As soon as the first class ended, I quickly stepped out into the hallway. The atmosphere inside the classroom was suffocating—I could literally feel the pressure.
It was hard to even focus in that situation, so I decided to buy a drink before the next lesson started.
I headed toward the end of the corridor where the vending machines were and stood there staring at them, trying to decide what to buy.
If Max Coffee isn't available, choosing is always difficult.
After a long moment of thinking, I picked a citrus energy drink. It felt useful at a time like this.
I stepped away from the machine, then leaned against the wall, enjoying the drink before the next class.
As I stared blankly into the air ahead of me, I kept thinking about the scale of this new problem.
"Hey, student council secretary, stop staring into space like that... You're going to scare the passersby with those rotten eyes of yours."
I quickly raised my head toward the source of the voice.
It was Yukinoshita Yukino walking confidently toward me, with Horikita behind her.
But why was Kushida following them too?
Maybe she was still sticking around Horikita.
"Just staring won't scare people. Your harsh words are more likely to do that." I decided not to stay silent about Yukinoshita's sarcasm, especially since she had that smug smile on her lips.
Yukinoshita stopped in front of me, staring directly into my eyes.
"Harsh words bring people back to reality, while your dead fish eyes do nothing except frighten others... You should be more considerate toward people, Hikigaya-kun."
Yukinoshita closed her eyes while smiling with that irritatingly elegant smile of hers.
I ignored it and looked away.
Let's not call it a loss—just a tactical retreat.
"Yukinoshita-san, Hikigaya-kun, are you two flirting?" Suddenly, Kushida stepped closer and casually dropped a bomb with her innocent angelic face.
"Haaah...?" I immediately turned toward her in shock. What was she suddenly saying?
"W-What are you talking about...? She's just making fun of my eyes..." Damn it, why is this so embarrassing?
Yukinoshita froze in place, and a faint blush appeared on her face.
The hallway suddenly felt much hotter.
"Hmm... I thought she was complimenting your eyes. Right, Horikita-san?" Kushida placed a finger against her cheek, acting cute with watery eyes as she tried dragging Horikita into the conversation too.
"I don't care about that. More importantly, why are you here, Kushida-san...?" Horikita looked visibly annoyed by Kushida's presence to the point of directly confronting her.
Sometimes being straightforward is admirable.
This, however, was just rude.
"I heard that you and Yukinoshita-san wanted to ask Hikigaya-kun about the Sudou incident... Also, I didn't know you were a member of the student council, Hikigaya-kun."
Kushida shifted her gaze from Horikita to me.
"Well... I joined recently." There was no need to give more details about when exactly I joined.
"Anyway..." Yukinoshita resumed speaking after regaining her composure.
"I wanted to ask you something, Hikigaya-kun. I assume you learned about this incident from the student council, correct?"
"Yeah. I heard about it this morning."
"How much exactly do you know?" It seemed Yukinoshita was trying to gather as much information as possible before making her next move.
Maybe she had already decided to help Sudou.
"Nothing more than what the teacher announced." The report President Horikita gave me didn't contain anything beyond what Chabashira-sensei mentioned during class.
"What kind of punishments could we face...?" It seemed Horikita also wanted to know more.
This was all Chabashira-sensei's fault. Everyone's attention shifted toward me the moment she mentioned the student council.
Besides, Horikita could just ask her brother herself, so why ask me?
"Suspension, personal point deductions, or class point deductions..." I only mentioned the punishments the president told me about, intentionally leaving out expulsion. It felt too early for that and would only make Sudou more anxious.
"Class point deductions..." Kushida muttered in disbelief.
I nodded to confirm it.
A class point penalty would affect the entire class, and things could spiral even further because of it.
"This may have been Class C's goal from the beginning..." Yukinoshita placed a hand against her chin while thinking.
"Not necessarily. Sudou could actually be guilty too..." There was no guarantee that Class C were the villains who planned everything.
"What are you saying, Hikigaya-kun...? Sudou-kun is our classmate, and we should help prove his innocence." Kushida immediately stepped forward in protest.
"Hikigaya-kun, I understand your doubts... but Sudou-kun spent all morning trying to prove he was innocent. I don't think he would lie about something like this."
Yukinoshita sounded completely confident in her judgment. Even her cold eyes carried determination and certainty.
"So, are you going to help him...?"
"Of course. Isn't it the duty of capable people to help those in need?" Yukinoshita brushed her hair back as she stepped forward confidently.
Even after leaving the Service Club, she still wanted to help the people around her.
Maybe that was simply who Yukinoshita Yukino was.
I couldn't help smiling slightly.
"So what are you planning to do...?" If she intended to move forward, then she had to have at least some kind of plan.
"First, we'll search for evidence. Kushida-san."
Yukinoshita turned toward Kushida, who had been silently observing the conversation from the side.
"Yes...?" Kushida straightened herself after hearing her name.
"Can you gather students from our class who are willing to help and divide them into groups to search for any evidence or witnesses?"
It seemed Yukinoshita intended to investigate the case head-on.
Gathering students to search would definitely speed things up.
An effective strategy.
"Of course... I'll start right away." Even though her tone remained friendly, for a brief moment her eyes showed a strange hint of irritation.
Did she dislike being ordered around too?
"Thank you, Kushida-san."
Yukinoshita understood how influential Kushida was. She could easily gather people around her. Even students who originally had no intention of helping might change their minds after speaking with her.
Kushida hurried back toward the classroom, probably wanting to talk to people before the next class started.
I shifted my gaze toward Horikita, who was frowning at me.
What? Did I annoy her?
"What is it?" It's irritating when someone stares at you like that, so it's better to clear things up.
"Hikigaya-kun, you're not planning to do anything strange, are you?" Horikita narrowed her eyes suspiciously at me while waiting for an answer.
"Well... I don't plan on interfering."
"Are you sure?" She kept staring at me suspiciously.
That seriously gives me chills.
"I don't like playing detective." I looked away, avoiding her strange stare.
"Fine..." Horikita stepped away as well and started heading back toward the classroom.
She's still annoying.
She really hates missing anything.
"Yukinoshita, have you thought of any other measures...?" Randomly searching around wouldn't accomplish much. She understood that perfectly well.
"There's the idea of offering a reward to anyone who provides useful information or evidence in order to widen the search range, but at this early stage we won't use it yet."
So Yukinoshita had already considered additional measures.
Still, preserving personal points for now was probably the better choice. There was still time before the hearing.
"I see..."
I returned to drinking my beverage, but...
That look Kushida gave earlier was still bothering me.
And so was Ayanokouji's recent behavior toward her.
I don't know... maybe I'm just overthinking things.
"Yukinoshita, what do you think about Kushida?"
No harm in hearing someone else's opinion of her.
"Kushida-san?" Yukinoshita looked toward me, then toward the classroom door as if carefully thinking about her answer.
"She seems like a sociable girl. At first, I thought she was similar to Yuigahama-san, but... there's something strange about her."
My eyes shifted from the classroom door back to Yukinoshita's face.
Her expression still looked normal, but her words definitely weren't.
So she noticed something strange too.
"Well... everyone at this school is strange, aren't they?"
"Yes... you're right."
Yukinoshita also headed back toward the classroom.
I remained alone at the end of the hallway, taking the final sip of my drink before tossing the can into the trash bin.
My eyes stayed fixed on the can I had thrown away.
It seems the class decided not to abandon Sudou this time and instead support him.
Maybe that's better than throwing him into the abyss.