If it had been last year, he might have done everything possible to avoid accepting this outcome and... sought Hachiman's help. But now, things were different.
He could calmly accept the loss of his companions.
He had already done everything he could. His conscience was clear.
He still had his own goals and ideals. He wanted to atone for the past, so he wanted to study medicine. He had his own path and could not stop because of this.
With that, Hirata closed his eyes.
Without Hirata there to mediate, Group 17 instantly became incredulous and... deeply unsettled.
Yes. Deeply unsettled.
If there had been no mistake in the results, then three of the fourteen of them would be expelled next. And they themselves were among them. They were going to... be expelled!
They had not been mentally prepared at all, yet they were about to be expelled just like that! Wh-why was this happening?
"Did I hear that right? Sato and Shinohara's group came in last."
"If we came in second to last, our class really took a huge loss in this exam." Group 15, where Karuizawa and the others were, also began to whimper.
After all.
The bottom-ranked group next to them consisted of their own classmates, their own companions.
Karuizawa felt regretful about it too. Or rather, there was not much she could do.
Three days before the exam began, Hachiman had slipped her a note telling her that Kōenji's Group 17 would come in last. Therefore, she needed to take the exam seriously and... form a group in time.
Hachiman had told her to convey the need to take the exam seriously to her group members. That meant he wanted her to build a new team.
Which also meant... abandoning Satsuki Shinohara and Sato, who had