Act 15: Scene 2

After sending a message to that person about needing her presence at the moment, it didn't even take ten minutes for the individual to knock on the door. Before Haruka could move from her place to open it though, Kikyo moved to be the one to greet their new guest.

Upon opening the door, Kikyo was greeted with the sight of a girl with long, black hair and red eyes. Just seeing this girl made her want to groan out loud in displeasure, but she knew that she'll have to put on her mask for everyone to hide her intentions.

"Hi, Horikita-san!" she greeted her classmate with a smile on her face.

Suzune blinked in surprise, clearly not expecting to see her friend here. "I didn't know you were here, Kushida-san."

"Then Ayanokouji-kun didn't tell you when he told you to come here," the beige-haired girl pouted for a moment, before smiling again. "I should have known that you'd be the one he was going to invite, though!"

"Apparently, he should have," Suzune shook her head in disappointment before noticing the other people who were in the unit with them. "Karuizawa-san. I see that you're here as well. You too, Onodera-san. Sudo-kun."

"Hey," Karuizawa acknowledged her with a wave, while Sudo and Onodera simply smiled.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice, Horikita-san."

Despite Haruka walking up to her with a tiny smile on her face, Suzune ignored her in favor of turning to the person who invited her here.

"You better have a good reason for bringing me here, Ayanokouji-kun. I was simply reading in peace when I saw your message," she warned, narrowing her eyes at him.

In truth, Suzune still felt embarrassed from their earlier interaction in the classroom and was hoping to avoid Kiyotaka for the rest of the day, so she tried to decline his little invitation earlier to go to the dorm unit of one of their classmates. However, because he had insisted that it was for 'something important' that involved their whole class, Suzune didn't really have a choice.

In other words, Suzune was currently trying to mask her embarrassment by relying on her annoyance.

Kiyotaka only sighed, expecting that response from her. "Trust me, you're gonna want to hear this."

And so, the young man went on to explain the whole situation to their newest guest. The basic things, at least. Haruka and even Akito took care of the rest, telling Suzune about the details regarding this strange incident. Haruka made sure to emphasize the fact that her friend did nothing wrong, and that those students from Class C were the ones who started the whole thing.

At the end of the explanation, Suzune bore a serious look on her face as she thought about the situation at hand more deeply. Long was her annoyance forgotten and was replaced with a thoughtful expression, because this was a situation that can't be taken lightly.

"So what do you say? Gonna help out?" Kiyotaka asked after everything was made clear to Suzune.

The black-haired didn't even need to think about her answer. "Our class is in danger of losing points if I don't. You can expect my assistance on this matter," she stated firmly.

Haruka bowed her head in gratitude. "Thank you, Horikita-san."

"Don't forget us too, Hasebe-san! We're right beside you!" Kayano added with a big smile of her own, as Ken nodded in agreement.

Haruka turned to them afterwards, before smiling as well. She truly felt thankful that she and her friend weren't fighting this battle on their own.

Suzune rubbed her chin in deep thought, as she too tried to make some sense of this incident like Kiyotaka was doing. "From what you all told me, there is only one conclusion to all of this. Because those students from Class C started this, then Miyake-kun isn't at fault."

"I know, right? I seriously don't get this. I can't believe that teacher, either!" Haruka agreed, before folding her arms while letting out a huff of frustration. "I bet he was just agreeing to what his students wanted to do..."

"We should tell Chabashira-sensei tomorrow. Let's tell her it wasn't Miyake-kun's fault," Kushida suggested.

Kiyotaka shook his head at that. Things wouldn't be that simple. By now, Miyake must have already told their teacher what he and Hasebe just told them. However, because he lacked clear evidence to support his claim, he was still punished. The only light in this situation is the fact that those Class C students also got suspended like him, as a consequence of having no evidence to support their claims either.

"Miyake, what did Chabashira-sensei say after all of that again? You said that you have to defend yourself in a trial?" Kiyotaka asked, hoping to get more details regarding this matter so that he'd know how to handle this.

"She said that the student council would give me until next Tuesday to come up with proof in a trial. If I can't do that, they'll say I'm at fault and I'll be suspended until summer. On top of that, the whole class will lose points, too."

Kiyotaka quickly noticed Suzune's eyebrows had raised slightly the moment she heard that the student council knew about this matter. It's likely that she didn't expect her brother would be involved, only the teachers.

"Anyway, the school is giving Miyake a chance to defend himself in front of everyone... but he has no evidence to present to them because there were no cameras around to record the incident, which is why Hasebe's asking us to help in investigating the matter. Right now, the priority should be finding out who exactly were the students who attacked him," he thought to himself.

"Miyake-kun, you told Chabashira-sensei the truth, right? She didn't believe you even though you said you didn't do anything wrong?" asked Kayano.

Akito shook his head. "I have no idea. I guess it's because she wouldn't take me seriously."

"Miyake-kun, do you remember who were the people that attacked you?" asked Suzune.

"I can't really describe them because I can't remember, but I'm sure I can point them out if I see a picture of their class."

Haruka nodded, as though she now understood what had to be done. "Then that's what we'll do. We can just find a picture of Class C and have Miyacchi point out who attacked him. Sudo-kun, do you have one? You play with some Class C students during your basketball training, right?"

Sudo nodded. "Yeah. I wonder if they were the ones who did it... I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Ishizaki and his friends always like to talk like they own this school... I don't have a picture of their class, though."

Kiyotaka shook his head again. He was fairly sure that this matter wouldn't be resolved just by discovering who'd started it. Even if the culprits were the students whom Ken was talking about, it wouldn't make everything better all of a sudden.

Sure, those students might be experiencing a suspension period of their own, but Akito is still the one who's the target of the accusations. Without ironclad proof that Akito wasn't at fault, he would definitely take the blame in the end. And that only meant one thing...

"Even if we do find out who it was that attacked Miyake-kun, it's still highly likely that he will take the blame," Suzune stated, which caught everyone's attention in an instant.

"Why, Horikita-san? I mean, we'd be telling the truth, won't we? Once we find out who did this to him, the school will realize that Miyake-kun didn't do anything wrong!" Kushida explained.

"But that is what we know. The school itself is not aware of what truly happened, and we lack evidence to prove our claim. Even if we find out the identities of Miyake-kun's attackers, it will not change a thing and he will remain suspended."

Haruka looked at her with a dumbfounded expression on her face. It's as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing right now. "I-I don't understand. Miyacchi was up against three guys! How can they not understand that he was outnumbered by them?!" she shouted out of pure concern and confusion.

Akito chose to speak up this time, sensing his friend's growing desperation. "It all falls on the fact that there were no cameras that recorded the whole thing, Haruka. Like I said, those cowards were smart not to gang up on me at a place where we can be seen."

"Well, don't they think it's odd that you were the one who got beaten up even though they're the ones accusing you?"

"Don't forget, the students who attacked Miyake-kun were also injured for some strange reason," Kikyo added.

The atmosphere in the room became quiet afterwards, as they all tried to dissect this strange case that involved their classmate. It's so easy to say that Akito did nothing wrong and was the victim of the whole thing, but they lacked the clear evidence to prove it. After a long silence, Suzune was the one to speak first.

"I think the teachers and the school have already thought about that strange occurrence, Kushida-san. I think they also believe that it is rather strange for Miyake-kun alone to be able to inflict injuries on three other students, but like what Miyake-kun said, there were no cameras to take footage of the incident. Now, if the school were willing to place more weight on the number of people who were involved, Miyake-kun could be declared innocent because he was outnumbered. However, it's clear that the whole situation is too delicate for the school to make any move."

Kiyotaka decided to chime in right after her words. "In conclusion, the reason why there's even a trial for Miyake to begin with, is because there's too many possibilities in this case that haven't been brought to light yet. It's also too soon for the school to start punishing the one behind this, which is why both Miyake and the Class C students have been suspended."

"So that means... the school and the teachers are trying to be in the middle ground for now?" asked Haruka, now having a sense of understanding what her friend's situation was.

"That's right," Kiyotaka nodded.

"I wonder what they're trying to accomplish by making this whole thing blow up into a bigger issue. They already got what they wanted by beating up Miyake-kun, but they suddenly get injured and blame him for it? That can't be a coincidence," Kei said.

Suzune shook her head and folded her arms. "There isn't enough context for me to find out what their intentions were, Karuizawa-san. However, whoever reported it first has the advantage. The victim's testimony can work as evidence and in this case, those Class C students were the ones who reported the matter."

"This is stupid... " Ken gritted his teeth and scoffed, wanting nothing more than to know who were the masterminds behind this whole thing. He honestly didn't care about their reasons why they did this, he only wished to give them a taste of their own medicine.

Kiyotaka was on the same boat as Suzune, if he had to be honest. There really isn't enough context for him to come up with a logical conclusion as to why those Class C students were doing this. It's clear by now that there's a reason for it, but what exactly? It's not like Akito knew who they were and they knew him, because those students would have done the same thing even if the victim was someone else.

Okay, to reiterate... the three students from Class C had cornered Akito yesterday, dragged him to the back of the bathhouse, and then proceeded to beat him up. And then, for some reason, Chabashira-sensei said that they had been injured and were blaming Akito for what happened to them. In the end, despite an explanation to Chabashira-sensei about the whole thing, both parties were suspended and now Akito was due to defend himself in a hearing next week about his innocence.

"We won't let them get away with this..."

Haruka's low voice caught everyone's attention, as the people in the room turned to the blue-haired girl who was looking down on the floor. Her hair was covering most of her eyes, and her hands had balled up into fists both out of anger and determination.

She slowly raised her head to look at the magenta-haired boy with a serious frown on her face. "Don't you worry, Miyacchi. We're going to find out who did this to you. We're not going to let them get away with hurting you and then trying to frame you for something you didn't do."

Akito looked away, feeling conflicted about seeing Haruka act like this for his sake.

"Let's just come out and ask those three Class C students to be honest. If they feel like what they did was wrong, then surely they'd feel guilty about it. Right?" Kikyo asked, shifting the topic of their discussion back to figuring out how to help their classmate with his current situation.

"Tch. That ain't gonna happen, Kushida. You saw what they did to Miyake, just look at those bandages on his face. I don't need a doctor to tell me that he was in worse shape before today," Ken scoffed, thinking about all the times that he had been involved in a fight himself. "They won't be honest no matter what you do. God, if I could, I'd beat the shit out of them for being cowards!"

"Hey, calm down... you're letting your emotions get the better of you again..." Kayano muttered, giving her friend a pat on the back to soothe his anger.

"Sorry... this whole thing is just pissing me off..."

"Explaining the situation to Chabashira-sensei didn't work, and neither will getting the culprits to admit their fault. We'll need to find ironclad proof to prove Miyake's innocence," Kiyotaka continued right where Kikyo had left off.

"Yeah. It would be nice if there was evidence that proved Miyake-kun wasn't to blame..." Kei nodded in agreement.

Everything was silent between the group of students once again, as they each retreated to their own thoughts. Even after all that they have talked about, they weren't any closer to finding out how to help their classmate. Compared to his earlier demeanor, however, Akito seemed like he was in deep thought... like he was trying to remember something important.

"There might be something, though..." he muttered, causing everyone else to look at him. "This might just be based on my imagination, but when I was fighting those guys I think I felt something odd. Like... someone was nearby, watching the whole thing."

Akito didn't sound entirely confident, but it attracted everyone's attention nonetheless. This was a completely new development that none of them were expecting to hear. Up until now, the possibility of a witness had been outside the realm of possibility in their possible solutions because the whole incident happened at a place where they couldn't be seen.

"Miyacchi, why didn't you say this earlier?!" Haruka cried, turning to look at him as if he was crazy.

The magenta-haired boy shrugged. "I wasn't confident about it a while ago. I thought my mind was just playing tricks on me, honestly."

"Are you saying that there might be an eyewitness to the whole incident?" Kiyotaka asked.

Akito frowned as he tried to recall what happened to him after he was left helpless on the ground by those Class C students. "My memory of yesterday after I got beaten up is a bit hazy... but I think I remember seeing someone helping me. I can't point out who it was because my vision was blurry that time, but it was a girl because of her voice... Before I passed out, I even heard two voices talking, and one of them was the girl. That's all I remember."