468 1.1

After finishing the two-way conference with lingering questions, I returned to the dormitory before it got dark and got on the elevator. I have a dinner plan with Kei from 7 p.m. today.

So, I had to prepare in about an hour.

First, I had to go back to my room and wash my hands. As I was getting off the elevator while making detailed plans in my head...

"Hey, you're late coming home, Ayanokōji."

A rare figure was waiting, leaning against the door of my room.

It was Hashimoto Masayoshi, a student from Sakayanagi's class. He tapped his knee lightly, as if he had been waiting for a long time.

"Seeing as you came up alone, it doesn't seem like you were on a date."

He asked, confirming that the closing elevator was empty.

"Today was the day for the two-party meeting, so I was late."

"Oh, I see... I hadn't considered that possibility. I have something to talk to you about. Do you have time?"

He brought up the reason he had been waiting while reflecting on his own oversight.

"It doesn't seem like a conversation suited for standing."

"You're right. It would help me if you could consider that."

Then I had no choice but to consider his intentions.

"If you don't mind my room, you can come in."

It seemed like it would cut into my dinner preparation time, but I could set aside a little bit of time.

I couldn't find any other reason to refuse, so I decided to invite Hashimoto in.

"Sorry about this."

"I can listen to what you say, but don't expect too much hospitality."

"That's more than enough for me right now."

He laughed self-deprecatingly and lightly tapped my back as I inserted the key into the keyhole.

When I opened the door, I glanced at the emergency stairs for a moment.

I felt a presence watching me, but it was difficult to determine whether Hashimoto was aware of it or not. For now, I entered without worrying about it.

"Excuse me... oh, a boyfriend's room is indeed different."

As soon as he stepped into the room, he whistled at the traces of Kei scattered around.

"Can I sit on the bed? Or is that too much?"

"Too much? You can do whatever you want."

With that, Hashimoto wavered but slowly sat down on the bed.

He seemed to hesitate to sit on someone else's bed. He was considerate.

"So? What's the story?"

"It's a pretty heavy matter. I'm struggling with what to do with myself. I want you to listen to my concerns."

He seemed to get straight to the point without any detours, but I felt a snag early on. However, it would be rude to interrupt him right from the start, so I decided to let him continue.

"What do you mean by 'what to do with myself'?"

"Haven't you heard already? What caused Kamuro-chan to drop out?"

"I've heard some rumors. Someone leaked information to Ryūen during the special exam. As a result, Class A ended up at the bottom."

"Exactly. If the information leaks, there's no chance of winning."

As Hashimoto said, the decisive factor in the defeat was the betrayal caused by the information leak. If there hadn't been a leaker, there was a high possibility that Class A could have avoided being at the bottom.

"I was the first one to be suspected. Now, every day, I'm being looked at with suspicion by various people in the class."

In fact, it was not limited to the class. The act of betraying one's own class was a shock and a threat.

"To be honest, I've heard such rumors too. I sympathize with the current situation."

Currently, the most circulated rumor was that Hashimoto betrayed Class A. He had supposedly contacted Ryūen and made a secret agreement. Considering the suspicious movements he'd shown in the past, it was a natural conclusion. However, I hadn't heard anything with concrete evidence. At present, by a process of elimination, it was being suggested that it might have been Hashimoto.

"Do I have no choice but to accept this? Is it because of my everyday behavior?"

"If you don't want to accept it, you can take action to prove your innocence."

"I wonder. They say 'innocent until proven guilty,' but I think that's possible in the real world. If you raise your voice in a situation where you are suspected, the suspicion will only deepen. Those who have decided in their heads that you are the culprit without any basis will even doubt your cries of grief."

This was exactly what was referred to as the echo chamber phenomenon. Students with similar opinions gather and mistakenly think they're correct. This tendency was particularly strong in this isolated school. Unfortunately, unless Hashimoto himself could produce decisive evidence that he wasn't the culprit, there was nothing he could do about that phenomenon.

"You might be right. I chose to remain silent."

"See?"

Unless you have clear evidence to the contrary, opening your mouth won't change the situation. Rather, a careless remark might only arouse more suspicion.

"It makes me want to cry."

Even as he pretended to press his eyes, I spoke up.

"Isn't that enough of an opening? Why did you betray Sakayanagi?"

At these words, Hashimoto's movements stopped abruptly, and his fingers slowly moved away from his eyes.

"Hey, let me build it up a little. I feel like an idiot for putting on the poor-me act."

"I just thought it was a waste of time. It's already late, and I'd like to prepare dinner as soon as possible."

I told him this, keeping to myself that Kei would be coming to my room later tonight.

"What, do you have a date with your girlfriend afterward?"

"Something like that."

"What do you mean 'something like that'? Our friendship should be thicker than a woman's."

"Sorry, but it's impossible to change my schedule around. Besides, I don't remember us having a deep friendship either."

When I told him the truth, Hashimoto put both hands on the bed and took a breath.

"Well, if you understand the situation calmly, that's fine. It's more convenient for me now."

After a pause, he immediately touched on the crux of the matter.

"Why do you think I betrayed Sakayanagi?"

Before I could hear the answer, Hashimoto asked me to think about it myself.

"I don't know that much. The only thing I can think of is that you received a large amount of private points in return."

I voiced a scenario that outsiders would imagine. However, I was skeptical whether it was worth it. Certainly, Sakayanagi was hurt, but only once. And the class only lost 100 class points. Although Kamuro, a close aide of hers, dropped out, it was only a by-product of the ordeal, and the likelihood of it being included in the negotiations and rewards was low. The price to pay for betraying the class is expensive; 500,000 or 1 million, or even more, would be too cheap.

"What I want to hear isn't an answer anyone could come up with, but your opinion."

Hashimoto seemed to be well aware that I wasn't answering seriously.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not in the mood to express my opinion."

"Huh? Why? Because there's no connection between you and me?"

"That's not it. It's because you're not talking seriously."

"Huh? I'm seriously asking for advice. I'm desperately looking for a way out."

"If you're really saying that, it's too late."

"Too late..."

"Someone who can't decide how to conduct themselves and is lost from the start won't betray the class."

Drawing a bow against Sakayanagi was tantamount to aiming for the general's head.

It wasn't something you decided on the spur of the moment, but after considering all the subsequent responses.

"I see. Indeed, asking for advice on how to conduct myself is foolish..."

This was the snag I felt as soon as the discussion began.

Hashimoto apologized repeatedly for his mistake and then started the conversation over.

"The reason I betrayed Sakayanagi was because of your existence, Ayanokōji. The trigger was my attempt to persuade Sakayanagi to pull you into Class A at all costs."

"Persuade? It's hardly persuasive. It's just self-harm involving the class."

"Interesting expression. Well, it's mostly correct."

Hashimoto answered with a laugh, but I couldn't tell if he was relaxed or not.

I sensed that he was deliberately hiding his feelings to hide his vulnerabilities.

He probably didn't want to show any weakness to me.

Even though he was telling me something that contained the truth, I had a feeling that he was still hiding many secrets inside.

"The questions just keep piling up. To begin with, betraying Sakayanagi by weighing me in the equation? Don't you think it's a story that would make other students scratch their heads in disbelief?"

"Those who scratch their heads are incompetent. There's no need for modesty in this situation. I've been working harder than anyone else to gather information and I'm convinced that you're the best. I can explain from scratch if necessary, but it'd be a waste of your precious time."

"Even if I deny it, you won't be convinced, will you?"

"I won't. You have the ability to turn the class ranking upside down by yourself. That's why I threatened Sakayanagi that if she doesn't secure you, I'll betray her again. If she had listened to me, you would've come to Class A and it would've been solid. The winning formula would've been complete."

Hashimoto clenched his fist tightly, but his plan was too reckless and unrealistic.

"I hate to say it, but it's too much of a pipe dream. Even if I had the ability you imagine, it would be meaningless if I made Sakayanagi my enemy. Besides, when I was invited before, I remembered saying that I would consider it positively, but I don't remember saying that I would officially go."

He acted unilaterally without securing a commitment, clearly jumping the gun.

"So, even if I manage to secure a transfer, you still won't come to Class A?"

"I can only say that's the case right now. I'm not interested in confronting Sakayanagi."

When I conveyed what I had naturally thought, Hashimoto seemed shocked, but muttered, 'I guess that's the way it is.'

"The best answer would've been 'yes', but I guess it's not that easy."

The fact that he answered calmly suggested that he had fully considered the possibility that I wouldn't choose Class A.

If so, what was the purpose of this betrayal?

It was difficult to deduce clearly from the information I currently had.

"Hey, do I look like the kind of guy who would betray the class? Sakayanagi was the first to suspect me."

"That's your character."

"Defend me a little... Just kidding. Even though I initiated it, I received a direct declaration of war. Normally, there's not a chance in a million that I could win."

Considering that Sakayanagi must have stronger feelings towards the traitor who caused her to regretfully abandon Kamuro than Hashimoto thinks, it was understandable.

"But, was this betrayal all my fault? I thought I was suggesting the best way to graduate from Class A. I just took a heavy-handed approach because she didn't listen. Where's the fault?"

"You're defiant. But your intuition isn't wrong. There's certainly no guarantee that you'll be able to stay in Class A in the future if you just continue to follow Sakayanagi's orders with their current power."

The difference in class points was gradually narrowing in reality.

"I see."

"But you've also made a big mistake."

"Is it making Sakayanagi my enemy?"

"Correct, but wrong. It's not that making Sakayanagi an enemy is bad. The mistake was that you acted without any assurance of winning, even if you made Sakayanagi an enemy. If the chances of winning were slim, you should've taken a different approach."

"I thought about it in my own way. But I concluded that this was the only way."

"The answer you calculated and derived within you—I can't say for sure that it's the right answer."

Hashimoto didn't deny and imagined what would come next.

"If I can't undo it, do you think I'll be devoured by Sakayanagi as I am?"

"That's likely. If you don't want that, the only remaining option is to beat her."

"Do you think I can fight and win against Sakayanagi?"

"Just to confirm, by defeating Sakayanagi, you mean getting her expelled, right?"

Hashimoto nodded. In other words, there was no path to reconciliation. If so, there was only one answer.

"No matter how much I favor myself, the odds are too bad even with my help. I can't say anything because it depends on the special exams in the future, but in a sense, Sakayanagi should want to expel you more than Ryūen now. To put it bluntly, even if you retaliate and force Sakayanagi to drop out, you might be taken along with her in a mutual kill."

If that happened, Ryūen could avoid accepting the troublesome existence of the traitor Hashimoto, and at the same time, he could bury a strong enemy, which would be killing two birds with one stone for Ryūen.

No, even if you were prepared for a mutual kill, it was difficult to defeat Sakayanagi.

There was an overwhelming difference in ability between Sakayanagi and Hashimoto at this point.

The opponent was always one or two steps ahead of Hashimoto and even had a Protection Point.

In other words, you'd have to stab her twice to defeat her.

And now, Hashimoto was only thinking about fighting Sakayanagi.

But that was a naive thought.

I understood the feeling of wanting to say that the problem would be solved all at once when the game was settled.

But even if he defeated Sakayanagi, it'd be just the beginning.

Rebuilding a collapsing class. Those who'd come for revenge. Problems would overflow one after another.

He betrayed the class knowing that he'd be at a disadvantage against Sakayanagi without any assurance that I would become an ally.

What else could I call this other than strange behavior?

"Something that stood out in our conversation is that you don't trust people."

He didn't reveal everything, and he judged and acted on his own.

It would be fine if he were successful, but if he were about to fail, he wouldn't have anyone to rely on.

"I won't deny it. But Ryūen and Sakayanagi are the same, right? Other people are useless."

"They have the power to fight on their own without personally acting themselves."

"That's where the situation comes back."

Hashimoto wasn't one without the power to foresee the future.

He felt that he'd eventually lose if I were the enemy.

That wasn't bad. But, until now and from now on, he would continue to think and make conclusions all on his own. The disadvantage of being unable to rely on others was what landed him in the predicament.

If Hashimoto had multiple people he could trust from the bottom of his heart, this current situation might've been a little better.

"I don't want you to think that I rebelled against Sakayanagi without any chance of winning. I'm not that foolish." Hashimoto muttered that he had his own chances of winning.

I tried to listen to him continue, but he just looked at me and didn't attempt to elaborate.

"Before I let you hear what's next, there's something I really want to confirm with you."

And so, Hashimoto threw a question at me.

Why did he betray Sakayanagi at that time and decide to take a big gamble?

A question to start the story.