Classroom of The Elite : The Marionette

Chapter 38: Second Suspect

"Assuming what you guys say is true, who do you think is the most likely person to do that?" Saionji-senpai asked class B.

"Unfortunately we don't know," Shiraishi responded. Masaki next to him also started to fold his arms and sit in silence.

At this moment I thought that Ishikawa would start talking. Since his very conspicuous arrival, the man hasn't said a word and that makes me worried. When he arrived, Ishikawa had already said that he had come here to take care of the problem of his classmate, Deshima Junko. Among everyone here, the only one who has a problem with Deshima is Nanahara from my class. Thus it was clear that Ishikawa had intended to target us from the start, and sure enough, after Shiraishi put forward his theory, this man immediately responded.

"Whoever it is definitely has a grudge against Tanaka," he grinned while looking at Nanahara. "And we know in this room there is one person who appears to have a personal problem with him."

Nanahara returned his grin with a glare. Seeing that, Ishikawa only raises his provocation even more. "Ooh...that's scary. How could a girl make such a ferocious face? That won't help your case, you know."

Before Nanahara could say anything Satonaka interrupted. "Ishikawa-kun, I think it's too early to shift the blame to Nanahara-san."

"If not her, who else? She admitted that she was the one chasing Tanaka, right?"

"But she didn't chase him all the way to the construction site..."

"Yeah, but that's just an excuse, isn't it?"

"Enough," as if sensing that the situation would escalate if Ishikawa continued talking, Saionji-senpai immediately took over. "It seems like it's time for us to move on from Shimada-kun. Does class C want to present an argument?"

Previously, Saionji-senpai asked Shimada several questions and then invited Shiraishi to present an argument. Now for some reason, she immediately skipped the interrogation session and immediately gave us space to talk. I don't know what the reason behind it is but I'm grateful for it.

Satonaka looked at me as if to ask for my opinion. I responded by directly answering Saionji-senpai. "Yes, we want to make a statement."

Saionji-senpai then gestured with her hand for me to stand up. I stood up from my chair and cleared my throat briefly before starting to speak. "First, I want to say that we agree with class B that someone is trying to use Shimada as a scapegoat. However, we also want to emphasize that Nanahara Mari was not the culprit."

"I think you must have a good argument to support that statement, right?" Saionji-senpai said while putting a little emphasis on the word 'statement'.

"Yes, and I will explain," I answered while turning my gaze to class A, to Tanaka Tomomitsu to be precise. "Before that, I want to confirm one thing. Tanaka, can you tell us once why you had to meet Nanahara,"

Tanaka looked surprised. "Everything was explained at the beginning of the trial,"

"Yes, but I want to hear it directly from you."

Tanaka started to sneer and it invited a sharp glare from Takada-sensei. Tanaka, who realized that he was being glared at by his homeroom teacher, hurriedly corrected his attitude. "Okay, I'll tell you. Deshima from class D told me that she and her friends some time ago were beaten by someone from class C and they asked for help from me. They said she didn't join any clubs and always went straight home after school ended so that day I waited for her after school..."

"So you didn't just stop her on the way? You didn't call her to meet or something, right?"

"No, how can I contact her when I don't have her phone number?"