"W-What? I don't know what you are saying, Natsuki-kun?"
Hearing Subaru's words, Kikyo Kushida immediately retorted, simultaneously feigning a look of grievance.
Why? Why would that guy, Natsuki Subaru, know? Hasn't he been in the camp without moving? No, no, no, this guy must be bluffing me. He has absolutely no evidence for any of this!
Kushida thought this in her heart, and then spoke with a voice that sounded like she was on the verge of tears:
"Natsuki... Natsuki-kun... I know you are working very hard, but... but please don't target me..."
"Yesterday was a very painful experience for me... I got lost in the forest, and I was terrified at the time! Please, Natsuki-kun, Natsuki-kun, don't say such things anymore!"
Kushida raised her voice a few decibels, and several students nearby immediately stepped forward to speak up for her.
"Exactly, Natsuki-kun, you are being a bit too excessive!"
"Kushida-san has clearly given so much for our class!"
"Do the recent events have anything to do with Kushida-san?"
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the dissatisfaction within the class was voiced by the students, pointing directly at Subaru. Hearing the classmates speak up for her, the corners of Kushida's mouth couldn't help but curve upward.
"Did I... let you speak?"
In that instant, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji felt an incomparably terrifying killing intent sweep over them. He couldn't help but take a step back. That icy aura was felt, more or less, by the other students as well. A suffocating silence instantly spread through the class.
Even Kushida fell into silence all of a sudden. After the whole class quieted down, Subaru continued to speak:
"The strange events that have happened recently were all done by Class C. But have you thought about why Class C understands our movements so well, even knowing exactly where our class's food is stored?"
Listening to Subaru's words, the students in the class realized this point one after another. If all of this was Class C's doing, it indeed seemed to make perfect sense.
At this moment, Kushida's expression looked slightly off, but she still maintained a look full of worry and grievance:
"If it really is Class C, then that's... that's too much! But Natsuki-kun, these things have nothing to do with me!"
"How could Kushida-san do such a thing!"
"Even if there is a traitor, it absolutely couldn't be Kushida-san!"
"That's right, that's right!"
The students in the class chose to support Kushida again, and some students even prepared to step forward to protect her behind them—
But after seeing the cold gaze projected from Subaru's eyes, they abandoned such thoughts. That was an expression as if looking at a dead person. Haruki Yamauchi had been expelled precisely because he had offended Subaru.
"Everyone?"
Kushida caught the troubled expressions on the faces of the surrounding classmates. she originally thought that with her charm, she should be able to easily consolidate her own faction within the class. But in the face of their fear of Subaru, they shrank back.
And just at this moment, Subaru took out his terminal.
"H-How is that possible? Why do you have a terminal?"
Kushida looked at Subaru with a face full of surprise. Clearly, all electronic devices should have been collected when entering the island. Why did Subaru have one?
"I understand, Sensei. I'll spend points to allow myself to use the terminal for ten minutes."
"For this kind of thing, you spent class points? Natsuki-kun, aren't you going a bit too far!"
"Too far? Compared to the losses Kushida-san has brought, this isn't excessive at all."
Subaru sneered, then spoke again.
"You should remember, right? The teachers said that the wristbands we each wear have a positioning function. So, the school has records of where everyone has been—as long as you have enough points, you can purchase this record."
"W-Wait a minute!"
Kushida realized that things were going very badly and hurriedly wanted to stop Subaru—
But the latter had already taken out the phone and displayed Kushida's location data. The whole place went into an uproar. Even Suzune Horikita widened her eyes in disbelief.
When did Subaru take this kind of action? He previously seemed indifferent to everything, just to target Kushida now?
"You stayed in the Class C base for ten hours. What were you doing?"
"I... I just got lost and accidentally walked over there."
Kushida gritted her teeth tightly.
"Didn't you just say that you never had contact with Class C students?" Subaru asked back with a cold sneer.
"I... I was just afraid of being misunderstood by the classmates, so... so that's why, that's why I hid it."
Kushida lowered her head, her voice already sounding somewhat choked with sobs. But her expression had actually become incomparably twisted.
Natsuki Subaru, Natsuki Subaru, Natsuki Subaru! From the very beginning, were you calculating against me?!
Just as Kushida was thinking, she heard a sound that made her blood run cold ring out from Subaru's terminal.
"...I never expected that the person collaborating before the exam officially started would be you..."
"...There's no helping it. Due to some special reasons, I had to do this..."
"...Certain students in the class... his actions have made the class feel panicked..."
"...You're talking about Natsuki Subaru..."
"...Yes... the situation is out of control. Natsuki-kun he... used very forceful means to obtain leadership rights. Now Class D is almost his one-man rule. This completely disrupted... our plans. The students in the class are very scared..."
"...Surprised? Ryuen-kun, I'm just providing information. As for exactly what to do, of course, it is up to you to decide~"
That was precisely the content of the conversation between Kikyo Kushida and Kakeru Ryuen.
"You... you..."
Kushida's body trembled, and her heart felt as if it had missed a beat.
"I purchased a wiretap in advance and secretly placed it on you, Kushida."
Subaru spoke slowly. This was the choice he made after this Return by Death. Ryuen was somewhat boring, so he chose to operate on Kushida first.
Kushida's body instantly went stiff; her blood seemed to freeze in that moment. Every word played by the recording was like a cold chisel, smashing the mask she had meticulously constructed into powder. The surrounding air was terrifyingly dead silent; she could clearly hear the sound of her own heart beating frantically in her chest, and the hum of blood rushing to the top of her head.
"I was just worried about you, Natsuki-kun..."
Subaru remained silent and simply played another segment of the recording. It was precisely the segment where Kushida revealed intelligence regarding Airi Sakura to Ryuen.
"Kushida... Kushida-san..."
Sakura spoke in a whisper, using a trembling voice. Within the class, all the students were basically dumbfounded. Horikita and Yosuke Hirata were no exception.
"No... Impossible..."
She muttered, her voice as thin as a mosquito's, carrying a disbelief-filled tremor. She jerked her head up, staring dead at the terminal in Subaru's hand. Those eyes, usually filled with a gentle smile, were now replaced by immense shock, panic, and a rapidly rising, uncontrollable rage.
"You... You calculated against me?! From the beginning?! A wiretap? How dare you—!!"
The last few words were almost shrieked out. Her sweet voice from normal days twisted and deformed, filled with the flavor of hysteria. The grievance, weakness, and panic on her face receded like the tide, replaced by a distortion bordering on ferocity. Strands of her meticulously groomed hair scattered due to her agitated trembling, sticking to her bloodless cheeks.
The other students in the class—those who had just been defending her, sympathizing with her, and even trying to protect her—were now all dumbstruck. They looked at this Kushida, whose expression was twisted and whose eyes were ruthless, as if they were knowing this person for the first time.
The content in the recording was clear and unmistakable. That calculating tone, the act of selling out class information, the plotting with Ryuen to target Subaru and Sakura... every sentence smashed into their hearts like a heavy hammer.
"Kushida... san?"
A boy who had spoken for her earlier muttered, his face written with the blankness and sting of being betrayed. "That recording... is it real? You really..."
Another girl covered her mouth, her eyes filled with disappointment and fear.
Horikita pursed her lips tightly, her face iron-blue. Although she didn't entirely trust Kushida, she hadn't expected the other party to go to this extent—to actually secretly collude with Class C's Ryuen, leak class intelligence, and even participate in plotting against her own classmates. This had already exceeded the scope of "student competition" within her understanding.
Hirata's expression was full of pain and disbelief. He looked at that Kushida, who had instantly become a stranger, opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything.
Ayanokoji remained with that expressionless look, but a trace of extremely faint realization flitted across the depths of his eyes.
Sure enough, Subaru's goal was clear from the start. Use Ryuen's harassment as groundwork, wait for Kushida to act, and then expose it in one fell swoop. The points for the terminal and the wiretap... I'm afraid he had planned this back when he decided to become the Leader. The efficiency is terribly high, and... terribly cold.
He once again felt that method of Subaru's—placing everyone and everything under control, like manipulating a chess game.
"I calculated against you?"
Subaru finally stood up from the rock and slowly walked toward the trembling Kushida. His pace was steady. In his dark grey eyes, there was no triumph, no anger, only a calmness bordering on nothingness. And this calmness was more palpitating than any intense emotion.
"It was you yourself who chose this path, Kikyo Kushida."
He stopped a few steps away from her, looking down at her from above. That gaze seemed able to penetrate her violently heaving chest, looking straight into that heart filled with calculation, fear, and the hatred currently burning fiercely within.
"To maintain that 'perfect image' of yours, to eliminate dissidents, for that insignificant desire for control... you didn't hesitate to collude with foreign enemies, damage the interests of the entire class, and place the weakest classmate in danger."
Subaru's voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear, like a cold judgment.
"Your acting is quite good. Pity that from the start, your target was wrong."
"Shut up! What do you know?!"
Kushida finally broke down completely. The true emotions suppressed for so long erupted like a volcano. She no longer cared about her image, pointing at Subaru and screaming:
"It's all because of you! It's all because of you nuisances! Horikita! And you! Natsuki Subaru! Your existence itself makes the class strange! I just wanted to get everything back on track! I just... I just wanted to..."
Her words became incoherent due to agitation. Tears finally burst forth, but these weren't feigned tears of grievance, but a mixture of anger, unwillingness, fear, and the despair of a plan completely exposed.
Everything she had meticulously maintained, the interpersonal relationships she had carefully managed, all the calculations she had carried out in secret—under Subaru's understated revelation, they instantly turned into dust.
"Wanted what? Wanted everyone to like you? To obey you? Or is it..."
Subaru tilted his head slightly, his tone carrying a trace of extremely subtle, almost pitying mockery.
"...Are you just afraid of being seen through? Afraid that the real, ugly you will be exposed to the sunlight?"
This sentence was like the final straw, completely crushing Kushida's psychological defenses. She seemed to be drained of all strength, staggering back two steps, barely standing firm by leaning against a tree.
She bit her lip dead tight, the metallic taste of fresh blood spreading in her mouth. she glared at Subaru with a look mixing extreme hatred and breakdown, as well as at those surrounding classmates looking at her with shock, disappointment, and disdain.
"Heh... Hehehe."
She suddenly began to laugh in a low voice. The laughter was hoarse and shrill.
"Seen through? Ugly? What kind of good things are you people?! This class, this school... where isn't it filled with calculation and hypocrisy! I just... I just did it better than you all!"
She fiercely wiped the tears from her face. Although her makeup was a bit smeared, her eyes became unusually sharp and cold, sweeping over everyone present.
"That's right, I told Ryuen the situation of our camp. I wanted to use his hand to sweep Subaru's prestige into the dust! So what?!"
She almost roared it out.
"If you want to blame someone, blame this bastard Natsuki Subaru! Blame this Leader who simply doesn't care if the class lives or dies! If not for him, how would I..."
"Kushida-san!"
Hirata finally couldn't bear it anymore, interrupting her with heartache.
"No matter what reason there is, hurting companions, selling out the class... this is wrong!"
"Companions? Class?"
Kushida smiled mockingly, her eyes hollow.
"To me, there have never been any true companions. Only relationships that need to be maintained, and obstacles that need to be removed."
She took one last look at Subaru. That look was complicated to the extreme—there was hate, there was fear, there was a trace of lingering disbelief, and finally, it transformed into a deep, profound darkness.
____
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