Light Novel Volume 11/Summary

Below is the long summary of volume 11 of the You-Zitsu light novel series.

Prologue
Sakayanagi gives a monologue where she reminisces about her trip to the White Room with her father. She recalls that the white room, which was located deep in the mountains, was white and clean. Everything from it's exterior to ceilings to corridors was dyed white. The goal of white room was to artificially develop geniuses. Among the many children in the White Room, Kiyotaka Ayanokōji seemed to be the only one was calmly beating one opponent after the other in chess and was the only one to attract Sakayanagi's attention. It is revealed that Kiyotaka was born and raised in the White Room and that his parents and grandparents were ordinary people. Kiyotaka's father, who ran the faculty, was said to have become successful largely due to his indomitable fighting spirit rather than talent, making Ayanokōji the ideal test subject. Sakayanagi's father didn't want the experiment to succeed because its success will likely force many other children to suffer the same fate as Ayanokōji and the children will similarly not receive their parent's affection. Sakayanagi promised her father that she will definitely defeat anyone from the White Room because she has the superior DNA that she inherited from her extremely talented mother.

Chapter 1
In almost the end of February, little after class voting test was formally finished, the new chairman Tsukishiro holds a discussion with other teachers regarding the final special exam of the year. While the final special exam for second and third year students is of roughly same difficulty as before, for first years the special exam is significantly harder than usual. Mashima appeals for the chairman to reconsider the exam for first years. He believes the low number of drop out among first year is not a justified reason for significantly increasing difficulty of the exam. The director says that its a decision from government-owned corporation which control the school and that concession in the form of the Protection Points has already been provided. The chairman also claims that the school was always trial oriented and new experiments, such as Cultural festival in which important politician are invited, are beneficial for the school. After the meeting, Chabashira invites Mashima and Hoshinomiya for a talk. They discuss the possibility that the director wishes to fire rebellious teachers like Mashima. After Chabashira leaves, Hoshinomiya says that she won't let Chabashira's class catch up to hers.

Chapter 2
It is March of 8th, Chabashira explains the rules of the final special exam, Events Selection Exam, to the class.

In the exam, each class is supposed to come with 10 events and rules which decide the winner of the event. The event must be popular enough to be well know, such as rock paper scissors, poker, or chess. In the cases of situations like written tests questions and other related events, the school will decide the questions in order to ensure fairness.

The rules of the events must be adjusted to ensure that there is never a tie. All 10 events must be unique and must not take too long to finish. For any event, the minimum number of participants is 1 and the maximum number are 20, including substitutes. There can only be two events with more than 10 participants, including the substitutes. Each student can participate in only one event and cannot participate in more than 2 events. A student may participate in only one event unless all of the student's classmates have already participated in one event each, in which case the student may participate more than once.

Asides from the events, the class must also choose one "Commanding Tower". If the class wins, the commanding tower earns private points individually, but if the class loses, they will be expelled. The commanding tower needs to be decided by the end of the day. The commanding tower of each class will draw a lottery and the winner will get to decide which class they wish to compete against. If, for example, class A's commanding tower wins the lottery and chooses to compete with class C, then class B will be forced to compete with class A. Though each class has to select 10 events, it need to select 5 of them as "certain events" and those are the events the class actually wish to compete in. The remaining 5 are to be selected to deceive other classes about which events are going to be selected. The 10 events for the classes battle and their corresponding rule are to be announced on March 15th. Among the 10 "certain events" of both the competing classes, the school then chooses 7 events and announces them on the day of the test, March 22nd. It is in these 7 events that the classes will actually compete against each other. Each event is worth 30 Class Points, i.e. the winning class receives 30 points and the loosing class has 30 points deducted. The class with more events won would be considered the winner and receive an additional 100 points.

After the explanation is finished, Chabashira leaves the class. Hirata, who usually acts as the class leader, is still depressed from the recent class expulsion and sits silently with his head down, forcing Horikita to act as the class leader. Sudō complains about the recent expulsion and brings up the strangeness of Ayanokōji receiving 42 praise votes. Horikita explains this was part of Sakayanagi's strategy to expel Yamauchi while giving the protection point to someone who is unremarkable and not a threat for her class. Though most of her classmates understand her explanation is logical, they can't fully accept it. To clear this doubt, Ayanokōji nominates himself as the commanding tower. Shinohara objects to Ayanokōj's nomination since she felt selecting someone unremarkable as him is equivalent of giving up on winning the event itself, but since no one else volunteers to become the commanding tower, Ayanokōji is chosen to be the commanding tower.

Chapter 3
At lunch break, everyone except Kōenji and Hirata are present for the planned discussion. Most students are anxious about Hirata’s absence. Sudō, in particular, is also angry at Kōenji for not keeping his word about participating in class events. Due to absence of Hirata, Horikita takes the role of motivate her classmates and forming strategies.

After school, Hirata once again leaves the classroom. Mei follows after Hirata. Chabashira asks for the commanding tower to meet her in the corridor. Before leaving, Ayanokōji is instructed by Horikita to choose class D as the opponent if given the choice. Chabashira is surprised Ayanokōji volunteered to become the commanding tower. They go to A multi-functional classroom is situated in the school's special building, where the commanding tower will be situated during the special exam

The commanding towers for Class A is Sakayanagi, Class B is Ichinose and Class D is Kaneda. The commanding towers drew lots and Kaneda from Class D won. Kaneda chose Class B as Class D's opponent. This was due to Ayanokōji telling Kaneda that Class C wishes to challenge Class A.

The commanding towers receive instructions from the teachers about how to operate the computer through which they will be managing their class. They are told they would have a time limit of 30 seconds per student when selecting students for the events. If the selection time has passed without the commanding tower completing the selection, the computer will automatically pick students. During the test, the events would be displayed on the computer along with the rules for when the commanding tower can intervene. Intervention allow the commanding tower can give instructions from the computer, in form of text, to only one student per event which they choose before hand. The designated student needs to wear a headset to receive the instructions.

After this Ayanokōji returns home. At around 6 o'clock, Karuizawa comes to visit Ayanokōji as per his instructions. She is worried that other people might have seen her coming here and this could start some rumors. Ayanokōji tells her that since Hashimoto and few other senior students have already seen them together, there is no longer any point in hiding their relationship. He also points out that since he is the commanding officer, it would not seem unusual for him to call her for discussion about the event. Kei then tells him about all the relevant information she know about every girl in the class. To Kei's surprise, Ayanokōji had memorized all the information she told him. When Kei is about to leave, Ayanokōji calls her out and gives her birthday and white day present. He bought her a heart 20,000 s-points heart shaped necklace, after searching for recommendations on presents at a woman's website. Kei calls it a heavy present and says it only gets 10 points out of 100, whereas a snack box would have gotten 15 points out of a 100. Ayanokōji tells her to leave the necklace here, if she doesn't want it, and that he would instead get her a snack box. Kei then instead wears the necklace and says that even though the heart looks childish, it still suits her and accepts the present.

Chapter 4
Next day, during the lunch break, the Ayanokōji group gather for lunch as usual. Ayanokōji asks what the class discussed yesterday when he was with Chabashira. They tell him not much was discussed due to spies from Class A listening on their conversation by standing outside the classroom. They discuss that choosing events that only rely on luck will result in only 1.56% change of winning and thus they discuss about the importance of intelligence warfare in this special exam.

After school, several girls try to stop Hirata from leaving but he ignores them and leaves. Kōenji says that this is only time he will participate in the discussion and asks them to finish up quickly. Horikita asks everyone to think about things they are good at and things they would never lose. After saying, regardless of the event you put me in, the class will win that event, Kōenji leaves.

Next morning, Hirata arrives almost late to the class. Most students try to avoid him but Mi-chan greets him, only to be ignored. During lunch break, Hirata tries to leave, but Mi-chan tries to stop him. Hirata asks her to stop caring about him and tells her that she is annoying. Kei calls him out on his rude behavior. Hirata asks her to stop calling him by his first name and tells her it is no different from her usual behavior. When she tries to defend herself, he subtly threatens her about exposing the truth about their fake relationship.

After school, Hirata and Kōenji leave without participating in the discussion as usual. Mi-chan is hesitant to follow after Hirata due to his harsh rejection and is eventually stopped by Kushida. Before the discussion begins, Keisei shares his concerns about presence of spies. As a countermeasure, they ask Kushida to form a group chat with all members of class in it and decide to talk there. Mi-chan, changes her mind and decides to chase after Hirata. Horikita, in an attempt to stop Mi-chan, chases after her. Ayanokōji also chases after Horikita by saying her presence in the class is more important than his. Ayanokōji goes to Hirata's house and finds Mi-chan in front of it. Ayanokōji asks Mi-chan why she is so desperate to help Hirata even though others have abandoned him. She tells him that even if Hirata ends up hating her, she thinks it important to save him.

Ayanokōji returns to the classroom only to find Hashimoto strolling in the corridor outside Class-C. Hashimoto asks Ayanokōji why he became the commanding tower. Ayanokōji tells him that Class-C is likely to lose against Class-A so he became the commanding tower to avoid expulsion. Ayanokōji reply and Horikita's strategy of using text messages to avoid leaking information results in Hashimoto loosing interest in Class-C and leaving. Afterwards, the class discuss various things they can choose as an event in the group chat. Horikita is concerned about the limited number of one participant events that can be held.

Next morning, Ayanokōji meets Hoshinomiya on his way to school. She indirectly tells him that it in the past, students had a roommate and that the roommate system was abolished due to frequent conflicts between students. She also mentioned that there are higher chances of couples forming now then in past due to absence of roommates. They are eventually interrupted by Chabashira.

Chapter 5
While on their way to lunch, Ayanokōji's group saw Shibata fiercely complaining about Class D's recent action to Ichinose and Kanzaki. Upon noticing presence of Ayanokōji's group, Ichinose invites them for lunch at the coffee shop. She offers to make it her treat, but the idea is declined by Ayanokōji. Kanzaki tells Ayanokōji's group that Class D has been stalking, relentlessly following and attempting to mentally pressure Class B members in order to reduce their mobility and hinder their ability to make decisions. Upon hearing this, Keisei tells Kanzaki that Class A has also sent spies to monitor Class C's activities. Ichinose intends for Class B ignore Class D's actions and instead focus solely on doing their best on the exam. After finishing their lunch class D left.

Ayanokōji found Ichinose's behavior when interacting with him a little strange. He noticed that she sometimes didn't maintain eye contact while talking to him. On the other hand, she sometimes only looked at him when talking to the entire group. Airi mentions that Ichinose has started using perfume. Keisei changes the topic and says that he is glad that their opponent is Class A instead of Class B. Keisei thinks highly of their strong unity and above average skill. As they are talking about this, Haruka notices Ike and Shinohara walking a little far from them. It turns out that Ike was inviting Shinohara out on a date on White Day due to receiving chocolates on Valentines day. Shinohara accepts the invitation. Ayanokōji's group talk about what they just witnessed a little before going home.

The next day, Ayanokōji notices that the gatherings after school have been decreasing over time, and instead the group chat for Class C has become more active. Everyone except Hirata and Kōenji is participating in the group chat. Ayanokōji asks Kushida why she isn't taking initiative in the special exam this time around. She tells him that disclosure about Kushida's assistance in Yamauchi's plan has really hurt her reputation and she just can't bring herself to lead the class anymore. Ayanokōji asks her to instead give him all the information she has about the class. Kushida refuses to give him any information and says that she neither intends to help nor hinder the class for now. Hearing this, Ayanokōji concludes it would be better to give up.

It is Sunday, March 14, the White Day. At 7 o'clock in the morning, Ayanokōji decided to put gifts into mailboxes of the students who had given him Valentine's Day chocolates. While doing so, Ayanokōji runs into Ichinose who is once again avoiding eye contact with him. Ichinose checks her mailbox and finds Ayanokōji's gift inside. She tells him there was no need for this, but Ayanokōji thinks that it is only courteous to give a return gift, after which she thanks him. Ayanokōji asks her for update on Shibata's incident. She tells him number of targets have increased from 3 to 9. They know that stalkers include Ishizaki, Komiya, Yamada, Kondo, Ibuki, and Kinoshita. Ichinose tells him that they intend to focus on defense for now. When Ichinose is asked about whether or not their class has decided on the 10 events, she affirms it. Ayanokōji says he has entrusted task of deciding all 10 events and rules for commanding tower intervention entirely to Horikita. He also says that he was chose to sacrifice his protection point and became the commanding tower to prevent any expulsions. Before leaving, Ichinose says that she messed up. When Ayanokōji tries to inquire about it, she tells him it's nothing to worry about. After she left, Ayanokōji notices that she didn't wear her perfume today.

On Monday morning, the day when events of each class will be announced, Ayanokōji comes across Horikita's brother and Tachibana. Ayanokōji asks Manabu why he threatened Horikita to drop out of the school when they enrolled. Manabu tells him that he was not disappointed by her surface level achievements but rather her inner growth. He tells him that Suzune used to be a child who smiled a lot, but because she started trying to imitate him in every aspect and adopted such a cold image. She started mimicking him in every aspect, even in stuff like favorite food, favorite colors and taste in clothes. He tells Ayanokōji that he tried to change her habit by treating her with apathy, but in the end it was only counterproductive. He also tells Ayanokōji that if Suzune stopped chasing him, she will surpass his brother and become an existence Ayanokōji can’t ignore. Ayanokōji tells him that he will seriously try to change her. Ayanokōji decides that his purpose in school is trying to change Horikita. Ayanokōji also asks, whether Manabu and Tachibana are in a relation, which Manabu denies. Manabu says that he doesn’t mind giving Suzune to Ayanokōji if they end up falling in love, but both Ayanokōji and Manuba think it is likely impossible. Tachibana thinks this might become some kind of flag.

At the end of morning class of the same day, Class A’s events were announced. The events and rules were the following:

"International Chess”, “Mental Arithmetic”, "Go", "Modern Literature Quiz”; “Social Science Quiz"; "Volleyball"; "Mathematics Quiz"; "English Quiz"; "Long rope jump"; and "Dodge Ball".

Command Tower's intervention rules set by Class A for most events allowed limit intervention except for "International Chess”, where the commander tower could give instructions at any time, using the given time limit, of up to 30 minutes. Since "International Chess” had a time limit of 1 hour, it allowed commanding tower to have a huge influence of on the final outcome.

Horikita surmised that Class A's strategy must have been to select sports events that clearly requires tight coordination so that Class C can't easily focus on written test events alone. Although most of the students in Class C knew about International Chess and "Go", only Soshi Miyamoto had played Go and only Ayanokōji had played "International Chess". For the remainder of the class, Horikita continued the discussion about selecting students for the events.

During the lunch break, Keisei told Horikita that he wanted to talk to her in private about the special exam. Horikita agreed on the condition of letting Ayanokōji come along. Keisei proposes that they should ask Katsuragi, who must hold a grudge against Sakayanagi, to leak information about which events are "official events" in return for 20 million private points. Keisei says that if they win this event, they would get a minimum of 130 points, which would mean an additional 6 million private points a year for the class. This would allow them to save up 20 million points and allow Katsuragi to transfer to any class. Horikita tells Keisei that the proposal is too risky for Katsuragi to agree with it. After Horikita left, Keisei asks for Ayanokōji's help in convincing Katsuragi about the proposal.

At 6 p.m. of the same day, Horikita calls Ayanokōji to invite him over to her room to discuss something about the special exam. She told him that she will finish telling all she has to say within an hour. When Ayanokōji arrives, Horikita tells him to have a seat while she finishes making dinner. Ayanokōji reluctantly has a seat and asks to confirm whether think will really take less than an hour. She tells him that she will indeed finish saying all she has to say within an hour, but everything included can take 2 hours. Horikita told Ayanokōji that she had actively tried to cook by herself every since she found out her brother planned on attending this school, in order to improve her culinary skills. When Ayanokōji tells her that her cooking proficiency is pretty good, she tells him that such special skills are useless nowadays, so it's unnecessary to praise her. When Horikita finishes cooking, she asks Ayanokōji to try it. Ayanokōji is suspicious of her intentions but reluctantly eats it.

After Ayanokōji finishes eating, Horikita gives him a notebook where she had written the combat plan she thought was most suitable for Class C. She tells him to evaluate the plan and says he is obliged to do so since she treated him to her handmade dinner. In the notebook, events for Class C were written along with analysis for who are the best candidates for both Class A and Class C's events.

The events for Class C were "English", "Basketball", "Archery", "Swimming", "Tennis", "Table Tennis", "Typing Speed Test", "Soccer", "Piano" and "Scissors-paper-stone".

The content written in the notebook matched what Ayanokōji had obtained on his own. He tells Horikita that everything written in the notebook seemed correct. Horikita also accepts Ayanokōji's request of her participation in the "international chess" event and will be receiving training from him late at night through the web. Horikita asks him whether he incited her to take action behind the scenes during the Class Poll special test. Ayanokōji affirms her suspicions while mentally noting that she will likely become increasingly difficult to control in the future. Horikita then asks if he can beat Sakayanagi, Ayanokōji replies that she shouldn't be a completely unwinnable opponent. Ayanokōji tells Horikita before leaving that he will be leaving everything, including the rules regarding the Command Tower, up to her.

A few days before the exam, Keisei and Ayanokōji successfully managed to contact Katsuragi and invite him to an isolated place. Keisei asks Katsuragi to tell him which 5 events are official in return for 20 million points. Katsuragi tells Keisei that if you could have immediately offered 20 million points, it would be a different story but currently there is no guarantee that Class C will be able to come up with 20 million even if they rose to Class A. Katsuragi tells Keisei that even if a deal can't be made, he stills feels indelible anger towards Sakayanagi and even without a deal he is willing to give them his casual prediction about which events are likely to be official. He tells them that though Sakayanagi hasn't revealed official events to anyone, International Chess, English Test, Math Test, Modern Literature Quiz and Mental Arithmetic are most likely to be the official events. He also tells them in case he is chosen for Mental Arithmetic, he can't get simple questions wrong but will try to get the difficult ones wrong. After Katsuragi left, Keisei excitedly tells Ayanokōji that they need to inform Horikita about this. Ayanokōji asks Keisei to let him handle when to give her the report to Horikita, to which Keisei reluctantly agrees.

Chapter 6
Next day after school, Hirata, who like usual tried to leave as soon as class ended, was called out by Horikita. She asks Hirata whether he would take the event seriously if he was chosen. Hirata doesn't reply and simply leaves. The girls of the class started worrying that they won't be able to win this special exam without Hirata as he is the leader of the boys of Class C. Mii-chan runs of the classroom to follow Hirata while Ayanokōji follows her. Mii-chan tries persuading Hirata to participate, but he curtly asks her to stop pestering him. But she doesn't give up and asks him to go back to his usual self, and only stops after Hirata asks her whether she can bring Yamauchi back. He starts walking away, but Mii-chan holds his arm to stop him. Hirata pushes her strongly causing her to fall on the floor. All this while Ayanokōji is watching from a distance so as not to hinder Mii-chan.

At this point of time Kōenji interferes and starts berating Hirata for his unsightly behavior, and even tells him that he expects absolutely nothing from Hirata. He points out that the reason Hirata still hasn't dropped out of the school is because he doesn't want to create more problems for the class. He also advises Mii-chan to stop going after Hirata as he's no longer a good person. Hirata becomes enraged and tries to grab Kōenji's collar with his right hand, but his hand is gripped by Kōenji before he can do that. Kōenji's grip is too strong causing Hirata to groan in pain. He then releases Hirata's hand and extends it towards the fallen Mii-chan, asking if she can take it. When she shows reluctance, he gently took Mii-chan into his arms and walked towards the dormitory despite Mii-chan's struggles. Hirata realises that Kōenji is going towards the dormitory, and so decides not to go in that direction. After giving it a moment of thought, Ayanokouji decides to pursue Kōenji while picking up Mii-chan's bag on the way.

At the entrance of the dormitory, Kōenji finally releases Mii-chan and advises her to stay away from Hirata. Ayanokōji also catches up with them. Mii-chan is confused by the two's actions, but when Ayanokōji returns her bag, she realises that Ayanokōji was watching them from afar. She thanks him and goes inside the dormitory leaving the two behind. Ayanokōji asks Kōenji whether he was talking to Hirata for the sake of the class, prompting Kōenji to say that Ayanokōji still doesn't understand him. Kōenji says that he's just doing what he wants to do. The effects of his actions on the class are only secondary to him. He says that he talked to Hirata only because Hirata was like a bad fly to him and is making him uncomfortable. Ayanokōji notes that what Kōenji said is true: that Kōenji would act only when he wants to, the only exception being when he is at risk of dropping out the school. Ayanokōji warns him that in the future, if another special exam like the class poll takes place, Koenji might be the first to get expelled because of his actions. But Kōenji laughs and says it's a small matter with his strength. Kōenji then remembers that Ayanokōji is the Commander for this exam, and asks him not to choose him for any event, but Ayanokōji says that it's not in his hands as Horikita is the one making the plans. Kōenji responds that it's his right to decide as he is the commander and then enters the dormitory.

Ayanokōji walked out of the dorm to search for Hirata. He deduces that since Hirata wouldn't go back to school, and since he doesn't want to meet other people and thus might have gone to some quiet place. After searching for about an hour, Ayanokōji finds him sitting on a bench alone, his back looking heavy and calls out to him. Hirata responds slowly and raises his head. It seemed that Hirata hadn't slept much, evident by the dark circles under his eyes. Ayanokōji asks whether Hirata can spare some time for him, causing the latter to complain that everyone should just leave him alone. He thought that Ayanokōji knows him well so he would leave him alone, so he is disappointed by Ayanokōji's presence there. Ayanokōji tries provoking him, but the latter doesn't budge. Ayanokōji then comments that he cannot be Hirata's hope.

Ayanokōji recalls that in the short period of time after the Class Poll, many students tried talking to Hirata. They may have tried to help Hirata snap out of his current state using tenderness, unaware that this is just hurting him more.

Hirata asks what Ayanokōji wants to talk about with him. The latter understood that Hirata planned to just hear him for some time, and then let it pass. So Ayanokōji says that he wants to know more about Hirata, thus surprising him. He thought that Ayanokōji would say sympathetic things to him. Ayanokōji elaborates that he wants to know more about Hirata's past. Upon being asked why, Ayanokōji just says that always felt like knowing these things. Hirata replies that he doesn't want to think about the past, and Ayanokōji manages to force him to admit that it's because Yamauchi was expelled from the school. Ayanokōji notices that Hirata doesn't even have the strength left to argue with him, and that his gestures were asking him to leave him alone. Ayanokōji then asks whether Yamauchi's expulsion had anything to do with why Hirata doesn't want to talk about his past, only to get an answer that Hirata's past has nothing to do with the present. Ayanokōji refutes his answer, and goes on to explain that it's natural to feel annoyed over the expulsion of a friend, but they don't have the time to regret it right now as the special exams are just in sight. Ayanokōji then tries to reprimand Hirata for still being stuck over the past, but deliberately stops mid-way, intending to show that he doesn't want to say such types of things.

He then tells Hirata that he wants to know the past that made him behave this way. Upon being asked why he wants to know that, Ayanokōji says that he wants to tell others about Hirata. He realizes that Hirata wants to reveal the truth, but cannot, so he looks at him sharply as if he was threatening him to say it. Hirata felt fear after looking at his eyes. Hirata realizes that Ayanokōji must have made Kei reveal her past to him using similar means. Ayanokōji understands that Hirata doesn't want to die: he wants to be saved by someone. Hirata then starts talking about his past. He starts by talking about his childhood friend who was bullied at his middle school, but is surprised when Ayanokōji mentions his name as he didn't expect him to remember it. Ayanokōji knows how the story proceeds, that even though Hirata wanted to help his friend, he didn't for he feared that he would be then the next target. Hirata continued the story and mentions that his friend tried to commit suicide by jumping from the window, and although his life was saved, he is still in a coma. Hirata laments that he was the one who forced his friend to commit suicide, but Ayanokōji interjects by saying that it's not his fault. However, Hirata says that the people who ignore bullying are also at fault. Ayanokōji realizes that from that moment, Hirata changed and thought of trying to save everyone. In fact, every time a problem occurred, Hirata took the lead in solving it with his classmates. But he also thinks that there is one thing that still cannot be explained by Hirata's recount of his past.

Hirata notices that Ayanokōji is till not convinced and continues his story. He admit that after that incident, he thought that the bullying would stop, only to later understand how naive he was for he saw the true darkness of humans. The bullying didn't stop: they only turned to the next target. He tells that people who were only watching also got involved, and the amount of bullies in class also increased. Ayanokōji comments that it's the natural law that the second lowest person in class will become the lowest after the elimination of the previous lowest one. But Hirata replied that he couldn't let it happen again. Upon being asked whether he took any action, he nodded and said that he took several. He admitted that he used fear to directly control the class. Even if he wasn't as strong as Sudo or Ryuen, when he raised his fist, no one would want to fight him. He became the one with all the power in the class, and everyone else became the lowest. Hirata intervened whenever there was an issue, and gave the same amount of pain to both the parties involved. He admitted his actions were no different from bullying, but he saw them as a necessary evil.

But the result was that he destroyed all the students in the class. All of them lost their smiles, and spent their days like emotionless robots. The incident became widespread, thus forcing the school to intervene. The class was dissolved, and everyone was kept under strict supervision until graduation. Ayanokōji finally understood why someone as outstanding as Hirata was assigned to Class D: due to this incident.

Ayanokōji commented that Hirata cannot forgive the actions that made Yamauchi the target of attack. The latter replied that he planned to pretend he didn't know as long as it wasn't spread. He wanted to remain silent until the final vote in class. He also admitted that he was useless because he could neither unite the class nor save Yamauchi. He couldn't protect the things he wanted to protect, and was even thinking of using fear and intimidation to rule the class. Ayanokōji noted that Hirata's heart was on the verge of collapse, and that Hirata thought that both sadness and happiness should shared equally among everyone in the class. If someone suffers alone, then Hirata couldn't stand it. Ayanokōji didn't know whether Hirata told anyone else about this, but he did know that each of them would have said things like 'This is not possible' or 'It's not your fault', all in an attempt to console him. They would think that Hirata is right, while all other are evil. But this would never resolve the problem. Hirata took actions to save others, so there's no point in blaming others.

Ayanokōji then mentioned that neither Yamauchi, nor Horikita and nor himself were at fault for Yamauchi's expulsion. Hirata just whispered that he would not blame Ayanokōji. Ayanokōji then asks Hirata whose responsibility was it that Yamauchi was expelled, and the latter replied that it Yamauchi's own responsibility. Even though Hirata didn't want to admit it, he still reached this conclusion. He was sure that it was because of Yamauchi's own shortcomings that he became the target for expulsion. However, Ayanokōji denied his statement, and his thoughts directly. He said that it was Hirata's fault that Yamauchi was expelled.