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Volume 9, Chapter 4: “Ichinose’s Secret, Kamuro’s Secret” Part 3

“-Ah, how tiring. It’s been quite a while since I last sat down and said so much like that.”

Finished with her story, Kamuro looked up at me with the same serious expression she had at the start.

“In short, I’m a habitual shoplifter.”

“Even recently?”

“Sakayanagi has been working me hard. I haven’t had the spare time to steal anything.”

Even though it wasn’t something she wanted, she didn’t seem to be unsatisfied about it.

Before Sakayanagi, Kamuro probably hadn’t been relied on before. She had been holding a darkness in her heart.

Still, it was necessary for Sakayanagi to get Kamuro in a position where she wouldn’t be able to continue committing crimes.

Therefore, Sakayanagi cleverly took advantage of her. If Kamuro was to continue shoplifting, sooner or later, she’d be tracked down.

It wouldn’t matter if she was stealing outside of school grounds, but she was doing it from within the confined school campus.

When the store eventually notices what’s been going on with their inventory, it wouldn’t take them long to figure out the truth.

If that were to happen, Class A would definitely suffer a non-trivial amount of damage.

“Back before the training camp, Sakayanagi had said that you and Ichinose were both hiding the same secret.”

In other words, assuming that everything Kamuro just said really is true, Ichinose has a history with shoplifting as well.

“That’s exactly where I was going with this.”

“Regardless, what are you hoping to accomplish by revealing your past to me?”

Depending on the situation, it wouldn’t be impossible to look back into her past and investigate her crimes.

In which case, Kamuro would suffer alone.

“I don’t particularly like Sakayanagi or Ichinose. But, to be honest, the fact that Ichinose has been stealing as well really hit me hard. She’s so incredibly popular that she really ought to be entirely satisfied with what she has, but honestly, the same should go for me.”

Kamuro laughed in self-derision.

“Stop Sakayanagi. You can do that, can’t you?”

“So you’re saying you want me to help Ichinose?”

“Yes. As it is now, Ichinose will definitely be crushed. I’m not talking about her being crushed physically, I mean her heart.”

“I see.”

It’s difficult for me to confirm if what Kamuro has been saying is true, and it’s just as difficult for her to prove it.

Even if the store noticed a difference between their digital stock and their physical inventory, it would still be very hard to determine the cause of it. After all, it could’ve been a store employee making a handling error. While she did begin shoplifting immediately after enrollment, she didn’t repeatedly steal the same item several times. It was a one-time affair.

It would also be impossible to ask the store to show me the surveillance footage.

The only move I could make would be to report Kamuro’s theft to the convenience store and the school authorities. But even then, going about doing that would just be too disadvantageous for me, regardless of whether her story is true or not.

Even if I assume that what she said is true, I don’t want to obediently follow along with what she’s asking of me.

While it’s probably true that she’s dissatisfied with Sakayanagi, there’s little incentive for her to betray Sakayanagi just to ask someone unknown like me for help.

In which case, what’s the point of all of this?

Thinking about it reasonably, this was all probably carried out per Sakayanagi’s instructions.

She probably decided to use Ichinose as the medium for getting into a head-on confrontation with me.

“So, you think I’m lying?”

After a long period of consideration, Kamuro broke the silence.

“To be honest, there’s no absolute guarantee that what you said is true.”

Of course, after listening to her, it was clear that she was almost certainly telling the truth.

Even so, I didn’t admit this because of Kamuro’s close connection with Sakayanagi.

“…I see. In which case, should I just go and prove it to you?”

“Can you?”

“Probably.”

As she said that, she took out her student ID card and handed it to me.

“Well then, wait here and don’t lock the door.”

With that, Kamuro left the room.

No way, is she planning on going and stealing something right now to prove she’s a shoplifter?

I looked at her card absentmindedly for a short while, and after about 10 minutes, Kamuro came back. She took something out from her clothes and showed it to me.

“Hey now…”

It seems like my guess hit the mark.

“While I thought about taking a pack of gum or something, I grabbed a beer. This way was more credible.”

If it was something like gum that anyone could purchase, it would’ve been simple for her deceive me just by purchasing it in advance. But it’s an entirely different story when it comes to alcohol. Even if she was to go and borrow an ID card from another student, it still wouldn’t have been possible for her to purchase this beverage. It’s impossible for students to purchase age-restricted goods. Along with that, it’s unrealistic to think that she utilized the school’s working force or the teachers on campus. There was no mistaking that this was stolen merchandise.

Did she do it in order to gain my trust?

“Get it now?”

At that, Kamuro began to put the beer away, but I reached out my hand.

“Just in case, let me make sure it’s authentic. It could be fake.”

“…Idiot. Could I even make something like that?”

Kamuro showed reluctance for a moment, but it didn’t take long for her to hand it over.

It was ice-cold, as though it had just been purchased from the convenience store.

I slowly analyzed the surface of the can. It was definitely an authentic alcoholic beverage.

“If it’s so important, you can just have it.”

“No need.”

In the unlikely event that the can was found in my room, things would become troublesome.

Kamuro took the beer out of my hand and began lightly tossing the can in the air.

“Anyway, do you believe me?”

“You showed me the real thing. I can’t not believe you.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“Well, why me?”

“There’s nobody else I can count on in this school other than you. You should know that much.”

I picked up the cup of hot chocolate that I had prepared for Kamuro. At this point, I was confident that she wouldn’t actually take a drink. It had already gotten warm because around ten minutes had passed.

“There isn’t any benefit in it for me.”

“Maybe so.”

Seemingly satisfied with that, Kamuro stood up.

“I’ll be looking forward to the end results.”

Like that, Kamuro tried to one-sidedly end the conversation and began to leave the room.

“Wait a moment.”

“…What?”

“You forgot your ID card.”

Realizing that she had totally forgotten it, she grabbed her student ID card with her other hand. With that, Kamuro had finally left.

Though, she really presented me with something troublesome.

Is ignoring Ichinose’s current situation still the right choice to make?

“No… Am I sure about that?”

Rather, it may be a better choice to take advantage of this opportunity.

I grabbed my student ID card and my cell phone and left my room, headed toward the convenience store.

On the way, I got a call from Horikita’s older brother.

I had thought that I’d finally be able to relax after the uninvited guest left but…

Nonetheless, the caller was someone unexpected. It wasn’t going to be a meaningless call.

“There are a few things I want to talk to you about.”

The older Horikita spoke just after I pressed the answer button.

“Is it urgent?”

“Depending on the situation, it may already be too late. It’s about my sister.”

“…About your sister?”

This was also unexpected.

The older Horikita wouldn’t be bringing up anything about his younger sister unless the circumstances were extreme.

“Kikyou Kushida. She made contact with Miyabi Nagumo.”

“Really.”

I was surprised, but at the same time, I was impressed at the speed of the older Horikita’s information network.

“I thought that you were surrounded with enemies. You’ve done really well to acquire this type of information. Who did you hear this from?”

“This information came from Kiriyama. It’s clear that my relationship with Nagumo deteriorated at the last training camp. He’s definitely going to try something else. I’ll have to take action at this point.”

Vice President Kiriyama, huh?

As I thought in silence, the older Horikita continued.

“You can’t completely trust him, can you?”

“I don’t know Kiriyama as well as you do.”

“That’s fine. You always err on the side of caution.”

As the former student council president, Horikita would always approach others with a certain amount of trust, whether it was Kiriyama or Nagumo. Until there were any suspicions or he was betrayed, his trust in them was set in stone. I would never be able to imitate this type of behavior.

“So what happened?”

“She asked him for assistance with expelling Suzune Horikita. A very bold move.”

“I wonder what happened that prompted her to change strategies?”

As her penalty for losing the bet with Horikita, Kushida gave her word that she wouldn’t interfere in the future.

That said, she clearly had no intention of keeping it.

Just as she tried to use Ryuuen to achieve her goal, she’s now reached out to use Nagumo as well. After seeing what Nagumo did at the training camp, it’s not a surprising action for her to take.

Of course, Kushida should’ve also noticed. Even though she managed to push Horikita into a desperate situation, she’s only gotten herself into one as well. However, necessity knows no law. I felt like she had reached that resolution. To be honest, I had thought that she jumped the gun a bit by siding with Ryuuen, but getting close to Nagumo here isn’t a bad idea for her. If she sides with an upperclassman, there wouldn’t be an additional person who knows her past after they graduate.

However, that assumes that Nagumo is a trustworthy person in the first place.

“After this, Nagumo or the people near him are going to be taking measures against Suzune.”

“What do you want me to do? You’re not asking me to protect your little sister, are you?”

“If Suzune drops out of the school in the future, that’s her own responsibility. However, Kushida also listed your name as a troublesome existence.”

“I see…”

While Nagumo may not have very much interest in me, hearing my name come up over and over will eventually clue him in anyway.

In other words, if I don’t cut the connection before it’s too late, I’ll keep finding myself getting involved with more trouble.

“What’s the possibility that Nagumo got in touch with Hashimoto?”

“What’s your reason for asking such a question?”

“I had noticed a slight change in Hashimoto’s behavior between the beginning and the end of the training camp. I wasn’t sure back then, but after meeting up with him again recently, I realized that this change wasn’t just something I imagined, making the whole thing seem even more suspicious. That is to say, Hashimoto heard something about me from someone during the end of the training camp.”

The number of people in a position where they would tell Hashimoto what they know about me is extremely limited.

“It’s as you say. During the training camp, Nagumo told Hashimoto about you. That said, Hashimoto still probably hasn’t reached the conclusion that you’re the student manipulating Suzune.”

“I see.”

So he’s poking around to find out the truth?

“I don’t think there’s any need for me to ask, but… Are you dissatisfied with this?”

“No. Even if I had known already, the situation would’ve still ended up this way.”

“I suppose.”

The older Horikita muttered in response.

It doesn’t matter if one of Sakayanagi’s followers is distrustful of me.

As long as I don’t do anything, they won’t find out anything no matter how long they search for clues. Even if they think of a strategy, once Sakayanagi gives the thumbs down, the matter is over. It was a lot easier than dealing with Ryuuen or Nagumo.

Nagumo, however, has all his bases covered. It’s a little inappropriate to simply wait and see what happens at this point.

“I’ve given you the information. It’s up to you to decide what to do with it.”

“I will.”

The call disconnected.

In this school, this type of information means quite a lot. Every day, someone is always crafting a plan to best someone else. In that sense, the older Horikita is useful as one of my information sources. While he’s not as adaptable as Nagumo and doesn’t have as large of an information network, his credibility and accuracy are far higher.

In any case, sparks are starting to fly. In order to stop the problem as soon as possible, I’ll have to be the one to make the first move.

(Chapter 4 End)