One person was missing from the classroom.
It was the same classroom, but nonetheless, it was distinctly different.
The atmosphere was heavy and everyone was disheartened.
No matter who ended up getting expelled, the situation would've probably still turned out like this.
Even so, considering that someone had to disappear, it's only natural that the decision was made after considering all the potential pros and cons.
To ensure the future success of the class as a whole, who is necessary? Who is unnecessary?
These questions had to be answered.
One person finally stood up from their seat and left the room.
With that, everyone else began to follow suit without anyone saying very much.
After a day off, once Monday came around, everyone would come back to the classroom once again.
And when that time comes, Yamauchi wouldn't be there.
"He's crazier than I thought."
The 'he' Horikita was referring to was, of course, none other than Hirata.
He was sitting motionless at his desk, as if in a daze.
He had been like this ever since Yamauchi left the classroom.
"Hirata-kun… Uhm…"
Mii-chan timidly called out to him, concerned about his well-being.
However, Hirata only slightly shifted his gaze to look at her and didn't say anything.
How did Hirata feel about this class now?
The answer to that was something only he knew. In any case, there was no other choice for him but to keep moving forward.
The students who couldn't bear to see Hirata in such a state slowly left and headed home.
Sudō and Ike quietly left the classroom as well.
『Let's just go home individually for today.』
Everyone in the group quickly agreed to Haruka's text.
With my bag in hand, I excused myself and started walking to the door.
On my way out, I stopped in front of Kōenji for a moment as he was still in the classroom.
"What is it, Ayanokōji-boy?"
"I didn't think you'd take action for the sake of the class."
"Of course. Even I would cooperate with Horikita-girl in order to avoid expulsion."
"That's not what I'm talking about. Seeing how you were constantly provoking Yamauchi, it seemed to me that you were trying to focus his hatred on you, and you alone."
It's obvious that Yamauchi would come to hate his classmates after he's gotten expelled.
However, since even before the results came out, Kōenji persistently incited Yamauchi more than anyone else in the class, diverting Yamauchi's hatred solely towards him.
Kōenji had personally dealt with Yamauchi once he had lost all sense of reason after his expulsion was confirmed.
Although, from the perspective of the rest of the class, Kōenji's actions may have just come across as bullying.
"Well now, I have no memory of that. I just wanted to see his ugly figure disappear from as close up as possible."
"Is that so? Then I'll just drop it."
As soon as I was out of the classroom, Horikita quickly followed after me and grabbed me by the arm.
"Ayanokōji-kun. You… How much of this did you anticipate ahead of time?"
Back when Sakayanagi proposed a temporary truce, I was a little more than ninety-percent certain that I didn't have to worry about being expelled. It's obvious that, to her, beating me with a surprise attack would be meaningless. If she had lied about the truce in order to force me out of the school, she wouldn't have been happy about it.
But at the same time, she manipulated Yamauchi and tried to have him get me expelled.
In other words, she had made a clear violation of our truce. That is to say, her actions were contradictory.
To compensate for this contradiction, she would have to do whatever she could to invalidate any censure votes I may get because of Yamauchi.
Namely, to have Class A cast a majority of their praise votes for me.
That way, even if I ended up with twenty to thirty of Class C's censure votes, I'd still end up with a positive number of votes in the end. My safety would be guaranteed. In which case, why would she go through all this trouble? She had probably done so in order to get Yamauchi Haruki expelled. By making him out to be a villain, she had managed to lower his standing within Class C. Of course, I had no way of being absolutely certain of any of this. I couldn't discount the off-chance that Sakayanagi was trying to have me expelled with a surprise attack.
So, I instigated Horikita, using her as a means to ruin Yamauchi. In addition, by letting the class find out that Yamauchi was targeting someone harmless like me, I'd be able to get additional praise votes due to sympathy or protection. Although, ending up in first place was a little bit too much.
"Didn't I say it before? I didn't explicitly take part in this exam."
"…But…"
"I'm heading home."
"Ayanokōji-kun!!"
As if her feet were frozen to the ground, Horikita shouted after me as I walked away.
"It was you, wasn't it…? You're the one who told my brother about the connection between Sakayanagi-san and Yamauchi-kun, aren't you?"
I simply continued walking without giving her an answer and descended the stairway.
On the first floor, I approached the bulletin board.
There was a statement posted that listed the results of the exam for each of the classes.
Class Vote Results:
Expulsions:
Class A: Totsuka Yahiko
Class B: None
Class C: Yamauchi Haruki
Class D: Manabe Shiho
These are the only expulsions.
There will be no changes to the number of Class Points because of these results.
"Yahiko, huh…? I guess she really was lying when she said she'd expel Katsuragi after all."
Along with who had been expelled, the names of those who had gotten the most praise votes were listed. In Class A it was Sakayanagi, in Class B it was Ichinose, and in Class D it was Kaneda. Kaneda had gotten the fewest, with a total of twenty-seven votes, whereas Ichinose had ended up with a stunning total of ninety-eight. Considering that most of Class A had used their praise votes on me, it was clear just how much everyone valued Ichinose.
Behind me, another student appeared, likely to check the results of the exam for himself.
It was Katsuragi, and at almost the same time, Ryūen showed up as well.
"So you didn't get expelled either, Katsuragi."
"…I could say the same to you. Out of everyone, I thought you'd be the one to go."
"Kuku. It seems like the Grim Reaper has taken pity on me."
"The Grim Reaper, is it?"
"Don't worry about it. It's not like you'd be able to see it anyway."
With a grin, Ryūen went and looked at the results.
"Though, it seems that Sakayanagi girl did something interesting too, wouldn't you say? Seeing as that she went and cut down your only supporter."
While Ryūen spoke cheerfully, Katsuragi's expression turned into one of remorse.
"You've completely lost your fighting spirit, haven't you?"
"I have nothing to gain by acting out any more than I already have."
"So you plan to be Sakayanagi's obedient dog until graduation? What a joke."
"...…"
There was a moment of silence.
However, there was a ghastly expression on Katsuragi's face.
Yahiko, who had followed Katsuragi through thick and thin, had been expelled.
At the same time, Katsuragi had lost his status as a person who people were willing to protect.
"Hoh? So you can make a face like that too, huh Katsuragi?"
After seeing Katsuragi's expression, perhaps Ryūen had the same impression as me.
"As you are now, you could easily deceive Sakayanagi."
"…Don't joke with me. Putting that aside, what does a bastard like you plan on doing now? Your future at this school was saved by the Grim Reaper. Do you plan on challenging Sakayanagi, Ichinose, and Horikita once again?"
"I'm not interested in something like that."
Ryūen coldly responded without missing a beat.
"The contract I made with you and the rest of Class A is still valid. To put it simply, I plan on sitting back and squeezing you dry as I casually enjoy myself for a little while. I just thought I'd meet you here today to kiss your ass for that."
Apparently, that was the reason why Ryūen had come here in the first place.
After all, from Ryūen's perspective, Katsuragi's expulsion would've also caused the contract to be annulled.
With that, Katsuragi left first and headed back home, leaving Ryūen and me behind.
"Do yourself a favor and come with me for a bit."
Without refusing, I let Ryūen lead the way as we walked around to the backside of the school building.
"Since when were you such a good person, Ayanokōji?"
"I didn't do anything, but it doesn't seem like you're very willing to believe that."
Ryūen should already be well aware of what I did.
"It's not so much that I did anything, it's more like the people who care about you did. They're the ones that did everything."
I looked up at the sky as I recalled the events that had taken place a few days earlier.