Seeing Kushida Kikyo actually take out her phone, Yamauchi Haruki felt his scalp go numb.
He desperately wanted to snatch it, open her chat history with Kaoru, and let the entire class see it with their own eyes.
But the more fearless Kushida appeared, the more hesitant and uneasy he beca.
What if their chat history contained no evidence of betraying the class?
If no proof was found, Yamauchi Haruki would beco the target of everyone's attacks—a bully who tornted their little angel and made her cry.
Yamauchi swallowed hard, his eyes darting around nervously as he stamred, "Th-this kind of thing wouldn't be discussed over text! You can et in rooms, so it's obvious you must have talked face-to-face!"
As he spoke, he began to believe his own excuse, gradually regaining so confidence.
Kushida Kikyo's expression grew even more sorrowful, her voice trembling. "If visiting a boy's room implies an impure relationship, then what about the ti I, Yamauchi-kun, Ike-kun, and Sudou-kun held a celebration party in Ayanokouji-kun's room?"
As if reminiscing about those tis or expressing her resentnt toward him, the girl lowered her head, as though trying to hide her tears.
"Hey, Haruki, even I can't stand this anymore. The little angel is the little angel—it's normal for her to get along well with boys!"
As his close friend, Ike Kanji was the first to jump in, showing clear dissatisfaction and disappointnt toward him.
That's right—how could the little angel possibly be so guy's plaything?
She's the little angel, after all!
Yamauchi Haruki was stunned.
Faced with nurous disapproving glares, he tried to salvage the situation.
"What are you talking about, Kanji? Weren't you furious with the Class A guys before? And didn't you initially tell us that little Kikyo must have been played by him?"
Ike Kanji, caught off guard by the retort, flushed red and snapped, "Don't talk nonsense! I never said anything like that!"
In truth, Yamauchi regretted his outburst the mont the words left his mouth. Why attack an ally at a ti like this?
But seeing Ike sweating and blustering, a sense of satisfaction surged within him. Serves him right for jumping in unexpectedly—might as well drag him down too!
"Even if Kikyo isn't involved, Karuizawa definitely is! She must have evidence on her!"
Yamauchi suddenly pointed at Karuizawa Kei.
Although he hadn't personally seen her entering or leaving Kaoru's room, he was certain she was involved.
He had suspected it during the training camp, and this sester, he was almost sure—after all, he'd occasionally seen Karuizawa Kei on dates with Kaoru at the Keyaki Mall.
Even if they weren't dating, their relationship was at least ambiguous.
Furious at the accusation, Karuizawa Kei imdiately fired back, "What evidence do you want? Do I have to explain who I'm with to soone like you?"
"Who knows if you two are—"
Just as Yamauchi was about to continue waving the class banner to pressure Karuizawa, Horikita Suzune's voice cut in from behind.
"Enough, Yamauchi-kun. Even if Kushida and Karuizawa have so kind of relationship with soone, you have no evidence to support your claims."
Seeing Horikita Suzune's indifferent expression, Yamauchi Haruki instinctively panicked.
"I-I do have evidence, isn't it obvious?" Yamauchi Haruki stamred, racking his brains as he spoke.
"Karuizawa wasn't in her room last night."
Karuizawa Kei's heart skipped a beat.
She was certain no one had followed her last night—how did Yamauchi Haruki know about this?
Kushida Kikyo, who had been pretending to cry, paused abruptly.
She subtly glanced at several female classmates and noticed so looking uneasy, clearly surprised that Yamauchi had brought this up.
Instantly, whispers broke out around them.
Horikita Suzune swept a glance at Yamauchi Haruki, but her gaze settled on the faces of the entire class.
So were rely spectating, so wore expressions of shock, while others couldn't conceal the disappointnt in their eyes.
The essence of this exam was to forcibly expel one person.
No one wanted to be expelled themselves, so they needed a seemingly reasonable justification to collectively target soone without hesitation.
As long as there was soone more suitable than themselves to take the fall, would they care about the specifics of the reason?
Thus, even if Yamauchi Haruki's claims were full of holes, and even if so realized he was spouting nonsense, since the expelled person wouldn't be themselves, everyone thought this way—shifting responsibility away from themselves.
Horikita Suzune estimated that nearly half the class harbored such thoughts, and for the first ti, she felt strangely at ease.
This was the first ti she had truly understood the class's atmosphere—this peculiar tension that had hung over everyone since the very second Chabashira Sae announced the voting exam.
Everyone had developed faint hostility and wariness toward forr friends and classmates, forcing them to instinctively band together for warmth while simultaneously seeking a target most could agree on.
As long as everyone attacked that target, they themselves would be spared.
"I'm sorry, Yamauchi-kun, but I can't agree with you based solely on a few words," Horikita Suzune spoke up.
"Ultimately, these are just your conjectures. You actually don't have any decisive evidence, do you?"
"I-I see! You're covering for them!"
Perhaps because Horikita Suzune had left a deep impression on him before, Yamauchi Haruki seed particularly lacking in confidence.
Horikita Suzune frowned. "In that case, let ask you: What is the evidence that Karuizawa-san and Kushida-san betrayed the class?"
"O-Of course it's because they're on good terms with those guys from Class A!" Yamauchi Haruki argued stubbornly.
"Think about it—those guys already have girlfriends, yet they often get so close and go to their rooms. Isn't that strange?"
"How could you... that's too much, Yamauchi-kun..." Kushida Kikyo's little pearls of tears threatened to fall again, evoking pity from onlookers.
"So this is how you see ..."
Yamauchi Haruki's eyes widened.
She was using that trick again? Wasn't that just too unfair!
Sure enough, several girls rushed to comfort Kushida Kikyo, while others glared angrily at Yamauchi Haruki.
"Hey now, you guys—" Yamauchi Haruki tried to salvage the situation, but Horikita Suzune cut him off.
"This alone doesn't prove they've betrayed the class. Who spends ti with whom shouldn't require special explanation to everyone. By that logic, wouldn't Ichinose-san have betrayed her class too?"Her words left Yamauchi Haruki montarily speechless, even stirring thoughts of retreat in his heart.
"Taking a step back, even if they had betrayed the class, we weren't attacked by Class A," Horikita Suzune said calmly.
"During the sports festival, we were teammates with Class A. Would they have deliberately leaked our competition roster?"
This was truly difficult to refute.
Yamauchi Haruki had already realized he had walked into a dead end.
"During the partner exam, Class A didn't attack us, and we even gained 100 Class Points. During the training camp, Class A didn't do anything to us either. So what exactly did they betray?"
Faced with Horikita Suzune's imposing deanor, Yamauchi Haruki involuntarily took a step back, his face full of panic.
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