Kikyo Kushida knew there was no longer any need to continue her disguise, so she directly exposed her true nature.
Her gaze turned ice-cold, and a malicious smile appeared on her face.
"Sigh, are you really sure you want to target me? Even if the entire class falls apart, it doesn't matter, right?!"
Kushida raised her head, the smile on her face looking even more chilling.
"What exactly do you want to do? Kushida!" Horikita asked sternly.
However, Kushida retorted with ridicule, "Do you still not understand? I hold the secrets of the class. Anyway, since there's plenty of time now, how about I tell everyone these stories~?"
"Even if you do that, there's no benefit for you... is there?" Horikita frowned.
"Since everyone already knows my true colors, there's no need for me to pretend anymore, is there?" Kushida said with a sneer. "The one who was secretly badmouthing Natsuki-kun the most fiercely just now was Shinohara-san, right~?"
Among countless targets, Kushida aimed her first spearhead at Satsuki Shinohara.
"W-What?!"
"Should I say that Shinohara-san isn't exactly the cute type? Or rather, she's a bit on the ugly side? That's why only ugly guys like Ike-kun or Komiya-kun would pursue her. It's truly laughable, isn't it? This matter is treated as a laughingstock by Karuizawa-san, Matsushita-san, and Mori-san, you know?"
"I never said anything like that!" Chiaki Matsushita, standing nearby, immediately retorted agitatedly.
"? Didn't you say they were a perfect match and mocked them vigorously? It's okay. Although I told you with a bitter smile at the time, 'Don't talk like that~', in reality, my inner thoughts were exactly the same as yours~"
Kushida's voice seemed to tremble with that twisted pleasure.
"Is that so..."
"No, absolutely not!"
"Speaking of the topic of love, Wang-san often comes to consult me, right~?"
"No, don't!" Mei-Yu Wang, standing to the side, also began to get nervous.
"Don't? Is it that you don't want me to say that the boy Wang-san likes incredibly much is Hirata-kun~?"
Hearing Kushida's words, her face turned completely red.
"Don't be like this, okay? We're just getting started~ The secrets I've heard from everyone aren't just this kind of petty play. How about we talk about something major? How about starting with Hasebe-san?"
"Kikyo-chan..."
"Eh, don't call me by such an intimate address~ You can't even make a few friends, yet you give others such close nicknames just because you got slightly closer. The other party must be very troubled too! Hasebe-san, you are really pitiful. I sincerely think you are pitiful from the bottom of my heart."
After Kushida finished speaking, Haruka Hasebe's expression also became very unsightly.
In less than a minute, Kushida had exploded with many shocking revelations within the class.
As the social butterfly of the class, many people felt that Kushida was a trustworthy friend and told her their secrets. And now, this had become Kushida's weapon.
Only now did the students in the class realize the true face of the person before them. Beneath the cute exterior lay a twisted soul.
Kiyotaka Ayanokoji looked at Kushida expressionlessly.
He had previously guessed the other party's nature, but Ayanokoji hadn't expected that Subaru would choose this moment to tear apart Kushida's disguise and expose it in front of everyone.
This was not a wise choice. This exam wouldn't produce any expulsions. Even if Kushida self-destructed, it wouldn't have any meaning. On the contrary, the class would fall apart because of Kushida's words.
Why did Subaru do this?
Was he using this method to confirm the authenticity of the intelligence in Kushida's hands? Or was Subaru trying to deal with the existence of Kushida in advance? While it was still the first semester of the first year and Kushida hadn't grasped even more explosive news, he was completely stripping her away from the class.
Or perhaps...
Actually, Subaru didn't care about the class's future at all.
Ayanokoji looked in Subaru's direction. He saw the corners of the other party's mouth slightly raised. As if... Subaru was looking forward to Kushida's subsequent performance.
"Kushida-san, if you continue like this, there will be no way to turn back," Horikita said with a frown.
"Hah? It finally just became interesting, didn't it? Can you not disturb my interest, Horikita-san?"
"This won't do. I don't want to hear those disgusting words anymore."
"Is my reality that ugly? Horikita, just because you study well, can you be defiant? You previously thought of begging Natsuki-kun for help, but couldn't let go of your pride, and as a result, you were easily manipulated by Ichinose-san at the negotiation table~ You are truly pathetic, Horikita-san~"
"If you think these words can provoke me, you are very wrong. That matter was indeed my mistake; I admit it," Horikita answered immediately.
"Indeed, you are better at studying than ordinary people, but your fatal flaw is that your brain doesn't work too well. In middle school, it was also because your true nature was known by your classmates that secrets were revealed, causing the grade to collapse, right? You wanted to start from zero by coming to this school, but unexpectedly had bad luck meeting me, who came from the same middle school. So you pretended to be friends with me at the start, but actually, it was to target me, right? And now, you've also turned the spearhead against Natsuki. Kushida-san, you really are pathetic."
Hearing Horikita's words, the cunning smile that was originally on Kushida's face unknowingly became ferocious.
"You bastard, what are you saying so self-righteously? Acting like you understand everything, just like Natsuki-kun~ Natsuki-kun, what exactly do you want to do~ You definitely want to expel me later, right? Just like dealing with Yamauchi-kun. But my grades aren't as bad as Yamauchi's, you know. Are you sure you have enough points to do that~?"
Kushida looked at Subaru, unable to wait to see an angry expression on his face. But she didn't see it.
Reflected in her eyes was only a smile. That was the smile of a spectator watching an interesting performance. This made Kushida shudder.
"Expel? Why would I make you be expelled?"
Subaru looked at Kushida with great interest. "Keeping you here is much more interesting."
"What are you saying?"
"Kushida, have you finally revealed your true nature without reservation? Not bad."
"Is there... something wrong with your brain?"
Kushida didn't catch the reaction she expected from Subaru's face. It was as if all of this was exactly what he had expected to happen. What exactly did Subaru want to do?
"I've always looked forward to the day you could show the real you in front of everyone." Subaru narrowed his eyes slightly. "Only in this way will your color be completely revealed... Black. It's wonderful."
"W-What exactly are you saying, Natsuki Subaru?!"
"Have you never thought that all of this was me deliberately making you do it? I already knew your actions long ago. Otherwise, why would I allow you to leave the class?" Subaru spoke slowly. "Also, regarding the meeting with Miyabi Nagumo earlier to discuss monitoring me, I was clear about that too."
"You?!"
Kushida hadn't expected at all that her previous contact with Miyabi Nagumo was actually known by Subaru. Wh-Why?
"You... How could you..."
Kushida's voice sounded as if her throat were being choked by an invisible hand, plummeting from a hysterical shriek to a hoarseness bordering on voicelessness. The ferocity and smugness on her face froze instantly, as if doused by a basin of ice water, leaving only bone-chilling coldness and disbelief.
"Not just Nagumo," Subaru took a step forward, his voice as flat as if stating the weather. "How you used secrets to force classmates to drop out in junior high, how you disguised yourself to transfer, and even after coming to this school, the 'whispers' you said privately to Karuizawa, to Matsushita, to Mori-san... and many others, as well as how you used their secrets to consolidate your position—I actually know it all."
Using Return by Death a few times was enough to dig out all of Kushida's secrets.
With every sentence Subaru spoke, Kushida's face paled a degree, and her body trembled more violently. Kushida had originally thought her self-destruction could catch him off guard, but she hadn't expected that Subaru actually knew her inside and out.
"You... You investigated me? Imposs... Those things..."
She was incoherent, her eyes unfocused. The sharpness and twisted pleasure from attacking others earlier were gone, leaving only the immense fear of being thoroughly seen through with nowhere to hide. More terrifying than exposing her collusion with Ryuen in public was that even her deepest 'secret weapons' and past, upon which she relied for survival, were grasped clearly by him.
"Investigated?"
Subaru tilted his head slightly and sneered. "Your behavior patterns, your language habits, the subtle changes in your tone in front of different people... are all 'speaking' to me. Like an open book, just with handwriting that's a bit scrawled."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the students whose expressions varied from anger to shame due to Kushida's 'revelations' just now, and finally landed back on Kushida, whose face was ashen.
"You think that by mastering others' secrets, you master power? That you can toy with human hearts at will?"
Subaru's tone carried a trace of extremely faint, almost pitying mockery. "That's just because you have never seen the 'true reality', nor have you ever understood true power."
He raised his hand, pointing to his own eyes. "I can see it, Kikyo Kushida. Beneath all your meticulously applied colors, that empty and anxious gray-white. You desperately want to be dyed in others' colors, wanting to use others' secrets and emotions to fill yourself, because your own interior... is empty, even full of rot. And within your heart, there is actually only a pitch-black darkness."
This was no longer a simple exposure of crimes, but a negation of her essential existence, a cold dissection of her entire twisted personality.
"No... I... I..."
Kushida shook her head violently, her hair completely disheveled. Tears and mucus mixed together; not a shred of her usual beauty could be seen anymore. She was like a puppet drained of all support, sliding limply to the ground, hugging her head with both hands, emitting suppressed whimpers like an injured beast.
The previous arrogant flame of 'mutual destruction' was completely crushed under Subaru's more essential, colder revelation, leaving only the most primitive collapse of being seen through and denied.
The class was dead silent. If Kushida's 'revelations' earlier had made everyone angry, ashamed, and suspicious of each other, then Subaru's dissection of Kushida's soul at this moment brought a deeper kind of chill.
They looked at Kikyo Kushida curled up and crying on the ground, in such a wretched state, and then recalled her sweet and amiable appearance from before, as well as those vicious revelations just now. The intense contrast was nauseating, but it also made them truly feel what was called 'disguise' and what was called 'reality'.
And Subaru's posture of knowing everything and judging coldly made them shudder even more.
Horikita's clenched fists loosened slightly. She looked at the broken Kushida, then at Subaru, her mood complicated to the extreme. She realized that Subaru was not just clearing out a traitor; he was using a method bordering on cruel to forcibly tear open the false facade of the class's peace, forcing everyone to face certain unbearable truths. This method... was too intense, and too dangerous.
Yosuke Hirata closed his eyes in pain, unable to bear watching any longer.
Ayanokoji's pupils constricted slightly.
It's not just intelligence gathering... He is conducting absolute suppression and destruction on a psychological level. Letting Kushida be thoroughly defeated in the field she is best at, and denying the foundation of her existence. This is more thorough than any physical punishment or threat of expulsion. He is... educating her, or rather, experimenting?
Airi Sakura's body was still trembling, but her gaze followed Subaru closely. Fear still existed, but another, more complicated and indescribable emotion was quietly breeding in the bottom of her heart.
Subaru slowly walked in front of Kushida, looking at her wretched appearance, yet a trace of disappointment flashed through his eyes.
"Is this merely the extent of it? Kushida. I thought your color could be deeper and more obvious. In the end, is it only this level?"
Subaru cut open Kushida's heart just to make her reveal her own color. If it was only this level... Then that would be too boring.
He reached out his hand and gently placed it on Kushida's tear-stained chin.
"Kikyo Kushida."
"Struggle a little more."
"Don't, don't disappoint me."
____
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