It Was All the Fault of Preconceived Notions!

"Don't underestimate other people's efforts... Do you know how much energy everyone has to spend to fit into a social circle? Do you know how much effort they put into keeping up with everyone's conversations?" Yukino Yukinoshita, who had initially thought he was teasing her, fell silent. "You don't know..." Sogo Doma continued. "You only know that you put in the effort to match the names on the roster to people's faces, but do you know anything about them besides their appearances?" "..." Did she really need to go that far? "Maybe the popular crowd can't match every student's face to their name like you can, but they can still call most students by name without any problem..." Sogo explained. "And they don't just know their names—they can even tell you what those people have been through recently..." Yukino couldn't help saying, "Hey, don't make it sound like you know all that..." Unfortunately, Sogo once again cut her off, shaking a finger with a chuckle. "Yukinoshita, do you know why I'm telling you this?" "Hm?" How could she possibly know? "I asked Yuigahama: since you think Yukinoshita is good at this and good at that, why don't you become friends with her? Do you know what she said?" "..." This time, Sogo gave Yukino time to think. Yet she seemed not to have thought at all before saying, "Why would you ask someone something like that? And something related to me, at that..." "Because you're schoolmates!" he said as if it were only natural. "Yukinoshita, do you still want to hear what Yui Yuigahama said?" The young lady: "..." She didn't want to know at all! Still, she didn't say it aloud. So Sogo raised his index finger again. "Eh, become friends with Yukinoshita? Me? H-how could that be possible?