"What do you want?"
Just as they were about to keep banging on the door, it suddenly opened.
A pair of dead-fish eyes stared back at them.
Standing outside were Sudou, Yamauchi, and Ike—the class's three resident idiots—along with the class leader, Hirata. The four of them had gathered at Hikigaya's door.
As Hikigaya expected, Hirata and the others had received Kushida's message and rushed over.
Ike and Yamauchi looked especially worked up, practically howling to storm inside.
But before they could charge in, Hirata reached out and stopped them, blocking the entrance.
"Hey, Hirata, what are you doing?!"
"I can't let Kikyo stay alone in a room with Hikigaya! Who knows if he'll do something perverted!"
Ike and Yamauchi immediately voiced their dissatisfaction with Hirata's actions, but surprisingly, Sudou—who usually didn't get along with Hirata—remained silent.
"Still, no matter what, barging into someone's room without permission isn't exactly the right thing to do."
After stopping the two hotheaded idiots, Hirata turned to Hikigaya and apologized. "Hikigaya, here's the situation: we got a message from Kushida saying she needed to talk to you about something important regarding the class. Then, as soon as Ike and Yamauchi found out, they rushed over..."
Hirata's words made it pretty obvious—these guys heard that "Kushida was alone in Hikigaya's room" and immediately got jealous, running over here to "teach him a lesson."
Judging by Hirata's attitude, he seemed to want to prevent any unnecessary conflict. After all, not long ago, Hikigaya had openly confronted Sudou in class, and that had left a strong impression on many people. They realized this seemingly quiet, loner guy with dead-fish eyes was actually quite a troublemaker.
"Sure, if you want to come in, go ahead."
To everyone's surprise, instead of getting angry, Hikigaya was completely unfazed. He even stepped aside to let them in. Hearing this, Ike and Yamauchi, true to their monkey-like nature, were just about to charge in for their "heroic rescue" when suddenly, everyone's phones vibrated with a new message.
"Huh? It's from Kikyo!"
Ike shouted in excitement, but a second later, his face fell. "What?! Kikyo-chan already left?!"
Hikigaya didn't know what the message said, but just by looking at their reactions, he could more or less figure it out. Still unwilling to give up, Ike and Yamauchi stood on their toes, trying to peek inside the room. But one quick glance told them everything—they couldn't spot their "little angel" anywhere.
In the end, the two left grumbling, throwing curses at Hikigaya under their breath.
Before leaving, Sudou shot Hikigaya a look like he wanted to say something but hesitated. In the end, he just walked off with the others.
"Hikigaya, I'm really sorry for the trouble. Ike and Yamauchi were just worried about Kushida, so please don't take it personally."
Hirata apologized sincerely.
For a moment, Hikigaya was speechless. This was clearly Ike and Yamauchi's problem—why was Hirata apologizing for them?!
And it wasn't even the first time!
Seriously, is he their mom or something? Always cleaning up after their messes?
"I've got things to do, so I'll be going now. Hikigaya, take care of yourself."
Hirata patted Hikigaya on the shoulder before leaving, but his words left Hikigaya completely confused.
Not to mention, the way Hirata looked at him before walking away was kind of weird too.
After shutting the door, Hikigaya's eyes fell on a pair of shoes at the entrance.
Thinking back to Hirata's actions, Hikigaya couldn't help but chuckle bitterly.
So that's what happened. The moment Hirata saw Kushida's shoes, he made sure to stop the others at the door and even positioned himself to block their view.
What surprised Hikigaya even more was that Hirata actually covered for him. That was some next-level wingman material.
Or… maybe Hirata would've done the same no matter who was in this situation?
But that last line of his…
Damn it.
Is this the confidence of a guy who actually has a social life?!
Back inside, just as Hikigaya was processing everything, the bathroom door opened.
Kushida stepped out, phone in hand.
"Oh? I thought you didn't care at all."
Hikigaya sat down on his bed like it was no big deal, while Kushida took his seat, her face dark with frustration.
Honestly, he had been a little curious about how the monkey trio would've reacted if they'd actually seen Kushida here.
But, as expected, Kushida had reacted quickly and immediately adjusted her plan when her little "trap" failed.
Everything had been going according to her script—until the very last moment, when everything fell apart.
When Hikigaya completely saw through her act, she had even considered pulling a desperate move—running out of the room half-dressed and going full scorched earth on him.
But in the end, her rational side won out.
She forced herself to swallow her anger and frustration, even having to clean up the mess she created.
Just thinking about it made her furious.
She grabbed the coffee on the table and chugged it in one go.
A second later—
"Ugh! What the hell is this?! It's way too sweet!"
Kushida immediately spat it out—right onto Hikigaya.
Kushida, who had been fuming with anger just moments ago, burst into laughter when she saw Hikigaya's expression.
After coming out of the bathroom, Hikigaya looked at Kushida with a dark expression. She was still hanging around, refusing to leave. Seeing that her little scheme had been exposed, Kushida simply gave up pretending. She let her true self out completely, lying down on Hikigaya's bed without a care. The neatly arranged books were now scattered everywhere.
"Tsk tsk, I never thought you'd be into these disgusting novels!"
Lying on the bed, Kushida flipped through a light novel, making sharp remarks as she read. Especially when she reached the more suggestive illustrations, she immediately gave her critique:
"As expected, you guys are all the same. You just love these dumb girls with boobs the size of basketballs!"
"A girl changing in the classroom and just so happens to be seen by a guy? They hide in a locker together to avoid a misunderstanding? Then they fall over, and he accidentally grabs her chest? What kind of brain-dead plot is this? Only some clueless virgin author could come up with this garbage..."
Even though she kept cursing at the ridiculous plot and the author, Kushida was still reading it with great interest. Hikigaya was speechless at the contradiction and decided to just ignore her. He picked up another book and started reading.
With a loud *snap*, Kushida finally finished the novel. She jumped off the bed, looking like she had calmed down a bit, then turned to Hikigaya and said:
"Hey, let's make a deal!"
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