11 Chapter 11

Heading home, I really started to feel for Class D. First they got tricked by me for 20 million private points, then they had to go through midterms, and now another one of their students was in danger of being expelled.

Heading home from the dorms, I passed by a park and saw some Class D students asking some questions to people walking by. They were probably trying to find any witnesses, but it was a waste of time. If this whole thing was planned by Class C, there would obviously be no witnesses unless Class C was stupid. I also saw Ichinose with some Class D students helping them.

Why are you helping another class? I was confused but decided that she was probably just a nice person. I thought those people only existed in novels. I tried to walk by unnoticed by it seemed Ichinose still found me.

"Hey Hikigaya! Where are you going? Do you have time to help with class D?"

"Class D and I aren't exactly in the best relationship and being on the student council basically forbids me from helping"

That was a lie, but I didn't want to waste my time. It should be obvious by now that Class D wasn't gonna find any witnesses. In my opinion, there were two ways in my opinion for Class D to get out of this situation. First, they could get the victims to withdraw their incident report through bribery or fabricating/bluffing that they have evidence. Second, wait for the trial to continue. No side had any substantial evidence, so the case would be dismissed after a week.

However, the second method was a bit dangerous as I did see on the report that Yamauchi had some history of violence, so Class C could use that to their advantage.

I turned around to head back to the dorm and to avoid being discovered by any Class D students as that would just cause more conflict. I hadn't talked to any of them since the contract, but they probably realized I had scammed them since they got 0 points. Their situation wasn't dire yet, but I assumed within 3-4 months they would contact me.

Through my work at the student council, I also discovered the existence of Special Exams where class and private points could be gained, so it still wasn't impossible for them to get the 20 million points.

After getting back to the dorm with 0 problems, I just rested and slept as tomorrow would be a long day for me.

Class the next day went as usual, and after, I headed down to the library. I had about 3 hours until the trial, so I read the book that Hyori had recommended to me earlier. I found a comfortable bean bag in the library and sprawled out across it. The book's primary genres were romance and mystery.

The book definitely wasn't bad, but it was the first of its kind for me. The romance was a bit much at points, but the mystery part of it was top-tier. I was immersed in the book until my smartwatch went off. It was from Nagumo.

[Nagumo: dude, the hearing starts in 15 minutes]

Ah, I almost forgot, and for the first time, I was thankful to the student council vice president. But something was up, Nagumo wasn't the type of guy to help me out for no reason. There was definitely something going on. I got up and headed towards the student council room, I was going to arrive around 2 minutes before the starting time, so I assumed I was fine. As I neared the arbitration room, I fixed my rumpled-up clothes and tie to make a good expression on whoever I was meeting.

Normally, I wouldn't care, but it seemed some of the other Classes' teachers would be attending. I opened the doors and silence enveloped the room. I doubt the first-year students expected someone like me to come in. I could hear murmurs from Class D and Class C.

"What the hell is he doing here?"

"Who is he?"

"Don't tell me he's with class C"

I glanced around the room to see that it was completely full. It seemed that everyone, but me was already there. On Class C's side, I could see the two injured students, the teacher, and a tall muscular boy with red hair. With one glance, I could tell he was the mastermind behind this scheme. The injured students shivered in fear near him, and the Class C teacher was sitting next to him, rather than the "victims".

On Class D's side, I could see some familiar faces, there was Hirata, the long black-haired girl, the orange-haired guy, and Yamaumuchi. Damn, I really have to start learning people's names, I can't just keep calling them by their hair color.

Interrupting the murmurs, Tachibana, who standing at the front of the table next to Manabu, gestured for me to come next to her. Tachibana was the girl with purple hair who greeted me on my first and second visits to the student council.

She was a member of the student council as well, but it seemed she disliked Nagumo and me. She was clearly romantically interested in the president, Manabu, as she stuck by him like he was her owner, so I was confused as to why she disliked me. Maybe cause I was a first-year? It didn't matter though, there was something more important in front of me right now

Wait Manabu? What the hell is he doing here? He told me that he didn't have time to come. This guy... I thought the student council was organized and responsible. Seeing my confused expression, Tachibana spoke.

"Ah, the president found time in his schedule to be here. He still wants you to watch as you'll be doing the ones in the future"

Now wasn't the time to argue with the student council president as the watchful eyes of Class C and D were locked onto me, so I nodded my head and walked towards the front of the table where the president was sitting. Don't get me wrong, I was still pissed, this guy really made me read an entire report for absolutely no reason. Tachibana spoke from beside the president breaking the silence.

"Thank you for attending the arbitration hearing for Yamauchi from Class D. I will reside over this hearing as student council secretary."

The Class D teacher spoke, interrupting Tachibana. 

"Wow, the student council president attending a hearing over some small brawl between some first years. Never thought I'd see the day."

This teacher really was meant for Class D. She interrupted the secretary and clearly took a shot at the student council president. To be honest, I was also intrigued by why the president cared so much about Class D. From the start, he seemed worried when I made the incident report against Class D, but I assumed he was just worrying about the school's reputation.

With him attending this hearing, it could no longer be a coincidence, it seemed he cared for Class D for some reason. Hey president, Class D is mine, keep your hands off. While the president and the Class D teacher were bickering like some kids, I tapped Nagumo, who was sitting near the president.

"Why does the president care about Class D so much?"

"Hmm? You don't know? Look over there, that's Manabu's sister, Horikita."

I followed Manabu's finger and it led to the long black-haired girl. Ah, so that's why. Wait did I make him my enemy by essentially having his sister expelled? This could be a good thing though as he seems to care about his sister, so I could have him pay me the 20 million private points that Class D owes me. Making the student council president my enemy seemed like a bad idea though.

The rest of the trial went as expected as there was no evidence on either side, however, I was shocked when Class D brought in some timid girl from their class. It appeared this girl had pictures of the fight, but the pictures just showed there was a fight, not who instigated it. I wasted my precious time preparing for this case and was again wasting my time watching this stupid trial. Out of anger, I murmured.

"new shocking discovery, there was a fight. no shit"

Nagumo, who I was standing next to, heard me and murmured back.

"Doesn't this situation seem a bit familiar to you?"

"Oh, are we trying to be a comedian now?"

"Just know, I'd be the best damn comedian if I tried."

Nagumo and I stifled in a laugh, but it seemed that we were too loud as the students of the other classes started staring at us. I raised my hands in apology and kept quiet for the rest of the trial.

-*- (POV Change to third person)

The room had an awkward silence as the student council hadn't started even though everyone was already there. The creek of the door broke this silence in the room, and a student with spiky blue hair entered the room. Horikita saw the student and immediately turned to her left to ask Ayonokoji a question.

"What the hell is he doing here? Is he with Class C?"

It seemed he was as confused as Horikita was. The confusion further intensified when the student walked past them and stood next to the student council vice-president, Nagumo. Ichinose and Katsuragi, the leaders of Class B and A were denied the role of student council, but this unknown person in front of them got it instead. However, now was not the time for them to get distracted.

The trial went on normally, however, when Horikita and others stole glances at the new student council member, he seemed completely uninterested. Further adding to his attitude, he was murmuring and laughing with Nagumo, the leader of Class A for the second year. Everyone in the room had one question. Who the hell was this guy?

Ryuen, on the side of Class C, already knew about Hikigaya, the only first-year on the student council. Through his network of information, he found out that Hikigaya had been visiting the student council room every day, so he sent one of his classmates, Hyori, to spy on him. After one day, she reported back that she had been found out, so I stopped gathering information on him.

It was quite obvious that this Hikigaya had no intentions of helping Class B as he rarely interacted with the class or anyone for that matter. That same student, who barely interacted with anyone, was now chuckling and murmuring with the leader of Class A for the second year like they were old friends. Ryuen decided that the trial took priority over whoever Hikigaya was, so he ignored him for the time being.

-*-

The trial ended after two hours, and I can confidently say that no progress was made in finding out the truth. I left immediately after the trial to avoid any people who had questions about my position and headed towards the cafe. I hadn't eaten anything since before the library, so I headed inside to order some food. When I entered, my worst nightmare awaited me inside.

Hearing the bell ring upon my entrance, I saw Ichinose turn her head towards me. She was eating with Amikura, the girl who sat next to me in class, and Himeno, the girl who allowed me to escape on the first day. I tried to lower my head so that she wouldn't recognize me, but my hopes were completely crushed when I saw Ichinose wave at me and gesture toward her table.

She... wanted me to eat with them... I couldn't just ignore her as we made eye contact, so I decided to walk towards their table. Eating with them wouldn't cause me any issues, but it was sure to be annoying.

It's just one problem after another, isn't it?

[A/N: Sorry for late chapter. Another one will be out in 3-4 hours.]