Chapter 3

It all comes down to ability. I believe that's what Kinugasa Shogo meant by "ability" in his title. With that in mind, let's analyze who's to blame for Airi's expulsion. Everyone knows I'm a Kei fan, so I'll be fair and impartial—I'm not taking anyone's side. Suspect Number One: "The Little Angel," Kikyo Kushida. The prosecution: She kept secretly voting against Airi. That was a heinous crime, and clearly did more harm to the class than Airi ever could. The defense: 1. The ones Kushida wanted expelled were Ayanokoji and Horikita. What did Airi have to do with it? 2. Was Kushida really Airi's close friend? Did she care whether Airi lived or died? 3. Poor Kushida! After her self-exposure, she'd already given up resisting and was waiting to be expelled. She even kept revealing secrets, hastening her own downfall. 4. After exposing herself, Kushida no longer had any leverage over the class. She was harmless, and she was indeed more capable than Airi. I'll explain that in detail when I discuss the next suspect. In conclusion, Kikyo Kushida is innocent. Even if she were guilty, she wouldn't care. You Airi fans can go after her! Kushida never cared if people held a grudge against her. You hate me? I hate you too! I hate the whole world! Suspect Number Two: "The Leader," Suzune Horikita. The prosecution: She showed favoritism toward Kushida and made foolish decisions. The defense: 1. Horikita's favoritism toward Kushida was perfectly reasonable! She wasn't close to Airi in the first place. Actually, she wasn't close to anyone; the only person she was close to was Kushida. Once she realized she needed help to reach Class A, the first person she approached was Kushida. Kushida was the one who kept refusing to work with her—it was a one-sided crush. If she had to choose between the two, of course she'd favor her future bestie! 2. But how could a leader put private feelings ahead of the group? Come on, why did Horikita want to become best friends with Kushida? Because she coveted her abilities! Otherwise, why didn't she try to befriend you, Airi? Remember Kinugasa Shogo's definition of ability? Horikita had already determined that Airi was less capable than Kushida when she was looking for allies. Remember that—that was a major factor in Airi's loss. 3. Kushida was an asset, not a liability, after exposing herself. To understand this, we have to go back to the bet between Horikita and Kushida in their first year. Horikita won, but Kushida still said she wouldn't help her. Did Horikita complain? No. She didn't care. All she cared about—or rather, all she coveted—was Kushida's ability. As for Kushida wanting to get rid of her and Ayanokoji, that wasn't a problem. She was confident she wouldn't die. Ayanokoji? That guy was practically indestructible! He wasn't going to die. So Kushida's opposition vote in the Special Exam didn't surprise Horikita. She'd known Kushida wouldn't give in easily. She kept patiently putting up with it, even waiting for Kushida to expose herself, hoping she could put Kushida to work afterward. And after their bet, at least Kushida hadn't betrayed the class. In Horikita's eyes, Kushida might even have improved! She'd kept her promise to Horikita. Once Kushida had exposed herself, she had no way left to sabotage the class. Everyone in the class—and even students in other classes who'd heard the rumors—would be on guard against her. Ayanokoji, the powerhouse Horikita had chosen, had finally escaped Kushida's threat for good. That left Kushida with only two options: work hard to boost the class's GDP and get along with Horikita, the only person who still wanted to be her friend, or get expelled. No wonder it was Kushida—she'd rather die than surrender to Horikita's attempt to win her over! She chose expulsion after exposing herself, but Horikita had been waiting for exactly that situation. Why would she let Kushida leave? 4. Unlike Lord Yamauchi, who fell for a honey trap, neither Kushida nor Airi had done anything wrong this time. Of course, Horikita didn't consider Kushida wanting to get rid of her and Ayanokoji a mistake. Since neither had done anything wrong, but one of them had to go, she compared their abilities on equal terms. 5. Airi really wasn't capable enough. The impartial leader, Horikita, must have had a chart ranking everyone's abilities, and there was no question Airi came last. Why? Even for something beneficial to the class and harmless, like giving testimony or helping at the maid café, Airi had to work up the courage before she'd pitch in. By comparison, even Ike, who was willing to charge into the fray for the class, was much better. Expelling Airi would certainly make some people resent Horikita, but it could also spur others to do better. Horikita had weighed the costs and benefits. In conclusion, aside from stubbornly believing she could get Kushida to work for her, Horikita hadn't done anything wrong. To put it bluntly, even if Kushida wouldn't work for her, she still contributed more than Airi. In regular exams and Special Exams alike, Airi's results were poor compared with Kushida's. She was often the one who needed extra help, too. If you think Horikita's decision was a mistake, then why did you choose her as your leader? That means most people already considered her the fairest and most capable person for the job. If the ruler orders a subject to die and most people agree, then it's not the ruler's fault. Would an uninvolved ruler really be better? Suspect Number Three: "The Clown King," Kiyotaka Ayanokoji. The prosecution: He abandoned a friend when he had the ability to stop it. The defense: 1. Ayanokoji's getting unfairly demonized here! He never considered anyone his friend. He's said that over and over. How can you accuse him of abandoning anyone? If you ask me, good riddance! Tools should act like tools. What was Airi, anyway? She wasn't even a useful tool. She was the one relying on Ayanokoji; he was probably just troubled by it. You're useless, you cause trouble, and then you waste my precious time with all your whining. What crime do you think you've committed? Just think: Ayanokoji was outstanding in the White Room. Surely there were people there who treated him like a friend or relied on him, maybe even helped him. Of course there were. But he abandoned them all. For the sake of victory, he could discard even useful tools, let alone a "good-for-nothing" one like you. Of course, I don't mean to disparage Airi. I'm just recreating Ayanokoji's cold thought process. Call him a god or a clown; that's just who he is. He won't change easily, and Airi, timid as she is, certainly won't be the one to change him. 2. Once Kushida was no longer a threat, Airi became the biggest "threat." After exposing herself, Kushida couldn't use any means to blackmail Ayanokoji, whether or not she got expelled. In the future, he could even refuse her requests for help openly without affecting anyone else. What about useless Airi? It was bad enough that she often wasted his time consulting him during Special Exams. What would happen if she were desperate and asked him for help? Our cold-hearted Ayanokoji would obviously refuse. But might that cause the other tools who were still useful to him to have even the slightest doubts, lowering their opinion of him? Could he afford to keep such a potential liability around? No! Every possible threat had to be eliminated. So, kudos to Kei here. She kept quiet on the rooftop, making Ayanokoji feel completely secure. A tool that would never betray or drag him down, no matter what—that was a super useful tool! In conclusion, if Ayanokoji had developed feelings for Airi, that would've been a betrayal of his character, and the end of the story. (Could my Kei manage it in the end? We'll wait and see! But not right now.) 4. Other suspects: Hasebe, Yukimura, and the others. The prosecution: They betrayed their friend. The defense: