Chapter 076: To Protect Yamauchi and Sudo, Choosing to Sell Out Class D; Hirata, You!
This kind of thing... Class D couldn't do it. Because...
This was how the borrowing started. Realizing that the class couldn't gather 400,000 points, Hirata turned to someone who likely possessed points and was closely connected to Class D.
However.
"400,000 points is not a small sum.
Regrettably, as a homeroom sensei, I am a faculty member and cannot interfere in student-related exams. Furthermore, as the sensei of Class D, my salary is the lowest." In other words, Chabashira-sensei had refused Hirata.
Then again, going to the homeroom teacher to borrow money was indeed somewhat absurd. Although the homeroom teacher was the only adult available, if they were to fully participate in the students' exams, it would create problems.
However.
Chabashira-sensei's comment, "My salary is also the lowest," indicated that it wasn't just the students living in a meritocracy where rankings mattered; the teachers were the same. This might drive a teacher to intervene—for instance, by providing more information within reasonable bounds.
But.
A teacher needs to have a bottom line.
Clearly, the teachers of Class B and Class D lacked such bottom lines.
The teacher of Class B didn't focus on her own class; she cared about suppressing Class D—specifically, dealing a blow to Chabashira.
To that end, Hoshinomiya, the homeroom teacher of Class B, didn't mind sacrificing any student.
As the class representative of Class B, Hikigaya was not pleased by this.
Chabashira from Class D was also truly without a bottom line.
In the original story, during the island exam, wanting to provoke Ayanokouji into action, she fabricated a story about Ayanokouji's father personally visiting to demand his expulsion, claiming she had stepped in as homeroom teacher to protect him.
Consequently, Ayanokouji was forced to lead Class D upward according to Chabashira's wishes.
Now, Ayanokouji had already shown some ability in Class D, so surely he would make some moves in the upcoming island exam.
However.
Right now, it was Hirata coming to borrow money. Hikigaya's assessment of Class D's ability to repay was abysmal.
Hirata clearly understood this point; his shoulders slumped slightly and his eyes grew dim. It was impossible for the students in his class to hand over all of next month's living expenses to pay for Sudo and Yamauchi.
"Repayment... I, I am willing to shoulder this debt myself. Even if I can't finish paying it while in this school, I will work hard at part-time jobs after graduation to pay it back," Hirata said quickly.
His eyes were quite determined, as if a certain fire were burning within them.
However, this phrasing sounded as if you intended to take the entire 366,000-point debt upon yourself.
Clearly, this was the portion Sudo and Yamauchi should be responsible for, and potentially what the rest of Class D should shoulder.
Because once Class D avoided having anyone expelled, they might be able to recover the other 50 class evaluation points they had failed to obtain.
Comparing a temporary loss of points to the potential long-term living expenses, the choice should obviously be the latter.
"Hirata-kun, I don't think your approach is good." Ichinose Honami, who was also a "saint" type, had already noticed that Hirata's self-sacrifice was going too far. It wasn't wrong to care for classmates or work hard to prevent expulsion, but piling all the responsibility on oneself was an error.
"If you were in Class B, Hirata, you would certainly be a great companion," Hikigaya said.
"But does it really have meaning to ruin your life for Class D's Yamauchi and Sudo?"
Of course it was meaningless.
Hirata's gaze seemed to darken for a moment. He knew Sudo might still be salvageable and hadn't done anything truly harmful to the class, but Yamauchi was indeed unpopular.
His attempt to report the whole class just because he faced expulsion had already incited public rage.
But Hirata was seeking atonement.
He felt he couldn't be like he was in the past—turning a blind eye to those who needed help and whom no one else would care for.
Because he had failed to save a bullied friend, he was filled with regret; that memory sat on his heart like a heavy stone.
Therefore, he entered this school with the idea of starting over by paying attention to marginalized people and helping them when they needed it.
So, even someone like Yamauchi was someone he felt he needed to protect.
Thus.
"I hope to protect everyone," Hirata said earnestly. "This is my long-held wish."
The students of Class B watched this boy from Class D in silence. If this happened in their own class, they would also sacrifice for a student facing expulsion, but that student shouldn't have failed such a "freebie" exam in the first place.
It was a problem of the other person's poor attitude.
Thus, Hirata was too forgiving. In other words, the "saints" of Class B all felt Hirata was too much of a saint. Even Ichinose shook her head upon hearing this.
"Our Class B is a peace-loving class, but that doesn't mean we will always be simple, kind little lambs waiting to be harvested repeatedly," Hikigaya said.
"This opportunity to borrow money happens only once."
"I know!" Hirata's eyes suddenly lit up, as if he had grasped a final lifeline. He could hear that Hikigaya was willing to lend the money, meaning Sudo and Yamauchi would be saved!
"However, I do not accept this as your personal debt. This is not your fault," Hikigaya added. "Therefore, this is Class D's debt."
"That... probably won't work." However, Hirata quickly declined this point again, a flash of difficulty crossing his face. He lowered his head and his voice dropped.
"Everyone in the class feels quite bad about Yamauchi-kun right now; they won't be willing to share the burden.
So I will take on this debt myself," Hirata said.
"Since the whole class won't share it, can't the two students being expelled bear it themselves?" The students of Class B found this bizarre; someone couldn't help but mutter in a low voice.
"Sudo might accept, but as for Yamauchi's portion, he probably won't pay it," Hirata said, shaking his head with a bitter smile.
Is that so.
If that's the case, why do you still care about him?
The members of Class B were already somewhat speechless. An indescribable silence filled the air, with many exchanging looks of confusion.
However.
Hikigaya began to think. It could be said that Hirata choosing to self-expel during the written exam was indeed outside of everyone's expectations and deviated from the original story's development.
This also showed that even knowing the plot, original characters might make different changes due to other factors.
However.
Hirata's change was undoubtedly for the worse.
At the same time, his weakness was exposed.
To attack him, one only needed to attack Class D's "dead weight" students; this powerful general would sacrifice himself to swap out for students who were useless or even detrimental to the class.
So even if Hirata didn't expel himself, there were many ways to attack him.
Moreover.
Hikigaya wasn't the kind of harsh person who would, for the sake of victory, choose to directly expel everyone else who was disadvantageous to his class. If he did that, how would he be different from Nagumo in the original story—who rounded up the entire second year, abandoned class competition, and had the four classes unite to carve up resources from the school, making everyone into pawn?
The powerful figures in Classroom of the Elite fall into three types.
The first is the type like Nagumo and Sakayanagi, who feel they have reached the top and choose to enjoy themselves.
The second is like Horikita Manabu, who maintains justice but also shows humanitarian concern for the weak.
The third is like Ayanokouji and Ryuen—those who attack by any means necessary.
No matter the method or the technique, as long as they win, it is enough.
Choosing to seize the opportunity to expel Hirata was Ayanokouji's way of doing things.
Although he was the male lead of the Classroom of the Elite novels, Hikigaya didn't like him very much.
Naturally, he didn't want to become that kind of person.
Since one can win fairly and squarely, there is no need to do such low-handed things.
Furthermore, who said Hirata staying in Class D was a bad thing? Class D was Class D because it had too many people dragging it down.
Expelling one or a few would actually improve Class D's comprehensive strength. But if everyone stayed, it meant Class D would always have people dragging them back; even if someone was leading from the front, they could pull you back.
This was the power of Class D's dead weight, especially the likes of Yamauchi.
Therefore, deleting Yamauchi here would be a pity.
Thus, since he wasn't in Class D, the optimal plan was naturally to block any chance for Class D to remove its dead-weight students. Especially someone like Yamauchi—he couldn't let Ayanokouji delete him at will.
As such...
"Let's make a deal," Hikigaya said, looking at Hirata.
"I can transfer the money to you on the spot, and you don't even have to pay it back.
But." Hikigaya's gaze locked onto Hirata like a torch. "I need you to reveal intelligence about your class once during a future special exam. As for when to reveal it, that will be my choice."
Every one of Hikigaya's words fell clearly in the classroom.
Class B's archangel, Ichinose Honami, was somewhat surprised by Hikigaya's maneuver.
Her eyes widened slightly, and she instinctively covered her slightly open mouth with her hand. Because it sounded as if he was using the price of over 300,000 points to bribe Hirata to betray Class D.
Could such a thing be done so easily?
But.
"No problem!" Hirata agreed immediately. It was almost a blurting out, as if he were afraid Hikigaya would regret it.
Looking at his eyes again, there was no hesitation, only a light of "going all out" to achieve his goal.
But by agreeing so quickly, did he know what he was agreeing to?
Because this was something that could betray the interests of the entire class. This was something that affected the interests of all the students in Class D.
Yet, for these 300,000-plus points, you chose to sell them out.
Oh, no. It was for the sake of Sudo and Yamauchi not being expelled that he agreed.
The students of Class B looked at each other, their faces written with disbelief.
They were shocked that Hirata would betray Class D so decisively.
"Fine." Hikigaya opened his phone's contact interface, added the other as a friend, and then had Hirata open his student private account's receiving screen.
Hirata operated his phone with some fumbling, his breathing slightly hurried.
Soon, a slight electronic notification sound seemed to break the frozen atmosphere.
'Beep! 366,000 points have been credited to your private account. Balance: 400,040 private points.
"Thank you so much! Hikigaya-kun!" Hirata said excitedly. A smile of relief instantly blossomed on his face, and his voice rose slightly, carrying obvious excitement and gratitude. "I must go submit the points now. I'll give you my proper thanks later!"
Saying this, before he even had time to carefully confirm the account details, he turned abruptly and almost ran out of the Class B classroom door. The sound of his footsteps quickly faded in the hallway, leaving the students of Class B with dazed looks.
"I'm a bit shocked," Kanzaki said. "Does it really have meaning to betray the class simply for 300,000-plus points? You have to realize he is sacrificing the interests of all students just to save two."
"Then, Kanzaki, would you choose to betray Class B?" Hikigaya asked.
"Uh..." Kanzaki froze for a moment, then said resolutely, "Of course I wouldn't. How could I possibly betray the class?"
Betraying the class was indeed undesirable, but sometimes betrayal isn't actually a bad thing. Because you, Kanzaki, did exactly that in the original story. However, back then, it was to make Class B realize the essence of this school more clearly and abandon their naivety.
So, sometimes betrayal isn't entirely a bad thing.
But.
For Hirata, it was different. Class D's interests were important, but compared to no one being expelled and not losing companions, nothing else mattered—including his own expulsion.
Yet this was choosing to give up everything for the sake of Yamauchi and Sudo.
Sudo does grow in the later stages of the original story and possesses physical abilities far exceeding ordinary Class A students, ranking at the top tier among first-year boys.
But Yamauchi, besides adding trouble and causing point deductions for Class D, had no other use.
Therefore, Hirata's willingness to shoulder the debt and even sacrifice the interests of other Class D students to borrow money also illustrated one thing: Yousuke Hirata had never been able to walk out of his past.
He regretted not helping his bullied friend in the past and came here wanting to start over. The so-called "atonement" was actually just a lack of courage to face that friend who chose to take his own life after being bullied.
So, no matter how much he sacrificed in this school, it was actually meaningless.
Only if he could find the courage to see that friend again would it count as true growth.
Read ahead (60 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting