Chapter 034: Two Zeroes in One Exam—Unprecedented in School History!
Away from the noisy school building and the small blackboard, at the cafeteria.
Hikigaya Hachiman and Ichinose Honami sat at a dining table, enjoying their breakfast.
Compared to the agonizing state of mind of the Class C and D students at this moment, the leisure reflected in their expressions was no illusion. At exactly seven in the morning, as students of Class B, their private accounts had punctually received this month's living expenses disbursed by the school.
91,100 points.
According to school rules, one only needed to divide the living expenses by 100 to determine the class's evaluation points.
Therefore, 91,100 points clearly announced that Class B's evaluation score was 911 points.
While it was a peculiar number, overall, it exceeded expectations. In high spirits, it was only natural to come to the cafeteria for a hearty breakfast.
However.
Beep beep!
His phone vibrated. Hikigaya checked his messages.
The message was from Shibata—more accurately, the Class B group chat was currently boiling over.
As the class representative of Class B, even if he didn't pay special attention, his classmates—driven by a strong sense of responsibility—would always spontaneously share any information they grasped at the first opportunity.
For instance, right now, Shibata, who had been standing guard near the small blackboard, successfully took a photo when the Student Council members updated the data, obtaining first-hand information on the evaluation scores of all four classes.
"I really didn't expect us to gain so many points," Ichinose couldn't help but sigh softly, her gaze landing on her lit-up phone screen.
Unlike Class C's Ryuen, who preferred communicating directly during class meetings, any ripple in Class B would quickly cause waves in the group chat.
Thus, Ichinose instantly understood the composition of Class B's 911 points: the base score first saw a -189 deduction, followed by a +100 addition. The -189 was understandable, but the reason for the +100 was something she knew well.
It was precisely the result of her and Hikigaya-kun reporting to the Student Council together.
She just hadn't expected the report to yield such a generous reward. After all, that was a full 100 evaluation points.
Those 100 points meant Class B would receive an extra 400,000 private points from the school every month. Accumulated over three years, it would be a staggering fortune of over ten million points.
But the benefits went far beyond that. It was these crucial 100 points that prevented Class B from being separated by a massive chasm from Class A, who had discerned the truth of the school's operations on day one.
Class A had 955 points, while Class B had 911. The gap was less than 50 points.
For Class B—even compared to any previous Class B in history—this was a brilliant achievement.
Therefore, the uncontrollable, dancing joy on Ichinose Honami's face was a perfectly natural reaction.
Just don't forget, this girl—whom even the antagonist Nagumo Miyabi in the original story tried to capture by any means necessary—possessed an exceptionally vivid and moving beauty.
Sitting across from her, Hikigaya felt the radiance was almost blinding.
"I can only say we had good luck," Hikigaya said, quickly averting his gaze.
"No!" Ichinose suddenly looked up, her eyes as clear as water, gazing straight at him.
"The one who decided to report it was you, Hikigaya-kun."
The implication was clear: in Ichinose's eyes, these 100 points were entirely Hikigaya's credit.
Facing such blunt praise, Hikigaya felt his cheeks grow slightly warm.
He discovered that being praised by a beautiful girl was truly not an easy thing to handle. However, continuing to be overly modest would seem hypocritical, so he spoke frankly: "I indeed went after the bonus points. Of course, getting them is best; even if we didn't, it would count as clearing a hidden danger for the school. It's a win-win."
Despite his words, Ichinose habitually focused her attention to listen.
As expected.
'I asked Ichinose to invite Sakura out because I knew from the original story that the male clerk had ill intentions toward her.
Even though nothing had happened yet, it's always right to nip it in the bud.
One shouldn't have to wait for a criminal to succeed before catching them, right? Besides, we caught him red-handed filming other girls. So, even if the report didn't grant points, it was the right thing to do.'
Hikigaya-kun's inner voice reached Ichinose's ears clearly.
'As expected of Hikigaya-kun.'
Ichinose felt that while Hikigaya-kun often thought he was out of place in Class B and felt everyone was too much of a "saint," the fact that he was assigned to Class B suggested he belonged to this group.
And while the label of "saint" was often seen as a burden, when placed on the right path, it possessed an undeniable power.
For example, right now, Ichinose felt Hikigaya-kun was an exceptionally reliable and good person.
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In a booth two rows behind them and to their diagonal.
The black-haired, cool-eyed Horikita Suzune suddenly looked up at the girl sitting across from her.
The girl opposite her wore pink-framed glasses and had her hair in somewhat dowdy, large pink twin-tails—it was their classmate, Sakura Airi.
But Sakura's expression was incredibly vivid. A flash of panic crossed her face, followed by touched emotion, then a deep blush.
Finally, she clasped her hands tightly, looking full of gratitude.
The whole person was like a startled small animal, her emotional fluctuations so dramatic it was astonishing.
It could be said that Horikita Suzune had never seen such a rich and varied range of expressions on her face.
"It's... it's nothing! I... I wasn't thinking about anything like Hikigaya-kun... um, Horikita-san." As soon as Sakura Airi finished, she felt the heat rush to her face. She hurriedly looked away, as if trying to change the subject, and spoke quickly.
"That... Horikita-san, what do you think our class... should do next?"
"What do you mean, 'what to do'?" Horikita Suzune frowned in confusion.
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