The argument in the class was getting more intense. The class heartthrob and all-around nice guy, Hirata, stepped in once again to calm everyone down. He also asked Chabashira-sensei for more details. Then Kushida joined him, standing up to "defend" Sudou.
They urged the class to work together and find witnesses or any evidence that could prove Sudou's innocence. Thanks to these two, who had the highest popularity in the class, many students started to cool down. Whether they would actually help was another question.
At that moment, Karuizawa, the leader of the girls' group, also stepped in to back them up.
Then, an unexpected twist—just as Kushida was defending Sudou, the first person to kick him while he was down was… Yamauchi. He outright said he didn't believe Sudou's claims, calling them excuses to dodge responsibility. He even brought up how Sudou had a history of picking fights in middle school and actually enjoyed hitting people.
Yamauchi's words acted like a spark, setting off a chain reaction. The students who were already unhappy with Sudou started piling on, complaining about all his past behavior—how he would grab people by the collar if they accidentally bumped into him, how he always cut in line, and so on. It was like they were all just waiting for an excuse to tear him down.
Thankfully, Hirata and Kushida had enough influence and support to stop the situation from spiraling out of control. Otherwise, it would have been a complete disaster.
Honestly, when it comes to making things worse, idiots are unbeatable.
Hikigaya figured Kushida was probably cursing Yamauchi's entire family in her head. No wonder Sudou went straight to Ayanokouji when he got into trouble instead of turning to Yamauchi or Ike, the two people who usually hung out with him the most.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Hikigaya noticed something off about Sakura. She had buried her head deep into her desk, and her whole body was trembling.
She had been doing much better recently, barely showing signs of this kind of reaction in the past month. So why was she suddenly having an episode again?
Hikigaya tried messaging her on his phone, but she didn't respond. The message was still marked as unread. Seeing this, he could only scratch his head in frustration.
After class, Hirata, Kushida, and the others started moving. They went around asking their friends, hoping to find someone who had witnessed the fight. Their plan was to prove that the students from Class C started it and that Sudou was only acting in self-defense.
But to Hikigaya, this plan was beyond stupid.
The fight happened in the special teaching building, an area conveniently lacking security cameras and rarely visited by students. It was obvious Class C had scoped it out beforehand.
On top of that, finding a witness was like searching for a needle in a haystack. And even if someone did see it, why would they step forward? In this school, where class competition was everything, asking someone to testify was a huge gamble. There was also the chance that any witness they found might be from Class C.
Class C's setup was flawless. They had the perfect location and timing, and thanks to Sudou's bad reputation, even public opinion was against him.
Yet, Hirata and the others were still focused on finding a witness, completely unaware that there was a bigger problem at hand.
For the next three days, Hirata, Kushida, and their group ran all over the school trying to prove Sudou's innocence. Eventually, the whole grade knew about the incident.
But what surprised Hikigaya the most was that, even though this had originally been Class D's issue, for some reason, Class B decided to get involved and help.
According to Kushida, the leader of Class B, Ichinose, immediately offered to help when she heard Sudou was being framed. Since Ichinose was well-known and had a huge network of connections, her involvement made everything much easier.
"Is this woman an idiot?"
Kushida ranted to Hikigaya. "This has nothing to do with her class, but she's acting all 'I must do my best to help Class D!' Ugh, Ichinose is such a fake. Just watching her makes me sick."
"Why do you sound… kinda jealous?"
Hikigaya gave her a weird look.
"Huh? Me? Jealous? You think I'd be envious of that big-chested airhead? What a joke!"
Kushida flared up like an angry kitten, glaring at Hikigaya with bared teeth.
Uh… you do realize you just insulted yourself too, right?
Noticing Hikigaya's gaze, Kushida suddenly remembered the two handprint incidents from that night. Her face darkened instantly, and she quickly covered her chest.
"What are you looking at, pervert!"
"…"
With Ichinose joining the search, the scope and efficiency definitely improved, but the same problem remained—there were no eyewitnesses.
Not long after Ichinose started helping, someone unexpected joined in as well.
Yukinoshita Haruno!
"Kushida, I didn't know you were so close with Yukinoshita-san from Class A!"
"Wow, Kushida, you're amazing! You even got a Class A student to help!"
Kushida kept her usual smile as she listened to the praise from her classmates, but who knew what she was really thinking? Originally, she and Hirata had just planned to try their luck in Class A, but the moment Haruno heard that her dear friend Kushida was in trouble, she immediately patted her chest and promised to help.
"I've actually known Kikyo-chan for a long time! Her problems are my problems! We often go out for coffee and have girl talk with other friends. But of course, what we high school girls talk about is top secret, so I can't tell you~ But don't worry, I'll do my best to help!"
Haruno beamed as she affectionately wrapped her arm around Kushida's, explaining to everyone with a cheerful tone.
In reality, ever since the handprint incident that night, Kushida had been deliberately avoiding Haruno. But unfortunately, Haruno had been actively clinging to her instead. And in front of so many people, she couldn't show any dislike, so she had no choice but to keep up her fake smile.
After the school revealed the truth about her, Kushida became well aware of her disadvantage. The label of "Class D" was enough to ruin many things for her. So, under normal circumstances, she tried to avoid getting involved with the popular girls from the higher-ranked classes.
That included Ichinose and Haruno. Both of them had outstanding reputations in their respective classes and were well-liked even in other classes. Whether it was status, connections, abilities, or academics, they were better than her in every way.
The worst thing in life is comparison. Kushida knew she had no advantages over them. That's why she had to take a different approach—befriending girls who weren't as noticed or were on the fringes of the social scene.
But this strategy had its downside. In reality, Kushida wasn't recognized in the upper social circles. Yes, she was admired, had many friends, and was popular among the boys, but in the grand scheme of things, she was just an outsider.
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