Subaru did not stay in his cabin for long before leaving the room.
The sky outside was already dark, with only the stars visible, filling the vast expanse above. However, Subaru's mind was not on this scenery; he walked straight onto the deck.
And a single person was standing alone on the deck right now, her gaze vanishing into the pitch-black sea surface in the distance.
Kikyo Kushida.
At this moment, there was no expression whatsoever on Kushida's face. She was completely different from the enthusiastic girl who usually wore a smile at all times.
This was the true Kikyo Kushida.
She had never imagined that her meticulous disguise would be completely torn apart during the exam. And it was all because of Subaru!
But Kushida could not figure out, no matter how hard she thought, exactly where she had been exposed. How was this guy able to plant a listening device on her in advance?
How was that possible?! Why would he be guarding against her? She had clearly acted completely harmless and innocent before!
Kushida felt that this person, Subaru, was incomparably terrifying. She couldn't see through his inner thoughts at all.
This guy even knew about her contact with Miyabi Nagumo...
A monster. How on earth did he do it? It was as if he had predicted all her actions in advance.
And that damned Ryuen—after the exam ended, he just played dead and disappeared!!
"Damn it..."
Staring at the darkness before her, Kushida cursed through gritted teeth.
She knew very well that from now on, the entire Class D would have no place for her. The interpersonal relationships she had desperately maintained would also be ruined in a single day starting from today.
"Kushida."
Subaru's voice rang out calmly, breaking the near-solid silence at the edge of the deck.
Kushida's body stiffened imperceptibly for an instant, but she did not look back. The sea breeze blew her pale orange long hair into a bit of a mess, obscuring the expression on her side profile.
She didn't respond, nor did she make any movement, merely maintaining her posture of gazing into the darkness, as if the pitch-black sea surface was more worthy of attention than the person behind her.
Subaru walked to a spot not far from her side, also leaning against the cold railing, keeping a distance that was neither intimate nor distant.
He didn't look at her; his gaze was also cast toward that void of darkness, as if he had just happened to pass by, or perhaps, as if he had long predicted she would be here.
"Watching the scenery?" he asked, his tone as flat as if discussing the weather.
Kushida finally reacted. She slowly turned her head to look at Subaru.
Under the dim lights of the deck, the customary, sweet-to-the-point-of-fake smile on her face had vanished without a trace. Replacing it was a kind of near-freezing indifference, as well as dark emotions surging deep in her eyes that could not be completely suppressed.
That beautiful face, which made countless boys feel fond of her, now held only a heart-palpitating alienation and... resentment.
"Natsuki-kun."
Her voice was very soft, yet it had lost its former softness, carrying a deliberately flattened cold hardness. "Is something the matter? Or are you here as the class's 'great hero' to admire the pathetic state of a traitor like me?"
Her self-mockery was sharp and direct, making no attempt to hide the sarcasm in her words.
Subaru finally turned his line of sight toward her, his deep grey eyes looking exceptionally profound in the night.
He didn't answer her question, but instead spoke to himself:
"Ryuen failed. Thoroughly."
Kushida's pupils constricted slightly, and her fingertips dug into the railing.
"...I know. That useless trash."
She squeezed this sentence out almost through the gaps in her teeth, her voice filled with contempt and undisguised anger. "I paid so much, even voluntarily withdrawing from the exam, and the result was him failing utterly like this, and dragging me down with him! He ruined everything I had!!"
Her breathing became slightly more rapid, her chest heaving; obviously, her emotional fluctuations were intense.
"Isn't this what you wanted to see, Subaru?"
She suddenly turned her head, staring dead at Subaru, the hatred in her eyes lunging out like a venomous snake. "Destroy Ryuen, and conveniently tear everything I painstakingly managed to shreds! Turning Class D into this ghostly state it is now—winning on the surface, but a tray of loose sand on the inside, suspicious of each other! Are you satisfied?!"
Faced with Kushida's sudden and fierce accusation, Subaru's expression didn't change in the slightest; even his eyes didn't waver.
He just watched her quietly, as if observing an interesting specimen.
"Satisfied?" he repeated, his tone flat. "I just did what I thought was necessary. Ryuen's threat needed to be removed, and your performance... it was also time for the curtain to fall."
"Performance?!"
Kushida's voice rose steeply, sounding somewhat shrill on the empty deck, but she immediately realized it and quickly suppressed her volume. Yet, she couldn't suppress that gnashing hatred.
"What do you know?! You don't understand at all how much I put in! I carefully maintained my image, sucked up to everyone, and hid my past, just to be able to live peacefully here and climb to a higher place! But now... it's all ruined by you! Because of the struggle between you and that idiot Ryuen, everything I worked hard to build has come to naught!"
Her body trembled slightly from agitation. It was no longer that pity-inducing frailty she usually showed, but the ferocity of someone driven to a desperate dead end, about to bare their fangs.
"I hate you, Subaru."
She spoke every word distinctly, her voice low and clear, every syllable soaked in venom.
"I hate that look in your eyes that seems to see through everything. I hate the way you casually destroy others' efforts! I hate that arrogant idiot Ryuen even more! I hate Horikita's self-righteous look! All of you should get the hell out of this school!"
She took a deep breath, seeming to try her best to calm her emotions that were on the verge of losing control, but the darkness in the depths of her eyes grew increasingly dense.
"But, listen to me."
Kushida stepped closer, pressing forward. Although she wasn't as tall as Subaru, that aura of reckless desperation—like a broken jar being smashed—was not to be underestimated.
"I, Kikyo Kushida, won't let it end like this. As long as I haven't been expelled, as long as I am still in this school, in this class for one day..."
Her lips pulled into a cold and twisted arc, an expression she would absolutely never show on a normal day.
"I will definitely destroy Class D. Not from the outside, but from the inside. I will use everything I can use—spread rumors, provoke conflicts, alienate everyone—including those idiots who worship you now. I will make this class completely fall apart, making this so-called 'victory' become the biggest joke!"
Her gaze was like a poisoned dagger, gouging toward Subaru.
"And you, Subaru, you are the first target I want to destroy. Don't you like controlling everything? Don't you like seeing others reveal their true faces? I will let you see what it tastes like to be tightly entangled by a venomous snake you forced out with your own hands, dragged into the quagmire little by little! I will find what you care about, the secrets you hide, and then... right in front of your face, crush it completely!"
In the night, her words were like a curse, carrying endless malice and a crazed plan.
At this moment, Kikyo Kushida had thoroughly torn off the "Angel" disguise, revealing the gloomy, vengeful, and unscrupulous true core beneath it.
Her hatred was so distinct, so blazing, it almost seemed about to turn into a tangible flame, burning herself and everything around her to ashes.
However, facing this naked declaration of hatred filled with a desire for destruction, Subaru's reaction was not the anger, vigilance, or disdain that Kushida had anticipated.
Deep in those eyes, that indifference which was originally like stagnant water seemed... to have had a small pebble thrown into it.
A trace of an extremely subtle, almost pleasurable ripple spread out.
Hatred.
Such pure, such intense, such clearly directed hatred.
Kushida's "color," when her mask was completely torn to shreds, her hopes ground to powder, leaving only the most instinctual desire for revenge, finally revealed itself—
That was a kind of thick blackness, nearing combustion, carrying tendencies of destruction and self-destruction.
It was not healthy vitality, but a toxic fuel gushing out from the wounds of the soul after being driven to a desperate dead end.
"Oh?"
Subaru softly uttered a single syllable, the tail end rising slightly, carrying a trace of... interest?
He took a small step forward, closing the distance with Kushida, lowering his head to gaze into those eyes burning with hatred.
His gaze was no longer pure indifference but held a kind of focused curiosity akin to scrutiny, as if admiring a dangerous and beautiful work of art that had just revealed its true face.
"Destroy the class? Destroy me?"
Subaru's voice was very soft, almost merging into the sea breeze.
"Using rumors, conflicts, alienation... starting from the inside?"
He repeated Kushida's words, his tone holding no fear, but rather a peculiar sense of inducement.
"Sounds a bit more interesting than Ryuen's straightforward violence," he evaluated, his gaze never moving from Kushida's face. "At least, it requires more patience and... 'wisdom'?"
Kushida was stunned. She had anticipated various reactions from Subaru—sneering, threatening, ignoring, or even using that terrifying violence to shut her up again—but the only thing she hadn't expected was this... attitude of near encouragement and anticipation?
This made her punch of hatred, which she had gathered full strength for, feel like it hit cotton. It was also like being splashed with a basin of ice water; a sense of absurdity and a deeper chill intertwined.
"You... Aren't you afraid?" she asked subconsciously, her voice carrying a trace of imperceptible wavering.
"Afraid?"
The corners of Subaru's mouth, extremely slowly, curved upward into a tiny, yet truly existing arc.
That was not a smile; it was more like the cold interest of finding a new toy.
"Kushida, were those things you just said your 'resolve'?" he asked, his voice deepening, carrying a certain strange magnetism. "The resolve to take revenge, to tear apart the hypocritical illusions before your eyes, even if it means destroying everything?"
Without waiting for Kushida to answer, he continued, his gaze burning: "If that's the case..."
"Then show me."
"Use all your schemes, ignite your hatred, and bet everything you have."
"Let me see to what extent this will of yours to destroy can burn, and what kind of... impressive 'color' it can paint."
His words were like the whispers of a demon; not a threat, but an invitation.
An invitation for her to step into deeper darkness, inviting her to put that resentment into practice, promising to look forward to her "performance" as an observer.
Kushida froze completely.
She looked at Subaru's face close at hand, looking at her own twisted reflection in those deep grey eyes, and that darkness of anticipation, bordering on pleasure, that flashed deep within them.
A chill, more biting than the sea breeze, instantly swept through her entire body.
This person... really is a monster.
He didn't care about being hated, didn't care about being retaliated against. He was even... happy to see it happen?
Her vicious declaration, in his ears, seemed to have become the most interesting opening line of a script.
A massive sense of absurdity and a deeper level of fear drowned her.
But unlike with Ryuen Kakeru—
A humiliation of being completely looked down upon, of being viewed as a "performer," made her hatred burn even more twistedly.
She suddenly took a step back, opening the distance, her chest heaving violently. She stared at Subaru with uncertain shock, as if truly recognizing this classmate for the first time.
"Lunatic..."
She cursed in a low voice, unsure if she was talking about Subaru or herself, who was being influenced by the other's words at this moment.
Subaru did not press closer again, merely resuming that calm posture, as if the conversation just now had been ordinary idle chatter.
"Since you've made a choice, don't waver when the time comes."
Subaru revealed a smile on his face.
"Just like Ryuen did. That would be truly boring."
"I will definitely make you drop out, Subaru."
"The night wind is cold; be careful not to catch a cold."
He dropped a faint sentence, then turned around, preparing to leave.
After taking two steps, he stopped again, turning his head to the side, leaving one last sentence:
"I am looking forward to it, Kushida."
"Looking forward to you... being able to refine that hatred into a purer 'color'."
After saying this, he stayed no longer. His figure quickly vanished into the shadows of the passage leading to the cabins.
On the deck, only Kikyo Kushida remained, standing dazed in place, letting the sea breeze blow over her.
Her tightly clenched fists slowly loosened, leaving deep nail marks in her palms.
Subaru's final words echoed in her mind like a magic spell.
"Color"...?
What on earth was he saying?
But that cold feeling of being treated as an experimental subject, of being expected to "perform," was incomparably clear.
Fear, humiliation, hatred... and a trace of darker determination, ignited eerily in a way even she was unwilling to admit, intertwined madly in her heart.
Subaru...
She gazed in the direction he had disappeared, her eyes complicated to the extreme.
Destroy him... Destroy Class D...
This thought, because of the conversation just now, had not weakened but instead burned even more fiercely and... twistedly, like oil poured on a fire.
She turned around, facing the pitch-black ocean once again. The expression on her face returned to a deep coldness.
Only in the depths of her eyes, something more dangerous, more reckless, was quietly taking shape.
The night was still long.
____
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