Hikigaya's throat moved, the words stuck in his throat, but he couldn't just talk about the witches directly.
Margo watched him struggle to speak, a faint smile on her face.
"Darling, have you ever thought about why they would approach you?"
"…Various reasons, I suppose. Nikaido-san is because of that fake relationship agreent, Sakuraba-san is because…"
"Because of what? Just because you sit next to each other?"
She walked up to Hikigaya, her purple pupils appearing exceptionally clear in the sunlight.
"Darling, do you believe there are 'special' people in this world?"
"Special?"
Margo's finger gently tapped his chest.
"Here, inside you, sothing is glowing. Although ordinary people can't see it, people like us… can tell at a single glance."
Hikigaya felt cold sweat beginning to form on his back.
"People like us?"
"Yeah, I'm a 'special' person too, though my 'specialty' is a bit different from theirs."
She took a step back, widening the distance.
"Nikaido-san's 'glow' was very intense before, so intense it was almost overflowing, but now it's extinguished. Although Sakuraba-san's is weaker, it's slowly getting stronger." Margo's expression turned serious.
"And you, Darling… you're like a magnet that attracts them.
Darling, do you know what happens if 'that thing' grows too fast?"
She didn't wait for Hikigaya to answer and continued.
"It will lose control. Just like a balloon will burst if blown up too big, they can control themselves for now, but if they keep getting closer to you, keep drawing 'nourishnt' from you…" Margo paused.
"They might beco versions of themselves that they wouldn't even recognize."
The classroom suddenly fell silent.
The sound of the wind outside, the distant noise—it was as if a mute button had been pressed.
Hikigaya looked at Margo, seeing on her face, for the first ti, an expression approaching concern.
"How do you know all this…"
"Because I've witnessed it with my own eyes," Margo said, her voice carrying an imperceptible tremble.
"I've witnessed what happens when 'that thing' loses control. People swallowed by 'that thing' can only face an outco where nothing can be undone.
That's why I ca to find you, Darling. Not to disrupt your life, and not to steal your 'girlfriend'."
She looked at him, her eyes complex.
"I just don't want to watch the sa tragedy happen again, especially not to you, Darling."
Her hand pulled away from his chest and dropped to her side.
He took a deep breath, feeling his heart beating heavily in his chest.
"Margo." His voice was a bit hoarse. "What you just said… you're implying the stuff about witches, right?"
Margo was noncommittal; she just watched him quietly, his reflection mirrored in her purple pupils.
"What do you think, Darling?"
"I think so, and I think… you know much more than I imagined."
"Darling is finally willing to face reality."
"So, are you a witch too, Margo?"
"Yes, Darling. I am also an ugly witch."
Hosho Margo calmly stated the fact.
Hikigaya suddenly felt like laughing.
What kind of joke was fate playing on him?
Saeki is a witch, Sakuraba is a witch, Nikaido is a witch, the Kurobe sisters are witches, and now even Margo is a witch.
How many normal people without witchcraft were even left around him?
Or, was the problem with him?
"Darling's expression is so interesting, like he just ate a spoiled bento."
He looked at Margo and sighed.
"Margo, tell the truth. Have I been cursed?"
Margo froze for a mont, then laughed.
"Why would Darling think that?"
"I think so, otherwise how do you explain that everyone around is a witch? Now even you are one… this isn't just a coincidence, right?"
Margo tilted her head as if thinking.
"Darling, what do you think a witch is? Are they monsters? Are they anomalies? Are they existences that should be eliminated?"
Hikigaya looked at her, at those purple pupils, at that near-sincere expression on her face.
A flurry of images flashed through his mind.
In front of the red light at the intersection, Saeki Milia gathered the courage to confess to him.
"It's because of you yourself."
On the school rooftop, Sakuraba Emma spread her bone wings and cried out to him.
"Hikigaya-kun… are you going to leave too?"
After accepting the confession, the reason Nikaido Hiiro gave him.
"So I can help you walk on the right path."
In the J-class classroom, Kurobe Nanoka's request.
"Hikigaya-kun, could you date my sister?"
And there was little Yuki who had passed away, and Komachi, whose situation he still didn't fully understand.
Then, he shook his head.
"Witches and ordinary people are no different. They laugh, they cry, they get scared, they fall in love, they do foolish things to protect people they care about. These emotions are exactly the sa as ordinary people.
The only difference is that there is sothing called 'magic' on them. But that thing is not their fault, nor is it sothing they chose. Just like so people are born left-handed, or so people are born with blonde hair—you can't treat soone like a monster just because of that.
That's why I just said, witches are not existences that should be eliminated. Judging a creature that has emotions just like humans—that act itself is wrong."
Hikigaya's voice echoed in the empty classroom, every word sounding like it was squeezed from the depths of his chest.
He didn't know why he said these things, nor did he know if he was right, but he just wanted to say them.
Wanted to say them to Margo, wanted to say them to those witches, wanted to say them… to himself.
Margo didn't speak; she just stared at him intently.
After Hikigaya finished speaking, he suddenly felt a bit of regret, a lingering sense of sha creeping onto his face.
He lowered his head, staring at the tips of his shoes, not wanting to look up.
"Darling, what are you thinking?"
"…Thinking that the things I just said were probably really stupid."
"They were stupid."
Hikigaya's mouth twitched.
'As expected.'
The passionate speech he just made was, in Margo's eyes, no different from a clown performance.
All that "witches aren't monsters," "judgent is wrong," "they are just special people"…
These words sounded like lines copied from so light novel; they were so "chuunibyou" that he wanted to find a crack in the floor to crawl into.
And he had said it right in front of Margo, too.
He felt his cheeks burning, his ears burning; his entire body was on fire.
It's over.
It really is over now.
Those words he just said would probably beco his "dark history" for the rest of his life.
"Darling, the things you just said were stupid, self-righteous, and hollow."
Margo lifted Hikigaya's face with both hands, forcing him to et her gaze.
"But they were sincere. Those were the things you truly wanted to say, things you truly believe in.
There are many smart people in this world. They speak beautifully, they act thoughtfully, they never say the wrong thing, they never make the wrong move.
But they never show their true hearts to others.
So Darling, you don't need to feel ashad, and you don't need to feel regret, because what you said was the truth. And the truth… is never sothing to be ashad of."
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