"Instead of being curious about me, why don't you look at yourself?"
Raising her hand, Kushida Kikyo suddenly pulled Horikita Suzune backward, making her fall onto the bed.
Then she turned around, grabbed Horikita's pretty face, and stretched that soft, fair skin into an ugly shape.
"Such a blank face," she said.
"Ugh—"
Suddenly having her cheeks pinched, Horikita's brain froze for a moment. Only when pain spread across her face did she realize she was being attacked.
"I hate you the most," Kushida said as she kept squeezing.
"So stupid."
"So spaced out."
"Your head is full of random nonsense."
"That's not how normal people think at all."
"Why did you reveal the information?" she asked.
With her face distorted, Horikita replied vaguely:
"I dun' know wha' you're sayin'—"
"Answer," Kushida said softly. "Just answer."
Since you decided to use me as a mirror, you'd better be ready to answer the mirror's questions.
Clarify your intentions. See yourself clearly.
Being teased like this was just a small "price" to pay.
"Ugh—"
Just as Kushida was smiling at Horikita's squished cheeks, Horikita suddenly propped herself up and pulled Kushida into a sitting position.
Then she grabbed Kushida's cheeks in return.
Lying sideways made it hard to use force.
"'Cause I couldn't afford it," Horikita replied while squeezing back.
Because she couldn't afford the cost of confirming the special exam's rules by herself, she needed her classmates' help.
Since the exam was class-based, and she had received hints from Chabashira, it was natural for her to look to her classmates.
Revealing the information was just something she did along the way.
Applying more force, Kushida replied indistinctly:
"Not payin' is already an answer…"
"Changin' the price is also an answer…"
She took a breath and continued:
"Did you find the fake yet?"
In the next day's diary, Horikita's "trial" was to find the "fake" in her class.
If Horikita hadn't exposed so much, Kushida might've forgotten about it.
But thinking about it now, having a "fake" in class was actually scary.
"I think it's Yamauchi Haruki, but that wasn't my brother's test, so he probably didn't know about it," Horikita said unclearly, unable to shake her head.
"How long are we gonna do this?"
Her cheeks hurt.
Hearing that, Kushida let go.
She was done squeezing.
"Now," she said.
Horikita also released her grip.
Kushida rubbed her cheeks and continued:
"That idiot does look fake, but if you say you don't know, doesn't that mean your answer was wrong?"
She casually mocked Yamauchi, then sighed.
"Alright, enough. Stop."
"I get your real problem now."
"The magic mirror will tell you what 'Horikita Suzune' really is."
Straightening her rumpled clothes, Kushida pointed at Horikita.
"You're just stupid," she said.
"I finally get it. Whether it's chasing your brother, finishing trials, understanding clues—it all comes down to this."
"You're stupid."
"Not seeing your path. Not seeing yourself. Isn't that just being dumb?"
She exhaled deeply.
"All this mirror nonsense… it's just because you're too dumb to figure things out yourself, so you ask others."
Kushida couldn't understand why she had ever seen Horikita as such a threat.
If she'd known Horikita was this dumb, what was there to worry about?
"Y-you…" Horikita muttered, rubbing her cheeks.
She'd been scolded so thoroughly she couldn't even argue back.
But she'd chosen this herself.
She came here.
She asked for friendship.
She asked for a mirror.
So she could only accept it and mumble weakly:
"Then… what should I do…?"
"I don't know," Kushida shrugged.
"I'm just a mirror, not a lighthouse."
"Don't come to me for directions."
She wasn't going to play some big-sister role and give heartfelt advice.
No way.
She didn't even know where she herself was going.
"Alright, get out," Kushida waved her off.
"You got your friend. You got your mirror. Don't keep hanging around."
"I'm not sleeping in the same bed as a girl."
Don't make it sound like she was gay.
Her orientation was totally normal.
"…It is getting late," Horikita said, glancing at the darkening light.
"I get it."
"See you tomorrow."
She turned to leave, then suddenly stopped.
"Oh, sorry. I almost forgot something."
In front of Kushida, she pulled out a recorder.
The one she'd bought from Asakusa Tetsu.
Its small screen glowed faintly.
It was still recording.
She had turned it on when she came in.
"I won't need this anymore."
She pressed stop, then deleted the recording.
Kushida stared blankly at it, then sighed heavily.
"…You really are sick."
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