'I'm not interested in Kushida's past at all, and I already know what she's done before.'
Saiki thought to himself, but things had already escalated to this point. Even if he said he didn't want to get involved, it was impossible to back out now.
"I'm not interested in her past."
Horikita Suzune said seriously.
"Even if you're not interested, I am. I don't want my school life to be threatened so casually."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka spoke up, then turned his gaze to Kushida Kikyo.
"In that case, tell me a reason worth risking expulsion for."
"Ayanokoji-kun, and Saiki-kun, do you have something you're exceptionally good at?"
Kushida Kikyo asked.
"I don't have anything particularly special. If I had to say, I'm somewhat decent at piano and calligraphy."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka replied.
'Does psychic powers count?'
Saiki thought to himself but still answered,
"I don't think I have anything I'm particularly good at."
"Really? You were pretty fast during the sports festival, weren't you?"
"Well... I guess you could say that."
"Then you should understand, right? When you discover something that's uniquely your own, that moment is the best, isn't it? Like when you get first place in an exam or win a race, everyone notices you, right? Don't you feel those moments when people look at you and think, 'Wow, you're amazing,' 'You're so cool,' or 'You're so cute'?!"
As Kushida Kikyo spoke, her voice rose with excitement.
'Not at all. Psychic powers are just a burden to me, and I don't like being the center of attention.'
Saiki immediately rejected the idea in his mind but didn't say it out loud. Instead, he slightly turned his head to look at Ayanokoji Kiyotaka beside him.
[Humans are creatures who crave praise. No one dislikes being praised or respected by friends or parents—striving to be praised is a perfectly legitimate motivation. This is commonly known as the need for respect, a fundamental aspect of society and something indispensable.]
'No, how can you extrapolate so much from that one sentence?'
"I think I rely on that more intensely than most people. I really want to show off, to be noticed, to be praised. The moment I achieve that, I truly feel how valuable I am, how great it is to be alive—but I know my limits. No matter how hard I try, I can't be first in academics or sports. Second or third place doesn't satisfy my desires, so I thought—why not do something no one else can imitate? I realized that if I could be kinder and more considerate than anyone else, I could be number one in that area."
'...'
Although Saiki already knew what kind of person Kushida Kikyo was, hearing her say these words still made him marvel at her extremism.
"Thanks to that, I became popular. Both boys and girls liked me. I felt the joy of being relied on and trusted. Elementary and middle school were so much fun!"
"Constantly doing something you don't want to do—isn't that painful for you? If it were me, I think my mind would have broken long ago."
Horikita Suzune asked with a puzzled expression. For someone who was practically a disaster in interpersonal relationships, she couldn't understand Kushida Kikyo's motivation at all.
"It's painful. Of course, it's painful. I accumulate so much stress every day that I feel like I'm going bald. I've even pulled out my hair or vomited from anxiety—but to maintain the image of 'kind me,' I can't let anyone see that side of me. So I endured, endured, and endured. But even I have my limits, and one day, I reached them."
Saiki couldn't help but recall a night last semester when he saw Kushida Kikyo venting her emotions.
"Didn't you see me venting my emotions that one time?"
Kushida Kikyo narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at Horikita Suzune.
"Huh?"
Horikita Suzune was momentarily stunned, her mind racing as she tried to recall past events.
Meanwhile, Saiki's forehead broke out in a slight sweat. Earlier, he had erased Kushida Kikyo's memory, and her brain had automatically filled in the gaps, replacing him with Horikita Suzune.
Kushida Kikyo's hatred for Horikita Suzune had deepened to this extent, and Saiki bore about 0.2% of the responsibility.
"What kept me going was the internet. I could only vent my hidden stress there, of course, anonymously. But everything I wrote was true. I poured all my daily stress into it, and doing so made me feel relieved. Thanks to the internet, I was able to maintain my sense of self and feel happy from the encouragement of strangers online—but one day, my blog was accidentally discovered by a classmate. No matter how much I hid the names of the people involved, since everything I wrote was true, it was only natural that I'd be found out. I accidentally revealed all the bad things I'd said about the entire class, so it's no wonder I was hated."
Fortunately, Kushida Kikyo didn't seem to care about Horikita Suzune's reaction and continued speaking on her own.
"That was the beginning of it all, right?"
"The next day, the contents of my blog spread to the entire class, and I was harshly criticized by everyone. Even though I had helped so many people before, everyone's attitude suddenly changed. So selfish, right? The boy who said he liked me even bumped into my shoulder. Of course, it's understandable since I wrote in my blog that his confession made me sick and that I wished he would die. A girl who had been dumped by her boyfriend kicked over my desk because I had written in detail about why she was dumped and mocked her. In short, I felt a sense of crisis because over thirty classmates had turned against me."
As she spoke, Kushida Kikyo's eyes changed, and a murderous intent spread through her gaze.
'What a terrifying person...'
Saiki thought to himself, feeling a pang of pity for Ike Kanji, who had a crush on Kushida Kikyo.
'Good thing Ike hasn't confessed to Kushida yet. Otherwise, he'd probably be added to Kushida's list of people she wishes would die.'
"How did you get through that situation?"
"I just spread the truth. I revealed all my classmates' secrets. Like who hated whom, or who thought someone else was disgusting—I told truths I hadn't even written in my blog. Then, most of the attacks directed at me turned toward the people they hated. Boys started fighting each other, girls pulled each other's hair and knocked each other down. The classroom was a complete mess. It was really something back then!"
Kushida Kikyo's cute face showed a wolf-like smile.
[So that's how it was? The collapse of order in her class was because of this?]
Horikita Suzune thought in amazement.
Meanwhile, Saiki's gaze was filled with deep confusion.
'Yare yare, what do you mean, "So that's how it was"? A class's order collapsed just because of this? Seriously? This is the kind of ridiculous plot you'd only find in third-rate novels. And this led to a class-wide brawl? That just shows how bad the relationships in your class were to begin with! A bunch of middle schoolers turned on each other just because of a few mean words?!'
Saiki inwardly complained, while Horikita Suzune looked as if she had just had an epiphany.
"Although things are different now from middle school, I still don't know much about the other students in Class B. But I still hold the truth that could destroy a few people. That's my only weapon now."
Kushida Kikyo spoke slowly, her meaning clear. She was essentially threatening the others present, saying she could easily destroy the class's order—
But for Saiki, this wasn't a threat at all. With a little mental control or hypnosis, Kushida Kikyo's tactics would be completely ineffective.
Of course, Saiki hated trouble and would avoid using his powers if possible.
"Is it really worth going this far?"
Horikita Suzune frowned, looking at Kushida Kikyo as she asked.
"Of course, it's worth it!"
Kushida Kikyo answered without hesitation.
"Then let's choose math as the subject! If my math score is higher than yours, Horikita-san, not only you but also Yamauchi-kun, Ayanokoji-kun, and Saiki-kun will be expelled!"
'I never agreed to this, and one person for four? That's so unfair!'
Saiki thought to himself. After dropping this bombshell, Kushida Kikyo left the classroom.
"Is it really okay to make such a bet with Kushida? She could just get the questions from Ryuen, right?"
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka turned to Horikita Suzune, his expression blank.
"If we're going to bet, we have to win."
Horikita Suzune answered with unwavering determination.
'Yare yare... I didn't say a single word throughout this whole thing...'
Saiki sighed inwardly.
'But on second thought, this might be a good thing. In this school, it seems that any agreement that leaves a record has some kind of effect. If Horikita's score really is higher than Kushida's, then Kushida probably won't cause any more trouble.'
'Also, although I hate trouble, if Kushida keeps colluding with Ryuen and even swaps exams for the entire class, I can't just stand by and do nothing.'
'I'll have to teach them a little lesson.'
...
Meanwhile, Yamauchi Haruki had just returned to his dorm, looking completely out of it.
"Yamauchi, did Kushida say something to you alone earlier?"
Seeing Yamauchi Haruki return, Ike Kanji immediately asked eagerly.
Although he naturally believed that Kushida Kikyo would never be interested in Yamauchi Haruki, he was still very curious.
"Um..."
Yamauchi Haruki was about to say something, but then he remembered Kushida Kikyo's earlier words. If he revealed anything, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Uh, Kushida-san didn't say anything!"
"Huh?"
Yamauchi Haruki's reaction surprised Ike Kanji, who quickly returned to his room and slammed the door shut.
"What's up with this guy?"
Ike Kanji was completely baffled.
.....
Over the next few days, things seemed calm on the surface.
Yamauchi Haruki was reluctant to attend the daily study sessions. Since the incident, his perfect image of Kushida Kikyo had been shattered.
But Kushida Kikyo wouldn't let him escape. Every day after school, she would come to Yamauchi Haruki with a smile:
"Yamauchi-kun, you'll be joining the study session today too, right?"
To everyone else, her words sounded incredibly kind, and some boys were even surprised that Yamauchi Haruki had been getting more attention from Kushida Kikyo lately.
But only Yamauchi Haruki could sense the murderous intent behind her words.
With no way to refuse, Yamauchi Haruki had no choice but to study with Kushida Kikyo every day.
As for Saiki and his study group, they spent their time leisurely reviewing. Although they spent two hours each day studying, being in a café, explaining problems to others while drinking coffee and eating sweets wasn't so bad.
However, during the study sessions, an invisible tension seemed to spread among Karuizawa Kei, Sato Maya, and Sakura Airi.
"Kusuo, I specially ordered a cake for you!"
"Saiki-kun, you've been working hard every day. I got you some bubble tea!"
"Kusuo-kun... I brought some... cookies... for you to try."
It felt less like a study session and more like a group feeding frenzy.
With only a few days left before the final exams, Saiki thought the others had studied enough. After the study session ended, he told them they didn't need to come anymore.
"Wait, we feel like we haven't studied enough!"
Several people immediately protested.
'Since when did you all become so studious?'
Just as he was about to leave, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stopped him.
"Saiki, do you have a moment to talk?"
"...Sure."
Saiki guessed what Ayanokoji Kiyotaka wanted to discuss. It wasn't easy to refuse, so he agreed and followed him out of the café.