A Tyrant's Will

Volume 2: Chapter 5.3 - Hunting for Clues

For the rest of the day, Class D remained in low spirits. Most of the students had already resigned themselves to hopelessness. If there'd been even the chance of a witness, then maybe Kushida and Hirata could've rallied the class to action. But as things stood, we didn’t even have that much.

After school, the class dispersed in all directions. As usual, Horikita was the first to leave. She was probably searching for evidence, though I doubted her efforts would bear fruit.

I wanted to talk to her, but she wasn’t exactly making it easy. I guess I'd just have to wait a little longer.

Hirata had already told his usual entourage of girls that he wanted to search for evidence on his own. They weren’t thrilled, but perked up the moment he promised to join them another time.

With that, one member of our three-person team was ready. The other, as if on cue, stepped forward right after.

“Ayanokouji-kun.”

Kushida's sweet voice reached my ears. By now, most of the class had cleared out, leaving only a few lingering students behind.

“Hello, Kushida. Did you need something?”

“Hirata-kun said you wanted to help out Sudou-kun and Horikita-san. Is that true?”

“Yeah. I'm not sure how much help I’ll be, though.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Kushida clapped her hands together. “Everyone else seems to have given up, but you’re still trying your best for the sake of the class. You’re a really good person, Ayanokouji-kun.”

That sounded more like a description of Hirata. If someone told me he would help others purely out of the goodness of his heart, I'd believe it. But me? I couldn’t say the same.

“I wish that were the case. But honestly, I'm mostly doing this for Horikita's sake.”

“Eh? Are you saying if it were just Sudou-kun in trouble, you wouldn't help?” Kushida gave a little pout.

That wasn’t what I said at all. Did my words really come across that way?

“No, I'm friends with Sudou too. It's just that Horikita and I are closer by comparison. She's the person I've talked to the most since coming here, so it only feels right to do what I can to help her.”

“Mmm.” Kushida gave an icy smile. “It's true that Horikita-san only seems to get along with you, Ayanokouji-kun. How do you do it?”

“I'm not sure. Maybe it's just a natural result of sitting next to each other in class.”

Kushida didn’t look convinced. “I doubt it’s that simple. There must be something special between you two.”

To be honest, I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

“I remember you were trying to invite Horikita out a lot over the past couple of months. Any luck getting her contact information?” I asked.

“No. She’s still as stubborn as ever.” Kushida slumped her shoulders.

“Hello, Ayanokouji-kun, Kushida-san.”

As Kushida and I were talking, Hirata walked over to join us.

“Ah, hello, Hirata-kun!” Kushida waved. “Shall we get going?”

“Of course,” Hirata said with a smile. “Although I have to admit, I still have no idea what to do.”

This was the main reason behind the class’s low morale. There was no clear path forward.

“Yeah. We don’t have many leads,” I replied. “I guess the rooftop’s our best bet for now.”