What had changed in Rumi Tsurumi?
"She broke your 'that's how it's always been' and 'it's always been this way'..." Sogo Doma said. "If no one paid attention to you, you'd be isolated? Rumi Tsurumi showed you that it wasn't that nobody paid attention to them—it was that nobody wanted to!"
Although he had inherited Katsura's way of thinking—well, it was precisely because Katsura thought that way that Sogo Doma had kept him around. Otherwise, getting rid of Katsura would not have been difficult. There might have been some losses in the process, but if Sogo Doma truly hardened his heart, would he care?
Still, as a living person, Sogo Doma had far too many things to consider. On top of that, Katsura's ideas were not entirely without merit, so he had merely allowed the man to run free.
The others did not know any of this, but after hearing Sogo Doma's "outrageous" words, they were stunned. Even Hachiman Hikigaya, another victim, could not help saying, "How could that be...?"
"How could that be?" Before he could say more, Sogo Doma replied, "Right. It's because there are people like you, always thinking 'how could that be,' that this world has so much cold violence, isolation, and even bullying..."
"I..." Hachiman Hikigaya wanted to argue, yet he did not know what to say.
"Isn't that right?" Sogo Doma continued. "Why did I say you were lucky? Because although you were isolated, at least you were never bullied. Of course, that was thanks to Hayama..."
Hayato Hayama: "???"
"Hayama, the little sun..." Before he could say anything, Sogo Doma continued, "He has always hated seeing people get bullied. But what if they weren't being bullied? What if they were merely isolated?"
Hayato Hayama: "..."
He could not do it. He could not