All or Nothing

Volume 1: Epilogue Part 3

The student who had stood up was none other than Horikita Suzune, the supposed leader of this special exam.

"Not so fast. I can't listen to any more ugly stories."

"Is the truth about me so ugly?"

From Kiyotaka's point of view, Kushida likely took that as a compliment and looked at Horikita with the most cheerful face of the day.

"Yes. At least I don't think these revelations are beautiful. But it's not only you that I find ugly, but also the people who are now calling for you to be expelled from the school for leaking their secrets."

Kiyotaka narrowed his eyes as he realised where this situation was likely going to go. Horikita's unexpected scolding and reprimanding of her classmates was unbearable for everyone.

"Why us? We've done nothing wrong!"

"You guys told Kushida-san a secret you didn't want anyone to know. Why is that?"

"Well, that's because I thought I could trust Kushida-san! And yet..."

"Yes. Kushida-san was trusted more than anyone else in the class. Usually, it's not easy to gain the trust of people. And there are probably only a few people in your life with whom you can share a secret that you can't even tell anyone. Of course, I don't admire Kushida-san for leaking your secrets. It's understandable that you're surprised that there's more to her than meets the eye. But we all have two sides to our story, don't we?"

It would be rare to find a person who lives a life of honesty and truth.

"Hey, but it doesn't matter; she kept voting in favour. That's unacceptable, isn't it?"

"Right. As for what she did to get myself and Ayanokouji-kun expelled, she made a choice that was too selfish. She must bear a heavy weight of responsibility. But instead of making her pay for it with expulsion, she can use her skills to pay us back many times over in the future."

Here, Horikita's point would have been understood by her classmates. It was Matsushita who asked the next question.

"Horikita-san... Are you saying that you won't expel Kushida-san?"

"Yes, you're right. I think... I think I want to keep Kushida-san in this class."

"Huh? Why the hell are you defending me? You're not going to vote for another girl from here, are you? Or are you just going to have fun beating me to death? You've got good taste, you know that?"

It was Kushida herself who was the first to object to this.

"I don't like to make jokes, unfortunately. I'm serious."

"If you're serious, I'll make you change your mind. Let's resume the continuation of hell."

"I didn't think it looked much like 'hell' when I saw it."

"Heh. Then what would you say it looked like? Tell me."

"It wasn't dumb, it wasn't funny, it was just plain ugly. I saw nothing but a mere foolish idiot."

"What?"

Surprised and confused by Horikita's explanation, Kushida waited for her to continue.

"Sure, you can study better than most people. But you are fundamentally stupid to the point of being fatal. In the first place, when you were in junior high school, your classmates found out who you really are, and you broke the class by revealing all their secrets. You came to this school to make amends for that, but unfortunately you met me again, who attended the same junior high school as you."