Volume 1
Chapter 2.2
Youkoso v2c2 part 2
TL: qbomb
Editor: Candy-Sama
The class was divided up into certain groups after school .
However, there weren’t many people helping in the first place .
Hirata and Karuizawa led the Hero & Girl team while Kushida led the Beautiful Girl & Co team .
They had decided to look for the witness by themselves .
Even so, it’s difficult to get results in such a short amount of time .
There are 400 enrolled students at the school . Even if everyone from Class 1-D was left out, there isn’t much of a difference .
It would be difficult even if all the time during the morning, breaks and after school were included .
“Well, I’m going home . ”
“Are you really going to go Horikita-san?”
“Yeah . ”
Horikita replied without hesitation and left the classroom .
As expected of Horikita . She wasn’t discouraged by the surrounding gazes, all asking, “You’re leaving?” When she becomes an adult, she would probably be the type to quickly leave a drinking party—promising to finish things up at the next meeting—without reading the mood .
“Well…”
If Horikita’s tactic is to leave out in the open, my tactic is to leave quietly in the shadows .
“Ayanokouji-kun . ”
Kushida called out to me with an anxious voice . The small size of the classroom prevented my escape as I was immediately discovered despite my stealthy footsteps .
“What is it? Do you need anything from me?”
Sorry, Kushida . I’m going to reject your invitation with a heart of steel . And then I’ll return to the dorms .
“You’ll… help, right?”
“Of course . ”
I couldn’t refuse her . Kushida’s upturned eyes and her cute request added up to a lethal combination .
I couldn’t help it; it felt like I was being controlled by Kushida . I wasn’t able to resist .
If a person resolves to stay awake, they’ll fall asleep in 24 to 48 hours . Despite some people who occasionally claim that they can stay awake for a long time without sleep, they would eventually collapse .
To put it simply, a person has a limit as to how long they can endure . It’s a human mechanism .
After I finished giving an excuse, Kushida made a suggestion .
“I really want to get Horikita-san to help this time . Can you ask her again please?”
“But she went home today . ”
They failed to stop her just a few moments ago . Was it already time for revenge?
“Yea . Can you chase after her? If it’s Horikita-san, I think she will definitely become a big help . ”
“Well, that’s true . ”
“If we take the time to persuade her, don’t we have a chance?”
If she wants to try again, I have no right to stop her . I nodded, telling her I understood .
“Ike-kun, Yamauchi-kun, can you stay here? I’ll come back quickly . ”
“Ok . ”
The two of them aren’t on the best of terms with Horikita . Anyway, it doesn’t seem like Kushida’s forcing them to follow along .
“Let’s go . ”
Taking Kushida’s arm, I left the classroom . I wonder what this bittersweet feeling is . For some reason, I heard Ike and Yamauchi’s angry voices behind me . It must have been my imagination . Heh .
As I made my way down to the entrance of the building, there was no sign of Horikita . I decided to go out of the building . As she’s not the type to stop for anything on the way back, she was probably heading straight towards the dorms .
I pushed past the crowd of students putting on their shoes . Soon after, I saw Horikita in between the school and the dorms (as there’s not much of a distance in the first place) .
Most of the groups headed back had two people or more, but there was alone figure that stood out .
“Horikita-san . ”
I hesitated before speaking to her, but Kushida called out to her with confidence .
“…What is it?”
Horikita turned around, looking slightly surprised . It seemed like she didn’t expect us to chase after her .
“I really want Horikita-san to help with Sudou-kun’s incident… Is that not possible?”
“I thought I already rejected that a few minutes ago . ”
She shrugged her shoulders, as if the person she was talking to was an idiot .
“I know, but… But I do think we need to do this to get to class A . ”
“We need to do this to get to class A, huh?”
Looking completely unconvinced, Horikita didn’t listen to Kushida’s words .
“If you want to help Sudou-kun, go ahead . I don’t have the right to stop you . However, if you need someone to help, go ask someone else . I’m busy . ”
“There isn’t anyone that’s playing around right now . ”
I unintentionally retorted . She glared at me, with eyes that said, “Why are you talking?”
“It’s important to spend time alone . It’s uncomfortable to have that time snatched away . ”
As expected of a loner’s line of thought, she disliked spending time with other people .
“Even if I help him now, this will happen again . Won’t it just be a vicious cycle? You may believe that Sudou-kun is the victim this time, but I think differently . ”
“Huh? …Isn’t Sudou-kun the victim? It would be troubling if he was lying though . ”
Kushida didn’t understand what Horikita said .
“Maybe it really was class C that started the fight this time, but in the end Sudou-kun is also the perpetrator . ”
“W-Wait, Why? Wasn’t he dragged into the fight?”
With an expression that said, “Oh my”, Horikita looked in my direction .
Not me, I hadn’t said anything . I avoided looking into her eyes .
After a few seconds of silence, Horikita spoke with a tired voice .
“Why was he dragged into this incident? The entire issue will be difficult to resolve without solving this fundamental question . I will not agree to help until this question is answered . Since I can’t help you, why don’t you ask the guy next to you? Even though he pretends to not understand, he probably knows what I’m thinking . ”
Please stop talking with the impression that I understand .
Kushida looked at me with a confused expression, as though she was asking, “Do you know?”
Horikita, don’t say anything unnecessary… She resumed walking, implying that we were left to resolve the issue . Kushida, having understood something from Horikita’s words, was unable to stop her .
“Sudou-kun is also… the perpetrator? Is that… so?”
Kushida looked at me, asking for advice .
After Horikita revealed that I was pretending, even if I were to try to feign ignorance, the future seems troubling . Moreover, if Kushida were to ask with a cute expression, I would gladly give her my bank account information .
“I kind of understood what Horikita said . At the very least, Sudou is partially at fault here . He’s the type of person that easily resents others, so he has a violent behavior and tends to say reckless remarks to those who provoke him . I was surprised and impressed when I heard that Sudou was being considered as a regular . He seems good at basketball, but his arrogance and pride would eventually make some people, particularly those who practice just as hard, hate him . Furthermore, there have been rumours that Sudou has been fighting since middle school . I don’t know anyone who knew Sudou previously, but seeing that the rumor has been circulating for awhile, there must be some truth to the matter . ”
The impression other people had of Sudou wasn’t good .
“This was bound to happen sooner or later . That’s why Horikita said that Sudou was the perpetrator too . ”
“In other words, his usual actions caused this situation, didn’t they?”
“Yep . As long as he continues to provoke those around him with his behavior, this trouble was unavoidable . And if there’s no proof, his image, particularly his impression on others, would be used against him . For example, let’s say there are two suspects for a murder case . One of them has a previous record of murder, while the other is upright and diligent . Who would you believe?”
If one was forced to answer, the majority would have made the same choice .
“That’s obvious; the upright person . ”
“With or without evidence, a decision must be made; even if it’s not the truth . That’s what’s happening right now . So long as Sudou doesn’t recognise his mistakes, Horikita won’t give in . ”
However, it felt slightly different than the expression of “you reap what you sow . ”
“I see, so that’s what she meant…”
Kushida, finally understanding what Horikita meant, gave a small nod .
“So Horikita-san isn’t helping in order to teach Sudou-kun a lesson?”
“Something like that . By punishing him, she wants Sudou to have some self-awareness . ”
Kushida seemed to understand, but couldn’t agree with it .
Instead, it looked like she was mad; she had balled her fists in anger . .
“I don’t understand why she would abandon Sudou-kun just to punish him . If she’s dissatisfied about something, she should tell him directly . That’s what being a friend is for . ”
I didn’t think Horikita considered Sudou a friend in the first place… Putting that aside, she wasn’t the type of person who would teach this nicely . She had no sense of responsibility for others .
“You should do what you believe is right . Wanting to help Sudou isn’t wrong in the first place . ”
“Yeah . ”
Kushida nodded without hesitation . She’s the type to help out however many times for her friends . To be honest, it’s a really difficult thing to do; something only people like Kushida could do .
“However, it’s probably better to be more careful when telling Sudou directly . Since there’s no point if he doesn’t reflect on it, he should become aware of it by himself . ”
“…Alright . I’ll follow Ayanokouji-kun’s advice . ”
Changing her line of thought, Kushida stretched her back .
“Let’s go look for a witness now . ”
After returning to the classroom, I joined up with the others .
“Were you unable to persuade Horikita in the end?”
“Sorry, we tried . ”
“It’s not Kushida’s fault . We should be fine with the people we have . ”
“I look forward to working with you, Ike-kun, Yamauchi-kun . ”
Kushida stood there, eyes shining brightly, asking for help . The two of them stared back at her with mad love in their gazes .
“Where are we headed?”
Looking randomly for a witness would be inefficient .
It would probably be best to come up with a plan before making a move .
“If everyone’s fine with it, how about asking class B first?”
“Why class B?”
“Because they’re the class that benefits the most if a witness is found . ”
“Sorry Ayanokouji-kun, but I don’t quite understand . ”
“Between classes D and C, which class is an obstacle to class B? To put it simply, which class is more of a threat?”
“Of course, it’s class C . So we should ask class C last . But why not class A?”
“In the first place, there is very little evidence . Class A has no need to provide help in a situation that wouldn’t affect them as this dispute is between classes C and D . ”
Of course, we still weren’t sure if class B could be trusted . If it was someone crafty, they might have a plan to defeat not only class C but also class D . Even if their plan isn’t as detailed, they would have some kind of plan .
“Alright, let’s head to class B!”
“Stop . ”
I reflexively grabbed the back of Kushida’s collar as she went ahead .
“Nya~!”
Startled, Kushida let out a cat-like scream .
“Moe~!”
Yamauchi had hearts in his eyes at Kushida’s cute yelp . That action was probably on purpose…
Although I had thought that, my heart died from cuteness overload .
“Kushida’s communication skills are vital here . However, it’s not as simple as casually entering the class and attempting to make friends .
“Is that so?”
If the witness was a friend, or would help for free, there’d be no problem . However if it was a more calculating person, they wouldn’t agree to help without a price .
We won’t know whether or not they’ll help us until we talk to then . Even if we take that into consideration… will things turn out as expected?
“Do you have any acquaintances in class B?”
“Yep . There’s only a few people that I talk to and get along with, though . ”
“Let’s try to ask those people first then . ”
We didn’t want word to spread quickly that we were looking for witnesses urgently .
“One by one? Isn’t it better to ask all of them at once?”
Ike seemed to dislike the indirect strategy .
“I also think we’re looking at it a bit too negatively . It might be good to ask class B first, but I think it’s better to ask a lot of people at once . We might not be able to find the witness in time if we do it slowly . ”
“I see . That might be true; do what you think is best Kushida . ”
“Sorry Ayanokouji-kun . ”
Kushida held her hands together in front of her apologetically . It was nothing she should be sorry about . It’s natural that our opinions didn’t match, and if there were several different viewpoints, we should go with the majority opinion . I withdrew and left the plan up to Kushida and the others . Unexpectedly, I felt someone’s gaze on me and looked behind .
Only about a third of the class remained in the classroom .
Nothing seems out of place .
At the very least, I couldn’t pinpoint what’s bothering me .
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