"Give… evidence?"
What evidence?
As soon as those two words left his mouth, the entire room fell silent.
The three students from Class D froze. Even their homeroom teacher, Sakagami, looked momentarily stunned.
This wasn't how things were supposed to go.
From the moment they walked into this meeting, their plan had been simple—paint Sudo as the aggressor. They had expected him to explode the moment they started throwing accusations, proving his violent nature before he could even defend himself.
Once he took the bait, all they had to do was play the victims, piling on the blame while twisting the narrative in their favor. Even if both sides were punished, they could at least minimize their own consequences while increasing Sudo's.
No matter how they looked at it, this should have been an easy win.
But now…
Instead of jumping to defend himself, Sudo just sat there. Staring blankly at the ceiling. Not reacting.
Like a complete idiot.
What the hell are you doing, Sudo?! Say something! Get angry! Yell! Anything!
The students from Class D nearly slammed the table in frustration, but before they could, a voice cut through the tension.
Leisurely. Almost amused.
"I'm done talking," Kure Ragna said, sounding like an old man enjoying his morning tea. "Now, let's hear from Class D."
Silence.
Sakagami, tapping his middle finger against the table, cleared his throat. As a teacher, he should have been the one to take control of the situation. But there was a problem.
Everything depended on Sudo reacting.
Yet there he was, playing dead.
Sakagami couldn't exactly force Class B to speak while gagging everyone else in the room.
So, he had to pivot.
He tapped the table again, drawing everyone's attention, and let a sly smirk creep onto his face.
"True, as Kure Ragna mentioned, the fight took place in a corridor on the top floor, where there are no security cameras," he said. "So surveillance footage won't show the fight itself. But—"
He paused for effect.
"—just because there are no cameras on the top floor doesn't mean there aren't any elsewhere. If we check the footage from the stairwells at noon, we should see whether or not Sudo attacked the students from my class."
At that, the three Class D students subtly adjusted their posture, making sure their injuries were clearly visible.
A perfect setup.
Too bad it was useless.
"Oh?"
Kure Ragna dragged out the sound, tilting his head.
"So we're back to the original question—how do you prove these injuries were caused by Sudo?"
Sakagami's smirk faltered for a split second.
You've got to be kidding me.
He thought Class B's argument would be shameless, but this? This was something else. No matter how much he pushed, they refused to take the bait.
"This isn't difficult," Sakagami countered, keeping his voice even. "Ishizaki's injuries are undeniable proof. If we zoom in on the security footage, we'll see that he and the others went upstairs unharmed and came back down injured."
The three injured students nodded quickly, exaggerating their pain just a little.
"Sounds reasonable," Kure Ragna mused. "But again, that doesn't prove Sudo was the one who did it."
Sakagami clenched his jaw.
"You're just being deliberately difficult."
"And you're making assumptions," Kure Ragna shot back. "Even if there was a fight, why is it that only your students got beaten so badly? Not a single scratch on Sudo? Are we supposed to believe three of you attacked one person and still lost so miserably?"
Komiya, one of the injured students, hesitated for a moment before responding.
"That's because… we never intended to fight him in the first place."
"That so?" Kure Ragna said, raising an eyebrow. "Then let's address another issue. If Sudo was the one who invited you to the special teaching building after training, why were Ishizaki and Kondo there? They're not in the basketball club, are they?"
Komiya shook his head. "No, but… I've heard Sudo has a violent temper, so I brought them along just in case."
"For self-defense?"
"Yeah."
"Great."
Kure Ragna clapped his hands.
"Then let's go back to my earlier question. If you brought backup for protection, why did it turn into a three-on-one fight?"
Komiya opened his mouth. Then shut it.
His brain was scrambling for a response, but the logic didn't add up.
The room fell into a deadly silence.
And then—
"Pfft…"
A quiet chuckle broke through the tension.
Kouenji, seated at the front, smirked, shaking his head as if thoroughly entertained by the absurdity of it all.
Kure Ragna leaned forward slightly, resting his chin on his hand.
"First, you say you didn't want to fight. Then you say you brought extra people for protection. Now you're saying you didn't want to fight again. So which is it? Did you really need protection? Or were you just looking for an excuse to gang up on Sudo?"
Komiya's lips parted, but no words came out.
He had nothing.
The silence stretched on, thick with unspoken defeat.
Sakagami knew his students had lost this round. The logic didn't hold. But he wasn't about to throw in the towel just yet.
"Ahem." He straightened his posture. "You're quite the smooth talker, Kure Ragna. But let's not forget—this hearing is about Sudo. Shouldn't we hear from him directly?"
Kure Ragna hummed as if considering it.
"Fair enough."
Without warning, he kicked Sudo lightly under the table.
"Hey, wake up. Mr. Sakagami wants to hear your side of the story."
Sudo jerked upright, blinking rapidly.
He hadn't been following the conversation at all. He just knew it was finally his turn to speak.
So, taking a deep breath, he stood up. Under the weight of everyone's gaze, he carefully spoke the words he had been rehearsing over and over in his head.
"I… I wasn't there."
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