"Ichinose, there’s sothing I need to remind you of."
Just as Ichinose was still feeling embarrassed about what had just happened, Hikigaya suddenly spoke.
Ichinose secretly glanced at Hikigaya’s expression and was relieved to see that he didn’t seem too affected by it.
"Have you ever told anyone else about your past in middle school?"
Hikigaya’s face was serious.
Ichinose shook her head with a bitter smile. "No, Hikigaya-kun, you’re the first person to know about it besides my family and my old classmates."
Hearing this, Hikigaya let out a small sigh of relief before warning her, "From now on, don’t tell anyone about it. No matter who they are. I’ll also act like I never heard anything. You understand what I an, right?"
Ichinose could tell that Hikigaya was worried. After thinking for a mont, she hesitated and said, "But... if I hide it from my classmates and they find out later..."
"If they find out, then you deal with it when it happens. But right now, it’s still a secret, which ans you shouldn’t go around revealing your weaknesses! People need privacy and boundaries, and the sa applies to social groups. You don’t have to make everything about yourself public. The only people who do that are either fools or liars. If you ever et soone like that, you should be even more cautious."
This kind of self-exposure was like a double-edged sword. If not handled well, it could turn against her. More importantly, she wasn’t even the one holding the sword.
"I know you might feel guilty, like you’re lying to the people who trust you. But let tell you this—if soone truly trusts you, they would never ask you to expose your personal secrets. Like I just said, you need to rember that you’re responsible for the 39 people in your class. Every move you make affects them. If you can’t handle that, then you should step down from being a leader, because you’re not suited for it."
Hikigaya’s words were harsh—so much so that they were practically interfering with Ichinose’s life. But surprisingly, Ichinose didn’t get angry. Instead, she nodded and thanked him.
"Thank you. I’ll work on changing that."
That was just the kind of person Ichinose was. She always found it hard to say anything harsh to others and always gave them the most kindness she could. Even if there were so selfish reasons behind it, she had been this way for so long that it had beco a habit—one that wouldn’t be easy to change overnight.
Hikigaya had been thinking, "It’d be nice if Ichinose could get mad," but in the end, things turned out the sa as always. That said, this ti, he felt like sothing about Ichinose was changing.
"It’s getting late. Your classmates are probably waiting for you, so I’ll get going."
After saying that, Hikigaya waved his hand and said goodbye to Ichinose.
Once his figure completely disappeared into the night, Ichinose suddenly clutched her chest. Her heart was pounding.
"W-What’s happening to ?"
She could clearly hear the sound of her heartbeat. She had never felt this way when facing Hikigaya before. Until now, she had always seen him as soone she felt comfortable around, soone she could rely on and trust. Just like she had said earlier—because he seed mature, she naturally trusted him.
Up until a mont ago, that was what she had always believed.
But now... she realized she might have misunderstood her own feelings. At the sa ti, an overwhelming emotion surged from deep within her.
"Pain doesn’t just disappear... so you have to learn to carry it yourself."
Ichinose murmured, unconsciously looking in the direction where Hikigaya had disappeared. Then, as if realizing sothing, she froze on the spot, biting her lip with a complicated expression.
She had always thought she was facing everything alone.
But now, she realized—there had been soone silently carrying that pain with her all along. Yet, he never once spoke about it.
"Just how much pain have you been carrying?"
For the first ti, she saw that boy’s back as sothing lonely and sorrowful.
...
In front of the dormitory.
"Huh? Horikita, is your foot okay now?"
Kushida, who had just returned to the dorm with her friends, noticed Horikita standing there as if waiting for soone.
"Kushida, I have sothing to talk to you about."
Horikita gestured toward an open space nearby. Kushida froze for a brief mont before smiling and nodding.
"The participant list for Class D’s events in the sports festival was leaked. Do you know anything about that?"
Horikita got straight to the point.
"Huh? Sothing like that happened?"
Kushida covered her mouth, looking shocked.
Horikita frowned slightly. "It’s just the two of us here. There’s no need to keep pretending, is there?"
"Horikita, you’re acting so strange. I don’t really understand what you’re saying."
"Then I’ll be direct. The one who leaked the information to Class C... was you, wasn’t it?"
Horikita stared sharply at Kushida, but the girl showed no sign of panic. Instead, she kept smiling.
"Oh, co on, Horikita. Why would you suspect ? Did soone feed you this information?"
By the ti she finished speaking, the smile had completely disappeared from her face, replaced by an icy expression.
"Soone?"
Horikita shook her head. "I ca to this conclusion myself after ruling out other possibilities. Besides, your behavior in the infirmary at noon was way too suspicious."
"So, in the end, it’s just your own guess? You shouldn’t accuse people without proof, you know."
"Kushida, we’ve actually t before, haven’t we?"
Horikita seed to recall sothing. "Back on the bus at the start of the school year, when you gave up your seat, I thought I had no mory of you. But now, I rember..."
Across from her, Kushida’s face was now clouded with darkness.
"It’s about that incident from middle school. I rember there was a student who looked a lot like you."
Kushida, to Horikita’s surprise, actually smiled. But that smile was cold and eerie.
"You finally rember? Well, of course. No matter how much you forget, there’s a limit. I never thought you’d truly not rember."
"So, about that thing..."
"I was the one who leaked it. So, what do you plan to do now?"
Kushida rudely cut off Horikita’s attempt to dig deeper into her past and directly provoked her.
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