Chapter 297: Who is Number One on the Handsome List?
"I... I have someone I like..."
Shibata Souta's heartfelt confession was quite touching. Simultaneously, several voices asked in unison: "Who?"
"Waaaah~ I can't say it!" Shibata buried his head into his futon.
"Boo!"
"Aren't you just teasing everyone!" The group was indignant.
'Honestly, are all of you really this gossipy?'
Well, Hachiman himself felt a slight spark of curiosity.
"Tch!"
"Is that even hard to guess?" Ryuen Kakeru looked on with disdain, wearing an expression that suggested he had seen through the truth long ago.
"Shibata, you like Ichinose, don't you?"
"Eh!?" Shibata's face instantly changed color. This reaction was equivalent to an immediate confirmation.
The group froze for a moment, then, upon careful thought, they all showed expressions of realization.
Ichinose Honami, in both looks and personality, was someone everyone admired. It was normal for guys to like her. In fact, among the boys present, there were likely others with secret crushes on her. Most just kept those feelings hidden, not believing they could ever successfully pursue such a perfect goddess.
"Ahahaha~ To think it was so obvious, how embarrassing..." Shibata scratched his head awkwardly with a red face. Suddenly, he turned toward Hachiman. "Hikigaya-kun, what about you?"
"???" Hachiman was taken aback, then said speechlessly, "Shibata, your topic jumping is a bit extreme. Why are you suddenly dragging me into this?"
"Don't hide it, Hikigaya-kun. I know who you like!" Shibata giggled, slapping a hand on Hachiman's shoulder.
"Who? Who does Hikigaya like?" The gossip-hungry souls in the dorm were fully ignited.
"Of course it's Ichinose-san! I'm right, aren't I, Hikigaya-kun?" Shibata spoke with conviction.
'Wait? Whether I like Ichinose or not is one thing, but why are you so happy about it? If that were the case, shouldn't we be love rivals?'
Seeing the confusion on his face, Shibata smiled nonchalantly.
"There are several people in our class who like Ichinose-san, even some girls... We've reached an agreement in private: we're going to compete fairly."
Hearing this, Katsuragi Kohei's expression shifted: 'To be able to reach an agreement on something like this, the unity of Class B is even firmer than imagined!'
"So, Hikigaya-kun, you don't need to be secretive. If you like her, say it boldly. We can consider ourselves men with the same goal!" Shibata looked at him with a friendly face.
"..." Before Hachiman could open his mouth, Ryuen across from them shouted: "Don't waste your breath, Shibata. Dead-eyes likes Shiina Hiyori from our Class C. I'm right, aren't I?"
"..." Hachiman remained silent.
"No, no, no. No matter how you look at it, Hikigaya likes the Princess of our class. Someone saw them holding hands during dinner!" Hashimoto Masayoshi quickly spoke up.
"W-what is going on? Why is everyone fighting over Hikigaya?" Yahiko looked on, completely dazed.
"Though I'm reluctant, I have to admit Hikigaya is an excellent talent. They all want to pull him into their respective classes," Katsuragi stated, piercing through to the truth.
"Hehe~ Does holding hands count as liking? Stop making this 'Fish-eye boy' laugh!" Koenji Rokusuke, never one to pass up a chance to cause chaos, actively joined the fray.
"He and Horikita are already using 'Barrier Spirits' (contraceptives), and here you are arguing about whether he likes her or not."
"Horikita Suzune from Class D?"
"And what the heck is a 'Barrier Spirit'?" The group was confused.
"Koenji, shut your mouth!" Hachiman turned pale with shock and quickly tried to stop the other's loose tongue.
"Barrier Spirit... I see. Interpreted literally, a tool that can effectively block 'whales' (sperm), abbreviated as a condom," Hayato Kito analyzed with total seriousness.
'You're usually a silent, gloomy guy, why do you suddenly have so much to say!'
Hachiman screamed internally.
After a brief silence, the entire dorm exploded!
"NANI?!"
"You—you guy, you actually reached home base with that Horikita?"
"Damn it, what an enviably infuriating guy!!"
Setting her personality aside, Horikita Suzune was a girl of peak beauty. Coupled with first-rate academics and athletics, her popularity in other classes was much higher than within Class D.
"Calm down! Please calm down! It's not what you think!" Hachiman waved his hands in denial.
"HIKIGAYA HACHIMAN!!!" Shibata suddenly threw off his covers and stood up, staring at him with a face full of rage. "You scum!! You betrayed Ichinose!!!"
Looking at the wide-eyed Shibata, who looked ready to tear him apart, Hachiman felt both speechless and helpless.
"Leaving aside the fact that I didn't do such a thing... even if I did, what are you even angry about?"
Hachiman truly couldn't understand the other's logic.
"I'm angry at your infidelity!" Shibata attacked with righteous indignation.
"It's not infidelity; this dead-eyes probably has nine hearts and thirteen intentions, kuku~" Ryuen sneered while fanning the flames.
"Ryuen, you're dead!" Hachiman was furious and was about to charge at him, but Shibata grabbed his arm. The dangerous glint in Shibata's eyes was chilling.
"Don't even think about running!"
0Eek, he saw through that?0 Hachiman broke into a cold sweat, trying to soothe him.
"Um, Shibata-kun? Can you calm down first?"
"UNFORGIVABLE!!!" Shibata gritted his teeth.
"Ichinose... Ichinose clearly likes to look at you..."
"Eek!!"
"Whoa!!"
Faced with this massive bombshell from Shibata, everyone present cried out in shock.
"For real? That Ichinose actually likes Hikigaya?"
"Damn! You guy are eating too well!"
The group was burning with jealousy, and the scene became even more chaotic.
"JUDGMENT!"
"EXECUTION!"
Someone started the chant, and one by one they crawled out of their futons like wolves in the dark, ready to tear Hachiman to pieces.
"Hey, hey, hey! I'm warning you, don't do anything reckless, or I'm telling sensei!!" Hachiman retreated until his back was against the corner, drenched in sweat.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
At the critical moment, loud pounding came from the door!
"What's all the noise! It's lights out and sleep time!"
Mashima, doing his rounds, issued a stern warning. "First warning. The second will result in point deductions!!"
Under Mashima's intimidation, the tension in the room was temporarily suppressed.
"Tch~ consider yourself lucky to have escaped..." Ryuen muttered with slight regret.
"Um, Shibata-kun, if you have something to say, can we wait until tomorrow?" Hachiman persuaded. "You don't want our group to lose points and affect Class B; Honami won't be happy about that."
Perhaps moved by the last sentence, Shibata silently returned to his futon. He just lay on his side, his wide-eyed gaze still fixed deathly on Hachiman.
'This guy has gone insane!' Hachiman had no choice but to lie down and turn his back, following the "out of sight, out of mind" principle.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, in the girls' dorm, in Ichinose's group:
The hot topic for girls' chat always revolved around romance.
"How about we talk about our first-year handsome guy rankings?"
"Eh? Wasn't that already ranked in the first semester?"
"Well~ we've known each other for so long now, evaluations change, don't they?"
"Wait, isn't it bad to gossip about people behind their backs?" Ichinose Honami tried to stop the topic.
"Hmph! What's wrong with it? Didn't the boys also rank the girls they most want to date?" Yamashita Saki from Class C deliberately opposed Ichinose.
"..." Ichinose was momentarily speechless.
"I also think the handsome guy rankings need an update," Kamuro Masumi spoke in a cold voice.
"Oh? Even Kamuro-san is interested?" Ichinose was surprised.
"What? I'm not allowed to be interested in handsome guys?" Kamuro glared at her, her tone a bit sharp.
"Kamuro-san, please watch your attitude," Shiranami Chihiro immediately expressed her dissatisfaction.
"This is my attitude, what's it to you?" Kamuro was following Sakayanagi's orders to deliberately pick fights and cause disruption.
Ichinose seemed to realize this and chose to be tolerant.
"It's okay, Chi-chan. Kamuro-san just speaks bluntly; she doesn't mean any harm." She offered a small smile.
"Yeah, everyone please don't fight..." Wang Mei-Yu added softly.
According to the rankings from the start of the year:
Satoshi Satonaka Yousuke Hirata Koenji Rokusuke Shibata Souta Ayanokouji Kiyotaka
"This ranking is clearly outdated; it definitely needs to change."
At the start of the year, no one knew each other well, so the girls just ranked based on first impressions.
But for a "handsome guy," the evaluation usually isn't just about face value; it's a comprehensive evaluation of personal charm.
"Satonaka-kun from Class A is a bit overrated," Yamashita Saki spoke first.
"That guy isn't good at academics or athletics; he's just a pretty face with no substance!"
"Mmh, sharp evaluation, but it's the truth," Morishita Ai nodded in agreement.
Satonaka Satoshi was one of the few students in Class A with a lower level of ability. No one knew how he got into Class A; surely it wasn't just his face?
"I think Hirata from Class D should drop a few places," Minami Kozue evaluated seriously. "Hirata-kun's personal ability is fine, but certain aspects of him... well, you know..."
"...That can't be denied." Wang Mei-Yu once had a crush on Yousuke Hirata, but after he showed his "dark" side, she kept her distance. During the voyeurism incident, Hirata's desperate defense of Yamauchi's group greatly lowered his evaluation among the girls.
"And Koenji, do we even need to mention him?" An arrogant narcissist who publicly dates several upperclassmen; some even saw him buying "Barrier Spirits," leaving a terrible reputation among the girls.
"Shibata-kun's ranking is fine; he's handsome and has a great personality... by the way, he seems to like Ichinose. I wonder if Ichinose-san has any interest in him?"
The girls turned the topic toward Ichinose Honami.
"..." Ichinose looked embarrassed. She wanted to deny it but feared damaging her classmate's reputation.
She stammered her response: "I don't have any thoughts about dating for now."
"Hmph!" Masumi Kamuro let out a light snort.
"As for Ayanokouji... bottom tier! Ranking him fifth was pure blindness!"
Nanami Yabu said with disdain. Because of Ayanokoji, her best friend Shiho Manabe was now notorious in Class C.
The girls all nodded in agreement. In the voyeurism incident, Ayanokoji was one of the culprits, only obtaining the school's forgiveness by snitching on his teammates.
Later, in a series of special exams, his various small tricks were exposed, further lowering his reputation.
"So, who is the number one handsome guy? Ichinose, what do you think?"
"..." Faced with the question, a certain person immediately came to Ichinose's mind, but she hesitated, unsure if she should say it.
In her moment of hesitation, someone else spoke first.
"Of course it's Hachiman. Hikigaya Hachiman!" Kamuro Masumi said with a certain tone.
"Eh?"
"Hikigaya?"
"..."
"No, no, no, the version has updated. Did you forget the handsome guy with glasses from the sports festival?"
"Hiss~ That's right!"
From doubt to recognition, the only thing missing was a pair of glasses!
"I—I think so too! Hachiman-kun is the most handsome!!" Ichinose originally wanted to keep a low profile, but seeing Kamuro state it so bravely, she couldn't fall behind.
"Honami-chan, you really..." Chihiro Shiranami's heart shattered.
"I think that guy is quite handsome even when he's not wearing glasses," Himeno Yuki, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up.
"There's another expert here?" Morishita Ai, who was secretly recording information, showed a surprised expression.
"Mmh~ well, that's true. Hikigaya-kun's academics and athletics are both quite good, and I heard he's the ace of the Martial Arts Club. The only bad thing is that his luck with women is a bit too ridiculous!"
the girls gave a fair evaluation.
"Alright, alright~ It's time to turn off the lights and sleep." As the group leader, Ichinose Honami ended the topic. Just then, the voice of the female teacher checking the rooms came from outside, so everyone lay down obediently.
"Honami-chan, I want to sleep next to you." Shiranami Chihiro clung to her as usual.
"I'll sleep on this side then." Masumi Kamuro actively moved her futon to the other side of Ichinose.
"Kamuro-san?" Ichinose was surprised.
"What? Not welcome?" Kamuro asked back with a cold face.
"No way~ I really want to get along well with you, Kamuro-san!" Ichinose said with a beaming smile.
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