April 14th.

Yesterday's afternoon was barely worthy of mentioning because Sana and Arkalee's witnesses only really witnessed Yulia in a relay race. Sure, it was noteworthy the factor that Yulia did win that race, but outside of that, even though several questions were asked, nothing was really acquired, so it turned out to be a mediocre waste of time.

Plus, I was far more excited for this specific day, in this current afternoon, because the ones that were next on were Akimiyashika, Hinagiku, and... Ikkiri!

As of right now, lunchtime had come to a close end, so here we all stood on the edge of our seats waiting for the development to unfold, in this semi-bright classroom. Notably speaking, the outside scenery is quite gray and lacks the heavenly color of blue precisely too much.

Our previous witnesses were eliminated from the scene, as their necessity to be present turned out to be ridiculously low. Furthermore, only two witnesses remained. We know Liyuga is the witness of Lus and Kanawari, but the other three have a witness on their own.

Supposedly speaking, I already came across the fact that this young man is exchanging glances with Ikkiri every now and then, but she has no idea why. He looks at her for almost a split second and looks away. Then re-does the process slightly different each time; sometimes alternating between one to three seconds. Ikkiri's face turns pale sometimes as she just can't seem to process what made this change within the male individual. In addition to that, she knew that previously, the male individual harbored no doubts whatsoever. His behavior dictated the type of behavior that an individual who wanted to help out would possess. Essentially, it went without saying that he would become crucial to them if they wanted to score well in this particular stage.

Yet as of now, from this faraway distance, I can only watch the paranoia within his face wondering if this is a set-up.

Truly, block A girls have some fearsome clout. About 24 or so hours had gone by and I thought it would take a lot of time for information to be spread within other blocks, but it was crystal clear that the information that Shizuku and I had given to them had already infiltrated other blocks, and most likely was spreading like a pandemic virus.

"Your name was Hunter, right?"

Yuka-sensei asked Hunter that question as a method of confirmation since he hadn't gone out of his way to introduce himself. If you were to ask me, it's almost as if he planned to introduce himself today normally, but something was making him reluctant regarding his current endeavor; crossing the borderline of the controversy of it.

"Ah, yeah. I'm sorry, I know this is sudden, but can I not do this? I just don't think I'll be able to contribute!"

Faking an excuse, Hunter faced Yuka-sensei from a very close distance. Since Akimiyashika, Hinagiku, and Ikkiri were seating all the way in front, it didn't really take him much of an effort to do so.

Before Yuka-sensei could even reply, Akimiyashika, struck by this sudden wave of events, urged Hunter right away.

"Wait, what?! You said you would help us, you can't just go back on your word like that!"

"I know I said that, but I wasn't really aware of how things were here... Can I take my leave, teacher?"

Of course, there wasn't really anything that said that the witnesses had to stay here. If anything, they were here out of their own goodwill. Now, a little something about goodwill... If you aren't doing it unconditionally; the action, that is, then---- is it really worth going out of your way for someone whose goodwill does not even begin to reach out to your own? Aren't you suddenly bombarded with a sensation that you were manipulated into upholding goodwill? What would you do, really?

"Just wait, Hunter! Talk to me, what changed your mind?!"

Akimiyashika couldn't even begin to process why what was happening was happening in the first place. This is, without the shadow of a doubt, an utterly priceless scenario.

She was even chasing him by the door since Yuka-sensei was taking a lethargic stance without saying anything. In other words, if it was your witness, then it was your job to make sure you could make him/her spill out information. If he refuses to even attend this interrogation session, then it's not the witness's fault.

It's your own.

"I know your circumstance isn't the most favorable one, Akimiyashika, but you should've been at least honest if you wanted my cooperation. It hurts that I was lied to. Goodbye!"

Bam!

Door slammed!

Speechless, Akimiyashika transiently remained there at the entrance. Hinagiku was not moving an inch all this time as she was trying to figure out why that had just happened. Since they are biased whores, I knew that soon enough their eyes would be on us, so I called out to Shizuku rather silently.

"Shiz, pretend."

"Mhm."

Shizuku began to draw something on her notebook, while I was fiddling with my cellphone midst yawning. In reality, I was just mashing buttons with the screen closed and I did detect the glares from Akimiyashika and Hinagiku, but they were really temporary.

"I shouldn't have to say this, but your witness is your responsibility. I don't have a particular interest in what occurred between you and Hunter, Aki, but---"

"Something's wrong! This doesn't make any sense..."

She really was not accepting the current reality. Even though she was yelling from across the room, we could hear her loud and clear.

"Hunter said I wasn't honest with him, but I made sure that I was... I would never lie to him, so why....!?"

Oh my God! I seriously can't take it!

It's so hard to put a fake face on while this is happening, but it's the mere concrete joy from her reactions that are enabling me to uphold the resolve all the way to the end.

"Reputation is something you have to be cautious about, Aki. You should know that in the first place, you girls aren't in a favorable position in the first place."

"No! No! That's wrong! He accused me of not being honest and being lied to, but I don't recall ever doing that!"

"Aki, enough is enough. Do you understand?"

".......This is not..."

With her face down, Akimiyashika walked back to her seat and took a sharp glare in my direction before completely facing forward. Her face was full of madness and ready to kill. Matching that glare was out of the question, but it didn't take me long to realize that they were holding a bias towards me.

"Well, I've been silent for a while, but I think I know why Hunter acted the way he did."

Breaking the ice, Liyuga spoke, which brought Akimiyashika and Hinagiku's attention all the way to him. Ikkiri was perhaps feeling faulty, even though she has no real way of knowing she was the one at fault, nonetheless, she didn't look at him.

"Why then? If you don't mind answering..."

Skeptical, Akimiyashika couldn't help but sense something off as to why Liyuga would even suggest that he knew the true answer to this.

Meanwhile, I and Shizuku had stopped pretending and blended in the chain of reactions by looking towards Liyuga.

The real question here is, will he be honest or not? Something really tells me that he won't hold back.

And he did not.

"Ikkiri, you shouldn't treat others as tools for your own gain like that. It's despicable."

Coldly, such words flew out of his mouth, which caused a lot of controversy in class right away. Akimiyashika and Hinagiku were speechless as they couldn't understand what Liyuga even tried to insinuate with his words. Shizuku and I faked a surprised reaction while the rest observed the situation quite carefully. Lus turned rapidly skeptical as she most likely wondered the truth here.

Regarding Ikkiri, she slowly emerged her head from the flat table and answered Liyuga meekly.

"What...?"

"What do you have against Ikkiri?!"

"Every time! Leave her alone!"

Poor Liyuga got assaulted by harsh words from Akimiyashika and Hinagiku subsequently, which made him turn a step back. But, I just couldn't have that, so I intervened and defended Liyuga's intentions.

"Wait just a second! Why are you being so hostile towards Liyuga?! He is saying that he has the answer as to why Hunter acted the way he did and the moment he tries to explain himself, you just blurt out at him? Are you out of your minds...?"

I made sure to get up from my seat to match their composures, but Akimiyashika did not back down.

"You damned liar, Yukishiro! I bet you started this, didn't you?!"

"What?! Do you even listen to yourself?!"

"I don't know who you think you are, but targeting Ikkiri for the sake of your goals isn't going to work on my wat---"

But then, just as Akimiyashika was about to finalize her aggressive sentence, Yuka-sensei slammed a heavy thick book on her desk and all eyes were on her.

"Come on girls, you are seriously better than this. Now, Liyuga, why are you claiming that my sweet Ikkiri is behind this? I'm sure you have a very valid reason behind your reasoning, right? A block A student wouldn't just blurt that out meaninglessly, right, Aki? Let's hear him out."

"...He better have a VERY valid reason."

We both took a seat, exchanging deadly glares with one another.

This is somewhat what I was referring to earlier when I mentioned that I would do things differently from Omega. It's a greater feeling to be in the spotlight when several other individuals have a rather good idea that I was the one behind it.

Feeling more comfortable though, Liyuga adjusted his tie and spoke to us. Undoubtedly, he was feeling mildly threatened by Akimiyashika's words, as they resonated quite deeply within him. He wanted to make sure he was doing the right thing.

"A classmate of mine, which goes by the name of Carol alongside another classmate of mine, Anea, told me that a girl named Ikkiri was working her classmates to the bone and that they were forced to gather witnesses for the sake of her own goal."

Akimiyashika wanted to react but she knew she couldn't. Same with Hinagiku.

Nevertheless, Yuka-sensei reacted rather undiplomatically, which to my surprise, I didn't see it coming.

"The foundation of your belief is a rumor? That is ridiculous. Refrain from blaming my students based on a rumor."

"I too thought so at first, but... As I checked with more and more people from other blocks, even from block E, everyone already knew this information and I find it hard to believe that the whole school is faking it."

"What..."

In pure disbelief, Akimiyashika just had to utter that almost silently. Though, on the other hand, in less than a day, it had become official that the rumor that Carol and Anea had spread had infiltrated from the students of the mighty block A all the way to the trash bin of block E. Her network is powerful. Plus, yesterday, right after we made the deal, I made sure to tell Carol that they were the ones that had to be the source of the rumors. If we were the source of the rumors, then they would lose their credibility. They agreed to that logic because their clout entirely justifies it.

"And for that reason alone, you think that Ikkiri here is the reason as to why Hunter acted the way he did?"

"Frankly, yes. Rumors that involve details regarding how she manipulates others through very... questionable methods... have been spreading like wildfire. If Hunter knows about the rumors, then, of course, he wouldn't trust her. My point being---when he said that he had been lied to, he was probably referring to his own assumption. His own assumption involved him thinking that Ikkiri had ordered Akimiyashika into getting his help. Now, I wouldn't usually believe this... Unless, of course, Akimiyashika, you were the one that got him to help you out? Was that the case? If so, then that would explain it..."

Back against the wall, precisely speaking.

Ikkiri couldn't possibly have gotten Hunter's help. Akimiyashika, on the other hand, strikes you as a figure that could get someone's help, rather easily. If you consider that factor alone and adjoin the possibility of someone manipulating her in order to gain your trust, you would realize that Akimiyashika is the perfect cover.

"I did get Hunter's help, but Ikkiri had nothing to do with that!"

"Really? Are you sure? Give me a solid reason to believe your words."

"Sure, fine. I was the one that insisted that we should get Hunter's help because he looked to be the hardest-working student in his class. I came up with the idea, which Ikkiri had nothing to do with."

Wow, such cold words, Akimiyashika...

You are basically calling her useless. That's nice though. Nevertheless, Liyuga wasn't quite buying Akimiyashika's "solid" reason.

Ikkiri isn't exactly facing the situation, as she is just sulking. That's all she does! A normal person would confront the one who talks shit towards that person, but she doesn't. She's a coward and doesn't protect herself. She's easy to bully.

"Sorry, I just don't believe you. I'll stick with my reasoning and that's why I believe Hunter did what he did. Did I say something in the wrong, Ikkiri?"

Mercilessly, he forced Ikkiri to face his words, although far away from her.

Her reaction continued with the same essence though.

"...I wouldn't manipulate Aki nor Hina, but I have no evidence that I can't give you. I just... don't get why people would have that image of me in the first place..."

Very dumb choice of words, Ikkiri. The less suited you look for a task, the more others would question the falsehood behind such an assumption.

"Well, I honestly don't think that spreading rumors like this is a fine thing to do, so I'll just say that that's my reasoning for Hunter's decision. My staying here as a witness is entangled towards Lus and Kanawari, so, in other words, I am not affected by this. Unless, of course, if the rumors are true and these two here are---"

Liyuga was about to jump towards an even bigger conclusion, but Lus stopped him before he could, quite crudely.

"I am not defending Ikkiri nor anyone, but I would not obey someone else's order, even if I was at a gunpoint with a gun cocked onto my brain. You are here based on our deal. Got it?"

"...Yes, it appears that I shouldn't have doubted you."

"Good."

Lus is quite prideful, so she would make sure to ONLY defend herself and by not defending everyone else, Liyuga's belief regarding Ikkiri's manipulative schemes in our class still lives on.

Now, Yuka-sensei administered her thoughts.

"Isn't it the student council's job to make sure that there is order in school? Please track down the source of such rumors and terminate it."

"I will agree with that there. But that aside, I don't believe turning a blind eye to rumors that have spread all over the school can be done. They have to be questioned to a certain extent."

The source of the rumors would soon be located, or rather, it was important to make sure that the source of the rumors would become irrelevant. What good is a rumor if the credibility falls as soon as the source is terminated? Therefore... It simply needs to be more expanded.

With that said, Liyuga's turn was tomorrow and not today, so he returned to his classroom. Classes went on until the dawn of the afternoon.

The second step would need to be administered quickly.

As soon as classes were over and everyone was starting to leave the room, I called out to Shizuku while putting all my utensils in my backpack. She was doing the exact same.

"Shizuku! What do you say we do some stalking?"

"Eh, that sounds interesting. Who, this time around though?"

She replied positively, which was extremely pleasing.

Now... I've been thinking of who would make the most suitable person for this, but if I were to pick someone who would be totally fine with doing this, then...

"It's from our class."

"Seriously? Don't we need to be careful? What if we are found out...?"

"No, relax, Shizuku. Despite being in our class, she hasn't stood out that much recently."

Rather... She's someone whose spotlight hasn't been on her for a while now. She could use some and even though I recalled back the event where she called Ikkiri a mountain of names by writing them on her table, she hasn't exhibited any signs of life thus far. I've noticed that she doesn't exactly like Ikkiri for quite a long time. Yet she's not acting on her feelings, so we have to revive them.

I pointed in her direction, as she was motionlessly leaving the classroom.

"Let's see where she goes..."

"You're onto something, right?"

"You just know me so well, don't you, Shizuku?"

As we left the classroom, I cast out a sharp glance at Ikkiri, who was the last person in the classroom. Akimiyashika and Hinagiku left the classroom with vast haste, most likely in order to fill a complaint to the student council; leaving Ikkiri behind. Yet, as I look at her, with her head lying on her right shoulder, I could only really witness a certain type of sadness of unknown origins.

We moved rather slowly as we stalked our target.

She did not go to the dorm and instead walked far away from it. She would constantly elevate her arms to probably wipe out the overflowing tears from the corners of her eyes.

Above us, the sky threatened to rain on this gray concrete that we walked into. Our path didn't diverge as we stumbled upon an area that had a table in a squared-shape. Furthermore, it contained a beautiful garden that instead of being flourished by the daylight, began to bear similar traits to an abstract swamp.

The target silently sat on the table's seat as we watched her upcoming movements from a far away pillar. Given that she wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings, we didn't bother to hide. Ever curious though, Shizuku posed a question as she processed the movements of our target.

"...What is she doing...?"

"It's as if she's feeling the table or something. Do you think she's gonna use the table's edge to masturbate?"

It was possible, all in all, but there is no way that would happen. As a joke, I said what I said to Shizuku, who ACTUALLY pondered the likelihood of that being the case, but really... Our target was just going around the table with her two palms as if attempting to detect the source of some sort of smell. She has really interestingly bizarre hobbies, I must say.

I bumped Shizuku's shoulder lightly with my own and urged her to move forward as soon as I captured a different reaction from our target. She had found the source of the smell.

Moreso, she was distorting her hips' height in order to capture the essence of that smell, rather disturbingly. She was almost hogging the entire table, crossing the edge of going beyond smelling it. It was as if she was imagining some sort of metaphysical form that the table was supposed to take shape and was making love to it.

"Where'd you go, where'd you go, where'd you, where'd you, I really can't stand this annoying distance between you and m--"

Considering the fact that we were silently judging her from a distance of one-meter, our eyes met and she started to get all paranoid as soon as she came to the realization that she wasn't alone in this rather ironically lonely atmosphere met by no one else except us three.

"W--Whaa-- it's not what you think!! I.. Um---"

But we ignored her and sat at her side. Shizuku on her left and I at her right.

"Don't worry, we don't have any interest in your obscure fetishes, Arkalee."

"If anything, we sorta respect it, Arkalee!"

Shizuku's entitled opinion aside, I was curious to know what Arkalee was actually doing, so after that quick justification and with a light hit on her back, I asked the question.

"What were you doing, Arkalee? It looked like you were smelling something."

"Right? Whatever it was, it must've been important. We should do the same, just so Arkalee doesn't think that she's the weird one."

"True, Shizuku. So, let's---"

We were on the verge of casting our heads down in order to really attempt to smell this table and what it had to offer, but Arkalee spread out her two arms while neurotically complaining to us.

"What do you two think you are doing?! This table here is my private property! Nobody else can smell him!"

Him?

"I didn't know tables had genders, Arkalee. This is revolutionary."

"They don't! They don't! Just don't smell it, okay?! What is wrong with you two, so persistent! Go awaaaaaaaaaay!!"

Sulking, she hogged the table desperately as if it was her life-line. But, it wasn't on our agenda to actually fail here, so Shizuku pulled out a sympathetic act towards Arkalee, and surely, I was about to do the same as it was necessary.

Therefore, with both of our hands on top of Arkalee's shoulders, we began to comfort her.

"Sorry, we didn't actually mean to act like that. We were just worried about you."

"Worried...?"

Since Arkalee took enough curiosity out of her system to wonder the meaning behind Shizuku's words, I went along next, causing her to look in my direction at the will of my voice's sound.

"Hyunda's been absent and that has caused you to lose your will to do anything at all. You just go to classes and cry all alone at your desk. Of course, since we noticed that, we just couldn't be more worried."

Yet my words caused her to tear up.

In addition to that, she tightly held my left uniform's sleeve; provoking a mild tremble.

"Ah, it's so hard! How do people even do this?! This is so cruel!! Sending my future husband to a deserted island?! Are they out of their damn minds?! I don't care if they don't care about our rights, it's still wrong to separate us like this! I..!! How am I supposed to go on...?! Waaaaaaaaaah!!!"

"Damn, that seems pretty rough, right, Shizuku?"

I expected a sarcastic reply since I didn't really care, but Shizuku was somewhat too emerged in Arkalee's mood and she began to shed light tears while hugging Arkalee from behind.

"That is so sad! You two are already close enough to the point where your marriage is in your minds!?"

"Yes! Yes, Shizuku! Waaah! That's why I'm here! Because we've been here together and I thought that I could smell his scent if I were to be here!"

Seeing Arkalee say that really urged me to speak out of my own curiosity.

"And you were successful...?"

Arkalee stopped hugging Shizuku and looked in my direction seriously.

Her glare looked full of pure belief and had a clearance aura to it.

"Are you joking? Of course I was. My sense of smell is so powerful that all I do is go to places where we have been together and by doing so, I can relive the memories all over again!"

Although she said that with such burst, she nonetheless looked extremely sad in doing so.

"But... It's still not the same... I want to be able to hug him, kiss him, just feel his touch, but... BUT...!!! I JUST CAN'T!! AAAAGHH!"

Well, that escalated fairly quickly. Arkalee was speaking rather silently, but she strongly elevated the tone of her words by the end of her sentence.

Knowing that; I took the chance to confirm something with Arkalee, regarding Hyunda.

"Say, Arkalee, you wouldn't let Hyunda go out of your radar, right?"

"What? There's no way I would. What if he cheated on me? I would kill him and then myself so we could be together forever and ever in the afterlife!"

That wasn't quite what I was expecting as an answer and it didn't really suffice, so I took a more direct approach.

"What if he was giving attention to another girl without you noticing? What if he made you be absent from his presence for that particular reason?"

"Hyunda wouldn't do that. He's loyal to me only."

"Really? No matter what, you would keep an eye on him? What about the times where you just can't, for example, in the boys' dorm?"

"...That just can't be helped! Even though the rules are unfair, we have to be separated..."

"I see..."

I'm really over-thinking this, aren't I? There's just no way that Hyunda could have any sort of liberty to uphold so many actions at once. Unless he would coordinate how others would dictate their movements, but he doesn't strike me as a leader.

I looked over the gray sky and started to shackle thoughts regarding Hyunda being Omega and seemingly labeled them as unlikely. Now, I was wasting too much time, so I went forward with what I was here for all along.

"Arkalee, it was you who wrote all those insults a while back towards Ikkiri, right?"

"W-Why would you think so...?! I don't have anything against Ik--"

She couldn't even finish her sentence.

Shizuku and I traded cohesive glances with one another before making our move.

This morning, I brought up that previous event and reasoned why Arkalee was most likely the one who did it, so Shizuku already knew the plan here.

"It's alright, we don't really like the bitch anyways. Right, Yukishiro?"

"She's fucking weak as hell. Always reliant on the two others like no tomorrow. She's everything I don't want to ever be!"

This part was true though. We weren't really faking it.

There is nothing that I like about Ikkiri. She's always the target and does nothing whatsoever to fight back against all the verbal insults she receives. As we speak, countless people are harboring ill intentions towards her thanks to the rumors that I've purposely let spread. She doesn't even behave like she's one of us. A completely useless lump of meat is a fitting name for her.

If she were to commit suicide, no one except Akimiyashika and Hinagiku would miss her.

"Right, right?! I hate her soo muchhh! In the past, she would always try to get the attention of Hyunda and get in my way!"

Although Arkalee has spoken just now with such hatred behind her words, there is one puzzling thing here.

"If you hate her so much, then why aren't you helping us out?"

No point in hiding it, so Shizuku and I stared into Arkalee's soul.

It took her about two seconds to get the whole picture here, but I'm glad I didn't have to emphasize the charade that was being put.

"No way... It was you two...? I thought it was a student from block A."

"We told them about Ikkiri and conveyed a charade. Of course, we exaggerated quite a bit, but that's partial."

"Not even Akimiyashika can do anything against these rumors, but it's just... If we leave these rumors and their source intact, then things won't go as planned and Ikkiri's bullying will come to an end. And we don't want that, right, Yukishiro?"

"Exactly."

Our point was about to reach its main essential stage.

Why exactly was Arkalee relevant anyways? I've told Carol and Anea to spread rumors about how Ikkiri is a slut who would do anything in order to gain favors; who would gladly suck a dick just to get your attention and so on. I've additionally emphasized that she rules our class to the bone, but soon enough if those who are curious enough to check the source of the rumors witness that such is not the case, then the credibility will plummet. Because, realistically speaking, we are not being ruled under some sort of tyranny.

No victims would come forth because there are none.

Unless... That single factor could change just a little bit.

"Arkalee, why don't you help us out? Just think about it. Soon enough, Ikkiri will be able to have a nice normal life again. Would you like that...?"

"No... It's just... I can't even muster the strength to feel without Hyunda around..."

So that's why she's been motionless practically all this time.

Without her emotional source around, Arkalee is essentially useless. I placed the tip of my right index finger on my lip as I saw this dilemma as somewhat troublesome.

In the meantime, Shizuku didn't hesitate to strike a proposal to Arkalee.

"Wouldn't you feel more secure if you made Ikkiri's life terrible? If you managed to damage Ikkiri's morale, then she could never, and I mean this, neveeer, approach Hyunda in any way. Why not break her hard to the point where she won't recover?"

"But is that even possible...?"

I stepped in.

"It is. Would you be interested in knowing how, Arkalee?"

Maliciously, I closed the distance between me and Arkalee further as I enticed her to pay close attention to what I could offer to her.

"...Yes. I would very much like to know how..."

"Perfect... Now, let's create a pact. By shaking this hand of mine, you solemnly vow to follow every order from me and Shizuku without ever going back on your word. As a reward, you will go along with our schemes, and by the end of them, I personally guarantee that Ikkiri will never be the same."

"Please tell me how!"

Arkalee showed not a slight hint of reluctance as she firmly shook my right hand; thus signing the deal and its contents included.