COTE: Hikigaya's Classroom of the Supreme Being

Although Hikigaya was a bit worried about what was to come, after thinking it through, he realized there was no need to be overly concerned.

Given Sakayanagi's personality, she probably wouldn't care much about her class dropping in rank. Even if Class A suddenly fell to Class C, it might just surprise her a little.

After all, she considers herself a genius... and with over two years left in school, there's no need for her to rush.

"Kushida, you've just knocked Class B straight down to Class C," Hikigaya said with a slight smile. "Now do you understand? Even if your academic and physical abilities aren't top-notch, those two things don't entirely determine your life. At the very least, someone like Horikita, who only excels in academics, could never accomplish what you did."

If it could be explained as a mistake when they fell to Class B, then failing twice in a row would be a massive blow.

A lot of people might not get much sleep tonight.

Hopefully, Sakayanagi will find a way to boost her class's morale.

Unfortunately, the next event is the sports festival, and with Sakayanagi being half-disabled, the former Class A doesn't exactly excel in athletics either. Even if she takes command herself, one has to wonder how much of a difference she can make.

"Those guys probably won't forget what happened today even after they graduate," Hikigaya remarked.

Surprisingly, instead of the joy he expected, Kushida seemed unusually calm—no, more like she was in shock.

"…Yeah."

After a long pause, she finally looked up at Hikigaya, her eyes blank.

"I won't forget either."

"Uh, right."

Hikigaya suddenly felt something was off, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what.

...Maybe it's just my imagination?

"Um... Hikigaya-kun," Kushida called out to him hesitantly.

For some reason, her voice was uncertain, as if she had something difficult to say.

But in the end, she spoke up.

"Do you remember when I told you before? The reason I want Horikita to drop out is that she threatens my value."

"...Did you mention that?"

"Huh—?"

"No! I remember! Continue!"

Seeing Kushida glare at him with terrifying eyes, Hikigaya quickly abandoned his joke and even instinctively used polite language.

"...I mentioned before that Horikita and I went to the same middle school," Kushida sighed, then continued, "At that time, I played the role of the kind girl everyone expected me to be, but it built up a lot of pressure. In the end, I decided to relieve it by blogging, writing about all the disgusting things I encountered."

Hikigaya was a bit startled, mostly because he didn't expect her to bring this up now.

Shouldn't they be celebrating their victory? Why are we suddenly diving into a flashback?

Kushida went on, "Even though I stayed anonymous and hid the names of the people involved, everything I wrote was true. Eventually, someone from my class discovered the blog, and soon everyone knew about the insults I had written about them. Naturally, they all started to hate me."

"Oh, and then?"

Hikigaya's interest was piqued. If it were just that, it wouldn't be enough for Kushida to go to such lengths to hide it, right?

"After that, everyone in the class blamed me. Despite all the help I'd given them, they turned against me in an instant. A boy who once said he liked me shoved me to the ground because I had written in my blog, 'He confessed to me. It was disgusting. He might as well drop dead.' A girl who was dumped by her boyfriend kicked over my desk because I had detailed the reasons why he dumped her and mocked her for it. At that point, I felt like I was in danger—after all, I was facing off against more than thirty people."

"The whole class, huh..."

Hikigaya's expression turned a bit odd, but he said nothing, waiting silently for her to continue.

"To deal with that crisis, I decided to use the weapon called 'the truth'—exposing everyone's secrets. Who hated whom, who talked badly about their friends behind their backs—none of that was in my blog, but it was all true."

As she spoke, a faint smile appeared on Kushida's face.

"Once I did that, all the anger directed at me vanished. The boys started fighting each other, the girls were pulling each other's hair, and the classroom descended into chaos. Of course, the school blamed me, since many students stopped coming to class because of what I did. But all I had done was anonymously write a blog, and everything I wrote was true, so the school didn't know how to punish me."

"...That's it?"

"Yes, that's the truth I wanted to hide," Kushida said softly. "So, even though Horikita doesn't have friends, with something this big, it's still likely she would have heard about it."

She smiled as she looked at Hikigaya.

"But now, none of that matters anymore."

"...I see."

After hearing Kushida's confession, Hikigaya's thoughts boiled down to one thing.

Really… that's it?

He had expected some earth-shattering secret, but it turned out to be just this.

Come on, how fragile are these people's hearts?

Hikigaya had a foolproof solution for this.

If you're worried about ruining relationships, just don't make friends in the first place.

In other words, if everyone were a loner, there'd be world peace!

"It's probably because of this that I was put in Class D," Kushida said, first with a self-deprecating tone, then looking at Hikigaya expectantly.

...Oh.

Does she want me to share now?

Although she hadn't said it outright, Kushida had opened up about her past, hoping they could share secrets.

But it's no big deal.

For Hikigaya, his past wasn't a secret—just a collection of petty, insignificant events.

"Kushida, ever since I saw your true self that day, I've thought… you are a boring person."

"Huh?!"

Before Kushida could get angry, Hikigaya continued, "In the end, you only went against one class. I went against the whole school."

"Eh?"

"During the sports festival, I made the class president cry in public because she was so incompetent she couldn't even finish her work. During the school trip, when the most popular clique planned a confession event, they disgustingly asked me for help, so I pretended to agree and then sabotaged the event by confessing first, ruining the whole atmosphere."

"Uh, wait?"

"And finally... this is my proudest achievement."

Hikigaya paused slightly before deciding to continue.

"I reported forty girls I didn't like, getting them all put on disciplinary probation. Their records still haven't been cleared. Most of them transferred out afterward, but only those trashy schools would take them."

"Uh…" Kushida was at a loss for words.

She wanted to question the truth of his stories, but considering that someone with Hikigaya's abilities was placed in Class D, they suddenly seemed much more believable.

"So, Kushida, there's no need to dwell on your boring past," Hikigaya said nonchalantly. "All you did was break down a single class, and it was your class at that. What's there to be proud of? You said you wanted to prove your worth—then at least, like today, crush those high-and-mighty former Class A students, and make them a complete joke. Maybe that would be barely enough."

"...Really, just barely?"

After a brief moment of surprise, Kushida couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

"Should I say 'as expected of Hikigaya-kun'? It feels like we're on completely different levels... Especially after hearing you say that, I realize how utterly foolish I was."

"Glad you understand."

"What?! You're supposed to deny that!"

Seeing that Kushida had regained her spirit, Hikigaya took a sip of his coffee.

Then, as if it were a casual remark, he added, "Lastly, something trivial—I think your middle school classmates got what they deserved. Even if you bad-mouthed them behind their backs, they're the ones who piled so much pressure on you. That's an undeniable fact."

"...Huh?" Kushida's eyes widened.

"Isn't that true?" Hikigaya asked. "Those people dumped their worries on you, pushed the work they didn't want to do onto you and acted like it was all perfectly normal. They just treated you like a convenient tool, never considering why you ended up that way."

It's similar to the situation in Class D now. Kushida is kind to everyone and willingly takes on troublesome tasks.

Whether it was the midterm exams or the deserted island, she contributed a lot to the class.

But most people share the same mentality: after a while, they take it for granted, as if it's something owed to them.

No one appreciates these "small" contributions.

If Hikigaya were in a similar situation, like accidentally overhearing Totsuka bad-mouthing him, he'd probably just quietly return home, lock his door, and cry into his pillow.

...No, that's impossible.

The great angel Totsuka would never bad-mouth anyone!

As Hikigaya entertained such foolish thoughts, Kushida silently stood up and headed for the door.

"Thank you... Hikigaya-kun."

The next moment, she suddenly turned back.

"I'm really glad I came to this school."

"...Uh..." For the first time, Hikigaya Hachiman saw the most genuine smile on Kushida Kikyo's face.

...Well, I'll be going.

Seeing Hikigaya's dumbfounded expression, Kushida chuckled and waved at him before leaving.

"Oh, right, Hikigaya-kun," she said from the door, "remember to take responsibility for cleaning up!"

As the door closed behind her, silence filled the room.

"...Wha?"

Only then did Hikigaya realize what had just happened.

Hey! She didn't even order anything, and I'm stuck with the bill?!