"?"
At this moment, Saiki was sipping his milk tea while looking at Yamauchi Haruki with a puzzled expression.
"What's going on?"
Meanwhile, Yamauchi Haruki, who was standing nearby, looked at Saiki with a guilty conscience:
"Good... good evening, Saiki!"
Although Yamauchi Haruki tried his best to hide it, his words were already stuttering.
'Hey, hey, hey, are you already feeling guilty before even starting?'
Saiki inwardly complained. Although Yamauchi Haruki hadn't said anything, Saiki had already used his telepathy to get a rough idea of what was going on.
[Sorry, Saiki-kun. I don't really want to expel you, but for Sakayanagi-chan's confession next Monday, I have no choice but to do this!]
'Confession next Monday?'
[But when I think about it, it's as if the Class A students made the decision themselves. Yes, yes, it has nothing to do with me!]
[After all, I'm not that close to Saiki anyway. That guy always acts so cold. Let's just follow Sakayanagi's plan and expel him!]
Yamauchi Haruki thought to himself, then greeted Saiki before quickly returning to his room.
'Yare yare...'
Saiki narrowed his eyes slightly.
...
The next day, the class vote exam officially began.
Although the results wouldn't be revealed until the weekend, the week leading up to it was no different from a normal school life.
However, many students had already started moving in secret.
The most important thing was information. For students with poor grades or few friends, they desperately needed to know who might receive criticism votes. At the same time, many small groups had formed. The larger the group, the easier it was to manipulate the voting results.
After all, this was an exam where someone would definitely be expelled.
But unlike others, Saiki didn't take any action—because for him, it wasn't necessary. His psychic abilities allowed him to know what others were up to.
For example, Yamauchi Haruki.
"Hey, hey, did you know? Saiki has been badmouthing you behind your back!"
"Did you know? Saiki actually does some really weird things!"
"...Yeah, it's Saiki. Those rumors from before might have been spread by him. He always acts so cold, but who knows what he's really like in private?"
Yamauchi Haruki went around the class, secretly spreading lies about Saiki, trying to lower Saiki's reputation in the class and concentrate criticism votes on him.
This was all part of Sakayanagi Arisu's plan.
[For the sake of my future with Sakayanagi-chan, I have no choice but to sacrifice you, Saiki.]
However, he didn't know—
All his actions had already been discovered by Saiki.
Moreover, Yamauchi Haruki would never have imagined that his actions were completely meaningless and would only increase the disdain others felt for him.
Because Kushida Kikyo and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had already started taking action.
Last night, while chatting with her friends, Kushida Kikyo "accidentally" mentioned some things about Yamauchi Haruki.
"Yamauchi-kun seems to like badmouthing people behind their backs. He might even make up lies to smear others."
"Yamauchi-kun sometimes looks at me in a really strange way..."
"Sometimes I don't know what to do with Yamauchi-kun..."
With just a few simple sentences, Kushida Kikyo planted a negative impression of Yamauchi Haruki in the subconscious minds of others.
Kushida Kikyo's connections and influence far surpassed Yamauchi Haruki's.
Not to mention, everything Yamauchi Haruki said was a lie, while Kushida Kikyo was simply revealing Yamauchi Haruki's true nature.
[I'm sure these people must feel some resentment toward Saiki now!]
Yamauchi Haruki thought to himself after spreading lies about Saiki.
But in reality, Saiki could clearly hear the true thoughts of those students.
[This guy is definitely trying to smear Saiki!]
[His goal is to get us to vote against Saiki, right?]
[How disgusting...]
After saying these things, Yamauchi Haruki's image in their minds only worsened.
[It seems like there's a campaign against Saiki in the class. Is this Sakayanagi's plan? But I don't think it's a good choice. Saiki's standing in the class is quite high, and Sakayanagi probably didn't expect that even Kushida, the social butterfly, would be so hostile toward Yamauchi... In any case, Sakayanagi's goal probably isn't to expel Saiki but to use Yamauchi to further test Saiki's abilities.]
At this moment, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who had also been approached by Yamauchi Haruki, thought to himself.
'Yare yare, although most people wouldn't believe Yamauchi's words, he's still causing me a lot of trouble. If I leave it alone, it'll only bring me more headaches...'
Saiki narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at Yamauchi Haruki, and quietly activated his psychic powers.
"Ah, next Monday, Sakayanagi-chan is going to confess to me. I can't wait! I have no choice but to sacrifice Saiki. After all, that guy is inexplicably annoying. Why do so many girls like him? It's not fair! But I'll just follow Sakayanagi's instructions and direct all the blame toward Saiki."
"But besides Saiki, Ike and Sudou are also good candidates. Their grades were worse than mine before! Sudou is good at sports, but Ike is completely useless."
"Ah, whatever. I'll get a lot of praise votes from Class A anyway. There's no way I'll be expelled."
At this moment, Yamauchi Haruki had a smile on his face as he "thought" these things.
But then he suddenly noticed that the entire class was staring at him.
"W-what are you all looking at?"
Yamauchi Haruki asked, confused.
"Yamauchi-kun, what did you just... say?"
At that moment, Hirata Yosuke walked up to Yamauchi Haruki with a serious expression and sternly questioned him.
For the first time, the usually gentle Hirata Yosuke had such a stern look on his face.
"Hirata... what's wrong?"
Yamauchi Haruki swallowed hard and asked.
"We all heard what you just said. That wasn't a joke, was it?"
Hirata Yosuke asked.
"W-what? I didn't say anything..."
"You clearly said that you listened to Sakayanagi and plan to expel Saiki-kun!"
Hirata Yosuke's voice rose several decibels.
In Hirata Yosuke's mind, this behavior was nothing short of betrayal.
"Ah... did I say that?"
Yamauchi Haruki awkwardly scratched his head.
[What's going on? Did I actually say that out loud?!]
At this moment, Yamauchi Haruki's heart was racing. He never expected something like this to happen.
'You didn't actually say it, so I helped you out.'
Saiki replied inwardly.
In Saiki's eyes, Yamauchi Haruki's actions had crossed a line, and he had to punish him a little. So, he used his psychic powers to broadcast Yamauchi Haruki's thoughts to everyone else.
To everyone else, it seemed like Yamauchi Haruki had carelessly blurted out his thoughts.
[What's this guy so smug about?]
[The target for this class vote is Yamauchi, right?]
[He's still smearing Saiki... How disgusting.]
After hearing Yamauchi Haruki's words, the disdain Class B students felt for him grew even stronger.
"Are you really colluding with Sakayanagi?"
Ike Kanji frowned as he looked at Yamauchi Haruki. They had once been close friends.
"N-no way! Why would I team up with Class A? How could I betray my classmates? There's no benefit for me in doing that! Please, spare me..."
Yamauchi Haruki covered his head, pretending to be the victim, but the panic on his face revealed the truth.
"No benefit? That's not necessarily true."
At that moment, Horikita Suzune, who had been silent until now, walked up to Yamauchi Haruki and continued,
"After all, you've been getting close to Sakayanagi recently. She probably offered you something like 'dating her afterward' as a reward. That's why you just said those things."
"I..."
Yamauchi Haruki's face immediately showed signs of wavering.
"Sakayanagi-girl would never offer you such a reward~"
Koenji Rokusuke, with his legs propped up on the desk, smiled as he spoke, but his gaze never landed on Yamauchi Haruki.
"Our class can't expel a student who's more capable than you for such a trivial reason."
Horikita Suzune said slowly.
After Chabashira Sae explained the rules yesterday, Horikita Suzune had been deeply conflicted.
Given the current situation, it was inevitable that someone in the class would be expelled. Since the situation couldn't be changed, the only thing left was to decide who should be expelled.
That meant getting rid of the least valuable student in the class.
Horikita Suzune had a few candidates in mind, namely the former "idiot trio."
Sudou Ken had a fiery temper, caused a lot of trouble in the past, and had poor grades, but he had improved a lot recently and made significant contributions during the sports festival.
Ike Kanji didn't have any particular talents, but he performed well on the deserted island and didn't have many friends in the class.
As for Yamauchi Haruki, he had contributed nothing to the class.
Originally, Horikita Suzune planned to bring this up at the right time. Although expelling a classmate wasn't ideal, someone had to make the decision.
But on the very first day, Yamauchi Haruki's self-sabotage accelerated the process.
"Originally, we were supposed to discuss and decide who to expel, but I know how difficult that would be in reality. So—I'll take it upon myself to nominate who should be expelled. For this special exam... I believe Yamauchi Haruki should be the one to leave."
Horikita Suzune's expression remained unchanged as she continued,
"No one likes losing a classmate, but you were the first to betray your peers by colluding with the enemy. If we have to target one of our own... you're the one the class doesn't need."
"Wait a minute, Horikita?"
Hirata Yosuke, though dissatisfied with Yamauchi Haruki's actions, raised an objection.
"I don't mean to interrupt, but after hearing what you said, I still oppose this kind of approach and vote manipulation. Turning against each other isn't right."
"That's right, that's right!"
Yamauchi Haruki quickly nodded in agreement, trying to seize his dwindling chance.
[The perfect honor student, academically and athletically gifted, Hirata Yosuke's weakness is exposed—he's incapable of making tough decisions when forced to choose.]
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka thought to himself.
"You're right, but Hirata-kun, don't forget that Yamauchi-kun was the one who attacked Saiki-kun first. I believe Saiki-kun has contributed more to the class in the past year than half—no, eighty percent—of the students. Are we really going to let Saiki-kun be expelled?"
"You're right..."
"No matter what you think, I'll fight using the methods I believe in. Let me make my stance clear here."
Horikita Suzune said slowly.
It seemed that the exam, which was supposed to last a week, would lose all suspense today.
[Is this Sakayanagi's plan? No, this doesn't benefit Sakayanagi. The only possibility is that Yamauchi accidentally revealed Sakayanagi's plan. Was it really just carelessness?]
[But there's no doubt that Yamauchi Haruki is now the most likely candidate for expulsion in this class.]
[What bothers me a bit is... Hirata's unusual behavior. He's not acting like his usual self today.]
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka discreetly observed the people on the podium.
'That's true.'
Saiki agreed inwardly.
Because he could hear the roar in Hirata Yosuke's heart.
[No no no no no no no no no no no!]
This voice was completely different from the usually gentle Hirata Yosuke.