Chapter 536: We represent justice! You are sophistry!

Several other baseball team members also started to boo one after another.

"Exactly! Drop out if you lose! Very fair!"

"One for one, don't be a coward, do you dare?"

"If you are a man, have some backbone and agree to it!"

Natsume Chikage heard the other side’s near-coercive request, and couldn't help but be stunned, then laughed as if he had heard something extremely absurd:

"Really... a provocative act that makes people laugh."

"First."

"The condition you proposed: you win, I drop out; I win, you drop out."

"Last time was fine, the situation was more complicated. But this time I really can't figure out what substantial benefit agreeing to this competition has for me."

"Second."

"Baseball is a professional field you have trained in for many years and immersed yourself in."

"You want me to go to your most familiar field, use the way you are most skilled at, and duel with you?"

"Why isn't it the other way around, you come to my most skilled field—the shogi board, and play against me?"

"If you can beat me using shogi, wouldn't it also be able to 'vindicate' your baseball team, proving that your baseball team isn't just muscle, and can beat the other side in the shogi field they are skilled at, isn't that right?"

A part of the student council room was Natsume Chikage’s supporters or girls who secretly admired him. Hearing his clear and logical counter-question, some couldn't help but speak up in support.

"Exactly! Why should Natsume-kun take this kind of unnecessary risk to agree to you?"

"That’s right, Natsume-kun is originally a shogi player. Letting a shogi player compete in baseball with a professional baseball player, what kind of skill is this? Do you still have any shame?"

"More importantly, last time it was your baseball team members who took the initiative to provoke, and even set up the bet themselves! Since you lost, you should be willing to admit defeat and honestly accept it! Now it’s good, you don't accept it after losing, and where do you have the face to come and find trouble again? Even turning black into white and asking others to be responsible, it’s really too shameless!"

"Shinohara-senpai, according to what you said, if you are a man, have the guts to compete in shogi with Natsume-kun! Does your baseball team dare?"

Shinohara Shingo and those few baseball team members who were booing were told by this series of questions and sarcasm that their faces turned red and white, as if they had been slapped in public, their momentum suddenly withered, and they were speechless for a while, not knowing how to refute.

Nakajima Satoshi didn't even have to mention it. From the beginning, he wished he could bury his head in the ground, only feeling his cheeks burning, and it was extremely embarrassing.

This matter was indeed caused by him.

Since that public defeat, he had nothing to say, and even less thought of continuing to provoke Natsume Chikage.

After all, the power of the student council, whether it was Hanyu Masaki or the unfathomably backgrounded Konoe Hitomi, neither was someone he could afford to provoke.

If he really wanted to continue to entangle, he had to weigh whether his life was hard enough first.

So he didn't want to get involved in this muddy water at all, or rather, he didn't agree with this matter at all.

It was just that, hindered by the strong attitude of Shinohara Shingo and other main forces of the baseball team, he was forced to be pulled over.

In addition, this storm was indeed caused by his challenge, and he couldn't shirk the responsibility, so he had to bite the bullet and appear.

As for the development of the matter being so ugly, even if he wanted to mediate... it was no longer something he could control or intervene in.

Vice Student Council President Hanyu Masaki spoke again at this time. He adjusted his glasses, pondered, and his tone was fair and serious:

"According to the facts, the source of this storm was indeed Nakajima-kun of your baseball team who took the initiative to go to the shogi club to provoke."

"Reasonably and legally, Natsume Chikage-kun was in a passive position to fight at that time."

"And now, you still want to take advantage of the subsequent public opinion influence caused by this storm to provoke trouble again, and even propose an extreme competition with dropping out as a bet..."

He shook his head, his gaze sweeping over the baseball team members.

"This is indeed a bit unreasonable, violating the spirit of fair competition and club harmony."

Shinohara Shingo’s face flushed, and he retorted angrily with his neck stiff:

"But... but our baseball team did indeed suffer from a damaged reputation and unreasonable insults because Natsume Chikage beat Nakajima last time, isn't this a fact?"

"In this case, do you dare to say that Natsume Chikage has no responsibility at all? Is he completely innocent?"

Hanyu Masaki’s expression remained unchanged, and he retorted calmly:

"Since the representative of your baseball team took the initiative to set up a challenge, then after the defeat, it is only natural to bear the corresponding consequences brought about by the duel, including the discussions that may be triggered."

"If you cannot bear the negative impact that failure may bring, then you should not have easily initiated a public provocation with a win-or-lose nature in the first place."

"And, as just said by the disciplinary committee member and several students,"

"You are professional baseball players who have undergone long-term professional training, but now you insist on competing with him in the baseball field that Natsume-kun is not good at. This itself is extremely unreasonable."

"This is no different from a Western cowboy holding a revolver and having excellent marksmanship, asking a samurai with a sword to have a Western duel. The two sides are not on the same competitive level at all."

"This is almost equivalent to directly judging the other side to lose, without any fairness."

"So, based on the statements of both sides I have heard so far, in my personal opinion, this is more like your baseball team’s unilateral, emotional... unreasonable trouble."

Other baseball team members heard this, and their faces became even uglier, as if they had been poked in the sore spot, but they couldn't squeeze out any powerful refutation, and could only look anxiously at their backbone, Shinohara Shingo.

And Shinohara Shingo bit his teeth tightly, his nails almost pinching into his palms.

He originally thought that Natsume Chikage had easily agreed to Nakajima Satoshi’s provocation last time, and this time, facing a more intense challenge and the threat of dropping out, perhaps he would also impulsively agree under the agitation method.

After all, Natsume Chikage looked like he had very poor grades, and he firmly believed that this idiot definitely wouldn't notice these things.

But he didn't expect that the other side was really not stupid, not only so calm, but also didn't take the bait at all, and instead put him in a check.

However, at this moment, Shinohara Shingo had a flash of inspiration, as if he had grabbed a straw, and he raised his head suddenly, snorting coldly:

"Wait! I think you all misunderstood a key point!"

He raised his volume, trying to regain the right to speak.

"Before, Nakajima-kun did compete with Natsume-kun, but one point must be clear—he was acting privately at the time, and did not negotiate with all the members of our baseball team, and launched that duel with Natsume Chikage in his personal name!"

"So, his personal defeat should be borne by him personally, I don't deny that."

His speaking speed accelerated, and his gaze swept over Hanyu Masaki and the others in the room.

"But! The vast majority of other members of our baseball team, while completely unaware and uninvolved, were implicated because of the result of the private duel between Natsume Chikage and Nakajima Satoshi, and suffered huge insults and stigma!"

"In this case, can you still say that Natsume Chikage is completely innocent? Could it be that we members who are unaware and work hard to train deserve to be implicated and must silently bear these external insults and stigmatization? Is this fair?"

Konoe Hitomi, who had been sitting quietly, as if she were out of the situation, although there was still no expression on her face, her slender brows moved imperceptibly, and she suddenly spoke, her tone flat but carrying a hint of interest:

"Oh? A bit interesting. Continue."

Hanyu Masaki heard this, looked at Konoe Hitomi with a bit of surprise, and a flash of doubt flashed in his heart.

But given Konoe Hitomi’s special status...

Since she had already spoken to indicate her attitude of listening, he couldn't easily interrupt or refute directly.

So Hanyu Masaki also temporarily kept silent.

He pondered secretly.

According to Shinohara Shingo’s pursuit of Yukimura Suzune and his failure before, this guy must be because he wanted to pursue Yukimura Suzune, but noticed Yukimura Suzune’s special attention to Natsume Chikage, so he wanted to take the opportunity to eliminate this "obstructive" Natsume Chikage, make him drop out, to clear the obstacles.

Although from his own personal perspective, if Natsume Chikage dropped out, the biggest interference source around Tsukishima Rin would disappear, and she might return to the state of focusing more on music and study, which... indeed existed for him.

But one thing is one thing, in this matter, no matter what, the baseball team is really not reasonable, even if he didn't intend to help Natsume Chikage, he really couldn't help the baseball team at this time.

However... since Konoe-san spoke, let’s wait and see.

Shinohara Shingo saw that even a big figure like Konoe Hitomi was willing to listen to him continue, and his momentum rose again, and his waist straightened even more.

"There is one more point!"

He pressed on, pointing at Natsume Chikage.

"According to the description of the eyewitnesses at the time, Natsume Chikage was able to hit the baseball thrown by Nakajima-kun accurately three times in a row. This performance is definitely not something an ordinary person who doesn't understand baseball at all can do! He definitely has a certain foundation, and may even have practiced secretly!"

"So, saying he 'doesn't understand at all,' 'not good at all,' and accusing us of 'bullying' him with a professional field, this kind of statement itself cannot stand!"

"Therefore, our behavior of wanting to find a situation through a baseball duel and regain our reputation this time is definitely not unreasonable trouble, but a completely reasonable and necessary legitimate defense and reputation recovery action!"

His words were full of "sense of justice," trying to shape himself and the baseball team into victims.

"After all, the baseball team is a place where all of us have poured our blood and youth! It is the club we love! How can it be labeled as 'trash,' 'not as good as a weak shogi player,' etc., and be mocked everywhere just because of an inexplicable private duel?"

"Debt has a head, debt has a master! Reasonably and legally, we absolutely have the necessity to vindicate the honor of the baseball team, and use the way Natsume Chikage defeated Nakajima-kun at the beginning—that is, in the baseball project, to re-defeat him fair and square!"

"Only in this way can we completely wash away this stigma imposed on us!"

He became more and more excited as he spoke, even raising the issue to the school level.

"No—it should be said, as long as our baseball team doesn't completely solve this matter one day and clarify the facts, this stigma will accompany us one day! This not only affects our baseball team, but may even affect the reputation of our Private Moonlight Academy!"

"Try to imagine, in the future, those baseball specialty students with strength and potential, hearing that our school’s baseball team has this kind of stigma of 'losing to a weak shogi player,' wouldn't they hesitate to choose to enter our school? Is this a good thing for the school’s future sports development?"

Other baseball team members also felt that this statement sounded very favorable, as if they had grasped the moral high ground, and they started to boo again, their voices louder than just now:

"Exactly! Shinohara-senpai is right! It’s all the trouble Natsume Chikage caused!"

"If it weren't for him being nosy and agreeing to Nakajima-senpai’s challenge and winning, how could we be scolded so badly by others?"

"We don't care about the private affairs between him and Nakajima-senpai, but he should be responsible for the matter of our entire club inexplicably taking the blame!"

"We are also thinking about the reputation of our Private Moonlight Academy, we are right!"

Natsume Chikage listened quietly to Shinohara Shingo’s seemingly impassioned, but actually full of loopholes "accusation" and "righteous" declaration, and instead of anger, a kind of almost pitiful, thorough calm appeared on his face.

After the other side’s voice fell, and only the heavy breathing of the baseball team members and the gaze of some people who thought they occupied the high ground remained in the student council room, Natsume Chikage spoke slowly and clearly, his voice like ice spring dripping on jade, so calm that the air condensed slightly.

"This is sophistry."

His gaze was like a torch, looking directly at Shinohara Shingo’s somewhat flickering eyes.

"First."

"You claim that other members suffered disaster because of a private duel between me and Nakajima-senpai. Then may I ask, is it me who truly published those insulting remarks on the Internet? Is it me who instigated others to attack the baseball team?"

"No. That is the prejudice and malice of busybodies or competitors from other schools. Their low-quality remarks are their fault, why blame me? According to your logic, a person who is slandered by jealousy because of good grades, does good grades themselves become the original sin?"

"True 'stigma' comes from the mouths of those who spread rumors. You don't condemn the real abusers, but instead aim your spear at me, who also became one of the 'victims' because of Nakajima-senpai’s bet event?"

"Even asking me to be responsible for the behavior of other abusers, isn't this absurd?"

"Second, about 'I have a baseball foundation, so the competition is fair'."

"I can hit Nakajima-senpai’s ball, which only proves that I might be good in dynamic vision and reaction coordination. Is this the same concept as the technology, tactics, physical fitness, and experience possessed by a professional player who has undergone several or more than ten years of systematic training and takes baseball as a profession?"

"Using 'can hit the ball' to blur the huge gap between 'professional' and 'amateur' is just to forcibly apply a layer of hypocritical rationality to this completely unfair duel you proposed."

"This is as ridiculous as me being able to solve a junior high school math problem, and you asking me to compete with a math professor, and calling it 'you also have a math foundation'."

His tone gradually strengthened, but the logic became clearer.

"Third, and your most core sophistry—swapping the concept of 'consequences of personal behavior' for 'collective victimization,' and elevating it to the height of 'damaging school interests'."

"When Nakajima-senpai launched a challenge as a 'baseball team member,' did he represent personal will, or did he obtain authorization from all members of the baseball team?"

"I don't know if you all knew, but you absolutely shouldn't say that you didn't know about it at the time."

"You have to know, when competing at that time, Nakajima-senpai and I were standing on the baseball field in front of the whole school."

"And at that time, you baseball team members were all standing on the baseball field."

"But you didn't stop it one by one, and some even handed me a bat, and the rest were mostly watching the show."

"Now that something has happened, you say you don't know anything, where is your face?"

"Also, you forcibly kidnapped the uncontrollable external public opinion effect caused by personal behavior to the 'reputation' chariot of the entire baseball team, and even the entire school."

"Trying to use big hats like 'collective honor' and 'school future' to pressure me to accept a duel that is obviously unfair and has extreme bets."

He paused, his voice colder.

"This makes me have to suspect, what is your real purpose? Is it really for the so-called 'collective vindication,' or is it mixed with some private motives that are inconvenient to state?"

"What is your real purpose?"

"Is it really just for the reputation of the baseball team?"

This sentence was like a cold needle, gently piercing the "righteous" appearance that Shinohara Shingo tried hard to maintain.

Shinohara Shingo’s face changed instantly.

"What truly damages the school’s reputation," Natsume Chikage didn't give him a chance to breathe, and continued, "Isn't it exactly this kind of behavior where the ace player of a sports club uses vague public opinion events to try to force others to conduct unequal gambling with 'dropping out' as a threat?"

After the words fell, the student council room was silent.

Natsume Chikage’s refutation progressed layer by layer, with rigorous logic, not only dismantling Shinohara Shingo’s sophistry, but also implicitly pointing to the private motives that the other side might have.

The bystanders who were somewhat influenced by Shinohara Shingo’s "righteous" rhetoric now also showed thoughtful expressions.

And the student council female members who already admired Natsume Chikage were even more excited, their eyes filled with little stars.

Shinohara Shingo opened his mouth, his face red and white, and in front of Natsume Chikage’s clear and cold logic, he couldn't find suitable words to refute, leaving only the embarrassment of being stripped of his disguise in public and even more surging resentment.

Konoe Hitomi nodded slightly and said:

"Natsume-kun makes sense, Shinohara-kun—how do you explain this statement?"

The pressure was now completely back on Shinohara Shingo.