The Quintessential quintuplets in ANHS

6.3 Horrible Human being

I'm skipping until the Dog— I mean Sudo's trial. Volume 2 is a lot boring. I don't even know where to start it. I'm sorry but writing Airi and her past is boring. I'm writing this part because I like it and because of Ryuuen's badass entry. I hope you understand. Everything goes the same as in the volume. No changes

Horikita's Pov

"May I leave now, Chabashira-sensei?"

"Wait just a moment. There's something I want to talk to you about, Horikita. You two leave first, though."

Chabashira-sensei urged my older brother and Tachibana-san to leave.

Once they were gone, she looked deeply interested, crossing her arms before her on the table. "So. What methods did you use, Horikita?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't try to dodge the question. They wouldn't withdraw their complaint without a reason, would they?"

"I'll leave that to your imagination."

We'd fabricated a lie because we were backed into a corner. 

"So it's a secret, hmm? Well, allow me to change the question. Who came up with the strategy that defeated Class C?"

"Why do you care about that?"

"Ayanokouji isn't here, so I'm a little curious."

Chabashira-sensei had been rather preoccupied with Ayanokouji-kun ever since we started school. I could somewhat understand why now.

"I don't want to admit this, but Ayanokouji-kun...might have something exceptional to him."I surprised myself by saying this, which could be taken as an admission of defeat. However, our victory would not have been as decisive without him.

"I see. So you recognize that hmm?"

"Is that surprising? You were the one who first put me together with Ayanokouji-kun, Chabashira-sensei. You did it because you couldn't overlook Ayanokouji-kun's potential, right?"

"His potential, hmm?"

"Though he does try to hide his ability by pretending to be an idiot, for some mysterious reason."

Yes, he was truly incomprehensible. I could not find meaning in such behavior. It was likely that he was simply being absurd.

"There are various things to consider. But if you want to reach Class A, I'll give you one bit of advice."

 "Advice?" 

"The students in Class D all have some kind of defect, more or less. To borrow an expression used by others in this school, Class D is an assemblage of people that could be called 'defective products.' You already understand this quite well though, don't you?" 

"I don't intend to admit that I have a defect. But I do understand." 

"Well, what do you think is Ayanokouji's defect?"

"Ayanokouji-kun's defect..."One thing immediately came to mind. 

"We've already established it. He already knows what his own defect is." 

"Oh? And what is it?" 

"He 'dislikes trouble,'" I answered, with confidence. However, I felt a strange sense of discomfort that I couldn't explain. 

"He dislikes trouble, hmm? Is that what you perceive when you look at Ayanokouji?" 

"No... It's because he said it himself." Chabashira-sensei snorted and chuckled. She spoke again, her tone firm.