A Faint Hope

"Good morning, Hikigaya-kun."

"...Morning."

It was nothing more than an ordinary morning greeting.

For Hikigaya, though he wasn't particularly used to such exchanges, ever since arriving at this school, he had indeed met a few people who would greet him.

The problem was… why was there an unfamiliar girl among them?

Of course, calling her "unfamiliar" wasn't entirely accurate. At the very least, Hikigaya knew she was a first-year student.

But they were far from being acquaintances—he had merely seen her somewhere before.

Even stranger, as he walked, he could feel the eyes of many students on him… Was it because of the cast on his arm?

Feigning indifference, Hikigaya made his way back to his long-absent classroom.

Since his injury, this was his first day back in class. He could only hope that his classmates hadn't forgotten his name.

…No, chances were they had never remembered it in the first place.

Fortunately, upon entering the classroom, most of his classmates only cast curious glances at him. No one walked up and asked, "Who are you? Why are you in our class?"

That was a relief.

However, as he passed by Matsushita's desk, he noticed that she was staring at him intently, as if she had something to say.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Hikigaya decided to ignore her.

It probably wasn't anything important.

Unfortunately for him, while he could endure it, she apparently couldn't.

"Hikigaya-kun, don't you have something to say to me?"

Matsushita puffed out her cheeks slightly, looking somewhat annoyed.

Hikigaya was bewildered. As far as he remembered, he hadn't done anything to offend her recently.

"Good morning?"

"Hmm, good mor—wait! That's not what I meant!"

Jeez, what's with this girl being so emotionally unstable so early in the morning?

Could it be that time of the month?

"Even if you say that, I don't know what you're talking about," Hikigaya responded helplessly.

"…The Borrowed Item Race."

"Uh?"

Even with that hint, Hikigaya still looked clueless.

The Borrowed Item Race? Wasn't that in the latter half of the Sports Festival?

At the time, he had been too busy dealing with a certain silver-haired nuisance to pay attention to any of the competitions. He had no idea what had happened.

"Are you trying to escape reality?"

Matsushita, as if reading his mind, glared at him while making that remark.

Sigh… If only I could avoid this forever.

Hikigaya sighed internally. Yesterday, Kushida had already asked him about it multiple times, with Horikita fanning the flames beside her.

Those two weren't too bad, but Matsushita…

Seeing no way out, Hikigaya braced himself and said, "Well… there's a very deep reason behind that."

"What reason?"

"It's complicated, something I can't explain in just a few words."

"Ugh…" Hearing this flimsy excuse, Matsushita rolled her eyes at him.

Then, she leaned on her desk, propping her head up with one hand, effectively blocking the view of others before silently mouthing something to him.

"Hikigaya-kun, you wouldn't want people to find out about your 'date' with Yukinoshita-sensei, would you?"

"…Huh?!"

Hikigaya was dumbfounded.

When did this girl become so devious?!

Was she seriously trying to blackmail him?!

"N-no, listen to me," Hikigaya hurriedly clarified. "That wasn't a date. I've known Yukinoshita-sensei since middle school. She just dragged me along to celebrate her birthday. Please, don't go spreading weird rumors."

This was bad… The more he feared something, the more likely it was to happen.

In a few months, Miss Haruno would be heading back to university. She could just waltz away without a care, but Hikigaya wouldn't be able to escape the aftermath.

"Heh heh, what should I do about this information~?"

Matsushita smiled mischievously, making Hikigaya even more uneasy.

"Sigh, well, I could keep it a secret," Matsushita sighed dramatically. "But don't forget—there was someone else there too. I don't know if she'll keep quiet."

"Someone else?"

Hikigaya was momentarily stunned before realization struck him.

Oh right!

There was another person there—someone named Satou, if he remembered correctly!

Come to think of it, if that girl hadn't randomly struck up a conversation, this whole mess wouldn't have happened!

…No, no, don't panic.

As far as Hikigaya recalled, Satou was more of a flashy gyaru type who wasn't particularly studious. In other words, she was… not the brightest.

There was a good chance she had already forgotten about last semester's incident—as long as no one reminded her.

With that in mind, Hikigaya deliberately asked, "Hey, Matsushita, do you think Satou still remembers? I bet she's already forgotten by now."

"Hmm, who knows? Want me to go ask her for you?" Matsushita asked with a sly grin.

"Please, don't."

Hikigaya had figured it out—this girl was messing with him on purpose. She was enjoying scaring him.

With no other choice, the esteemed Student Council Clerk had to humble himself and desperately try to appease Matsushita.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be very effective.

"You know, Hikigaya-kun, you don't have to be so tense about this," Matsushita said, glancing at him. "Yukinoshita-sensei is incredibly popular, but she's also considered unattainable. Even if rumors spread, no one would take them seriously."

"Right, exactly! I've never thought of her that way," Hikigaya quickly nodded.

"Yeah… But what about Yukinoshita-san? What do you think about her?"

For some reason, Matsushita suddenly brought up Yukinoshita.

What was she getting at?

Hikigaya sighed in exasperation. "That was a sudden topic shift… Besides, you already know Yukinoshita's situation. Someone like me could never be a match for her."

"Ugh…"

Normally, this statement should've been fine—he had used it many times in middle school to clear up misunderstandings.

But instead of responding, Matsushita turned her head away, looking somewhat unhappy.

… Girls at this time of the month are strange.

Luckily, at that moment, the morning assembly bell rang, rescuing Hikigaya from this awkward situation.

Chabashira-sensei arrived right on time, as usual, but instead of heading straight to the podium, she stood off to the side, watching.

As the students exchanged confused glances, Horikita suddenly stepped forward, holding something in her hands.

Ah, so it's happening now?

Hikigaya already knew what was coming.

It seemed that Horikita couldn't wait to share the good news with the class.

"Before we start today's morning assembly, I'd like to take a few minutes of your time… First of all, let me apologize to everyone."

Saying this, Horikita bowed deeply.

"During the Sports Festival, I failed to achieve results and fell into Ryuuen-kun's trap, forcing me to forfeit the remaining matches. As a result, I dragged our class down. I sincerely apologize."

Her words left many students shaken.

"Come on, Horikita, this wasn't your fault! It's all that damn Ryuuen's fault!"

"Yeah! Besides, we still got third place. We weren't even in the bottom rankings. Your strategy was a total success!"

The class reassured Horikita one after another. Despite their usual gripes about her attitude, there were no major conflicts, and this time, she wasn't at fault.

Given Ryuuen's notorious reputation, even without solid proof, as long as the well-liked Kushida casually mentioned that Horikita's collision with Kinoshita seemed suspicious, people would naturally suspect Ryuuen.

This was a precaution in case Ryuuen refused to back down, forcing the matter to be reviewed by the Student Council.

As for the bottom ten students in the rankings, Class D accounted for three of them—Horikita, Hikigaya, and Kouenji. However, none of them had low academic ability. Even with a ten-point penalty in their exam scores, they had nothing to worry about.

Once the classroom quieted down, Horikita continued,

"That said, this experience wasn't entirely without gains."

She displayed the contract for everyone to see.

"Ryuuen-kun didn't get his way entirely. As compensation, he canceled the agreement he had previously made with our class… and all of this is thanks to Kushida-san. It was she who convinced Ryuuen-kun to admit his mistake. Otherwise, this would have been impossible."

"Eh?!"

Kushida looked utterly shocked… No, it didn't seem like she was faking it.

In other words, Horikita had given Kushida most of the credit on her own, without any prior discussion.

After a brief moment of surprise, the classroom erupted in applause and praise.

Although Kushida humbly claimed she hadn't done much, there was no doubt that deep down, she was reveling in the attention.

But what was Horikita thinking?

Hikigaya felt that, given her personality, it was unlikely that she did this just to please Kushida. She probably genuinely believed that Kushida deserved the recognition.

Still, if her real intention was to win Kushida over, then perhaps this class truly had a chance of reaching Class A.

For now, though, none of that mattered.

At the very least, Class D was more energized than ever before.

Even though their point total remained at zero, they had finally escaped the suffocating swamp they had been trapped in. For the first time, they could see a glimmer of light ahead.

A spark of hope.

Faint, yet warm.

However, all it would take was a single breath from someone to snuff it out, plunging Class D back into darkness.

Hikigaya knew exactly what his actions meant.

If his plan succeeded, the expulsion of a second student would deal a devastating blow to the class, perhaps even crippling them beyond recovery.

But there was no other way.

Being part of an organization meant shouldering the burden of its darker side.

Of course, under certain circumstances, liabilities could turn into assets—like Sudou, who had proven his worth during the sports festival. But more often than not, they only brought irreversible consequences—like Ike's hidden camera incident.

Or perhaps…

In the midst of the laughter and celebration filling the classroom, Hikigaya sat quietly in the corner, alone.

Now, it was time to find an opportunity to visit Class C.