Hikigaya Hachiman is Kuuga?

A deep sigh came from the side. Yukinoshita Yukino walked up to him and looked at him quietly, "Aren't you afraid that they will join other circles and hurt her even more in order to cover up the scandal that will happen next?"

"I think you should have a deep understanding of how bad people are, right?"

There was a coldness in his gaze, as if something terrible would happen if his next answer did not satisfy her.

"Will not."

The girl was stunned by the firm words, and then she frowned and asked: "Why are you so sure?"

"It's simple. People are empathetic and gossipy, especially sixth graders who are about to enter middle school and have become more mature in their thinking."

"They will more or less imitate adults, and feel that they are gradually becoming like the adults they once were, so they naturally learn to think."

Hikigaya Hachiman seemed to recall his youthful days, and his expression softened a little. "When a group that should have been getting along well suddenly becomes divided, and each of them joins other groups, and even encourages them to bully a person who has always been isolated?"

"If there's no gossip in it, would you believe it?"

A mocking smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. "Maybe not everyone is so smart, but there must be one or two smart people in a group, and children are keen on self-expression, aren't they?"

"Or maybe people of all ages like to show that they are better than others..."

"Then, because they don't want their embarrassing things to be exposed and affect their status in the next group, the smart ones among them will warn others, and others will do the same for the same reason."

Yukinoshita Yukino completed his unfinished words, "Even if none of them are smart, they still have the ability to observe the atmosphere, especially when it comes to themselves, so when they notice it, they will stop those behaviors and protect her instead. The excuse can also be that they feel sorry for her, right?"

Hikigaya Hachiman nodded in agreement, "That's right, everyone lives for themselves, it's such a simple truth."

"People only care about what they want. They will only pay attention to other things when they have the energy to do so. So for their own sake, they will choose a plan that is beneficial to themselves and nip the danger in the bud."

His voice became a little low. "Extreme ideas will not appear in their options, and the risks are too great, so it will only be the situation we assume."

“Although there are not many smart people in this world, there are not many stupid people either. Mediocre people are the mainstream of this world.”

"Ah~"

Yukinoshita Yukino sighed deeply, and with mixed emotions in her eyes she looked at the boy who was still looking up at the starry sky, "Well, I have to say you are right. At least I can't think of any other way."

The girl turned around and a slight voice entered her ears.

"If only I had known you earlier."

[It would have been useless if I had known you earlier. I would not have had a solution to your situation at that time. We were still children and did not have the wisdom and experience we have now, so we lacked the pieces to piece together this solution.]

[So if I had met you earlier, it would just be one more person being isolated. The only difference might be that it would make you feel better?]

As for the meaning of the girl's words, Hachiman Hikigaya can easily understand what happened between them through the conversation between the girl and Hayato Hayama, as well as his attitude towards the incident of Tsurumi Rumi being isolated.

It's nothing more than that the overly outstanding Yukinoshita Yukino was isolated by her classmates, and Hayama Hayato relied on the method he mentioned last night, such as "have a good talk with everyone", but the results of this method have been seen on Tsurumi Rumi.

That was of no use at all, and they even acted in his presence, and returned to their original state when he left. Such bad treatment hurt their hearts even more, causing much more pain than before.

Perhaps out of guilt or something else, Hayato Hayama no longer had any contact with Yukinoshita Yukino, which led to their relationship becoming what it is now.

He felt guilty and she was disgusted!

That’s why there is the saying “If only I had met you earlier”.

"I'm still a little naive, but if everyone is like me, the world will be hopeless."

"I really hope I can finish early and go home. It's hard to exercise with so many people."

Guessing that Hayato Hayama would soon convince Miura Yumiko and the others, Hachiman Hikigaya turned back to the room where they had just discussed. When he opened the door, he saw Miura Yumiko pouting slightly and looking at him with dissatisfaction. Before he had time to look at the reactions of others, Hayato Hayama walked up to him with an inexplicable smile.

"Well then, Hitotani-kun, I'll leave the rest to you."

Without thinking too much about the emotions hidden under his smile, Hikigaya Hachiman shrugged and said, "It's nothing. You can't remember those words anyway, so just use your phone to read them."

"At that time, as long as you show a little impatience, they won't notice it because they are scared."

After that, he directly sent the edited content on his phone to Yuigahama Yui, and said to her who took out her phone with a surprised look on her face: "Just send it to Miura..."

He turned his attention to the increasingly dissatisfied Miura Yumiko, "As long as you maintain your current state, you will definitely be able to scare them, so come on."

"Tsk~ How annoying~"

"Well, don't be angry, Yumiko. We don't have any other options now, right?"

Realizing that staying here would only make the atmosphere worse, Hikigaya Hachiman made a gesture to Hayama Hayato to leave first, and after receiving the other party's nod of approval, he turned and left.

"Ah~ I really don't know what to say. He walked in and came out again within a few minutes."

Shaking his head and lamenting the humbleness of his existence, Hikigaya Hachiman returned to the place where he had looked up at the starry sky not long ago, silently waiting for the arrival of night.

----

Time passed quickly and it was time for the night test of courage.

According to Hikigaya Hachiman's plan, Hikigaya Komachi, who was responsible for drawing lots, used a little trick to successfully make the group that Tsurumi Rumi was in become the last group. During the process, Miura Yumiko, who was responsible for "finding fault", easily found things that made her unhappy with them. With her queen-like domineering attitude as the pyramid girl in the class, she successfully shocked these little girls who had not seen much of the world.

Then, Tobe Sho, who was in charge of the "thugs", came on the scene and threatened them by waving his fists and using the gangster tone he learned from TV, putting pressure on them and causing further fear.

Then, Hayato Hayama, the handsome guy who previously seemed like a warm and friendly brother next door, appears with a cold attitude that is completely opposite to his previous one, shattering their hope that they will be rescued. He delivers the fatal blow by saying, “We won’t punish all of you. We only need to choose three people to bear the consequences of your underestimation and playing tricks on us, and the other two can be rescued,” completely breaking down their inner defenses.

The ending soon came as Hikigaya Hachiman had expected. When faced with the imminent danger, the so-called friendship was quickly shattered. A not-so-ugly corner of the mouth appeared on one of the four little girls, and the abandoned candidate also met his end.

Just when he was about to come out and offer a sincere apology with words like "This is all part of the test of courage, because just pretending to be a ghost to scare you is too boring" in order to minimize the harm to their fragile hearts, an accident happened.

Tsurumi Rumi used the flash of the digital camera in her hand to grab their sight without warning, and took advantage of the chaos to pull her companions' hands and leave the "dangerous" high school student.

[Isn’t that very capable?]

Hikigaya Hachiman smiled with satisfaction and looked with gentle eyes at the little girl who was still encouraging the former "villain".

[This is the best way. I don’t tell you because kindness from the heart, especially kindness received in times of crisis, can be unforgettable.]

He turned around silently.

[Next, they will remember this favor. Although they won’t be friends with you, at least they will want to help you when you need help.]

[No need to take action, just a thought will do.]

[Because it can really help you.]

He disappeared from the sight of Hayato Hayama, who was still confused by the sudden situation that occurred at the scene.

Chapter 36: The Beginning of Change

Hikigaya Hachiman leaned against a thick tree trunk. In his sight was a scene of elementary school students dancing around a bonfire that he had built with great effort, with happy smiles on their faces. In his ears was the sound of a folk dance music called "Oklahoma Mixer".

Not finding the target, he began to shift his gaze, but soon he spotted five little girls who were different from the joyful atmosphere around them.

One is Tsurumi Rumi, who has been incompatible with the joyful atmosphere from the beginning to the end, and the other four are a group of four people who are in the same team with her and have just experienced some social cruelty under his bad plan.

Their faces still showed the fear of the "intimidation" incident, as well as the resistance to chatting with friends who used to be very happy after seeing how friendship could be overturned.

When asked about it by classmates who were somewhat familiar with them, they would make excuses like "it's okay", "maybe I was just scared", "I feel a little uncomfortable" etc.

After all, the gangster's tone of voice saying "I've memorized your looks, and you know what the consequences will be if you tell on me" was too destructive for these elementary school students to even utter it out loud.

However, this may also be thanks to the hard work of the "thug" Sho Tobe.

Hikigaya Hachiman found that his goal had been achieved and the final entertainment program - folk dance had also come to an end. He was about to pack up his things so that he could go back to take a shower and sleep quickly, but a voice stopped him.

"Hey~ Hachiman, didn't you say that we don't have to do anything?"

It was a voice that was slightly angry, yet mixed with a bit of joy.

He heard an unexpected conversation. In order to confirm whether the owner of the voice was the same person he imagined, he turned his head suddenly. The familiar figure of Tsurumi Rumi appeared in his sight, and his expression was naturally stunned.

"You find it so surprising to see me?"

The girl seemed a little dissatisfied with his actions, and frowned, "I told you not to do anything else, why do you still want to do it?"

"Are you so sure it was me?"

"Intuition. My intuition is very accurate."

"Really……"

Hikigaya Hachiman scratched his head. "Make sure you listen to the reason. You may not understand it, and it may cause a terrible impact on your worldview~"

Tsurumi Rumi looked at him deeply, then shook her head, "Forget it, Hachiman will say those difficult words anyway, and..."

She generously showed him a lovely smile, "I know Hachiman is doing this for my own good, this is more important than anything else!"

[What's going on? Isn't this girl too cute?]

[Not good, not good, it’s really not good. You’re so cute that I might confess to you in an instant, and then you’ll reject me immediately. In the end, I can’t bear the excitement and I’ll commit suicide!]

"Child molestation is a felony, and you'll go to jail!"

The cold voice, which seemed to freeze one's body and mind, suddenly interrupted the conversation between him and her, but there was no sense of abruptness, it felt so natural.

Therefore, Hikigaya Hachiman naturally rolled his eyes at Yukinoshita Yukino and said, "I am just communicating normally, how can that be considered harassment?"

"Oh~"

The girl had a sadistic smile on her face. "Faced with a little girl with a red face and eyes full of animal desire, are you sure that if someone sees you like that, they won't call the police and have you arrested?"

After hearing the "vicious" words from the girl, Hikigaya Hachiman knew that he was no match for her no matter how much he said, so he decisively ignored her words, squatted down and said to Tsurumi Rumi: "Thank you for your trust, Rumi!"

"That's all I have to say, bye~"

Perhaps she had already said what she wanted to convey, or perhaps there was still an "outsider" here, Tsurumi Rumi said goodbye with a red face, and left without looking back.

"It looks like you have solved the problem well!"

There was no impurity in the smile on the girl's face, which showed that the method that Yukinoshita Yukino initially thought was not feasible had achieved good results that she had not expected.

"Do not……"

However, Hikigaya Hachiman did not choose to accept the girl's rare praise. He just shook his head and said, "Her lonely situation has not changed. I just made the atmosphere she was in a little better. Nothing else has changed."

His words made Yukinoshita Yukino slightly stunned, then she smiled and shook her head, "I didn't expect you to be a perfectionist."

"It's true that your method can't change the fundamental situation, but hasn't the child already made his choice?"

Recalling the girl's last innocent smile, as well as her dependence and longing for the boy in front of her, her tone became a little subtle, "In my opinion, you have done very well, so don't be too harsh on yourself!"

"maybe?"

Hikigaya Hachiman also remembered the girl's innocent smile, chuckled and nodded.

------

There was no conversation that night. The next morning, Hikigaya Hachiman leaned against the shade alone, with sad tears in the corners of his eyes. "Alas~ I missed the time to take a bath with Totsuka again. I really..."

Her whispering made her a little invisible in this event. The only thing that made her nose bleed was when she was discussing how to help Tsurumi Rumi get out of trouble, she revealed that she liked gay Ebina Hime.

Of course, no matter how much he regrets, it is of no use. The past time will not flow back because of his regret.

"Hey~ Hachiman, can we exchange email addresses?"

The voice ringing in his ears brought Hikigaya Hachiman back to his regretful state of mind. When he looked down, he saw the image of Tsurumi Rumi holding the phone tightly in both hands, her body twisting in a state of nervousness.

[This seems to be the second time in my life that a girl has asked for my email address since the science class! It seems that I am also very popular! ]

The random thoughts in his brain did not hinder his actions. He took out his cell phone from his pocket and added Tsurumi Rumi, who smiled at his action, through infrared.

"Ding dong~"

Soon after adding the person, the phone started to ring with an unread message. Hikigaya Hachiman, who had experienced this once before, opened the message and saw a message from Tsurumi Rumi, who he had just added, saying, "Hachiman, please give me your guidance (。???)ノ?ヾ(?ω?。)"

Just when I was about to reply on my phone, new messages appeared.

"And send the cell phone number as well."

[Are all kids typing this fast these days? Or am I the only one who's so slow?]

The only people to whom he sent text messages were his family members, and Hachiman Hikigaya probably sent less than twenty text messages a year. Looking at the two text messages on the screen of his mobile phone, he couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

But he did not neglect the girl. He sent her his mobile phone number and added a sentence at the end: "Please give me your advice. I will stay in the United States."

The smile on the recovered girl's face became more obvious, and there seemed to be a bright light flashing in her eyes.

She smiled and waved her hand, with a hint of reluctance in her voice, "Well, bye, Hachiman! I'll look for you when I'm free, and remember to look for me when you're free."

"Well, although I'm busy with studies now, I will look for you when I have time. I will definitely reply to your text messages and will definitely not let you see any foreign messages."

"Haha~ You're saying those incomprehensible words again, bye, Hachiman!"

Hikigaya Hachiman waved his hand and watched the girl leave.

"It's really surprising that my brother gets along so well with that kid. To be honest, Komachi is a little jealous!"

Seeing that the two had finally finished their conversation, Hikigaya Komachi walked forward, walked around him twice with a scrutinizing look, and then said jokingly.