The next day.
After school.
Everyone agreed to meet in front of the Palette Cafe.
At this time.
Hasebe Haruka was still sitting beside Horikita Suzune, only holding her cheek and nonchalantly eating snacks.
Her expression was nothing like the conflict of yesterday.
Since Horikita Suzune felt she needed help, then she would help; whether Hikigaya could be persuaded was Horikita Suzune's own business.
People like Horikita Suzune and Class D who don't know gratitude.
There was absolutely no need to take them to heart; just doing whatever was enough.
The only difference was.
Hikigaya brought Sakura Airi along.
"Where did we leave off yesterday?"
Hikigaya rested his arms on the table, his gaze burning as he stared at Horikita Suzune opposite him:
"Right, Horikita, why did you want to rise to Class A?"
Come!
Say the words from yesterday again in front of Sakura Airi.
Hikigaya wanted to see if this person had really become so hypocritical that she could shamelessly say it out loud?
"Sigh..."
Looking at Sakura Airi in front of her.
Horikita Suzune let out a somewhat helpless sigh, instantly understanding Hikigaya's meaning.
The person sitting in front of her was not a qualified leader.
Yesterday's words hadn't moved Hikigaya; he just went back and dragged Sakura Airi to his front.
"No matter how many times you want me to say it, it's no problem."
Horikita Suzune didn't feel she was wrong; her fist thumped against her heart with incredibly firm will:
"I am doing it so that everyone can rise to Class A!"
"Heh..."
Hasebe Haruka couldn't help but laugh out loud, but she didn't say much; whatever, this person can say whatever she wants.
Sakura Airi, beside them, looked up at Horikita Suzune; it seemed she had already been expelled from the "everyone" of the class.
"Hehe, everyone?"
Hikigaya took a deep breath and said in a flat voice.
"Who is the 'everyone' in your mouth? Is it the 'everyone' used when acting spoiled to Mom to buy things so 'everyone has some'? What kind of people are those?"
"I don't have friends, so I've never used that kind of excuse."
"Horikita, explain to me, who is the 'everyone' in your mouth? Is Sakura not a member of that 'everyone'?"
Selfishness is understandable.
But using everyone and the class as an excuse truly made Hikigaya feel a bit disgusted.
Clearly.
He didn't know what influence Horikita Suzune had undergone, but she had already gained an extremely firm will.
"Sigh..."
Horikita Suzune let out a sigh, only feeling that Hikigaya was being unreasonable, and explained with a sincere tone:
"Sakura was naturally a member of Class D before. If it were possible, I also wouldn't want anyone to be expelled."
"But it was unavoidable at the time. To rise to Class A, expelling Sakura was the most beneficial choice for Class D."
"That thought has not changed to this day."
Horikita Suzune always believed that sincerity was the ultimate move.
As long as she said it seriously, as long as she apologized seriously, she believed the other party could understand.
Whether it was Sakura Airi or Hasebe Haruka.
Both had already been successfully persuaded by her.
Now Hasebe Haruka and Sakura Airi had already let go of this past; only Hikigaya, this psychopath, was still clutching it and wouldn't let go.
"Rising to Class A."
Hikigaya gave a cold laugh: "Waiting for someone to get hurt and then ostracizing them to exchange for class points—what an easy method indeed."
"Sigh..."
Horikita Suzune sighed again, looking at Hikigaya with a somewhat complex gaze.
She didn't know what Class B was thinking, to change the leader from Ichinose to Hikigaya.
Having such a leader was truly a disaster.
"You say it so easily."
Horikita Suzune shook her head with some helplessness: "Discarding a companion is not as easy a thing as you say."
"In the end."
"You upper classes."
"Must never have experienced days where you could only eat the mountain vegetable set every month."
"Must never have experienced the feeling of only watching others enjoy campus life."
"Must never have been ridiculed as defects but only been able to choose to swallow your pride."
"You who have always been in the upper classes must be unable to understand the lower classes' obsession with class points."
"Isn't that right?"
Horikita Suzune used several "musts" with firm will.
These upper classes simply couldn't understand the feelings and pain of their Class D; they only spoke cold words while standing on the mountain.
Hearing her words.
Hikigaya's face looked a bit bad.
As expected, trying to use "talk no jutsu" to persuade Horikita Suzune was an impossible task.
Clearly, this group in Class D, including Hasebe Haruka, all had more or less some defects.
Defective products, undoubtedly.
Watching Hikigaya's expression turn ugly, Horikita Suzune pressed her advantage.
"Moreover, now even Sakura and Hasebe-san have stopped taking it to heart; what else do you have to be concerned about, Hikigaya?"
"Wasting Class B's private points for nothing—as a leader, shouldn't you consider Class B a little bit?"
"..."
Hikigaya's face was ugly to the extreme.
At the start of school, Horikita Suzune was okay, but now he and Horikita Suzune truly couldn't understand each other.
"Do you feel like you've already persuaded Airi and Haru-haru? That Airi is the easiest target to persuade?"
Hikigaya tilted his chin up slightly and asked with some disgust.
"That's right."
Horikita Suzune's expression was flat, and she said with total frankness: "That is also the truth, isn't it?"
The truth was exactly that.
She had successfully persuaded Sakura Airi and Hasebe Haruka.
If it weren't for Hikigaya, Sakura Airi would have already been expelled, and Hasebe Haruka had also been persuaded by her.
What was the problem with that?
One can only blame Sakura Airi's strength for being at the bottom of the OAA and her lack of social skills.
Everything is strength.
She only made the most correct choice for the class!
Slam...
Hikigaya suddenly slapped the table, giving Hasebe Haruka and Sakura Airi a start.
It was the first time seeing Hikigaya look so angry.
Only Horikita Suzune remained as calm as water, gazing into Hikigaya's eyes with a flat expression.
Trying to use this kind of method to scare her was clearly impossible.
It was nothing more than incompetent rage.
"Horikita."
Hikigaya stood up, looking down at Horikita Suzune with a cold expression.
"All of your calculations are built upon the kindness of Airi and Haru-haru."
"Is that so?"
If being despicable could also count as a kind of strength.
Hikigaya felt he was invincible in the world; at least in this school, he was invincible. So far, it seemed no one could be more despicable than him.
"I haven't."
Horikita Suzune was slightly stunned and moved, then she instinctively stood up to refute.
"Sakura's strength was insufficient, ranking last in the OAA; this was simply the most correct choice for the class."
"Being able to reach a unanimous vote means everyone expressed agreement."
"Hikigaya, you are the one who should consider the class; continuing to waste the class's private points like this and aimlessly targeting Class D."
"It's truly foolish, and don't you think you are being very selfish?"
"..."
Staring at Horikita Suzune in front of him, Hikigaya looked at her coldly without responding.
That moment of emotion just now didn't seem fake.
Clearly, Horikita Suzune also didn't feel that she was a bastard who specifically utilized others' kindness.
He seriously suspected.
This person was just simply stupid.
It's just that Horikita Suzune seemed to have walked into a dead end—she couldn't recognize her own mistakes, or she simply refused to admit them until the end.
Since she wouldn't admit it.
Then wait to be "mowed down."