A New Masterpiece (COTE x OC)

Chapter 12 - Silver Lining

It was the trial day.

The trial was to be held after school in case the prosecution went long, so there wouldn't be any disruption with our classes. Sudo, Horikita, Ayanokouji, Chabashira-sensei, and I all walked to the third floor of the school.

The student council room was on this floor, along with all the third years. As we made our approach to the student council room, passing third-years gave us disturbed glances. I assumed everyone by now had caught wind of the incident that happened with the first years, which warranted these looks toward us.

We finally arrived at our destination. Without any words, we all stepped into the coveted student council room.

It was pretty lackluster, to be honest.

There was a massive U-shaped desk with seats all around, and there were some bookshelves here and there, but nothing that really stood out.

I looked to the head of the table, which sat the student council president. Manabu Horikita. It seemed he was appointed judge of this trial, so appealing to him could result in the best outcome for us. But; I assumed he wouldn't fall to such cheap flattery.

Stood over his right shoulder was another third-year. She was a shorter individual with purple hair tied into two buns. She held a clipboard in her hands, most likely, she was the President's secretary.

And there was one more person I didn't know. A boy close to my height with light yellow hair sat beside the President. I assumed he must be of high status within the student council, if he wasn't there would be no need for him to be here.

The 'victims' in the case had not arrived yet. So we took our seats at the table.

To my left was, Ayanokouji, who sat beside Horikita. There weren't enough chairs on our side for everyone, so Chabashira-sensei stood behind me.

No one had said a word since we entered the room. The tension in the air restrained anyone from speaking too early. I took a short glance at Horikita. She sat there nervously, twiddling her thumbs, not taking the chance to glance at her older brother.

5 minutes or so later, the Class C gang showed up.

They sat across from us with their sensei. They all did seem to be pretty injured from the fight. Which, I found rather peculiar. It's been roughly 8 days since the incident, and to look this beat up that much later was suspicious.

"My name is Tachibana Akane, in front of me is Student Council President Horikita Manabu, and to his right is Vice President Miyabi Nagumo. We shall commence the trial that these three Class C boys, Ishizaki Daichi, Komiya Kyogo, and Kondo Reo, were called to the special building after club activities by Sudo Ken, in which they were mercilessly beaten up. The parties may start their deliberation."

"That's bull!" Sudo roared. "You all called me out to the building and picked a fight with me, not the other way around."

"That's a flat-out lie," Komiya refuted.

"Oh yeah! You were just jealous I'm a first-year starter and wanted to injure me! Too bad you're all weak anyways!"

"Sudo, that's enough," I steeled my gaze toward Sudo, "the less talking you do here, the better the results will be."

"But..."

"That's enough."

If Sudo kept demonstrating his aggressive behavior in front of the President, it would be easy for him to side with the opposition.

"Since it seems this is a case of, "he said she said," we would like to know if any of the parties have sufficient evidence to prove their claims," Tachibana said.