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Youkoso V10C5 Part 2

4

Haruka and the rest of the Ayanokōji Group approached me immediately after Chabashira left the classroom.

Horikita and Yamauchi left the classroom right away.

"Are you free right now?"

"Hm? Yeah."

I actually wanted to talk to Hirata a little bit but…

Without showing any particular sort of emotion on his face, Hirata quietly left the classroom alone.

Since my situation had been made public, ignoring the Ayanokōji Group didn't seem like a very good idea.

"Let's go to the cafe!"

We collectively agreed with Haruka's suggestion and left the classroom behind.

We all entered the hallway together, none of us even thinking of heading over to the cafe alone.

"Is this alright? If worst comes to worst, the rest of you might be targeted by Yamauchi's group."

"If they want to aim for us then bring it on! I absolutely won't let somebody from our group be expelled."

Contrary to her usual behavior, Haruka's anger was more pronounced and didn't seem to be letting up.

"I have the same opinion. There isn't a single reason why Kiyotaka should be expelled."

Keisei spoke up in agreement, with Akito and Airi nodding along.

"I thought it was strange that we didn't find out any information, but it makes sense that we couldn't, what with their target being somebody in our group."

No matter how much they investigated, they wouldn't have been able to catch on to the identity of the large group's target.

Keisei seemed to understand this well enough.

We arrived at the cafe. After everyone finished ordering their drinks, Haruka broke the ice.

"I think Yamauchi-kun is a really good choice for our censure votes. Well, rather, I totally don't think there's any other option."

"No objections here, but what about our other two votes?"

"Isn't it, like, fine to vote for the people who're still supporting him?"

"Won't there be a huge drop in the number of his supporters now that it's been made public that he's got connections with Sakayanagi? Even Ike and Sudō weren't bold enough to say anything to defend him."

"Yeah, but since they're his friends, I feel like they'll cast him a praise vote out of sympathy."

Haruka's prediction was probably correct.

Even though he'd been branded a traitor, Yamauchi had only taken action to protect himself.

From another perspective, it could be said that he had simply been taken advantage of by Sakayanagi. It's not like there was no room for sympathy.

Horikita was the one who had incited all the hate for Yamauchi… Well… No, I had been the one behind that.

Yamauchi was the mastermind, and Sakayanagi was the one pulling the strings behind him.

I informed the elder Horikita about everything, and had him relay the information to his sister.

If, by any chance, she hadn't taken action, I would have just done the same thing she had done myself.

"I wonder how many censure votes Kiyotaka is actually gonna get? Out of the boys, there's Yamauchi along with Ike and Sudō, and beyond those three, Hondō, Ijuin, Miyamoto, and Sotomura all seem to be on fairly good terms with him."

There only seemed to be seven censure votes from the boys in the class.

"What about the girls?"

"I have no doubts that Horikita-san will cast a praise vote for Kiyotaka-kun and a censure vote for Yamauchi-kun. I don't know what the other girls are gonna do though… Do you know Airi?"

"…Satō-san and Karuizawa-san probably won't vote against him… I think…"

"Why?"

"I don't know why, it's just a feeling but…"

Airi trailed off as she tried to explain it to Keisei, and Haruka chimed in.

"It's a woman's intuition."

"We can't rely on that."

Keisei wasn't going to count these votes with this explanation alone.

"Yes we can. It's real weird, but I think she's on the right track. Especially since it's Airi we're talking about here."

"What's that supposed to mean? Satō aside, how could she possibly know anything about Karuizawa?"

Unable to understand her reasoning, Keisei doubtfully tilted his head.

"Don't worry about it. Like, let's just say we can count those two out from voting for him."

"This is sloppy…"

"However, other than those three, it's still pretty unclear what the rest of the girls will do."

"Yea. There are a lot of girls who don't like Yamauchi-kun though. Even if they go through with their promises to vote for Kiyopon, they'll probably end up casting one for him as well."

"Looking at it from a psychological perspective, that's probably true. For somebody who's simply looking to get through the exam, they'll be able to save themselves by casting their votes for people with the highest chance of being expelled. They probably see it as a one-on-one fight for survival between Kiyotaka and Yamauchi, and the remaining votes will probably be scattered among the other options."

Keisei went into the facts of the matter based on everything he'd heard so far.

For instance, Kōenji had been a prime target for the class's censure votes, but even so, that mindset had probably lost some traction. Casting a censure vote for Kōenji would mean disregarding his strengths, and since there are several students actively dragging their feet and holding the class back from moving forward, Kōenji would probably end up being safe.

"I'm sure you'll be fine, Kiyotaka-kun."

"Yeah, thank you."

In the back of her mind, Airi was probably still somewhat anxious that some of the remaining censure votes would be cast for her.

And yet, she offered me resolute words of encouragement without letting this anxiety show through.

"Anyhow, isn't Kiyopon the calmest one here?"

"It's just that there's nothing I can do. My thoughts have been filled with uneasiness."

"Don't worry. Thanks to Horikita, things aren't looking too bad anymore. Rather, it's kinda like you've been saved by her."

If it weren't for Horikita, there's a good chance that most of the class would've faced the exam without knowing anything about what had been happening.

Without even a second thought, they would've gone and cast their vote for me just to save themselves.

An outcome like that was far too easy for me to imagine.

"But… I wonder how Horikita-san found out about Yamauchi-kun's betrayal."

Airi casually posed a crucial new question.

"Our group is close with Kiyotaka-kun, so it makes sense that none of us heard anything about it, right? I thought Horikita-san would be in the same kinda situation as us is all…"

"That's true… It doesn't seem like Horikita tried to go and form a group either."

Yamauchi was probably frustrated about this as well. He was most likely thinking that someone in the large group he had created betrayed him, even going as far as to spill everything to Horikita.

In the first place, he probably wouldn't have been able to notice the information leak, nor do anything about it.

"I don't know who, but there must've been somebody who didn't want Kiyopon to be expelled, right?"

"Probably. At least there's one good egg in the bunch."

None of them were able to realize that this 'somebody' was both Kei and myself.

5

On the way back to the dorms, we came across Hirata sitting on one of the benches wearing the same listless expression on his face.

If somebody else were to see him like this, they'd probably reconsider any ideas to call out to him.

After all, nobody had ever seen him like this before.

"He looks pretty defeated."

"Yeah… He's completely different from usual."

Both Haruka and Akito immediately recognized how surreal the situation was.

"I think I'll try talking to him a little."

"Give it up Kiyotaka. Wouldn't it be better to just leave him be right now?"

"Maybe, but there's something that's been bothering me."

"Something that's been bothering you?"

"Sorry about this, but you guys can head back without me. I don't feel like he'd be willing to say very much if we tried to reach out to him as a group. If he's going to get angry with somebody, I'd rather it be just me instead of all of us."

"…Alright, but the vote happens tomorrow, so just don't do anything to rub him the wrong way. There's honestly no way of telling who Hirata's going to vote for right now."

I nodded in response to Akito's advice and separated from the group.

I was grateful that they were able to read the situation and head back to the dorms without looking back.

Before I did anything else, I took a picture of his defeated appearance from a distance and sent it to Kei with a few other details.

"Hirata."

In order to make the most of this opportunity, I called out to him immediately after I hit send.

"…Ayanokōji-kun."

"Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah sure. I, uh, also wanted to talk with you."

It was possible that he had been sitting here waiting for me.

Otherwise, there'd be no point in choosing to sit in such a cold place.

Furthermore, he was sitting off to one side of the bench, quite possibly with the hope of having someone else to sit together with him.

I sat down in the open space beside him.

"A warm spring will be coming soon."

"Yeah."

"I… believed that everyone would be able to welcome that spring together. No, even now, somewhere inside my heart, I still do."

Hirata spoke passionately, even though the class had nearly gone through a collapse not too long ago.

Even though everyone had witnessed his foolish, ugly behavior back in the classroom, this core part of his personality still hadn't changed.

"Having to leave someone behind… I hate it."

"There's nothing we can do about it. Whether it's me, Yamauchi, or someone else entirely, somebody has to be the sacrifice."

Hirata's expression still didn't carry any hints of emotion.

"Could I entrust it to you?"

"Entrust what?"

"Class C. I want you to lead everyone in my stead from now on."

"Don't be so reckless. I wouldn't be able to do something so outrageous. Hirata, if you want to protect the class, you need to do it yourself."

"That's impossible. I… just can't do that anymore."

He was probably frustrated with himself for being unable to come to a decision. These kinds of thoughts were probably the only thing he had on his mind.

But that wasn't everything.

"I made the same mistake again. I even reflected on it back then, and yet…"

Immersed in bitterness, tears began to well up in the corner of his eyes.

I found myself wondering just how much anguish Hirata had gone through because of this exam.

"I'd be able to feel at ease entrusting the class to someone like you."

He sighed, his white breath dispersing into the cold air.

There was nothing dazzling or enviable about the look on our class leader's face.

"This special exam. Cast one censure vote for me and one for Yamauchi. It'd be fine for you to cast your last one for Horikita if you want."

"So you're telling me I should leave the decision in the hands of the rest of the class."

There was no need for Hirata to explicitly choose someone.

He could choose to leave it to the other 39 students in the class instead.

"You really are amazing, Ayanokōji-kun."

"I'm nothing special."

"I was approached by both Horikita-san and Yamauchi-kun as I've sat here. Horikita-san told me to vote for Yamauchi-kun, and Yamauchi-kun told me to vote for you. They both claimed to want something different than the other. However, you're the only one who hasn't tried to throw someone else under the bus. That's not something just anyone can do."

That was only because, from a strategic standpoint, it was better to not say anything.

In this situation, it wasn't a very good idea to try and force Hirata to vote along with you.

It's just that I had come to this conclusion ahead of time.

"I'm glad I talked with you. I… I really feel like I might be able to find an answer now."

"Is that so?"

Hirata stood up.

It seemed as though he had found his own way to get through the exam.

But, I wasn't about to agree with his way of thinking.

"Wanna head back?"

At his suggestion, the two of us began walking back to the dormitories without exchanging another word.