COTE : There is Something Wrong With Hikigaya

Chapter 178 - 178: A Truly Useless Teammate  

The girls were convinced that one of the boys had stolen the underwear, while the boys insisted they were being wrongly accused.

"Why would we steal underwear? You're making things up!"

Ike loudly voiced his frustration.

The next second, he was surrounded by angry girls.

"Ike, I remember you arguing with Shinohara a lot before. Are you holding a grudge...?"

Ike's face froze, and he started panicking. This was like stepping in mud—no matter how much he tried to explain, it wouldn't come off clean.

At this moment, Hirata finally stepped in to calm things down. Thanks to his reputation and popularity among the girls, he managed to suppress the chaos—for now. But in exchange, he had to agree to have the boys' belongings searched.

This was probably the best way to handle the situation, but many of the guys felt betrayed by Hirata. To them, this was the same as admitting that one of them was guilty.

Hikigaya also thought Hirata was being a bit too biased, but now wasn't the time to argue about right or wrong. The priority was solving the problem. If this situation got out of control, it could turn into open hostility between the boys and girls. That would be the worst possible outcome.

Especially with the group exam still going on, the class could completely fall apart. If that happened, all their efforts in this special exam would go to waste.

Of course, it was easy for Hikigaya to say all this—he didn't really care what happened to the class. But since Hirata had helped him so many times, he didn't want to see him break down over this.

"But this whole thing is just too weird..."

Hikigaya instinctively looked around for a certain blue-haired girl. She was watching from the side with a cold expression. Could it be Ibuki?

The stolen underwear incident had caused complete chaos, ruining D-Class's plans for the day. It was the perfect chance for someone to take advantage of the situation.

Hirata had already opened his bag first to prove his innocence, setting an example for the others. That way, no one else could refuse—otherwise, they'd immediately look suspicious.

Wait a minute!

A thought suddenly struck Hikigaya. He quickly opened his own bag. Seeing that nothing unusual was inside, he let out a sigh of relief. He knew he had made a lot of enemies in C-Class, so it wouldn't be surprising if someone tried to frame him.

But just then, Ike opened his backpack and immediately turned pale. In a panic, he quickly shut it again.

Hikigaya saw the whole thing and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

If he remembered correctly, Ike was the one shouting the loudest just now!

Thinking about it, Hikigaya almost burst out laughing.

At that moment, Yamauchi and Ayanokouji seemed to notice Ike acting strangely. At the same time, Karuizawa and the others finished checking the boys' tent. Since the backpacks had already been searched, they didn't stop there. They pointed out that just because it wasn't in the backpacks didn't mean it couldn't be hidden on someone. So, they asked Hirata to check the boys' clothes.

Hearing this, Ike's face instantly turned pale with panic. What happened next shocked Hikigaya.

He saw it clearly—Ike actually shoved a pair of underwear onto someone else. And that person was none other than Ayanokouji!

"Ayanokouji, this is payback for the surveillance incident! After this, we're even!"

Ike whispered into Ayanokouji's ear as if it was only natural.

Then, he immediately turned around and shouted at Karuizawa, "Go ahead and check! I've got nothing to hide, so do your worst!"

Ike looked completely confident, but Ayanokouji, standing beside him, looked as if he had just eaten something disgusting. This was probably the first time Hikigaya had seen such an expression on Ayanokouji, who usually had a blank face.

Maybe he sensed something because Ayanokouji's eyes met Hikigaya's. They stared at each other in silence.

Why was Ayanokouji playing along with these two idiots?

That was the only thought in Hikigaya's mind. He had brought this on himself.

But there was something Hikigaya couldn't understand. Why didn't Ayanokouji fight back? Was it just because these two idiots acted as his cover, so he had to endure it?

He should know how serious this situation was. Sometimes, Ayanokouji's actions and thinking were sharp and calculated, but other times, he did things that made no sense.

After checking Ike's clothes, Hirata looked smug, as if taunting the girls: "See? I wasn't lying. You were just accusing me for no reason."

But he had no idea that behind him, Ayanokouji was watching the whole thing with a dark expression, lost in thought.

Hirata moved on to Ayanokouji. Because of Ike's loud provocation, all the girls were focused on him, leaving Ayanokouji barely any time to get rid of the underwear. Truly a teammate from hell.

To Hikigaya and Ayanokouji's surprise, Hirata clearly noticed the underwear in Ayanokouji's pocket. But instead of exposing it, he calmly turned to Karuizawa and the others and said he found nothing.

Even though Hikigaya had expected it, he still frowned deeply at Hirata's actions.

You could say Hirata was trying to keep the peace by not revealing the truth. But from another perspective, wasn't this just covering for someone?

It wasn't that Hirata's decision was wrong. It was the way he thought that made Hikigaya uncomfortable. It didn't seem like "I believe Ayanokouji is innocent, so I'll cover for him," but rather, "No matter who had the underwear, I would've hidden it."

A nice guy. A peacemaker. Weak. Always compromising...

None of these words fully described Hirata. His actions gave Hikigaya a strange feeling, almost like he was trying to atone for something.

And it felt like Hikigaya had seen this behavior before.

Suddenly, he noticed Karuizawa looking at him. Their eyes met for a brief moment, and Hikigaya unexpectedly caught the hesitation and complexity in her gaze.

Was she planning to throw the blame on him?

That thought flashed through Hikigaya's mind, but surprisingly, Karuizawa quickly looked away, avoiding his gaze instead of making a move.

In the end, no underwear was found on the boys' side. But that didn't mean the girls were willing to let it go. They decided to completely separate the boys' and girls' living areas and set clear boundaries.

However, moving tents and luggage was a lot of work. At Horikita's suggestion, Ayanokouji was forced to join the labor crew.

But since the culprit was never found, the tension between the boys and girls hadn't disappeared. Thanks to Hirata, it was temporarily held back. But all it would take was one small spark, and this whole situation would explode again.

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