Nikaido Hiro left.
She left Hikigaya standing alone in the center of the courtyard, pinned by dozens of pairs of eyes.
The crowd erupted.
"She actually said yes?"
"Nikaido Hiro has a boyfriend?"
"That Hikigaya Hachiman guy?"
"What is even happening..."
"What about those other two girls?"
"Sakuraba is still over there watching!"
Hikigaya turned his head toward the flowerbeds. Saeki was supporting Sakuraba, who had her head bowed, leaning her entire weight against her, shoulders trembling slightly.
Then, she straightened up, gently pushed away Saeki's supporting hand, and turned to walk toward the school building.
She walked slowly, as if all her strength had been drained.
"Ema!"
Saeki called out and chased after her.
Hikigaya wanted to chase after them too, but the crowd had already sward him.
"Hey, Hikigaya, what's the deal?"
"Are you really dating Nikaido?"
"How did you pull it off?"
"What about the other two girls?"
Questions pelted him one after another.
Hikigaya pushed through the crowd and fled the courtyard like a man escaping a fire.
He ran up the stairs, through the third-floor corridor, and stopped at the door of the Service Club room.
He pushed the door open; as expected, Nikaido was there.
She was sitting in a chair by the window, looking out. Hearing the door, she turned her head.
Her blood-red eyes t his gaze.
"Why?" Hikigaya asked, his voice thick with suppressed anger.
"You clearly promised to reject ."
Nikaido looked at him calmly.
"I changed my mind."
"Changed your mind? Do you have any idea what this will..."
"Will what?" Nikaido interrupted him. "Make the plan fail? Or cause her to continue being troubled by rumors?"
She stood up and walked over to Hikigaya.
"Hikigaya, that plan of yours was flawed from the very beginning."
"What was flawed about it?"
"You took all the responsibility upon yourself, trying to be a hero, trying to sacrifice yourself to save soone else.
You get rejected, beco a scumbag, beco the school's laughingstock—and then what?"
Nikaido stared into his eyes.
"Is that what she wants to see?"
"At least the rumors would—"
"The rumors would just exist in a different form," Nikaido cut him off. "People would say 'Poor Sakuraba, deceived by a scumbag like that.' They would pity her and feel sorry for her, but that isn't what she wants.
Your plan, from start to finish, placed her in the position of a 'victim.'
But by accepting your confession, the situation changes.
Think about it. A gloomy guy confesses to the 'flower on a high peak' and gets rejected—everyone laughs for a bit and then forgets. But what if the flower accepts?"
"...You're certainly not modest."
"Thank you for the acknowledgent." The corners of Nikaido's mouth curved up slightly. "An event like this has real weight. According to your 'attention economics' theory, isn't an unexpected plot twist far more eye-catching? Everyone will discuss this near-impossible occurrence—why we are together—and who will have ti to care about her?"
"Furthermore, your reputation won't suffer. Your label has changed from 'scumbag' to 'the guy Nikaido Hiro took a liking to.' Which do you think is better?"
Hikigaya had no rebuttal.
"So, I changed the plan. I accepted your confession. We pretend to be together. We have the topic, the rumors are suppressed, and she doesn't have to be pitied as a victim. Three problems solved in one go."
The room was silent for several seconds.
"...Why didn't you discuss this with ?" Hikigaya said in a low voice.
"Discuss it with you?" Nikaido tilted her head. "Would you have agreed?"
Hikigaya remained silent. No, he wouldn't have.
If he had known she would drag herself into it, he definitely wouldn't have agreed.
"See? That's why there was no need to discuss it."
'Checkmate.'
Hikigaya could not argue against Nikaido Hiro's logic.
Nikaido Hiro turned and walked back to the window, watching the crowd below slowly disperse.
"Besides," her voice grew softer, "this plan of yours... it's not like I haven't seen it before."
Hikigaya's pupils constricted sharply.
"You..."
"I have mories too," Nikaido said without looking back. "All of them."
The room was so quiet he could hear his own heartbeat.
The wind blew in, making the curtains sway gently.
Hikigaya had actually had a premonition—from the way she looked at Sakuraba in the clubroom, her focus on Sakuraba not having a forum account, and the decisiveness with which she accepted the plan.
"So that's why you..." Hikigaya began.
"That's why I agreed to your stupid plan. Because I knew I couldn't stop you. No matter how many tis we restart, you're the kind of person who will do the exact sa thing."
She turned her head to look at him.
"But this ti is different. This ti I have mories. I know what will happen. So I can help guide you toward the correct path.
So this ti, it's my turn."
Hikigaya sighed.
He walked to the window and leaned against the fra, standing side-by-side with her, leaving a two-person gap between them.
After a mont of silence, Nikaido spoke first.
"There's one thing I don't understand."
"What?"
" 'Return by Death' is my ability. Why did it end up on you?"
Hikigaya thought for a mont and decided to hide Yuki's existence for now.
"Do you know that Witches exist in this world?"
"Witches?"
"Not the broom-riding hags from fairy tales. People with real magic. They look no different from ordinary people, but they carry 'Witch Factors.' When these factors awaken, they possess magic.
Ema's wings, and your 'Return by Death'—they're both magic."
"Then why did the magic transfer?" Nikaido asked.
"Normally it wouldn't. But my magic is special."
"You have magic too? So you're a... Wizard?"
Hikigaya explained:
"My magic is 'Plunder.' I can seize the magic of other Witches."
"So you stole my 'Return by Death.'"
"It wasn't intentional. In the last loop, when you tried to trigger the return, I just happened to be next to you. The magic activated on its own."
Nikaido nodded, seemingly processing this information.
"So how do you know so much?"
'She really isn't easy to fool...'
"My magic told ."
"Your magic talks?"
"No, but when it activates, it shoves information into my brain. That's how I learned about Witches."
This explanation sounded like complete nonsense, but Hikigaya himself didn't fully understand how the Plunder magic worked. Yuki had only told him the na and what it could do, not the chanics.
So he was telling the truth... at least part of it.
Nikaido looked at him.
"So your magic not only steals my ability but also gives you lectures?"
"Pretty much. Though the lectures aren't great."
Nikaido's mouth twitched—it was hard to tell if she wanted to smile or say sothing—but she didn't press further, shifting her gaze back out the window.
Hikigaya also turned toward the window. The sky was very blue, the clouds very white.
The confession was over.
But things were just beginning.
He and Nikaido Hiro were now "boyfriend and girlfriend."
Even if it was fake.
Only the two of them knew it was just a performance.
A performance that had to be staged to protect Sakuraba and prevent tragedy from repeating.
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