Dormitory building.
The fire escape was pitch black.
The exit sign flickered with a green light.
After leaving Kamuro Masumi's room, Hikigaya sat on the stairs, clutching his hair with his right hand, his eyes somewhat red.
"What... on earth am I doing..."
Hikigaya bit his teeth, his face full of pain.
Even though he had known it would be like this.
Being held by Sakayanagi with leverage, she would sooner or later use him to do things that damaged the class.
However.
He was using physical exercise to empty his brain and escape reality.
Holding a shred of wishful thinking.
Hoping that Sakayanagi would find her conscience and let him go.
However.
There was none.
Arisu Sakayanagi was firm in her will, showing no sign of remorse, and even felt a bit self-satisfied admiring his distressed side.
Why could someone be wicked to this degree.
And still think everything was due to their own strength?
Could it be.
That there was truly not a single bit of shame in her heart?
Someone who was so frankly bad.
Someone so openly bad.
It was the first time Hikigaya had seen such a person in his seventeen years of life.
Even the worst thugs in junior high were far, far better than Sakayanagi.
After all.
Even if those junior high classmates were bad.
They were just a group of ordinary people seen everywhere.
And this school.
Except for a small number of people, it was a gathering of elites from all over the country.
Even if he was well-read.
He was ultimately just a high school student.
Experience was after all limited.
Unable to understand.
How people could be so different from each other.
Escape, escape, escape.
Escaping until finally there was nowhere left to run.
Could it be.
That he really had to follow Sakayanagi's arrangement.
And betray the class?
They were just two classmates he wasn't familiar with.
But what did they do wrong?
Did he have to continue being unfair to Ichinose?
How was that possible.
No matter what.
He could not continue to be unfair to Ichinose.
However.
Thinking of the leverage Sakayanagi held in her hand.
"Sigh..."
Hikigaya let out a sigh and just lay exhausted on the stairs. In the dark hallway, it seemed he could still hear Sakayanagi's cheerful laughter.
In his mind, he seemed to still be able to see Sakayanagi's face full of joy.
Strictly speaking.
Wasn't all of this Sakayanagi's fault?
Why should it involve others, and why should he lie on the stairs silently enduring it.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.
"Bitch..."
A flash of sharpness passed through Hikigaya's eyes, and he squeezed out a voice that was somewhat hoarse.
"Since you want to play, I'll play along with you properly."
No matter what.
He could not continue to be unfair to Ichinose.
Saying that.
Hikigaya sat up, a ruthless light flashing in his red eyes.
To deal with a villain.
One must be even more villainous than the villain!
In the fire escape.
Hikigaya sat on the steps, first organizing his thoughts.
First, he couldn't affect Komachi.
Second, he couldn't affect his family.
Then, he couldn't affect Ichinose and Himeno Yuki.
Furthermore, he couldn't affect the class.
Finally, if he didn't affect his own future, that would naturally be best.
"Sigh."
Hikigaya let out a sigh.
If it really didn't work, the last point could be abandoned, but the first four points absolutely could not be affected.
Then there were their demands.
First was Arisu Sakayanagi.
Her goal was just to return to the position of Class A's leader.
For this goal.
Sakayanagi wouldn't care about class interests, wouldn't care about the thoughts of those around her, even if everyone was sacrificed, it wouldn't matter.
If it was just that, it would be one thing.
Now that the leverage was held by Sakayanagi, it was unknown how many backups of the video there were.
With Arisu Sakayanagi's venomous character.
She would only consider her own selfish desires.
Even if she returned to the position of Class A leader, Sakayanagi likely wouldn't let him go.
And.
There was probably someone else following him from behind, and this person wasn't Kamuro Masumi.
It was too difficult to start from Sakayanagi's side.
The other one.
Kamuro Masumi.
Judging from her current performance.
Kamuro Masumi was also a quite selfish person, but she couldn't be said to be as bad as Sakayanagi; she just pursued excitement.
Or.
Kamuro Masumi had a certain amount of goodwill towards him.
Even though she was stronger than him, she allowed him to physically beat her.
Of course.
He felt that this pervert actually liked it herself and thought it was exciting.
"Hmm?"
Hikigaya frowned.
He hurriedly took out his phone and looked at the two million transfer from Arisu Sakayanagi.
It seemed.
Arisu Sakayanagi was not yet aware of the fact that he possessed a huge sum of money.
Otherwise, with Arisu Sakayanagi's personality, it would be impossible for her to transfer personal points to him again, and she would even be more likely to directly threaten him to hand over his personal points.
After all.
In this school.
Personal points are weapons.
Arisu Sakayanagi used them very skillfully, not being polite at all when it came to spending money, and not thinking about saving money to save classmates at all.
Kamuro Masumi did not tell Sakayanagi about the fact that he possessed a huge sum of money!
Perhaps.
Kamuro Masumi was on his side from the beginning.
As long as he could win over Kamuro Masumi, it would be enough.
After all.
The person involved in the video was Kamuro Masumi; as long as she denied it, there wouldn't be much of a problem.
Even if it was brought to the school.
It could be explained away as playing a game or something similar.
That probably wouldn't work.
After all, although the school turned a blind eye to this aspect, it explicitly prohibited improper male-female relationships; at most, some personal points would be fined.
After all.
This kind of thing could not be prohibited.
From what Hikigaya knew, there was someone in Class C who was dating a senior from a higher grade, and Nagumo Miyabi, that playboy, changed girlfriends even more often than changing clothes.
If people were to be expelled for this.
I'm afraid at least half the school would have problems.
No one could escape.
"No."
Hikigaya grabbed his hair again.
Thinking this way was too one-sided.
After all, he remembered asking Kamuro Masumi before, and she clearly stated she wouldn't do things for him.
To be honest.
Kamuro Masumi was a bit strange as a person.
Hikigaya really couldn't understand what she was thinking.
Clearly she was working for Sakayanagi using such despicable means, yet she helped him hide the fact that he had a huge sum of money.
Just for the sake of pursuing excitement.
But Kamuro Masumi acted as if she was somewhat guilty, willingly letting him hit her.
To say she was bad.
It seemed she wasn't that bad.
When Hikigaya was annoyed, she would even comfort him from the side.
To say she was good,
The methods she used were so lowly, and she was not polite at all when threatening people.
This pervert.
Does she really have some problem with her brain?
Hikigaya felt his head was about to explode; which side was this person actually on?
But then again.
The fact that Kamuro Masumi only acted for her own selfish desires was a reality.
At most, she thought of others for one part.
Maybe two parts.
At least much stronger than that extremely selfish fellow Sakayanagi.
In any case.
Kamuro Masumi helped him hide the fact that he possessed a huge sum of money.
Whether out of guilt, or out of liking, or for some other reason.
At least.
Kamuro Masumi is not cold-blooded like Sakayanagi Arisu.
His stance wavered back and forth.
Though she clearly stated she wouldn't do things for him, perhaps she just didn't want to lose such a convenient tool.
But in the end, it depends on the method; at least it's worth a try.
After all, the handle is in the opponent's hands, and he is in an absolutely disadvantageous position.
Hikigaya felt.
The deterrent force was still not enough.
However.
Should he really try?
Hikigaya hesitated slightly, but at the thought of Sakayanagi's pleasant smile, he couldn't wait to kill her.
If not for Sakayanagi.
How could the incident have turned out like this? Only hatred is the strongest motivation.
"Bitch."
"Since you want to play, I'll play you to death."
Hikigaya supported his hands on his knees and stood up with a cold expression.
He could only blame Sakayanagi for being far too unscrupulous.
She actually considered being unscrupulous as a result of her own strength.
Then don't blame him for being unscrupulous too.