He was relieved to know the reason why Kushida was unhappy with Sakura.
It would have been troublesome if Kushida developed ill intentions towards Sakura, potentially wanting Horikita Suzune to drop out.
“Just do what you want.
I know Kushida-san will definitely forgive you.” At least on the surface, she’ll definitely forgive you, Hikigaya added inwardly.
Hikigaya knew that no one would grow without taking action.
He would encourage Sakura to do what she wanted, but he would never make decisions for her under the guise of doing what’s best for her.
“I…
I…
I’ve decided to go apologize to Kushida-san.” On the way back to the dorms after finishing their cake and leaving the coffee shop, Sakura finally made up her mind.
She clenched her right fist and placed it on her chest as if to cheer herself on.
“That’s great, go for it!” Sakura’s childlike gesture naturally led to Hikigaya’s hand reaching out to pat her head as she walked beside him, stroking it a few times just like he would his younger sister Komachi.
Her fiery red long hair felt as smooth as the finest silk.
It wasn’t until he felt Sakura’s body tremble through his hand that Hikigaya belatedly realized his rather presumptuous action.
“I’m sorry for doing something that made you uncomfortable.
I won’t do it again.” “No, I’m not unhappy.” Sakura waved her hands in a flustered manner.
“Please do it again in the future!” Her fair, pale cheeks were tinged with a faint blush, and a light sweat beaded on her forehead.
She’d look away only to steal glances back.
A girl is most beautiful when she’s shy.
At that moment, Hikigaya deeply understood this saying.
“G-goodbye!!” Realizing she had said something incredibly embarrassing, Sakura couldn’t control herself any longer and ran off before Hikigaya could reply.
Her last glance before leaving was fixed on the top of Hikigaya’s forehead – the little braid tied with her red ribbon still stood upright on his head.
For some reason, Sakura found Hikigaya to be incredibly cool today.
“Please do it again in the future huh…” Hikigaya murmured, looking down at the fiery red pavement.
He stopped thinking and started walking forward.
—————————— With three days left until the school trial for Sudou Ken’s assault case, Horikita and Hirata couldn’t find a way to turn the tables.
They still called Sudou Ken and a few of his troublemaker friends to his dorm.
“Yamauchi and Ike, go wait for news in Ayanokouji’s room first.
I’ll chat with Sudou for a bit.” After the four of them arrived, Hikigaya first sent Ayanokouji and the others away, leaving only Sudou to speak with him face-to-face.
Sudou was a little taller than Hikigaya, who had recently gone through a growth spurt, standing at a good one meter eighty.
His sturdy physique, developed from constant exercise, combined with his red hair, should have been intimidating.
Unfortunately, his uneasy expression betrayed his bravado.
Before Hirata arrived, he had already explained to Sudou that if they lost the case, it wouldn’t just be suspension.
If he was confirmed to be the aggressor, he would definitely be expelled from the basketball club, the place where his dreams were meant to take flight.
At the very least, a half-month suspension meant he couldn’t participate in the midterm exams.
The consequence of missing them was expulsion.
“I only have a devious plan, the kind that hurts the enemy eight hundred and yourself a thousand.
If you want to blame me after I tell you, you need to first acknowledge a premise: I have no obligation to help you.” Unlike Sakura, Sudou wasn’t someone Hikigaya felt he absolutely had to help.
He had his own scale in his heart.
“Hmm…
I understand,” Sudou said, turning his head to avoid looking at Hikigaya’s eyes.
“Tomorrow, go to the school’s cake shop and order a chocolate cake.
There’s only one request: make it look like excrement.
This is a necessary prop.
I will force the class idol-like Kushida to lure the three students from Class C to the corridor of the special teaching building where the assault happened.
Afterward, it’s about threats, recording, and forcing them to withdraw their accusations.” “How do I threaten them?
What do I record?
I don’t quite understand the latter part.” “Specifically, after those three people reach the corridor of the special teaching building where there are no surveillance cameras, you’ll block their escape route with Ayanokouji and the others.
Then start recording, and you’ll take out the cute chocolate cake from your pants and pretend to offer it to them, threatening them to record them hitting your friend as you instructed.” “…Won’t that make me a pervert?!” “Whether you do it or not is up to you.
And if they see through the so-called excrement being cake, then smear it directly on them and in their mouths.
After recording, you can delete the audio and threaten them that if they don’t comply, you’ll post it on the school forum.
In their eyes, you’ll do anything if you’re about to be expelled.
I believe they won’t want to form the F4 Excrement Boys group with you and become a topic of discussion.” Silence fell in the room.
It was normal for Sudou to be resistant to the idea of becoming an excrement boy.
If he refused, Hikigaya had another option, but he didn’t have to help Sudou to that extent.
The responsibility lay with the perpetrator.
That method would involve people who weren’t part of the incident.
From what he understood, there was a girl in Class C who, like Sudou, had a hot temper and impulsive nature.
She practiced martial arts.
They could achieve a situation of mutual threat by using the same methods against her.
“Isn’t there any other way?” “Perhaps if you publicly confess your love to Ryuen Kakeru in front of everyone until he can’t take it anymore, he’ll withdraw the complaint.
Or you could have Ayanokouji dye his hair red, pretend to be Ryuen, and do a dramatic duet with him.
Just do whatever is most disgusting to Ryuen.” “Isn’t this even more embarrassing…” Sudou muttered to himself for a couple of sentences, and then he realized he wouldn’t get a solution from Hikigaya that wouldn’t involve any harm.
He left with a “I’ll think about it” and went to meet his friends.
After Sudou left, Hikigaya lay on his bed and started brainstorming.
The hot-tempered Sudou was an easy target.
In the original timeline, Ryuen would have attacked Sudou after the midterm exams.
At that time, Horikita Suzune and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka resolved the issue.
The method they used was unknown.
He only knew that in the end, Class C withdrew their accusations themselves.
Were there better ways to get Class C to withdraw their accusations?
The direction of his thoughts was that achieving the goal through threats would be the same.
At that time, Class D didn’t have any points to bribe Class C to withdraw their accusations.
What other better ways were there to threaten Class C?