Those who did not understand what the two were talking about chose not to comment. Even Hayato Hayama and Yukinoshita, who had lived through that great upheaval, remained silent. Only Shizuka Hiratsuka opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to say something—
Previously, she truly had not understood why Takahashi was worried. But after hearing the other woman's explanation, she had to admit that she was somewhat panicked too. Still, with Sogo Doma—the one who had caused that upheaval—present, she did not get quite so agitated.
"Completely different?" Even Shizuka Hiratsuka was waiting to see how things unfolded, much less Takahashi. After hearing Sogo Doma's explanation, she murmured.
"Completely different!" Sogo Doma nodded seriously before raising an index finger. "By the way, when do you think humans are most like demons—perhaps even more terrifying than demons?"
The question sent everyone present into deep thought—what did it mean for humans to be at their most evil? Humans were supposed to embody truth, goodness, and beauty, weren't they?
"Perhaps you'd say that young adults are the most evil..." Sogo Doma continued. "For their own goals—such as climbing the social ladder—humans can commit any crime: deception, betrayal, abduction, murder..."
Hachiman and the others might have thought that was somewhat exaggerated, but to Shizuka Hiratsuka and Takahashi, both of whom had been thoroughly battered by society, those words sounded like profound truths. Had they not experienced such things themselves as they grew up? Putting aside anything else, just look at work...
Were there not plenty of coworkers who complained about how terrible their jobs were while desperately sucking up to their superiors behind the scenes? Shizuka Hiratsuka in particular, backed by the Hiratsuka Group, naturally did not need to do such things. But what awaited her instead? If anyone at Sobu High School wanted to compete