Chaoskouji

Arc 2 Chapter 5 - Trial

The day of the trial finally arrived. Over the few days since Kushida, Sakura and I had been to the shops, nothing in the case had changed. Despite her claims to help, Ichinose had been unable to find any new evidence, and apparently Kanzaki hadn't been as sympathetic to our plight, and Class B had followed his lead, putting in less effort to help than they probably would have with Ichinose in charge.

It was an interesting development. Even thought I was fairly sure that the majority of the class were much kinder than most students in the grade, and it seemed their bond of friendship still formed the basis of their class, without Ichinose as much in the forefront, the general class attitude had shifted slightly, enough to make them less willing to help others as much. It showed just how much a leader could influence their followers.

Horikita had decided that due to our lack of efforts to produce results, it was her god-given right to intervene slightly, blessing us with her superior intelligence to provide us with the already known fact that Sakura was a witness. It was annoying, the way she removed then inserted herself into the case on a whim, but I allowed her to have her moment of grandeur.

Despite this, we made no attempt to approach Sakura, and it seemed that while this disturbed Horikita, she kept herself out of it, seemingly believing that now her input was over she had no more interest in the case. I had been concerned about her actions, as they could be the one thing to possibly throw my plan off track, but it appeared that even though Sakura hadn't come to school today for unknown reasons, she wasn't going to do anything more to intervene.

Or so I had thought.

As the bell rang for the end of class, Kushida and I stood up, making our way to the door where Chabashira and Sudou were waiting.

"Let's do this!" As expected, Kushida maintained a positive attitude right up to the final moments.

But before we could leave Horikita interrupted us.

"Wait. I'm coming too."

Interesting. I hadn't expected her to intervene. Though I suspected her presence wouldn't have any impact on the trial at all, based on what Chabashira had told me earlier. But there was no way I would let her come along without a fight

"And why should we allow that? You've contributed nothing so far, so I don't see why your presence would be helpful."

"There's no need to be so negative Ayanokouji-kun. Horikita-san would be great to have along!"

"You've single-handedly butchered this entire case Ayanokouji-kun. I thought you were more capable, but it seems like I overestimated your abilities." So, she's come to rescue me? How adorable.

"Yes! If Suzune helps us there's no way we can lose!"

"Don't call me by my first name, Sudou-kun." It seemed she still had no intention of showing any kindness towards Sudou. In fact, I doubted she cared about saving the case, probably still wanting Sudou to fail. This was just a chance for her to regain some of the ground she lost against me in her delusion that we were competing.

"Fine. We don't have a lot of time, so come along if you must."

I couldn't really go against the other two, and Chabashira had been standing by impatiently, checking her watch constantly.

Chabashira lead us through the corridors of the school, and as we passed the faculty room, I saw confusion appear on Horikita's face. Unlike the other two, she hadn't been with us when we met with Chabashira to discuss the situation earlier today, and hence had no idea where we were going. It was foolish of her to insert herself into this situation without all the information, but that's just who Horikita is.