There is something wrong with Hikigaya’s classroom of the Elite, as expected

Chapter 114: The Ugly Duckling

The arguments in the class grew more intense. The class’s popular “good guy,” Hirata, stepped in once again to calm everyone down, and also asked Chabashira-sensei for more details about the situation. At the same time, Kushida stood up and, together with Hirata, began “defending” Sudo.

They urged the class to “work together and help a classmate,” and to find any witnesses or evidence that could prove Sudo’s innocence. Thanks to the efforts of the two most popular figures in the class, many students began to temper their anger, although whether they would actually help was another matter.

At that moment, the leader of the girls’ group, Karuizawa, also stood up in support.

One small incident occurred when, as Kushida was defending Sudo, the first person to undermine her was… Yamauchi. This guy openly expressed his disbelief in Sudo’s story, claiming that Sudo was lying to avoid responsibility. He even went so far as to say, “Sudo has always enjoyed hitting people since middle school, he really loves the feeling of hurting others.”

With Yamauchi’s remarks serving as a catalyst, the students who had already disliked Sudo exploded, accusing him of various bad behaviors such as grabbing people by the collar if they accidentally bumped into him or cutting in line. It became a wave of condemnation against Sudo.

Fortunately, Hirata and Kushida had enough influence and support to stabilize the situation, or else things would have spiraled out of control.

One could only say that when it comes to stirring things up, idiots are the best.

Hikigaya guessed that Kushida’s inner thoughts were already cursing Yamauchi’s family; he was such a useless teammate! No wonder, when Sudo got into trouble, he immediately sought out Ayanokouji, not Yamauchi or Ike, who were the people he was usually closest to.

“Hmm?”

Suddenly, Hikigaya noticed that something seemed off with Sakura next to him. The girl had buried her head deeply into her desk, her body trembling incessantly!

Sakura’s condition had improved a lot over the past month, and she hadn’t had an episode in a while. But why was she “relapsing” now?

Hikigaya tried to send a message to her phone, but there was no response, and the message was still unread. Seeing this, Hikigaya could only scratch his head.

After class, Hirata, Kushida, and the others started to take action, asking their friends for help. Their strategy was to find witnesses to the fight in the hopes of proving that a C-Class student had started it, and Sudo was simply acting in self-defense. However, to Hikigaya, this plan seemed incredibly foolish.

The incident had occurred in the special education building, a place that lacked security cameras and was rarely used by students, which clearly meant that C-Class had already scoped it out beforehand.

Also, trying to find witnesses was like searching for a needle in a haystack, and even if there were any, why would they come forward to testify? In a school where class competition was central, this was a major hurdle, and one also had to consider the possibility that the witnesses might be C-Class students themselves.

The plan that C-Class had against Sudo seemed to have the advantage of both timing and location, and with Sudo’s accumulated bad reputation, even luck was on the enemy’s side.

Moreover, up until now, Hirata and the others were still focused on finding witnesses, seemingly oblivious to the more serious issues at hand.

For the next three days, Hirata, Kushida, and the others ran around the grade asking about the fight, and naturally, the news spread throughout the entire grade.

What surprised Hikigaya, however, was that what had initially started as a spontaneous action by D-Class, soon saw B-Class stepping in to help.

From Kushida, Hikigaya learned that B-Class’s leader, Ichinose, upon hearing that Sudo had been wronged, immediately volunteered to help. As a well-known and highly connected figure in the first year, Ichinose’s involvement made a big difference.

“This woman’s an idiot, isn’t she? It’s none of her business, yet she’s acting all ‘I’ll definitely help D-Class’! Ugh, Ichinose is such a fake! It’s so disgusting!” Kushida complained after meeting with Hikigaya, using words like “hypocrite” and “pretending to be a good person.”

“Why do I feel like you’re… jealous?” Hikigaya said with a strange expression.

“Hah? Me? Jealous of that chesty, brainless woman? Don’t make me laugh!” Kushida hissed, glaring at Hikigaya like an angry little kitten.

Uh… Seems like you’ve insulted yourself as well?

Kushida noticed Hikigaya’s gaze and, without thinking, recalled the two “handprint” incidents from that night. Her face immediately turned dark, and she hurriedly covered her chest. “What are you looking at? Pervert!”

“…”

With Ichinose joining, the search for witnesses became much more efficient, but there was still the same problem… they hadn’t found any witnesses.

And not long after Ichinose joined, another unexpected person also became involved.

Yukinoshita Haruno!

“Kushida, I didn’t know you were so close with A-Class’s Yukinoshita!”

“Kushida, you’re amazing! You even got A-Class students to help!”

Kushida heard classmates complimenting her, and though she kept smiling, it was hard to tell what she was really thinking. Originally, she and Hirata had only planned to take a chance by visiting A-Class, but they didn’t expect that after hearing about “her good friend Kushida’s” troubles, Haruno immediately stepped up and promised to help!

“Actually, I’ve known Kikyo for a long time. Her problems are my problems! We often go out for coffee with the other girls and chat. Of course, girls’ high school gossip is top secret, so I can’t tell you guys! But I’ll definitely help as much as I can.”

In front of everyone’s curious looks, Haruno smiled and intimately linked arms with Kushida as she explained.

Ever since the “handprint” incident that night, Kushida had been deliberately avoiding contact with Haruno, but Haruno kept attaching herself to her, and in public, Kushida couldn’t show any sign of discomfort, so she could only force a smile and accept it.

After the truth was revealed at school, Kushida was acutely aware of her own disadvantage. The label of being in D-Class affected too many things, so she generally avoided interacting with popular girls from higher-level classes.

The same went for Ichinose and Haruno; both were extremely popular in their respective classes, and they were also well-respected in other classes. In every aspect—status, connections, ability, and grades—they were far superior to Kushida.

What’s most feared is comparison, and Kushida understood that she had no advantage over them. As a result, she tried to develop relationships with other girls who were less noticed, or on the margins.

This, however, had a downside. In real terms, Kushida was completely “out of the loop” in the higher social circles. Yes, even though the lovable Kushida with many friends and admirers was in fact just an “ugly duckling” who didn’t fit into the upper echelons.