Chapter 003 What She Can Do!
On Class A's side, the atmosphere was actually quite good. The homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya-sensei, hadn't arrived yet, so the students were still in a relatively relaxed state.
Ichinose sat next to him, pen in hand, with her notebook open to a fresh page. Her head was lowered as if she were writing something, but the tip of the pen hovered above the paper, not descending for a long time.
She wasn't too worried about this month's exam. After all, she believed in the students of her class, and now the class had Hachiman. But. She actually had something on her mind. And that was... She had noticed the change in Hachiman.
It wasn't something she just noticed today. During the few days of classes after the break ended, she felt he was a bit different. She couldn't quite put her finger on what had changed—his clothes were the same, his face was still that long face with "dead fish eyes" and a stray lock of hair sticking up, and his gait was still leisurely. But something was different. It was as if his whole being had loosened up a bit; he wasn't as tense as before.
She knew why, of course. At the end of last semester, Hachiman and Karuizawa started dating. She hadn't asked him about it, and he hadn't proactively told her, but she just knew. Moreover, she felt that while Hachiman hadn't told her, he had already tacitly accepted that she knew. After all. In the Student Council, one could sense the special atmosphere between Hachiman and Karuizawa-san.
And Ichinose knew that once a person falls in love and has someone more important to them, they change—it's only natural. Ichinose ran these words through her mind once and thought they made sense, then ran them through again and thought they made even more sense.
She tried to convince herself that this was normal and there was no need to overthink it. Then she realized that the very act of having to convince herself meant she was already thinking about it far too much.
She wrote a character in her notebook, then crossed it out. Wrote it again, crossed it out again. A glob of ink was left on the paper, much like her current inexplicable and indistinct mood.
She wasn't the type to wear her emotions on her face, so Hachiman probably hadn't noticed her abnormality. But she knew that since the holidays began, she had been thinking about this.
Thinking about what Hachiman and Karuizawa were doing now, wondering if they would go to the library together, wondering if Karuizawa would set a cup of tea on Hachiman's desk like she did in the Student Council. Only, not in the Student Council office, but in his dorm room.
She played these scenes out in her mind and then gave a soft sigh. Forget it. I won't think about it anymore.
"Ichinose?" Hachiman's voice came from beside her.
Ichinose quickly looked up, "Hmm?"
"Sensei is handing out materials." Ichinose froze for a moment, only then realizing that Hoshinomiya-sensei had arrived at some point and was already standing at the podium.
She quickly sat up straight and gripped her pen tightly, pretending she had been waiting seriously the whole time. Regarding acting, although it was a bit stressful for her, she seemed to have mastered it skillfully.
Meanwhile, Hoshinomiya Chie stood at the podium with a stack of documents in her hand, wearing her signature breezy smile. She scanned the classroom and cleared her throat. "Alright, let's get down to business." The classroom fell silent.
"This month's special exam—the Sports Festival." Hoshinomiya divided the documents into several stacks and handed them to the front-row students to pass back. "Starting today until the formal exam three weeks from now, the school will give you opportunities for free practice and will appropriately increase PE classes dedicated to preparing for the festival."
The documents were passed from the front, and the sound of rustling paper filled the room. A boy in the front row flipped to the first page, took a look, and spoke with obvious surprise in his voice. "We have to team up with Class C?"
Hachiman took the passed document and looked down, carefully reading the rules. The first rule stated it clearly. This sports meet would divide the entire school year into two groups, the Red Team and the White Team, for a Red-White competition. From the first to the third year, all Class As in the school would automatically form the Red Group with Class C, while Class B and Class D would automatically form the White Group.
However, Hachiman stared at that line for two seconds with a subtle expression. Because in the original story, this exam involved Class B and Class C teaming up. Now that he had led Class B up to Class A, it turned out they still had to team up with Class C. After going in a circle, the partner hadn't changed.
Thinking this, he quickly edited his inner thoughts and sent them to Ichinose.
'Ichinose, in the original story, it was your Class B and Class C teaming up, and now that our class has risen to Class A, we're still teaming up with Class C. What a coincidence.'
However, after sending those thoughts, Ichinose, beside Hachiman, showed no reaction. She still had her head down, seemingly reading the rules intently. But she wasn't like this before. In the past, whenever he thought of something in his mind, she would suddenly look up at him or her mouth would twitch slightly as if she had heard something interesting. Now, there was nothing.
Hachiman tried again in his mind.
'Ichinose, in the original story, it was your Class B and Class C teaming up, and now that our class has risen to Class A, we're still teaming up with Class C. What a coincidence.'
He deliberately projected this sentence very clearly in his mind.
Ichinose gave no reaction. She flipped a page of the documents, her gaze moving from one line to the next, her expression unchanged. Hachiman tried once more.
'Ichinose, how was breakfast today?'
Still no reaction.
Hachiman leaned back in his chair and placed the documents on the desk.
Just as he thought. The telepathic ability had disappeared.
Just as Karuizawa had said—the fact that everyone could hear his thoughts came suddenly, so wasn't it possible for it to disappear suddenly? And now, the prophecy had come true; his inner voice had become a true inner voice that only he could hear.
He couldn't say whether this was a good or bad thing. During the VIP exam, he used this ability to deceive Sakayanagi and Hiyori, making Classes A and C believe they had mastered the pattern, only to have their points docked into a mess.
That ability wouldn't work even if he used it again because they already knew he could lie. Smart girls wouldn't be fooled by a boy a second time. So, its disappearance wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
But— He remembered that dream during the holidays.
A future Horikita Suzune stood before him, and he asked her, "Are you doing well?"
That dream was too real, so real that he didn't think it was just a dream. He remembered the feeling, the temperature of that hand, and the smile at the corner of Horikita's mouth when she said "Very well."
He also remembered the sensation of Horikita stroking his head.
"..."
If the telepathic ability disappeared in exchange for something else, like the ability to see the future—then he probably wouldn't lose out. At least he knew he could stay at Advanced Nurturing High School for three years, which meant he could keep this class stable in the Class A position. But for the next half month, he never dreamed of her again. It was as if that dream was a one-time gift; once opened, it was gone.
Hachiman suppressed that thought and continued reading the materials. The second rule: the exam is divided into "Mandatory Participation Events" and "Recommended Participation Events."
Mandatory Events: 100m sprint, hurdles, pole toppling (men only), ball toss (women only), gender-separated tug-of-war, obstacle course, three-legged race, cavalry battle, 200m sprint. All members must participate in the above; failure to participate or withdrawing will result in point deductions.
Recommended Events: Scavenger hunt, four-way tug-of-war, mixed-gender three-legged race, all-school-year mixed 1200m relay. These events are for students to sign up for voluntarily.
Rule three: each class has two weeks to discuss specific event participants, with the deadline one week before the exam. Submissions must be made before 5:00 PM the day before the exam. Otherwise, the school will randomly assign participants.
Rule four, the most important: Exam Rewards. Points for Mandatory Events: 1st place 15 pts, 2nd 12 pts, 3rd 10 pts, 4th 8 pts, and so on, decreasing by 1 point from 5th place onwards. The winning group in team competitions receives 100 points.
Points for Recommended Events: 1st place 50 pts, 2nd 30 pts, 3rd 15 pts, 4th 10 pts, decreasing by 2 points from 5th place onwards. Note: The final event (1200m relay) points are tripled, meaning 1st place can obtain 150 points.
Hachiman quickly did the math in his head. If an individual's physical ability was strong enough and they took 1st place in all events, the maximum an individual could earn was 310 points. But with only rewards and no punishments, that clearly didn't fit the school's style. He continued reading.
Rule five: Rewards and punishments for the final scores of the Red and White groups are as follows. In the total school-year score battle, every class in the losing group will have 200 points deducted. Conversely, every class in the winning group will receive 200 points. The rewards and punishments for individual class rankings within each school year are as follows:
1st place in total score: +200 points 2nd place in total score: +0 points 3rd place in total score: -100 points 4th place in total score: -200 points
Hachiman ran these rules through his mind. In the Red-White group confrontation, all classes in the losing group lose 200 points, while the winners all gain 200. And within the four classes of each grade, separate point deductions/additions occur. In other words, through this one exam... A maximum of 400 points could be added! And a maximum of 400 points could be deducted! A massive 800-point gap could be bridged in one go!
Within such a gap, even the lower classes had a chance to climb up. For lower classes, this was an opportunity to rise. For Class A, this was the risk of being pulled down. He recalled the scores at the end of last semester. The evaluation points for the four classes were as follows:
1st Year Class A (Hikigaya's Class): 1266 pts 1st Year Class B (Katsuragi's Class): 825 pts 1st Year Class C (Ryuen's Class): 550 pts 1st Year Class D (Ayanokouji's Class): 130 pts
If Class A performed the worst and lost 400 points, they would be left with 866. If Class B performed the best and gained 400, they would become 1225. With that shift, Class A's position would no longer be secure.
Hachiman put down the documents and leaned back. These rules didn't actually differ much from the original, and the point values weren't much different either. But this proved one thing—the fact that he led Class B to Class A hadn't affected the school's arrangements for the exam. Hachiman knew very well that if he had brought them up from Class D, things would be different. The school would likely have adjusted the rules specifically to make the exam harder or the point values larger. But he hadn't. He brought them up from Class B; the school likely felt this was just a normal, excellent class representative doing what he should.
So the exam rules hadn't changed; they were the same as the original. This was a good thing for them.
Hachiman turned his head and glanced at Ichinose. She was still looking at the documents, her eyes fixed on the paper, but she hadn't turned the page for a long while. She looked like she was reading the rules, but Hachiman felt her mind wasn't on them. He thought about it, pulled his phone from his pocket, opened his chat with Ichinose, and typed a line.
[Some things happened recently, and my special ability to share my inner voice has disappeared. However, this exam is the same as the original. We are also teaming up with Class C.]
Sent.
Ichinose's phone on the desk vibrated. She looked down at the screen and then froze. Her eyes widened slightly, her lips parted and closed as if she wanted to say something but didn't know what. She looked up at Hachiman with a look of surprise that said, "You actually told me directly."
"Hikigaya-kun—" Her voice was slightly higher than usual, but she stopped after only calling his name. Because Hoshinomiya-sensei on the podium was looking at her with a beaming smile.
"Ichinose-chan, you have to work hard for this sports meet, okay?" Hoshinomiya's voice was light, carrying a subtle "I know everything but I'm not saying it" tone. Ichinose's face reddened slightly as she quickly lowered her head. "Understood, Sensei."
Watching this, the corner of Hachiman's mouth twitched. He knew exactly why Hoshinomiya singled out Ichinose. Because when it came to sports, Ichinose really wasn't very good at
them. It wasn't that she didn't work hard; it was just that some things couldn't be changed by effort. For example—
Hachiman's gaze shifted from Ichinose to the documents. He ran through the mandatory events again in his mind. 100m, hurdles, obstacle course, 200m—they were all running events. Ichinose's stamina wasn't bad, but her physical build was indeed not quite suited for running. The "load" was too great; it would be very taxing to run.
And that wasn't something she could control. Hachiman ran through the other girls of Class A in his mind. Amikura Mako had good athletic reflexes, Shibata Sou was a sports monster who ran fast, and Himeno Yuki had good endurance. There wasn't much to say about the mandatory events since everyone had to participate, but for the recommended events, they could adapt to the situation. He could arrange for them to be in the running events and put Ichinose in events that didn't require intense movement. Pole toppling was for the guys, the ball toss was for the girls, tug-of-war depended on weight and coordination, the three-legged race on chemistry, and the cavalry battle on strategy. He broke these events down one by one and recombined them in his mind; he already had a rough framework.
Then he suddenly thought of a person. Yukinoshita Yukino. Her athletic ability was very good; although she lacked stamina, she could perform standard movements for all sports. He used to think it was because she was naturally athletic. Thinking about it now, there was probably another reason— She was too flat; there was zero "load."
Hachiman pushed this ridiculous thought out of his head and looked back down at the materials.
Ichinose sat beside him, still holding her phone. The screen had gone dark, but she knew that message was still there. Hachiman said his telepathy had disappeared. She didn't know when this started or what it meant. But she knew one thing—he had gone out of his way to tell her. Using a message, using text, not with his inner voice, not letting her "hear" it, but letting her "know."
She lowered her head and turned her phone face-down on the desk, not wanting anyone to see the screen's contents. But her finger lightly touched the edge of the phone as if confirming something.
She remembered Hachiman's words "same as the original." According to him, in the original, Class B and Class C teamed up. Now Class A was still teaming up with Class C. The rules hadn't changed, the points hadn't changed, the opponents hadn't changed. But he had. He had moved from Class B to Class A, from someone who needed to climb to someone who needed to hold his position.
Ichinose quickly focused her attention on responding to this exam. Her physical ability wasn't great, but she should still have ways to assist Hikigaya-kun. So she thought.
She took a deep breath, suppressing those messy thoughts.
No matter how much she thought about Hachiman and Karuizawa, it wouldn't help. But there was at least one thing she could do.
So, she quickly gazed over the sports events again. Then, based on her understanding of her classmates, she made a list of the recommended events and noted the suitable events behind each person's name. And this was what she, a person very familiar with the students in the class, could quickly achieve. Organize everyone in the class into data, and then let Hachiman make the arrangements.
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