Nearing evening.
Inside the room.
Ichinose and Himeno Yuki finished dinner, and Hikigaya sat between the two.
"That's how it is..."
Hikigaya told them the whole story about Class D.
Although he had made up his mind, he still wanted to hear the opinions of Ichinose and the others.
"Is that Horikita an idiot?"
Himeno Yuki's eyes widened; she was simply stunned.
Originally.
Expelling the weakest person for the sake of class points—while such a thing is easier to do than to say—it wasn't completely incomprehensible from a rational standpoint.
However.
Leaving the culprit and traitor Kushida Kikyo aside, and instead letting Sakura, who had been working diligently for the class, be expelled.
Is this an operation a normal human could perform?
"Horikita-san and Ayanokouji-san..."
"How could they do such a thing."
Ichinose also shook her head bitterly.
From a bystander's standpoint.
Even Ichinose had nothing left to say.
I'm afraid even Ryuuen couldn't do such a thing. Although Ryuuen liked to abuse violence, he would at least protect his companions and take responsibility.
What Horikita Suzune and Ayanokouji did.
Moreover, based on the words of Hasebe Haruka and the others, they had always considered Ayanokouji and the others their best friends.
This was too much.
"So..."
Hikigaya said in a deep voice: "I want to publish this matter on the forum first. However, something also went wrong on Karuizawa's side. This matter is best left until Monday when school starts."
"This..."
Ichinose's expression was a bit complex as she said: "If that's the case, Class D will probably fall into a state of chaos, right? Should we talk to Horikita and the others first? Ask them why they did this?"
"Ha? Why should we even discuss it with them?"
Himeno Yuki said somewhat speechlessly: "Since they did it, they have to pay the price. Whatever harassment they get, they deserve it, right?"
"I think so too."
Hikigaya looked at Himeno Yuki and nodded.
This was not something a normal human could do.
Even an idiot like Yamauchi Haruki would know that expulsion should be done secretly behind people's backs.
To be honest.
Even now, Hikigaya couldn't understand.
Whether Horikita Suzune was clear about the consequences of doing this.
A gag order?
Gag my foot.
Once exposed, Horikita Suzune's high school career would probably be over; this was also an opportunity to crush Class D.
Hikigaya was confident he could crush Class D directly.
He had no intention of lecturing Horikita Suzune; being able to issue a gag order already showed that Horikita Suzune's path was very crooked.
She wasn't a few-year-old child.
Trying to change a person through lecturing.
Was basically impossible.
Once Horikita Suzune experienced a beating, she would naturally know she was wrong.
Just give her a good thrashing.
"Well then."
Seeing Hikigaya speak, Ichinose also nodded:
"Should I tell the people in the class about this first?"
"No, wait until Monday to tell them."
Hikigaya took a deep breath and said somewhat heavily: "Besides this, Honami, can you ask the people in the class about their relationship with Kushida? Does Kushida hold any secrets over them?"
This incident.
Hikigaya didn't intend to hide anything; just telling the truth would suffice.
It would inevitably affect Kushida Kikyo.
With Kushida Kikyo's naive thinking, what if she started attacking indiscriminately and spreading secrets throughout the whole school.
That would be a headache.
At least he had to grasp the situation first.
"Understood."
"There shouldn't be any secrets, right?"
Ichinose nodded, and Himeno Yuki on the side didn't care much.
At least she had been reminded by Hikigaya at the start of school, and her relationship with Kushida Kikyo was average.
And.
They were in different classes after all.
It certainly couldn't compare to the relationship between Hasebe and others with Kushida.
Even if there were some small secrets, it was probably just minor things like who likes whom or who thinks the other doesn't look good.
"Let's ask first."
Hikigaya nodded.
He wasn't too worried.
In his eyes.
Kushida Kikyo was just naive.
Getting fly-off-the-handle angry when her secrets were discovered.
This was also just for self-preservation; she wanted to be popular and didn't want to fall to the bottom layer.
He believed that even if things were exposed.
Kushida Kikyo wouldn't expose the secrets of other classes; she wasn't bad to that extent, just a somewhat naive child.
If he were to provide evidence.
It would be the Kushida Kikyo he learned about from Sakura Airi's mouth.
Perhaps it was because Sakura Airi and Hasebe Haruka had some beautifying filters.
The Kushida Kikyo they heard about from the two was actually not bad.
Otherwise.
If Kushida Kikyo were truly indiscriminately fly-off-the-handle angry.
It wouldn't have been just her one class that collapsed in middle school, but the entire school.
Another piece of evidence.
Was that Horikita Suzune had absolutely no impression of Kushida Kikyo at the start of school.
Clearly.
Except for the friends in her own class, Kushida Kikyo did not expose the secrets of her other friends.
Otherwise, being affected.
It would be impossible for Horikita Suzune to have no impression of Kushida Kikyo.
From all these, it could be judged.
Kushida Kikyo was not fly-off-the-handle angry, but had rationally made the choice she believed was most beneficial to herself.
Of course.
Hikigaya wouldn't help her hide it.
After all, the two had no relationship; he didn't treat Kushida as a friend, and Kushida wasn't someone who needed looking after.
I'm afraid.
Kushida didn't treat him as a friend either.
This wasn't the middle school Kushida was about to graduate from.
Either voluntarily withdraw, or pay the price for what you've done.
It had nothing to do with Hikigaya.
Anyway, he wouldn't add fuel to the fire; he would only tell the truth.
That was enough.
"Understood."
"Speaking of which."
Himeno Yuki asked somewhat doubtfully: "Although I know Class B won't encounter this kind of situation, if Class B did encounter this situation, what should we do?"
"Then we'd just have to wait for the exam to fail, and then everyone start over together, right?"
Ichinose nodded.
She was more inclined to wait for the exam to fail and have three hundred class points deducted.
She wouldn't give up on Kushida either.
"As for me..."
Hikigaya also thought slightly: "It would be my own expulsion > Kushida's expulsion > waiting for the exam to fail."
"Ha?"
Himeno Yuki narrowed her eyes; luckily she asked.
"Hikki, you are the leader of Class B now; you can't keep thinking about solving problems through your own expulsion."
"No."
Hikigaya rolled his eyes: "Since the class wasn't integrated before the exam, this is definitely the leader's responsibility, right?"
"Uh..."
Ichinose and Himeno Yuki were slightly stunned.
Their expressions became even more complex.
They didn't know whether letting Hikigaya lead the class was a good or bad thing.
Ichinose prioritized waiting for the failure to avoid expelling anyone, which could hardly be called correct.
However.
Faced with such an exam.
The fact that the leader couldn't prepare in advance indeed meant they needed to take responsibility.
This should at least be something that happens after Kushida Kikyo is expelled.
But.
Hikigaya's sense of responsibility seemed even stronger than Ichinose's.
This was not escaping.
If it were like Ryuuen expelling people in daily life, it would naturally be escaping, but if expulsion could be exchanged for class points, it wasn't impossible.
At any time.
No matter what the people below do.
If any part of the process gets stuck, the leader is the person primarily responsible!
This was Hikigaya's attitude.
Responsible for everything in Class B.
Shrinking in the back like Horikita Suzune and Ayanokouji, letting someone else be expelled—what was that all about.
Hikigaya was truly disgusted.
There was one more thing he hadn't told Ichinose and the others.
It was that Hikigaya always had some doubts about how Kushida could do such a thing, even if she wanted to get Ayanokouji and Horikita expelled.
Kushida wasn't such a fool.
Even if she successfully hid her identity and dragged the exam to the last step, it would probably be impossible to directly overthrow the class leader in the exam, right?
At least.
As long as Ayanokouji and Horikita Suzune voted against each other.
The exam couldn't succeed.
But.
This was Class D's own business.
Hikigaya's understanding of Class D was not deep, and he really couldn't judge if Kushida's brain had a sudden cramp.