Classroom of the Elite: Crimson Usurper (Volume 2)

Chapter 5: The Debate

THE day was here. As the bell rang for the end of class, Horikita, Ayanokouji and I stood up.

"Have you prepared for this, Sudou-kun?" 

"Yeah...  I'm good. I was born ready."

The discussion was scheduled to begin at 4:00 PM. It was already 3:50 PM. We couldn't afford to take it slow. After visiting the faculty  room for Chabashira-sensei, we left the room.

From there, we walked up three floors to the fourth. A placard that read "Student Council" Room" was affixed to the wall near the doorway. Chabashira-sensei knocked, and we went inside.

Inside were long tables had been arranged in rectangular formation. The three students from Class C had already arrived and were seated. Beside them sat a male teacher in his 30s. Sakagami-sensei.

"Sorry we're late," our sensei said.

"It's before the scheduled start time. There's no need for apologies." 

"Have you already met?"

Sudou, Horikita, and Ayanokouji did not know the teacher.

"This is Sakagami-sensei, the homeroom teacher for Class C. Now then."

One lone male student seated in the back of the room attracted everyone's attention.

"This is the student council president."

Horikita's older brother, without so much as even a glance at his sister, pored over the documents on his desk. Horikita directed her gaze at her brother for a short time, but when she realized that she wasn't his focus, she lowered her eyes and sat down in front of the Class C students.

"Well then, I would now like to discuss the violent incident that occurred last Tuesday with the members of the student council, the involved parties, and their homeroom teachers. You may begin the proceedings, student council secretary Tachibana."

Secretary Tachibana, a woman with short hair, gave a slight bow.

"Of course, considering the magnitude of this dispute, there are times when the student council president will take over. There are several unusual things about this incident. Other than that, the bulk of the proceedings will be handled solely by Tachibana, as usual."

"Because I am quite busy, there are certain agenda topics upon which I will defer. As a general rule, though, I would prefer to attend to these issues, as I'm entrusted to lead this student council."

"So, this is all by chance?" Chabashira-sensei smiled as she said that, but Horikita's older brother never wavered. On the contrary though, Horikita —Horikita the younger sister, | mean—couldn't hide her trembling. Considering they were brother and sister, the odds were not in our favor. In fact, this situation was extremely disadvantageous, as Horikita couldn't demonstrate her usual prowess here.

Secretary Tachibana summarized the situation from both sides in an easy-to-understand manner. There wasn't any need for further explanation.

"Based on the aforementioned facts, we would like for you to identify which version of events is true." After completing her explanation and the preface to the proceedings, Secretary Tachibana turned her eyes toward us in Class D. "Komiya-kun and two other members of the basketball club went to the special building after Sudou-kun called them there. There, they claim to have been beaten up in a one-sided brawl. After Shinjiro-kun intervened and stop the fight, Sudou and Shinjiro-kun walked away. Is this true?"

"What those guys said was a lie. I was the one that got called over to the special building," Sudou said. "That day, after practice, Komiya and Kondou asked me to go to the special building. Honestly, I thought it was kind of annoying, but I also thought it might've been because they were always hostile towards me. So, I went to meet them. Also we did not walk away! They scrambled off like the cowards they were."