Dormitory of Daichi Ishizaki, Class D.
"I feel like someone might have seen us back then..."
At this moment, Daichi Ishizaki, his body wrapped in bandages, spoke to the two people in front of him.
Komiya Kyogo and Kondo Reo, the two others involved in framing Sudo Ken.
Daichi Ishizaki's face was covered in bruises, but these weren't all from Sudo Ken—some were the handiwork of Ryuen Kakeru. The purpose was to make Daichi look more like a victim, ensuring the framing operation would go off without a hitch.
Daichi Ishizaki had once been a bully at his previous school, but after entering high school, he had been completely subdued by Ryuen Kakeru. Now, he was Ryuen's loyal subordinate.
"I didn't notice anything at the time. Maybe you're just overthinking it?"
"Class C and even Class B are still looking for witnesses today. They even offered a point reward. If there really was a witness, they would have come forward by now... That place is usually deserted, so don't worry!"
Komiya Kyogo and Kondo Reo reassured Daichi Ishizaki, telling him not to worry too much about it.
"If everything goes smoothly, the punishment should come down by next Monday. That guy Sudo Ken from Class C will get what's coming to him. And Ryuen said it might even cause Class C to fall into internal conflict, maybe even lose points."
"It's such a shame. I've always disliked that Sudo Ken. If I could, I'd love to beat him up myself. Too bad Ryuen won't let us fight back!"
Daichi Ishizaki said with frustration, believing that he might not lose to Sudo Ken one-on-one, especially since there were three of them.
The three of them enthusiastically discussed their plans to deal with Class C—unaware that someone else was right beside them.
Saiki Kusuo.
Not long ago, Saiki Kusuo had used his invisibility to sneak into Daichi Ishizaki's room.
'Yare yare, they just spilled everything on their own?'
Saiki Kusuo's gaze fell on the three of them. Even if they hadn't discussed their plans, Saiki would have used his telepathy to coax the information out of them.
Next came the recording. Saiki Kusuo pressed the record button on his phone.
...
Half an hour later, Saiki Kusuo returned to his dorm.
He had successfully completed the recording and anonymously sent the file to the student council.
In theory, a single terminal phone could only be linked to one account, and it had to be registered under a real name. However, with a few tricks, Saiki had managed to create another account, allowing him to remain anonymous.
'If Ayanokoji got his hands on that recording, he might use it to threaten Class D for greater gains. But I don't want to cause that much trouble.'
Saiki Kusuo thought to himself, then returned to his room, ready to end this troublesome day.
But before he could even sit down, there was a faint knock at the door—so soft that if there had been someone else in the room, they might not have heard it.
However, Saiki Kusuo, using his telepathy, could clearly hear the thoughts outside the door.
[I wonder if Saiki-kun is in his dorm...]
[If he's not... should I wait here for him?]
[I've never been to someone else's dorm before...]
The voice belonged to Sakura Airi.
'Sakura came to find me? What does she want?'
Saiki Kusuo thought for a few seconds, then walked over and opened the door.
"Saiki... Saiki-kun!"
Seeing Saiki Kusuo, Sakura Airi seemed to become flustered, quickly averting her gaze and stammering as she spoke.
For Sakura Airi, normal communication with others was still too difficult.
"Is something wrong, Sakura-san?"
Saiki Kusuo asked.
"Um... about what happened earlier today with you and Kushida-san... I wanted to thank you again... I'm really sorry for causing you trouble... I... I wasn't able to thank Kushida-san in person."
Sakura Airi's gaze was fixed on the floor tiles as she spoke in a soft voice.
"I'll pass it on to Kushida."
Saiki Kusuo nodded in response, though he was a bit puzzled as to why Sakura Airi had come to him specifically.
"Um... there's one more thing... Saiki-kun... did you do that thing earlier?"
"What thing?"
Saiki Kusuo was confused.
"In the group chat earlier... they mentioned..."
[It's about that clerk... I'm not sure how to bring it up...]
Saiki Kusuo already understood what she meant, but he still took out his phone and glanced at the group messages.
Ike Kanji: Something big just happened!
Kushida Kikyo: What is it, Ike-kun?
Ike Kanji: I just saw a bunch of security guards at school. They caught a pervert stalker!
Karuizawa Kei: A pervert stalker? There's someone like that at school?
Ike Kanji: Yeah! I saw it with my own eyes! That guy works at the electronics store! Yamauchi recognized him!
Ike Kanji: #Picture.JPG
Kushida Kikyo: Huh! Isn't that the guy who repairs electronics? I saw him this morning!
Ike Kanji: Someone reported him, I guess. When the guards caught him, he was saying some weird stuff. Seems like he's mentally unstable.
...
The rest of the chat wasn't particularly interesting, so Saiki Kusuo just skimmed through it.
'Was Ike there? There were quite a few people gathered around at the time. Seems like Ike was among them.'
Saiki Kusuo thought to himself.
In a crowd, their thoughts would overlap, creating a noisy environment like a marketplace. In such situations, Saiki couldn't accurately determine who was present.
"I... heard someone anonymously reported that clerk... I wanted to ask if it was you, Saiki-kun?"
Sakura Airi looked up, her gaze lingering on Saiki Kusuo for a few seconds—a rare occurrence.
Sakura Airi knew very well that the clerk had been stalking her, though she had never told anyone.
If the clerk had been reported for acting suspiciously, it was possible.
But Sakura Airi remembered that earlier in the day, Saiki Kusuo's gaze had subtly changed when he looked at the clerk, as if he had seen through the clerk's intentions.
Her intuition told her that this incident was likely connected to Saiki Kusuo.
'Yare yare, your intuition is a bit too sharp, isn't it?'
Saiki Kusuo thought to himself, not expecting Sakura Airi to connect the incident to him.
'I'll have to avoid using my powers around Sakura as much as possible.'
Unlike Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who relied on logical reasoning and attention to detail, Sakura Airi operated purely on intuition.
But was her intuition just too good?
"Sorry, I just found out about it too."
Saiki Kusuo shook his head, pretending to know nothing.
"So that clerk from earlier was really that kind of person? Good thing we didn't ask him to fix anything."
"Saiki-kun... didn't know?"
"No, I wasn't aware of it either."
Saiki Kusuo continued to shake his head, his tone firm.
"Okay... I'm sorry for bothering you so late..."
"It's fine."
Saiki Kusuo said to Sakura Airi, who then left his room.
'I managed to brush it off... Seriously, today's been full of trouble. Time to rest.'
Saiki Kusuo used his teleportation ability to return home.
...
Meanwhile, Sakura Airi returned to her room.
A slight smile seemed to play on her lips.
"Even though Saiki-kun denied it... for some reason, I feel even more certain that he was the one who did it... When he saw the group chat messages, he didn't show any surprise... From Kushida-san's actions, it seems she and Saiki-kun already know about my other side... But Saiki-kun didn't say anything..."
Sakura Airi hugged her camera and sat down on her chair. Though she didn't have any particular talents, her intuition was incredibly sharp. Saiki Kusuo's denial only made her more certain that he was involved in the incident.
"Earlier today, Saiki-kun must have realized the clerk's true intentions... That's why he stopped me and fixed my camera... And just now, he denied any involvement with the clerk... Saiki-kun... was he trying to protect my feelings, to avoid causing me any distress?... I never expected Saiki-kun to be like that... In that case... next Monday... I'll step forward too..."
...
The next morning.
Saiki Kusuo returned to the classroom as usual.
As soon as he entered, he saw the idiot trio, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, Kushida Kikyo, and a few others gathered together, enthusiastically discussing something.
"Hey, Saiki!"
Seeing Saiki Kusuo enter, Sudo Ken called out loudly, waving his hand.
'Hey, don't shout my name like that. People might think I'm close with you idiots.'
Saiki Kusuo responded in his mind, but since he had already been called out, he had no choice but to walk over.
"Did you hear? I just got a call from the student council! Class D's complaint has been withdrawn, and those guys are going to be suspended for a few weeks as punishment!"
Sudo Ken said with a grin, his face filled with joy and excitement.
"Oh? Why?"
Saiki Kusuo played along, acting like a clueless bystander.
"Apparently, a recording of their conversation got leaked! Someone recorded those three talking and exposed them! They were definitely trying to frame me!"
"A recording?"
"Yeah! I don't know who did it, but it's amazing! Those three not only failed to frame me, but they're also getting punished by the school! It's great! The student council didn't go into details, but this whole mess is finally over!"
Sudo Ken laughed.
Sudo Ken only cared about the outcome, not who was behind it. For Saiki Kusuo, this was a good thing.
However, there were naturally people curious about who had done it.
[Someone got a recording? Who was it? How did they do it?]
Horikita Suzune stood nearby, frowning deeply, one hand on her chest and the other stroking her chin as she rapidly thought things through. She couldn't figure out how this had happened.
Just the day before, progress had been going poorly.
Meanwhile, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka turned his gaze toward Saiki Kusuo.
[I only found out about this this morning, but when Saiki heard about it from Sudo just now, he didn't show any surprise. Did he already know? But he usually doesn't show much emotion, so that doesn't necessarily mean anything.]
[This incident is directly related to the interests of both Class C and Class D, so it's almost certain that the person who did it is from one of our classes.]
[Since the recording could be used as definitive evidence, the audio quality must have been very high. That means it was recorded at close range, and outdoor recording is unlikely—the most probable scenario is that the three of them were discussing this in their dorm room, and a fourth person recorded them. So that person is most likely...]
'Hey, hey, hey, you're getting a bit too carried away.'
Saiki Kusuo observed Ayanokoji Kiyotaka without showing any reaction. The guy's reasoning skills were terrifying. If this kept up...
[It can only be someone from Class D. I've heard that while Ryuen controls Class D, there are plenty of people in the class who are dissatisfied with him. That's probably why someone in their class wanted to go against him.]