Chapter 188: Dammit! I'll just go out in a blaze of glory with you bastards!
School soon came to an end.
Shimizu Akira accompanied Sakura Airi to the Student Council. He briefly explained the sequence of events, and Sakura Airi handed over the envelopes she had organized at noon.
Horikita Manabu casually opened a few letters and read them. He then immediately pulled up the personnel files for that electronics store on his computer.
Soon, he locked onto a plain-looking man—the very same one who had looked at Shiina Hiyori with lewd eyes when Shimizu was at the store last time.
He confirmed with Sakura Airi: "Is it this person?"
Seeing Sakura Airi nod timidly, Horikita Manabu clicked on his laptop again and pulled up the surveillance footage from the entrance of the first-year dormitory over the past week. The screen showed that every morning between six and seven o'clock, this man would sneakily walk into the dormitory area holding an envelope.
Horikita Manabu tapped the keyboard twice, freezing the footage on the man's profile as he turned around. His tone was steady: "The evidence is sufficiently complete."
He looked up at Sakura Airi with calm eyes: "Sakura-san, I will contact the school administration immediately tonight to handle this. The result will be out by tomorrow at the latest, and we will notify you immediately."
Sakura Airi's eyes turned slightly red, but she nodded forcefully: "...Thank you for your trouble."
"Apologies. It's because the school failed in its hiring practices that you had to suffer," Tachibana Akane comforted her warmly from the side.
"N-no, it's fine!" Sakura Airi waved her hands hurriedly. "I should be the one thanking the President and Senpai for being willing to handle this for me." To her, as long as the problem was solved, nothing else mattered.
A few minutes later, Horikita Manabu closed his laptop, pushed up his glasses, and added calmly: "The school has decided to compensate you with 300,000 personal points. They have already been transferred to your account; you can check it now."
"Huh?! 300,000?!" Sakura Airi froze instantly, her eyes full of disbelief.
She never thought the school would give so much compensation. 300,000 personal points were nearly equivalent to Class D's total points for almost six months.
"This is the school's responsibility," Horikita Manabu explained.
"I just checked his social media accounts and confirmed he is an Idol fan accustomed to stalking idols. If this hadn't been resolved in time, he likely would have taken further action
against you—for the school, this also avoided a serious accident. 300,000 personal points is the compensation you deserve."
"Shimizu-kun... um... these points... do you want to take all of them?" Sakura Airi turned her gaze to Shimizu Akira without hesitation, her voice full of earnestness.
Strictly speaking, the problem was only solved and the compensation received because Shimizu helped her contact the Student Council. For her, getting rid of the trouble was enough; giving all these extra points to Shimizu would put her heart at ease. Her mind was always simple; when she was kind to someone, she always thought about sharing everything she had.
"...There's no need to give me all of them. Just give me 100,000 points." Shimizu Akira hadn't expected her to want to give him the full 300,000. However, he indeed deserved some points—after all, he followed through on the entire process—but the girl was clearly offering too much. 100,000 was plenty.
"O-okay." Sakura Airi nodded timidly. She was fragile by nature and unwilling to go against Shimizu's decision, so she complied obediently.
At this moment, Horikita Manabu looked at Shimizu Akira with a gaze of approval: "Shimizu, you also have a 100,000-point reward for reporting. The school appreciates this kind of righteous act. As expected, you are different from Suzune; you have never disappointed me."
"Huh? I get a reward too?" Shimizu was stunned, a bit surprised. He hadn't expected to get 100,000 points just for accompanying Sakura to the Student Council.
But... what did the President mean by that?
"Disappointed"? What exactly did he think of him?
"Naturally," Horikita Manabu nodded.
"You discovered this incident proactively. As the reporter, you helped a classmate, gathered evidence in advance, saved the Student Council and the school a lot of trouble, and eliminated a piece of trash. To be honest, I think the school's reward for you is a bit low."
Shimizu's mouth twitched. Could he say that he only thought about stepping in because Horikita Suzune and Kushida Kikyo begged him?
Wait! He suddenly realized something—Kushida Kikyo promised him a lap pillow, Horikita Suzune was preparing lunch bentos for him every day this month, Sakura Airi was grateful and transferring 100,000 points to him, Horikita Manabu appreciated him more, and the school gave him a 100,000-point reward...
Wasn't this catching five fish with one hook? Five birds with one stone!
The man instantly reached the exact same conclusion as a certain female classmate.
This wave wasn't just a break-even; it was a massive profit.
"Speaking of which, this shouldn't be the first time you've done a good deed," Horikita Manabu added as if remembering something.
"On the first day of school, did you also report those interviewers? At that time, you wanted to help your classmate Koenji Rokusuke get a re-evaluation of his score, right? By the way, he later received 200,000 personal points in compensation and specifically asked for the identity of the reporter—since it was a good deed, the school informed him."
"...So that happened." Shimizu finally understood.
He finally realized why Koenji Rokusuke knew it was him who helped during the first month—it turned out the guy hadn't just received 200,000 compensation points from the school but had specifically looked for his name. He had gained 200,000 points for nothing; wasn't that a favor owed!
Of course, with Koenji's self-centered personality, he didn't choose to share points like Sakura Airi but instead turned it into a "favor." As for the future, he really didn't know how far Koenji would go for that "favor."
After all, in his eyes, Koenji Rokusuke was an "outlier" just like Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. If he could truly get him to act once, in a sense, it was much more precious than 200,000 personal points.
.
.
.
The talk at the Student Council took over an hour longer than expected. After parting with Sakura Airi, Shimizu went to eat dinner. By the time he was done, it was exactly 6:00 PM.
'...Ten minutes left until Sudo Ken is supposed to fight those three from Class C, right?'
He suddenly remembered this—it was written exactly like that in today's intelligence. He instinctively checked his phone. Since he had added Sudo Ken as a friend before, he checked the other's location. He found that Sudo was very close, only about twenty meters away, located behind the dorms. That happened to be a surveillance blind spot.
'Is Ryuen Kakeru from Class C trying to set Sudo up to be expelled?'
Sudo's previous punishment was only suspension; it was far from expulsion. The matter of him hitting Komiya Kyogo, Kondo Reo, and Ishizaki Daichi hadn't been fully settled yet. If he dared to strike again before the results came out next Tuesday, he really might be ordered to leave the school.
Sudo had clearly looked much better over the last two days—not only reconciling with Ayanokouji but also cutting ties with Yamauchi Haruki. How did he lose his cool and get ready
to hit someone again after just one day? Could it be that they said something exceptionally out of line?
He lightened his steps and circled to the back of the dorms. The evening wind carried the scent of damp greenery, and he could faintly hear arguing ahead. Peering through a few rows of bushes, he indeed saw Sudo Ken surrounded by three boys. His fists were clenching, and the veins on his forehead were pulsing.
However, he recognized one of them—it was Ishizaki Daichi from Class C. But right now, Ishizaki's face was bruised and swollen, covered with several band-aids and even some gauze. The other two students looked similar; one had a black eye like a panda, looking pathetic.
Looking at their injuries, Shimizu immediately guessed the other two were Komiya Kyogo and Kondo Reo. It was a coincidence that Class C also had someone named "Reo/Suzune" (both share similar phonetic readings/characters in some contexts). He wondered what Horikita would think if she heard that name.
Despite their pathetic appearance, the three showed no cowardice facing Sudo.
"What? Didn't learn your lesson from hitting us last time?" Ishizaki took a step forward, his voice full of provocation.
"I heard you're hanging out with that Ayanokouji guy now? Figures. A simpleton like you belongs with a gloomy guy like that."
"What did you say?!" Sudo's voice rose sharply.
Beside him, Komiya Kyogo glanced at him and intentionally raised his voice: "Isn't it true? Look at you now, like a stray dog—oh, right, I heard even that Yamauchi doesn't want you anymore? Well, who would want to be friends with a moron who causes trouble at any moment."
These words pierced Sudo's ears like needles. His chest heaved violently, his eyes locked onto the three in front of him. His knuckles tightened to the limit before slowly loosening—he ultimately held back.
"So, you specifically called the three of us to a place like this, what do you want? Don't tell me you want to fight again! Are you stupid? If something happens to us at this timing, you're probably going to be kicked out of this school for real," Kondo Reo sneered.
Shimizu paused. He hadn't expected that it was Sudo who had proactively called these three out.
"I won't lay a hand on you," Sudo's voice carried a suppressed hoarseness.
"I called you here because I want to ask clearly—have you bastards been stalking my classmate lately?"
"Huh? What nonsense are you talking about?" Ishizaki frowned, looking confused.
"Don't play dumb!" Sudo took half a step forward, his eyes a mix of anger and vigilance.
"Even a dummy like me can see it! Every time you guys eat, you're staring straight at Shimizu Akira! What exactly are you planning?!"
Komiya and Ishizaki exchanged looks, both looking bewildered: "Sudo? Are you scared stupid by your last punishment?"
He said naturally: "The Boxing Club flyers are everywhere. We were curious what Shimizu Akira looks like in real life, so what if we look at him a few times? You've got a persecution complex, don't you?"
"Huh?!" Not far away, Shimizu was stunned. The turn of events was completely beyond his expectations.
Wait! He originally thought Sudo was defending some other classmate, but he unexpectedly became the subject of the gossip—Sudo had actually called these three out to protect him?
Thinking back, there indeed had been people staring at him these past two days. He thought it was because of the flyers and didn't care much, but he hadn't realized people from Class C were among them.
But... to be fair, what the Class C guys said made some sense; it was just a few looks...
Then again, why was Sudo helping him?! They barely spoke more than a few words to each other.
"Stop lying!" Sudo didn't believe them at all. "Is it because he's in the Boxing Club and the match is coming up? My class teacher told me the match is next Tuesday! Are you guys planning to trip him up just like you did to me last time?!"
Komiya was taken aback, then laughed even more exaggeratedly: "Trip him up? Sudo, did you break your brain fighting? Our class has Yamada Albert boxing; you can tell who wins just by looking at their physiques! In a one-sided match like that, why would we do something so redundant? If Albert found out, he'd probably beat us up himself."
Ishizaki also sneered: "Besides, even if he has a match, what does it have to do with you? You should worry about your own suspension!"
Sudo suddenly roared at them in a rage: "Shut up! I don't believe a word of your crap! What credibility do people who framed me have! Tell the truth, what do you plan to do to Shimizu Akira?!"
He lunged forward a few steps, making a move to grab their collars, his fist already raised: "Kushida-san told me everything! Shimizu Akira went to the Student Council specifically for me after school, accomplishing what she and Hirata couldn't! He didn't want a single benefit; he helped me unconditionally! I even asked a friend what was going on, and he explained it clearly—Shimizu was considering my pride and hid it from me on purpose! He told me
Shimizu is a good person and I must repay this favor properly, and yet you bastards not only framed me but are planning to strike at him! So, I will be the one to 'discipline' you!"
Komiya and Ishizaki stumbled back in fear, their faces turning pale: "You're acting crazy! We really aren't! Ryuen didn't order us to do anything like that! What's wrong with you? I know Shimizu is good to you, but we can't even look?! Besides, if I really wanted to act, why wouldn't I do it on Tuesday or Wednesday? What use is just staring! How could the Boxing Club senpais allow us to pull tricks? Those are third-year senpais!"
Because they had been beaten too hard last time, the three still had lingering bruises all over their bodies. Facing Sudo's stance, their voices tightened with fear—the key was, they truly hadn't received such an order!
It was bizarre, simply too bizarre!
They admitted to framing Sudo under Ryuen Kakeru's instructions. But this matter really had nothing to do with them! After all, if they really wanted to act, it had been days since they started watching him; why wouldn't they have made a move yet?
"Heh! Finally admitting it, right!" Sudo's eyes widened, and his fist tightened even more.
"You said yourself you 'wanted to act'! You bastards really need a beating! Fine, I'll go all out. Dammit, I'll just go out in a blaze of glory with you bastards!"
"Who admitted it?! Don't go 'blaze of glory' yet! Holy... wait a second!" Kondo Reo's face turned red with panic.
"We said 'hypothetically'! Hypothetically, do you understand?! Are you a moron? Do you not understand what that word means?!"
In their hearts, the three cursed Sudo a thousand times.
They knew this guy could only think in straight lines, but this was really asking for trouble! Dammit! He simply couldn't understand human speech! Last time, they used his easily provoked nature to get him to hit them; but conversely, because of that, he wouldn't listen to a single word of persuasion now.
Looking at this stance, it probably wouldn't be as simple as last time. They'd likely end up lying in hospital beds for two or three months. If that happened, even if Sudo was 100% expelled and couldn't become a regular club member, they wouldn't have it easy either. They wouldn't be able to go to their club for months, they'd suffer in the infirmary, their basketball skills would drop, and their chances of becoming regulars would be gone.
At this stage, clashing head-on with a guy like this only meant they would lose—after all, it was a one-for-three trade for him; he was making a "massive profit." The three felt an unspeakable bitterness, as if they had swallowed gall—being blamed for something they hadn't done; the feeling was simply too stifling!
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