Oh?
Hachiman was somewhat surprised by Ichinose's words.
What surprised him wasn't her understanding, but the fact that Ichinose had never noticed?
Before Hachiman had started dating Classmate Sakayanagi—and before she had even possibly become someone he might enter into marriage with—he had always regarded Classmate Sakayanagi as a rival.
"When I first entered this school, I was tasked with leading my class to Class A," Hachiman said. "So my initial goal was Class A. Naturally, I had to gather information about Class A."
"Then I discovered that although Class A at the time was divided into Classmate Sakayanagi's faction and Katsuragi's faction, Classmate Sakayanagi would ultimately win."
"And since it was difficult to gain points against Classmate Sakayanagi, the option back then was to leave her alone and let Class A lose points under Katsuragi's control."
In other words, Hachiman had already thought highly of Classmate Sakayanagi back then, and had even had contact with her.
Oh.
Looking at it that way, Ichinose felt a little ashamed.
She had thought Classmate Sakayanagi had come from behind, but now it seemed that perhaps Classmate Sakayanagi had actually been the first person to like Hachiman.
Unlike the rest of them... whose relationship with Hachiman had begun with something of a transaction.
Of course.
Though it had been transactional in nature, Ichinose knew very well that if anyone else had wanted to make such a deal, she would definitely have refused.
So in that sense, she hadn't really lost.
After all, she liked Hachiman very much.
It was just that she still had to ask Hachiman for help whenever she encountered a problem. Looking at it that way, she was still far from good enough.
Ichinose's heart was filled with sighs because she hadn't grown much.
"As long as the leader positions