"So..." Shizuka Hiratsuka's words made Sogo Doma's expression turn strange. "You just didn't want Mashiro to find out. Everyone else knows, but you're only hiding it from Mashiro? Shizuka Hiratsuka, you're an educator. Do you think it's good for you to be thinking like that?"
"..." It certainly didn't sound very good. Shizuka Hiratsuka was bewildered. No, wait—"The others won't know either!"
"But we know..."
"The question is..." Shizuka Hiratsuka gritted her teeth. "How exactly did you find out that I like hot-blooded manga?"
"Huh?" Sogo Doma tilted his head. "Last time, when I told you Mashiro was drawing manga, didn't you..."
"In that situation, wouldn't most people assume I was encouraging her?"
"What about the time before that..."
"Stop talking!"
"Shizuka Hiratsuka likes manga?" This time, it was Mashiro who spoke.
"I..." Shizuka Hiratsuka felt her status as a teacher drop another notch.
"Isn't that obvious?" The facts were much the same as she had imagined. She had only just opened her mouth when Utaha Kasumigaoka picked up the conversation. "Or rather, Shizuka Hiratsuka really likes hot-blooded manga. Otherwise, how could she imagine up so many hot-blooded manga tropes after I said just a few words?"
"What do you mean, I imagined up so much..." Shizuka Hiratsuka couldn't help retorting. "It was suspicious to begin with, okay? Obviously..."
"So..." As if she knew what the other woman wanted to say, Utaha Kasumigaoka continued, "Didn't I say it already? This generation's Elite Ten will probably all end up under Sogo-kun..."
"There really isn't some conspiracy?"
"..." Thinking of Azami Nakiri, then of the people sent by the Shinomiya Family... Well, it really did seem like there had been a conspiracy. Utaha Kasumigaoka pondered it. But what exactly had those people's conspiracy been? It seemed they had been wiped out before