"Uh… the moon is beautiful tonight?"
…Like hell it is!
Hikigaya had no idea what kind of expression he was making, but he could tell Kushida's face was already dark with irritation. If she had a pair of scissors in her hand right now… way too yandere!
Kushida slowly stepped forward, staring at Hikigaya with cold eyes. "Hikigaya-kun, what are you doing here?"
"If I said I was just a blind man passing by, would you believe me?"
Hikigaya instinctively took a step back, but Kushida closed the distance again. The air around her felt colder and colder, and the intensity of her gaze made him swallow hard.
"You think you're funny?"
Kushida's eyes were icy as she glared at him. "Did you hear me just now…?"
"If I said I didn't hear anything about you cursing a certain woman and violently kicking the railing, would you believe me?"
"Heh… Hikigaya, do you think this is funny?"
Was it just his imagination, or was there some kind of ominous black aura coming off Kushida? Was this school life about to turn into a supernatural battle?!
…No, he was definitely overthinking things. But still, Kushida's expression was terrifyingly dark. The way her personality had completely flipped made Hikigaya once again question whether Class D was just a gathering place for problem children.
Problem children, straight out of Class D?
"If you tell anyone what you just heard, I won't let you off easy!"
Kushida's voice was icy as she threatened him.
"Okay, okay, got it! No problem!"
"Hikigaya, do you think I'm joking?!"
A faint vein seemed to bulge on Kushida's forehead.
Hikigaya cursed Haruno in his head. If she hadn't called him at that exact moment, his "Presence Concealment B" would've kept him hidden!
What a disaster!
Hikigaya stayed silent, but Kushida's aura grew even darker as she leaned closer to him.
"Ahhh!"
Hikigaya jumped back like a startled cat, as if he had just touched something filthy.
"!!!"
"You've been trying to piss me off this whole time, haven't you?"
Kushida took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. "A gloomy loner like you is really annoying! Even worse than that emotionless Ayanokouji!"
"...If I said it was just an accident, would you believe me?"
Hikigaya awkwardly tried to explain, "I'm just a little sensitive to women."
"Shut up, you dead-fish-eyed bastard!"
Kushida dropped the act completely, glaring at Hikigaya. "You have to promise me that you won't tell anyone about what you saw or heard tonight. Otherwise—"
"Otherwise?"
Hikigaya's expression turned weird.
"Come on, Kushida, do you really need to be this worried about me? Nobody in class believes anything I say anyway. And besides, with the 'cheerful girl' and 'sweet little angel' image you've been building since the first day, no one would ever believe you're actually a two-faced, unstable landmine."
Hikigaya understood why Kushida didn't want people to see her true self. But if he thought about it, tonight's events weren't really that big of a problem. The difference in their social standing was too vast—people only believe what they want to believe, not the truth someone else tries to tell them.
Hikigaya and Kushida were worlds apart when it came to their reputations. A bubbly, angelic girl versus a gloomy, antisocial loner. People rarely think rationally; most of the time, they just stick to their first impressions.
So from Hikigaya's perspective, Kushida didn't even have to do anything. Even if people found out, it probably wouldn't matter. Of course, having someone else know your secret is always unsettling, so he could at least understand why she was so on edge.
Trying to figure out what's going on in a woman's head is like trying to find a needle at the bottom of the ocean. Haruno was a prime example of that, and Kushida was no different.
"Hikigaya!!!"
Kushida's chest heaved as her suppressed anger exploded. This dead-fish-eyed idiot kept throwing 'gloomy' and 'unstable landmine' in her face, and she couldn't take it anymore!
"If even one more person finds out about tonight, I swear I won't let you off! I'll tell everyone that you tried to assault me!"
"Are you seriously threatening me? Do you even hear yourself? That's insane."
Hikigaya gave her a weird look. This girl was completely nuts. He turned to leave before she could come up with another ridiculous idea.
"Hey! Hikigaya! How dare you!"
Kushida's eyes widened in disbelief. She never expected Hikigaya to just walk away so decisively.
"Damn it!! Hey! Dead fish eyes! Get back here!!"
Seeing him ignore her, Kushida was fuming. She stomped her foot in frustration and quickly ran after him.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?"
Kushida caught up and grabbed Hikigaya's wrist before he could react. His palm suddenly felt something soft—something that definitely shouldn't be there.
"W-Wait, what are you doing?!"
Hikigaya stared in shock. No amount of books, detective novels, or even tokusatsu shows had ever prepared him for something this absurd.
He immediately tried to pull his hand away, but Kushida held it firmly against her chest, even pressing it in further.
"..."
"There, now your fingerprints are on my clothes. That's physical evidence. If I say something happened, nobody's going to doubt me. Got it now? I'm dead serious."
Kushida's face was ice-cold as she stared Hikigaya down.
"You've got to be kidding me… Kushida, you're really going through with this?"
Hikigaya's face was covered in black lines.
"I'll take good care of this uniform. If I catch you trying anything suspicious or thinking about betraying me, I'll hand it over to the police right away and let you spend some quality time with a sewing machine!"
Hikigaya didn't expect Kushida's way of thinking to be this bizarre. She was actually trying to use her own body to threaten him. Wait... could this be a honey trap?
But rather than a classic seduction scheme, Hikigaya felt this was more like something out of a shady adult game, the kind with a 'unique' way of thinking.
"There are no cameras here, and you said it yourself—everyone will believe in the 'little angel' Kushida, not the dead-fish-eyed Hikigaya."
The girl gripped Hikigaya's hand tightly, and the sensation from her touch kept stimulating his nerves. "So, Hikigaya, your answer is..."
"So soft... No, I mean, I got it. So can you let go now?"
Hikigaya awkwardly looked at the now-darkened girl in front of him. As much as he didn't want to let go, in the end, his face was just too thin for this kind of thing.
Hmph!
After getting the confirmation she wanted, Kushida finally let go. The sudden emptiness in his hand made Hikigaya feel an odd sense of loss.
"I'm a little thirsty."
Hikigaya walked toward a nearby vending machine while casually asking, "Hey, Kushida, why do you hate Horikita so much?"
"None of your business!"
Kushida instinctively followed him and issued another warning. "You must keep my secrets, and you are absolutely not allowed to dig into my past! If you do, not only will you be unable to stay in this school, but the police will take you away. Got it?"
"Come on, Kushida, I keep telling you there's no need to go this far. Using your own body… Look, it's not like we have any conflicting interests or grudges. There's really no reason to push things to this extreme and make unnecessary enemies for yourself."
Hikigaya sighed as he selected a bottle of cola from the vending machine.
"Shut up! A gloomy loner like you wouldn't understand!"
Kushida was furious. Her expression was intense as she growled, "And you better remember your place! I have evidence of your 'crime' in my hands! If I told you to get on your knees and lick my toes, you'd have no choice but to obey! You're my slave now!"
Wait… is this some kind of hidden perk?
Pfft! No way!
Hikigaya Hachiman was not some pathetic lapdog!
"I used to think people could understand each other."
Hikigaya suddenly looked up at the night sky, turning his back to Kushida as he sighed. "Then I met a Gundam fan."
"Hey! What the hell are you talking about?!"
"What I mean is..."
In the next second, Hikigaya spun around sharply.
*Psshhh!*
A surge of cola sprayed out at full force, accompanied by a sharp scream. In an instant, the front of Kushida's uniform was completely soaked!
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