"Because it was useless!" Sogo Doma said as if it were obvious.
"Useless!?" Not just Masuzu Natsukawa—even in the Service Club, everyone aside from Mashiro Shiina looked astonished. Utaha Kasumigaoka, in particular, was utterly baffled; she had been sick to death of being excluded and isolated in the past.
"Is that really so surprising?" Sogo blinked. "The premise of exclusion and isolation is that the other person is alone. But are you alone?"
Hearing that, Yukino Yukinoshita and Utaha Kasumigaoka both looked thoughtful.
"If you only exclude one person, that person starts doubting themselves. But if the target is a group, then you can just stop including them, right? In that situation, exclusion and isolation become a joke. People might even be driven by their admiration for strength to want to join you...
That's why I said those tactics were lame as hell. They couldn't even come up with something new!" As he spoke, Sogo shook his head, then added, "If I were handling it, there'd be divide and conquer, differential treatment, killing three men with two peaches..."
Yukino Yukinoshita: "..."
"Stop exposing your awful nature!"
Masuzu Natsukawa: "..."
This liar was far more dangerous than anyone else!
But...
"I still don't understand why those girls became less hostile after hearing that the target was you..."
"Huh!?" Yukino and the others froze. Right, why was that?
"It's simple!" Sogo raised his index finger again. "To make everyone understand that someone else poses no threat to them, you need to set up a goal that's difficult to achieve..."
Yukino Yukinoshita: "..."
A difficult-to-achieve goal?
Wait, wasn't this bastard Doma talking about himself?
"Sogo..." Before she could speak, Utaha smiled sweetly. "So you're saying that difficult-to-achieve goal is you? And the target is you?"
"How is that possible?" Sogo rolled his eyes.