5.3

After school on the day when Ryuuen and Ichinose, opponents in the upcoming battle, had a small altercation, Horikita invited me to a study group as usual, but naturally, I declined.

Horikita invited me to a study session, but I declined the invitation as a matter of course.

Kei had been paying attention to me while avoiding talking to me since this morning, and I had no plans for the rest of the day.

That was why I could devote my time to solving the troublesome problems that had been thrust upon me.

The word 'shoplifting' had been thrown around a lot lately, and this was the case that started it all.

Why was Kiryuuin Fuuka almost accused of stealing?

It was probably true that she claimed not to have any friends, judging from her words and actions.

Of course, there was the fact that she was disliked, not only by her classmates, but also by the entire third-year students because of her personality.

However, it wasn't easy to think of incriminating her.

If Kiryuuin had been recognized as an obstacle to competing in the Class A competition during her first year, it might've been considered a strategy without regard to right and wrong, but now that the game was already decided, what was the point of taking such a risk?

The most likely scenario that had emerged was that Nagumo would harass the participants by giving them indirect instructions.

Nagumo, who was hungry for a heated competition, was trying to harass Kiryuuin in order to make her take it seriously.

However, judging from the way he brushed off Kiryuuin at the student council meeting the other day, we couldn't be absolutely sure of this. It might've been a good time to reveal his intentions and challenge Kiryuuin.

That was why Kiryuuin wasn't sure of her exact decision.

There were several options available to me as I proceeded with my investigation.

One was to confront Nagumo, the leading candidate, about this case, and the other was to talk to Yamanaka, the person who tried to plant the goods in Kiryuuin's bag. The last was to seek information from a trusted third party to better understand the situation of the third-year students.

The third-year students didn't have much interaction with each other.

The only people I had the contact information of were former student council members such as Nagumo and Kiriyama.

So, I had no choice but to walk to the school and get information directly.

Of course, I didn't intend to waste my time in the dark, but I had my own reasons for doing so.

The person who seemed to have the most useful information for me right now, and who wasn't likely to have any connection with the people who framed Kiryuuin.

I found some third-year students who were working alone and tried to gather information.

From the information I gathered, I learned that the person I was looking for had gone to the gymnasium, so I headed there immediately.

However, I didn't spot them on the way and arrived at the gym.

It seemed that the club activities had already started, and I could see my classmate Sudou practicing the basics carefully while shouting louder than the others.

"They're not here."

As the club members started to gather one after another in the gymnasium, I decided to leave so as not to disturb them.

I asked the students who were going to the gym, but couldn't get any new information.

I couldn't see them after all, but when I went back to the entrance and checked their shoes, I found that they were still in the school.

They disappeared, but they might still be inside the school?

It was almost 5:00 p.m., and there weren't many students left in the school other than club members.

At the risk of being conspicuous, I decided to go to the area where the third-year classrooms were located.

I looked around all four classes, but there was still no sign of them.

It might've been wiser to stay at the entrance and ambush them.

At that time, I overheard a report that the person I was searching for had gone to the staff room.

I finally arrived at the staff room and succeeded in finding the person I was looking for talking with the teacher from the corridor.

Since teachers often came and went at this time after school, I decided to wait for them to come out from a little distance away so that they wouldn't notice me.

After about ten minutes, the student I was looking for finally emerged from the staff room.

I always had the image of a cheerful person, but today their expression was rather dark, and they walked with a downcast look on their face. They crossed the hallway without noticing my presence as I watched over the staff room.

After a little hesitation, I decided to follow the student from a distance. I called out to them as they were putting on their shoes at the entrance.

However, the person didn't head for the entrance immediately and went up to the stairs toward the rooftop.

I wondered if the person was meeting someone since there was no way for them to go up to the roof.

As I was thinking this, the person stopped and I heard a faint sobbing voice.

It seemed that this wasn't a place to meet someone, but a place to avoid people.

The school building was strangely silent. The sound of crying was strangely noticeable, even if they tried to hold it in.

If someone who didn't know what was going on came here, they might've thought that I had made the person cry.

I could've walked away without being noticed, but I had my own business to attend to.

"Umm."

I tried to speak to them briefly and as unsurprisingly as possible.

However, they probably had no idea that there was a person nearby, and their excessive alarm was visible.

"Huh!? E-eh, Ayakouji-kun!?"

"I'm sorry for surprising you."

"Sorry, sorry. Wait, wait a minute!"

"It's not necessary to apologize..."

The person in question was still surprised, but hid their face too late and hurriedly wiped away the tears running down their cheeks.

"I'll come back later if the timing's bad, but..."

"It's okay, it's okay. It's all right!"

She tugged at my sleeve to keep me from leaving. I didn't expect that kind of reaction.

Maybe she instinctively sensed the risk of me leaving and then telling others that she was crying, which was why she tried to keep me here.

<Illustration>

Then we waited quietly for a few minutes until Asahina regained her composure.

"…Yeah. I'm fine now."

Asahina answered, coughing once and muttering shyly.

"I'm sorry."

"Again, don't apologize. It was my fault for startling you."

"That's not what I meant. I showed you how bad I look."

I didn't pursue the reason for the tears because I didn't want to go into something irrelevant. However, perhaps this bothered her. Asahina started to talk about the reason herself.

"This morning it was Succhii— Rather, Moeka who quit school. Suchi Moeka from Class C." [2]

(TL Note : Succhii is spelled with Katakana ( スッチー ), which implies that this is a nickname)[2]

"Is she dropping out at this time of year? It's not a penalty for a special exam, is it? Did she withdraw voluntarily?"

There should've been no special exam among third-year students in the past two days.

However, Asahina shook her head in denial.

"The reason, she said, was that she had committed a serious offense. She said she was being punished for her disruptive behavior. I wanted to know the details, so I asked the teacher, but she insisted that she couldn't tell me."

So that's why she was visiting the staff room.

As for Asahina, who was in Class A, it didn't matter to her if someone from Class C was expelled from school. However, it was needless to say that they were friends beyond the boundaries of their classes, judging from the way she was talking.

"You didn't get to speak with her?"

"Moeka withdrew yesterday, and by the time I was notified this morning, she was no longer in the dormitory. There has been no contact from her… I've been asking around since then to see if any of the Class C students knew anything, but in the end, I didn't learn anything."

Either no one knows the reason why Suchi left, or someone knows and is hiding it.

Horikita Manabu's generation, Nagumo's generation, Horikita Suzune's generation, and first-year students like Nanase and Amasawa.

I only knew a little about each of the years, but it was obvious that Nagumo's generation seemed to be the most likely to have people dropping out of school.

Still, it was a little worrisome to see students dropping out for reasons unrelated to the special exam. The school was withholding details, probably because they considered it such a serious violation that it could have negative repercussions.

"I'm just guessing here, and I have no idea what kind of rule she broke, but I have a feeling I know why she did it. All the students in Class B and below are constantly thinking of ways to sneak into Class A every day. I'm sure Moeka did something she shouldn't have done among them."

"In your generation, Asahina-senpai. Isn't it Nagumo-senpai who's in charge of everything?"

If Nagumo recognized them, they were in Class A. If not, they'd be eliminated.

That was the way for the third-year students to survive, as it had been shown so far.

However, Asahina's cloudy face suggested that there was something else.

"So there's another way that would allow the third years to move up to Class A?"

"…I'd say it's more like a loophole. How's your relationship with Nagumo…

Ayanokouji-kun?"

"What do you mean by 'how'? It's usually not good, and it hasn't changed."

"This is something that the other students in the year don't know about…"

"Oh, I see. I won't tell anyone or anything like that."

When I told her this to reassure her, she was relieved and started to talk about the reality of her third year. She was probably feeling the need to vent because her friend had been expelled from the school.

"Last year, when Nagumo became the student council president, it was said that Class A was sure to win, and there was no hope for Class B and below. That's why everyone was happy when Nagumo made a promise that he'd bring them up to Class A if they were successful and had the ability."

However, it wasn't such a sweet deal. In this school system, very few students could move to another class even if they collected enough class points.

In the middle of the conversation, Asahina exhaled and shook her body slightly at the same time.

She had hoped to graduate together with Moeka in Class A.

That dream didn't come true and she quit school before graduation.

"What did Nagumo-senpai say about Sachi's withdrawal?"

"Nothing. In fact, he might not even care. There was an announcement from the teacher, but there's a possibility that he didn't even notice."

So, he doesn't pay attention to the small fries that are leaving.

I didn't dislike Nagumo's way of thinking.

"If you don't mind, can we change the location for a while? It's getting kind of cold."

It seemed that the adrenaline that had been pumping through her system during the time she was in the staff room had calmed down, and her body remembered the cold.

Unlike the heated classrooms and the staff room, the corridor was still chilly.

The temperature was beginning to drop as the evening approached.

Since I had many questions for Asahina, we decided to go to a café in the Keyaki Mall, although it was a little far away.