Everyone was still momentarily shocked at what Kagura said.
Some looked at me and others didn't; at any rate, everyone was silent until Honda spoke up.
"That has to be a joke, right?" She scoffed. "Because there's no way he got that information."
"No, he—"
"That has to be a lie. Are you trying to increase his Rp? You thought maybe if I called his name, then people might act slightly more favorably towards him."
That was originally what I had planned for Kagura to do but I knew it would be deconstructed in an instant—just like now.
That was why I didn't tell Kagura anything about the strategy but instead let her be authentic.
I could only do this because I had faith in her—faith in my friend.
"You're wrong. I got it from Nakamura," Kagura still doubled down despite Honda's comment.
"You're so adamant on that. Let's say that you did get it from him. Why trust him?"
"...He doesn't deserve to be ostracized."
"Really? Even if some men interact with him, he is for sure an enemy to every woman."
"Hey, wait. Don't you think you are overdoing it?" Ito would, of course, try to resolve everything peacefully.
"His expulsion was annulled; we still don't know if that rape charge is true. It may be false," Kagura still wouldn't allow me to be put down.
They're really good friends.
"False? Aiya wouldn't lie about that, though I know that you and Ito are too nice for your own good. That being said, I'm sure Aiya will agree with m—"
"Actually, I completely disagree," Suzuki silently went to the podium as Kagura and Honda argued. "I and Nakamura had a talk during the weekend and it seems there has been a misunderstanding. He didn't try to rape me but accidentally slipped on me after he finished taking a bath."
Everything before her last sentence was true—we did talk during the weekend but that bath part was obviously a fabricated lie.
Suzuki took a strategic pause; she looked over at everyone before continuing in a soft and slow but deliberate tone—she was about to begin bullshitting.
"It was the day before his expulsion, the night before, to be exact. I came to his room and he said he wanted to take a bath. We normally had study sessions, for which I put my phone on recording us so he could listen to it after the session. After he finished his bath, he came out, and he was about to go to his cabinet but fell on me—I got flustered and told him to stop. I didn't wait for an answer and hit him before running away. I was honestly scared so I quickly told everyone," Suzuki lowered in shame–or so she made it look.
She really is quite the actor.
"That's…" Honda was flabbergasted but tried to look for an answer. "What if he blackmailed her? He might be forcing her to say that. He is—"
"Why can't you just believe the truth? No, I'm not surprised why. After all, you're looking for someone to antagonize. You've been bullying Nakamura just for the fun of it," Suzuki continued.
"...?!" Ito was alarmed by the statement; so was Kagura.
"That was—" Honda quickly saw what was happening and was about to try and disengage; however, I planned solely for this to happen.
"When you did that to Kobayashi, I overlooked it but now, I won't let you do it again—I won't let you drive my friend to expulsion."
Friend, huh? Didn't think we were that close, Yoshida?
Both Ito and Kagura were shocked but this was precisely what I wanted.
I didn't tell Yoshida to do any of this but I made her care about me so she would want to protect me.
"That's completely different; moreover, it was deserved, and also you didn't say anything about it."
"You're right, I didn't but I am saying something now. I am saying something because this is just ludicrous. You're just a sadist."
"...!" Honda was furious but she had to disengage to lower the damage to her reputation.
"Even now you're silent; you're focusing on me instead of focusing on your victim, Nakamura. Especially after—"
"You did this just for your own sake," Suzuki cut her off.
I sent a message to Suzuki that she should cut Yoshida off because she was about to mention what happened on the Friday before the test—or what she thought happened.
If she mentioned that, this plan would explode in front of me.
"No, I was trying to avenge you—"
"Honochi, please just stop before your Rp reduces even further and Nakamura, we apologise for what we did to you; we understand that we overreacted."
When I was being bullied, I noticed that Ayumi wasn't actually on Honda's side—rather, she didn't actually like bullying me.
I expected her to try to look for an out through this argument, and if a close friend of Honda looked like she was giving up, it would be the same as Honda giving up.
"Bullshit. I'm not wrong. I was trying to help someone yet I'm the one being punished. What kind of logic is that?"
Honda was frustrated and was trying to make someone just side with her.
She was desperate and unfortunately, desperation didn't help but made her look crazy.
"Honda," Ito said, his voice having a hint of disappointment. "Just stop. Please."
Honda finally stopped because she realized that Ito was also against her.
"I'm sorry for the false accusation," Suzuki bowed.
"I apologise as well," Yoshida bowed.
"I'm so sorry for what I did," Ayumi bowed and so did Honda, though her apology wasn't as sincere.
People followed suit, bowing to express their apology, with Miyamura and Matsumoto looking sad as they did so.
"We apologise for doubting you," the rest of my classmates said.
I grinned internally because my plans were going on smoothly.
Perfect.
***
As Nakamura was receiving apologies, certain things were occurring elsewhere.
They were happening over the entire first-year student block.
Class Alpha relished in their success, though it was expected so most were calm about it, especially since Hoshikawa prepared the answers by Friday so they just had to memorise everything but they were told to fail a bit to not be suspicious.
Class Gamma were disappointed in themselves and most were not in class but their blind leader reassured them.
"Don't worry, guys, we'll do better next time. I promise," he grinned—he was cheerful despite his disability.
Class Delta was also disappointed but they were mostly okay because their camaraderie helped them get through the hardest challenges.
However, what we're focusing on today isn't those classes. We're focusing on Class Beta.
Akatsuki just finished telling his class to do better but that wasn't all he was addressing.
"I happened to overhear that Class Beta had a fight a while ago. Care to explain?"
Everyone except Arai was confused; they all thought Akatsuki planned what happened.
"Well, I suppose most of you will be surprised. Fine, let me make it easier. Someone here used two weeks of my sickness to try and do something. If you come out, I won't do anything to you," He grinned—even he didn't believe in what he said.
Akatsuki could have just asked everyone to reveal the person but he enjoyed playing like this—he was somewhat of a sadist.
"Five," he began counting. "Four."
"Three."
"Two—"
"It was me," Arai came out.
"Is that so?" Akatsuki grinned. "So, why'd you do it?"
"I wanted us to get rid of the competition."
"Yet you utterly failed. Who foiled your plan?"
"Nakamura Eiya, he made me deal because things were getting out of hand and I was trying to stop us from," Arai told Akatsuki the entire story of what happened; throughout the story, Akatsuki heard the name Nakamura several times.
Akatsuki remembered that name—he was Suzuki's boyfriend. Akatsuki found this interesting but for now he had to handle Arai.
"Slow down," Akatsuki tapped Arai's shoulder. "I get it but I still have to punish you."
"B-But you said—"
"Come on, even you must have known that I was lying. I mean, you're smart, aren't you? Or maybe you're not and that's how you got one-upped by someone in Class Epsilon."
"Please don't—"
"Sorry… but no."
Akatsuki flashed his phone at the security camera—on his phone read 'selective accords'; it was how the rule was activated.
After its activation, Akatsuki carried Arai's phone and it gave him a choice.
"Survive without your phone," he said. "Or get beat up by 5 people."
"..." Arai was frozen in fear because he knew Akatsuki wasn't joking.
"Answer or the number will increase."
"..."
"Now, it's six people."
"...!"
"Now, it's seven."
"I'll take the seven people!"
"Good boy but now it's eight," Akatsuki patted his head before kneeing him in the stomach.
As Arai writhed in pain on the floor, Akatsuki brought out 8 boys to beat Arai up.
Akatsuki threatened them that if they didn't, he would bring upperclassmen to beat them up.
The 8 boys began to beat Arai up until the point of tears before Akatsuki gave him back his phone.
"Now," Akatsuki said. "Don't fuck up again or they'll beat you till you get hospitalised."
Akatsuki used his phone to turn off the selective accords and class went on normally even as Arai sniffled in pain, though Akatsuki didn't tell him to keep shut because he was focusing on something else.
Akatsuki had set his sights on something interesting while he was a sadist; he didn't enjoy bullying the weak, he was just trying to keep Arai—and by proxy the class—in line.
In fact, why he did it was because someone anonymously sent him a message that his class had tried something without his knowledge and it was related to a fight—he didn't actually know what happened but luckily, he caught the person.
You see, Akatsuki was the kind of person who liked control but wasn't a tyrant; he just wanted his class to have order so he created a front of a sadistic tyrant.
His real sadistic nature was shown when he destroyed the strong—of course not literal physical strength. That was why he had just one thing in his mind.
'Let's see who you really are, Nakamura Eiya. Are you weak or Strong?'
***
Author's Note:
Just so you know, this will literally be answered in the next volume.
Anyway, remember to comment, share, and leave a review. Thanks for reading the chapter and see you in the next one.