Chapter 151: Class A's Events, Formidable Opponents
[In the chatroom, Horikita Suzune, hearing her brother speak like this, felt completely dazed.]
[After all these years, after chasing after her older brother for so long, she finally, in this video, heard her brother's heartfelt words for the first time.]
[Perhaps everyone would find it incredible, but only Horikita Suzune truly understood, this was her irreplaceable brother.]
[All along, she had been misunderstanding things herself. Even though she could have avoided this path, she had been blinded by his brilliance, following him so closely that she ended up disappointing her own brother.]
[But now, she finally understood everything, and she understood her brother's painstaking intentions.]
[Even if she isn't a genius, it doesn't matter. Even if she isn't particularly outstanding, it doesn't matter. As long as she can live happily, perhaps that is Horikita Manabu's greatest wish.]
[Horikita didn't know what her own feelings were. Perhaps at the moment these complex emotions surged in her heart, that sense of relief allowed her to finally realize the truth.]
[She sat there dazed, not saying a word, simply hoping that the version of herself in the video could realize this sooner.]
[Perhaps in the past, Horikita Suzune had lived only for her brother, Horikita Manabu, chasing after his shadow. But now… she should follow her own path.]
[Watching the conversation between the two, everyone in the video sighed; the relationship between these two was indeed improving. Perhaps this was the mutual recognition of true "monsters."]
[Horikita Manabu: "It seems you've finally realized it, Suzune. I just wish the you in the video could have realized it sooner too."]
[Horikita Suzune: "Brother…"]
[Horikita Manabu: "Anyway, I have to thank the boy in this video. I have to say, the moment I first saw him and witnessed his achievements, I knew he was someone capable of changing others. As expected, he was exactly as I thought."]
[Horikita Suzune fixed her gaze on the video, her eyes vacant.]
[Hikigaya: "If he's really as amazing as you say, he probably wouldn't be in Class D."]
[Horikita Manabu: "That's just how it is. Who would have thought that a seriously unbalanced student with deadfish eyes could be such a monster?"]
[Hikigaya: "That's bordering on a personal attack."]
Listening to their conversation, everyone felt a stir of emotion. Only Hiyori, usually so innocent, revealed a look of concern.
[Ryuen: "Hey Shiina, why the expression? Feeling sorry for that kid, huh?"]
[Shiina choked up slightly, then whispered: "I just feel… he could have changed so many people, yet no one truly changed him. It's such a pity."]
If there were people who cared for him, they weren't few in the school. But those who could truly change him? There were none.
No one remembered that even this rational "monster" was, in the end, just a flawed student assigned to Class D.
---
When Hikigaya returned to Class C, even before stepping in, he felt the atmosphere was off.
As expected, although only a few days had passed, Class A had confirmed 10 competition events:
International Chess, Mental Calculation, Go, Modern Literature, Social Studies, Basketball, Math, English, Jump Rope, Dodgeball.
Horikita was reading aloud the detailed rules set by Class A for each event, but Hikigaya noticed something strange: almost all the events dominated by Class A heavily restricted the role of the "commander" (the central strategic player).
For example, in written exams, the commander only had a single opportunity to answer or replace an answer. Would this really benefit Class C?
Even ignoring that Class A's overall academic ability was higher, without the commander's intervention, Class C would easily lose. But…
If the rules allowed the commander to swap answers at any time, or even replace all answers, could they truly win against Sakayanagi?
From any perspective, the odds of victory were almost zero.
The only exception was one event that heavily relied on the commander: international chess.
No one needed to think much; Sakayanagi, confident in his own strength, would take advantage of this.
Conversely, Class C had no one skilled in chess. Even Hikigaya had only played against the air out of boredom in childhood.
Of course, this only reached ordinary amateur levels; against a monster like Sakayanagi, victory was impossible.
---
International Chess Rules:
Required participants: 1
Match time: 1 hour, timeout loses
Standard rules apply, except after move 41, no additional thinking time is added per move.
Commander Rules:
Can intervene at any time after the board starts, max 30 minutes.
Commander intervention could greatly affect the game, even determining the outcome.
Hikigaya finally understood why the class atmosphere was so tense. Not only were these events difficult for Class C, but only five of the ten events were truly competitive; the rest were decoys, and misreading the opponents would waste precious time.
Each class chose ten events. After the start, the true five were submitted, and the school selected seven for final assessment. Pre-match exploration was part of the exam itself.
Still, it was too early to give up. Class C had strengths, particularly in sports. Small-group competitions might still be winnable.
Class C continued discussions in this direction.
---
Time passed, and it was almost time to decide participants.
All classes were preparing for the final Event Selection Exam, but after school, Class C remained under a shadow of unease.
Hirata, still like a living corpse, tried to leave the classroom. Ichinose, having been in this class for some time, tried to stop him, as unity was crucial now.
But even Ichinose, beloved by everyone, could not hold Hirata back. Watching him leave only increased the class's anxiety.
Ichinose looked at Hikigaya with a grievance-filled gaze.
'Hey, even if you look at me, there's nothing you can do…'
Most girls had already distanced themselves from Hirata. Only one twin-tailed exchange student, Wang Mei-Yui, followed, loudly trying to stop his self-destruction.
Even so, Hirata didn't respond.
The three walked in a line; Hikigaya followed quietly behind.
On the way back to the dorm, Hirata could no longer bear the chatter beside him. He turned coldly and said:
"Enough. Stop meddling in my affairs. Why are you doing this?"
Even strangers would shiver hearing this; for a girl who had long loved him, it pierced her heart.
Perhaps this darkness drove all who cared for him away.
Still, Wang Mei-Yui forced a smile.
"If we abandon Hirata-kun, we simply can't do it…"
Her voice grew lower, almost whispering: "I, and the class, need Hirata's strength. Why do I keep standing in front of you? For only one reason: I want you back, the way you were. Come back, Hirata-kun."
"Even if you don't believe in yourself, even if you deny yourself, I still trust you. Even now, if I have to fight to stay by your side, I will."
"If I leave you too, who will bring back the kind, gentle Hirata-kun?"
Hirata heard everything, but his expression remained cold, emotionless.
"Back to the old me?" he sneered.
"So, Yamauchi… you think I can come back that way? You want me to go back to the past, so that's it?"
"What do you really understand? Go."
Even as he pressed her with steps, she couldn't let him leave, finally grabbing his arm.
He warned her to let go, she shook her head desperately.
He lifted his arm forcefully, flinging her off. Mei-Yui fell to the ground.
Hirata's gaze held no pity, only coldness.
"Stop meddling in my affairs. I won't be afraid anymore. If you keep coming near me…"
The confrontation stopped abruptly as another voice spoke: "Oh my, what a noisy wind today. Oh, excuse me, you don't need to mind me. Please, continue."
It was Kōenji with blonde hair. He had never participated in class discussions, this was a coincidence.
Hirata glared: "You're here to interfere too?"
Kōenji calmly approached Mei-Yui, not even looking at Hirata:
"Don't misunderstand. I don't care for things lacking beauty. But judging from your current ugliness, this school is no longer ideal for you. Wouldn't it be better to leave?"
Mei-Yui feared Hirata would actually leave.
Kōenji's words enraged Hirata: "What do you know? You've always been like this. What right do you have to judge me? Do you think you bear more than I do?"
Kōenji's smile disappeared, but he slowly lifted Mei-Yui with grace.
"Never overestimate what you carry. Others may carry tens of times more."
Hirata sneered: "And if what I carry… is someone's life?"
Kōenji smiled: "Even so, it's nothing."
Enraged and losing reason, Hirata lunged, grabbing at Kōenji.
Mei-Yui shouted, trying to make him snap out of it. Kōenji shook his head helplessly:
"You'd better forget him. He's beyond saving."
With one hand holding Mei-Yui, he instantly subdued Hirata.
Hirata was powerless; Kōenji said: "If you hurt a girl, I won't let it go."
"Not your business! And it's not your turn…"
Kōenji released him and carried Mei-Yui in a princess hold.
Mei-Yui was stunned, she was just beaten by the boy she liked, now she was being carried by another boy.
"Do as you wish, but those who make girls cry have no right to speak here."
He then looked at Hikigaya: "Are you just going to watch?"
Hikigaya had witnessed everything. He had wanted to intervene earlier, but now Kōenji was here.
He stepped forward without hesitation.
Kōenji nodded: "Let me see your skill, Hikigaya."
He said to Mei-Yui: "Don't worry. I'll heal your injuries."
"Eh?"
Even Mei-Yui, in shock, said she wasn't hurt, but Kōenji insisted: "External wounds are fine, but some injuries can't be healed by medicine alone."
He meant her emotional pain.
With three cheerful laughs, he carried Mei-Yui to her room.
Hikigaya and Hirata were left behind.
[Shinohara: "Hirata-kun, how could you be so cruel to a girl? I misjudged you."]
[Sato: "Exactly, you shouldn't lay hands on a girl no matter what."]
["...."]
[Hirata remained silent, like a mute, completely withdrawn.]
[He could not deny everything he had done in the video, or rather, that was simply who he was. He had just been deceiving himself all along.]
[Because of Yamauchi's withdrawal from school, his true nature was finally exposed. And he knew very well that it would not be long before he himself would leave this school, first, because he had completely lost faith in this class and in himself, and second, because this class no longer needed a Yosuke Hirata in this form.]
"What's the matter, are you following me too?"
The two of them walked together, one in front of the other, as if nothing had happened, and even the previous incident didn't seem to make Hirata abandon his prior thoughts.
Hikigaya didn't respond, and Hirata spoke with a tone of despair:
"This is really annoying. One after another, why do you all come to me? Can't you just leave me alone? Hikigaya-kun, you understand me the most, yet now you're just like the others in the class. Can't you just let me be alone for a while and enjoy these last moments of school life?"
Hirata continued pouring out his despair, but Hikigaya only shook his head lightly.
"If you think you can drive me away with words like that, you're mistaken. After all, the things I've heard before were at least ten times harsher than what you just said… So, if you really want, you can beat me up like you did with Mei-Yui and run away. In that case, I wouldn't stand a chance, right?"
Hikigaya seemed to give Hirata a chance, but anyone with eyes could see that the exhausted Hirata no longer wanted to deal with such troublesome matters. And even now, after what had just happened, he no longer had the energy to run.
They continued walking until they sat down on a bench.
The distance between them was not very close, like ordinary classmates, yet also like old friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time.
"You know, there's no time to dwell on regrets from the last exam. The selection project is imminent. Not just Horikita and Hirata, even Ike and Sotomura have been fully involved. Hirata, how long are you going to remain trapped in the shadow of Yamauchi's withdrawal?"
"If you're still angry about what I did last time, you can punch me twice."
Hearing Hikigaya's sincere words, Hirata shook his head with a bitter smile.
"I know Yamauchi-kun was in the wrong, and I know he can't be forgiven, and I know you, Hikigaya-kun, are innocent. But… I just can't forgive myself for being like this."
Hikigaya's gaze grew deep as he looked at Hirata, who kept his head down.
Earlier, he had said that he carried a life on his shoulders, Hikigaya, as an observer, had heard that.
Now, he needed Hirata to tell everything.
"What happened in your past, Yosuke Hirata?"
"Hikigaya-kun, is the past really that important?"
"You don't need to ask me that. If you could resolve it yourself, the past would remain just the past. But clearly, you can't do that now."
Hirata let out a cold laugh. "Do you really think you can save me?"
Hikigaya: "At least, Kōenji entrusted all of this to me."
Hirata's expression grew more painful, recalling past events, it was not a pleasant memory for him.
Hikigaya wasn't wrong. Without Ichinose, this class would probably have already fallen apart. That kind of situation can't last forever, one person's energy is limited, just like Hirata in the past. But now…
He had to bring the kind and gentle Hirata back out again.
Thus, Hirata's thoughts finally returned to the past. On the bench, he quietly recounted his story, and Hikigaya… just sat beside him, saying nothing.
(End of this chapter)