Chapter 198: I will win!
Immediately after school at noon, Chabashira Sae returned to Class D, primarily to convey three points.
The first point: The Student Council hearing would begin at 4:00 PM today. Five people from Class D were required to attend: Sudo Ken, Kushida Kikyo, Sakura Airi, Horikita Suzune, and the teacher herself. Chabashira specifically instructed that everyone except Sakura Airi must arrive on time and not be late—since Sakura was a witness, it wouldn't be a problem if she arrived a little later.
The second point: If the hearing proceeded smoothly without accidents, personal points for all first-year classes would be distributed tomorrow morning. Upon hearing this, most students—including Shimizu Akira—let out a visible sigh of relief, and the atmosphere softened considerably. For Class D, which had received almost no points for the first two months, they had long been anticipating this month's "salary"; for Shimizu Akira, it meant his 1.26 million points were finally arriving.
The third point was a casual mention: The boxing club's exhibition match would be held at 7:00 PM. Since their own classmate, Shimizu Akira, was one of the fighters, those with points to spare might want to check it out.
At this announcement, many students began scratching their heads in frustration. It wasn't that they didn't want to support their classmate; it was simply that they had no points—they had the will, but not the means. In times of poverty, one is often helpless despite their best intentions.
"Sigh, if I had points, I'd definitely go cheer for Shimizu-kun."
"Exactly, who doesn't want to see someone from their own class compete? But a VIP seat is 20,000 and a basic seat is 3,000... the points haven't been issued yet, so a single penny really can stump a hero."
Amidst the rising sounds of regret in the classroom, Karuizawa Kei peeked toward Shimizu. He was looking down at his textbook as if the "fighter" everyone was discussing had nothing to do with him. She couldn't help but pick up her phone and send him a message.
Karuizawa Kei: Hey, Shimizu Akira. Did you hear that? Everyone wants to see your match, they just don't have points.
Shimizu's hand paused as he turned the page, and he glanced at her. She immediately turned her head and waved her phone at him, signaling him to check his messages.
Shimizu Akira: I heard.
Karuizawa Kei: Don't you have anything to say? Like... treating us to a few tickets or something.
Shimizu Akira: Should I ask the manager to cover the cost?!
Karuizawa pouted instantly. What was that supposed to mean? She was the manager! Ask her to cover it? She certainly wouldn't! There was no such perk to begin with!
Karuizawa Kei: In your dreams!
Karuizawa Kei: It's for your popularity! Think about it, having the whole crowd cheering for you during the match gives you so much face.
Shimizu remained silent for a few seconds before a reply came:
Shimizu Akira: Unnecessary.
Karuizawa Kei: Fine! Fine! Just don't forget our promise for after school today.
"What a boring man," Karuizawa muttered, though a trace of concern inexplicably flickered in her heart. She touched the remaining tickets in her shoulder bag, suddenly recalling the silver-haired girl and Ichinose Honami earlier—could they have bought VIP tickets specifically to see Shimizu? As soon as the thought appeared, she forced it down. No way. Horikita Suzune was one thing, but a gentle type like Ichinose Honami? Why would she be interested in someone boxing?
As she was pondering, Chabashira Sae clapped her hands. "Alright, I've said everything that needs to be said. Students participating in the hearing, remember to be punctual. Everyone else... prepare well for the afternoon classes." With that, she left the classroom.
Shimizu withdrew his gaze and looked down at the stream of messages from Karuizawa. He naturally felt no need to buy a crowd to cheer for him—he wasn't boxing to show off; he mainly wanted to experience the feeling of throwing punches in the ring. As President Sato had said, he would eventually represent the school in matches against other high schools, so he needed to get used to fighting under the gaze of an audience.
Furthermore, traveling for tournaments would be a good change of pace and a chance to have fun for a couple of days. If he achieved good results, the school would not only reward him with massive personal points, but the class would also receive class points. In this closed-off school where one couldn't even leave during summer or winter breaks, this was a rare opportunity to step off-campus.
However, when he first heard this, his initial reaction was: Huh? Achieving good results could increase class points? Yet their own teacher, Chabashira, hadn't bothered to tell the class.
Shimizu was used to it by now. Sometimes he really couldn't understand her logic: did she want Class 1-D to improve, or was she content to let them sink? You couldn't say she was sabotaging them—she was the one who suggested exchanging class funds for personal points in the first month; recently, she even planned to find Shimizu a girlfriend within Class D, clearly wanting to tie him to the class in hopes he would lead them forward.
Yet, you couldn't say she was "good" to Class D either. Take this fight involving Sudo: she hadn't intervened at all. When Kushida brought up that Sakura was a witness a few days ago,
the teacher's first reaction wasn't joy, but suspicion as to why she was only coming forward now, even suggesting the evidence might be faked and saying "Because she's from our class, the Student Council might not value her testimony."
While everyone was brainstorming how to make the testimony more persuasive, Chabashira's cold words were like a stone thrown into boiling water, instantly freezing the room. In Shimizu's view, there might be some truth to her words. But the problem was that as the homeroom teacher of Class D, she shouldn't have been so blunt. Even if the school forbade teachers from proactively helping students, the fact that homeroom teachers were allowed to attend the hearing suggested a tacit permission to help students prepare favorable testimony or indirectly assist in finding evidence. Chabashira's words did nothing but dampen the class's enthusiasm.
Then again, although Chabashira's occasional messages lately were a bit much to handle, overall, she seemed to harbor no ill will toward him. Because of that, Shimizu couldn't bring himself to criticize her.
He continued looking at Karuizawa's profile picture, specifically her later messages, remembering he had to go to the supermarket with her to buy snacks after school. How many points could snacks cost? He just replied "Understood."
After all, when Sudo asked him to pre-order those three tickets last week, he should have known that asking for favors comes with a price. In a sense, any first-year student wanting to buy a ticket had to go through Karuizawa—buying through the other managers wouldn't work. Shimizu's sharp mind guessed President Sato's intention: he likely didn't want the managers to develop friction over ticket sales, so he assigned one manager per grade. Although the three female managers were all pleasant and unlikely to fight, one couldn't rely solely on moral standards to restrain people; establishing a clear system was the standard way to avoid unnecessary conflict. One had to admit that as a third-year close to graduation, the President considered many factors.
As he was thinking, his phone chimed. He looked down; it was a message from "Miao Miao Cat." Since learning last week that Sakayanagi Arisu was "Miao Miao Cat," the two hadn't talked much.
Miao Miao Cat: I heard you're boxing in a match tonight? Is it true?
Yue: It's true.
Miao Miao Cat: Interesting. Can you win?
Yue: I will win.
Miao Miao Cat: People who say things like that usually end up with a tragic fate.
Miao Miao Cat: However, no matter what happens, I actually think you will win.
Miao Miao Cat: I'll be in the audience tonight to watch you.
Miao Miao Cat: I can also catch another "performance" by the way. In a sense, it's just as unmissable as your boxing match.
Shimizu frowned—it seemed Sakayanagi Arisu intended to watch his match. But what did she mean by "another performance"?
Yue: ? What do you mean by another "performance"?
Miao Miao Cat: Guess~ But don't worry, hehe. Although it's related to you, you don't actually need to worry about anything extra.
Shimizu stared at those words. Sakayanagi's tendency to speak in riddles always made him feel things weren't that simple. These "riddle-makers" were truly annoying!
"Related to me, but I don't need to worry about anything?" he repeated softly, quickly mentally reviewing recent events—Sudo's hearing, the boxing match, the point disputes between classes... every single one was full of twists, yet she refused to be direct.
Yue: Is it related to the hearing?
The message went out, but there was a long pause before a reply came, as if she were intentionally teasing him.
Miao Miao Cat: The hearing? That's far too boring. The "performance" I'm talking about is much more interesting than those Student Council members banging on tables and reading out regulations.
He pondered, feeling like a detective missing half the key clues; the puzzle in his hand was missing several pieces, making it impossible to see the truth. Some things were likely only known to her; no amount of deep thought would yield a lead, so he decided to stop thinking about it.
Yue: I understand.
Miao Miao Cat: Hmm?! You're giving up on guessing already? You quit far too quickly.
Yue: Didn't you say it? There's no need for me to worry about anything extra, so naturally, there's no need to pay special attention.
Puzzles in the real world weren't like textbook problems that provided sufficient conditions; a standard answer didn't even necessarily exist. Most of the time, not reaching a conclusion was the norm.
Miao Miao Cat: Heh, you're more decisive than I thought.
Miao Miao Cat: But that's for the best; it keeps you from being distracted. Don't let your guard down for the match tonight; I'm coming with "expectations."
Shimizu stared at the word "expectations" and didn't reply, simply turning off the screen.
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After school, Ichinose Honami was organizing her textbooks, but her mind kept replaying the scene from noon—Shiranami Chihiro had approached her, demanding to know "who that man was." The memory still gave her a headache.
She truly hadn't expected that her outing with Shimizu Akira last Wednesday would be spotted by a classmate. More troublesome was that Shiranami Chihiro was the very girl who intended to confess to her. If not for that, she wouldn't have sought help from Shimizu in the first place.
Shiranami's eyes at the time were too bright—filled with a bit of grievance and a stubborn refusal to let it go.
"Ichinose, it's not because you have a boyfriend that you..." The other girl stopped halfway.
Ichinose could only smile to smooth things over: "I'm not dating him, Shiranami. I just went out for fun once."
But as soon as she said that, Shiranami inexplicably pulled a boxing club poster from her pocket and said to herself: "It's this man, isn't it! He's from the boxing club. You must have been forced to go on a date with him because the boxing club helped our class last month!"
Ichinose was stunned—the girl had actually guessed most of it. She had gone out with Shimizu because of the boxing club, but the girl was wrong about one thing.
She remembered her expression turning very serious when she spoke: "I wasn't forced to go out with him. In fact, I knew beforehand that my date was Shimizu Akira before I decided to go. Furthermore, rejecting you has nothing to do with him; it's purely a matter of sexual orientation. If any girl came to confess to me, I would refuse."
That was the truth; it wasn't just anyone. If the person wasn't Shimizu—who had looked out for them and helped Class B multiple times—she never would have gone out with a male student regardless of how much an upperclassman begged. And as she said, her sexual orientation was straight; she would only have boyfriends in the future, not girlfriends.
She shook her head instinctively. She remembered that after she said those things, Shiranami Chihiro just silently shed tears, said nothing, and turned to run away. She had thought a gentle rejection via an envelope would settle everything, but things hadn't gone according to plan. In the end, the girl was still hurt.
Whose fault was this, really?!
It certainly wasn't Shimizu Akira's. The date was suggested by the senpais, and she was the one who proactively contacted him to discuss the details. Not to mention that during the date, Shimizu helped her a lot, and the two had a deep conversation about each other; thinking back, she still felt it was a wonderful date.
Shiranami falling for her was a matter of feelings that couldn't be controlled, regardless of gender, so she wasn't at fault either. If anything was suspicious, it was how Shiranami found out about her outing with Shimizu.
Was it her own mistake? Rejecting someone due to sexual orientation was certainly not a mistake. One could only say that if she had picked the meeting spot more carefully, perhaps things would have ended more perfectly.
"Ichinose, let's go! it's almost 4:00 PM. Didn't you say yesterday you wanted to see as well?" "Yeah, Class Rep. Let's hurry to the Student Council! We have to show Class 1-C some color this time!"
Several classmates approached to urge her, and Ichinose finally snapped back to reality. Yes, there were two important things to do today. The first was to attend the hearing for Class 1-D. Kushida Kikyo of Class D would probably be very happy to know she was coming.
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