Hearing the other party's provocation, Sudo Ken suddenly flew into a rage and directly rushed in front of the other person.
But that boy still had a look of utter contempt and didn't take Sudo Ken and the others seriously at all,
"Trash should eat trash food. Why don't you all go eat hamburgers?"
'Hamburgers don't deserve such hate.' Saiki complained in his heart.
"You bastard, are you looking down on hamburgers?"
Sudo Ken's anger seemed to rise even more, and he directly grabbed the other party's collar.
'The thing you're focusing on is the hamburgers?'
Just as the atmosphere became tense and ready to explode, another person at the same table as that boy slowly opened his mouth and spoke in an extremely serious tone, "Yahiko, don't use such boring reasons to provoke others."
"Katsuragi…"
"Even though this is a vacation, it's still possible to lose points due to your attitude toward life. You need to have the awareness of being a student from Class A."
That man had a burly figure, but what stood out the most was the shiny bald top of his head.
'Light bulb.'
For some reason, the term suddenly popped into Saiki's mind.
'Is this person a teacher? I haven't seen him before. A teacher is actually eating with students here too… Light bulb… No no no, can you stop making the word 'light bulb' keep appearing in my mind? I should shift my gaze to somewhere else... Damn... that bald head is just too attention-grabbing.'
While Saiki was trying to shift his gaze away, his eyes still unknowingly returned to the head of the man called Katsuragi.
"That person is called Katsuragi Kohei, seems to be one of Class A's leaders. The person next to him is called Totsuka Yahiko, his follower."
Next to him, Ike Kanji quietly informed Saiki of their identities.
And for the first time, an expression of slight shock appeared on Saiki's face.
'You're telling me this man, whose scalp shines brighter than a fluorescent light and looks at least 30 or 40 years old, is a Class A student and the same age as us?'
Saiki still found it hard to believe this fact.
"Hey hey, no need to be that surprised, Saiki."
This was also the first time Ike Kanji saw Saiki, who was always expressionless, with a flash of surprise in his eyes.
Outside of necessary situations, Saiki basically didn't interact with students from other classes, especially from Class A.
"I suggest you all also learn some manners and stop causing trouble for others."
Katsuragi Kohei slowly said to Sudo Ken, while shaking his head.
"Tch."
Sudo Ken glared at Totsuka Yahiko. Even though he was truly annoyed by the guy, he also clearly knew that he couldn't cause trouble anymore.
"Sudo, let's go to another restaurant."
Ike Kanji came over and patted Sudo Ken on the shoulder, then turned to Saiki.
"Saiki, let's go."
'Hey hey hey, why are you making it sound like I'm one of your accomplices?'
Saiki was a bit helpless but could only follow them and leave together.
However, before leaving, he activated his psychokinesis and flipped over the tray in front of Totsuka Yahiko.
"Aaaah! Hot!"
Totsuka Yahiko's scream echoed in the restaurant.
———
At the same time, on the other side of the cruise ship, Horikita Suzune and Ayanakoji were sitting at an outer booth.
"Ayanakoji, was the recording really not done by you?" Suzune spoke with a very serious expression and stared intently at Ayanakoji.
"Give me a break. You've been hung up on this for a long time, right? I can tell you clearly, this has nothing to do with me."
Ayanakoji shook his head and said somewhat helplessly, "Based on speculation, the most likely case is that D Class had internal issues."
"Mm, that's true…"
Suzune nodded. Although it was a bit hard for her to believe something like that, at present, it was still the most likely explanation.
"Yo, Suzune."
At that moment, an overly frivolous voice came from the side. Suzune immediately knew who it belonged to.
Ryuen Kakeru.
At this moment, Ryuen arrived in front of Suzune along with Albert, Ibuki Mio, and others.
"Don't call my name without permission."
Facing the aggressive-looking Ryuen, Suzune didn't even look him in the eye. Although this was technically their first formal meeting, they had already heard about each other.
"Yo."
Seeing Suzune's reaction, Ryuenwed a meaningful smile, and his sharp gaze landed on her.
"Was it you who made the recording?"
His gaze was like that of a hunter who had spotted his prey.
In the period leading up to the vacation, Ryuen had been investigating the incident of the recording every day.
He had confiscated all of his class's phones and checked every student's spending records. It was time-consuming and exhausting, but to find the truth, Ryuen had no choice.
However, the result was unsatisfactory.
Everyone's spending and communication records showed no abnormalities, so Ryuen concluded there was only one possibility left. That it wasn't an internal traitor, but someone from Class C who did it.
"Why should I tell you?"
Suzune ignored Ryuen's attitude and just replied, "Why don't you reflect on whether your tyrannical behavior in class made your classmates start to hate you?"
Next to Suzune, Ayanakoji remained silent, just quietly watching them.
[If Ryuen is reacting like this, then they must've already confirmed it wasn't someone from within Class D. Back then, neither Ryuen nor D Class made any moves, which must've meant they were investigating internally. Now that they're here openly, it means they've confirmed their class is clean… So was it someone from our class after all?]
[Could it be… Saiki? Though there's no real evidence yet.]
[Ryuen seems to be provoking us, but in reality, he's trying to test us.] Ayanakoji judged this in his mind.
"Is that so?"
Ryuen narrowed his eyes slightly and carefully observed Suzune. He had obtained information about Class C from Kushida Kikyo, and he knew that the leaders of Class D were Hirata Yosuke and Suzune.
[Can't see any useful info at all.]
Ryuen thought to himself and then smiled as he continued, "I don't know how you did it, but either way, I will find that guy and make sure he's well taken care of, look forward to it!"
Ryuen waved his hand and then left with his group.
Suzune watched his figure gradually disappear and her expression became increasingly serious. She had heard things about Ryuen and didn't approve of his method of ruling his class through violence.
But like Ryuen, Suzune was also very curious about the recording incident.
Just then, the cruise ship's internal broadcast sounded again.
[All students, please put on your gym clothes and assemble on the deck.]
"What?"
Suzune slightly raised her eyebrows. This announcement was a bit unexpected.
"Well, this school is a bit unusual. Anyone can guess this won't just be a simple vacation." Ayanakoji responded.
"Mm, let's go."
———
[A Few Minutes Later]
Almost all the first-year students had already gathered on the deck, including Saiki.
"Why did they suddenly call us all together? Are we at our destination?"
"Didn't we agree before to go to a certain island for a training camp? But why do we need to change into gym clothes?"
"Not sure. Probably some kind of activity or something?"
Students from Classes A, B, C, and D had all gathered on the deck. Saiki turned his head to look at the not-so-distant place, the cruise ship had already docked next to the island.
Most of the surrounding students were in a state of excitement and hadn't realized the real purpose behind the school's trip.
"All classes, please disembark in order and gather on the island, and everyone, please hand over your phones to your homeroom teacher."
One of the teachers, holding a loudspeaker, said to everyone present.
"Weird… we have to hand over our phones this time?"
Some people in the crowd, upon hearing this, already faintly sensed something was off.
Sudo Ken, however, didn't think that far at all. Instead, he laughed and said to Ike Kanji and Yamauchi Haruki beside him, "Our school's pretty thoughtful, huh? They're just trying to stop us from dropping our phones into the sea."
'Hey hey hey, anyone with a halfway functional brain should notice something's wrong. Even a monkey from the zoo would realize something's off here.' Saiki thought sarcastically in his heart.
"Yeah, exactly!"
Yamauchi Haruki immediately gave an approving response.
'Are you from the same zoo as him?'
After a series of checks, Saiki and his classmates finally left the cruise ship and arrived on the island.
Without the cruise ship's luxurious environment, the glaring sunlight poured directly onto everyone, and the warm sea breeze carried a faint fishy smell.
"Now, we'll begin taking attendance."
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