The Downfall of Imagawa-Senpai (Zama)
—A few days later.
“Hey, Shuhei—did you hear? Imagawa-senpai hasn’t shown up to school once since the day of his father’s sworn testimony.”
As I stepped out of the classroom during the break to head to the restroom, Tomoya hurried over to me and, walking alongside, said this with a grin.
“Yeah, I heard.”
Ever since Chairman Imagawa confessed everything during his sworn testimony, the high school his son attended—ours—had become a prime target for the media. Around arrival and dismissal times, swarms of reporters with cameras and mics gathered to get comments from students.
I couldn’t imagine Imagawa-senpai had the kind of steel nerves it would take to show up under that kind of pressure.
For what it’s worth, our teachers had warned us not to speak to the media.
But given how thoroughly Imagawa-senpai was hated—not just disliked, but seriously resented—students were happily lining up to air every awful thing he’d ever done, one after another.
The teachers weren’t much different. Sure, they said not to talk to reporters, but they didn’t exactly go out of their way to enforce it.
Honestly, I was pretty sure the teachers hated him too—and deep down, they were probably cheering us on.
“His parents and even some of his relatives have been arrested in one big chain reaction. And apparently, there’s a scandal about his college admission, too.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me. What kind of shady stuff did he pull?”
“So get this—he had his father pay off the president or maybe the chairman of Teiou University with a massive bribe. His grades were way below the mark, but they forced him into our school’s recommendation slot. That’s what got exposed.”
“Figures. I had a feeling it was something like that.”
“They say he can’t even go outside now—he’s being chased around by the reporters. And since Imagawa-senpai’s already eighteen, he’s not legally a minor anymore. The media’s going full throttle. Of course, the recommendation got revoked. Total Zama.”
“You’d think someone like the heir to the Imagawa Group could buy his way into any school he wanted. But no—he had to flaunt it and go for the recommendation route. That kind of show-off move really screams ‘small-time villain.’”
“And get this—Imagawa-senpai’s grades? Turns out he was near the bottom of the class.”
“He really was doing whatever the hell he wanted, huh. If I remember right, our school’s Teiou University recommendation is only for one student, and it has to be someone from the top ten, right?”
And to think he had the nerve to say, “You should try learning a thing or two from me—someone who's already secured a recommendation to Teiou University.”
He stole a spot that should’ve gone to someone else—using bribes and pressure.
“Even our principal was threatened. They told him if he didn’t cooperate, the school would lose its recommendation slot next year.”
“This whole thing is so rotten, just hearing about it makes me want to sigh.”
Hard to believe he got away with being that selfish and out of control for so long.
“He was practically running a secret evil organization, and look where that got him. Did you see the testimony? The internet’s gone completely wild. I didn’t even sleep last night—I stayed up all night on SNS riding the wave. Yaaawn… I’m dead.”
Now that I looked closer, Tomoya had bags under his eyes.
“Yeah, SNS and the anonymous boards are on fire.”
“I mean, the guy just started spilling the truth like it was nothing. Do you think, maybe, at the very end, his conscience finally caught up with him?”
“Maybe so.”
Of course, in reality, it wasn’t his conscience at all—it was because I used my Hero Skill to bind him with the vow of the goddess Athena.
But that’s a secret only I need to know.
“Still, things worked out for you, right? Now you can date Hasumi-san without any problems.”
“What are you talking about, Tomoya? I’m not dating Hasumin or anything.”
I gave a soft laugh as I replied, amused by Tomoya’s sudden and completely off-base remark.