"…What are you two doing here? And were you three just eavesdropping on my conversation?"
Hikigaya resisted the urge to immediately point at Chabashira like a defendant exposing the true mastermind behind a crime.
"Hey, hey, no need to look at us like that, Horikita. She's the one who shoved us in there and forced us to stay. If anything, we were unwilling participants here. So, if you want to complain to someone, complain to her."
Ayanokouji nodded with his usual calm expression.
"He's right, I did tell Chabashira-sensei that students probably shouldn't be forced to hide in a kitchenette and listen to someone else's private conversation. But she threatened us with expulsion."
And the worst part was—
He wasn't even lying.
Hearing Ayanokouji say all that with such a perfectly straight face was quite hilarious. The guy had completely pushed all responsibility onto Chabashira with zero hesitation, purely for self-preservation. Clearly, avoiding getting stabbed by Horikita's compass later had become his top priority.
"Sensei, why would you do this?" Horikita asked, having realized that this had all been planned. She sounded even more frustrated now.
"Because I deemed it necessary. Now then, you three, I'll explain why I called you here." Chabashira-sensei dismissed Horikita's concerns and shifted her attention to us.
Horikita's expression tightened slightly. It was obvious she had no intention of staying in this room any longer than necessary after finding out they had been listening to the entire conversation.
"Well then, if you'll excuse me…" she said as she started to get up.
"Wait, Horikita. It would be in your best interest to stay and listen. It may provide you with a hint on how to reach Class A."
Horikita paused mid-step. The mention of Class A had clearly caught her attention. After a brief moment of silence, she quietly sat back down.
"Please keep it brief, then" she said.
"You're an interesting student, aren't you Ayanokouji?" Chabashira-sensei chuckled as she glanced over her clipboard.
"Not at all. I'm certainly not as interesting as a teacher with a strange surname like Chabashira."
Hikigaya couldn't help but let out a short laugh when he heard that. 'What the hell? Since when was this guy this smooth?'
"Would you speak like that to every Chabashira in the nation? Hmm?"
He let out another small chuckle as another thought crossed his mind. Even if you searched the entire country for another person with the surname "Chabashira," he doubted you'd find one.
However, his amusement was instantly cut short. Chabashira-sensei's sharp gaze shifted away from Ayanokoji and locked directly onto him, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"You of everyone don't have a right to laugh at other people's names, Hikigaya."
Hikigaya was caught slightly off guard by the sudden counterattack. For a brief moment, he wanted to object. How dare she target his beautiful and perfectly respectable surname, Hikigaya? But then he remembered that nearly half the time people either mispronounced it, forgot it entirely, or just gave up midway through saying it. '…Okay, maybe I'm not in the strongest position to argue here.'
"N-no, I wasn't laughing at your name Sensei. I was just laughing because Ayanokouji's reply basically proved the exact point you were trying to make earlier. I seriously doubt anyone who isn't interesting could come up with a response like that."
Chabashira-sensei stared at him for a brief moment before quietly shifting her attention back toward Ayanokouji. Out of the corner of his eye, Hikigaya noticed Ayanokouji glance at him briefly before looking away again without saying anything.
"Let's set that aside for now, when I read over the entrance exam's results, your scores piqued my interest. I was shocked."
On her clipboard were several answer sheets neatly stacked together.
"Fifty points in Japanese. Fifty points in mathematics. Fifty points in English. Fifty points in social studies. Fifty points in science. You even scored Fifty points on the recent short test. Do you know what this means?"
Horikita and Hirata both looked visibly stunned as they leaned slightly closer to examine the answer sheet more carefully.
"Exactly fifty in each one of them…?" Hirata muttered in disbelief.
"…This is a rather frightening coincidence," she said.
Honestly, Hikigaya was surprised too. But rather than the scores themselves, something else bothered him more. Earlier, Chabashira-sensei had casually shown Horikita's entrance exam results. Now she was showing Ayanokouji's too. 'Should I also… no never mind.'
"Oh?" Chabashira-sensei replied. "You guys really believe getting fifties across the board was simply a coincidence?"
"It's a coincidence," Ayanokouji answered immediately. "There's no evidence proving otherwise. Besides, what would I even gain from manipulating my scores in the first place? If I were smart enough to do that, I would've aimed for perfect scores instead."
As he feigned innocence, even more Chabashira-sensei sighed in exasperation.
"You really do seem like an odious student. Listen. Only 3 percent of students solved the fifth math problem successfully, yet you solved it perfectly, using a complex formula to do so. Meanwhile, the tenth problem on the test had a completion rate of 76 percent. Did you simply make a mistake? Is that normal?"
"I don't know what normal is," Ayanokouji replied calmly. "I'm telling you it was a coincidence. A coincidence."
"For crying out loud…" Chabashira-sensei muttered, rubbing her temple lightly. "I can appreciate honesty, but this attitude of yours is going to cause problems for you someday."
Hikigaya glanced at Ayanokouji, honestly unable to believe how completely unfazed the guy still looked.
'…What is this guy? A politician in the making or something?' Ayanokouji kept calmly denying everything despite the evidence laid out right in front of him like this was some kind of press conference. At this point, Hikigaya half expected him to start saying things like, 'These accusations are completely unfounded.'
Hirata, who had been standing silently the entire time, finally stepped in. He seemed to be trying to pull Ayanokouji out of the spotlight.
"Let's set aside Ayanokouji's peculiarities for a moment, sensei," Hirata said gently. "Could you please clear up exactly why you called all of us here?"
"Yeah, seriously," Hikigaya chimed in, nodding in agreement. "I get that Ayanokouji's apparently some hidden genius and everyone else here is clearly a capable person. But I really doubt I'm going to be needed for whatever you have in mind. I don't have anything impressive going for me."
As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt the weight of three distinct gazes locking onto him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Horikita, Hirata, and even Ayanokouji looking at him with a flat expression that practically said, 'Are you for real, bruh?'
"So anyway," he continued casually, already taking a small step backward toward the door, "I probably don't need to be here for whatever this is, so if you'll excuse me—"
But Chabashira-sensei wasn't about to let him off that easily.
"Not so fast, Hikigaya, What about our conversation this morning?"
"…This morning?" Hirata repeated, a look of recognition appearing on his face.
"The conversation we had after class," Chabashira-sensei continued calmly. "The one right after I revealed the class point system, when you came chasing after me? If I didn't think you had any potential, I doubt that conversation would have happened at all."
The moment those words left her mouth, Hikigaya felt an intense urge to slam his head into the nearest wall. 'Seriously… so in the end, it was because of that one conversation?'
That single exchange after class had apparently been enough for her to lump him together with people like Horikita and Ayanokouji.
What a terrifying school.
Since playing completely dumb like Ayanokouji clearly wasn't going to work for him, Hikigaya decided to entirely shift the topic instead.
"Well, I'm really flattered that you think so highly of me, sensei," he said. "But if we're doing this, and if you're revealing everything about everyone in this room... can I ask for something? Or rather, can I tell you something first?"
Chabashira-sensei looked a bit surprised by his sudden change in attitude. She paused, leaning back slightly against her desk. "Go on."
"You see, initially, I had absolutely no intention of attending this school," Hikigaya explained plainly. "It was only due to some sudden personal circumstances that I decided to sign up for the entrance exam at the very last moment. Because of that, I never studied or prepared for it at all. During the actual test, I could barely make sense of even the simplest math and science problems. From my perspective, those exams went terribly, and I honestly wasn't able to answer much of anything."
He locked eyes with the teacher, tilting his head slightly. "Yet, here I am, somehow standing inside this school. So, if you were able to just casually show the answer sheets for Ayanokouji and Horikita... would you mind showing me my own answer sheet? I'd really like to make sense of how I actually passed. Hmm?"
As soon as the question left his lips, an absolute, heavy silence fell over the room.
For a brief second, even Chabashira-sensei seemed genuinely caught off guard by the question.
"…You want to see your own answer sheet?" she repeated slowly. "But why? Are you unsatisfied with the result? Are you unhappy with the fact that you passed?"
"No, not at all," Hikigaya replied, shrugging his shoulders as naturally as possible. "Actually, it's just pure curiosity. After watching you pull out their answer sheets like trading cards, I just figured it wouldn't hurt to ask for mine too. So, can I see it?"
A faint moment of hesitation crossed Chabashira-sensei's face. It disappeared almost immediately, but Hikigaya still caught it.
Unlike everyone else in the room, she already knew exactly how poorly he had performed on those exams. However, she clearly hadn't expected him to directly ask about it himself.
After all, while she knew the real reason he had been accepted into the school—
It wasn't something she could simply explain to a student.
"…Unfortunately, that won't be possible, I planned this specific interaction a month ago. Because of that, I requested Horikita's and Ayanokouji's answer sheets well in advance, right before the testing documents were scheduled to be sent off for recycling. By now, it's already too late to retrieve yours."
"Huh. Convenient timing," Hikigaya muttered.
Ignoring that comment entirely, Chabashira-sensei continued.
"Besides, there's no reason for you to worry so much about your exam results. As I explained before, this school evaluates students using many different criteria that are not disclosed publicly."
Her gaze briefly shifted toward Horikita. "That is precisely why students like Horikita, Yukimura, and even Kouenji ended up placed in Class D despite their obvious abilities."
"…Even so, I still refuse to believe that I deserved to be placed in Class D," Horikita replied firmly. "Even if I happen to lack something the school considers important, that alone shouldn't be enough to place someone like me at the very bottom."
Her voice remained calm, but there was obvious frustration underneath it.
"I know I'm at least capable enough for more than this."
As the conversation gradually shifted away from him again, Hikigaya quietly felt relief wash over his shoulders. 'Thank God for Horikita's massive ego.'
Earlier, the moment Chabashira brought up their conversation from that morning, he'd immediately realized she was trying to drag him into the same category as Horikita and Ayanokouji.
There was no way he was letting that happen quietly. So, before she could start what she was doing with Ayanokoji he'd thrown out his own question first and completely changed the direction of the conversation.
Because let's be real the explanation she just gave about "various hidden parameters" was pure bullshit.
Hikigaya knew exactly how he had handled both the written test and the interview. It had been an absolute disaster. On top of that, he was a middle school dropout with a very bad record. There was no realistic reason a prestigious school like this should have accepted someone like him.
Which meant the school was obviously hiding something about how students were actually selected. And the moment his questions started getting too close to that subject, Chabashira-sensei seemed to back off, at least for now.
"How long are you going to continue this, Horikita?" Hikigaya sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It's getting pretty childish to keep hearing this over and over."
Horikita's sharp gaze snapped toward him, "What did you just say?"
"I said your little tantrum over being placed in Class D is getting pretty annoying," Hikigaya replied bluntly. "Honestly, I can't believe Chabashira-sensei gathered all of us here just to listen to you complain about rankings for this long."
The moment he said that, Horikita's gaze turned ice-cold. Hikigaya could practically feel the atmosphere in the room drop several degrees.
"I am not throwing a tantrum, Hikigaya-kun," Horikita replied, "Are you implying that questioning the flaw in the evaluation system is somehow a lack of maturity? Or are you simply too content with your own mediocrity to care about where you stand?"
"Neither, if you're already so completely convinced of your own worth, I don't really get why you're letting a mere title like Class D bother you this much."
Horikita opened her mouth to shoot back a sharp retort, but Hikigaya pressed on before she could snap at him.
"You just said it yourself. You know you're capable, if that's true, then what exactly changes just because they slapped a different letter onto our classroom door?"
His tone remained casual, but his eyes stayed fixed on her.
"Class A, Class D… it's all just a label the school made up. Letting something that arbitrary decide whether you're a success or failure sounds exhausting to me. If you already know who you are and what you're capable of, then obsessing over rankings this much just feels pointless, doesn't it?"
Horikita stared at him silently for a moment. "…You really don't understand anything at all, do you?"
"Probably not," Hikigaya replied honestly.
Horikita clicked her tongue softly, her irritation no longer even remotely hidden.
"A mere title?" Horikita repeated. "How incredibly easy for you to sit there and dismiss the entire structure of this school just because you can't be bothered to try. You talk about it like it's just some meaningless label, purely to cover for your own laziness."
"It's not laziness, it's more like… um, you could call it managing expectations, I guess," Hikigaya countered. "If you don't play the game, you can't lose. You're out here treating Class A like it's life or death, but a label only holds power if you actually care about it. If you already know you're capable, then why does the school's opinion matter so much?"
"…No. That's not enough. That doesn't change anything. That will never solve anything… it'll never prove anything."
The moment Horikita said those words, a frightening intensity crossed her face.
Hikigaya couldn't help but flinch slightly at that expression.
"..."
An awkward silence settled over the room. Hirata was the first to break it.
"I think that's enough, you two, "There's no need to argue this seriously over something like this. We can discuss these things properly another time with everyone."
Then he turned toward Chabashira-sensei. "And honestly, sensei, if what you wanted was for us to understand Horikita's determination and Ayanokouji's… unusual abilities, then I think we've seen enough already."
"Whoa, hold on," Ayanokouji immediately cut in. "What are you saying, Hirata? I'm not some hidden genius. Those fifties were—"
"Shut up." Horikita snapped sharply.
"…Okay." Ayanokouji went silent so quickly it was honestly a little impressive.
"Yeah, I'm with Hirata on this one. Any more of this, and who knows? Ayanokouji and Horikita might actually go mad and destroy all the furniture in here."
"If they did that, Hikigaya," Chabashira-sensei replied, "then I would simply demote them to E Class."
"…Wait, there's an E Class?"
"Certainly. Of course, the 'E' stands for 'expelled.' As in, you'd be kicked out of the school. Well, I suppose our conversation has ended. Enjoy your lives."
Her weird attempt at a joke left the entire room completely speechless for a moment.
"I'm leaving now," Chabashira-sensei said as though her allotted time for dealing with students had officially expired. "It's almost time for the faculty meeting. I'm locking the room, so step outside."
"Well, that's my cue to escape," Hikigaya muttered as he immediately headed for the door.
The moment he stepped outside, Hirata quickly followed after him.
"You really know how to push people's buttons, don't you? Honestly, I've never seen Horikita that worked up before."
"Thanks. I try my best."
"I wasn't complimenting you."
"Yeah, I figured. People rarely appreciate my talents."
Hirata let out a small laugh before speaking again. "Do you have some time right now? There's actually something I wanted to talk to you about."
"Sorry, not today," Hikigaya replied, already starting to walk away. "I've wasted way too much time here already. There's still a lot of things I need to deal with."
As Hikigaya's retreating figure vanished around the corner, Ayanokouji immediately took it as his cue to follow suit. Hirata, realizing the conversation was officially over, gave a slightly disappointed sigh and began walking away in the opposite direction.
Just as Ayanokouji was about to quietly disappear down the hallway himself—
"Wait. Both of you."
Horikita's voice stopped both of them in place. Hirata paused as well, glancing back curiously.
"What is it, Horikita-san?" Hirata asked.
Horikita didn't answer him right away. Her eyes stayed glued to the back of Ayanokouji's head until he finally sighed and turned around to face her.
"There's… something I wanted to ask both of you."
"What is it, then?"
"Ayanokouji-kun… was your score truly a coincidence?"
Ayanokouji answered almost immediately, as though he had already anticipated the question.
"I already said so in there, didn't I? Or do you actually have some kind of proof that I got those scores on purpose?"
"…No," Horikita admitted after a brief pause. "I don't have proof. But something like that happening naturally seems extremely unlikely."
"You're thinking too much. Strange coincidences happen all the time."
Horikita still looked unconvinced as he expected. Realizing he probably wasn't going to fool her that easily, Ayanokouji smoothly shifted the topic instead.
"More importantly, what about you, Horikita? you seem to have an extraordinary fixation on Class A. Is there a particular reason you're pushing yourself this hard?"
"Should I not? I'm simply trying to improve my future prospects."
The answer sounded reasonable enough on the surface. But to Ayanokouji, it felt more like a deflection than a genuine answer. He recalled the point Hikigaya had pressed on earlier inside the room. Since direct denial clearly wasn't going to end this conversation, he decided to try the same approach instead.
"Oh, absolutely. You should," Ayanokouji replied casually. "It's perfectly natural. It's just… considering your academic ability, you already outperform most students by a huge margin. You even achieved one of the highest entrance exam scores in the school."
Horikita's eyes narrowed slightly. "…And what exactly are you trying to imply?"
"Nothing particularly complicated it's just with that kind of capability, I doubt there's any future prospect or career you couldn't achieve on your own merit, regardless of what class you graduate from. So, uh you shouldn't worry about it too much… I guess.
That argument silenced Horikita for a brief moment. Hirata glanced between the two of them awkwardly, clearly sensing the atmosphere becoming tense again. But she quickly regained her composure.
"That doesn't matter," she answered firmly. "I still cannot easily accept being placed in Class D. Precisely because I know my own worth, I will start by thoroughly investigating the school's true intentions and find out exactly why I was put in Class D.
Ayanokouji quietly observed her without interrupting.
"And if, as Chabashira-sensei claims, the school truly considers me defective enough to belong here... then my goal is simple. I will lead this entire class to the top. No, I will definitely make it to Class A. I'll make sure of it, no matter what it takes."
"That's wonderful, Horikita-san," Hirata said with visible relief. "Does that mean you're finally willing to cooperate and work together with everyone in the class?"
"Only when it's absolutely necessary," Horikita replied immediately. "Even then, I have very little faith in most of them. Frankly speaking, they're far too unreliable. In the end, we'll probably have to handle everything ourselves."
"What are you saying, Horikita-san?" Hirata argued back, "Everyone worked together surprisingly well this month. We managed to reach 475 class points too. If we keep cooperating like this, I think the class can definitely improve."
"Is that what you honestly believe?" Horikita shot back, "Tell me, Hirata-kun. It was Hikigaya-kun who told you all about the individual class merit points and the system before you explained it to the class, wasn't it?"
Hirata hesitated, his eyes darting to the side as he opened his mouth to try and make an excuse. "Um, well, that's…"
"There's no need to hide it. I was the one who figured out the truth behind the class points first and told Hikigaya-kun about it."
A look of visible surprise crossed Hirata's face. Realizing she already knew everything, he gave up trying to avoid the topic. "...Yes. It was Hikigaya-kun who instructed me on exactly what to do and say to the class."
"There you go, the only reason our class was able to retain this many points is because of the tricks and deception used by that guy to force everyone into taking things seriously. Do you honestly think now that the truth is out, everyone will continue to be as cooperative as they were?"
Hirata couldn't help but fall silent at her words, unable to find a counterargument. The unity they had achieved was built entirely on a pure self intrest, not genuine goodwill.
"So, you'll try to take care of this situation all by yourself?" Ayanokouji asked, inserting himself back into the conversation.
"Yes. I will have to."
"Uh… don't you think you're acting a little too proud about—"
A sharp chop suddenly struck Ayanokouji straight in the ribs.
"Oww…"
Horikita completely ignored his pained expression.
"Look, I understand how you feel," Ayanokouji muttered, rubbing his side. "But you can't solve this problem by yourself. Think about Sudou and the others. Even if you improve your own standing, the rest of the class will just drag you down."
"No. You're right that no lone individual can solve this problem. We won't even make it to the starting line without everyone's help."
"Well, it sounds like we've got a huge problem on our hands then,"
"We have three major, immediate issues," Horikita clarified, "First, we have to make sure the class doesn't fall back into their old patterns. Second tardiness and talking during class are the first things we must eliminate. Third, we must make sure no one fails the upcoming midterm exam."
"I think we can handle those first two issues through constant reminders," Hirata said thoughtfully. "But the midterms…"
His expression darkened slightly.
The short quiz they had taken earlier had been relatively simple overall despite a few difficult questions. Even then, several students had still failed miserably. Honestly speaking, the odds of the entire class surviving the midterms felt dangerously low.
"That is exactly why we must make sure that the entire thing with the midterms goes well," Horikita said firmly. "If we can pull it off, this might be our chance to get promoted to Class C."
"Yeah... but it's definitely not gonna be easy," Hirata said, his voice trailing off as the sheer weight of the task ahead began to settle over them.
"Well then," Horikita began, her sharp gaze shifting slowly away from Hirata to lock right back onto Ayanokouji. "That means, Ayanokouji-kun, it seems like this time you will have to work really hard."
"Hey, hey, what do you mean by that, Horikita? you aren't saying you're going to drag me into this too, right?"
Well, it wasn't as though he would just bluntly refuse someone asking for help. Then again, if he told her he would help, she'd probably work him to death until graduation. To survive dealing with a girl like this, he'd need the heart of a demon.
"…I don't think I can," Ayanokouji answered carefully. "I mean, I'm glad you asked, but I'll have to refuse."
"I always knew you'd help, Ayanokouji-kun. I'm grateful."
"I didn't say that," Ayanokouji immediately protested. "I literally just turned you down."
"No," Horikita replied calmly. "I heard the voice inside your head. You said you would help."
Terrifying. It was like she could actually read his thoughts.
"Well, contact me once you've given it some thought. I look forward to hearing from you," she added.
Clearly, Horikita wasn't paying attention to what he was saying in the slightest. She had already decided his participation was a settled fact.
"W-wait. If you're looking for help, then what about Hikigaya?" Ayanokouji hurriedly tried to shove another human sacrifice onto the altar for the sake of his own survival. "I mean, he'd probably be way more useful than me anyway, so—"
But Horikita completely ignored his attempt to drag Hikigaya down into the mess with him. Without another word, she simply turned around and walked away, her long black hair swaying neatly behind her as she disappeared down the corridor.
Hirata watched her leave, then turned to Ayanokouji with a sympathetic smile He patted his shoulder gently to console him.
"Well... if you have any problems or need some help regarding all of this, you can always contact me, Ayanokouji-kun. We're in this together, after all."
"Yeah… I will. Thanks."
With that, Hirata also headed off in the opposite direction, leaving Ayanokouji alone in the quiet hallway.
Honestly, today was not quite what he had expected. Getting dragged into Horikita's ambitious plans seemed incredibly troublesome. He could only hope she wouldn't resort to trying to stab him with her compass later if he stepped out of line, so it might be best to just go along with her for now.
Still, as he glanced out the window at the setting sun, he realized it wasn't entirely a bad thing either.
In the end, this situation might just give him a few perfect opportunities to check on certain things he had been curious about.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Authors note:
Hey everyone, this chapter is finally done, and I hope it turned out alright.
As always, it took me quite a while to finish this chapter. Honestly, it's a little disappointing even for me how long these updates take sometimes… but well, in the end, here we are.
This chapter was pretty important as setup for the entire upcoming arc, so I really hope I managed to handle it well. I'll just say this for now: this arc is going to be significant for our boy Hachiman here.
Other than that, I can't really think of much else to say right now. If anything in the chapter felt off, though, please let me know. Your feedback genuinely helps me improve as a writer.
And as always, thank you for giving this story a chance. Your comments and encouragement honestly mean a lot to me and really help keep me motivated to continue writing.
Stay tuned for more.
—Raijinmaru_K2