The Socially Clueless Ayanokōji Kiyohime / Why Are There People Everywhere?

Uh... what a terrifying woman.

Shaking his head, Hoya stopped looking at the girl and turned back to Kushida Kikyo. "But anyway, Kushida, were you serious when you said you wanted to be friends with everyone?"

"I was... Why?"

"Do you think you can do it?"

"I think if I work hard enough, I can..."

"No, no. I mean actual friends, not just people you nod to in passing."

Hoya folded his arms and looked at Kushida Kikyo. "You have to understand: friendship goes both ways. It can only last when both people get along. And if they can no longer treat each other amicably, they end up falling out. Sure, Kushida, you're kind and gentle, but are you certain everyone really wants to be your friend?"

"You mean..."

"Let's set aside Horikita for now and talk about Koenji, the student we chatted with on the way here. Do you think you can be friends with him? Maintaining an amicable relationship and being friends are two different things. What do you think?"

In Hoya's eyes, what Kushida Kikyo was doing didn't count as making friends at all. How many close friends could a person have? If you could count them on both hands over the course of your life, that was already a lot. What about ordinary friends? You could have plenty, but you wouldn't be very close. Drinking buddies? That was even simpler: drink together, eat together, play games together, and that was that.

So Hoya could see perfectly well what kind of friends Kushida Kikyo wanted to make.

Maybe she didn't actually want to be friends with everyone. That was just a pretext. What she really wanted was to be popular.

Why would she oppose Horikita in fanfiction? Simple: Horikita was more popular than she was.

And what about the claim that Horikita resented her because she knew about Kushida's dark past? That was just a plausible excuse.

Even a legal adviser knew how to come up with a pretext. How could she not? Which would people find easier to accept: that she was jealous because Horikita was more popular, or that she wanted to silence Horikita for good because Horikita knew about her dark past? The second one.

Even if the second explanation seemed extreme to outsiders, it was still more convincing than the first. It wasn't something that applied universally.

If it was the second, then Kushida would only be a threat to Horikita. There'd be no reason for anyone else to become her enemy. But if it was the first... if she was jealous of Horikita, then she'd be jealous of other girls too. And nobody liked a jealous girl. That was a general rule, not an exception.

That was why Hoya had to tell her who was an enemy and who was a friend.

Once she understood who her enemies and friends were, she could take the next step and figure out who she ought to deal with.

Who should she deal with? Class A, of course.

"So, Kushida, I hope you won't waste your time on people who don't matter. What do you really want: to be friends with everyone, or to be popular? If it's the former, then you'll have to work hard to become friends with difficult people like Koenji and Horikita. But if it's the latter... when it comes to popularity, if thirty percent support you, that can turn another fifty percent from neutral to supportive. And even if some of the remaining twenty percent oppose you, their voices will disappear into the crowd."

Hoya spoke slowly, gently guiding Kushida and prompting her to reconsider what she really wanted.

He was convinced that wanting to be friends with everyone was just a means to becoming popular. So if they skipped straight to the result and forgot about the process, the path would be much easier.

"But... if I don't become friends with them, can I still be popular?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't you be?"

Hoya took a sip of his coffee. It tasted pretty good.

"Do you think Horikita or Koenji would care whether you were popular? Would other people decide you weren't popular just because you couldn't be friends with them? No way. They're exceptions. When it comes to them, you just have to avoid making enemies; you don't need to become friends. They won't get in your way, so why should you care about them?"

Narrowing his eyes, Hoya continued to steer Kushida Kikyo. "Nobody's perfect. You can't please everyone—you're not a banknote. You only need to make sure people don't dislike you. Besides... you don't intend to settle for being popular, do you? You have other goals, right? So would loners like Horikita and Koenji get in your way? If they would, then consider befriending them—or getting rid of them. If they wouldn't, why care what they think?"

"If you can get most people to like and accept you, even if Koenji or Horikita says something nasty to you, everyone will think it's their fault, not yours. They'll think those unpopular loners are being unreasonable, that they're the ones in the wrong. Do you see? Even if one or two people aren't especially nice to you, you won't become unpopular. The more you try to please people like that, the more they'll dislike you. They'll think you're like a piece of dog-skin plaster stuck to them, and they'll find you irritating."

Pressing her lips together, Kushida Kikyo was gradually won over by Hoya's words.

It really did seem as if Hoya was on her side and considering things from her perspective. Had she actually thought about wanting to be friends with everyone?

If she were Ichinose, she probably would have. But Kushida wasn't like that. She was a false angel, not someone who genuinely felt that way.

That was why she was moved. That was why Hoya's words seemed right to her.

Be friends with everyone? Forget it. Just flattering those idiots who were as stupid as pigs made her want to puke. If she didn't have an image to maintain, she would've dropped the act ages ago.

"But... wouldn't that be a big change from how I've acted before?"

"How long have you known each other?"

As he spoke, Hoya glanced at Kiyohime beside him. "Ayanokoji, how long have you known Kushida?"

"Less than two days."

Ayanokoji answered honestly.

"See? You've only known everyone for less than two days. You can know someone's face but not their heart. Who can really understand another person after just two days? You'd only be making a tiny adjustment: instead of being friends with everyone, you'd just get along with everyone. You don't need to suck up to people or rack your brain over all this. Right?"

Seeing Kushida lost in thought, Hoya reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "All right, go back and think about what you really want. Saying you want to be friends with everyone is easy, but doing it is hard. Instead of aiming for a friendship as insipid as plain water, just get along with people. There isn't much difference between the two, but the time they take is worlds apart. And you don't have to force yourself to do things that make you uncomfortable, right?"

"Okay, then... I'll head back and get some rest. Goodbye, Hoya. Goodbye, Ayanokoji."

Kushida had clearly been thoroughly bamboozled. She rose to her feet, looking dazed, and staggered away.

Watching Kushida leave, Hoya turned to Ayanokoji Kiyohime. "You're Ayanokoji, right?"

"What is it?"

"Nothing. I just thought we could talk."

Hoya looked at the cup of coffee in front of him. "Why aren't you drinking it?"

"I bought it for Horikita."

"But Horikita already left, so it belongs to you now. Doesn't it? You paid for it and bought it. She didn't want it, so it's still yours."

As he spoke, Hoya looked Ayanokoji up and down. "You... don't have some kind of cognitive disorder, do you?"

"A cognitive disorder? No, I don't have anything like that."

Ayanokoji shook her head in denial. But she really did bring the coffee to her lips and take a sip.

It seemed she'd listened to Hoya.

"Is that so? But I think you're different from ordinary people, Ayanokoji. You... don't seem normal."

"Is that right?"

Ayanokoji asked, her hand clenching into a fist slightly beneath the table.

The man sitting across from her seemed like a fox when he smiled—cunning and sinister, as if he could see right through her.

"Yeah. I did a little research on you. Your scores... are quite interesting."

"My scores? What's wrong with them?"

Ayanokoji still hadn't realized what the problem was. She might have been very intelligent, but as a perfect creation, she wasn't perfect.

At least, that was how Hoya saw her. She was worth making use of.

She was intelligent, but she lacked social skills. That was probably because of the life she'd led growing up. Hoya didn't care about that. He wasn't planning to turn Ayanokoji into his plaything. She just needed to focus on facing off against Sakayanagi. Nothing else mattered.

Yeah, nothing else mattered. He really didn't care about all that. Ayanokoji had flaws and weaknesses, which was a good thing. If he were in Class D, he might have to find a way to deal with this perfect creation. But he was in Class C. All he needed to do was keep Class D from getting too strong.

On the surface, Kushida, Horikita, and Hirata were enough. As for her? She could just be a beautiful woman admired from afar. As long as she wasn't dragged into the fray, she wouldn't cause trouble.

As long as she didn't get expelled, it was all fine.

Was that easy? No. Hoya knew Chabashira Sae would stir things up. In a way, if Chabashira hadn't caused trouble, Ayanokoji might never have stepped in. She might have quietly watched from the sidelines and enjoyed the show forever.

Class D rising to Class A? What did that have to do with her?

So Hoya figured he could try becoming friends with her.

Yeah, friends. Even if they were the kind who stabbed each other in the back, that was fine. Maybe he could handle this tigress.

"Let me ask you something. If a test has a maximum score of 100 and a minimum of zero, what do you think the average score would be for a class after taking it?"

"...50?"

"Do you really think so?"

Hoya's expression grew more intrigued. "That's what you thought, right? You figured you'd be fine as long as you got an average score. That's why you chose fifty. That's why I say you have a cognitive disorder. If you'd gone to school from a young age, you'd know without a doubt that exam difficulty followed a curve, not a straight line. The higher the score, the harder it was to get. If I were you, I'd score around seventy. Around, mind you. Getting exactly the same score in all five subjects wasn't a coincidence; it was deliberate."

***

"Why Are There People on Every Side?"

Hoya didn't mind telling Ayanokoji these things. In fact, he was teaching her how to act like an ordinary person.

"Y-You... what are you saying? What are you trying to do?"

Ayanokoji could tell Hoya wasn't just saying things at random. He really did have an idea in mind.

"Nothing. I was just wondering where you came from, some little princess? You don't even know basic common sense... To be honest, I'm very interested in you. How about... we become friends?"

"Become friends?"

"Yeah. You wanted to live a normal life, didn't you? Then let's be friends. I'll help you experience an ordinary person's life. What do you say?"

As he spoke, Hoya took out his phone, quickly opened the page for adding friends, and held it out to Ayanokoji. "You have two choices: 1. Be my friend, and maybe you'll come to understand the ordinary, mundane life people lead. 2. Refuse to be my friend and keep up your clumsy act. Choose."

Ayanokoji had a lot of issues. She said she wanted to make friends, but that desire was there without being particularly strong.

People also kept calling her selfish, and in Hoya's view... there was nothing wrong with that.

After all, you couldn't look at her as a child of ten or so. What if you looked at her as a toddler of two or three instead?

Hungry? Needed a diaper change? She'd cry. She'd cry to tell her parents she was hungry, needed a change, or was thirsty. She wouldn't care what time it was or whether her parents were resting.

Hoya didn't know whether people were born good or evil, but they were definitely selfish and self-interested. Selflessness was something that had to be cultivated gradually through education.

People were born knowing how to take, but it took a lifetime to learn how to let go.

In Hoya's eyes, Ayanokoji was even easier to win over than Kushida.

As for whether Ayanokoji might turn out to be ungrateful... People called Lü Bu a three-surnamed slave, but was he still useful?

Hoya wasn't really becoming her friend. Did it matter whether she was selfish? Even if she had ideas of her own, what could she do? With the same kind of strategy as Ryuen Kakeru—a pair of fools cut from the same cloth—could you really blame Hoya for thinking she was an idiot?

"..."

Looking at the phone in front of her, Ayanokoji stayed silent. She was thinking.

"You're not lying to me?"

"If you're really afraid I'm lying, just leave. You can go back to your clumsy act."

Hoya genuinely didn't care. He wasn't worried at all that Ayanokoji would leave.

So what if she left? He could always find another way to set her up later.

Now that he'd already figured out how to deal with her, everything else would be easy.

"...I hope you're not lying."

After looking Hoya over from every angle and deciding he didn't seem to be lying, Ayanokoji decided to trust him, for the time being.

After adding him as a friend on her phone, she continued, "What now? What should I do next?"

"After this? Let's talk properly tonight. For now, go back and rest. You must have things to do, right?"

"Uh... Actually, I don't have anything to do."

"I do. I'm just giving you an excuse to leave... All right, it really does look like your cognitive disorder is serious. Go back for now. I'll message you tonight... You're not going to sit around hugging your phone and waiting for my message like some silly girl, are you?"

"Of course not."

"Good. Otherwise, I'd feel guilty."

Hoya soon saw Ayanokoji off. After she left, he couldn't help sighing.

Why was there so much trouble?

Right, Meili Ge?

Why hadn't Hoya left with Ayanokoji? Because a burly man with his back to him had been standing nearby, clearly trying to eavesdrop.

What was this, some gauntlet he had to run? He'd seen Horikita off, then Kushida, then Ayanokoji, and now there was Meili Ge too?

More importantly, Sakayanagi, who was farther away—wipe that smile off your face! Hadn't he told you not to drink coffee?

Forget it. He was exhausted.

Hoya had no intention of having a proper chat with the other man. He'd talked enough for one day and just wanted to go back, relax, and take it easy.

"Hey, kid. Done chatting with all those beautiful girls, and now you're planning to leave?"

Unfortunately, while Hoya wanted to go, Koenji had no intention of letting him.

He stretched out a leg and blocked Hoya's path.

Well, there went his escape.

Hoya didn't know how good Koenji was in a fight. But since Koenji could beat Ryuen Kakeru, Hoya knew he couldn't afford to provoke him.

"What is it, Koenji? Do you want to talk too? Come on, I'm exhausted. Can we do this another time?"