Since it would be a nuisance to the neighbors if we talked right in front of my house like this. And because my house would be too cramped if everyone were to go inside, we decided to go to school earlier than planned.
When we arrived, we saw that some people were already gathered at the school grounds. The committee members were setting up tents for the audience and checking the necessary equipment on the broadcasting booths, the cheerleaders were having their last practice before the main event and lastly, some students were warming up for the event.
"Good morning, Maehara-senpai! You came here early today."
"Good morning, Takizawa-kun."
Right in front of the school gate, we met Takizawa-kun, who was decorating a signboard with 'The XXth Sports Festival' written on it.
When he first saw me, he showed us his usual sweet smile, but as soon as Arae-san and Ooyama-kun entered his sight and he noticed the overall mood of the group, the smile on his face was gone. He looked around to see that there was no one else around us.
"…I didn't expect you to find the culprit this quickly."
"Me neither. Well, I'll tell you the details later. Is the student council room open?"
"Yes. I'll notify the president, so use it as you like, senpai. Here is the key…"
"Thank you, Takizawa-kun."
"Don't mention it. I'll be in the tent at the center of the field with the president, so please return the key to us when you're done."
After receiving the key from Takizawa-kun, we decided to go to the student council's room. It felt weird because there were no actual student council members in our group, but since Umi was a temporary member of the council, we could fool anyone we'd run into.
"…You're amazing, Maehara-kun. You're completely different from me…"
Said Ooyama-kun after seeing Takizawa-kun leave to join the other members of the student council.
His voice was filled with jealousy and I didn't know how to respond to that. Well, whatever, I'll get to that later.
"Maki, I've talked to my homeroom teacher, the advisor of the student council, they gave us the okay. Since most of the students haven't arrived yet, we can take our time and talk for a while."
"Thank you, Umi. Let's go, everyone…"
Before going to the student council room, we went to get permission from the teacher first. After that, we immediately opened up the student council room and entered it. Compared to the outside, the air in the room was cool. Nakamura-san or Takizawa-kun must have turned on the AC before they left the room earlier.
"…Alright, I'll be leaving. Do whatever you want with him."
"Are you sure, Arae-san? You've been helping us out, it's okay if you want to stay until the end."
"I only agreed to help look for him, not to find out what his motives are. Besides, I don't want to get too chummy with you guys, this is just my way of returning the favor for what happened with the class match."
That was a bad way to put it, but basically what she was saying was that she didn't want to get in the way. It was her way of showing concern for us.
"…I see. See you on the field later, Nagisa-chan. Let's do our best for today!"
"Do your best yourself. I'll be going at my usual pace…"
After glancing at Amami-san, Arae-san left the room quietly.
She said harsh words like that, but she hadn't been slacking off on her practice, so I knew that she wouldn't cut corners during the real thing. Her words were harsh, but her heart was soft.
"…Alright, we'll be asking you a few questions, okay?"
After making sure that Arae-san had left the perimeter, I turned to face Ooyama-kun and asked him that question.
"Uh, can I see the original picture first? The unedited one."
"…Here it is."
I received the phone from Ooyama-kun's hand. There was indeed a picture of Amami-san and me together.
In the picture, Amami-san was reaching her hand out to me while smiling gently. Looking from the angle where the picture was being taken, the distance between us was too far to be misunderstood by anyone who was seeing it.
From our group's point of view, it really was just Amami-san acting like her usual self, there was nothing special in what she was doing. Her cheeks were slightly red, but that was most likely because of the heat.
Still, there was no reason for him to take this picture of us together.
"…Back then, I was looking for my bag. I brought it to school because one of my friends wanted to borrow a manga from me, but when I was working on the backboard, they took it without my permission. I asked them where they put it, but they didn't answer me properly, so I had to look for it all over the place…"
And that was when he found Amami-san and me. Before we got to that, I wanted to know what was up with him and his friend.
Before I met up with Amami-san, I remembered that his bag was taken by a group of boys.
They told me that they were his friends, but… I could see the picture clearly now.
They were acting suspiciously back then too.
I really shouldn't have let them do whatever they wanted back then, huh?
"Ooyama-kun, sorry for being rude, but…"
"Ah, don't worry, I know. They had been acting more blatantly as soon as the second year started. Knowing them, they probably had been treating me like that behind my back for quite some time before that. They knew that I wouldn't say anything as long as they kept everything at a reasonable level."
That meant the bag incident wasn't the first time they did this. Back when we met at the pool, they most likely pranked him to buy some drinks and ditched him.
"Uwah… So even people who don't normally stand out do terrible things like this? I know it really depends on the person, but, you know…"
"Those kinds of guys are usually worse, you know? They're the ones who feel conscious about castes and stuff the most. They'd pick on people 'lower' than them just to make themselves feel better."
"…I don't need to know that kind of people exist, really."
Both Umi and Nitta-san had a disgusted look on their faces. I felt as disgusted as them.
They didn't even bother treating him as a friend. This was just straight up bullying.
However, no matter how bad his situation was, that didn't give him the right to trouble Amami-san and I.
Well, before I decide on what to do with him, I guess I should listen to his story first.