"Whatever sports Hayato liked, they liked too. Whatever activities Hayato hated, they hated as well. And whatever Hayato feared, they feared too. Don't you think they'd already been molded into Hayato's shape?"
"..." Faced with Sogo Doma's question, Shizuka Hiratsuka found herself speechless.
"Hikigaya probably saw through that, and he didn't want to be molded into Hayato's shape..."
"So..." Shizuka Hiratsuka interrupted him quietly. "You think my decision was wrong?"
"Emmm..." Sogo Doma raised a finger. "But your intentions were good. After all, the need for social interaction, even the need for respect and such, is one of humanity's desires."
"..." Good intentions? Shizuka Hiratsuka wanted to retort—didn't that still mean he thought she was wrong?
"It's just that pursuing social interaction within a group..." Before she could speak, Sogo Doma continued, "is basically the same as dealing with idiots. Unless you can lower your IQ to an idiot's level, you'll never understand what they're thinking. Or you could just beat the idiots into submission, though that probably wouldn't count as socializing, would it?"
"..." After a long silence, Shizuka Hiratsuka finally said quietly, "Doma, have you heard this saying? The people who treat others as idiots are the real fools..."
"That assumes they aren't idiots..." Sogo Doma was not offended in the slightest. "This country's clique culture has created a whole bunch of fools to begin with..."
"Don't you think you're being too arrogant?"
"Not at all..." Sogo Doma smiled again. "A group of fools banding together only looks even more foolish. Don't be fooled by how they exclude and isolate people at school. Once they step into the real world, where society teaches them how to behave, that exclusion..."
"Do you think clique culture doesn't exist in the workplace?" Shizuka Hiratsuka smiled too. "If you can't even fit