Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part4-6 (1/2)

Youkoso V2C3 Part 4

TL: qbomb

Editor: None(Candy ork on this soon)

It was hot and hu where the incident happened a few days ago The area didn’t look any different; after all, it wasn’t like it had to be taped off because there was a murder case Now that classes were over, I couldn’t see anyone around since the home economics and the audiovisual rooms were rarely used in the first place This would be one of the most ideal places in the school to call out Sudou

“Man, it’s hot…”

This weather is pretty abnoruess this is how summer should usually feel, but I didn’t think it’d be this hot and hu used to air conditioning every day It felt even hotter because I was so used to the cold air of the A/C

The air conditioning was probably on during classes, but I couldn’t tell fro you over here”

Horikita, as standing next tothe heat as she looked down the hallway

“How strange of you to stick out your own neck for this case Since we’ve already found the witness, there’s nothing that can be done any to do?”

“Sudou’s the first friend I made I want to help him out a bit”

“Do you think there’s a way to prove he’s innocent then?”

“H yet I’ood at interacting with a larger group of people It seemed like some responsibilities would be pushed onto me if I stayed, so I ran instead After all, I like to avoid trouble”

“Yeah, clearly But even then, it’s contradictory for you to say that you want to help because he’s a friend”

“Well, hus are mutually interdependent creatures”

I’ve talked about this subject to Horikita before, but she see

Horikita usually acts by herself, so as long as it doesn’t affect her negatively, she’s fine with it

“Well, your way of thinking doesn’t really matter to me, so you’re free to do whatever you want Also, I think it’s fine to avoid those two”

“Icommon enemies leads to cooperation after all”

“No, just because I’ with them doesn’t mean I hate theet closer to Kushi+da and Hirata

But Horikita has a broad interpretation ofto say that we are si the corner between the wall and the ceiling

Horikita suddenly noticed so around

“Hmm, there aren’t any here That’s too bad”

“Huh? What isn’t here?”

“Cameras like the ones in the classroom We would have solid evidence if those cameras were in the hallways, but there aren’t any”

“Oh, right Those cameras The case would be solved instantly if they were here”

There were outlets near the ceiling, but weren’t being used

The hallway doesn’t have any obstacles, so if there was a camera, it would’ve been able to record the whole incident

“In the first place, does the school usually have cas probably don’t have cameras in the hallways as well

“I ing rooht?”

“Yeah, probably not”

“…It’s not soh If there were cameras, the school would’ve checked them first and this wouldn’t be a probleot my hopes up for a split second

For a short while, andered around ai done

“Did you think of a plan to save Sudou-kun?”

“Of course not It’s your job to come up with a plan I won’t ask you to save Sudou, but it would be nice if you could put us in the right direction”

Horikita shrugged her shoulders in exasperation She’s probably trying to find a way to respond to that However, she found the witness, so at least she’s considering helping out

“You want ht now?”

“The witness doesn’t really help the situation because she’s in class D I think it’s better to go look for so else”

Horikita probably told the others even though it wouldn’t help much If she didn’t want to tell them at all, she probably wouldn’t have listened nor replied to their request

However, she was cal around as if she didn’t have a care in the world

“There are a lot of unpleasant things about Sudou However, I want hi a few points left over is the best possible outcoets worse”

I think she’s saying her honest feelings, even though she’s not usually upfront

That’s not a bad thing However, most people are weak to loneliness That’s why soether That isn’t the case for Horikita, though

And unlike Kushi+da and the others, she definitely gave up on trying to prove Sudou’s innocence

“Like I said earlier, unless a perfect witness shows up, it will be iht happen if class C admits that they lied Do you think that’ll happen?”

“Definitely not Class C won’t do that”

Since the other class also doesn’t have any evidence, the lie won’t go anywhere

We also don’t have anything to believe other than Sudou’s words The whole situation is in the dark

“There’s no one here after school”

“Obviously, since this building isn’t used for anything other than clubs”

One party called out the other to the roof Afterwards, as if by fate, the two quarreling parties fought In the end, Sudou injured the other party, and they co to this hot place unless someone else calledI feel like I’ insane in this heat

“Is it not hot for you, Horikita?”

Asaround with a cool expression

“I’ainst the heat and the cold You look… not so good”

I was out of it from the heat and moved towards thein search of some cool air I opened theto save ht after

“…That was dangerous”

As soon as I opened the , the hot wind burst into the rooer disaster if I kept theopen

When I think about the fact that it’ll get even hotter until August, I feel depressed

However, there were results fro here today It’s not iht now?”

“No, nothing much Just that it’s hot… I’ve reachedback

“Ah”

“Oops”

As I turned the corner of the hallway, I accidentally bumped into another student

“My bad, are you okay?”

It wasn’t that strong of an impact, so neither of us fell over

“Yes Sorry, I was careless”

“Me too Oh wait, are you Sakura?”

As the girl apologized, I recognized who she was

“…Ah, um…?”

From her flustered response, it seems like she doesn’t knoho I am

After she looked at nized that I was one of her classain, it’s kind of pointless if you can only recognize so her phone tightly in her hand

“Ah, u pictures…”

She showedin the first place

After all, it’s not unnatural to use a phone while walking

Sakura was probably wondering ere in this building

“What pictures were you taking?”

“Things like the hallway… and the view out the

As she finished her explanation, she saw Horikita nearby and cast down her eyes

“Ah, u I want to ask you, Sakursan”

Sakura looked uncomfortable, but Horikita took a step forward

She stepped back in fright I held back Horikita lightly, gesturing for her to back off

“G-Goodbye”

“Sakura”

I quickly called out to Sakura, as already running away

“You don’t have to push yourself”

I didn’t really have to call out to her, but I did

Sakura stopped walking but didn’t look back

“You don’t have to co a testi to threaten you, you can talk to us I don’t kno much I can help, but I will help the best I can”

“Are you talking about nore the possibility that a scary person exists and let her go

“I didn’t see anything I’ that she wasn’t the witness After all, we are only working off Horikita’s insight, and nothing else There is a possibility that the actual witness may be someone else

“Then that’s fine If soh, tell ave a small reply and headed down the stairs

“That was a once in a lifetiht now, you know? She probably walked away because she knew so to happen”

“Since she denies it herself, there’s nothing more we can do Also, you know that a witness frouess”

She’ll act based on her thoughts Then again, I don’t knohat she’s thinking

That’s e’re not really investigating right now

“Hey you guys, what are you doing here?”

Both of us turned around, not having expected soirl was looking towards us

I’ve seen her face before She’s Ichinose from class B, but I’ve never talked to her before Also, I’ve heard that she’s an a around

“Sorry to call you out so suddenly Do you have soet out quickly”

“It’s nothing like that”

Horikita immediately denied it It’s only times like these when she’s fast to respond

“Ahaha, I see This place is too hot to be a date spot anyway”

Ichinose and I have never talked before I’ this without any proof, but she probably doesn’t know my name After all, I’m only one of the many students she sees every day

Is she Horikita’s acquaintance or friend? …Nah

If they suddenly went, “Hey, long ti well~!”, I’ at the mouth

“Do you have some business with us?”

Of course it probably wasn’t so like that, but Horikita became immediately wary of Ichinose, who had just appeared She probably thinks that this isn’t coincidence

“Business… well, soaround”

It would’ve been fine to answer honestly, but the pressure froaze made me answer differently

“Soht?”

“…You know us?”

“I’ve h we haven’t talked Also, I re him in the library before”

Souess I look pretty cool)

“I have a goodto say that you wouldn’t have reood?

I was a bit happy, but ht that there would be soht When I wasn’t at school yesterday, it seems like some information about the witness had reached class B I only heard later that the students of class D were trying to prove hi here because of the incident, then how does that affect you?”

“Hmm, how does it affect me? …well, it doesn’t But, I had a few doubts when I heard about the story, and so I decided to cos out If it’s fine with you, would you tell me about the circumstances?”

Is it fine to chalk it up as “curiosity” then?

After a few etically

“Does that mean no? If other classes were interested…”

“No, it’s nothing like that, but…”

“I can only think there’s sos peacefully, but Horikita immediately shot down that plan

Ichinose tilted her neck and s behind Horikita’s words

“So to make a secret move to interfere with class C and D?”

She looked like she wanted to say, “Oh, that’s disappointing”

“I don’t think you have to be that wary, though I’m really just curious”

“I don’t want to answer someone who’s ‘just curious’ Just do as you please”

Horikita answered, trying to get her to back off, and looked out the

“Please tellAll I heard froht”

Although I hesitated for a bit, I knew that there wasn’t much information out there and decided to explain how the three class C students called out Sudou, got beat up, turned it around on him, and hoo versions of the story were reported to the school Ichinose listened to the whole store seriously

“I see, so that’s what happened That news hasn’t coe problem? It doesn’t matter who lied, since it’s a case of violence anyway Shouldn’t you discover the truth?”

“That’s e’re here in the first place, but we haven’t discovered much”

It’s not a murder scene, so I didn’t think there were any hints left over, but we did get some results, contrary to our expectations

“So, you’re believing Sudou-kun because he’s your friend and your classmate And therefore this case has become a case of false accusation to class D”

It would be hard for Ichinose, a third party, to understand that it wasn’t because he was our friend or because he was our class to explain that ? For exauilty?”

“I would honestly report it After all, such a lie would only bite us in the back later”

“Yea, I agree”

It’s not like Ichinose would be affected anyway

“Then we’re good, right? Since you got what you wanted”

She spoke quickly, as if she wanted to turn her away as fast as possible

“Mmm Hey, is it fine if I help? I can help look for the witness It’s faster if there’s ht?”

Obviously, the more people the better That’s true But it’s not like we’re saying, “Please listen to our story, it’s a disaster!”

“I wonder why a class B student is offering to help”

“Are class B and class D completely unrelated? We don’t knohen and where these kind of cases will pop up Since the classes are coainst each other, there’s always of a risk that these troubles appear This tie issue if the party that lied wins Also, I personally can’t overlook this after hearing what happened”

I couldn’t tell if she was being serious or if she was joking

“If class B helps in finding a witness, don’t you guys have more credibility? Well, it’s possible that class D is the one that suffers dae after the truth is revealed…”

If Sudou’s words are proven to be a lie, that means class C’s claim is the correct one Sudou would be suspended, and class D would take soe, perhaps fatal

“What do you think? I think it’s a pretty good proposal”

I looked over at Horikita However, she was still facing out the ith her back turned to me I wonder what she thinks about her proposal

Naturally, ere most worried about our merit If the students of class D tried to prove Sudou’s innocence by ourselves, the credibility of our proof would be low unless the evidence completely solved the case

If an unrelated class B student got involved, the situation would be co a hypocrite, but I also don’t intend to carry such a heavy responsibility”

I weighed the positives and the negatives of her proposal Obviously, we still couldn’t trust Ichinose yet After all, she’s a student fro to help If helping other people repeatedly was related to the class and private points, then her actions are understandable She probably won’t give up such valuable information so easily… but there’s no other way but to ask

“Let’s accept the help, Ayanokouji-kun”

Horikita reater than the risks

I was thankful that she came to a decision quickly

In the first place, I didn’t really have any power to decide; it was all up to Horikita

Ichinose s her white teeth

“Then it’s decided Uave her name; it looks like she approves of this cooperative relationshi+p

“Nice to meet you, Horikitsan And Ayanokouji-kun as well”

By an unexpected turn of events, we became acquainted with Ichinose and formed a cooperative relationshi+p, but it’s still up to chance whether or not this is a good thing Either way, it’ll bring change

“We already found the witness, but sadly, they’re in class D”

Ichinose let out a sigh, facepal

“Well, that ht? At least, the probability would be low”

A very low chance, but a chance is a chance

“Even then, your friend is being considered as a regular, right? That’s awesoreat asset later on If he goes out and does great, he’ll get points and so will the class Wait… did you not know? Did your teacher not tell you?”

We were only told that our private points were affected

“It’sthat it affects our class points… I’ll have to bring up a complaint with Chiyabashi+rsensei later on”

Horikita mumbled in dissatisfaction

Either way, Sensei oain I wonder if it was their teacher that told class B about the class points…

As usual, Sensei doesn’t even try to pretend that we’re all equal I’ the extree about your homeroom teacher”

“In the first place, she just doesn’t have any motivation to tell us and is apathetic to the students There are those kind of teachers”

I didn’t think it was so to be surprised about, but Ichinose took a step back

“Did you know that the horaduates?”

“No, first ti it Are you sure?”

I wasn’t interested; rather, I had to be interested An important distinction to make

“My homeroom teacher, Hoshi+nomiysensei, says it like it’s her favorite phrase She always says that she has to do her best because the teacher in charge of class A will get a bonus at the end It seeuys”