165. The Mastermind

".....When did you get this letter?" Reiji asked.

"I-I got it on Friday. When I came back from lunch, it was already in my desk drawer!" Minato replied.

At first, Reiji had wondered why Minato was chosen to do this job, since he wasn't among the known group of lackeys that did Tadano's bidding.

But now that he had read the letter, he understood.

One bullet point, from the many listing out the tasks Minato needed to do, stood out to Reiji.

It informed him that he needed to use the photo he had taken at the food exhibition.

"What does this sentence mean? You were the one who took that photo?" Reiji inquired harshly.

"Y-Yeah, but I didn't mean anything by it! I was just at the exhibition and saw the President bowing to you from a distance, so I took that photo on a whim. I wasn't going to do anything with it until I got this letter!"

"But how did that person find out about the photo in the first place? You'd better not hide anything!"

"Um.....I kinda joked about it with my friends during lunch a few days ago, which was out in the open. Either they gossiped about it behind my back, or maybe someone overheard us....." Minato muttered, looking defeated.

Reiji clicked his tongue.

'Back to square one....'

Meanwhile, Arata was next to him, tapping away on the computer within his briefcase after placing it on top of a discarded cardboard box.

The letter said that the remaining 200,000 would be given to Minato after he made the second post, but it didn't provide a specific time or date.

Which meant that either Tadano was lying, or it would be secretly placed within Minato's possessions at some point after the deal was done.

This made it difficult to set a trap by waiting for the handover, nor was Reiji okay with letting the second post go live just to capture Tadano.

"C-Can I go now?" Minato piped up with a weak voice, snapping Reiji out of his thoughts.

"Of course not. You're stuck with us until we figure out how we can catch the one who put you up to this."

"What does that have to do with me!"

"...Are you fucking stupid?"

Minato's body deflated, resigning himself to his fate.

Reiji turned to Arata, hoping that he might have an idea of what to do about this. Even though the deal was done offline, maybe there was a way to trace the money back by seeing if anyone in the school had withdrawn such a large amount.

With the rise of digital payments, not a lot of students had that much cash on hand.

Since Arata was able to steal 100k from Reiji's account, this was very likely within his capabilities.

"What're you doing now?" he asked, glancing at the convoluted screen on Arata's computer.

"I'm checking if the money can be traced back to someone within the school."

'....So he was a step ahead of me. Well, he's probably done stuff like this for the syndicate anyway.'

"If I give you a name, maybe it'll be quicker?"

"A name? Sure, what is it?"

"Tadano Itsuki."

Arata nodded and typed for another minute, and then shook his head.

"He hasn't made a withdrawal lately. It's possible his parents did it for him, but it'll be more troublesome to check their history because they're political figures."

"Hmm...It's also likely he got some other student to withdraw it, or maybe, as a rich kid, he just has that much cash just lying around. He's very cautious after all. How long will it take to check everyone from Souhei High?"

"Can't give you a concrete time, but it won't be long."

Reiji nodded, leaning against the wall to wait for a result.

Minato, on the other hand, was just staring at Arata in complete shock.

"A fucking hacker?? How is that fair?" he groaned under his breath.

It didn't take Arata too long to check the records of everyone in Souhei High, though Reiji had no idea how he'd done it so fast.

But he was more interested in his findings, so he walked over and asked eagerly.

"So? Did you find anything?"

"Yes, but....It caught me off guard," Arata mumbled with a hint of confusion.

"Who is it?"

Reiji bent down slightly and looked at the computer screen, various suspects flashing through his mind.

Tadano had quite a few people around him to do his dirty work, and he remembered most of them.

But when the ID of the perpetrator popped up, his eyes widened in complete bewilderment, forcing him to straighten up with a complicated expression.

'What the hell?'

He took a few steps and plopped down on a crate nearby, massaging his temples carefully as a myriad of thoughts flashed through his mind.

Reiji knew he had affected the plot quite a bit already.

And yet, he was still fairly confident in his suspicions and overall strategy, because Main Events were typically not the type to be affected by change.

They would happen regardless of any choice the player made, a so-called canon occurrence of fate.

But now?

Now he realized just how much his actions could influence how everything progressed around him, and just how dangerous that could be.

Because the person who'd sent the letter to Minato wasn't Tadano Itsuki, nor was it any of his goons.

It was someone he hadn't really considered.

His teacher.

Kahawara Sensei.

***

Reiji took a deep gulp of the bitter cup of black coffee in his hands, almost gagging in disgust.

He hated bitter things.

But for now, he simply needed something that could help with his headache.

Minato and Arata sat around him, also holding onto their drinks.

The latter sipped his caramel crunch Frappuccino made in a caramel-lined cup, a double shot of espresso, 6 pumps of vanilla syrup, 3 pumps of caramel syrup, 2 pumps of dark caramel syrup, 5 pumps of white mocha sauce, 4 scoops of vanilla bean powder, almond milk, double-blended, light whip, extra caramel drizzle, extra cookie crumble toppings, and extra caramel crunch toppings.

It looked diabetically delicious.

They were back at the same cafe that they'd kidnapped Minato from, but this time, he'd come willingly with Reiji.

"Holy shit, holy shit! Was it really Kahawara Sensei who asked me to do that? Why would he do something so crazy and risk his job??" he squealed.

Reiji didn't reply, lost in his own thoughts.

Whether the culprit was Tadano or Kahawara Sensei made no difference to how he would proceed, but he was still digesting the fact that he'd somehow messed up a Main Event.

'Wait....I didn't necessarily mess it up.'

The event was supposed to happen sometime this week, with no indication of a specific timeline.

Just because Sensei decided to do this didn't mean that Tadano wasn't planning something on his own.

It might even be the case that the two were in cahoots with one another, though that was something he'd have to find out from Sensei himself.

He'd double-checked with Arata, and Tadano had nothing related to this in his online records.

As for Kahawara Sensei, he definitely had enough motive to be the mastermind.

Noa had probably reported Reiji's complaint to the higher-ups already, and he must have gotten scared that his job would be in jeopardy.

This scandal not only pointed fingers at Reiji and his rowdy actions at school, but also undermined Noa's capability and integrity for her position as President.

It would serve as a distraction while making Noa's complaint against Kahawara Sensei lose credibility.

'That cunning piece of shit.....'

Now he was feeling a little proud for not getting too cocky and accusing Tadano when Noa had asked if he had anyone he suspected.

That would've been bad.

"So, what're we going to do about him?" Arata suddenly asked, patting his slightly plump belly that had inflated after he ate three slices of cake along with his drink.

"We? You still want to help?"

"Nonsense. Do I look like someone who leaves halfway??"

"Yes."

"Ugh.....Only sometimes! But this is getting a little too interesting for me to just walk away. A corrupt teacher using sneaky methods against mere students, the story just writes itself!"

Reiji downed the rest of his black coffee and leaned back in his seat.

"Well...Using just the withdrawal records might not be enough to fully implicate him. It's probably sufficient for controlling the narrative, but he needs to pay for his actions properly, with actual legal consequences. For that, we need to find evidence in a legitimate way, without relying only on hacking."

"That's so long-winded! Why not just cripple him by getting someone from the syndicate?" Arata scoffed.

Minato, who had been listening with great interest, froze in his seat, his fear returning once he remembered who he was sitting next to.

"How does that fix anything? And it would just cement the contents of the post as fact."

"But it is a fact," he grumbled. "How about w-.....Oh, wait a minute."

Arata saw something on his laptop, bringing it closer to him with a bright grin.

"Look at this," he said, tilting the screen towards Reiji.

"Hm?"

As he continued to read, his frustrated expression lightened as a sly smile took over, his eyes flashing with intent.

"It's a perfect match! This is enough for a trap, isn't it?" Arata chuckled, crossing his arms with glee.

Reiji nodded and glanced at Minato, who recoiled when he noticed his gaze.

"Yes...Yes, it is."

***

(Noa POV)

"Oh my, this is quite the pickle you're in, huh?"

Noa did her best to prevent herself from rolling her eyes, a feat she was quite proud of.

She stared at the mature woman across the table, who was reading the post on her computer with a curiosity and leisure that made it seem like this whole situation didn't mean anything to her.

"Yes, Principal. I'm here to ask you to make a formal announcement on your involvement in this. It will help buy us some time to find out who made the post."

"Us?"

The Principal, Ito Hana, turned to Noa with a smile.

Her expression, which was always free and calm, made it difficult for one to discern her true feelings, especially with how narrow her eyes were.

After all, the eyes were the windows to the soul.

"I have asked Yagami Reiji for his help, since he is just as involved in this as we are."

"Really? After how much you appealed for his expulsion, this is quite the turnaround!"

Noa pursed her lips in embarrassment, a slight blush creeping up on her fair cheeks.

"...I was wrong. But that isn't relevant right now."

"On the contrary, it is very relevant. I still have the documents where you made those requests, with the date on them. If I show them during the announcement, it'll free you from all the gossip that must be going around right now," the Principal replied, tilting her head slightly.

Noa furrowed her brows, only taking a second to consider the option before shaking her head in refusal.

"...No, please don't do that. It might clear me, but it'll throw more dirt on Yagami. They'll only focus on the fact that there really was enough to have him expelled, rather than looking at how much improvement he's made."

The Principal's smile widened ever so slightly.

"Quite chivalrous of you. I never expected you to stand up for him of all people. You seem to have changed."

Noa shrugged, brushing off her words.

"People change. He changed much more than I did, and he doesn't really deserve the insults he's getting right now."

"Hmmm....."

The Principal stood up from the desk and walked over to the window behind her, peering out onto the sports fields that she could see from her vantage point.

"You're lucky I was in school today, I was going on a trip for two weeks tomorrow. If this had happened any later, an in-person announcement would've been impossible."

"So you agree?" Noa asked, the tension on her face receding by a noticeable degree.

"Yep. Let's throw a metaphorical punch at those brats!"