COTE : There is Something Wrong With Hikigaya

"Is there something on my face?" 

Hikigaya finally couldn't take it anymore and asked Ichinose, who had been staring at him. 

Ichinose tilted her head slightly, touching her chin as she spoke curiously. 

"Hikigaya-kun just now… felt so different. It was like you were a completely different person from the one I know." 

"..." 

Hikigaya's face stiffened. 

"You didn't like what I did?" 

"No, no!" 

Ichinose quickly shook her head. 

"Not that—I was just really surprised. If it were me in that situation, I don't think I could have fought back like you did." 

It seemed like Ichinose had been in a similar situation before. 

But her reaction was actually the normal one. Most students wouldn't dare go against an upperclassman like Kiriyama. In reality, people tended to just let things slide—just like Ichinose would have. 

"This school values strength." 

Hikigaya spoke calmly. 

"I don't really want to admit it, but at first, I didn't like the way this place worked either. But there's one thing this school does better than the outside world—it doesn't care about seniority or status. If you want respect and recognition, you have to prove yourself. In that sense, this school is… fair." 

Here, personal ability was what truly mattered. Everything else was secondary. 

If that weren't the case, Nagumo wouldn't have become the new student council president, and the election wouldn't have been moved up from December to October. It was all because of his own abilities. 

Kiriyama, on the other hand, had walked in acting all self-righteous, speaking like an upperclassman giving orders. But that just exposed his weakness—he was already a second-year yet still hadn't grasped how this school really worked. 

And for someone like Kiriyama, who barely even knew him, why should Hikigaya show him any respect? 

On top of that, Kiriyama had even tried to use Horikita Manabu's name as a shield. That was pathetic. No wonder Nagumo had been keeping him completely under control. 

Kiriyama probably still hadn't realized his own limits, lost in his own arrogance. 

"It's just… Hikigaya-kun looked kind of scary back there." 

Ichinose finally spoke her mind. 

The coldness Hikigaya had shown earlier was different from when he scolded her before. 

Against Kiriyama, he looked like a predator. 

And Kiriyama… was his prey.

The girl had seen it with her own eyes—Kiriyama, the second-year vice president, had come in aggressively, like a raging bull. But under Ichinose's gaze, Hikigaya had slowly, bit by bit, broken him down and completely swallowed him whole. 

The scene sent a chill down Ichinose's spine. It also made her realize that this must be how others felt when they faced Hikigaya. 

She had never noticed it before. 

"Scary?" 

Hikigaya glanced at Ichinose. After a brief silence, he spoke slowly. 

"Maybe. But what seems 'scary' to you might be just a tiny drop in the vast ocean of society." 

If you've ever stared into the abyss, you wouldn't think this way. 

Hikigaya sighed silently to himself. 

Neither of them brought up what had just happened again. After two weeks of training and guidance, Ichinose had fully learned how to handle student council affairs. 

In other words, she had successfully "joined the workforce" as a proper school bureaucrat. 

Time passed quickly. An hour and a half went by in a flash, and just as Hikigaya and Ichinose got up to leave, Ichinose suddenly invited him to the cafeteria. 

She left him no room to refuse, using the excuse that there were still some student council matters she didn't know how to handle. 

Hikigaya saw through her flimsy excuse right away. If she really needed help, why hadn't she asked in the past hour and a half? Why wait until everything was over? 

It was like someone suddenly announcing overtime right before clocking out—completely ridiculous. 

But Hikigaya didn't bother calling her out on it. 

They arrived at the cafeteria, which was packed since it was the evening rush. Hikigaya scanned the first-floor seating area, but the only spots left were either right in the center or required sharing a table with strangers. Normally, that wouldn't bother him, but with Ichinose—a walking human sun—by his side, he hesitated for a moment before pointing toward the second floor. 

"Huh?" 

Ichinose blinked in surprise. She had almost never been to the second floor of the cafeteria. 

It had always carried an unspoken "first-years not allowed" atmosphere, so most first-year students assumed it was an upperclassmen-only area. 

But Hikigaya had already started heading up, so she quickly followed. 

"Don't worry. Just pretend they're not there." 

As they walked up the stairs, Hikigaya casually reassured her, noticing her hesitation. 

And sure enough, the moment they stepped onto the second floor, they drew a lot of attention from the upperclassmen. Most of those looks, however, were focused on Ichinose rather than Hikigaya. 

More than a few guys clearly lit up at the sight of her. 

Even though they all attended the same school, the campus was huge. Each year had its own buildings and dorms, and there were even three separate gymnasiums. This meant that students from different years rarely interacted. 

The only places where different year groups mingled were spots like the cafeteria, Keyaki Mall, or events like the recent sports festival. 

Despite the sudden flood of attention, Ichinose remained outwardly composed—at least, that's how it looked. 

In reality, not at all. 

They had started with about two meters of distance between them, but without realizing it, Ichinose had moved so close that she was practically clinging to Hikigaya. 

To anyone watching, their relationship seemed unusually close. 

Once they finally got their meals and found a booth by the window, Ichinose let out a quiet sigh of relief. 

"Whew… This is my first time up here. Just like the rumors say, it's all upperclassmen." 

Then, she glanced at Hikigaya curiously. 

"Hikigaya-kun, don't you feel uncomfortable? Everyone's staring at us." 

Hikigaya looked up at her and sighed. 

"Correction. They're staring at you. Why would anyone bother looking at a dead-eyed guy like me?"

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