Chapter 144: A Late-Night Meeting, Ichinose's Stance

Saiki could remotely control electronic devices, so he used his psychic powers to directly damage the school forum's server.

Almost simultaneously, the school website froze, and no interface would respond. After refreshing, the website turned completely white, and a few seconds later, an error message popped up.

Meanwhile, in the school's server room, several staff members were in chaos.

"What's going on?!"

"Why did the school's server suddenly crash?!"

"Quick, hurry up and fix it!"

The staff members were panicking, completely unprepared for such an incident.

However, they were deeply puzzled.

Although the school usually didn't manage the forum much, they used some of the most advanced server equipment in the country, which was also partially connected to the S-system. There were even people specifically responsible for maintenance, so it was absolutely impossible for such a sudden failure to occur.

What on earth happened?

After dealing with this, Saiki sent a message to Shiina Hiyori.

Saiki: It's been taken care of.

Shiina Hiyori: Thank you so much, Saiki-kun! I'll go check now!

A minute later, Shiina sent another message.

Shiina Hiyori: Saiki-kun, the school forum's website... I can't open it.

"Because I broke the server."

Saiki was about to send this message, but after some thought, he deleted it and rewrote it.

After all, admitting to breaking the school server would likely draw unnecessary attention to himself. It was better not to say anything.

Saiki: It's probably just server maintenance today, which made it easier for me to delete the posts.

Shiina Hiyori: I see... But I don't really understand these things.

Shiina Hiyori: By the way, Saiki-kun, did you find out who was behind the posts?

"The poster... I didn't actually check that earlier... Should I just tell her it's Sakayanagi? But given Sakayanagi's personality, she probably wouldn't post it herself..."

As Saiki muttered to himself, he picked up on the thoughts of Horikita Suzune and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka outside his door. A second later, there was a knock.

"Should I pretend I'm not here? But they probably know I'm in my room..."

Saiki sighed and walked to the door to open it.

"Saiki, we want to talk to you about Ichinose."

Without any preamble, Horikita got straight to the point.

"Sure... go ahead."

Saiki nodded.

"Even though we're no longer in an alliance with Class C, I think we still need to investigate what's happening with Ichinose. After all, our enemies might use similar methods to attack us in the future."

Horikita spoke very seriously, then turned to Ayanokoji.

"Ayanokoji, tell him what happened this afternoon."

"Okay."

Ayanokoji shifted his gaze to Saiki.

"Earlier, after school, I met with Hasebe and the others. I heard there was some conflict involving Miyake, so I went to check it out. But when I got there, it turned out to be a conflict between Kanzaki and Hashimoto..."

Earlier that afternoon, Hasebe Haruka had stopped Ayanokoji to discuss this very matter.

"...From their argument, we heard that the one spreading the rumors was Hashimoto."

"It's Hashimoto, huh."

Saiki pretended to be unaware.

"But I don't think this was Hashimoto's own idea. It must have been Sakayanagi's orders, since he's her trusted subordinate."

Horikita frowned slightly and took out her phone, intending to open the school forum.

"So it's pretty much confirmed that the anonymous poster on the forum is Hashimoto... Huh? Why can't I open the website?"

'Because I crashed the server.'

Saiki answered in his mind.

"Is it server maintenance? That's actually good for Ichinose. It should help stop the rumors from spreading further... although a lot of people already know about them."

Horikita shook her head.

Meanwhile, Ayanokoji glanced around the room, his eyes landing on Saiki's computer screen.

[Was Saiki just browsing the forum? Or... does he have something to do with the school website? Is Saiki also proficient with computers?]

Ayanokoji pondered.

'Yare yare...'

"We're meeting Ichinose later tonight. Do you want to join us?"

Horikita asked Saiki. Although her tone was questioning, Saiki knew he didn't really have a choice.

"Sure... When and where?"

Saiki had already heard the answer through telepathy, but he didn't want to believe it.

"Right now. In your room."

"?"

Before Saiki could respond, there was another knock at the door.

Ichinose Honami had arrived.

Ichinose looked listless, her eyes filled with exhaustion, a stark contrast to her usual cheerful self.

"I'm sorry for calling you out so late at night, Ichinose."

Horikita spoke to Ichinose.

Among all the first-year students, Ichinose was one of the few people Horikita truly respected. It seemed that Horikita had even sought Ichinose's advice when she encountered problems in the past.

"This is for my sake, right? You don't need to apologize."

Ichinose smiled warmly.

"Then... since it's getting late and it might affect tomorrow's studies, I'll keep it short... Anyway, there are probably all sorts of unsettling rumors going around, right?"

"Yeah. Do you know who's spreading them?"

Horikita asked Ichinose directly.

"I'm not sure, but it's probably Sakayanagi..."

Ichinose replied.

This surprised Saiki. He hadn't expected Ichinose to so confidently name Sakayanagi Arisu.

"Sakayanagi... Why do you think it's likely her?"

Horikita asked, puzzled.

"Simply put, it's because I've been challenged. Sakayanagi has said similar things to me before."

Ichinose explained.

[Sakayanagi? It's highly possible. She's very competitive. To push Katsuragi aside, she even deepened the conflict within her own class. From that perspective, it's easy to imagine her targeting Ichinose, the leader of Class C, to destabilize them.]

Horikita thought to herself, then replied,

"No, that's enough. In any case, you've been hurt by baseless rumors spread about you."

"Yeah... I'm not sure."

Saiki noticed that as Ichinose said this, a look of conflict flashed across her face. He could also clearly hear her thoughts.

[Most of those rumors are false... but there's one that's true... I did steal something from someone once...]

[I made a mistake, one that was absolutely unforgivable, absolutely wrong. My mother, who was bedridden at the time, her angry expression, her tears, my sister's hurt and withdrawn expression—I can't forget any of it...]

[I lost half of my third year of middle school, staying indoors for nearly six months...]

A painful memory surfaced in Ichinose's mind, and Saiki now understood what had happened to her.

During middle school, she had stolen something to give her sister a birthday gift in place of her sick mother. When her mother found out, she took Ichinose to confess, and the store owner forgave her. However, the incident left a deep psychological scar, and Ichinose shut herself in her room for half a year. It wasn't until she received her acceptance letter to this school that she finally stepped out again.

This incident had a severe impact on Ichinose, which was why she had been placed in Class B. She had never told anyone about it.

Not long ago, Ichinose had been invited by Nagumo Miyabi to join the student council. Wanting to face her past mistakes, she chose to tell Nagumo about her history—

And it cost her.

Nagumo told Sakayanagi Arisu about it, and Sakayanagi used this information to attack Ichinose.

"You're not denying the rumors?"

"I'm sorry, Horikita... I can't answer that. Horikita, Ayanokoji, and Saiki, you're all my friends, but you're still students from another class. Even if we're cooperating now, we're destined to fight someday, right?"

Ichinose shook her head.

"I'm not going to force you to answer, but staying silent might be seen as admitting to the rumors."

"How people interpret the rumors is up to them, but I don't plan to overreact to this. This is Sakayanagi's strategy to destabilize Class C. I think the only way to counter it is to stay silent."

Ichinose smiled, looking as cheerful as ever.

"The reason I wanted to meet with you tonight, Horikita, is because I don't want you to get involved. I've chosen to stay silent, but if people around me keep stirring things up, it'll only cause more trouble. What's important is that you don't need to risk Class B being targeted by Sakayanagi just to help me. I'll be fine!"

Ichinose nodded firmly, facing Horikita and the others with her usual smile.

[This is my own problem. I can't let my friends be affected by it.]

Ichinose thought to herself.

Saiki simply stood to the side, silently watching Ichinose without saying a word.

"...I fully understand how strong your heart is. No matter the truth, anyone would be hurt by such vulgar rumors. Yet you're not just thinking about yourself—you're also considering the people around you."

"I'm not that noble. So, Horikita, just act as you normally would. I'll handle my own problems. I'm really sorry for causing you all this trouble."

"Do you know about Kanzaki and the others?"

At that moment, Ayanokoji spoke up.

"Kanzaki?"

"Today, he confronted Hashimoto from Class A and begged him not to spread the rumors. Well, it might have gone beyond begging."

Ayanokoji said.

[It almost turned into a violent incident.]

"Is that so... Kanzaki is really kind. I told him he didn't need to do anything."

"It's probably not just Kanzaki. I think several of your classmates want to do something for you."

"I'll talk to them again. Can we end the conversation here?"

"Are you really okay?"

Horikita asked with concern.

"Of course."

Ichinose answered without hesitation.

"Thank you for worrying about me. Ayanokoji and Saiki, thank you for coming over so late!"

Ichinose bowed deeply to everyone.

'Because this is my room.'

Saiki thought to himself.

Ichinose then left the room.

"Is she really okay?"

"Who knows? It's hard to say."

Ayanokoji replied.

"What do you think I should do?"

"I suggest you do nothing."

"Why?"

"If, as Ichinose said, the culprit is Sakayanagi, getting involved might lead to Class B being targeted."

"You're not wrong, but if Ichinose loses to Sakayanagi, won't the next target be our Class B?"

Horikita frowned.

"Our class might be targeted eventually, but if the troublesome leader of Class C has already been taken down by someone else, that's something to be grateful for."

Ayanokoji said slowly.

Saiki, who had been silent, shifted his gaze to Ayanokoji.

This was indeed a very Ayanokoji-like response.

However, Saiki didn't entirely agree with it.

"...So you're saying Ichinose's situation doesn't matter? How rational."

"Rational? That's just our position, isn't it? Helping a classmate is one thing, but Ichinose is from another class. She's an opponent we'll have to defeat someday..."

"I don't think so."

At that moment, Saiki spoke up.

"I think helping Ichinose is the better choice."