Chapter 864

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

Hanyu Jianghui'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 natural to bear the corresponding consequences brought about by the duel, including possible discussions."

"If you can't bear the negative impact that failure may bring, then you shouldn't have easily initiated a public provocation with a win-or-loss nature in the first place."

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

"You are professional baseball players who have undergone long-term training, but now you insist on competing with him in the baseball field that Natsume-tongxue 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 an unreasonable trouble caused by your baseball team unilaterally and emotionally."

Other baseball team members heard this, and their faces were 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 at their backbone, Shinohara Shingo, anxiously.

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

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

After all, Natsume Chikage looked like his academic grades were very poor, and he firmly believed that this fool would definitely not notice these.

But he didn't expect that the other party was really not stupid, not only calm, but also completely didn't take the move, and instead put him on the spot.

However, at this moment, a flash of inspiration flashed in Shinohara Shingo's mind, as if he had grabbed a straw, and he snorted coldly:

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

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

"Before, Zhongdao-jun did compete with Natsume-jun, but one point must be clear—he acted privately at that time, and did not consult with all the members of our baseball team, and started that duel with Natsume Chikage in his personal name!"

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

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

"But! The vast majority of other members of our baseball team, in a state of complete ignorance and non-participation, were implicated and suffered huge abuse and stigma because of the result of the private duel between Natsume Chikage and Zhongdao Wushi!"

"In this case, can you still say that Natsume Chikage is completely innocent? Could it be that we, the members who were completely ignorant and trained hard, deserve to be implicated and must silently bear these external humiliations and stigmatization? Is this fair?"

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

"Oh? Interesting. Continue."

Hanyu Jianghui looked at Jinweitong with slight surprise when he heard this, and a hint of doubt flashed in his heart.

But given Jinweitong's special status...

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

So Hanyu Jianghui also temporarily remained silent.

He secretly pondered.

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

Although from his own personal point of view, if Natsume Chikage drops out, the biggest interference source around Yue Dao Lin disappears, she might return to the state of focusing more on music and study before, which... indeed exists certain potential benefits 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 Miss Jinwei spoke, let's wait and see.

Shinohara Shingo saw that even a big figure like Jinweitong was willing to continue listening to him, and his momentum rose again, and his waist stood straighter.

"There is one more point!"

He pursued the victory and pointed at Natsume Chikage.

"According to the description of the eyewitnesses at the time, Natsume Chikage was able to hit the baseball thrown by Zhongdao-jun accurately for three consecutive times. No matter how you look at it, this performance is definitely not something that 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' and 'is not good at all', and accusing us of 'bullying' him in a professional field, this kind of statement itself cannot stand!"

"Therefore, our behavior this time of wanting to find a situation through a baseball duel and regain our reputation is definitely not an 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 as victims.

"After all, the baseball team is a place where all of us poured our blood and youth! It is the club we love! How can we carry the bad reputation of being mocked by others as 'trash', 'not as good as a weak shogi player', etc., just because of an inexplicable private duel?"

"The debt has a head, the 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 Zhongdao-jun—that is, in the baseball project, to defeat him again, fair and square!"

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

He became more excited as he spoke, and even raised the problem to the school level.

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

"Think about it, in the future, those baseball special students with strength and potential, hearing that our school's baseball team has this kind of 'losing to a weak shogi player' and other stigmas, wouldn't they hesitate whether to choose to enter our school to study? 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 booed again, their voices louder than just now:

"Right! Senior Shinohara is right! It's all Natsume Chikage's fault!"

"If it weren't for him being busy and agreeing to Zhongdao-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 Zhongdao-senpai, but he should be responsible for the matter of our entire club being inexplicably back-staged!"

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

Natsume Chikage listened quietly to Shinohara Shingo's "accusation" and "righteous" declaration, which seemed impassioned but was full of loopholes. There was no anger on his face, but a kind of thorough calmness that bordered on pity.

After the other party'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 room, Natsume Chikage slowly and clearly spoke, his voice like ice spring dripping on jade, calm enough to make the air freeze slightly.

"This is sophistry."

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

"First."

"You claim that other members suffered disaster because of a private duel between me and Zhongdao-senpai. Then may I ask, is it me who really 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 it on me? According to your logic, a person who is slandered by jealousy because of good academic performance, does good academic performance itself become the original sin?"

"The real 'stigma' comes from the mouths of those who spread rumors. You don't condemn the real perpetrators, but instead aim at me, who also became one of the 'victims' because of Zhongdao-senpai's gambling event?"

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

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

"I can hit Zhongdao-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 long-term or more than ten years of systematic training and takes baseball as his 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 more and more clear.

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

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

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

"You must know, when we were competing, Zhongdao-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 there, standing on the baseball field."

"But you didn't stop it, and some even handed me a baseball bat, and the rest were 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."

"Attempting to use big hats like 'collective honor' and 'school future' to suppress me into accepting a duel that is obviously unfair and has extreme bets."

He paused, his voice colder.

"This makes me have to doubt, what is your real purpose, is it for the so-called 'collective vindication', or is it mixed with some private motives that are not easy to explain?"

"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 really damages the school's reputation," Natsume Chikage didn't give him a chance to breathe, and continued, "Isn't it exactly this kind of situation, where the ace player of a sports club uses a vague public opinion event to attempt to force others to conduct an unequal gamble with 'dropping out' as a threat?"

As 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 vaguely pointing to the private motives that the other party might have.

The bystanders who were originally 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 for a while, leaving only the embarrassment of being stripped of his disguise in public and even more surging resentment.

Jinweitong nodded slightly and said:

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