At this moment Hachiman couldn't help but wonder—between him and Horikita Suzune, who did Kushida Kikyo consider harder to deal with?
Otherwise, there was no reason for her to be clinging to him like this.
***
In the stairwell, where the floors split cleanly like the social tiers of the school, each grade had its own building.
Hachiman's classroom sat on the second floor of the first-year teaching block.
Class C occupied the first floor, Class D the second.
Strangely, the third and fourth floors weren't classrooms at all but science labs. Then, above those, the fifth and sixth floors were home to Class B and Class A respectively.
At first glance, it was odd—four classes separated by labs. But if you considered the school's competitive philosophy, it made twisted sense.
Maybe it was designed that way to keep the top-performing students physically and symbolically apart. Far above.
From day one, Class D had been branded as the lowest of the low.
If this school was a battlefield, Class D was the cannon fodder.
The bottom forty out of 160 freshmen.
Was there any hope of climbing up?
Not unless a miracle happened.
But Hachiman wasn't here to save the class. He had his own route to survival.
He'd already pocketed 200,000 points courtesy of Kushida-san, and had his eyes on another 200,000—this time for investigating Horikita Suzune.
Kushida was charming, soft-spoken, and socially invincible.
If anyone could give him leverage on Horikita, it'd be her.
So the two ascended the staircase together, step by deliberate step.
Kushida seemed to be psyching herself up.
Then she said, "Hikigaya-san, it looks like you like Horikita-san too—just like the other boys in the class."
"Huh?" Hachiman blinked.
Where did that come from?
"I noticed it during second period," she continued. "You looked at her five times in forty minutes."
So she had counted?
You were watching me that closely?
Or were you watching Horikita and noticed me glancing at her?
Either way, this was terrifying.
Kushida, is this because she brushed you off this morning? Are you holding a grudge?
Rather than deny it, Hachiman chose silence.
He didn't think this was about his supposed interest in Horikita.
She had something else on her mind.
Sure enough—
"I actually tried to talk to Horikita-san yesterday," Kushida said, voice soft. "We even ran into each other at the shopping street. But she acted like I wasn't there."
She sighed lightly, looking genuinely dejected.
"And today, I think she actually dislikes me."
She paused, then smiled sweetly. "But you sit next to her, right? That means you're probably closer to her than I am."
So she wanted him to be her envoy.
An icebreaker.
Test the waters.
This lines up with her self-introduction. She said she wanted to be friends with everyone in the class, after all.
But Hachiman had to stop himself from sighing.
Kushida, you should really give up on that goal.
Some people aren't worth befriending.
And besides, Kushida herself was a ticking time bomb.
Getting tangled in her plans meant risking detonation.
"What do you want me to do?" he asked plainly. "No need to sugarcoat it."
Kushida hesitated.
Then, with a calculated cuteness, she looked up at him through long lashes.
"Hikigaya-san is so mean. Always so mature," she pouted playfully. "I wasn't trying to use you."
But even as she said that, she reached out and gently took his hand.
Her fingers were warm.
Soft.
It was the same tactic as before—using physical closeness to cloud his thoughts.
But he wasn't so easily shaken.
…Well, maybe a little.
She smelled faintly of citrus and something floral—shampoo or perfume, maybe.
Girls really were amazing.
His heart thumped a little harder.
Was this the first time in his life a girl held his hand twice?
In the back of his mind, he recalled another girl—Sakayanagi Arisu. That frail, silver-haired enigma at Keyaki Mall. Cute, commanding, dangerous.
And yet here he was, holding hands with the class's little angel while fantasizing about another girl.
What a mess.
Still, he couldn't ignore the real objective.
"What do you know about Horikita Suzune?" Hachiman asked, pulling his hand back gently.
Kushida blinked, then quickly pulled out her phone.
"I'm not that close with her," Hachiman added. "We barely speak. I just sit next to her."
He peered at her from the corner of his eye. "If you knew her from middle school, that'd be helpful."
Clatter.
Her phone slipped from her fingers and hit the ground.
She froze.
Then bent down quickly to retrieve it.
That moment—
That brief, flickering panic—
That was the first time he'd ever seen her flustered.
Even when he exposed her manipulations earlier, she hadn't reacted like this.
But just now, with that one line…
Had he touched on something critical?
A landmine?
It sure looked like it.
Still, he kept a straight face.
He didn't press further.
He wasn't ready to set off that explosion.
Not yet.
***
Horikita Suzune.
Female.
Extremely beautiful.
Smart, athletic, focused.
Zero interest in social interaction.
Her study habits were impeccable. She was the kind of student who lived for academics.
That was what Kushida told him.
But Hachiman found her intel… shallow.
That kind of information could be gathered just by watching Horikita for a day or two.
The real bombshell—the possibility that they'd gone to the same middle school—was something Kushida avoided completely.
So Hachiman pretended not to notice.
He wasn't here to ignite fireworks. Not yet.
He still had more points to earn from Chabashira-sensei.
But today, Kushida's facade had cracked.
Her seat was front and center in the classroom. A spotlight position.
And during the afternoon classes, she kept glancing back.
Each time their eyes met, she offered a perfect smile.
The boys around her shifted uncomfortably, uncertain who she was smiling at.
It didn't matter.
To them, it felt like the heavens had opened.
Kushida Kikyo had smiled at me.
For boys who'd never stood out in middle school, her attention was like a drug.
A blessing from a goddess.
But Hachiman knew better.
That kind of light always casts shadows.
And shadows hide secrets.
***
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