning jog, then dragged me to the back of the bathhouse. There, they started beating me up and I tried to fight back, but they overwhelmed me."

Even with Akito's explanation, it wasn't able to make things clear for everyone. While they now understood what happened to him, they had no details on why it happened or who started it. Haruka only sighed and looked down, feeling helpless as she was hearing all of this for the second time today.

"Wait, you're saying that they just beat you up for no reason?" Kikyo asked, utterly confused with this situation.

Akito nodded, turning his head to the side with a hollow look in his eyes. "Pretty much. They only stopped when I couldn't even get up anymore."

Kikyo, Kei, and Kayano all let out collective gasps of shock as they stared at their magenta-haired classmate with sad looks on their faces.

"No way... how could they?!" the swimmer exclaimed as she balled her fists in anger.

The 'Masterpiece' took this as an opportunity to ask an important question, one that would be vital in helping Akito with his situation. "Do you know the students who attacked you?" he asked.

Akito turned his attention back to Kiyotaka and shook his head, "No, that's why I asked Sudo to help me pinpoint who they were, since he trains with a few of them in the basketball team. But then he said that I should include you too."

That seemed to pique Kiyotaka's interest, as he turned towards Ken with a curious expression. He started to wonder what reason his red-haired classmate might have for recommending his help. Did Ken think that he might know about the Class C students who attacked Akito?

"Oh? What makes you think that I know the students of Class C, Sudo?"

Sudo shrugged, looking unsure for a moment. "Eh, I have no idea if you know them. I just thought that you'd be able to help out."

Kiyotaka only gave Ken a blank stare in return, disappointed at his 'reason'.

Okay, that was on him. He shouldn't have thought that Ken would think like that. No offense, but that red-haired brute isn't very smart... even though he managed to pass his midterms.

Here's to hoping that Onodera can change him, though.

"Okay, moving on... you said that you got suspended, but those students got suspended too? How did that happen?" Kiyotaka continued, turning his attention back to Akito.

"For some reason, even though I was the one who got beaten up, Chabashira-sensei said that they were injured when they attended their classes earlier. Apparently, they also wanted to file a case against me."

"Now that's just too much! You didn't even do anything wrong!" Kei gasped.

"Did they try to paint you as the bad guy, Miyake-kun?" Kikyo asked with a look of worry on her face.

"Pretty much," Akito shrugged, before turning to the side with a look of frustration. "Chabashira-sensei also said that their teacher was fully on board with filing a case against me for 'inflicting violence on fellow students', and that I'll have to defend myself in a trial."

"There are cameras all over the school, right? Couldn't you show them that you weren't the one who started it?" asked Onodera.

"I can't. Those cowards were pretty smart to bring me to the back of the bathhouse, because there were no cameras there. They were able to gang up on me without anyone seeing us at all."

Sudo clenched his fists tightly, almost to the point of drawing blood. "Those bastards... when I find out who did this, they're gonna have a taste of these hands!"

Kiyotaka was quiet, but he thought about this situation deeply. Yes, he understood that some students in Class C had started the whole thing, going so far as to drag Akito to a place where there were no security cameras, but it made no sense. Why would they do such a thing for no reason? Surely there must be a reason why they attacked Akito, no matter what it is and how senseless it may be.

Or was it really just an act of violence for the sake of violence?

On the other hand, those Class C students went as far as to get themselves injured just to place the blame on Akito. They could have left the issue as it is because they accomplished what they wanted in beating up his classmate, yet they went beyond that and tried to stage it as an incident that ended up in their defeat. Because there was no evidence of what had happened, they lied the next day and told their homeroom teacher that Akito beat them up instead of it being the other way around, which was successful in putting his classmate into question of being guilty for the whole thing.

There's definitely more to this than just a simple act of bullying and violence.

He was about to think about this more deeply in order to paint a clearer picture in his mind, when Haruka's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Now you all know why I was asking for your help, Ayanokouji-kun. You two as well, Kushida-san, Karuizawa-san. Sudo-kun may have only wanted you, Ayanokouji-kun, but I want to ask help from all three of you. We can't let Miyacchi suffer from these false allegations," Haruka clenched her fists and turned to the three newcomers with a look of plea on her face. "I know we're not close friends or anything, so this is a crazy thing that I'm asking from all of you, but please help us! We can't prove Miyacchi's innocence on our own!"

Akito turned to his blue-haired friend, clearly taken aback by her words. "Haruka, you don't have to—"

"Don't worry, Hasebe-san! I'll always have my friends' back, so you can count on me!" Kikyo smiled and gave a thumbs-up, showing her stance regarding the matter.

Kei folded her arms and nodded. Not only was their classmate fighting a battle on his own, but this whole thing involved their whole class now too. "Same here. What those jerks did was just too much. I can't stand by and let this go without doing anything."

"Thanks, you two." Haruka bowed her head before looking towards their other companion.

Kiyotaka shrugged. "I have no problem helping out, but I think there's one other person we can bring here who'll help as well."

Haruka nodded, an elated look appearing on her face. "The more people, the better. Who do you have in mind, Ayanokouji-kun?"

In response to that question, Kiyotaka simply brought out his phone and turned his attention towards one particular contact of his... one who'll be surely interested in knowing more about this incident.