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Chapter 50: Crisis Strikes: The Sudo Ken Fight Incident
🕑 Added 2025-04-15 09:30:01 +0000 UTC'Yare yare, I almost forgot about this. It must be Ryuen’s doing.'
Upon hearing these words, Saiki Kusuo immediately made his judgment.
He had known earlier what Ryuen Kakeru was planning, but since Ryuen hadn’t taken any action yet and it didn’t affect him directly, Saiki had temporarily pushed the matter to the back of his mind.
"It was self-defense!"
Upon hearing Chabashira Sae’s words, Sudo Ken couldn’t sit still and loudly explained,
"They started it! They were jealous that I became a starter and provoked me!"
"If there were witnesses, it would be easier to handle."
Chabashira narrowed her eyes slightly, as if she had already anticipated Sudo’s reaction.
"Tch..."
Sudo wanted to say more, but in the end, he could only fall silent.
[Damn it... It seems like there was no one around at the time!]
Sudo was extremely frustrated and tried hard to recall what had happened the previous day.
Using his telepathy, Saiki gleaned a rough idea of the situation from Sudo’s mind. While there might be some discrepancies due to personal bias, Saiki knew that the likelihood of Sudo initiating the fight wasn’t very high.
Although Sudo had a fiery temper, he generally wouldn’t resort to violence easily. However, it seemed Ryuen had successfully exploited this flaw in his personality.
"Everyone! Does anyone here know what really happened?"
At that moment, Kushida Kikyo stood up from her seat, appearing deeply concerned for Sudo.
[This must be Ryuen’s doing.]
[Getting Sudo Ken expelled and putting our class in crisis—this is my gift to Ryuen. This way, I can better use Ryuen’s hand to eliminate Horikita later.]
[Of course, Ryuen, who knows all this, will ultimately play along.]
Kushida thought to herself.
Saiki could, of course, project Kushida’s thoughts for the entire class to hear, revealing the truth of the matter. However, doing so would likely cause even greater turmoil.
Kushida’s middle school class had apparently collapsed due to similar reasons.
After Kushida spoke, the classroom fell silent.
But in Saiki’s ears, it was anything but quiet.
[Sudo? That sounds like something he’d do.]
[He definitely started the fight!]
[That guy Sudo, why didn’t he get expelled during the midterms? Now we’re all losing points because of him!]
Although no one in the class spoke, Saiki could clearly hear their thoughts.
Since Sudo Ken wasn’t particularly well-liked in the class and had a notoriously bad temper, everyone believed he was truly involved in the incident.
'While the law states that without evidence, one cannot be convicted of a crime, it seems the opposite is true here. Sudo has to prove he didn’t start the fight to avoid responsibility.'
'Even if there were witnesses in the class, it probably wouldn’t help. After all, they’re classmates, and there’s no concrete evidence to prove Sudo’s innocence. Ryuen definitely chose a place with no other witnesses to carry out his plan.'
'Yare yare, this is a bit troublesome. The most straightforward solution would be to project the thoughts of those involved directly into the minds of others later, but that could lead to even more complications. Although Sudo isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed and has a bad temper, he hasn’t actually done anything wrong.'
Saiki knew that in this school, engaging in a physical fight would result in expulsion.
As Saiki pondered this, he caught a faint, unfamiliar thought.
[Sudo-kun... is innocent... I saw the whole thing... I think I even recorded it...]
'Huh?'
Saiki was surprised and instinctively turned his gaze toward the source of the thought.
It was a girl with long red hair. The glasses resting on her nose didn’t completely obscure her beauty, and her upper body, with its striking curves, leaned against the desk.
'What’s her name again?'
Before his X-ray vision could penetrate her skin and reach her skeleton, Saiki finally remembered her name.
Sakura Airi.
In the class, she was almost invisible, having little interaction with others. Saiki had never even spoken a word to her, which was why he hadn’t recalled her name immediately.
'A witness? Seems like it’s true, but why isn’t she speaking up?'
Saiki was curious why Sakura Airi wasn’t revealing the truth.
[If I speak up... everyone will notice me... and my part-time job as a net idol will be exposed... I can’t say anything...]
'Yare yare, another socially anxious person?'
Saiki thought to himself. It seemed there were quite a few people with social anxiety in this school.
'If that idiot gets expelled like this, it’d be too pitiful. If only Sakura could provide the evidence...'
As Saiki was thinking, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka’s thoughts also surfaced in his mind.
[When the word “witness” was mentioned just now, Sakura Airi’s expression and movements changed noticeably.]
'Seriously? You noticed that too?'
[She might know something, but I don’t need to approach her for now.]
'Maybe Ayanokoji can solve this on his own.'
[Just now, Saiki’s gaze seemed to flicker toward Sakura Airi for a moment. Did he also notice the change in her demeanor?]
'To be honest, no. I heard it through my powers.'
"I think it’d be better if you just dropped out, Redhead."
At the same time, a somewhat flippant male voice sounded next to Sudo Ken.
With golden hair and mixed features, Saiki remembered his name—Koenji Rokusuke, the person ranked first on Saiki’s “Classmates I Least Want to Interact With” list.
