Another morning in Class D. Only a few minutes remained before the first lesson of the day began.
The atmosphere was somewhat calm, but an empty seat caught my attention—it was Karuizawa's. Only two minutes were left before class started. Would she make it in time, or would she miss the lesson?
I don't think the school would be strict enough to focus on a single delay or absence, but its impact on the class would be greater than that. The situation was still very fragile; any small problem could cause everything to collapse.
The bell rang, announcing the start of the lesson. The math teacher entered right after and headed straight to the podium to begin.
I glanced over the entire classroom. All the students were in their seats on time—except hers.
Did she do this on purpose after her pride was hurt last time? If that's the case...
I couldn't help but clench my fist unconsciously until my nails turned white.
I couldn't focus throughout the lesson. All I could do was think about the coming disaster.
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I didn't hear or understand a single word from the teacher during the entire class. I kept thinking: is pride really enough to make someone do all this?
I understand well that most students don't grasp the seriousness of our situation. Most of them wouldn't have known anything about the system if it weren't for those files.
If Karuizawa skipped the first lesson on purpose, then what was her goal in the first place? To restore her pride? But everyone knows she was also at fault that day.
I couldn't come up with any logical reason.
The classroom remained quiet even after the math teacher left. Everyone was waiting for Chabashira-sensei to arrive for the next lesson.
Suddenly, the front door opened. A girl with golden-blonde hair tied in a ponytail entered. With just one glance, you could tell she was extremely arrogant—so much so that she had crowned herself the queen of the girls and led them. That was clear when they all stood on her side against Yamauchi.
I don't know why, but I feel like her arrogance is fake—like she's just pretending. As if this is her first time being the center of attention and having influence over a group.
She walked steadily toward her seat, like a queen heading to her throne.
At least she didn't skip all the classes. Just one lesson isn't too bad, but I have a feeling this isn't over yet.
"Hey, Karuizawa, why don't you explain why you're late?" Yamauchi began his favorite hobby: provoking others and causing trouble.
I expected something like this. This is exactly the kind of problem I had in mind. If one person is at fault, the others won't show mercy. And since she has supporters on her side, this could end up destroying everything.
The best option now is to stop Yamauchi before things escalate.
Karuizawa didn't pay him any attention. She simply sat down without saying a word.
"Look at this, my friend. She knows she's in the wrong and is ignoring us," Ike continued what his friend started.
"Look how she disrupts the whole class and acts like nothing happened," Yamauchi kept escalating, clearly having no intention of backing down.
The good news is that he hasn't managed to provoke Karuizawa so far.
The bad news is that one of her friends couldn't hold herself back and ignore the situation.
"What are you idiots saying? No one is disrupting us except you two. Why don't you just sit down and shut up?" Shinohara stood up to defend her friend without hesitation.
What is this? Are they really that close?
"Why are you interfering in something that doesn't concern you? Are you her lawyer? Get your ugly face away from us," Ike and Yamauchi started mocking her and laughing.
That was definitely crossing the line.
Her face turned red with anger, and she clenched her fists tightly.
Karuizawa couldn't stay silent any longer after they started mocking her friend like that.
"That's enough! You've crossed the line!" Karuizawa slammed her desk and stood up as well.
It seemed that, up until now, no one wanted to step in and stop the conflict.
"Oh, look, you finally decided to talk… so why don't you explain why you're late?" Yamauchi continued throwing his sharp words without hesitation.
His goal was clear: turn the situation against her in the name of justice and make her take responsibility for her actions.
I think she did this because of her pride, and he's trying to make her pay for it.
Damn it… another conflict over something trivial.
"Shut up… I'm not obligated to explain anything to you. And why don't you sit down and keep quiet like your friend Sudou?"
Sudou was still sitting calmly in his seat, not causing any trouble.
"Look at that, Sudou. She's making fun of you," Yamauchi tried to drag him into the situation.
Doesn't he realize what he's doing? Bringing more people into the conflict will only make things worse.
Fortunately, Sudou ignored everything and remained seated calmly. He had become good at controlling himself.
Karuizawa started laughing after Sudou stayed silent.
"See? Looks like he changed after getting a proper lesson. Why don't you learn from him?" Everyone knows about the incident between Yukinoshita and Sudou at the pool. Right after that, his behavior changed. He already told me his reasons, but the others think he's afraid of Yukinoshita.
"Damn it, what do you mean by that…?" Sudou kicked his desk and stood up.
Just mentioning that incident was enough to provoke him. It seemed like he wouldn't stay silent anymore.
But contrary to my expectations, he gritted his teeth and sat back down.
My eyes widened in shock. Everyone was stunned by what they saw. What level of self-control is that? Did he train under a waterfall or something?
Sudou growled through his teeth, anger clear on his face.
"Mind your own business… If my actions aren't causing any problems, then it's none of your concern what I do."
A long silence filled the entire classroom, broken only by Ike and Yamauchi's laughter.
"What was that, Ken? Some kind of joke?" "Hahahahaha, that's the funniest thing I've ever heard from you!"
Sudou ignored them completely, resting his head on his desk and pretending to sleep.
A victorious smile appeared on Karuizawa's face, as if everything she said about Sudou had been proven right.
Clearly, this didn't sit well with Yamauchi, as he returned to the main issue.
"You're doing all this just to avoid answering, aren't you? Everyone knows you're guilty. Why don't you just admit it?"
Yamauchi's goal behind all this commotion was simply to force a meaningless confession out of Karuizawa.
It may seem trivial to me, but for him, it's a decisive victory. For Karuizawa, it's an attack on her pride.
"You're really annoying!" Karuizawa started losing her temper and shouted at the top of her lungs.
She turned to her last resort, seeking support—Hirata Yosuke.
"Hey, hey, Hirata-kun, why don't you say something to them? They're just trying to cause trouble."
She tried to call upon Hirata, the class's peacekeeper, to resolve the conflict.
But unlike usual, Hirata was frozen in place, unmoving, holding his head as if it were about to fall apart—as if… he had collapsed.
Is it really over?
No… there's still the "angel" of Class D.
I looked toward Kushida. She was staring ahead without any reaction.
I focused on her expression. She had a smile that resembled a devil's—as if she was enjoying what was happening.
Does she really like seeing her classmates fight this much?
No… more importantly, was she pretending all along? Was she wearing a mask from the very beginning? My intuition was right.
The person with the greatest influence over the class is Hirata—he fixes conflicts and cares about everyone, even acting as the class representative.
His fall now… is like the fall of the class leader.