Chapter 127: Sae-chan, Help Me Out!
Asking Chabashira to record everything as protection against being framed had been an extremely wise decision. Without the camera footage, Yuto and Chabashira would have needed to struggle for a way to counter Ryuen's false accusation.
At that moment, Chabashira's phone rang again. She checked the screen, then told Yuto seriously, "It's a call from the school's internal line."
"It's probably the student council. Ishizaki and the others must have arrived and reported everything, so they're contacting Shimizu Yuto's beautiful homeroom teacher," Yuto said with a smile.
Such a serious fight naturally required the student council to notify the homeroom teachers of both parties.
Chabashira glanced at the troublesome boy who had called her beautiful. She had grown so accustomed to Yuto teasing her that she could no longer become genuinely angry.
"I'm answering it. Remain quiet, Shimizu."
"Understood."
Chabashira accepted the school's call and spoke with a calm, cold expression.
"This is Chabashira Sae."
"Yes, I'm the homeroom teacher of Shimizu Yuto from Class 1-D."
"A physical altercation? He beat three Class 1-C students until their faces were swollen and their bodies were covered in injuries?"
"I see. Understood."
"Mm. Goodbye."
After ending the call, Chabashira slightly raised her pointed chin toward Yuto.
"You were correct. Those three Class C students reported you to the student council. Student Council President Horikita asked me to contact you and bring you to the student council room."
"We have to go now?" Yuto frowned, his handsome face showing obvious reluctance. "Chabashira-sensei, can you delay it?"
"I can, but do you have something urgent to handle before the hearing?" Chabashira asked.
"I feel like going to the student council will make me miss the dinner Airi is preparing."
Yuto shook his phone.
"I told her the matter had already been resolved and that I would return to the apartment soon. If I suddenly go to the student council, she'll become worried."
"So I'd like to postpone the hearing until tomorrow or the day after."
Chabashira's face darkened at his explanation. She had assumed Yuto needed to handle something genuinely important.
Instead, this troublesome boy had merely fed her an unbearably sweet display of affection!
Still, Chabashira felt somewhat envious of Airi. Yuto truly cared about her.
Chabashira crossed her arms, emphasizing her mature figure beneath the short-sleeved shirt, and looked at Yuto with disgust.
"I won't help postpone the student council hearing for such a ridiculous reason!"
"It isn't only because I want to return and eat dinner with Airi. We also need to deal with the digital camera," Yuto explained.
The camera genuinely needed to be handled first.
Besides the video Chabashira had recorded, it contained many photographs of Yuto and Airi that Airi had taken during their time together.
Airi often used this digital camera to take photos of herself and Yuto. Some of the photos were even taken by her under his enthusiastic direction.
Therefore, those photos were very revealing, and at the same time, very blood-boiling.
Yuto couldn't let anyone else see this photo. First, he had to transfer the video files from the digital camera to another memory card, then take that specific card to the Student Council to serve as evidence.
Apart from those two reasons, Yuto also needed time to consider how he would counterattack.
Now that he possessed decisive evidence proving his innocence, he did not intend to use it merely to defend himself. He wanted to devise a method to strike back hard against Ryuen, Ishizaki, and the others.
Planning a counterattack required time, so Yuto had no intention of visiting the student council immediately.
"Sae-chan, help me out," Yuto requested with a smile.
"...Tch."
Chabashira clicked her tongue and rubbed the small goosebumps his pleading tone had caused. She stood from her seat.
"Go settle the bill. I'll call the student council and negotiate."
"Got it~"
Chabashira left the cafe on her long, straight legs and called the student council back, while Yuto took the camera to the counter.
Their total bill was 3,250 points. It was not especially expensive—roughly the price of a better meal set at the student cafeteria.
After paying, Yuto left the cafe and found Chabashira already putting her phone back into her pocket.
"Finished talking to the student council?"
"Mm."
Chabashira nodded.
"I told them I had already contacted you and confirmed the situation."
"Shimizu Yuto did enter a conflict with three Class 1-C students, but those three initiated it. He merely acted in self-defense and insists they were nowhere near as badly injured as they currently claim."
"I then postponed the hearing by saying that Shimizu Yuto needed time to gather evidence proving his innocence."
"The student council accepted the delay and granted us time to search for evidence, but the hearing can only be postponed until the afternoon two days from now," Chabashira warned.
"That's more than enough. Sae-chan, let's go home and eat dinner together," Yuto said with a smile.
"Fine."
Chabashira answered instinctively, then froze.
Go home and eat dinner together?
Why did their exchange sound like something said by a couple living together—or even a married couple?
Suppressing the strange thought, Chabashira followed Yuto as they headed toward the detached apartment.
...
Inside the student council office, Manabu fell into deep thought.
Because Chabashira had requested a delay, the hearing had been postponed. Ishizaki and the other two students who came to report Yuto had already left.
'Shimizu postponed the hearing to search for evidence proving his innocence. Is he planning to find eyewitnesses?'
No.
Yuto merely wanted to return home and avoid missing dinner with Airi.
As for evidence proving his innocence, he had possessed it from the beginning.
Chabashira's excuse made Ishizaki and the others uneasy. If Shimizu truly found a witness, wouldn't they have endured that beating from Ryuen and Albert for nothing?
With gauze and bandages covering his face, Ishizaki immediately called Ryuen.
"Boss Ryuen! Shimizu Yuto is panicking, but now we're panicking too! He's probably searching around the second-year building for witnesses!"
"Don't worry. Shimizu Yuto won't find any witnesses," Ryuen answered with a confident, vicious smile.
Nagumo had used the event as an excuse to force every second-year student onto the sports field. The entire second-year building had been empty, so there was no possible way for Yuto to find a witness.
However, it was precisely because the building had been empty that Chabashira could enter unnoticed and record the entire incident with the digital camera.
...
Yuto and Chabashira returned to the detached apartment, where Airi had already brought home the ingredients and happily welcomed them.
Yuto and Airi sat together on the living-room sofa. While leaning against him, Airi asked whether everything had gone smoothly, while Chabashira was sent into the kitchen to prepare dinner.
"What happened to eating dinner together? He only wanted me to come back and cook! That damned troublesome boy!" Chabashira muttered through gritted teeth while preparing the ingredients.
She had been deceived!
After hearing Yuto explain everything, Airi's anxiety completely disappeared.
Afterward, Airi pursed her slightly numb, glistening lips and stepped into the kitchen. Her face flushed with a charming red glow, she looked at the muttering Chabashira in confusion.
What was wrong with her teacher?
Chabashira seemed to be radiating jealousy mixed with intense resentment. Had her boyfriend upset her?
But Airi had spent so much time with Chabashira and had never once heard that she even had a boyfriend.
Yuto returned to his bedroom with the digital camera and connected it to the desktop computer using its data cable. The computer had cost him 150,000 points.
He transferred Chabashira's recording from the camera.
Since Yuto had not prepared a separate memory card, he copied the video directly onto his school phone instead.
One copy remained on the desktop computer, while another was stored on his school phone. With two copies, he no longer needed to worry about losing the evidence.
Once he finished, Yuto carried the camera toward the kitchen, where he could hear activity.
Airi and Chabashira were both wearing aprons as they worked. The warm domestic atmosphere made them resemble members of the same family.
Yuto smiled, raised the digital camera, and began recording the two busy women.
He suddenly wanted to preserve the comforting scene before him.
Chabashira, who was removing shells from fresh shrimp, glanced at Yuto standing in the kitchen doorway with the camera.
"Stop pointing that camera at us. If you have enough free time to record, come inside and help. Sakura bought far too many ingredients!"
"Ah~~ But Airi won't let me enter the kitchen. She says the kitchen is a battlefield for girls," Yuto answered with a smile.
"Mm!"
Airi nodded adorably.
Chabashira's mouth twitched. She certainly did not consider the kitchen a battlefield for girls. She merely wanted that troublesome boy to come inside and help with the work!
After recording for a while, Yuto's phone suddenly rang.
He checked it and was surprised to discover that Hiyori was calling.
...
By then, Ryuen had confirmed that the conspiracy against Yuto had supposedly succeeded. He therefore no longer needed Ibuki and the other girls to keep guarding Hiyori.
After receiving Ryuen's order, Ibuki returned Hiyori's phone. She and the two girls blocking the doorway then left the room.
Hiyori, who had been anxious for a long time, immediately switched her phone back on.
When she discovered a missed call from Yuto, her panic intensified.
'Just as I suspected. Ryuen and the others must have used my name to do something terrible to Shimizu...'
Otherwise, why would Yuto call her?
Since exchanging contact details and Line accounts, the two had never contacted each other directly. They only spoke when they happened to meet in the library.
Hiyori's heart filled with guilt and anxiety. Believing that Yuto had been harmed because of her, she hurriedly called her only friend.
"Shiina?"
Hearing Yuto's steady voice carrying a trace of surprise caused the agitation inside Hiyori to suddenly settle.
"Shimizu... Did something bad happen to you? Something unpleasant happened to me today..."
Hiyori's voice remained light and sweet, but it now carried guilt and unease.
Yuto raised an eyebrow.
"Shiina, what did Ryuen do to you?"
"Ryuen-kun didn't personally do anything to me. He only told Ibuki-san to take me into an empty clubroom, confiscate my phone, switch it off, and have people guard the door so I couldn't leave."
"But I'm free now," Hiyori answered softly.
Yuto looked slightly relieved. Ryuen had not taken his resentment out on Hiyori, and she had not been injured.
Yuto had a favorable impression of the light, gentle girl. She was his only fellow reader and one of the few friends with whom he shared genuine interests, so he did not want her to be harmed.
Hiyori cautiously asked, "What about you, Shimizu? Are you all right...?"
"I'm perfectly fine," Yuto answered with a smile.
"That's wonderful."
Hiyori finally relaxed. Her eyes softened as she asked quietly, "Could you tell me what happened to you today?"
"Nothing bad happened to me. Don't overthink it, Shiina."
"...That's a lie," Hiyori murmured.
"Please tell me, Shimizu..."
Yuto heard the pleading in her voice and sighed helplessly.
"You'll only feel worse after hearing it, Shiina."
"That doesn't matter. I still want to know," Hiyori insisted stubbornly.
She wanted to know exactly how he had suffered because of her.
Since Hiyori refused to give up, Yuto stopped concealing it. He explained how Ryuen had used her name to lure him toward the second-year building and arranged for Ishizaki and the others to ambush him.
…
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