Chapter 9: What If Allies Gathered?

During the break between classes, I'm walking down the hallway to go to the restroom.

Then, Kiyama appeared in front of me.

I instinctively tense up, but he doesn't seem to care and tries to pass by me.

At that moment, Kiyama whispered in a voice only I could hear.

「I heard you've been pretty cold to Togawa-san.」

「...I don't know who you heard that from, but does that have anything to do with you?」

「She's in my class, and our seats are next to each other, so I sometimes give her advice.」

And through that connection, you got close, and now you're having a secret rendezvous?

If it wasn't cheating, it'd be a teen drama. …Makes me sick.

「You sure go to a lot of trouble for someone who's just a neighbor in class, don't you? Trying to curry favor as the next president?」

Or are you playing the new boyfriend? No, I guess you actually are her boyfriend now.

「That's a shallow way of thinking. I'm genuinely worried about her as a friend. Why don't you try thinking about her feelings a little?」

Kiyama left it at that and went back to his classroom.

Worried, huh... I've already done more than enough of that.

But she's completely changed.

That's why it's come to this.

After school, I entered the room next to the student council office.

This room is a records room and off-limits to regular students, but with Taki's cooperation, Yuu and I were able to boldly step inside under the pretext of helping organize documents.

「I know I should probably be helping you guys more, but I have to show my face at the student council too.」

「We get it. We're just thankful you've done this much for us.」

「Yeah, we'd be cursed if we complained.」

Taki has an apologetic look on his face.

We comforted him, took something from him, and saw him off. He's busy too after all.

「Alright, here we have Kiyama's smartphone that Taki brought us. And said Kiyama is "coincidentally" mediating a fight that broke out in the school. Why did a fight have to start right in front of him while he was walking through the school? Even if he tried to look the other way, there just "happened" to be a gallery of onlookers egging him on to stop it. He'll be held up for at least another hour.」

Yuu says it so nonchalantly. This guy's network is terrifying.

「The ones fighting are third-year senpais. Even Kiyama will have to act humbly and take his time mediating.」

「Getting the senpais to do that must have cost you, didn't it?」

「I thought so too, and was going to treat them to karaoke at my job about three times. …But apparently, those senpais have had girls stolen by some handsome guy in the past. When I explained the situation, they said they'd help for free. I can't believe there are women who would dump such kindhearted upperclassmen. The world is a strange place.」

「It just means there are a lot of shitty guys and shitty women out there. Honest people get the short end of the stick, let's at least try to build sincere relationships ourselves.」

As I say that, I look at Kiyama's smartphone that Taki brought.

Kiyama had apparently visited the student council once, but left his bag there when he went out. This was only possible because Taki knew that he was the type to put his smartphone in his bag. I'm nothing but grateful to Taki for taking such a risk.

Apparently, Kiyama was called by one of the teachers. …To think there's a teacher who dislikes him. Yuu's nose for finding that out is almost frightening.

「But we don't know Kiyama's passcode.」

「I don't know it either. And I obviously don't have the disguise skills to beat face recognition, nor do I have a pair of gloves with his fingerprints. But hey, looking at the smartphone itself isn't the only way to see what's inside, you know?」

Yuu opened the slot on the side of the smartphone, took out the SD card inside, and put it into his own smartphone.

「Ha! That bastard, looks like he didn't lock his card. …There, it's open.」

「What kind of spy are you?」

「I'm not doing anything that special.」