"The truth is, this whole incident had nothing to do with X or anything like that. It was just a classic love rivalry between Ryuuen-kun and Ayanokoji-kun over Karuizawa-san, which escalated into a dramatic confrontation."
Shiina spoke with absolute confidence, as if stating an undeniable fact.
Seriously, does this girl even realize what she's saying?
Hikigaya suddenly felt a headache coming on. Unable to hold back, he asked, "Uh, sorry to interrupt, but when you say 'confession'… do you mean that kind of confession?"
"Yes, the kind where someone expresses their feelings to the person they like," Shiina responded matter-of-factly.
"…Thank you for the clarification. Please continue."
For some reason, Hikigaya found himself unconsciously using formal language.
In a way, maybe Shiina was actually the most formidable one in Class C. Even Ibuki and the others standing beside her were left speechless.
At this moment, Hikigaya couldn't help but feel the urge to observe a moment of silence for Ryuuen.
Not that he didn't deserve it—he brought this upon himself by skipping out.
Shiina continued, "Ryuuen-kun called Karuizawa-san to the rooftop to confess, but midway through, Ayanokoji-kun barged in to stop him. The two argued, tensions escalated, and that's how the fight broke out."
"Wait! What the hell are you talking about?! That never happened!" Karuizawa was the first to shout in protest.
"Oh? Then why did you go to the rooftop in the first place?" Shiina tilted her head as she countered. "I know it's a bit awkward for me, as a classmate, to say this, but Ryuuen-kun has a pretty terrible reputation in our grade. If it weren't for something as significant as a confession, I doubt many girls would agree to meet him. And certainly not someone from another class, like Karuizawa-san."
"W-Wait a second! Can you stop making up things on your own?!"
Faced with Shiina's words, Karuizawa looked visibly flustered.
Of course, she could tell the truth. But doing so would mean exposing her past.
"Shiina-san, don't you think what you just said contradicts itself?"
At that moment, Horikita stepped forward to challenge her.
"You yourself acknowledged that Ryuuen-kun has a terrible reputation. Karuizawa-san would never have accepted his invitation. Clearly, she must have been threatened."
"Oh? And what kind of threat are we talking about? Do you have any evidence?"
"…That—"
Horikita was immediately at a loss for words. She had no concrete proof.
No matter how much they pressed Karuizawa or Ayanokoji for answers, neither of them would say anything. And with so little time, there was no opportunity to investigate further.
"Besides, you're missing another crucial point," Shiina added with a sweet smile. "Everyone has different preferences. Maybe Karuizawa-san actually likes guys like Ryuuen-kun? Or maybe she simply admired his courage to confess, which is why she agreed to meet him. Isn't that a perfectly reasonable possibility?"
"But… wait, Karuizawa-san already has a boyfriend. Ryuuen-kun would've known that."
"There's no law against liking someone who already has a boyfriend."
Horikita's logical argument was effortlessly deflected with a single sentence.
But she wasn't about to back down.
"Then why did Ryuuen-kun bring other people with him? Wasn't it because he planned to do something to Karuizawa-san?"
"Oh, they were there to cheer him on," Shiina said, her expression full of warmth. "Ryuuen-kun may look like a delinquent, but he's surprisingly pure-hearted. He was agonizing over whether or not to confess, so he asked Ibuki and the others to support him from the sidelines."
…Pure-hearted?
Even Hikigaya nearly choked at that. Meanwhile, Ibuki looked like she was about to vomit.
Horikita was on the verge of laughing in exasperation. "Do you think anyone is going to buy that? Don't forget, they also blacked out the surveillance cameras."
"Well, Ryuuen-kun is a shy person. That's why he chose the rooftop for his confession. He blacked out the cameras because he didn't want anyone to see him. Of course, that was a mistake on his part. Our class is willing to accept punishment for it."
Shiina delivered her absurd yet seemingly reasonable explanation with an utterly calm expression.
"…This is beyond ridiculous," Horikita muttered, looking at her in disbelief.
Anyone who knew Ryuuen wouldn't buy a word of it.
But refuting it would require Karuizawa to reveal the real reason she had been there.
Even then, it probably wouldn't matter.
Because the message Ryuuen had sent her at the time didn't contain any explicit threats. He had merely invited her for a "talk."
Everyone could read between the lines, but on the surface, nothing was incriminating.
In the end, the only person who would suffer from this was Karuizawa.
Shiina could even spin it into something absurd like Ryuuen liking Karuizawa precisely because he understood her past.
The more Hikigaya thought about it, the more he felt that Shiina might say something like that.
After all, she was an expert at spinning lies.
"Well, I think I understand where both sides stand now."
Hikigaya sighed and decided to put an end to this farce.
"For now, let's set all that aside. What the student council wants to know is: When Ayanokoji arrived on the rooftop for Karuizawa's sake, who threw the first punch?"
Before Horikita could respond, Shiina raised her hand.
"Ibuki-san was the one who struck first. That's on us."
"Wait—Shiina?!" Ishizaki looked stunned and frantically signaled her with his eyes.
Shiina remained unfazed and continued, "But there was a reason for it. As I said, Ryuuen-kun was in the middle of confessing to Karuizawa-san when Ayanokoji barged in and ruined the moment. Ibuki-san got emotional and lost control."
"…Lost control?"
Hikigaya had a feeling the list of victims in this mess was about to grow.
Ibuki, too, seemed to realize what was happening. She stared blankly at the silver-haired girl who was weaving this ridiculous narrative.
"Yes, it was just a momentary lapse," Shiina nodded, looking completely serious. "Ibuki-san may seem tough on the outside, but deep down, she's just like any other girl. She loves shoujo manga and dreams of romantic confession scenes."
"H-Hey! That's not—"
"But then Ayanokoji-kun ruined it all, which is why she acted impulsively out of frustration," Shiina cut her off.
Even being present at the scene didn't spare Ibuki from having her reputation shredded.
Hikigaya could practically see Shiina silently telling Ibuki, 'You don't want our class to suffer, do you?'
…Nah, probably just my imagination.
"Since you've admitted it, I suppose there's nothing left to argue."
Recovering from her initial shock, Horikita fixed Shiina with a sharp gaze. "Class C not only outnumbered Ayanokoji-kun but also threw the first punch. Sure, he fought back, but I don't think it's fair to claim he had no right to defend himself."
If it was self-defense, then punishment would be less severe.
Luckily, Ayanokoji hadn't walked away completely unscathed. Otherwise, things might've been trickier.
However, Shiina wasn't done yet.
"No, no. What escalated the situation was what happened next. Ayanokoji-kun knocked Ibuki-san unconscious."
"…And? What's the problem?" Horikita frowned.
"Well, isn't it obvious?" Shiina tilted her head. "Ibuki-san just wanted to teach him a lesson for interrupting, but he flipped her over and knocked her out cold. Ryuuen-kun and the others saw him going all out on a girl and got angry. Their reaction was only natural."
"Wha—?! You—!"
Horikita and Karuizawa were stunned by how brazenly Shiina distorted the truth.
The worst part? It almost sounded plausible.
She had completely twisted the narrative.
From the very start, Ryuuen and his group had always intended to beat Ayanokoji to a pulp.
But now that she had separated Ibuki from the other three, it turned into Ayanokoji using excessive force in self-defense, while Ryuuen and the others were merely trying to avenge Ibuki.
"Heh, that's exactly right."
Nagumo chuckled, looking quite amused.
"Ayanokoji, no matter how good you are at fighting, hitting a girl is pretty pathetic. That kind of behavior isn't something to be encouraged."
"Nagumo-senpai, please wait a moment." Hirata quickly interjected. "Ayanokoji-kun only did it to save Karuizawa. I can vouch for that. Everything Class C is saying is a complete lie."
"You're saying it was to save Karuizawa… But I was there yesterday as well. From what I remember, she was perfectly fine—no signs of being harmed at all." Nagumo questioned skeptically.
"That's…"
"This so-called 'rescue' sounds like nothing more than your one-sided claim, doesn't it?"
With Nagumo's intervention, the situation gradually tilted against Class D.
Not that they had any real advantage, to begin with…
Seeing this, Hikigaya decided to lend a small helping hand. "From this conversation, the main point of contention still seems to be why exactly Ryuuen called Karuizawa to the rooftop. The nature of that reason determines how everything plays out afterward. And only those directly involved know the truth."
Saying this, he turned to Karuizawa.
"Karuizawa, was it Ibuki who made the first move?"
"Yes! It was her!"
"Did Ibuki injure Ayanokoji?"
"Um… I don't think so."
"Did Ayanokoji knock Ibuki out?"
"...Yes."
As Karuizawa spoke, she suddenly realized something felt off. She quickly added, "But she only did it under Ryuuen-kun's orders! It had absolutely nothing to do with a confession or anything like that! In fact, there was never anything like that from the start!"
"If you say there was nothing like that, then that's where it gets suspicious," Hikigaya said, rubbing his chin. "I asked you before—if it wasn't a confession, then why did you agree to meet him? It's not like Ryuuen just randomly sent you a message, and you agreed without thinking, right? And on top of that, you didn't tell anyone about it. You hid it from your friends and went up to the rooftop alone. That's pretty strange, don't you think? Why don't you just show us the message? That would clear everything up."
"I-I already deleted it!"
"Then at least tell us what it said?"
"It was just Ryuuen telling me to come! What's there to explain?!"
Honestly, talking to idiots is exhausting.
Hikigaya wished Karuizawa could learn a thing or two from Ayanokoji. That guy hadn't said a single word since the beginning.
He must've realized it already—the moment Nagumo showed up yesterday, this whole thing was a lost cause.
"Since both sides have conflicting statements, the review will be postponed for three days. You may use this time to gather new evidence. If no new evidence is found, the student council will make a decision based on the information currently available. And one more thing…"
Hikigaya paused, glancing around at everyone present.
"Fighting is one thing, but if anyone dares to lie to the student council, that's a whole different matter."
"Hikigaya's right. Lying will be severely punished," Nagumo chimed in at the perfect moment, then turned to the two homeroom teachers.
"You two have been awfully quiet since this started. Any thoughts?"
"No need. I trust my students completely," Sakagami-sensei said without hesitation.
Chabashira-sensei glanced at Ayanokoji before nodding. "I feel the same. I'll leave it to the students."
Truthfully, neither teacher probably had a full grasp of the situation.
In terms of the hearing itself, their presence didn't really matter. School rules just required at least one teacher to act as a witness.
"Alright then, that's it for today. Moving forward—"
"Please wait a moment."
At that moment, Ayanokoji finally spoke up.
"Oh? Do you have something to say?" Nagumo asked, eyeing him with a smirk.
"This situation is exactly as Class C described," Ayanokoji said calmly. "Karuizawa told me that Ryuuen wanted to confess to her. At first, I didn't care, but I got worried midway and decided to check on her. That's when I ran into Ibuki, and we got into a fight. I lost control and hit her a little too hard, which led to this whole mess. That was my mistake."
"Wait, Kiyotaka, what are you saying?!"
Karuizawa stared at him in disbelief, but Ayanokoji remained completely unfazed.
As expected of the White Room's ultimate creation.
He knew when to bend and endure.
That being said, he didn't accomplish anything this time—neither hiding his strength nor dealing a blow to Class C. Even the safety net he had prepared, Horikita Manabu, was rendered useless thanks to Nagumo's interference.
But for his sheer decisiveness in admitting defeat, Hikigaya had to respect him.
Taking a loss wasn't the end of the world—it was better than completely crashing and burning.
At this rate, Nagumo would eventually use his authority to utterly crush Ayanokoji.
Speaking of which, why did Ayanokoji invite the former student council president to be a witness? Did he not understand how the student council worked?
If not for Horikita Manabu stepping in, Nagumo probably wouldn't have handled this so blatantly.
But for Hikigaya, this worked out perfectly.
In Nagumo's eyes, Ayanokoji and Horikita Manabu were now part of the same camp. That was something worth taking advantage of.
"Haha, as long as you admit it, that's fine. This wasn't even a big deal in the first place," Nagumo said, waving his hand dismissively. "You guys are just high school boys with raging hormones. Fighting over a girl is completely normal. Just be more careful next time."
He didn't bother pressing Ayanokoji any further.
"Now, let's talk about the punishment. Since there wasn't any major damage, I won't deduct any class points. However, Class C will have to pay for the cost of cleaning the security cameras. And since this was a mutual fight, you'll each cover the other's medical expenses. That should be fair enough."
Hearing the verdict, Class C was overjoyed, while the expressions of Class D's members were less than thrilled.
Especially Horikita—she was glaring at Hikigaya.
…Huh?
Why?
He wasn't the one who made the decision!
Thinking about it, Hikigaya figured she probably thought the punishment was too light. That's why she was so unhappy.
Honestly, he kind of agreed.
If you round it up, this was the same as getting away scot-free.
"Nagumo-senpai, I think you're being too lenient here. They should at least learn a lesson so they don't make the same mistake again."
"Oh? And what do you suggest?" Nagumo asked, clearly amused.
"Well…"
Hikigaya pretended to think deeply for a moment before answering no one expected.
"At the very least, they should write a self-reflection essay."