I wonder how class D will be starting from tomorrow. It felt like I was watching some kind of variety show. A message from the group chat came.

It read, “Satou has joined the group.” She’s one of the hyper girls in our class.

“Yahoo~ Ike-kun invited me while I was talking to him earlier.”

Having nothing to say, I did nothing and kept looking at the chat.

“I heard about what happened today~. Isn’t Horikita really annoying?”

“I was pissed off at her. Sudou was really angry at her too. Looked like he would hit her.”

“If I see her tomorrow, I’m going to hit her. I was really angry today.”

“Ahahaha, it’ll become a big problem if you hit her LOL that’s just overkill”

“Hey, while we’re on the topic. Wanna ignore her starting from tomorrow?”

“Nah, we’ve always ignored her (lol)”

“I need to get back at her somehow. We can bully her and make her cry. Like hiding her shoes.”

“I would laugh if I was a kid, but I really want to see her suffer.”

Somehow, Horikita became the main topic of the group chat.

“Ayanakouji-kun, wanna join too? In bullying her haha”

“Nah, he’s fallen too hard for her.”

“Hey, whose side are you on?”

It was pretty obvious that everyone would be irritated at Horikita. Their experiences with her have always been negative. However, I can’t agree with hitting or bullying her. Both would be equally devoid of any good intentions.

“You’re reading this, right? Hey, I asked you a question: which side are you on?”

“I’m not on anyone’s side. I won’t really stop you guys.”

“Staying neutral. The most sly answer possible lol”

“You can think of it however you want, but it’s your loss if you think about it. If the school learns of this problem, it’ll become trouble for you. Just keep that in mind.”

“Are you trying to protect her? Haha”

Because I can’t see their faces over chat, it makes them more aggressive than usual. If Ike was in front of me, he probably wouldn’t have said those words.

However, everyone just wants a sense of security and solidarity using Horikita.

It would only be a waste of time if I continued chatting. Time to finish this conversation.

“If Kushida knew of this, she’d hate you. lol”

After sending that message, I closed my phone. It rang, but I left it alone. They probably won’t do anything stupid. Satou wouldn’t do anything stupid without the cooperation of the others.

Moving over to the side of the room, I opened the window. I could hear the insects from the nearby trees. Is it the Kubikirigisu that are making that noise? The night breeze shook the window back and forth.[1]

I met Horikita on the first day of school, was put in the same class, and got the seat next to her. I became friends with Sudou and Ike. Furthermore, I fell for the school’s trap and our class was labeled as the worst. Horikita, who tried to fix our situation, earned the ire of the other students because of her personality.

I’m the closest one to this situation, but I feel like I’m floating instead.

No, that’s a bad choice of words. It’s not a comfortable feeling. However, I feel like I’m observing from the outside. Because I didn’t feel the same urgency as Sudou and the others did, I thought that the current situation didn’t relate to me and ignored it instead.

“Only a fool would not use power that they have.”

I didn’t want to remember his words, but they were stuck in my head.

“A fool… I wonder if that’s what I am.”

Closing the window, I could hear the harsh laughter coming from the television.