Sudo Ken's tearful confession stirred a faint flicker of sympathy within Class D—
but only faintly.
After everything he'd done, it was hard to muster genuine compassion. The guy had made himself far too unlikeable.
"Hey, Hikigaya… you don't happen to have an idea," Hirata asked hesitantly, "something that could stop Sudo from being expelled?"
Hikigaya blinked, thrown off by the sudden question. "Why would you think that?"
Hirata Yosuke gave a small, sheepish smile. "No real reason. Just… intuition, I guess. You always seem like someone with a plan."
Then, narrowing his eyes, he added, "And you didn't actually deny it."
"Yosuke, are you serious?" Haruki Yamauchi interjected. "This guy? Come on—"
"I do have an idea."
That shut everyone up.
"What?!" Hirata's eyes lit up instantly.
Even Sudo, still sniffling on the floor, froze mid-sob and lifted his head.
"The method's simple," Hikigaya said flatly. "If everyone agrees to pool their private points—"
"That's what we can't do!" Ike Kanji interrupted. "We can't gather fifty thousand points!"
"I'm not talking about the amount," Hikigaya clarified, narrowing his dead-fish eyes. "I'm talking about agreement. If Class D unanimously agrees to contribute, I can convince Chabashira-sensei to lower the price."
The room fell silent. Everyone stared at him like he'd just spoken in another language.
"Wait… you can actually talk Chabashira-sensei into that?" Sudo asked, hope flickering in his eyes.
"Of course I can," Hikigaya said evenly. "Provided you can convince the entire class first."
"Everyone, please," Hirata said, bowing deeply. "Let's help Sudo."
Kushida Kikyo forced herself to smile sweetly despite her inner disgust. "I don't want to see Sudo get expelled either."
"That so…"
"Well, if Hirata says so, I guess I'm in."
"Yeah, same! Let's listen to Kushida the angel!"
Everyone could tell what was really happening: they weren't agreeing out of kindness, but because of Hirata's and Kushida's influence.
That wasn't what Hikigaya wanted.
"Koenji," he suddenly said, turning his gaze toward the golden-haired narcissist sitting aloof at the back. "Everyone's agreed. You don't have any objections, do you?"
"Ha!" Koenji Rokusuke chuckled, casually inspecting his nails with a metal file. "Fish-eyed boy, I don't know what you're scheming—but I, Koenji, simply despise ugly things."
"You—!"
Sudo's fists clenched instinctively, but the memory of Hikigaya's earlier jab about his future stopped him cold. He looked down, thinking hard.
Hikigaya leaned closer and said in that unnervingly calm tone,
"Sudo, if you're begging for help, at least act like you're begging. Maybe start by kneeling."
"Alright… wait, what?"
Sudo froze, his brain buffering. "What did you just say?"
"Come on," Hikigaya said smoothly. "It's not like kneeling is taboo in Japan, is it? If you get down on your knees and bow your head to everyone here, I'm sure they'll agree."
For a moment, even Koenji stopped fiddling with his nail clippers. Then he burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! Delightful! Absolutely delightful! Fish-eyed boy, so this was your game all along."
He snapped his fingers and grinned. "Fine then. I'll agree—on one condition. The red-haired brute must kneel before me."
Sudo trembled with fury, his hands shaking at his sides. The rest of the class instinctively backed away, afraid he'd explode again.
And just when his will began to crack—
"Sudo," Hikigaya murmured softly, his voice like a whisper from the devil himself, "you don't want to be expelled and sent to a vocational school, do you? Who knows, maybe you'll even get to, you know… contribute to Japan's declining birthrate in some public restroom there."
That was the breaking point.
Thud!
Sudo dropped to his knees, his forehead slamming against the floor.
"Koenji! I'm begging you!"
The classroom went dead silent.
"…Ugly as ever," Koenji said after a pause, raising an eyebrow. "But perhaps ugliness isn't everything. Very well—I'll allow it."
And so Sudo went around the room, kneeling and bowing to each classmate one by one.
"M-Maybe you don't have to go that far…" Kei Karuizawa said uneasily, shrinking back. Seeing the violent Sudo kneeling before her actually calmed her deep-seated fear of him.
To tame a brute like that… she couldn't help but glance at Hikigaya.
"I don't like you," Horikita Suzune said curtly, "but seeing his resolve… I'll agree."
"I—I'll do whatever Hikigaya says…" Sakura Airi murmured, clutching Hikigaya's sleeve nervously.
"Same here," Hasebe Haruka added, looking away, completely uninterested in Sudo's display.
Then, without a word, Sudo turned to Hikigaya—
and bowed three times.
(Young master ahh 💀)
Even Ayanokoji's poker face twitched slightly. He was starting to wonder if this "Hikigaya" guy had come straight from the White Room.
By the end of it, Sudo had knelt before every single classmate.
And just like that, the resentment toward him began to dissolve. After all, there was no deep hatred—just annoyance. Seeing a guy that proud on his knees was cathartic enough.
But now, everyone looked at Hikigaya differently.
With fear.
This guy… he's a devil.
"Hikigaya," Hirata said quietly, face complicated, "wasn't that… going too far?"
"Not really," Hikigaya replied calmly. "Anyway—leave the rest to me."
He got up and left the classroom to find Chabashira Sae.
Sudo waited anxiously.
Ten minutes later, Chabashira returned with an announcement:
Class D only needed to gather 200,000 private points to save Sudo from expulsion—down from 500,000.
A 60% discount.
Now, each student only had to pay 5,000 points.
There were a few murmurs of complaint, but after what they'd just witnessed, no one refused.
"Congratulations, Sudo," Chabashira said flatly. "You've officially passed."
She manually adjusted his math and English scores to the bare passing line.
"I—I'm not getting expelled?!" Sudo's eyes brimmed with tears again.
"Hey, Hikigaya," Horikita asked curiously. "How did you do that?"
Everyone leaned in, wanting to know the same thing.
Author's Note:
Some of you said Hikigaya's treatment of Sudo was too cruel.
***
Come Back Tomorrow for More 😁