Volume 10, Chapter 5: Good and Evil Part 4

Haruka and the rest of the Ayanokji Group approached me immediately after Chabashira left the classroom.

Horikita and Yamauchi left the classroom right away.

Are you free right now?

Hm? Yeah.

I actually wanted to talk to Hirata a little bit but

Without showing any particular sort of emotion on his face, Hirata quietly left the classroom alone.

Since my situation had been made public, ignoring the Ayanokji Group didnt seem like a very good idea.

Lets go to the cafe!

We collectively agreed with Harukas suggestion and left the classroom behind.

We all entered the hallway together, none of us even thinking of heading over to the cafe alone.

Is this alright? If worst comes to worst, the rest of you might be targeted by Yamauchis group.

If they want to aim for us then bring it on! I absolutely wont let somebody from our group be expelled.

Contrary to her usual behavior, Harukas anger was more pronounced and didnt seem to be letting up.

I have the same opinion. There isnt a single reason why Kiyotaka should be expelled.

Keisei spoke up in agreement, with Akito and Airi nodding along.

I thought it was strange that we didnt find out any information, but it makes sense that we couldnt, what with their target being somebody in our group.

No matter how much they investigated, they wouldnt have been able to catch on to the identity of the large groups target.

Keisei seemed to understand this well enough.

We arrived at the cafe. After everyone finished ordering their drinks, Haruka broke the ice.

I think Yamauchi-kun is a really good choice for our censure votes. Well, rather, I totally dont think theres any other option.

No objections here, but what about our other two votes?

Isnt it, like, fine to vote for the people whore still supporting him?

Wont there be a huge drop in the number of his supporters now that its been made public that hes got connections with Sakayanagi? Even Ike and Sud werent bold enough to say anything to defend him.

Yeah, but since theyre his friends, I feel like theyll cast him a praise vote out of sympathy.

Harukas prediction was probably correct.

Even though hed been branded a traitor, Yamauchi had only taken action to protect himself.

From another perspective, it could be said that he had simply been taken advantage of by Sakayanagi. Its not like there was no room for sympathy.

Horikita was the one who had incited all the hate for Yamauchi Well No, I had been the one behind that.

Yamauchi was the mastermind, and Sakayanagi was the one pulling the strings behind him.

I informed the elder Horikita about everything, and had him relay the information to his sister.

If, by any chance, she hadnt taken action, I would have just done the same thing she had done myself.

I wonder how many censure votes Kiyotaka is actually gonna get? Out of the boys, theres Yamauchi along with Ike and Sud, and beyond those three, Hond, Ijuin, Miyamoto, and Sotomura all seem to be on fairly good terms with him.

There only seemed to be seven censure votes from the boys in the class.

What about the girls?

I have no doubts that Horikita-san will cast a praise vote for Kiyotaka-kun and a censure vote for Yamauchi-kun. I dont know what the other girls are gonna do though Do you know Airi?

Sat-san and Karuizawa-san probably wont vote against him I think

Why?

I dont know why, its just a feeling but

Airi trailed off as she tried to explain it to Keisei, and Haruka chimed in.

Its a womans intuition.

We cant rely on that.

Keisei wasnt going to count these votes with this explanation alone.

Yes we can. Its real weird, but I think shes on the right track. Especially since its Airi were talking about here.

Whats that supposed to mean? Sat aside, how could she possibly know anything about Karuizawa?

Unable to understand her reasoning, Keisei doubtfully tilted his head.

Dont worry about it. Like, lets just say we can count those two out from voting for him.

This is sloppy

However, other than those three, its still pretty unclear what the rest of the girls will do.

Yea. There are a lot of girls who dont like Yamauchi-kun though. Even if they go through with their promises to vote for Kiyopon, theyll probably end up casting one for him as well.

Looking at it from a psychological perspective, thats probably true. For somebody whos simply looking to get through the exam, theyll be able to save themselves by casting their votes for people with the highest chance of being expelled. They probably see it as a one-on-one fight for survival between Kiyotaka and Yamauchi, and the remaining votes will probably be scattered among the other options.

Keisei went into the facts of the matter based on everything hed heard so far.

For instance, Kenji had been a prime target for the classs censure votes, but even so, that mindset had probably lost some traction. Casting a censure vote for Kenji would mean disregarding his strengths, and since there are several students actively dragging their feet and holding the class back from moving forward, Kenji would probably end up being safe.

Im sure youll be fine, Kiyotaka-kun.

Yeah, thank you.

In the back of her mind, Airi was probably still somewhat anxious that some of the remaining censure votes would be cast for her.

And yet, she offered me resolute words of encouragement without letting this anxiety show through.

Anyhow, isnt Kiyopon the calmest one here?

Its just that theres nothing I can do. My thoughts have been filled with uneasiness.

Dont worry. Thanks to Horikita, things arent looking too bad anymore. Rather, its kinda like youve been saved by her.

If it werent for Horikita, theres a good chance that most of the class wouldve faced the exam without knowing anything about what had been happening.

Without even a second thought, they wouldve gone and cast their vote for me just to save themselves.

An outcome like that was far too easy for me to imagine.

But I wonder how Horikita-san found out about Yamauchi-kuns betrayal.

Airi casually posed a crucial new question.

Our group is close with Kiyotaka-kun, so it makes sense that none of us heard anything about it, right? I thought Horikita-san would be in the same kinda situation as us is all

Thats true It doesnt seem like Horikita tried to go and form a group either.

Yamauchi was probably frustrated about this as well. He was most likely thinking that someone in the large group he had created betrayed him, even going as far as to spill everything to Horikita.

In the first place, he probably wouldnt have been able to notice the information leak, nor do anything about it.

I dont know who, but there mustve been somebody who didnt want Kiyopon to be expelled, right?

Probably. At least theres one good egg in the bunch.

None of them were able to realize that this somebody was both Kei and myself.

(Part 4 End)