5th February, 2024
The class remained empty after the classes were over. In the classroom remained only two figures. Shuhi in that hour was explaining about the situation of the leakers to her homeroom teacher, Kunizawa. He paid attention to all of Shuhi's words till she finished.
"That's absurd!" Kunizawa spoke up loud. "There are groups who leak papers? Even alter papers? Yet still out of our sight."
"THat's right, teacher and I need your help to catch them." Shuhi requested.
"Oh...sure. I will do whatever I can. This must be stopped."
Shuhi then explained her plan to him how she can uncover them.
---
The next day:
It was another regular day in Shuhi's high school. Students walking through the hallways and doing their business as usual. But the peace didn't last long as Shuhi was called to the teacher's room. Right now she was called to the teacher's room.
She walked through the hallway and finally reached the room's door. Her heart was racing in a strange feeling of nervousness. The feeling of something bad is going to happen.
Inside, the room was filled with the smell of chalk dust and old paper. A long wooden desk stretched across the front, and behind it sat several teachers. Their faces were stern with sharp gazes towards her as if she were already guilty of something.
"So," one teacher spoke, his voice sharp and unfriendly. "Are you going to explain why you brought them here, or just stand there?"
Shuhi felt the weight of that accusation. She twisted her eyes a little towards the side of the room. Students were gathered there. None of them gave a pleasant look.
Shuhi drew a breath. "Sensei," she began, her voice calm, "I have a complain. They are leaking exam questions."
The silence cracked into chaos.
The accused students erupted at once—voices overlapping, anger spilling into the room. "What is she saying?" "This is nonsense!" "She's framing us!"
"Quiet!" another teacher barked, slamming a palm against the desk. The sharp *thud* silenced the protests, leaving only a light tension.
"Go on, Shuhi," said a different teacher, leaning forward. "Continue."
Shuhi nodded. "But they are not the only ones. I would suggest checking the student database. I know some more faces…and they are included in it too."
That drew uneasy murmurs from the staff. One teacher narrowed his eyes. "Do you have any proof, Shuhi?"
Her lips curled slightly. "Yes. I do."
She turned sharply, eyes finding Izumiya. "Izumiya-san… please give the question paper."
Izumiya's eyes widened. "W-what paper?"
"The one you prepared with. The leaked math paper."
"Now you're blaming me too?!" Izumiya's voice cracked a little.
"If you're not guilty, then why hesitate?" Shuhi's tone was smooth, almost taunting.
Izumiya hesitated but finally pulled a folded paper from her bag. She slammed it on the desk. "This is all I have!"
Shuhi stepped forward and picked it up. Then she reached into her own bag and pulled out a different paper, old and crumpled and the ink faded in places. She then held the two papers in her both hands and crossed her hands to show everyone.
"In my right hand is the original paper," she said with clarity. "And in my left, the altered version. At a glance, they look the same…but look closely. The fake one has some inconsistencies. These students were preparing with the altered version."
The room hushed.
One teacher fixed his glasses and leaned forward, squinting hard at the papers. Another rubbed his chin.
*BANG!*
Another teacher slammed the desk to silence the murmurs. "Everybody quiet! Just let her finish!"
Shuhi straightened her back, her expression was of someone who is unsure with something. "Sensei, my theory is that there are two or more leaker groups. One group got access to the real questions. The other group spreads fake papers to confuse the students and making their own advantages."
A girl among the accused stepped forward, her voice trembling but defiant. "But that's still just a theory! How can you prove it?"
Another teacher cut in, his voice firm but cautious. "Enough for now. We will take your words into consideration and run an investigation to uncover the leakers."
Now Shuhi was in trouble. Her face was slightly sweating with panic and her pupils were shaking "That's the problem here. The group holds my name and my additional info. If I delay more then they will frame me instead. I must clear this mess right here right now."
But I can prove it! There is no need to…"
"Yes, sensei. It's a serious matter. Rushing any decision might cause problems for innocents." Izumiya suggested, coming a few steps closer to the desk.
"Yes, Sensei," Shuhi cut in, her voice trembling at the edges, "but waiting will let the guilty cover their tracks. Don't you see? If I stay quiet, I'll be the one framed!"
The room thickened with tension.
Then, in a move that drew every pair of eyes, she began to speak the names. One by one. Calmly, smoothly, with absolute precision. One of the teachers got into the computer in front of him, checking the student's id. The accused students froze.
Among them stood the boy who had once taken her into the group. His face drained of color as his thoughts raced. *Wait…how is she naming all of us? Only the record book has the complete list. She never had the record book. Then how—?*
"And that concludes my list of suspects." Shuhi closed her eyes for a brief second, then opened them, sharp as a blade. "I don't need time for an investigation. Everything is clear already."
*Thank goodness I got a look at the record diary,* she murmured inwardly.
The day before the math exam:
In the library was standing Shuhi and the boy. He handed her a diary. The diary contained the names and some additional info of all the members of the group.
"Here, put your name and fill the gaps here." The boy said to Shuhi, pointing to an empty cell. Shuhi picked up a pen and went to write her name on it. But suddenly, she dropped the diary from her left hand.
"Oops I dropped it." Shuhi spoke while kneeling down to grab the diary up. She then flipped the pages in a confusion.
"Where is the page? I lost it." She spoke while flipping through the pages in confusion.
"Just give it to me!" The boy shouted and snatched the book from Shuhi's hands.
"here, sign here." He showed pointed out the blank box to her.
Back to present:
"A small glimpse of the list was what I needed. I was able to note down total 13 names in my head." Shuhi narrated in her mind.
"You're framing us!" one of the boys shouted, stepping forward.
Shuhi snapped her head toward him. With a sharp and outraged tone, she replied, "You're blaming me? Then she looked at the teachers, Sensei, didn't I tell you? They'd try to twist this on me the moment they were cornered!"
Izumiya, watching from behind, panicked a little after seeing Shuhi's reaction to it. Her fists curled unconsciously. "Wait…did she already convince the teachers beforehand? Is this all…fixed?"
The room trembled with tension—teachers whispering, suspects shouting, Shuhi standing at the center like a conductor of chaos.
---
A few minutes passed and one by one every suspect was gathered in the room. They were murmuring between themselves with questions like why they were summoned or what would happen to them.
One of the teachers there stood up and clarified the reasons of why they were called here and explaining what happened till now in a summery.
"Now then, as we know…anything can be evidence. Notes, text messages, footages and many more. So for starter, I demand that their bags should be checked."
Students first opposed the proposal, nobody agreed to it but the teachers said if they are really innocent then they should let them search.
The search began. One by one, the student's bags were taken by the teachers and being checked inside. Suddenly, one of them found something. It made his face dark. A set of paper notes.
The teacher laid the papers flat on the desk, then took the altered question paper Shuhi had shown earlier. He began comparing the two side by side.
His brow furrowed deeper with each answer he checked. Finally, he adjusted his glasses and muttered in disbelief, "Every single answer… matches perfectly with the altered paper. Who owns it? That student has been making answers of the leaks!"
The words had hit the students like hammer. Murmuring started in themselves. One of the boys clenched his fist hard as if it was difficult for him to swallow the truth. Because the bag belonged to him.
Before anything more could be said, the doors burst open with a loud bang! Everyone turned.
It was Shinichi, huffing ad panting, holding a set of papers in his hand, "Sir! I got something from the art club!" he blurted out, his voice echoing through the tense room.
The sudden intrusion left the teachers startled, their heads whipping toward him. The suspects froze mid-breath, their faces full of dread—as if their last chance of escape was crumbling right in front of them.
Shuhi stepped forward and received the papers from Shinichi. A faint smirk tugged at her lips after seeing it.
"Look what we have here, everyone," she announced, raising the papers so all could see. "It's the answers to the first question paper."
The atmosphere shifted sharply. The teachers leaned in closer. The students under suspicion looked like they have been completely cornered. Izumiya, however, stiffened. Her body froze, her pupils trembled, and her lips parted in disbelief.
Shuhi turned toward her, voice calm but piercing. "Wait… I know this handwriting. This is yours, isn't it, Izumiya-san?"
The words caught Izumiya totally off guard.
"But how? I discarded the papers and removed all the evidence I held. Where did this come from?" Izumiya thought in a state of panic.
"I… I didn't write it!" she stammered, her voice breaking. "How can you say it was me?"
"A few days before the exam, I challenged you, didn't I? I saw your note back then on the table. That's how I know your handwriting. If you refuse, can you show me the same notebook so that I can match the handwriting?"
At this moment, Izumiya was like nearly at the edge of the board, only a few moves to get checkmated. The teachers turned to Izumiya, expecting to have a vivid explanation. The suspects glanced at each other in terror. The room was silent again, the weight of inevitability pressing on everyone inside.
Seeing no other way, she handed her the notebook she had written back then. But she still tried to continue her bluff in her mind to give herself a sense of fearlessness, "It's not possible. Shuhi must have been bluffing. I destroyed all the proofs. Just wait, Izumiya. The handwritings will not be same and she will get in trouble for accursing me."
But surprisingly, when Shuhi held the both the notes side by side, the handwritings nearly matched. Enough to decide it also was written by the same person.
One of the teachers who had been reading the papers stood up in fury and slammed the table hard. It was Kunizawa, their homeroom teacher.
"Izumiya!" he barked, pointing at her trembling figure. "We never expected this from you. Not these actions. Do you have any idea what you've done?"
The room shook with his anger. His normally calm face was twisted in fury, his voice cracking with frustration.
"You had the talent to rise on your own merit! Yet here you are, forging question papers and leaking answers!" He shook his head, his hand clenching into a fist on the desk. "We trusted you to brighten our school's image! Now the trust is shattered!"
Izumiya staggered back a step, her lips trembling, but no sound came out. Her classmates stared at her in disbelief.
"You've not only failed yourself," the teacher continued, voice booming, "you've stained the name of this entire class. Of this entire school!"
She opened her mouth to protest, to say something, but under the weight of the evidence, she could do nothing.
Shuhi watched in silence, her expression unreadable, but her eyes sharp as ever, "Excellent! Just as planned. Now time for the last evidence." She narrated in her mind.
"And these group must have some group chat connection. We should check their online profiles" Shuhi suggested to the teachers.
In reality, the leaker groups really had online group chats. After some digging, their group chats got leaked to the teachers. There it had, papers, answers, dates of actions and many more. All this time, they were doing these wrong dealings while being in the shadows.
One of the messages had, "11:49 that new member is trouble sum. She might reveal our secrets. We need to silence her immediately"
This message was proof that Shuhi was really in this mess and had been a target for them. Now there were no denying.
Suddenly, of the students spoke out to Shuhi from the group, "Don't forget you are also in it." He grabbed the diary from his bag and showed it to everyone, "Here, see for yourself. You signed it yourself."
But at this point, none of the teachers listened to him as they were already dragged too much into the mess to believe him.
One of the teachers stood out furiously for a response, "And what if that's a fake? How can we trust you? No, we can't trust someone who has been stealing questions for long."
"Exactly! As they are in trouble, now they are trying to drag me with them." Shuhi said, pretending to be the victim here.
The teachers came to a conclusion. Shuhi is innocent and total of 28 students were spotted as part of it. All of them got suspended for weeks with their cheated grades being erased. Izumiya's math test's marks got removed from the database later on.
Shuhi left the room with total victory on that day. When walking to the passing hallway, she noticed students playing soccer in the field up from the window. She tried to take a peek but the sudden sunlight hit her, forcing her to stun her eyes a little.
"What to do when you know for sure that someone is guilty but don't have the proof? Should you let him go? I got the lesson back then. In this case, you create evidence of your own." Shuhi narrated as she turned to the hallway and started walking. As she walked, she began summarizing all the stuffs she did for the last few days in her mind. It was her way to not miss anything.
"A few days ago, I stole the answer papers from one of the member's bag just to put it later. I had the set so they couldn't destroy it. And Izumiya was actually telling the truth about the papers not being her. The hardest part was copying Izumiya san's handwriting. I was not the best at copying people's handwritings back then but still it worked out anyways."
At that time, she was already out of the school building, walking to the exit door. "Then I borrowed the school's computer to send the message."
At that time, a striker kicked a goal directly to the post. She looked at the field for a last time and moved on.
"In this way, I cleared my name and caught them all. I don't see anything which I could do better." She completed her narration.
---
Back in the school, in one corner of the long stretched hallway had a large door. Above it was written in golden letters, "Student Council Room".
NOTE: Some words have been edited after this chapter is released from here.
In there, one student sat in the middle center of the long rectangular table. His legs were on the table and eyes fixed upward, staring as the fan was spinning. It was the president.
"Hey someone, bring me a vanilla cake!" He shouted with the tone of someone leading many.
"President, how many cake will you eat? Your tummy will explode if you keep eating." Another boy spoke, carrying large bundle of files.
"I was thinking about this student. This girl got 85 in all of the subjects. I heard she discovered question leakers." The president continued.
"Don't you remember her? You invited her here and played a small card game." Another student continued from back.
"Did I? Well, I did to many people so it's not surprising to forget her." The president continued.
"looks like we will be facing each other soon."
Dead Logic © 2025 by Muntasib_Ihshan789 is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International