Nagumo Miyabi's remarks regarding bullying made Mashima frown slightly. He had always disapproved of such cruel competition, which was why he preferred Horikita Manabu's management style of stopping before things went too far.
It was fine for both sides to compete, but it had to stop at a certain point. In this world, there was never any absolute right or wrong, nor absolute justice or evil. All differences stemmed from different perspectives on viewing things. If one had to resort to violence to solve problems simply because of differing viewpoints and opinions, it would only cause problems to escalate uncontrollably.
In Mashima's view, the entire society advanced through constant exchange of benefits and compromise. Violence could solve some problems.
But only some. As long as one was an individual, there would be times for exchange of benefits and compromise.
Therefore, the practice of pushing others to the brink could not be considered a display of strength. The approach of planting seeds for future disputes in order to solve one matter was the most foolish.
"You may continue."
Fujiwara took a sip from the teacup beside her, signaling for Nagumo Miyabi to go on. Throughout the entire time, she did not offer any opinions or judgments on Nagumo Miyabi's perspective, which made it difficult for Nagumo Miyabi to gauge Fujiwara's attitude for a moment.
He had deliberately brought up the Disciplinary Committee just now, actually wanting to use Amane to probe Fujiwara. However, Fujiwara was very shrewd and did not fall for Nagumo Miyabi's trap at all. Now, finding himself in a bind, Nagumo Miyabi had no choice but to continue.
"Regarding the final act of jumping overboard, I believe it was the student's personal action. After suffering malicious verbal attacks, Classmate Shibata neither reported it to the school nor communicated with members of the Disciplinary Committee to request punishment for the abusers. At the time, the chairperson of the public morals committee, Miyako Amane, was present at the scene. Classmate Shibata did not choose any solution and stubbornly chose to commit suicide. In my opinion, he likely suffered from mental issues due to the inability to bear the blow of failure. We will arrange psychological counseling for Classmate Shibata, and at the same time, impose severe punishment on the abusers, as they are the indirect source that led to Classmate Shibata's suicide. Furthermore..."
Nagumo Miyabi hesitated halfway through his sentence.
Fujiwara roughly guessed what he was about to say and deliberately played along to draw out the rest of his words.
"You can speak directly. Only the few of us here know about this, and it won't be leaked."
Fujiwara glanced at Hoshinomiya. Hoshinomiya, whose heart had been broken by those people in Class B, kept a cold face and remained silent. After Classmate Shibata's incident, she had long since scolded those guys, but they were busy complaining about Classmate Shibata's faults to Hoshinomiya, not considering Classmate Shibata's life as important at all. This was also the reason why Hoshinomiya decided she would no longer favor them.
"This incident still requires investigation. It is unknown whether Classmate Shibata's dive was a suicide out of shame and anger, or a performance staged to silence others' accusations... I mean no offense, but as a member of the Advanced Nurturing High School student body, I judge that such a possibility exists. Everything must wait for the investigation results. Regardless of Classmate Shibata's motive, the others in Class B will certainly be held accountable; that much is indisputable."
Seeing that Hoshinomiya wanted to speak, Nagumo Miyabi quickly added the second half of the sentence, which immediately silenced Hoshinomiya.
After all, such things were not without precedent. Even Hoshinomiya could not guarantee that Classmate Shibata did not have any intention of using suicide as an apology to prevent himself from being held responsible by the people in Class B for the failure of the Special Exam.
Seeing that no one else was speaking, Fujiwara simply called out a name. "Teacher Mashima, how do you view the problems and the handling results summarized by Classmate Nagumo Miyabi?"
Seeing that Fujiwara had called him out without any hesitation, Mashima answered directly.
"I believe that Classmate Nagumo Miyabi's statement is generally fine, though some wording adjustments are needed regarding the details. I am to blame for such a major incident occurring this time, but if this causes the name Advanced Nurturing High School to be disgraced, that would be an even greater shame for me. The teaching philosophy of Advanced Nurturing High School is different from current ordinary schools, and some approaches are clearly not acceptable to everyone. I hope that you, Investigator Fujiwara, will emphasize this point when reporting the situation to the authorities above."
Teacher Mashima pointed out the key point directly. The situation currently occurring at Advanced Nurturing High School is a severe phenomenon that many ordinary schools cannot accept, but Advanced Nurturing High School itself is not an ordinary school. The result of upholding meritocracy is exactly this; there is no reward without effort. To provide excellent gears to society, one must undergo constant polishing. It is normal for defective products, scrapped items, and unqualified goods to appear during the polishing process.
The result of survival of the fittest is often cruel.
"You don't need to emphasize this point, Mashima. I am a graduate of Advanced Nurturing High School myself, so I naturally understand what you mean. However, you had better inform Chairman Sakayanagi as well. I'm afraid this incident won't be easy to handle. Advanced Nurturing High School should not hold various activities off-campus recently. If something happens... Advanced Nurturing High School might truly face the crisis of disappearing."
Fujiwara's words made Mashima silent for a while, and then he nodded. "I will convey it truthfully."
"Hmm, if there is nothing else, I will report to the authorities above according to Classmate Nagumo Miyabi's statement. However, your internal punishment must not be perfunctory. After all, several of your board members are outsiders; if they get hold of any dirt, it will be difficult to handle."
"Please rest assured, we will strictly implement the handling."
"That would be best."
...
In the cafeteria, because of a sentence from Ayanokoji, Himeno and Hamaguchi from Class B felt dissatisfied, and the final result was naturally an unhappy parting.
Just as Amane was packing food to take back for an extra meal, Ryuuen called out to Amane and stated that he wanted to chat with her about something.
Horikita expressed opposition to this, but Amane's ready agreement left Horikita helpless, and she could only remind Amane to be careful, after all, Ryuuen's style of doing things...
Ryuuen and Amane walked through the restaurant and came to the cruise ship's corridor. Watching the waiters who were still busy walking back and forth, neither of them stopped, and they walked all the way to the deck at the bow of the ship.
Originally, this place and the nearby open-air Swimming pool should have been filled with sounds of jubilation.
But because of the incident with Classmate Shibata, and the fact that Mashima ordered everyone to return to the Dormitory as soon as possible, there was no one else on the entire deck except for Ryuuen and Amane.
"Speak, what do you want to chat with me about?"
Amane's attitude appeared very relaxed. She was confident that even if Ryuuen were to act maliciously towards her, she had a one hundred percent certainty of winning. It was precisely this kind of strength that gave her the confidence to stand here alone and talk with Ryuuen.
"Do you know? Your actions are stupid."
Ryuuen started off by seemingly arrogantly defining the nature of the actions of Amane and her group.
"Does the stupidity you speak of also include Shiina and Kaneda?"
Shiina and Kaneda could be said to be the key figures for Class C to be able to win the VIP Exam. If it weren't for the two of them, the winner this time would undoubtedly have been Class D.
The reason Amane mentioned the two of them was to see whether Ryuuen would treat the people in Class C equally or treat them differently.
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