"Cough, cough..." Sogo Doma coughed twice. It couldn't be helped—who told him to always not hold back when he spoke... Pah, who told him to be so honest?
"What I actually meant was, since Shizuka Hiratsuka treated us like disposable labor, isn't it perfectly reasonable to dump the trouble on her?" Utaha Kasumigaoka: "..." Reasonable, my ass!
Was this really Sogo-kun? She couldn't even be bothered to complain anymore! But before she could say anything, Sogo Doma said gloomily, "Unfortunately, I still underestimated how resistant that little girl was to teachers..."
"So..." Utaha Kasumigaoka, whose curiosity had already been piqued, said instinctively.
"There's no 'so' after that." However, Sogo Doma spread his hands at that moment.
"Hm?"
"Then you showed up." Sogo Doma's face was full of innocence. Utaha Kasumigaoka: "..." So this was somehow her fault?
"But because you came, I vaguely realized that the little girl was resisting me too. She'd been fine at first—she even lent me her water bottle this afternoon..."
"..." Utaha Kasumigaoka wanted to complain. Sogo-kun, why didn't you think about what you'd done? And what was that about a water bottle...? Forget it, she couldn't even be bothered to say it. Still, after thinking for a moment despite the countless complaints in her heart, Utaha asked, "Then where is she now...?"
"Either wandering around by herself, thinking by herself, or maybe waiting for us to go back. Anyway, she doesn't have any friends..." Before he could finish, Sogo Doma shrugged again.
"..." What a brutally realistic guess. Utaha Kasumigaoka broke out in a cold sweat. "And you still..." left her alone?
"You know?"
"What?"
"Five years ago, I was about the same age as her..." Sogo Doma said righteously. "Kids who are five or six already say they're not two- or three-year-olds anymore..."