Unlike lunch, my time after class felt surprisingly pleasant, since I didn't have to worry about interacting with anyone. Even if I went straight back to the dorms, I didn't stand out at all since several other students did that, too. There was some value in being able to vanish like a ninja into a crowd. If I hung toward the back of some group of friends, I could pretend I was one of them.
"How pitiful."
I was pretty pleased with myself for being able to so skillfully pretend that I had friends, but there really wasn't anyone at this school who cared about my pretense in the first place.
"Sudou. I have to talk to you about something. Come to the faculty room," Chabashira-sensei called out to Sudou, who was trying to beat a hasty retreat from the classroom.
"Huh? What do you want with me? I've got basketball practice now." Sudou languidly opened up his bag to show off the sports uniform inside.
"I've already spoken with the advisor. You don't have to come with me if you don't want to, but you will face the consequences later."
Chabashira-sensei's threatening words set Sudou a little on edge.
"What? Will this be over quickly?"
"That all depends on you. The longer you stand there, the more time you waste."
It seemed as though he had no choice but to go with her. Sudou clicked his tongue, and followed Chabashira-sensei out of the classroom.
"I thought that he might have changed, but I guess Sudou's the same as ever. Wouldn't it have been better if he just got kicked out?"
I didn't know who was talking, but I could hear some people in our class mumbling to themselves. I'd thought the midterm had united our class as a group, but it must have been my imagination. It was a shame.
"Do you think so, too? That it would have been better if Sudou-kun were expelled?" While she spoke, Horikita started putting her textbooks in her bag. There probably weren't that may students who took their textbooks with them to class every single day. Sometimes I thought she was too serious.
"I don't really think so. What about you, Horikita? You were the only person who gave Sudou a helping hand."
"Hmm. Well, we still don't know whether our points would go up as a class, really," she replied, disinterested.
When Sudou had faced expulsion during the midterm, Horikita had helped him by purposefully lowering her own score and spending her own points to buy him a passing grade. I'd never imagined her capable of doing something like that.
We got up from our seats at the same time, and walked out of the classroom together. We occasionally went back to the dorms together, though I couldn't remember when that ritual had started. Since we didn't have lunch together or just casually hang out, I found it odd. Then again, we had the same path back to the dormitory. That was probably why we walked together.
"I'm a little worried about what Chabashira-sensei said this morning," Horikita said.
"About our points being delayed?"
"Yes. She said that there was trouble, but did she mean that it was a problem for the school, or a problem for us, the students? If it's the latter, then…"
"You're overthinking things. We haven't caused any real problems lately. She even said so herself. I doubt Class D would be the only ones not to get any points. It's simply the school having an issue."
Even if there was a cause for concern, even if only the first-year students had had their payments delayed, Class D probably wasn't the issue. Probably.
"I hope that's the case. Trouble directly affects our points."
Horikita spent every single day thinking about how to increase our points. She wasn't concerned with private points, of course, but class points. She wanted to get up to Class A. I wouldn't say that it was impossible, but right now it was a very long shot.
However, we still had hope. If Horikita did discover a reliable method for increasing our points, that would be a huge boon for Class D. Furthermore, our classmates would come to place more trust in Horikita, and she'd make friends. It was a win-win situation.
"That reminds me. You should join in the chat now and again. You're the only one who hasn't caught up in a long time."
I took out my phone and launched the group chat app. We'd invited Horikita to join after the midterm exam. Kushida had doubted whether Horikita would actually participate, since she hated talking with others. Despite the attempts at friendship, Horikita hadn't participated at all.
"I'm not interested in the slightest. Also, I keep my notifications turned off."
"Is that right?"
Well, apparently she hadn't intended to participate in the first place. She probably didn't delete the app because it would send a notification to Kushida and the rest of the group if she did. Horikita was free to decide for herself whether she would participate, so I didn't press the matter any further. I wasn't really qualified to judge, anyway.
"You've been quite talkative lately, Ayanokouji-kun."
"Really? I thought I've always been like this."
"It's a slight difference, but you've changed."
Although I hadn't intended to change, I probably had undergone a slight transformation since starting here. Especially with how I got along with Horikita… Well, I wouldn't say that we got along, but I didn't really feel uncomfortable around her. If she were another girl, I probably wouldn't have been able to converse normally. I'd have gotten nervous and fidgety.
That was why I only talked with people to whom I was close. More than anything else, though, I was grateful for a relationship where being silent didn't worsen the mood.
"Did something make you change?"
"I wonder. Well, if I had to think of a reason, I guess I got used to attending school, and then I made some friends. Also, Kushida was probably a big influence."
When I was only around the guys, sometimes we barely talked, or didn't talk at all. When Kushida was around, people were always talking, and the collective mood brightened.
"You seem to be getting along quite well with Kushida-san. Aren't you bothered, especially knowing about her other side?"
"I admit I found it shocking when she said that she hated you, Horikita. But I think it's only natural that everyone has people they like and people they hate. There's no point being concerned about it. I mean, you still pretend to get along well with Kushida-san even though she said she hates you, right?"
"Hmm. Well, you may have a point there. It's true that I hate you, too, Ayanokouji-kun, yet I talk to you normally. I don't really mind, then."
"Hey…"
What the heck? It really hurt when she said it straight out like that.
"That's what I'm getting at. If someone says that they hate another person, it's fine. But if someone says that they hate you, don't you feel a little bad?" she asked.
"Were you testing me?"
Horikita started combing her hair in a way that looked rather deliberate. "I don't have any intention of getting in her way, but Kushida-san and I are like oil and water. I think it's better not to associate with her."
In other words, she probably wouldn't join a group chat with Kushida in it.
"Why does she even hate you in the first place?" I asked.
They hadn't had much contact since school began. So when had she started hating Horikita? I mean, Kushida said that it was her goal to get along with everyone in class.
"Who knows? She probably doesn't know that much about me."
That might have been the case. But even so, I sensed that there was something between Kushida and Horikita.
"If you're that curious, why don't you ask her yourself? Directly?" Horikita asked.
That was impossible. Kushida Kikyou was normally a sweet, angelic girl, but I had glimpsed a different side to her. It was difficult to even imagine when you saw her gentle smile or heard her pleasant tone, but I recalled the vicious comments she'd spat out. Horikita probably didn't know about that.
"No need. I'm fine with the Kushida we have now," I said.
"What you just said was really disgusting, you know that?"
"Yeah."
Even though I'd spoken the words, I did feel disgusted with myself.