Once the two had walked away, Uesugi slowly retracted his smile and turned to Kanzaki.

  "Kanzaki, let's go. Time to get down to business."

  "You just said you were going to help Horikita Suzune. And now you're changing your mind already?"

  "Agreeing to help her doesn't mean I actually have to help her. At this stage, Css D has nothing left for us to squeeze out. Css C, on the other hand, still has plenty. If we get our hands on the evidence first and I use my position as the vice president of the student council to manipute things behind the scenes, then Css C will be completely at my mercy."

  Uesugi flipped his stance in an instant, smoothly applying his own version of an inequality to justify it.

  Are you kidding? If my dear accomplice finds out I helped Horikita Suzune, she'd kill me!

  This maneuver of his completely shattered Kanzaki's traditional sense of morality. Wait… we can do things like this?

  "Get the Uesugi group to start searching, but don't be too thorough. Just put on a show for her."

  "As for me, I recall that there's a hidden surveilnce camera at a crucial intersection near the scene of the incident. It shouldn't be too difficult to retrieve the footage."

  Kanzaki's expression turned serious as he nodded.

  "Got it. I'll arrange it immediately."

  Oh? So there really is something.

  Uesugi narrowed his eyes as he watched the surveilnce footage.

  Not long after Yamauchi and the three from Css C entered the area, a girl clutching a camera had rushed out in a panic.

  Judging from the timestamps, she definitely saw something.

  More importantly—

  Uesugi's gaze locked onto the camera in her hands. She might have even captured something crucial.

  Not only that, but based on the footage, Yamauchi had entered first, and the three from Css C had followed behind him in a sneaky manner.

  That was enough to suggest that there was more to this incident than met the eye.

  Css C has been operating in this school for so long, and they still haven’t figured out all the hidden cameras?

  Then again, with Advanced Nurturing High School’s goal of assessing student potential, there's no way they’d make all the camera locations obvious.

  Css C's leadership really jumped the gun on this one. Acting without properly gathering intelligence? A bit reckless.

  With just this footage, I can pull Css C and Css D back to the same level.

  No… wait!

  Uesugi's eyes locked onto Yamauchi Haruki, who was grinning like an idiot in the footage.

  Yamauchi hadn’t stumbled into that area by chance—he had been tailing that girl.

  Uesugi's mouth twitched.

  What the hell was the school thinking when they did background checks? They’ll let just about anyone in, huh?

  Whatever. Deal with the current issue first.

  After a brief moment of thought, Uesugi sent a screenshot of the girl to his accomplice. Given how well-connected she was, there was an 80% chance she'd know who the girl was.

  And judging from how Yamauchi had specifically followed her, she was most likely from Css D.

  Not long after, Kushida Kikyo sent a reply.

  ---

  Sakura Airi, huh?

  At the same time, it seemed that Horikita Suzune had also identified Sakura as a witness and was already heading her way.

  I need to hurry. I have to get the evidence before Horikita does.

  Since Sakura was from Css D, her testimony alone wouldn’t be entirely convincing. The key was the physical evidence.

  Uesugi quickly came to a decision.

  Her digital camera was broken, so she must have gone to the electronics store.

  By the time Uesugi arrived, Sakura was standing timidly at the counter, handing over her camera for repairs.

  He exhaled softly. As long as the camera was there, things would be easy.

  Since Sakura was from Css D, she wouldn’t go out of her way to help Uesugi pressure Css C. That meant his target was the potential evidence inside the camera.

  As soon as she stepped away, he would use his position as the student council vice president to request an inspection of the data. If there was anything relevant, he’d copy a backup.

  But then—

  Something unexpected happened.

  The seemingly timid Sakura suddenly bolted from the store.

  Huh? She's that sharp? She actually noticed me?

  No… wait. Not me—the repair clerk.

  Uesugi frowned and continued observing.

  The moment Sakura ran, the repair clerk eagerly pried open the camera’s memory card. His face was filled with an unhealthy obsession as he muttered something under his breath.

  Uesugi was silent.

  His face remained expressionless as he looked between the fleeing Sakura and the shady store clerk.

  What kind of weird magnetism do you have to keep attracting these creeps?

  Yamauchi Haruki was one thing. With his subpar presence, he probably didn’t pose much of a threat to her.

  But this guy? He clearly scared her. There was even a chance he had a history of this kind of behavior.

  Horikita Manabu often compined that I didn’t handle serious matters, but as the vice president, I can’t just ignore this.

  Without hesitation, Uesugi called over a few security officers, fshing his student council badge.

  "Check his phone and any other devices. Look for anything suspicious. And send someone after the girl—bring her back."

  The guards nodded grimly and moved in.

  "You… What are you doing?! Let go of me!"

  The repair clerk panicked as the guards closed in.

  Ignoring his protests, they forcibly unlocked his phone.

  "This… This is—!"

  One of the guards gasped in shock before running over to Uesugi.

  "This is a massive failure on the school's part."

  Uesugi scratched his head in frustration as he scrolled through the contents.

  The phone was filled with hidden photos of Sakura, taken from multiple angles. Comparing them to the idol images that littered his gallery, it was clear that they were of the same person.

  Uesugi gnced at the panicked clerk and waved a hand dismissively.

  "Hand him over to the school."

  "Now then," Uesugi turned toward the girl cowering behind the security personnel.

  "Miss Idol."

  "I… I have nothing to say to you!"

  Sakura crouched down, clutching her head with her eyes tightly shut. Her voice trembled.

  "…"

  Am I really that scary?

  ...

  Absolutely terrifying!

  A demon king!

  She might not know how others saw him, but Sakura was well aware that even the once-arrogant Sudō had turned meek, not even daring to raise his voice in front of this man.

  Sudō even called him a demon king.

  "What about your camera? You don't want it anymore?"

  Uesugi teased.

  "N-no, I don't!"

  Sakura shook her head furiously.

  "And the school's compen—"

  "I don't need that either!"

  Her voice cracked, on the verge of tears.

  "Fine. I'll have Secretary Tachibana talk to you ter. That clerk won't bother you anymore, but your camera needs to be kept as evidence for now."

  Uesugi sighed, giving up.

  "Mm-hmm."

  Sakura nodded repeatedly.

  Just resolving this issue was more than enough for her.

  After she left with the guards, Uesugi plugged the memory card into his computer.

  The images dispyed clearly on the screen.

  A slow smile spread across his face.

  "Got it."

  ---

  T/N: clean and easy fuck that cree