Classroom of the Elite: Standing Firm in Class A — Chapter 66

Chapter 66: Horikita Suzune’s Inquiry

Ever since the incident with the stalker clerk was resolved, Sakura Airi’s world seemed to have been painted with a fresh layer of bright color.

The day after the anonymous report email was sent, the School Authorities handled the matter with thunderous speed. That clerk was immediately dismissed for malicious harassment and forcibly removed from the campus. The giant boulder that had been weighing on her chest was finally lifted.

Of course, her life did not return completely to the way it was before.

A person named Kaedehara Tetsu had been written into her daily routine in a way she couldn’t quite explain. She still subconsciously avoided crowds, and she still grew too nervous to speak when forced to interact with others. But when facing him, her thick shell of self-protection would quietly open a crack.

She had gathered her courage and confessed her secret identity as the gravure idol Shizuku. His reaction had been as calm as ever, treating it like an insignificant piece of trivia. That absolute calmness, devoid of any prying eyes or sudden surprise, gave her an unmatched sense of relief.

In the afternoon, after the dull classes finally ended, the two met up in the quiet aisles of the library.

Airi nervously handed over a small USB drive.

“Um… Kaedehara-san, this is what I promised you last time. As a thank you gift for fixing my camera…” Her voice was barely a whisper. Her head remained lowered, her eyes fixed firmly on her own shoes, not daring to meet his gaze.

Inside the drive were digital files containing unpublished portrait photos from her time as Shizuku. It was the most valuable reward she could think of offering.

Tetsu took the drive, his fingers brushing lightly against hers, and slipped it into his pocket. He did not refuse. He understood the psychology of a girl like her; accepting this gift was the only way to protect her fragile self-esteem.

“Oh, right, there is one more thing…” Airi suddenly remembered, her fingers twisting the strap of her camera bag. “Yesterday… Horikita-san, Kushida-san, and… Ayanokoji-kun came looking for me.”

She took a shaky breath. “It was about… the fight involving Sudo-kun. They seem to have found out from somewhere that I… I might have been nearby at the time. They wanted to ask if I had seen anything, or… if I had taken any pictures.”

“I… I told them my camera was broken, and the photos inside were lost due to data corruption. I said I don’t have a single photo left from that day. They… they looked very disappointed.”

Tetsu listened quietly to her intermittent, guilt-ridden narration.

Horikita Suzune and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had indeed extended their investigation to Airi. Unfortunately for them, the evidence he had erased a step ahead of time had become an impossible obstacle.

“That is the best response you could have managed,” Tetsu said, his voice smooth and reassuring.

“I… I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?” she asked in a low, trembling voice, like a child desperately seeking affirmation.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Tetsu looked down at her, his expression perfectly composed. “You are just an innocent passerby who accidentally broke her camera. You don’t know anything, and you didn’t see anything.”

Those words acted as an absolute truth, shutting out all the lingering anxiety inside her heart.

“I… I understand.”

“Then, I’ll head back first.” Tetsu didn’t drag the conversation out. He picked up a book from the wooden table, signaling the end of their meeting.

Airi hurriedly stood up straight and bowed deeply. “Thank you for today too, Kaedehara-san.”

Hugging her camera bag tightly to her chest, she turned and jogged toward the exit, her figure soon disappearing past the rows of bookshelves.

Tetsu remained in place. He didn’t move, merely weighing the small USB drive in his pocket with his fingertips, a faint, calculating amusement in his eyes.

Just as he turned to leave, a cold, detached figure materialized silently at the corner of the adjacent bookshelf.

Horikita Suzune.

She held a thick English dictionary against her chest, looking as though she had just finished her daily self-study session. Her appearance wasn’t abrupt; she had likely been standing there the entire time, perfectly obscured by the towering shelves.

Her sharp eyes first flicked toward the direction Airi had run off, then locked onto Tetsu.

“You and Sakura-san are close?”

Her tone was entirely flat. It was impossible to tell if she was actively interrogating him or merely expressing a rare moment of curiosity.

“We just met by chance. I helped her with a small favor,” Tetsu replied, his defense absolutely watertight.

He casually adjusted his posture, ensuring the USB drive was securely hidden away. Horikita’s gaze lingered for a fraction of a second on his pocket, but she didn’t press the issue. She had zero interest in investing her limited energy into the private lives of her classmates.

“Kaedehara-kun.” She spoke again, her voice as icy and measured as ever. “Do you have a moment to spare?”

“Of course.”

“You must have heard about Sudo Ken’s fight.”

“I’ve heard a little,” Tetsu said, his tone shifting into one of mild, polite concern. “Fighting isn’t a good thing, especially in this school. I hope your classmate was wrongly accused.”

It was the perfect response of a bystander—someone who cared just enough to be polite, but not enough to get involved.

Horikita’s brows furrowed, a subtle tightening of her features. She despised platitudes. She hadn’t revealed herself just to listen to him spout empty, indifferent opinions.

“I went to see Sakura-san yesterday,” Horikita stated, cutting straight to the point. “She told me her camera was broken, and the photos inside were partially lost due to data corruption. There wasn’t a single image left from the day the incident happened.”

“That is truly a pity,” Tetsu replied smoothly.

“The path of finding an eyewitness is dead. Now, those three students from Class C have a unified story. They claim Sudo started the violence and they were merely acting in self-defense. And Sudo… that idiot cannot produce a single shred of evidence to refute them.” She gripped the edge of her dictionary tighter. “There isn’t much time left for our class. Once the Student Council makes a final ruling, Sudo will be expelled.”

Tetsu listened in silence, letting her lay out the desperate reality of her situation.

“So I came to ask you,” she continued, her pride forcing the words out slowly. “In a situation where physical evidence is completely missing, do you think there is any way to turn this situation around?”

She was actually taking the initiative to ask someone else for help.

Tetsu let a brief moment of silence stretch between them, pretending to ponder the dilemma. He knew she had already exhausted every logical method she could think of. She had tried to find flaws in the testimonies of the Class C trio, but their stories were shockingly consistent. They had clearly been carefully coached by Ryuen Kakeru.

Every conventional path was blocked.

“Since the path of physical evidence is dead, then only witness testimony remains,” Tetsu finally said, his voice dropping to a low, serious register.

“You mean… make the people from Class C admit they are lying?”

“Do you have any other choice besides this method?”

Horikita fell silent. She understood the cold logic behind his words. But the real question was the execution. That group from Class C, operating strictly under Ryuen’s tyrannical control, was like a solid iron plate. Trying to pry the truth out of their mouths was as difficult as ascending to heaven.

“That is very difficult,” she finally admitted, the harsh cruelty of reality settling over her shoulders.