C54

Chapter 54: Final Confirmation

Wednesday after school.

The four of them—Suzumura, Kitayama, Takamiya, and Sugisawa—had been called to the career guidance room.

Building on the interviews and questionnaires conducted up to this point, the school was about to carry out its final confirmation.

Simultaneously, in the student guidance room, Mr. Hirano was conducting the final interviews with Kujo and Kano.

In the career guidance room, Mr. Yamaoka and Ms. Nishikawa sat facing the four students, who were seated in a row.

Once he confirmed that all four were seated, Mr. Yamaoka spoke.

"Today, we're going to confirm a few discrepancies that have arisen from the interviews conducted with the six of you so far."

Kaho looked at Mr. Yamaoka.

"…Discrepancies, you say?"

Mr. Yamaoka began to explain.

"In this round of interviews, the four of you explained that Suzumura was planning to tell Tachibana the fake confession was just between the two of them. However, Kujo and Kano explained that they had planned to expose the prank in front of the classmates from the very beginning."

The moment she heard Mr. Yamaoka's words, Kaho raised her voice.

"That's ridiculous!"

At that outburst, everyone present looked at Kaho's face in astonishment. It was a voice so loud one could never imagine it coming from her usual self; even Kokone, who had been together with her since childhood, was seeing Kaho like this for the first time.

"Takamiya-san didn't say any such thing! Suzumura-san didn't agree under those conditions either! And yet…!"

Kaho kept her head bowed and fell silent for a while. Eventually, as if venting uncontrollable emotions, she muttered in a trembling voice.

"Why… would you do something like that…? Why are you trying to pin more of the blame on Takamiya-san and Suzumura-san…?"

Gazing at Kaho like that, Mr. Yamaoka asked the four of them after a moment.

"This time, if there is anything that can confirm that Suzumura was planning to tell Tachibana just between the two of them, we'd like to see it. Is there a LIME history, or anything left behind?"

Each of the four took out their smartphones, checked their LIME history, and began searching to see if anything remained to substantiate their account. However, no matter how much they checked, nothing that could back it up was found.

"Then let me confirm one more thing. Is it correct that the four of you had nothing to do with what Kujo and Kano said to Tachibana in front of the classmates at that time?"

Each of the four answered that they had nothing to do with what Kujo and Kano said to Tachibana. Hearing those answers, Ms. Nishikawa noted them down in her hand-held memo.

After that, several more confirmatory questions followed regarding the situation at the time and each person's understanding of it, and the four answered based on their respective memories. Once the pre-prepared questions had all been asked, Mr. Yamaoka spoke.

"Understood. Is there anything else you'd like to tell the school?"

Prompted by that question, Sugisawa spoke up.

"On Monday after school, Takamiya-san and I were called out by Kujo-san and Kano-san, and we were talked to about aligning our stories in an empty classroom. We don't remember ever talking about anything like that, but they spoke as if the six of us had decided on it from the very beginning…"

Hearing that, Mr. Yamaoka turned his gaze toward Takamiya.

"Takamiya, is that true?"

Takamiya kept her head bowed and answered quietly.

"…Yes."

Mr. Yamaoka then asked Suzumura and Kitayama.

"Suzumura and Kitayama, was there anything like the six of you aligning your stories?"

"No, there wasn't."

Kokone and Kaho answered almost simultaneously.

After thinking for a while, Mr. Yamaoka asked Sugisawa.

"Is there anything that can prove that?"

Sugisawa answered Mr. Yamaoka's question as if recalling what happened back then.

"When things started looking suspicious, I thought for a split second about recording it… but I figured if I operated my smartphone in front of those two, they'd definitely find out, so I couldn't do it."

Pausing to think for a moment, Sugisawa added,

"However, judging from how the conversation went, I get the feeling it was Kano-san who brought up that idea."

After remaining silent in thought for a while, Mr. Yamaoka quietly spoke.

"I see… Understood."

Shortly after that, the interviews with the four students concluded. Once the four left the career guidance room, Mr. Yamaoka and Ms. Nishikawa remained behind, organizing the materials gathered from the interviews so far and reviewing the contents for a while.

Before long, the two stood up and headed to the student guidance room.

◇

When the two entered the student guidance room, Hirano greeted them.

"Good work."

"Good work to you too. We've finished on our end as well."

Once the two sat down, Hirano gathered the materials at hand and directed his gaze toward them.

"Now, I will explain the interviews with Kujo-san and Kano-san this time."

Hirano lowered his eyes to the materials in front of him and turned the pages to confirm.

"Just like last time, they explained that it was meant to be an exposure in front of the classmates. Also, we checked whether there was any evidence or the like, but they didn't have anything that could prove it."

They continued with a few more confirmations, explaining that no particularly notable information had emerged regarding this matter.

Hearing Hirano's account, Yamaoka also stated regarding the interviews with the four students that no evidence confirming what Suzumura and the others had said could be verified.

On the other hand, he explained that Sugisawa had stated that on Monday after school, he and Takamiya were called into an empty classroom by Kujo and Kano and talked to about a fabricated alignment of stories, and that they had also checked into that matter.

"A fabricated alignment of stories, you say…"

Mumbling that, Hirano fell silent as if deep in thought.

"Yes… However, there is no evidence for that either, it seems."

Hirano remained silent in thought for a bit, but eventually, turning his gaze toward the two of them, he spoke.

"Regarding this matter, different stories are coming from both sides, but at present, there is no evidence to judge which story is correct."

Pausing for a moment, Hirano continued,

"Therefore, regarding this discrepancy, we will not treat either side's account as fact and hold the other party responsible for it."

"If we were to make assumptions based on things without evidence, we would end up holding people accountable based on content that differs from the facts. Therefore, we will treat this part separately from the facts that we have been able to confirm this time."

Hearing Hirano's words, Yamaoka thought for a moment before speaking.

"In other words, since we cannot judge which story is correct, we won't place responsibility on either party regarding that discrepancy, and instead judge based solely on the facts confirmed this time, correct?"

"That's right."

Hirano answered briefly and dropped his gaze to the materials at hand.

"Now then, let's organize the facts that have been confirmed regarding this matter."

For a while after that, the three proceeded to organize the matter while checking the contents of the interviews and questionnaires gathered up to this point.

Eventually, finishing the review of everything, the contents grasped by the school regarding this matter were organized overall.

Consolidating the materials at hand, Hirano directed his gaze toward Yamaoka.

"With this, the contents confirmed by the school regarding this matter have been organized, haven't they?"

Yamaoka nodded while casting his eyes down at the documents.

After confirming the documents once, Hirano continued.

"Now, based on the confirmed contents, let's contact the parents of each of the six students."

Confirming that Yamaoka nodded, Hirano proceeded to check regarding Kano.

"As for Kano-san, we also need to convey the wishes expressed by Tachibana-kun's parents to Kano-san's parents. Also, since we've received several dates and times that are convenient for Tachibana-kun's parents, please pass those options along to Kano-san's parents and ask them to coordinate the schedule."

Nodding at those words, Yamaoka replied.

"I will contact her parents in detail regarding that matter."

Nodding at that response, Hirano checked the materials at hand and brought up the next topic.

"Next, regarding the classmates involved in this incident, the contents confirmed from videos and the like will be kept by the school as future records."

Hearing those words, Yamaoka quietly nodded.

"Understood."

Hirano dropped his eyes to the materials once more before continuing.

"However, that doesn't mean we will conduct individual guidance for everyone. For students who especially require confirmation regarding this incident, we will handle them accordingly on our end."

Yamaoka also nodded at that explanation.

Checking Yamaoka's demeanor, Hirano looked over the materials at hand and brought up the next topic.

"Also, after contacting the parents of the six students, we will contact Tachibana-kun's parents regarding the contents confirmed this time. Please also let them know that, according to today's questionnaire for the classmates, no students other than Kano-san were recording videos."

Yamaoka dropped his eyes to the materials at hand, checked the contents, and nodded slightly.

"Once all those communications are finished, let's compile all the contents confirmed regarding this matter and the responses taken up to this point, and submit it to the principal. Since the chairman is also said to be checking that report, the school needs to keep things thoroughly organized to the very end."

Nodding at those words, the two of them cast their eyes back down to the materials at hand and resumed organizing the documents to sort out the remaining points to confirm.