cote react to

part 18

"Why are you here? You're not going to request that I bring Sudou-kun back, are you?"

"If you already know, then don't ask. Do you understand you're the only one who can help?" I inquired.

"I don't think so. There are other people who can do something. There's no way I possibly could," she said.

Was she serious? Yeah, she probably was. She had no idea that Sudou had a crush on her.

"She does now." Sudo lamented.

"There, there." Ike and Yamauchi patted his back.

"That again? I thought we already agreed that it's only gratitude?" Horikita said.

"How dense can you be?" Ayanokoji muttered.

"Poor boy, his crush finding out like this must have suck." Hashimoto cackled.

"Besides, I'm not exactly in a position to worry about other people right now," Horikita added.

She was indeed suffering. She had a lot to deal with on her own. I understood her feelings. Besides, pretty much no one wanted to go find Sudou.

They'd abandoned him, although they knew that he could save us in the sports festival. Everyone's trust in him had evaporated. If Hirata or Kushida had stormed off, the entire class would've gone looking for them.

Everyone winced.

Yeah, that's true. If someone important or popular in their class disappeared then everyone would be rushing looking for them. Well, maybe except Class B.

Sudo looked down.

"Here's how I see it," I said. "You can't take care of your classmates, and you can't control yourself. What's the point of you, then? You're nothing but a burden."

"Hey, Ayanokoji!" Sudo called him out.

"This didn't happen." Ayanokoji quickly said. "You can't hold it against me."

"Hmm?" Manabu looked at the screen curiously.

"That's an awful thing to say. I'm sorry I got hurt, but I had bad luck. Some things you can't control, right?"

"Bad luck, huh? You see your injury as just that-an injury. You haven't realized a thing."

"Don't make fun of me. I understand the seriousness of the situation. Clearly, we have a traitor who leaked our participation table to Ryuuen-kun. I
never thought that someone in our class would want to destroy us, but there's nothing I can do about that right now," said Horikita.

"What else have you noticed?"

"What else? I know that Ryuuen-kun provoked Sudou-kun."

"That's right. Even with all the information in the world on Ryuuen's side, Sudou-our class's MVP-was still nearly undefeatable. So, Ryuuen needled and provoked him on purpose, until he got Sudou to drop out."

"Yeah, and that's why our class is in shambles right now."

"Have you noticed anything else?"

"Speculate?" Sakayanagi said.

"In the middle of a problem?" Hashimoto said in disbelief.

"For them to understand their situation better." Nishikawa added.

"That's low, Ryuuen-kun." Ichinose glared at him.

"Tactics, I tell you." He grinned.

"Wait, you can't mean... You want to speculate?" asked Horikita.