Chapter 074 Final Judgment, Suzune's Growth
"Ryuen Kakeru! I will not allow you to threaten our witness here!!"
Ichinose Honami changed her previously gentle tone and glared at Ryuen Kakeru in anger.
"Hmph! Save your bluffing tricks for someone else; I'm not buying it!" Horikita Suzune looked directly into Ryuen Kakeru's menacing eyes without a hint of fear.
"Heh! You've got guts. I didn't expect Class D to have another figure besides that dead-fish-eyed guy." Ryuen's brow twitched.
Horikita Suzune's eyes flickered. Hearing herself being compared to Hikigaya, a flash of joy involuntarily appeared on her face.
"Horikita Suzune, on the afternoon of June 12th, did you personally witness the scene of the accident?" Tachibana Akane asked.
"No, I am a proxy for the witness," Horikita Suzune reiterated her status.
"A witness proxy? Why is the eye-witness unwilling to attend in person?" Tachibana continued to press.
"Because the witness is afraid of facing retaliation from Class C," Horikita Suzune answered truthfully.
"Nonsense! Who is retaliating? What evidence do you have to say that!" Ryuen counterattacked instantly. "Our side protests against Class D's testimony!"
"Protest sustained. Horikita Suzune, watch your words." Horikita Manabu spoke expressionlessly.
Completely impartial, he did not show any bias despite the fact that his younger sister was standing before him.
"..."
Horikita Suzune pursed her lips. Normally, if her revered brother spoke to her like that, she probably would have been too intimidated to speak. But thinking of today—that she had accepted Hikigaya's entrustment—she had to fulfill her promise to him!
"I request to submit evidence."
Horikita Suzune imported the photo from her phone into the Student Council computer. It was displayed on the projection screen.
"..."
The Manabe trio panicked the moment they saw it. The image clearly showed the three of them pulling and shoving with Himeno Yuki!
"This segment is enough to prove that the conflict between Himeno-san and Manabe's group was not a unilateral intentional injury!" Ichinose Honami's eyes lit up as she restated her point.
"A single photo proves nothing... It's possible Himeno Yuki moved first and Manabe and the others were just acting in self-defense." Ryuen's face darkened.
He seemed to realize that it would be difficult to completely checkmate Class B today; now he could only try to shift the responsibility for the conflict back onto them as much as possible.
"Yes, that's right! Himeno started it! All three of us can testify to that!" The Manabe trio bit down hard on this point, refusing to let go.
"The three of you are all on the same side!" Himeno Yuki was full of rage.
The two sides entered another meaningless argument. Horikita Suzune frowned, a look of frustration appearing on her face.
She thought to herself: If Hikigaya were here, what would he do?
"Silence! Now, both sides will present final arguments. The Student Council will render the final verdict." Horikita Manabu remained as iron-faced and impartial as ever.
"Wait! Ichinose-san, I wonder what Himeno-san's athletic level is?" Horikita Suzune suddenly thought of something, a spark of inspiration hitting her brain.
Ichinose Honami reacted immediately, her eyes brightening: "Himeno-san's physical test results should be at a below-average level."
"Uh... sorry for not being good at sports," Himeno Yuki said with an embarrassed face.
"Then, I wonder what the athletic levels of Class C's Manabe Shiho, Yamashita Saki, and Yabu Nanami are?" Horikita Suzune questioned pointedly.
Ryuen's expression changed instantly.
He already knew the direction of her attack and was thinking of how to rebut. Unexpectedly, the Student Council directly pulled up Class C's physical education transcripts.
"Manabe Shiho, Physical Ed: B. Yamashita Saki, Physical Ed: C+. Yabu Nanami, Physical Ed: C-."
"Himeno Yuki, Physical Ed: C."
Tachibana Akane read out the data for both sides.
"It is obvious. Looking at physical fitness, Himeno-san would not even have an advantage in a one-on-one situation, let alone against three people simultaneously.
Especially Manabe Shiho, whose athletic level is higher than Himeno-san's. It is hard to imagine she could be easily pushed down!"
Horikita Suzune's successive counterattacks were logical and grounded. The situation reversed right then and there!
"Horikita-san is right! Manabe-san, how do you three explain this?" Ichinose Honami turned the spearhead toward the trio.
"..." The Manabe trio looked at each other, speechless.
"Hmph! What is there to explain? Good grades in P.E. don't mean you're a better fighter!" Ryuen forced an explanation. "Take me for example. My P.E. grade is a B, while Yamada Albert is an A+. Doesn't he still follow my lead?"
"Do both sides have any new arguments? If not, the verdict will be rendered now." Horikita Manabu already had his answer.
"..." Both sides were silent. The development of events had exceeded everyone's expectations; now they could only leave it to fate.
"I announce that Class C's accusation against Class B for intentional injury has insufficient evidence! Since neither side can prove who moved first, this conflict can only be characterized as a mutual brawl. Himeno Yuki is suspended for three days and must write a formal reflection. Manabe Shiho, Yamashita Saki, and Yabu Nanami, given your group fight behavior, are suspended for five days and must write a formal reflection. Regarding the point deductions for Class B and Class C, the Student Council will report to the school and announce them later. The deliberation is over."
"Tch!" Ryuen Kakeru was filled with resentment. This time, they had truly lifted a stone only to drop it on their own feet!
"I'm sorry, Himeno-san, for not being able to completely clear your name," Horikita Suzune sighed in regret.
"No, to get a result like this, Horikita-san has been a huge help!" Ichinose Honami was already very satisfied. "Yeah, thank you, Horikita-san," Himeno Yuki thanked her sincerely.
In this round of class rivalry initiated by Class C against Class B, the result was a loss for both sides, but Class C lost more.
Horikita Suzune of Class D, an outsider, became famous in one battle and earned a good reputation!
As a pre-agreed reward, Class B paid Horikita Suzune 1 million personal points.
Horikita Suzune did not hesitate and directly transferred all the points to Hikigaya.
"Horikita, what do you mean by this?"
"You gave me the key evidence; the main credit is naturally yours."
"No, your arguments played a huge role as well."
"I don't have much interest in personal points, as long as... as long as I didn't disgrace my brother."
"Heh~ Your performance this time will definitely make President Horikita look at you in a new light."
"Really!" Horikita Suzune looked delighted.
"Really. By the way, let's split this 1 million into three parts. The evidence provider gets half, and you and I split the other half 40/60." Hikigaya suggested.
"I have no objection to the other person getting half, but you and I split 50/50." Horikita Suzune adjusted the split.
"Why be so precise?" Hikigaya looked at her strangely.
"Don't worry about that," Horikita Suzune insisted.
In the end, of the 1 million reward, Sakura Airi got 500k, while Hikigaya and Horikita each took 250k.
"Well, fine then." Hikigaya didn't care. His personal points were already plenty. His anonymous account had a balance of over 7 million. (3m from selling info + 1.5m from Horikita Manabu + 3m hush money).
.
.
.
Affected by the failure in this round of class rivalry, Class C quieted down significantly. At the same time, perhaps out of spite toward Horikita Suzune, Class C cut off the bribery points to Yamauchi and the others in Class D.
Like giant babies who had been weaned, Yamauchi and his gang were screaming in desperation, even complaining that Horikita Suzune shouldn't have provoked Class C, causing them to lose their "milk"!
Of course, the buzzing of a few insects didn't affect Horikita Suzune in the slightest. The rest of Class D felt that Horikita had vented their frustrations for them, and their perception of her improved greatly.
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One evening.
Kushida Kikyo knocked on the door of Room 404.
"!"
"Why did it take so long to open the door?"
Kushida Kikyo barged in unceremoniously, kicking off her leather shoes and short socks, stepping onto the floor with bare feet.
"Do you know how much I've had suppressed these past few days? I'm about to explode!"
She plopped down on the edge of the bed, crossing her legs and shaking them impatiently.
"Sigh~" Hikigaya sighed helplessly and turned to the fridge to take out two cans of Max Coffee.
Kushida wasn't polite; she grabbed a can and gulped down more than half of it, then began her daily "trash talk."
"Those bastards Yamauchi and the others! They actually had the nerve to try and borrow points from me, they're insane!!"
"Did you lend them any?"
"Lend them my foot! For their own selfish gain, they took Class C's points, and now that they've spent it all, they shamelessly go around collecting 'friendship fees.' I really want to twist their heads off!" Kushida cursed loudly.
"Then why don't you do it? Kushida, with your influence in the class, it shouldn't be hard to rally everyone to boycott Yamauchi and the others, right?" Hikigaya was puzzled.
"That... that wouldn't fit my 'little angel' persona!" Kushida's eyes flickered; she had clearly considered this already.
"So why do you insist on maintaining such a troublesome persona?" Hikigaya still couldn't understand.
"You don't understand... this is my only way to survive." Kushida's face turned gloomy, as if she were remembering dark, unbearable memories.
Seeing this, Hikigaya tactfully changed the subject: "Since you can't do it yourself, why not let someone else do it?"
"Who? Hirata? That lunatic only knows how to shield everyone! Karuizawa is a paper tiger who can't even suppress Shinohara." Kushida looked annoyed.
"What about Horikita? Given her personality, she'd be the best person to deal with Yamauchi's gang, wouldn't she?" Hikigaya suggested quietly.
"You mean..." Kushida's brow furrowed. She wasn't stupid and reacted quickly: "Let me push Horikita to become the leader of Class D?"
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