Chapter 024: Kushida: I'm Having Auditory Hallucinations, So Am I Under Too Much Pressure?
Saturday morning.
Hikigaya requested Ichinose Honami to invite two girls from Class D out together.
"Is there anything you'd like to drink, Ichinose?"
Hikigaya Hachiman took the initiative to invite the Ichinose-san beside him.
The two had arrived at the agreed-upon cafe a step ahead of time, and Hikigaya made the offer proactively.
After all, he wasn't some kind of "Sigma male."
The current students of Class B had paid him a "carry fee," and combined with the 500,000 points he got from Ryuen, his living expenses were very abundant.
Naturally, he wouldn't be stingy.
Especially since Ichinose-san was helping him out today.
"For me, warm water is fine, though milk tea is also okay." Ichinose wasn't being overly formal.
Hikigaya knew this was a sign of their relationship growing closer. Otherwise, Ichinose would likely have ordered just warm water out of a desire not to take advantage of him.
"But Hikigaya-kun, I'm actually quite surprised that you'd be interested in girls from Class D." Ichinose seemed a bit curious about today's objective.
"If you're looking to invite Kushida-san—" She had been entrusted by Hikigaya to invite Kushida Kikyo and a girl named Sakura Airi from Class D.
However, having heard a massive amount of "secrets" about Kushida-san from Hikigaya yesterday, knowing what kind of person she really was, she didn't actually recommend that Hikigaya-kun associate with her.
"No, the one I want to see is another girl from Class D. But that girl has almost no friends in Class D, and only Kushida has had contact with her, which is why I asked you to invite both of them.
After all, if I simply asked to see her alone, she definitely wouldn't dare come out," Hikigaya said.
While he felt his looks were decent enough, being regarded as a fellow delinquent by Ryuen when he went to find him was still a bit of a blow to Hikigaya.
In particular, the Class A student Kamuro Masumi he met earlier also seemed to have been frightened by him.
This was starting to make Hikigaya doubt himself.
"Actually, I think if you simply invited her, she might have come out," Ichinose seemed to have a different perspective.
"While the first impression might be that Hikigaya-kun is difficult to get along with, once you actually interact, you find that Hikigaya-kun is a good person."
"Eh?"
Hikigaya suddenly realized he had unconsciously received a "Good Person Card" from Ichinose.
"Ichinose-san—"
During their conversation, a call came from the entrance.
"Ichinose-san~" Beside Hikigaya, Ichinose-san instantly put on a bright smile and hopped to her feet.
Hikigaya looked toward the sound.
The arrivals were two girls. One had a strong presence, while the other's presence was very low—she even looked somewhat nervous.
The girl with the strong presence had smooth short hair, a delicate and cute face, and a constant smile that made one's heart skip a beat.
This should be Kushida Kikyo.
In contrast to Kushida, the other girl with the low presence had pink twin-tails, but wore decorative pink plain-glass glasses and looked as if she didn't even dare to raise her eyes.
And her chest was surprisingly large... D... no, probably even an E.
She could probably compete with Ichinose in that department.
This girl must be Sakura-san. Sakura Airi, her name matched her person. Sakura kept her head slightly lowered, simply following Kushida-san.
But as they drew closer, she discovered that among the people she was meeting today... there was also a boy.
She seemed completely unprepared mentally, as she nervously gripped the strap of the shoulder bag she was carrying.
"I'm Hikigaya Hachiman from Class B," Hikigaya spoke first.
"It was I who asked Ichinose to invite you today."
He turned his gaze toward the two Class D girls who had reached the table.
"What I want to discuss with you today are inter-class affairs. I assume Horikita-san has already told you about the truth of the school.
Horikita-san actually bought the truth of the school from me," Hikigaya stated.
Oh?
Hearing this, Kushida-san—who had initially scoffed at the meeting, assuming Ichinose was setting them up for someone who wanted to get to know them—became interested. Since she wanted to be friends with everyone and gain recognition through their trust, she had no intention of dating anyone. Therefore, she usually had zero interest in such things.
But now, she seemed intrigued.
And Sakura also seemed to care somewhat about class matters; hearing this, she seemed to relax her tension a bit and raised her head curiously.
In that same instant, she found Hikigaya looking at her and immediately lowered her head again like a startled fawn.
Only...
'So this is Sakura Airi. Even though she's wearing pink glasses, those plain lenses can't hide her true beauty. If you look closely, she's actually very cute.
While Kushida-san is indeed as cute as described in the original story, compared to the true beauty of Sakura, who has experience as an idol, Kushida-san suddenly loses her luster.'
"..." X2
"Eh?" Kushida seemed a bit taken aback.
"What is it, Kushida-san?" Hikigaya looked at her.
"Ah... nothing, it's just that Hikigaya-kun actually knows a lot about me," Kushida expressed some surprise.
"Because I sometimes see Kushida-san waiting for Horikita-san, seemingly wanting to go to school together, but Horikita-san ignores you completely," Hikigaya said.
"And Ayanokouji from your class sometimes wants to greet you, but you intentionally avoid him because you don't want to deal with him."
"Hehe—"
Kushida-san quickly flashed a polite smile.
But she felt that this Class B boy not only looked like a delinquent, but his tone was also quite sarcastic.
'I asked Ichinose for help to invite Sakura out, and Kushida probably guessed a boy wanted to ask Sakura out, yet Kushida still helped. It seems Kushida-san can't be absolutely impartial after all.
She claims in the original story that she treats all her friends equally, but looking at it now, doesn't she still think it's better to socialize with Ichinose?'
Kushida: "..."
Kushida was now certain: she was hearing some kind of voice, and the voice she heard sounded exactly like the Hikigaya-kun in front of her.
But Hikigaya-kun hadn't continued speaking out loud.
In other words.
The pressure these past few days really was too much.
Many of her middle school classmates were problematic individuals, but after coming to this school, she found there were quite a few students of the same caliber here.
Managing the interpersonal relationships of these students had already caused her a great deal of accumulated stress. She had come up with a plan to minimize interaction with students who only drained her mental energy—which is why, as the Class B Hikigaya-kun said, she didn't bother with Ayanokouji. Since a shut-in like him had no value, she wouldn't waste her energy on him.
And now she was even having auditory hallucinations; this was truly terrible.
However, she couldn't just take Sakura out and then dump her, so she could only continue to sit there.
"T-that... about Class D—" Sakura Airi was a bit nervous at this moment, but she made an effort to speak up, "About class matters—"
"Oh." Hikigaya looked at Sakura Airi.
He had indeed started this topic, but Kushida-san seemed to be having trouble controlling her emotions, and Ichinose remained silent. As a result, it was actually Sakura-san who was listening most seriously.
Almost instantly, Hikigaya recalled Volume 15 of the original novel where Sakura Airi was asked to be expelled by Ayanokouji, who claimed she was the least necessary and lowest-strength person in the class.
Yet, in reality, she had been working hard in this school, studying and even running alone to train her stamina as a background character during the Sports Festival.
Someone who never stopped working hard was ultimately sacrificed by Ayanokouji.
But.
"For Class D, don't worry about it," Hikigaya ultimately didn't say those words out loud.
"I think you already know about the special exam this month," Hikigaya said.
"S-so, Hikigaya-kun, you asked us out to tell us the exam content?" Kushida-san suddenly became expectant.
"Of course not," Hikigaya said.
"First of all, that information is currently worth 300,000 private points. Besides, your Class D probably has almost no points left. So knowing it won't help anyway."
Oh.
AH!?