"Ichinose, aren't you done hugging yet?"
Amane twisted her body and found that Ichinose was still holding on quite tightly.
So she turned her head to ask Ichinose how long she intended to hug her.
Ichinose's face was slightly flushed.
It sounded like she wanted to hug Amane.
However, Amane-san's body did feel very comfortable to hug.
It wasn't just the soft feeling of a girl's abdomen.
Amane's abdomen seemed to have abs that weren't very obvious but felt very noticeable to the touch.
This was the first time she had such an unusual feeling on a girl.
For a moment, Ichinose hesitated.
"Amane-san, have you really calmed down?"
Ichinose asked softly, her face red, while subtly placing her hand on Amane's abs.
"I was always calm."
Amane scratched her head.
She had just intended to come over and reason with Committee Member Kiriyama.
She really hadn't planned to punch him in the face or anything.
"Liar! Just now, Amane-san, you clearly intended to..."
Ichinose looked at Amane with an expression that said, "I don't believe you."
"I just came over to reason with Committee Member Kiriyama. I promise I won't lay a hand on him, is that enough?"
Amane raised her hand and promised Ichinose that she wouldn't resort to violence.
"Really?"
Ichinose looked up at Amane, half-believing, half-doubting.
"Of course it's true. So many people are watching. If I really hit someone, I'd definitely be expelled."
Ichinose thought about it and realized it seemed to be true.
After she no longer had an excuse to continue touching... I mean, no longer had an excuse to continue stopping Amane.
Ichinose reluctantly withdrew her hand.
Amane rubbed her waist.
"Honestly, if you wanted to touch, you could have just said so."
Ichinose's face turned crimson when she heard Amane mumbling.
As soon as she returned to her seat, she immediately lowered her head and remained silent.
Amane's gaze, however, was fixed on Committee Member Kiriyama.
The way Committee Member Kiriyama equated buying study materials with cheating made Amane find it laughable.
"Common sense? Committee Member Kiriyama, is your common sense that exam papers are always the same? Did your middle school provide study materials, so you didn't need to buy them? Did the study materials you bought always match the exam papers exactly? Answer me, Committee Member Kiriyama."
Amane stared closely at Committee Member Kiriyama.
Amane's expressionless face brought an extreme sense of pressure to Committee Member Kiriyama, her sharp, peregrine falcon-like eyes seeming to pierce through the weaknesses in one's heart.
Gulp, gulp.
Committee Member Kiriyama began to feel an inexplicable nervousness.
This wasn't just being suppressed in argument.
When the two stood there, their strength was simply evident.
Committee Member Kiriyama, who was significantly taller than Amane, was steadily suppressed by Amane's aura, to the point where he was cornered and couldn't even utter a word of resistance.
Nagumo Miyabi, on the side, smiled.
"Committee Member Kiriyama, that's enough."
"Nagumo? But she..."
Committee Member Kiriyama still wanted to argue, but Nagumo interrupted him with a cold snort.
"Was she wrong?"
Committee Member Kiriyama was speechless.
He admitted that what Amane said wasn't too far off. Under normal circumstances, newcomers wouldn't know about the operation of buying exam papers.
Even if they bought them, they would probably be half-believing, half-doubting, fearing all sorts of unexpected situations.
Only those decisive individuals who, based on small test papers, dared to assert that the midterm exams would be the same, would be able to decipher this school's foolproof method for everyone to pass the exam.
And thus lead their class to victory.
In fact, Class D had successfully discovered this method and put it into practice. The only failure was that there were too many poor students, leading to fifteen expulsions.
If one were to truly determine whether previous exam papers counted as cheating tools.
Even Committee Member Kiriyama found it a stretch.
And the reason he had been holding on was simply that he couldn't save face.
Seeing Committee Member Kiriyama speechless from his questioning.
Nagumo directly looked at Amane, on behalf of Committee Member Kiriyama.
"I know you want to exonerate Hirata. From my personal perspective, I also believe he is innocent. However, Miyako-san, you must understand one thing: if an incident significant enough to affect the majority of people does not occur, even our Student Council is not authorized to initiate a re-examination procedure. Do you understand this?"
From the beginning, Committee Member Kiriyama's point of contention revolved around cheating.
But what was the fundamental reason for pointing out Hirata's cheating?
It was to facilitate the Student Council in initiating the re-examination procedure.
Then let Class D retake the exam, ensuring that the vast majority of them would pass, so that more than half of Class D wouldn't be expelled at once.
At the same time, it was also for the school to save face, so that it wouldn't be criticized by public opinion due to more expulsions this year than in previous years.
Amane understood all of this.
But... "Why bother with those who failed? Is there really a need to save those idiots who couldn't pass even with the answers?"
Amane's words once again plunged the scene into chaos.
Yamauchi, who had been afraid to speak, now shouted loudly.
"Why should we be expelled? Miyako, you bastard! We're classmates! Are you just going to watch us get expelled without doing anything?"
No sooner had Yamauchi finished speaking than Kushida looked at Amane with a sorrowful expression.
"Although I don't understand what you're saying, I know that Amane, you intend to abandon Yamauchi and them. Why would you do that? We are not only classmates but also close friends, aren't we? Don't you think it's too cold-blooded of you to constantly talk about abandoning everyone? If you really intend to abandon Yamauchi and them, I would rather drop out. I don't want to see familiar faces leave me one by one. I promised everyone at the beginning of the school year that I would be friends with everyone..."
Kushida covered her face and cried sadly.
If it were the usual Amane, she might have panicked and tried to comfort Kushida.
But Amane, who was now thinking with her head, completely ignored her feigned act.
"It must hurt to pinch your arm, right? There's a limit to fake crying to gain sympathy. Can someone crying bitterly still peek at my expression? How ridiculous. However, Kushida, your moving words did touch me. So, as you wish, please add Classmate Kushida, making it a total of sixteen people to be expelled."
Amane's words made Kushida, who was still fake crying, freeze in disbelief.
She never expected Amane to be so heartless, directly including her in the expulsion.
Whether those trash like Yamauchi were expelled or not had nothing to do with her. She merely wanted to gain others' friendship and recognition by fighting for opportunities for these people and standing on the same side as the weak.
Kushida enjoyed that feeling.
But she overlooked one thing.
Amane was not in the mood to play social games with her right now.
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