Kushida understood her own situation very well. She relied on her sweet and cute appearance, her flirtatious nature, and her ability to act innocent to win people over—especially boys.
As Hikigaya would put it, Kushida was the kind of girl who could fit into any social setting. Meanwhile, people like Ichinose and Haruno weren't just part of the social atmosphere—they controlled it.
The difference between them was obvious.
At the same time, Kushida was extremely wary of Haruno. She knew that Haruno had a close relationship with Hikigaya. Even though she tried to avoid her, Haruno actively sought her out, even publicly declaring that they were good friends.
At first, Kushida was completely against it. But then, she noticed something.
Some Class A girls, who usually ignored her, suddenly started treating her nicely. Some even took the initiative to talk to her. It felt like, out of nowhere, she was receiving attention and recognition from people she had never expected.
She was happy about it, of course. But at the same time… she fell silent.
Kushida knew exactly why this sudden change had happened.
In just one week, her social circle had nearly doubled. Everywhere she went, girls would greet her.
And she understood—getting recognition from girls was much harder than from boys.
Up until now, the ones who greeted her the most had always been boys. She was well aware that girls like Karuizawa and Shinohara, who acted friendly to her on the surface, often talked behind her back.
To them, she was nothing more than a flirty girl who used her charm to please guys.
Most of the time, Kushida could only pretend not to hear these things. Deep down, she knew the reason she had so many "friends" was because she made herself likable and played the role of the "cute girl" that everyone approved of.
That's why she had mixed feelings about the changes Haruno brought—she loved and hated them at the same time.
This time, Haruno used the excuse of "being friends with Kikyo" to step in and help. Even though Kushida wanted nothing more than to refuse, she had no choice but to put on a happy and grateful face.
What started as just a fight between Class D and Class C had now pulled in Class A and Class B as well, making the entire first year suddenly a lot more chaotic.
To Hirata, Sudou, and the others, this was a good thing—the more people helping, the better their chances.
But to Hikigaya, something about the whole situation felt off. He could believe that Ichinose from Class B was genuinely kind-hearted and just wanted to help. But Haruno? There was no way she got involved just because of such a silly reason.
"Something doesn't feel right..."
Hikigaya was starting to sense that this whole Sudou fight situation was turning into a full-on power struggle between the classes.
And he hadn't forgotten—on the surface, this seemed like Ryuen targeting Sudou, but in reality, it was aimed at him. A classic move to hit two targets at once and create internal conflict. It was a clever trick, but it was a little too obvious.
There weren't any clear signs yet, but Hikigaya knew that sooner or later, the trap Ryuen had set would spring into action.
Four days had passed, and despite Haruno and Ichinose joining the search for witnesses, there were still no results. Naturally, people's enthusiasm had started to fade.
In Class D, Hirata stood at the front of the classroom once again, urging everyone to help find a witness. But this time, no one responded. By now, his daily speeches had become routine. So many people had been looking for so many days—wasn't it obvious by now that there were no witnesses?
Looking at his silent classmates, Hirata felt frustrated but powerless. He knew that everyone had already "done their best," so he could only sigh in defeat.
Even if the rest of the class gave up, he wouldn't abandon Sudou. There had to be a way. He kept telling himself that.
Hikigaya observed the class with a cold gaze. The irony was almost laughable—Hirata, the person Sudou disliked the most, was the one trying the hardest to help him. Meanwhile, the two idiots who were supposed to be Sudou's closest friends acted like this had nothing to do with them.
Hirata repeated his speech one last time before stepping down. But just then, Ike suddenly stood up.
"Hirata, we've been searching for a witness for days with no luck. It's obviously not gonna happen. So... I have an idea!"
His words immediately caught everyone's attention, especially Sudou, who leaned forward eagerly.
Ike smirked, clearly enjoying the anticipation, especially from the one person he disliked the most—Hirata, who was now also looking at him with hope.
Ike wiped his nose, then pointed straight at Hikigaya.
"Did you all forget? This guy's in the student council now! He should go talk to the student council president and ask for a favor. Or better yet, go get information from those guys in Class C! I mean, come on, he's in the student council—if his own class has a problem, he should step up and help!"
"You can't do that, Ike…"
Hirata had barely started to correct him when someone else cut in.
Yamauchi suddenly clapped his hands like he had just figured something out.
"Exactly! Since this whole thing is being handled by the student council, Hikigaya should take care of it. He must have a way to fix it! And besides, this is all his fault to begin with—Ken did nothing wrong!"
Ike and Yamauchi took turns speaking, pushing all the responsibility onto Hikigaya. To them, as a student council member, he was obligated to help Sudou. And on top of that, they were hinting that he should abuse his position to pull some strings.
"Yamauchi, stop—"
Hirata's expression darkened as he quickly tried to intervene. But Yamauchi wasn't listening at all.
"Class C already said it—it's Hikigaya's fault they went after Ken!"
He directly quoted Ishizaki's words from earlier, shifting the blame onto Hikigaya.
Basically, Sudou was only suffering because of Hikigaya, so Hikigaya had to take responsibility!
In Yamauchi's mind, this was the perfect solution.
And his words immediately sparked an uproar in the classroom.
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