Chapter 080: Hachiman: "It's okay. At that time, I will return a Class C to you."
Horikita Manabu had invited Hikigaya Hachiman over primarily to confirm Hachiman's attitude toward his sister. This was beyond reproach; any brother with a good relationship with his sister would do the same.
Of course, if Hachiman were in the same position as Horikita Manabu, he would probably choose a different method: specifically, chasing away any boys near his sister. Because, if for no other reason, even if the guy just wanted to "utilize" his sister, he'd still be a "super bad guy."
The second point was the intelligence that Horikita Manabu was debating whether to share: Sakayanagi Arisu's identity. Hachiman's opponent would be the Chairman's daughter—the person with the greatest authority in the school. She not only had the ability to contact the Chairman at will but could also borrow the Chairman's power, which would put pressure on anyone.
So, not telling Hachiman was meant to be for his own good. However, considering the cooperative relationship between his sister and Hachiman, Horikita Manabu felt he had to share it.
Unfortunately, this information was something Hachiman had known for a long time; in fact, he knew even more than Horikita Manabu did.
However, as Hachiman was leaving, Horikita Manabu did reveal one more piece of information.
Namely: Sakayanagi Arisu had gone to the Student Council to submit an application. She paid points to obtain the first-year student roster.
This action triggered a memory for Horikita Manabu. Previously, Hikigaya Hachiman had wanted to find someone named Hikigaya Komachi, so he had asked for similar information. Therefore, Horikita Manabu was somewhat concerned, wondering if Sakayanagi was also searching for a specific target.
Of course, it could just be a standard habit of thought. As the leader of Class A, Sakayanagi needed to suppress Katsuragi Kohei internally and confront Classes B, C, and D externally. Mastering detailed information on every student in the entire grade would undoubtedly provide a massive advantage in the brutal class competition. Logically, it made perfect sense.
However, there was a small interlude during this process.
"I need to print the entire student rosters for both the second and first years," Sakayanagi had initially requested.
The Student Council member who received her at the time was an influential figure in the second year, one of the two Vice-Presidents, Nagumo Miyabi. However, right after Nagumo quoted a high price in points, Sakayanagi abruptly changed her order:
"Only the first-year roster.
The second-year one is no longer needed."
This was a bit much. What did she mean, "the second-year data is no longer needed"? Did she think the second years weren't even worth her printing credit? Though, if she only came for the first-year data, it was true she didn't need to print the second-year list.
But to explicitly ask for it and then immediately withdraw after Nagumo gave a price... this abnormal behavior forced one to think deeper. Was she testing him because Nagumo was present? For example, did she have other designs, planning to interfere in second-year affairs?
"Sakayanagi-kouhai, you had better keep your promise," Nagumo Miyabi had said with a stiff face at the time.
Horikita Manabu speculated that this was likely a private agreement between Sakayanagi and Nagumo. Nagumo made concessions and paid a price, while Sakayanagi promised not to attack the second year anymore.
The only occasion where a first-year could attack a second-year was last month's written exam involving old test questions.
This made Horikita Manabu furrow his brow. He had originally thought Sakayanagi only attacked the third-years last month for the sake of the election authority in his hands, and Sakayanagi's identity as the Chairman's daughter was very special.
Even though she had great authority and resources as the Chairman's daughter, recklessly making an entire grade her enemy was not a wise choice. The fact that she had to label the third-year exams as "Review Materials" with "Problem-solving Logic" proved this point; she couldn't yet do whatever she wanted just because her dad was the Chairman.
Therefore, once she got what she wanted, Sakayanagi should, in theory, have stayed in her lane. Yet, did she still end up attacking the second year?
He didn't know the truth. He didn't know that Sakayanagi was actually "taking the fall" for the junior standing in front of him, Hikigaya Hachiman. The truly bold person was Hachiman himself.
-
-
-
After parting with Horikita Manabu, Hachiman walked alone along the shopping street. Perhaps because it was evening, the number of students in the area had suddenly decreased. The surroundings felt a bit cold and lonely.
However, this desolation didn't last long. His sharp intuition immediately caught several figures appearing ahead. Or rather, it was a case of "enemies meeting on a narrow road."
Hachiman had just obtained information about Sakayanagi from President Horikita, only to run into the leader of the other Class A faction, Katsuragi Kohei, right here on the street.
As for the fact that Sakayanagi went to the Student Council for the first-year roster, Hachiman wasn't surprised. Just as Horikita Manabu felt a sense of familiarity, Hachiman had also thought of it.
Back then, he wasn't sure if his most cherished sister, Komachi, had also been caught up in this "transportation" to another world. After all, Komachi would sometimes read the light novels he brought home, so it wasn't impossible that she had read Classroom of the Elite and ended up here too.
Fortunately, Komachi hadn't been transported to this troublesome world.
As for why Sakayanagi initially wanted both the first and second-year rosters, he knew very well: she had likely accidentally revealed information about Ayanokouji Kiyotaka to her earlier, but she hadn't found Ayanokouji in Class D yet, so she wanted to check the rosters to confirm his class.
Since they can engage in class battles, Ayanokouji had to be either a first-year or a second-year. However, the second year was ruled by Nagumo; logically, the "Masterpiece of the White Room" wouldn't be so weak as to live completely under Nagumo's rule. That's why Sakayanagi didn't need the second-year data.
Thinking back on it, Sakayanagi's strange behavior in front of him lately—giving him the cold shoulder for no reason, acting angry, and then wearing that perfectly fitting beret—was all abnormal! And yet, he had just assumed it was a girl's typical temperament.
He really wasn't good at dealing with girls. It seemed he really should find a girl to help him gain some "experience points" in that department.
However...
"Isn't this Hikigaya?" Hachiman had intended to avoid Katsuragi and his lackey, but the two of them walked straight toward him.
"Uh... good evening," Hachiman offered a perfunctory greeting.
"By the way, does your Class B have any thoughts on this month's special exam?" The lackey beside Katsuragi, Totsuka Yahiko, spoke up immediately.
"Special exam? Aren't we going on a school trip or a vacation this month?" Hachiman replied.
"Stop with those obvious lies," Totsuka Yahiko said.
Actually, most of Class D and a portion of Class C really thought that way. They believed the school would treat them to a luxury cruise for a school trip.
After all, the school provided free tuition, living expenses, and even single-occupancy dorm rooms. Even though living expenses were based on class merit, they were still far more generous than schools in the outside world. It was possible they would continue being generous.
In reality, treating this exam as a vacation was actually a very brilliant way to solve it. Because if you compete and struggle to survive, you won't actually get many points. Conversely, if you can turn a harsh life into a vacation-like enjoyment, that is the mark of an expert.
"I think there are indeed places where one can have a leisurely vacation," Hachiman said. "If you take an exam just for the sake of the exam, you won't be happy."
"..."
This statement left Katsuragi speechless. If it weren't for the fact that exams determined the school's evaluation of them, their living expenses, and their futures, who would be this tense? Everyone knows about "learning for pleasure," but they just can't do it.
'Do you think everyone is like your Class B?'
Katsuragi had observed the Class B students. According to his data, this year's Class B wasn't much stronger than previous ones. However, they seemed more united. Furthermore, those students... seemed to treat life at this school as a normal school life. If there was anything different, it was that someone was standing in front of them.
Every month, they paid 30% of their school-provided living expenses to their class representative, Hikigaya Hachiman, and then Hikigaya would formulate the strategies for the exams. They just had to follow along.
Effectively, someone was shielding them, allowing the atmosphere in the class to remain excellent. They could continue living a colorful, youthful school life just like they would in the outside world.
Normally, treating this school like a normal school would be foolish. But if someone could manage to live a "normal" life within this school, that person was truly terrifying.
And that terrifying person was right here. The representative of Class B, Hikigaya Hachiman.
Katsuragi maintained a strong sense of vigilance toward Hikigaya. He also knew that Yahiko's opening question was an attempt to scout for information. He didn't stop this behavior.
However...
"So, do you know about Sakayanagi going to the Student Council?" Hachiman asked. "She printed the roster for the entire first year and almost printed the second-year roster too."
"Are you saying..." Katsuragi seemed to fall into thought.
Totsuka Yahiko couldn't help but interject.
"Could it be that Sakayanagi wants to use this exam where we can't leave the school to do something useful and win a round for herself..."
"That's enough, Yahiko!" Katsuragi barked, stopping him quickly.
"Stop leaking our class's information!"
Yahiko finally realized he had leaked the information that Sakayanagi couldn't participate in the exam, especially in front of Class B's representative, their rival. This was indeed not a wise move.
Hachiman, however, was internally shaking his head.
Back at Sobu High, Hachiman also knew a "Totsuka." That person was a cute boy with a hint of heroic spirit—though he looked like a girl, he was definitely a boy. His personality was gentle, making one feel that if they weren't careful, they would fall into an abyss.
But, even though this Totsuka under Katsuragi and Totsuka Saika shared the same surname... Totsuka Saika was so cute. Why was this Totsuka so ignorant and incompetent?
Hachiman thought to himself.
Seriously, why wasn't Totsuka (Saika) a girl? If he were a girl, so many problems would be solved. Hachiman felt that if that were the case, he might actually feel like going to work.
But such a thing was obviously impossible. Besides, he was straight. Hachiman quickly corrected his stray thoughts. Looking at the face of Totsuka Yahiko beside Katsuragi, his internal temperature cooled down rapidly.
-
-
-
When Hachiman finally reached the dormitory building, he noticed something was wrong. In the lounge of the first-floor common area, two boys were sitting on a row of seats. One was looking out of the lounge with a slightly anxious expression, while the other was looking at his phone.
"Ryuen!" The boy who looked like he was on lookout immediately nudged the boy beside him with the middle-parted red hair.
The boy called Ryuen looked over immediately.
"Yo, Hikigaya! You're certainly hard to wait for."
He spoke as if he had been waiting here specifically.
Hachiman realized he seemed quite popular today—from Horikita-senpai of the third year to Katsuragi, and now Ryuen Kakeru was waiting for him alone. Or rather, why was he only meeting guys today?
Ryuen waiting here was likely because the teacher announced they would be leaving the school. He had confirmed this was a special exam and might have even gotten some intel from the upperclassmen. He wanted to prepare early—perhaps by teaming up with Class B—so he intercepted him here.
It was clear that Class C was preparing very cautiously and taking the initiative for this special exam.
"Since you like waiting for people here so much," Hachiman had another idea, "then help me keep an eye on two students."
"Oh?" Ryuen's eyes flashed with a playful glint. "Don't tell me you're starting to play by our rules too?"
'What do you mean, "play by your rules"? Do you mean "by any means necessary"?'
Sakayanagi going to the Student Council for the rosters and Ryuen Kakeru arranging for people to gather intel in the lounge both seemed like "any means necessary" tactics.
"I just feel there are two students worth paying attention to," Hachiman said. "You know about the sudden +50 class points for Class D, right?"
"..." Ryuen didn't reply.
Of course he knew. Ryuen was at the bulletin board when the results were posted and had been criticized by the Student Council President, Horikita Manabu, who had come to change the data. This left Ryuen quite dissatisfied, as Horikita Manabu seemed to believe Class C had no hope of climbing up. He wouldn't accept that.
"In conclusion, although it was Class D's Hirata Yosuke who supplemented the points for Yamauchi and Sudo to keep them from being expelled, allowing the whole class to meet the condition of no expulsions to gain the 50-point reward... the person who actually proposed this conclusion was a student named Ayanokouji Kiyotaka," Hachiman said.
"Is that so? But that's just a proposal. You can buy anything with points, including written exam scores. Isn't that old news?"
Ryuen didn't seem fully convinced. Or rather, the fact that anyone in Class D failed an exam that was practically open-book made them trash in his eyes. He didn't want to waste his time on them.
He already knew that Hirata couldn't even scrounge up 400,000 points in Class D. He also knew that Class D's votes had been sold to Hikigaya for 500,000 points. Therefore, if Class D truly prioritized the big picture and the future benefits of regaining those 50 class points, they
should have had that money. But they didn't. Ultimately, in a desperate situation, Hirata had to scrape together 400,000 points from Hachiman in another class.
Thus, Ryuen felt such a trash class didn't need special attention; they would destroy themselves.
"However," Hachiman said, "I think you might be better off paying more attention to Hirata and Ayanokouji."
"Do you think someone in Class D is getting restless and wants to rise up and defeat my Class C?" Ryuen was listening now. "But relying on a trash class like that is meaningless." Ryuen didn't want to launch an attack. Last month's -20 point penalty for Class D's Ike Kanji was just a test he set up. He found Class D was truly garbage. They weren't even worth setting a trap for a second time.
"You have to remember you're also at 0 points," Hachiman noted. "The current Class C has 100 points, and Class D has 80.
Being able to propose using points to keep Hirata from being expelled, gaining 50 points for Class D, and keeping Yamauchi as a candidate for the next expulsion... that counts as a clever move. So, if Ayanokouji is truly that level of student, it's not impossible that after a few special exams that shed the dead weight, he could build a functional Class D. At that point, the first ones to be attacked will be you," Hachiman said calmly.
Previously, Horikita Suzune had asked him: What would you do if you were in Class D?
He would probably just lie flat, save up 20 million points, and get out.
But there was another solution.
Class D had many people dragging them down, but what if you deleted all the dead weight? Then you'd be left with a reliable core, a few problem children, and top-tier classmates. That Class D would be quite powerful. One could use that foundation to put up a good fight.
As for what to do if the class size became too small? By deleting the dead weight and the low-stat students, you'd probably only have about 20 people left. The school likely wouldn't approve of that number. So, supplemented by constantly collecting points from other classes through special exams—amassing hundreds of millions of points—you could buy elite students from other classes.
You could rebuild Class D into a new, excellent "Class A."
With such a lineup, even if the foundation was originally Class D, the school wouldn't feel it hurt their prestige and wouldn't add harsh special exams.
That would be the "Everyone moves to Class A together" plan.
"So, if Class D is pushed into a corner, we might see some very exciting moves?" Ryuen crossed his arms. He suddenly became interested after waiting for Hikigaya for over two hours tonight.
"This month is the end of the first semester," Hachiman added.
"And regular exams are usually at the end of the month, but now we're leaving at the start of the month. I think this exam has a long time span. Keeping Classes A and B too far ahead of C and D right from the start isn't good for the school.
So, the point range for this exam should be very large.
At least it should give Classes C and D a chance to catch up," Hachiman said.
"Of course, for Classes A and B, if they seize the opportunity, it's also possible to completely pull away from C and D."
"It seems you've obtained intelligence as well." Ryuen stood up, revealing the reason he was waiting for Hikigaya.
He had indeed obtained intel that the stakes for this exam were high. If one achieved a total victory, there was a chance to gain 600+ class points in one go. However, the source of this intel was interesting.
It came from Nagumo Miyabi of the second year.
It seemed Sakayanagi's trip to the Student Council for info on Ayanokouji was misinterpreted by Senior Nagumo as a provocation. Since Sakayanagi could interfere with the second year, why couldn't he interfere with the first year? Upperclassmen couldn't directly participate in the first-year special exams, but supporting students from other classes to target first-year Class A was doable.
Class D didn't even have a channel for communication, and Ryuen, who had previously proactively sold Class C's votes, was an eligible candidate.
Thus, Ryuen seemed to have been chosen again. However, Nagumo likely didn't guard much against a "0-point kouhai" from Class C.
"Did you record the conversation with Nagumo?" Hachiman asked Ryuen.
"Given how much Nagumo-senpai holds a grudge, he probably used this intel to demand you do your best to trip up Class A, right?"
"What do you mean?" Ryuen sensed a different implication.
"Give me that recording," Hachiman said. "And that recording will settle the remaining 600,000 point debt you still owe."
For the written exam with old questions, Ryuen had to pay Hachiman a total of 1 million points to buy the papers and pay "protection fees." Class C obviously didn't have that; they had to
wait for class points to be issued. It was now the 1st of the month, and at 7:08 AM—while Hachiman was still in bed—Ryuen had already gathered the class points and transferred them.
But he still owed 600,000.
"Then lend me 400,000 points." Ryuen pulled a voice recorder from his pocket. "The exam is coming up; I need the students in my class to live comfortably for a bit. If they're always suffering, no one will keep following me."
400,000 points was also the amount Class C could get this month. Ryuen was taking points back from Hachiman; even though it was a loan, it was enough for the Class C students to live a good life before they left school on the 7th.
I see. You're actually quite good to your classmates.
One could say Ryuen's use of violence was indeed disagreeable, yet he truly possessed leadership charisma. He didn't doubt the people he used; he would share tactics with the whole class and stand with them.
However, just like this appearance of unity he created... if one could plant a spy in Class C, defeating Ryuen would be as easy as child's play.
Thus, Hachiman and Ryuen completed the transaction. Hachiman secured evidence of Nagumo-senpai's private attempt to interfere with the first-year special exam. And for this upcoming exam, Classes B and C would continue to be friendly allies.
With the agreement settled, Ryuen left quickly.
Hachiman thought back to how the older Horikita had at least given him the "known" info about Sakayanagi Arisu being the Chairman's daughter. Even if it was known, truly falling out with Sakayanagi wouldn't be good.
After all, she was just a VIP here at Advanced Nurturing to experience it; Class A wasn't a necessity for her. But she had the power to destroy fairness, and that power was too great; he had to do his best to balance it.
So he felt that in these few days, at least before leaving school, he needed to arrange one more meeting with Sakayanagi.
With that in mind, Hachiman sat on a chair in the lounge and sent a message to Sakayanagi on his phone.
[Hikigaya Hachiman]: When do you have time? Let's meet once before the 7th.
But there was no reply. Not even a "Read" status.
"..."
Well, it was 9:30 PM. Considering Sakayanagi's physical condition, she had probably fallen asleep by now.
Though, based on his experience, if a girl was looking at her phone at this time and saw a message from someone she didn't care about, she might ignore it. She'd read it from the notification bar so it wouldn't show as "Read," because once it shows as "Read," etiquette demands a reply. If she just sees it in the notification bar, she can reply the next day with, "Ah, sorry, I just saw this."
But that brought back his middle school memories of being a typical naive boy full of unrequited hope for the opposite sex.
"Oh!"
While he was lost in thought, the elevator doors suddenly opened. A boy with delicate features but a very low presence walked out. He walked straight toward the exit of the dormitory. The direction he was heading didn't look like the convenience store. His gait looked like he had a clear goal.
Hachiman was very familiar with this boy.
Because this boy was none other than Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.
But why would Ayanokouji go out alone at night, with only about an hour left before the 11 PM curfew?
Hachiman thought for a moment, then opened his contacts and found a certain student. He initially wanted to send a message, but figuring the person might not see it immediately, he chose to call.
The ringing continued for a while. It took nearly 40 seconds—almost until the automatic hang-up time—before the call connected.
"Hello?" the person's voice came through.
"Where are you? If you're alone right now..." Hachiman got straight to the point.
"Come to the dormitory lounge. Now."
Read ahead (60 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting