Classroom of the Elite: Crimson Usurper (V5-V11.5)

(V7) Chapter 4: Preparations Complete

"SPILL it out, Manabe."

"Ryuuen-san..." Ishizaki looked over to me. 

"The information I need is substantial. If she doesn't say, I'll use other means," I slammed my fist on her desk.

"She said she couldn't tell you. She has blackmail against her by 'X'," Ibuki reasoned, trying to stop me harshness.

"Yeah, I know," Whether she gets expelled because of that, it doesn't matter. In the hypothetical scenario in which I'd have to choose between several students to expel, I'm choosing Manabe without hesitation.

"Look, how about this," I leaned to her. "This 'X' isn't your boyfriend, but a pawn of 'X', yeah? He never said anything about me not knowing his identity. Only if I do any action against him. So, you won't be blackmailed due to this, alright?"

"B-But, you'd probably do something to him..."

"Maybe, maybe not."

I have a thought as to who that 'boyfriend' is. However, I am not certain.

"Tell me, is it Shinjiro Akabane?" I observed her reaction to the tiniest micro-expression.

"I-I!?"

"Right in the eye," I got out of her face.

"Eh? Shinjiro?" Ibuki asked. "Like, the weirdo?"

"Yes, him. Tell me, Ibuki. We're all teenagers in this grade, correct?"

"Well... of course. Where are you going with this?"

"Us teenagers have hormones, so of course we feel a little something."

"Excuse me, 'us'...?" Ibuki glared at me.

"Look, you probably have. Of course, there are teenagers who don't feel that type of way. My point being, on average, most do feel that type of way. It's a natural thing for the human body as they're growing up to be adults. Now... would a teenager really sacrifice their prestigious high school life of possibly graduating from Class A to sniff some used underwear?"

"Of course. Ishizaki's the type to do that."

"H-Hey! No I'm not!"

"Hm," I stopped, being in deep thought. "well, I suppose there would be a couple. Never mind that, Shinjiro, from my previous expelled classmates, was incredibly quick-witted and pragmatic. I don't see him as the type of student to do such thing without an underlying, strategic motive."

If it was some random pervert, like that dude named Hondo or something. I could see it.

"It just so happened to be he forgot to place it back into Karuizawa's bag after doing his thing, hm?"

"... I guess looking at it like that, the logic falls flat."

"Say," I was curious about something. "How did you and your crush meet?" I asked Manabe.

"How... we met?" Manabe looked into her brain. "When... he came up to me. It was about how he saw what happened with Karuizawa bullying my friend. And he mentioned how much he dreaded and hated Karuizawa for ruining his school life over false allegations and he didn't want it to happen to anyone else."

"I see." It was much obvious. "Anyone who has a brain, figure this out," I looked over to Ishizaki, Albert Shiina, Kaneda and Ibuki.

...

"Shinjiro-san is indeed the boyfriend."

"Is that so?" Ishizaki asked Shiina.

 "Replace the boyfriend with Shinjiro-san in this scenario."