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After Chabashira left the classroom, a few core members of Class D gathered to exchange information about the witness to Sudo's incident.
However, the discussion mainly took place between Kushida, Hirata, and Karuizawa.
Naturally, they couldn't find any effective information about the witness.
It's worth mentioning that during the break after second period, Hirata went to find Sakura.
When he asked her about being the witness, Sakura just quietly and hesitantly said she wasn't.
Hirata didn't press further. He simply said, "I understand," before turning and leaving.
Akira saw the entire exchange.
He realized that Sakura wasn't the type to compromise easily when someone applied a little pressure. Sometimes, she was quite capable of sticking to her own ideas.
She also differentiated between people. With someone she trusted, perhaps the outcome would've been different.
"Coach, I want to box too!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Ike suddenly came over, looking like he wanted to know about joining the boxing club.
"You can go ask at the boxing club, but daily training requires at least two hours or more," Akira reminded him.
If he remembered correctly, the boxing club had a strict requirement. Physical fitness couldn't be too weak. If you couldn't even pass the basic test, they definitely wouldn't accept you.
"Forget it, forget it, I was just joking! Of course, I know I'm not cut out for it!" Ike quickly laughed awkwardly, backing down.
Only then did Akira notice that Yamauchi wasn't with Ike.
Hmm? These two were always inseparable, sticking together all day. Their sudden separation made him a little unaccustomed to the sight.
However, Ike clearly wasn't there for him. He walked directly toward Ayanokoji instead.
"Ayanokoji, about... the room card, I heard about it from Sudo. I'm sorry, we took the liberty of using your dorm as a meeting point. I just had a fight with that guy Yamauchi. He spoke ill of Sudo to his face a couple of days ago, he's not a qualified friend at all! Luckily, after some persuasion, I got your room card back from him and returned it to you."
Ike scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed as he pulled two room cards from his pocket.
"Okay..." Ayanokoji looked at the two room cards, clearly startled. After a brief pause, he reached out and took them.
"Also... Sudo seems to know he was wrong. Do you want to try forgiving him?" Ike thought for a moment and added.
"I'm not angry. I was just stating facts that day." Ayanokoji's face remained expressionless, his tone flat.
Ike was stunned, seemingly not expecting that answer.
Immediately after, he walked directly over to Sudo in the front row.
Sudo's deliberately lowered but still very clear voice drifted back. "Ike! Did you talk to Ayanokoji? What'd he say?"
"He said he wasn't angry, he was just stating facts..." Ike's voice carried a hint of helplessness. "Looking at him, it doesn't seem like he took it to heart much, so don't worry too much."
"Speaking of which, what's going on with you and Yamauchi? I saw you left the group chat and unfriended him?!"
"That scoundrel dared to speak ill of me to my face! If he wasn't a classmate and hitting him wouldn't deduct class points, I would've beaten him up long ago! We're not friends anymore, isn't it normal to unfriend him?!"
"...Ah!"
"What 'ah'? You're not still planning to hang out with Yamauchi, are you? Aren't you afraid he'll stab you in the back one day?!"
"This... I've been hanging out with that guy since the beginning of school. For you to say that so suddenly... you at least... have to give me some time to think, right?"
"Besides, shouldn't the most important thing now be to help you find the witness? Sudo, who has time to dwell on such things!"
"You're right, then you should also hurry and help me gather information."
"Hey, why are you still acting so high and mighty!"
"I'm not finished yet! I'll treat you and Ayanokoji to lunch, that's fine, right?"
"That'd be great, but did you forget something? Other classmates in the class are also busy helping you out."
"I... I know! Tsk! You're so annoying!"
The two of them chattered on for quite a while.
Only then did Akira belatedly realize something. Without Yamauchi by his side, Ike and Sudo seemed much more normal.
Today, Ike was especially reliable. He didn't just return the room card specifically, but also knew how to patiently comfort the anxious Sudo.
Sudo was the same. He finally seemed to understand that when asking for help, he should adopt a better attitude. He'd even proactively offered to treat them to a meal.
It seemed that yesterday's class meeting had quietly brought about some different changes for these three "idiots" of Class D who always stuck together.
For Class D as a whole, it should be a good change.
'Yamauchi's influence on them was worse than I thought,' Akira noted internally.
Soon it was lunchtime.
Akira picked up his phone to see if anyone had sent him any messages.
He looked at the chat history, and there actually was one. Several, in fact.
The sender was none other than the Little Princess of this school, Sakayanagi Arisu.
{Shimizu-kun, you must've also noticed something strange about that midterm exam question, right?}
{The answer actually pointed to First Year Class C.}
{Thinking about it, it must've been Ryuuen Kakeru! He's really despicable, deliberately using such a test question to disgust other classes, deducting two class points from other classes, how truly wicked!}
'Ah? Wasn't it you who did it?'
Akira had always suspected that the true identity of the "Chattering Cat" was Sakayanagi, and he didn't expect her to proactively send these messages, even insisting that Ryuuen was the culprit.
{Ryuuen isn't that stupid.}
{I think someone deliberately framed him.}
{Oh? Then who would frame him?}
{I think it was you.}
{??? How could it be me! I have no motive. If I did it, why would I have shared the test papers with other classes last month? That would've reduced at least twenty-some class points for each class.}
Akira knew that Sakayanagi had shared the test papers back then to prevent him from profiting by selling test paper information.
But he couldn't refute her. All those conversations about "selling information" were sent by her to his alternate account.
Once exposed, it would directly reveal the existence of his alternate account, which would be a complete giveaway.
'This guy wouldn't be intentionally sending these messages to provoke me, would she!'
Akira had no doubt about this. Someone like Sakayanagi was capable of such trivial things.
Immediately after, another message from her popped up.
{Shimizu-kun, speaking of which, I also heard that a classmate from your class had a conflict with Class C.}
{Thanks to this incident between Class D and Class C, even our Class A has been significantly affected. We won't receive our private points this month. We'll have to wait until next Tuesday.}
{Do you still have points to spend now?}
{Do you need me to help you out with some?}
{No thanks, I can eat the free meal set.}
He had no shortage of points right now, so there was no need for her to provide relief.
Regardless of whether her words were out of kindness, he'd just brush her off for now.
But... did her words mean that Class A suddenly had extra points? Or was it some other situation?
{Hehe, but speaking of which, actually, even without me giving you points, you probably aren't short on points.}
{Soon, a certain female classmate will send you points.}
Akira hadn't even had time to ponder the meaning of her words when, about ten seconds later, a new message indeed popped up in his friends list. From Kamuro Masumi of First Year Class A.
{Hey! What's going on? This morning our homeroom teacher suddenly announced that the delay in points was because of the fight between your class and Class C, and she even asked us to help find witnesses?!}
{That's right.}
{It's all Class D's fault!}
{How about this, I'll treat you to lunch today as an apology?}
{Lunch? I seriously doubt you even have any points left! You're not trying to treat me to a free meal set, are you?}
{I still have points, certainly not a free meal set, I'll definitely treat you to a deluxe meal set.}
{You're not trying to borrow points from me under the guise of treating me to a meal, are you?}
{No, I'm just genuinely treating you to a meal.}
Akira had always felt that Kamuro was a very kind person, so treating her to a meal was only right, especially a deluxe meal set.
As for borrowing points? That was even more impossible. His alternate account had a whopping ten million points.
{...Not many points, still stuck in Class D, but your mouth is pretty tough. Sometimes I really don't know who gave you your confidence, was it me?!}
{But, you're lucky! Last month I earned some extra points from that Sakayanagi, exactly thirty thousand, I'll lend them to you first.}
Akira was instantly stunned. Why was she trying to lend him money again? They'd just settled once last month, and now she was proactively offering again... Kamuro was too good to him.
{I really do have points.}
{No, you don't.}
{I really do.}
{You have points? Ha! With the way you ate deluxe meal sets and rich food every day in the cafeteria last month, how many of the fifty thousand points could be left? Don't think I don't know your class also bought surveillance, eighty thousand points! What could you possibly have left?}
{Stupid! You don't even know how to plan your points, now you're dumbfounded, aren't you?}
Only then did Akira belatedly realize that Kamuro was actually paying so much attention to his affairs.
And she was indeed right. Last month, he really hadn't taken points seriously, buying whatever he wanted to eat, since he'd had completely enough points back then.
In her eyes, he was probably just a stupid person who wasted points without any planning.
'She's not entirely wrong,' he admitted to himself with some amusement.
{I wouldn't expect you to eat the free meal set yourself, but then specifically borrow points from other classmates to treat me to a deluxe meal set just to save face.}
{I wouldn't do something like that.}
{No, you would.}
{...}
Akira was momentarily speechless.
Whatever he said, she just wouldn't believe it.
He said he had points, she insisted he didn't. He said he wouldn't borrow points, she was certain he would.
Kamuro's attitude was indeed unyielding and strong.
However, he didn't dislike her this way.
After all, she babbled on and on, but in the end, it was all for his own good. If she didn't care, who would say such "nonsense" to him?
{Instead of you shamelessly begging others for points and making a fool of yourself, I'll lend them to you. After all, I'm from Class A, and there's a big gap between us. 30,000 points are just a drop in the ocean for me.}
Akira narrowed his eyes.
'Shamelessly begging for points? What on earth is Kamuro-san thinking!'
Was he really that spineless in her mind?
So, if he really didn't have any points... would this count as eating a hard meal? It wasn't exactly a soft meal, because Kamuro was inherently a very strong person, and he could only listen to what she said.
'Well, she's not wrong that I'd look pathetic borrowing from classmates,' he reasoned. 'But I genuinely don't need to.'
{Alright, the points have been sent to you.}
{Also, these aren't free!}
{I'll make a few requests, and I'll come to your dorm these two days to explain them in detail.}
{Prepare hot cocoa for me in advance.}
After saying this, Kamuro went silent.
But those 30,000 points did, in the end, arrive in his account.
Akira wasn't sure what requests she would make, but given Kamuro's personality, he figured it wouldn't be anything troublesome.
Given their current relationship, he should just agree.
'But... is she coming to my dorm again?'
Akira suddenly remembered the scene when she'd come to his dorm last month. Her small, sock-clad feet had seemed to brush against his thigh several times, seemingly inadvertently.
'An ordinary high school student can't resist your natural charm, Kamuro-san.'
Despite thinking this, he still unconsciously felt a sense of anticipation.
Men were sometimes such naive creatures.
But when he'd calmed down a bit, he realized that Sakayanagi had sent several more messages.
{Isn't it just as I predicted? Didn't a certain classmate lend you 20,000 points?}
{Hehe, that's money she earned from me.}
{In a sense, couldn't this also be considered points I lent to you?}
{Shimizu-kun, you really should thank me properly.}
{You were spying, weren't you?}
{You were peeking behind Kamuro, weren't you!}
{Not spying, but deduction.}
{After all, our classmate Kamuro-san is usually quite aloof in class, with hardly any friends.}
{Just now, she was holding her phone, and her expression looked quite pleased, so she must've been messaging you.}
{Combined with the morning homeroom, this is simply the logical outcome of deduction.}
'But she actually gave me 30,000, of which 20,000 came from Sakayanagi! So, doesn't that mean she took an extra 10,000 points?'
Looking at her message, Akira suddenly realized something. It seemed Kamuro had told a small lie just now.
But within that lie, there was clearly a hint of kindness. She'd added her own money to make the amount more substantial.
Akira wouldn't expose this lie. Rather, faced with such kindness, hardly anyone would think of exposing it.
'She wanted to help more than she let on,' he thought warmly.
He thought for a moment and sent another message to Kamuro.
{Can I just call you Kamuro from now on?}
Instead of the more formal "Kamuro-san," he meant. A small step toward closer friendship.
{Hehe.}
Akira looked at the laughing tone word and couldn't help but smile wryly.
She must've agreed, otherwise why would she laugh?