Chapter 009: Going to find Little Horikita, meeting Big Chabashira!
"Is Hikigaya-kun going to Class D?"
After school, Ichinose had been paying close attention to Hachiman's movements.
She felt that since Hikigaya-kun was now the class representative of Class B, and she was his assistant, she had a responsibility to support him. If he needed her to arrange anything—or even to help pull the class together—she would certainly help.
However, she had clearly just heard Hikigaya-kun's inner voice.
'President Horikita is truly business-like. He opened his mouth and immediately asked for 300,000 points. That means once Ichinose finishes collecting the 1/3 'allowance' from Class B for me, I'll have to deduct 300,000 points immediately. But that's fine; I have other methods. Since I have to deal with Hoshinomiya-sensei anyway, I might as well head to Class D. I can just take a photo of Horikita Suzune from a distance and hand it over to both of them to settle the score.'
"Hmm..."
Ichinose felt she would have to go find her classmates tonight to collect the 1/3 [Reward fee for the class representative leading the class] for this month.
However...
'Tough it might be better to ask Ichinose to do this—since it involves contacting Horikita Suzune in Class D and even taking a photo—me going there would look like I'm a creep taking voyeuristic shots.
There aren't such boundaries between girls. But Ichinose is a good person; I'm still somewhat reluctant to make her do something bad. After all, her voice is very similar to Yuigahama's; it gives me the feeling that I'm arranging for Yuigahama Yui to do something wicked.'
Eh?
So, that Yuigahama-san Hikigaya-kun knows has a voice that sounds just like mine?
And if my voice didn't sound like that Yuigahama-san's, were you going to make me do that kind of thing?
Ichinose blinked gently.
"I have some things to take care of," Hachiman said.
He still wasn't quite used to Ichinose proactively speaking to him, so for a moment, he didn't even notice that he hadn't mentioned going to Class D, yet Ichinose had pointed it out.
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Hikigaya Hachiman, with his school bag on his shoulder, began walking downstairs.
He descended from the fourth floor and first arrived at the faculty office. Just then, a female teacher walked out. In her left hand, she held a lady's cigarette, not yet lit; she was likely heading to the rooftop to smoke.
Hachiman recognized her immediately.
This teacher was Chabashira Sae, the Class D teacher—a young woman with refined, peerless beauty and an "S-curve" figure. The most striking characteristic of this teacher was that she shared a similar aura with Horikita Suzune, making one feel that Chabashira-sensei was very likely what Horikita-san would look like when she grew up.
Of course, the reason he specifically stopped to take a few extra glances was that, in terms of looks, Chabashira in her professional attire—with her serious expression, single ponytail, and high heels making a da-da sound—was quite striking.
What caught Hachiman's eye were her black silk stockings; this was the charm that only an adult woman possessed.
It instinctively reminded him of Hiratsuka Shizuka-chan, the teacher who had forced him to join the Service Club.
Unfortunately, even though they were both nearing thirty, and Hiratsuka Shizuka's looks weren't bad and she also smoked—compared to the Chabashira in front of him, Shizuka really lacked a certain "flavor."
Is she really losing because she doesn't know how to dress up, or rather, because she won't wear black silk stockings?
Hachiman was slightly dazed.
However, he knew standing there doing nothing was awkward, so he proactively greeted her. "Hello, Sensei."
"Oh?" Chabashira seemed somewhat surprised. She recognized that this student wasn't from her class, and since he was coming from upstairs, he must be from Class A or B. Why would a student not from her class greet her?
"My class Sensei is Hoshinomiya Chie," Hachiman added.
"Oh." Chabashira understood instantly.
Since Hoshinomiya Chie was her "best friend," Chie had perhaps mentioned her to the students. But why talk about her to the students? Was Chie planning to hinder her again, just as she had with the previous two batches?
Or was this student someone Chie recognized—for instance, the Class B representative?
Has Class B already produced a class representative?
Thinking of this, Chabashira's mood seemed to sour instantly.
Because despite the different classes, she had never extinguished her ambition of entrusting Class D to promote to Class A. Since she couldn't do it herself, she hoped the class she taught could achieve it.
She had been teaching at this school for six years, meaning she had seen off two batches of Class D students.
Regrettably, the previous two batches had never realized her ambition. She knew how impossible it was for Class D to promote to Class A; her own class back then had been like a bunch of cheaters, gathering all the capable people around her. 1
So this year, she had originally intended to give up—until she discovered several special existences among the students in her class.
From Hirata Yosuke and Kushida Kikyo, whose comprehensive strength could land them in Class B, to Koenji Rokusuke and Horikita Suzune, whose data profiles could rival Class A.
There was also Matsushita Chiaki, whose middle school data was excellent and could have placed her in Class A.
And then there was Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, who entered through a special channel and had a perfect score-control record of exactly 50 points on every entrance exam.
Although these students had the raw strength to clash with Classes A and B...
Naturally, they were all problem children. In certain aspects, they had massive "deduction" factors, which was why they were dumped in Class D.
But if she could gather them all together, then perhaps... this year's Class D could fulfill her ambition.
However...
These students had been enrolled for ten days now, and no one... absolutely no one... had started to take action. Furthermore, in those ten days, they had already caused their 1,000 base points to be nearly cut in half.
This was a level of destructive power that even previous Class Ds couldn't reach.
That was what made her want to smoke in frustration.
"Mm." Seeing Hachiman greet her, Chabashira put the lady's cigarette back into her pocket.
For now, she was still a teacher and had to maintain her image; she couldn't act out in front of students.
Thus, she somewhat awkwardly walked past Hachiman and headed toward the rooftop staircase.
Don, don, don—
Just then, the sound of footsteps coming up from below rang out.
Hachiman, who was about to move, stopped instantly.
Because it was none other than the true heroine of this world whom Hachiman was planning to "contact"—Horikita Suzune.
He had expected he'd have to awkwardly go to Class D to find her, but now, she had come to him.