Chapter 4 Part IV

It was hot and humid after class. I made my way over the special building, where the incident had taken place. It wasn't like a murder case where the area needed to be taped off to prevent people from contaminating the crime scene. It didn't really look any different than usual. I didn't see any indication that this building's facilities were used frequently, like the special classrooms, the home economics room, the AV room, etc. This would have been an ideal place to call Sudou out.

"It's so hot…"

This heat was abnormal. This was probably how summer at school should feel, but I had at least imagined that inside the building would be somewhat comfortable, the cool air balancing out the heat. I guess I'd gotten too used to air-conditioned buildings. I felt even hotter because of that gap in expectation. The air conditioning was probably on during class time in the special building, but it certainly wasn't right now.

"Sorry for bringing you here."

Horikita, who was standing next to me, simply looked around the hallway. She didn't appear to be sweating at all.

"You've really changed, haven't you? It's odd that you stuck your neck out in this case. The witness has already been found, and we've confirmed that there's nothing left to be done. What are you even trying to do?" she asked.

"Sudou was the first friend that I made here. I want to help him."

"Do you think that there's a way to prove his innocence?"

"I'm not so sure. I can't really say yet. I decided to take some initiative by myself, since I'm not very good at interacting with Hirata, Kushida, or large groups of people. Being social's definitely not my forte. I thought everyone would make me run around the school or the classroom today, so I decided to bolt instead. I like to avoid trouble, remember?"

"That's certainly true. But then, you're as contradictory as ever, since you're helping out a friend."

"Well, human beings are, for better or worse, creatures of convenience."

I'd touched on this subject before with Horikita, but she did seem relatively open to my ideas. She usually acted alone, so as long as something didn't harm her, she tended not to mind. She wasn't the type to empathize with someone else's pain, though.

"Well, your way of thinking isn't relevant to me, Ayanokouji-kun, so you're free to think whatever you like. Also, I appreciate that you say those two are hard to deal with."

"Well, that's just because you hate them, isn't it?"

"Having a common enemy tends to lead to cooperation."

"No. Just because I'm bad at dealing with them doesn't mean I hate them. Please don't think I'm like you."

I really did want to get closer to Kushida and Hirata. But Horikita's interpretation of my stance was rather broad, and she seemed to think that we had similar thoughts on the matter. Muttering, I walked to the end of the hallway and scanned the corners, making sure not to miss any nooks or crannies. Horikita seemed to notice something, and began looking around. She started to ponder.

"Looks like there aren't any here. Too bad."

"Huh? What?" I asked.

"Cameras, like the ones in the classrooms. If there were cameras here, we'd have solid evidence. I can't find any."

"Ah, yes. The security cameras. You're certainly right about it. If they were here, this matter would be settled."

There were electrical outlets by the ceiling, but no signs they were being used. There was nothing in the hallway to obstruct a camera's view, so if one were installed the whole incident would have been recorded from start to finish.

"Well, did the school have hallway cameras in the first place?"

It probably wasn't just the special building. The hallways in the main school buildings probably didn't have cameras, either.

"If I had to think of places where they wouldn't be installed, I'd probably say the bathrooms and the locker rooms. Right?"

"Yeah. Most likely."

"If there were security cameras here, the school would have checked them first and we wouldn't have any problems with this case."

I shook my head, embarrassed to have gotten my hopes up for even a moment. For a short while, we loitered around, wasting time and not really achieving anything.

"So, have you come up with a plan to save Sudou-kun?" Horikita asked.

"Of course I haven't. It's your job to come up with plans, Horikita. I won't ask you to save Sudou, but it'd be nice for you to point Class D in the right direction."

Horikita shrugged in exasperation. She was probably thinking up a response. However, she was the one who'd found Sakura, so it wasn't like she didn't want to help at all.

"You're asking for my help? To use me? Me? Here and now?"

"Having Sakura as our witness hurts us more than it helps. I think it'd be better if we looked for something else."

Horikita likely understood. However, she was acting aloof, cut off from the world, like she was too cool to care about anything.

"Sudou has many qualities I can't stomach. However, I want to lessen the blame they're placing upon him. The best possible outcome is we'll still have some points, even if Class D's image worsens."

She sounded honest. Normally, she wasn't quite so candid. That wasn't an especially bad thing. However, most people aren't suited for loneliness. Therefore, they sometimes behave hypocritically, like saving someone out of feigned altruism in order to make other people adore them. That didn't seem to be Horikita's style, though. Also, unlike Kushida and the others, she'd completely given up on proving Sudou's innocence.

"Like I said, unless a perfect witness appears, proving Sudou-kun's innocence will be impossible. If those Class C students admitted that they lied, I suppose things might turn out fine. Do you think that's likely?"

"No way. They would never admit it."

The lie would stand, especially because the other class also lacked any evidence. That was what I thought, anyway. Our only proof was Sudou's word. We were completely in the dark.

"There's no one here after class."

"Well, that's obvious. They only use the special building for club activities."

One party, either Sudou or the Class C students, had summoned the other to the special building. After that, as if by destiny, the two enemies started brawling. In the end, Sudou had injured the others, and they'd complained about it. That was the whole case.

I definitely wouldn't come to a hot place like this unless someone had brought me. The humidity was suffocating. I felt like if I stayed even a few more minutes, my head would to explode.

"Aren't you hot, Horikita?"

While the severe heat destroyed me, Horikita looked around with a cool expression.

"I'm fairly resilient when it comes to temperature. Ayanokouji-kun, you…don't seem okay."

The heat was making me dizzy. I moved towards the window, hoping for some cool air. I opened the window…and then immediately slammed it shut.

"That was dangerous."

Opening the window had only let more hot air into the room. Leaving it ajar would've resulted in tragedy, I was sure of it. When I thought about how it would keep getting hotter all the way through August, I became depressed. However, coming here today had given us results. Things weren't impossible…

"What are you thinking about right now?" Horikita asked.

"Oh, nothing really. Just that it's hot. I've reached my limit."

It looked as though we'd done all we could, so we started back.

"Ah."

"Oops!"

Turning the hallway corner, I bumped into another student.

"Sorry, are you okay?" I asked.

The impact of our collision wasn't very hard. At the very least, neither of us fell over.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I was careless," she said.

"Oh no, I'm sorry. Wait…Sakura?"

Mid apology, I realized just whom I'd run into.

"Ah, um?"

Judging from her troubled response, she didn't know who I was. After staring for a moment, she seemed to recognize me as one of her classmates. It's kind of pointless if you can only recognize somebody after a bout of intense staring, though.

"Ah, oh. Well, you see… My hobby is taking pictures, so…"

She showed me her phone's screen. I hadn't really planned on asking for details. Besides, it wasn't particularly unnatural to use your phone. Sakura had probably thought we were returning to the dorms, and now she was undoubtedly wondering why we were here.

"You said it's your hobby? What kind of pictures?" I asked.

"Things like the hallway…and the view outside the window. Stuff like that, I guess."

Just as Sakura finished her brief explanation, she noticed Horikita and lowered her gaze.

"Ah, um…"

"I have something I'd like to ask you, Sakura-san," Horikita said.

Sakura appeared uncomfortable, but Horikita, never one to pass up on opportunity, stepped closer to her. Sakura backed away, seemingly frightened. I tried to gently restrain Horikita, gesturing for her for stop chasing Sakura.

"G-goodbye."

"Sakura." I called as she tried to hasten away. "You don't have to force yourself."

I'd spoken up without thinking. Sakura stopped, but didn't turn around.

"You shouldn't feel obligated to appear as the witness, Sakura. It'd be pointless to force you to testify. But if someone scary is trying to intimidate you or something, please talk to us. I have no idea how much I can help, but I'll try."

"Are you talking about me?" Horikita muttered.

Ignoring the existence of such a scary monster, I decided to let Sakura go.

"I didn't see anything. You've got the wrong person…"

She kept insisting she wasn't the witness. So far, we'd been operating based purely on Horikita's dogmatism and prejudices. It was quite possible that Sakura wasn't the witness, like she said.

"Then that's fine. However, if someone else tries to hound you about it, please tell me."

Sakura went meekly down the stairs.

"That was probably our one big shot, you know? She probably came here because she was still thinking about the incident."

"Since she's denied it, we can't force her to do anything. Besides, you do understand, Horikita? A Class D witness wouldn't help our case much."

"Yeah, I suppose."

She would act according to her logic. However, I didn't know what in the world she was thinking. That was why our investigation was at a standstill.

"Hey, you two. What are you doing?"

We turned in response to the unexpected voice. A beautiful girl with strawberry-blonde hair stood behind us. I recognized her, though I hadn't ever spoken to her before. She was a student from Class B, Ichinose. Rumor had it she was a superb student.

"Sorry to interrupt you like that. Do you have a moment? Oh, if you happen to be in the middle of a so-so date, though, I'd like you to break it up right away."

"It's nothing like that."

Horikita denied it immediately. She was only quick to respond to suggestions like that.

"Ha ha, I see. This place is a little too hot to be a date spot."

I had no connection with Ichinose. I couldn't be sure, but she probably didn't even know my name. I was only one of many students to her. Perhaps she was an acquaintance of Horikita's? Or a friend? No. There was no way. If they suddenly said something like, "Oh wow, it's been too long! How are you?" and "I'm good, I'm good!" and embraced each other, I'd probably start foaming at the mouth and then faint.

"Do you have some business with us?" Horikita asked.

Horikita was on guard after Ichinose's sudden appearance. She probably didn't think that it was a coincidence Ichinose was trying to talk to us.

"Business, huh? Well, it's more like 'What are you doing here?'"

"Nothing. We're wandering around for no reason."

I would've liked to answer honestly, but the pressure of Horikita's gaze made me fib.

"For no reason, huh? You're from Class D, aren't you?"

"Do you know us?"

"I've met you twice before. We didn't talk directly, though. I remember seeing you in the library once, too."

It seemed that she somehow remembered me. Perhaps I was kind of cool.

"I have a very good memory, you know."

Did she mean that if her memory weren't good, I wouldn't have much an impression? I'd been a little happy, but my levity died at the backhanded comment.

"I thought that surely there'd be something here related to the brawl. I wasn't here yesterday when Class B heard about the witness. Later, I heard that Class D was looking for evidence of Sudou's innocence."

"If we did happen to be here because of an investigation, what's your connection?"

"Hmm, a connection? Well, I'm not connected. When I heard about what happened, I had some doubts. So I thought I'd come here myself to take a look. Would you mind filling me in?"

Was she really just simply interested? After a brief period of silence, Ichinose sheepishly spoke.

"Guess not, huh? Well, if the other classes were interested…"

"No, we're not saying no, but…"

"I can't help but think there's an ulterior motive," Horikita snapped.

I'd tried to handle this situation peacefully, but Horikita had promptly obliterated that plan. Ichinose, clearly sensing the hostility behind Horikita's words, tilted her neck and smiled.

"Ulterior motive? You think we're working in the shadows to undermine both C and Class D?"

Ichinose wore a baffled expression. "Do you need to be that on guard? I'm really just curious, that's all."

"I don't want to talk with someone who is 'just curious.' Do what you want."

Horikita tried to put some distance between them. She peered out the window.

"Please tell me something. All my teacher and friends say is that there was some kind of fight."

I hesitated briefly, but since there wasn't much information to be gained anyway, it may not have been worth keeping quiet. So I explained the situation. I told her that three people from Class C had called Sudou over, and there was a fistfight. However, Sudou turned the tables on his would-be attackers, and beat them up. I also told her that after the fight, the Class C kids filed a false report with the school. Ichinose listened to the story intently.

"So that's what happened. This story hasn't made its way to Class B yet. Hey, isn't this a pretty big problem, though? It doesn't really matter who lied since it's an issue about violence, right? Shouldn't you be hurrying to uncover the truth?"

"That's why we came here to look. But we haven't really found much."

This wasn't anything like a murder case, so I'd doubted there'd be many clear hints left for us to find. However, contrary to our expectations, we did get some results.

"So you believe Sudou-kun because he's your classmate. And your friend, of course, that much is obvious. So Class D is in an uproar because Sudou is being falsely charged, right?"

It'd be difficult to convince a third party like Ichinose that we weren't doing this out of friendship or class loyalty. I wasn't going to try explaining it.

"What would you do if Sudou-kun was the liar? Suppose evidence came out that proved his guilt. What then?"

"I'd report on it honestly. After all, covering for a lie would only come back to haunt us later."

"Yeah, okay. I think so, too."

Even so, it wasn't like our struggles were really going to have any impact on Ichinose.

"Are you finished? You heard what you wanted." Horikita spoke sharply and with a sigh, trying to drive Ichinose away.

"Hmm. Yeah, how about I help you out? To look for the witness, or whatever. You're bound to get further with more people, right?"

Obviously more people would have been better. That was true. However, it wasn't as though we'd gone up and said to her, "Please help us, we're in trouble!"

"Why would a student from Class B offer to help?"

"Are Classes D and B completely unrelated to each other? We don't know when these cases will spring up, or whom they'll involve. Since the classes are in constant competition, there's always the chance that this will happen. This was the merely the first case. If the party that lied wins, that'd set a bad precedent. Also, I personally can't turn away now that I know what happened."

I couldn't tell whether Ichinose was being serious or joking.

"If Class B works with you, wouldn't that dramatically improve your credibility? Though I suppose the opposite could be true, too. Class D may suffer greater consequences if the truth's uncovered…"

In other words, if Sudou lied, then that'd prove Class C's assertion. In that case, Sudou would unquestionably be suspended, and Class D might suffer fatal damages.

"What do you think? I don't believe it's a bad suggestion."

I glanced over to see what Horikita thought. However, she still had her back to me. She was still looking out the window, unmoving. I wondered what she thought about Ichinose's offer. Of course, we were worried about what effect this would have. If Class D tried to prove Sudou's innocence by themselves, our credibility would be low unless we managed to find evidence that absolutely, 100 percent confirmed Sudou's innocence.

If a student from Class B got involved, there might be tremendous implications.

I decided to weigh the offer's positives and negatives, even though it was rude. Obviously, I couldn't trust Ichinose yet. She was a student from Class B, and she gained nothing by involving herself. If helping others out of sheer goodwill was reflected in class or private points, then I could understand her motivation. It wouldn't be easy to ask, but she might have important information. The only way to be certain was to ask.

"Let's accept her help, Ayanokouji-kun."

Horikita had made a decision, probably determining that the benefits outweighed the risks. I was grateful that she'd reached a decision so quickly. I didn't really have the power to decide in the first place; that was Horikita's job. Ichinose smiled, showing off her white teeth.

"Then it's decided! Umm…"

"Horikita."

Horikita gave her name candidly, as if doing so approved our cooperative relationship.

"It's nice to meet you, Horikita-san. And you too, Ayanokouji-kun."

We had unexpectedly made Ichinose of Class B's acquaintance and accepted her as an ally. There was still the risk that this could lead to bad things. No matter what, things were going to change.

"We already found a witness. Unfortunately, it's a student from Class D."

Ichinose let out an exasperated sigh.

"Well, that means there isn't another witness. I mean, I guess someone from another class might have witnessed it, but it isn't likely."

Chances were certainly slim. But there was still a chance.

"Anyway, about your friend. He's a first year, but he might become a regular on the basketball team, right? That's amazing. Even if he's holding you guys back right now, he might become a great asset later. I mean, the school evaluates club and philanthropic activities, right? So if he enters a tournament and does well, Sudou-kun could earn points. Those'll be tied to your class points, too. Wait… Did you guys not know that? Did your teacher not tell you?"

We'd only heard that it would influence our private points.

"This is the first I'm hearing about it affecting our class points. I'll have to complain to Chabashira-sensei later," mumbled Horikita, a little disgruntled.

This was yet another oversight, another instance where Chabashira-sensei had failed to disclose something important. I wondered if Class B had heard about this from their teacher…

A usual, our teacher didn't even pretend to give us equal treatment. I felt discriminated against.

"Your homeroom teacher is kind of weird," said Ichinose.

"She doesn't seem motivated to tell us anything. She's completely apathetic. Some teachers are like that."

I didn't think that it was particularly concerning, but Ichinose recoiled.

"Did you know that the school evaluates homeroom teachers when their class graduates?"

"This is the first I've heard of it. Are you sure?"

I wasn't interested so much as I had no choice but to be interested. That was a crucial distinction.

"Our homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya-sensei, says it like it's her motto. She says she wants to do her best because the homeroom teacher for Class A gets a special bonus. Looks like it's pretty different for you guys."

"I'm envious of your relationship with your homeroom teacher. And your class environment."

Our teacher appeared to lack ambition, or even an interest in money. It felt like even if we collapsed into failure, she'd just say it was great.

"I think it would probably be good for us to meet up and discuss things."

"I never thought I'd receive aid from the enemy."

"This seems like a problem we need to address before we can fight. We're not really on equal footing, are we?"

Other classes pitied us. If anything, this showed how little interest Chabashira-sensei felt for her own students.

"I want to switch homeroom teachers with Class B."

"Well, I think that'd be difficult to manage."

I thought back to my first meeting with Hoshinomiya-sensei. She seemed to come with her own inherent difficulties as a teacher.

"Ah, it's so hot in here!" Ichinose took out a cute handkerchief covered in panda illustrations, and used it to gently wipe sweat from her forehead. Our thick uniforms really trapped the heat.

"A school that constantly runs air conditioning in empty buildings and is unkind to the environment is the worst," Horikita said.

"Ha ha ha, that's probably true. You're pretty interesting." Ichinose laughed, even though that wasn't really a joke.

"I don't think there was anything funny in what I just said…"

"How about we exchange contact information, so things can progress smoothly?"

Horikita shot me a look that seemed to say, I don't want to do it. Give her yours.

"If you're okay with having my info, here you go," I said.

"Sure, got it."

After we'd exchanged information, I suddenly realized I had an unexpected number of girls' contacts. Though it was only the beginning of July, I already had seven names and phone numbers in my address book, three of them girls. Perhaps…I had plunged deeply into the joys of youth without even realizing it. Also, I learned that Ichinose's first name was Honami—an unnecessary bit of information.