"Sakura, I'll be leaving now. I'll trouble you with the matter I asked you about."
The man smiled as he walked past Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, closing the door thoughtfully as he left the room.
"Miharu Taki, did you tell him about my situation?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka looked at Miharu Taki Sakura with a frown: "I'd rather not have others know about this."
"Ayanokoji, you've misunderstood. It's very embarrassing for the Student Council to have failed and relied on an outsider to collect the casino's rent."
Miharu Taki Sakura saw Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's slightly displeased expression, knowing he had misunderstood, and quickly explained.
"I specifically instructed the committee members not to disclose this matter to others. Aoi learned about it yesterday from Senior Juraku in the Student Council lounge."
So that's how it is...
Mikura must have told Sachiko Juraku the full story after she returned the day before yesterday. It's not surprising that she knew about it, and it wouldn't matter even if she told other Student Council members.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was worried that the fact he played the dangerous game of Quick Knife Finger Stab would spread and change his reputation.
As long as this matter wasn't widely publicized, everything would be fine.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's expression softened: "Miharu Taki, you know why I came here, right?"
Thankfully, no misunderstanding occurred...
Miharu Taki Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, nodding: "Mikura told me the general situation. You want to see the surveillance footage from in front of the lockers that day, right?"
"Mm."
"Yesterday, I already got the video from the surveillance room and have been waiting for you to come."
Miharu Taki Sakura motioned for Ayanokoji Kiyotaka to come to a computer. She opened a folder created yesterday afternoon.
Inside were six four-hour videos, which were precisely the surveillance footage from the Teaching Building, directly facing the entrance.
"I know you want to investigate who put the razor blade in Hanatemari Kazura's shoe."
She paused, then continued: "I've already watched the video at 32x speed and found the culprit."
"Who is the culprit?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka asked subconsciously.
Miharu Taki Sakura looked troubled and shook her head: "...I'm not really at liberty to say. You should just watch it yourself."
She had Ayanokoji Kiyotaka sit in front of the computer to watch it himself, while she went to her own desk on the other side to start handling documents.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka opened the video. The video was very monotonous, just static surveillance footage.
After school that day, Hanatemari Kazura had followed Saotome Meari to the Club Building and hadn't returned to the Teaching Building since.
Therefore, if someone tampered with her locker, it should have been sometime between that time and the next morning.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka dragged the video to the time segment after school.
Hanatemari Kazura, with her pink hair accessory and the tag hanging from her chest, was very easy to identify.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka saw that in the surveillance video, she and Saotome Meari left the Teaching Building after changing their shoes. Following that, many girls were seen changing their shoes at the entrance.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka watched the 16x sped-up video intently, looking for anyone who might have tampered with Hanatemari Kazura's shoe locker and placed the razor blade in her shoe.
Until sunset, after everyone had left the Teaching Building, still no one approached her shoe locker.
Could it be that he had seen it wrong? Or, did the culprit act early the next morning?
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka opened the surveillance footage from the next morning, starting from when the Teaching Building opened, and watched until Hanatemari Kazura and Saotome Meari arrived at the lockers in the Teaching Building side-by-side, and Meari discovered razor blades in her shoes.
"Are you done watching?" Senpai Miharu Taki had already finished her work and was ready to leave.
"Ah, I'm done." Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nodded, his expression somewhat grim.
Two hours had passed, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had carefully watched the video from that time period twice.
He already had an idea of who the culprit was.
"By the way, Miharu Taki, can I get a copy of this footage?" Ayanokoji asked.
"No problem, that's your right." Miharu Taki Sakura nodded.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka didn't have a USB drive with him, so he uploaded the video to his cloud storage.
While he was operating the computer, Miharu Taki Sakura looked at Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's unreadable profile and, after some hesitation, asked, "How do you plan to deal with this culprit?"
Miharu Taki Sakura had also identified the "culprit," so she was even more curious about what Ayanokoji Kiyotaka intended to do.
"How can I deal with her?" Ayanakoji Kiyotaka shook his head helplessly, "She hasn't broken any law, so all I can do is watch."
"You're not going to do anything?"
Ayanokoji shrugged, "What am I supposed to do? The other party didn't entrust me with an investigation in the first place; I was just curious, which is why I started investigating. Who knew it would lead to this result?"
Miharu Taki Sakura was silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke.
"I don't know what your relationship is with that girl, but you're willing to play such a dangerous game just to find the culprit. I admire that spirit of yours… would you like to join the Beautification Committee?"
"Eh? You're inviting me to join the Student Council?"
The video was still uploading to his cloud storage. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka looked up in surprise and hesitated, "I heard that to join the Student Council, you need to rank high on the Contribution List and have excellent gambling skills, right…?"
Miharu Taki Sakura shook her head, correcting him, "Not the Student Council, but the Beautification Committee, which is a subordinate organization of the Student Council."
"To join the Student Council, you need the Student Council President's approval. I don't have that kind of authority. What I mean is, I want you to work under me."
"I don't have anyone capable under me right now. I admire your serious and persistent attitude; you're a good prospect. As long as you receive some training and your abilities grow, I will recommend you to join the Student Council…"
She seemed serious, genuinely wanting Ayanokoji to join her Beautification Committee.
Ayanokoji said, puzzled, "But I saw you with seven or eight Beautification Committee members behind you yesterday…"
"They're all Aoi…!"
Miharu Taki Sakura swallowed her words halfway through, then said helplessly, "In short, you just need to know that I don't have anyone usable at hand right now. I usually have to handle things myself."
"Are there any benefits to joining the Beautification Committee?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka thought for a moment and asked.
He wouldn't do anything without benefits.
Miharu Taki Sakura quickly said, "As long as you join the Beautification Committee, you won't have to pay contributions anymore! You won't have to worry about becoming a 'livestock'!"
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka waited for a long time, expecting her to state other conditions, but she just closed her mouth and looked at Ayanokoji with expectant eyes.
"Is that the only benefit?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was a bit disappointed.
"And… a sense of honor from contributing to the collective?" Miharu Taki Sakura didn't even believe her own words as she said them.
In this school, everyone gambles for their own benefit; where is there any sense of collective honor?
This is a school where individual strength reigns supreme.
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