But even if someone were eavesdropping, they shouldn't have been able to overhear, right? Although they weren't far apart, she spoke to Nijika so softly.
Could it be it was purely a guess?
Miura Yumiko looked at the message she had instinctively admitted to in a moment of panic, silently gritting her teeth.
'Damn it… does this guy really want to be bullied that badly? He actually dares to provoke me on purpose like that...'
———
On the other side, Hachiman saw Miura Yumiko send another furious expression, smiled, and put away his phone without adding fuel to the fire.
Ijichi Nijika indeed wouldn't tell him such things; he just had good hearing and vaguely overheard Yumiko and Nijika's murmured conversation.
Although he didn't catch everything, considering Miura Yumiko's personality and Ijichi Nijika's reaction, he could also guess what kind of "sacrifice a thousand to kill one" tactic Yumiko was using.
He really hadn't expected it, Yumiko almost uncovered the truth. The relationship between Yuina and the others with him was practically no different from friends with benefits, just more pure. They usually helped him in capturing other girls, and in private, they just wanted some intimacy with him.
However, it wasn't like he hadn't told her the truth. Yumiko just didn't believe it, still thinking Yuina and the others were bullying her under the guise of "rewarding."
Well… from a certain perspective, it was bullying. If he hadn't been constantly improving and becoming more resilient, even if Yuina and the others didn't beat him physically, just rotating among themselves to deepen their connection with him every day, any ordinary person would've collapsed.
Moreover, Yumiko had personally experienced one of those "bully him" games. It was only natural she didn't believe his words now.
She probably had to witness Yuina and the others getting reverse-swept 1v3 by him, completely unable to bully him, for her to believe they were genuinely rewarding him selflessly instead of bullying him.
"Hikigaya-kun, what were you and Yumiko talking about?", Ichinose Honami, who sat next to Hachiman, saw the meaningful smile on his face after he put away his phone and couldn't help asking curiously.
Her relationship with Hachiman wasn't as close as Kitagawa Marin or Miura Yumiko. Even if Hachiman wasn't hiding anything, she felt embarrassed to peek.
But seeing that Miura was still messaging Hikigaya after leaving, their relationship clearly wasn't ordinary.
She just didn't understand why, back in class, she hadn't seen Miura chatting with Hikigaya. He mostly talked with Tenma, who had transferred in slightly earlier, and even chatted with her more frequently than with Miura.
Hmm... maybe they were trying to avoid suspicion due to school rules? Or perhaps she didn't know how to face Hikigaya's childhood friend, the student council president?
But now that the petite and cute Tenma, like a little angel, had transferred next to Hikigaya, and seeing their relationship warming up, she couldn't hold it in anymore and revealed her relationship with him?
'Tenma-san, Miura-san, Student Council President Kaede, and the Elven Princess Iris…'
Ichinose Honami quickly imagined an extremely complex love-comedy battlefield in her mind and was secretly amazed by Hachiman's prowess.
To be able to handle so many girls so skillfully, no wonder he dreamed of being a househusband. No wonder he got along so well with the Elven Princess Iris.
"Nothing much. She just reminded me to look after Nijika and you, Honami. You're both so pretty and cute, walking home alone at night could be dangerous."
Hachiman shook his head and smiled at Ichinose Honami, "I'm not that pretty. Besides, the chances of encountering that kind of situation in real life are really low. Those bad guys usually only target timid girls who don't dare speak out. Do you think I look like that kind of girl?"
Hearing Hachiman praise her so naturally, Ichinose Honami's cheeks flushed slightly. But she still revealed a bright smile and raised her pink fists, shaking them in front of Hachiman.
Even though it was currently peak hours for the train, and the train was crowded, they weren't like the girls in the news who didn't dare say anything when harassed. If something happened, they'd definitely strike back.
"Of course. We just try our best to avoid that kind of situation. But if it really happens, it's better if I take care of it."
Hachiman looked at the fair, good-looking fist in front of him, nodded with a smile. It was indeed rare. He had gone to school with Kaede and Suzu for so long and had never seen anything like that happen. He only heard about it in the news.
Maybe, as Ichinose Honami said, Kaede and Suzu had strong auras, those punks who only bullied timid girls wouldn't dare mess with them.
The standards for molestation crimes on trains didn't follow the "innocent until proven guilty" principle, it was "prove your own innocence." Some girls even exploited this to frame innocent people.
However, he was more inclined to believe that the world wasn't lacking in bad people, whether men or women. But that they were relatively few, and the odds of running into them were low.
Even though there was an "Underground World" in reality, most people one met in daily life weren't that bad.
After all, many heroines from the Underground World, while having strange mindsets, were chaste before they fell. They were purer than some of the Surface World heroines.
There are billions of people in the world. Even if one in ten were bad, that'd be hundreds of millions, enough to plunge the world into chaos. So, most people are law-abiding with the occasional flaw; truly bad ones are rare.
Moreover, he had the Love List to warn them of danger. Every time the girls came to his house for dinner, he still insisted on walking them home, mainly to have a little chat and deepen their bond.
Of course, he couldn't say that out loud. He couldn't explain to everyone that he wasn't unconcerned about their safety and that if they were ever in danger, he could just teleport to them, right?
Just as Hachiman thought this, the long-silent Love List suddenly issued a task notification.
[Ding~]
["Character task alert."]
["Would you like to teleport to Kasumi Sugisaki's side?"]
Kasumi Sugisaki? Who was that again? There were only a few tasks at the moment, there was no way he wouldn't remember.
Hachiman was just about to hunt down a minotaur, excited by the rare Love List alert, when he realized he had no idea who this person was.
Back when he first discovered how useful the Love List was, he added in every detected girl. Regardless of whether he knew them or not, regardless of whether he'd seen them.
And now the Love List was warning him about someone he didn't even recognize.
The next stop was Ichinose Honami's. She was about to get off, he should first check where this unknown girl was.
Hachiman opened the Love List and immediately found the name Kasumi Sugisaki. Her real-time location… was on this very train?
And she was only about a meter away from him?
"Huh?"
Hachiman suddenly looked up and turned to the front of Ijichi Nijika, who sat on the other side of Ichinose Honami.
In front of Nijika stood a girl with black-rimmed glasses, gloomy temperament, also wearing the neat, form-fitting Sobu High uniform but looking rather dowdy.
She held a handrail with one hand and clutched her shoulder bag with the other, silently lowering her head.
She looked just like the timid, bullied-but-don't-dare-to-speak girls Ichinose Honami described.
And maybe precisely because of that, a foul-looking, obese middle-aged man was slowly squeezing through the crowd behind her, moving closer and closer to this girl called Kasumi Sugisaki.
Who would've thought that while walking someone home today, he'd run into a molester?
Hachiman furrowed his brow, immediately switched his phone to video mode and started recording, then handed the phone to Ichinose Honami beside him, adjusting the angle. He whispered in her ear, "Honami, there's a molester, point the phone that way and film the whole thing."
Then he stood up, pushed through the crowd, and grabbed the guy who had just reached out toward Kasumi Sugisaki, trying to act indecently on the train. He pinned the fat pervert to the ground and started beating him up.
Although he detested this kind of man who only bullied weak girls, he couldn't kill someone in front of so many people.
Filming the attempted crime first to prevent any interference was good enough.
Later, he'd consider letting Ursula go silence the guy and destroy the body.
He didn't even know this Kasumi Sugisaki person, but she wore the Sobu High uniform. Sobu High was his turf. Daring to mess with a student from his school. Of course, he had to give him a good lesson before sending him to die.
"Ah? Molester?", Ichinose Honami was stunned. Just as she was about to blush from Hachiman whispering into her ear, he left his seat and flipped a guy onto the floor and started beating him.
Only then did she realize that Hikigaya had discovered a molester and was stopping him.
"Stop, stop hitting!"
"Help! I was wrong! Please forgive me!"
The train molester, pinned to the floor, had never expected to be caught before succeeding, nor that he wouldn't even be able to fight back. The harder he begged, the harder he got hit. Pain surged from every part of his body.
His shrill cries echoed through the train.
Hachiman didn't kill in public, but he was good at causing great pain without leaving visible injuries.
The other passengers, seeing the molester getting thrashed, didn't know the full story. But since Ichinose Honami was recording beside him, they quickly stepped aside, making space and watching silently.
"What happened? What's going on here?"
Ijichi Nijika, who had been chatting with Kitagawa Marin and probing Yumiko and Hachiman's secret, looked in astonishment at Hachiman, who had just beaten a man in front of her, and the girl standing quietly with her head down.
What the heck? She was just chatting, and in the blink of an eye, Hikigaya started fighting someone?
"Just a molester. We're at the station now, let's take him to the station manager and call the police," Hachiman kicked the guy playing dead on the ground, dragged him off the just-opened train doors.
Normally, you could report a molester to the police or hand him over to station staff. But he still had people to walk home today, so he wouldn't wait for the cops.
He didn't care if this molester lost his social life or went to jail for years. He could deal with it himself later, or have Ursula handle the dirty work.
Ursula was still with Sakurase Shino. He could stop by and check in on her, too.
"Could you come with us as well, please?", Ichinose Honami saved the video and turned to the girl with crooked glasses, who looked scared, and asked.
Just moments ago, the girl looked quite dowdy. But now that her glasses had shifted, revealing her face, she was actually kind of cute.
Didn't expect that she'd run into a molester right after talking to Hikigaya. Although it wasn't herself who got groped, she still felt relieved. This girl didn't seem like someone who'd fight back.
"Mm, mm," The girl named Kasumi Sugisaki nodded quickly, adjusted her glasses, and followed Ichinose Honami and Ijichi Nijika to serve as a witness for the follow-up.
She hadn't really noticed anything, but seeing where he was standing, it was obvious he had been aiming for her. After all, Hikigaya, Ichinose, and Nijika were all seated, only she was standing.
Luckily, she ran into Hikigaya and the others. Otherwise, she really wouldn't have known what to do.
The follow-up went smoothly. With video evidence and witnesses, the station manager locked up the molester and called the police.
Even though the footage showed Hachiman continuing to hit the guy even after he gave up, the station manager dropped any further thought upon seeing they were all Sobu High students.
Molestation already caused bad PR. If it involved the prestigious Chiba school Sobu High and stirred controversy, his career would be over.
The police probably thought the same. The molester deserved to die anyway. There was no need to worry about his rights when the evidence was solid.
"Thank you, Hikigaya-kun, Ijichi-san, Ichinose-san. If it weren't for your help, I really wouldn't have known what to do," After everything was settled, Kasumi Sugisaki bowed deeply to the three in gratitude.
Normally, she returned home early, but today she had stayed late reading at the library. She hadn't expected something like this to happen.
"We're all Sobu High students, it's only natural to help each other," Hachiman waved his hand and looked at the Sobu High uniform on Kasumi Sugisaki, continuing, "Do you want us to walk you home? After what just happened, you probably don't want to ride the train alone."
"No need, thank you, Hikigaya-kun. I live nearby. I can get back myself. I won't bother you and Ijichi-san and Ichinose-san's date," Kasumi Sugisaki shook her head, bowed again, and hurried off.
"???", Ichinose Honami stared blankly at her retreating back, wanting to explain but unsure how. She looked hesitantly at Ijichi Nijika.
"Nijika, do you know her? How does she know us?"
"Eh? Honami, you don't know? She's our classmate, Sugisaki," Ijichi Nijika looked at Ichinose Honami strangely, then realized it wasn't just Honami, even Hachiman didn't seem to recognize her. She was speechless.
Unbelievable, they just saved a classmate from getting molested, and neither of them recognized her.
"She's the one who always sits by the window, quietly reading, and doesn't really talk to anyone."
"Oh… so it was her…"
Ichinose Honami recalled and realized that there did seem to be a girl who didn't talk much, always lowering her head to study, sitting by the window and completely not participating in socializing. She had transferred in not long ago, and Honami had never spoken to her or had any dealings with her.
"She usually wears glasses, ties up her hair, and doesn't speak, so I never noticed her. But I didn't expect that under those glasses, she's actually kind of cute."
Hachiman also remembered who this girl that became cute after taking off her glasses was.
Compared to the girls in the class who were either daughters of politicians, gyaru, or popular types who looked colorful and caught the attention of the boys, Kasumi Sugisaki was just an inconspicuous bookworm that others kept their distance from.
Although she didn't only read textbooks, she also read extracurricular books like manga. She never spoke to anyone whether during class or break, just quietly kept her head down reading, with even less presence and fewer friends than he, who used to have dead fish eyes.
Logically speaking, with his dead fish eyes, he should've been able to team up with her to warm themselves in solidarity, but since he sat in the back of the classroom and she sat in the front with her head down reading, and both of them were not the proactive type, they rarely even made eye contact, let alone had any interaction.
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