Chapter 052: Do You Need Me to Bring Down Katsuragi?
Meanwhile, in the spectator stands. Sakayanagi Arisu hadn't stayed obediently at her camp. Leaning on her cane, she walked up to the higher section of the spectator stands, where the view was best and the entire sports field could be seen. Morishita Ai stood beside her, holding a pair of binoculars in her hand.
"Sakayanagi-san, here." Morishita Ai handed over the binoculars.
Sakayanagi took them, raised them to her eyes, and looked through the lenses at the figures on the track.
She saw Ayanokouji. She saw him standing on the starting line for the final anchor leg, completely motionless.
"Looking at it this way, our Class B might only be able to fight for the top five."
Standing beside her, Morishita Ai also held a pair of binoculars, her gaze chasing Class B's runners. Sakayanagi did not reply. Her gaze was still fixed on Ayanokouji.
"It looks like Ayanokouji-kun is going to fail." Sakayanagi lowered her binoculars.
Morishita lowered her binoculars as well and glanced at her.
"Does Sakayanagi-san care a lot about Ayanokouji?"
Sakayanagi shook her head. "Not at all. I am merely enjoying his failure."
Morishita froze for a moment. Enjoying failure? What kind of wording was that?
However. As the fifth leg drew near its end, the situation on the field became clearer. The fifth runner from the Second-Year Class A came from behind to take first place. The Third-Year Class A followed closely behind in second place. First-Year Class B was temporarily leading First-Year Class A by less than three meters, and the battle between the fourth and third places of these two classes was extremely fierce. Finally, First-Year Class C came from behind to occupy fifth place. That was how the current order appeared to be. And now, the final anchor leg!
Standing on the starting line for the final leg, Ayanokouji's expression had already changed—it was no longer expressionless, but a suppressed look, as if he were enduring something.
First-Year Class D was currently in one of the bottom positions, and the gap from first place was at least over fifty meters. Even if he took the field, it would be very difficult to get first place.
Was he really going to fail to obtain first place? This thought spun around in his mind, and spun around again.
The venue grew heated. The final leg began.
The final event of the sports festival was about to draw its conclusion on the red track.
And with his extremely powerful speed, Ayanokouji overtook the anchor runners of the other lower-ranked classes, ultimately securing fourth place.
"Let's go," Sakayanagi said to Morishita Ai. "The sports festival is over."
"Yeah." Morishita nodded, and so she and Sakayanagi walked together towards Class B's headquarters.
Meanwhile, the applause in the stands gradually thinned out, replaced by the rising and falling sounds of conversation. Because on the red track, the final batch of runners had already crossed the finish line. Some people stood with their hands on their knees, panting heavily; some bent their waists and walked slowly; while others lay directly on the grass, looking up at the sky dyed golden-red by the setting sun.
All of this signaled the end of the final event of the sports festival.
The participants from the three school years walked back to their respective tents from various directions.
Inside the Class A tent, the atmosphere was much more heated than on the sports field. Hachiman sat on a folding chair, holding his phone in his hand.
On the screen was a photo of the results sheet that Kanzaki Ryuji had just taken from the staff. Honami Ichinose stood beside him, also holding her phone, checking the data. The other students gathered around. Some stood, some squatted, and some stood on their tiptoes to peek at Hachiman's phone screen through the gaps in the crowd.
"Hikigaya-kun, are the results out?" Amikura Mako's voice came from the back of the crowd, carrying a clear sense of urgency. Although the large screen also displayed the results, there was a delay, so it was still faster to manually collect them themselves.
Hachiman did not look up. "They're out."
"How much? How much?" Shibata squeezed to the front. The dust from the track still clung to his sportswear, and the sweat on his forehead hadn't dried yet. His expression was even more tense than during the race, and his eyes were wide open, staring at Hachiman's phone screen. Hachiman turned the phone around so everyone could see.
On the screen was the results sheet sent by Ryuji Kanzaki, with the numbers neatly lined up on it.
[1200m Relay — School Year Group Results] Third Place: First-Year Class A (45 points) Fourth Place: First-Year Class D (30 points) Fifth Place: First-Year Class B (24 points) First-Year Class C did not enter the top five (0 points)
The tent went quiet for a brief moment, and then it exploded.
"Third place? 45 points? Isn't that a lot less than second place?" Shibata's voice carried a hint of regret.
"If I had worked a bit harder, just a bit harder, maybe I could have caught up to second place—"
"It's already very good," Ryuji Kanzaki's voice came from the side, calm and steady.
"The second-year and third-year runners are faster than us, which is a normal gap. Being able to take third place across all three school years is already beyond expectations. Neither Vice President Nagumo's nor President Horikita's speeds are on the same level as yours, so to still get a ranking means you did very well."
Shibata scratched his head and didn't argue.
In fact, he felt a bit fortunate. Fortunately, Hikigaya-kun had given him a warning beforehand. So when he was overtaken by President Horikita, although he was surprised, he didn't freeze up. In the end, he didn't cause too much trouble for the class. Because of this, Shibata's mood was actually somewhat relaxed.
Meanwhile, Ichinose kept her head down, her fingers sliding quickly across her phone screen, adding the 1200m relay points to the morning's total score. Her pen tip moved across the surface of the paper, making a rustling sound.
"Our total score for all the morning events was 844 points," Ichinose looked up.
"And now with the 45 points from the third-place finish in the final event, it totals 889 points."
Meanwhile, Hachiman quickly wrote the final scores of the four classes in the small notebook he carried with him. His handwriting wasn't very neat, but every number was written very clearly.
First-Year Class A: 889 points First-Year Class B: 802 points First-Year Class C: 701 points First-Year Class D: 590 points
"The rankings haven't changed." Hachiman turned the notebook around for everyone to see. "Class A is first, Class B is second, Class C is third, Class D is fourth."
The tent fell silent for another brief moment. Then, Amikura Mako was the first to react, her eyes lighting up.
"Doesn't that mean—our Class A's position is secure?" Hachiman glanced at her.
"We still have to calculate the additions and subtractions for the Red vs. White conflict and the school year rankings. Of course, the Red Team has already won."
He pulled another piece of paper from his pocket, which had the calculation formulas he had written down in advance.
Red vs. White Conflict:
The Red Team wins; every class on the Red Team in the school year gets +200 points.
The White Team loses; every class on the White Team in the school year gets -200 points.
School Year Rankings: First place in the first year gets +200 points, second place gets +0 points, third place gets -100 points, and fourth place gets -200 points.
Hachiman filled in the numbers one by one. His movements weren't fast, but they were steady, and every digit was written properly. The surrounding students watched quietly; no one spoke, and there was only the rustling sound of the pen tip tracing across the paper.
First-Year Class A: 1266 points
Red vs. White Conflict Victory: +200 points First in School Year Rankings: +200 points Total: 1666 points
The tip of his pen paused for a moment on the number "1666".
Amikura Mako leaned over, glanced at the number, and then froze entirely.
"1666 points? Is this a mistake?" Hachiman handed the paper to her.
"No."
Amikura Mako stared at the number for several seconds, then suddenly snapped her head up, her voice rising an octave.
"1666 points! Our class is at 1666 points right now!"
The tent completely erupted. Shibata even slapped his thigh forcefully and shouted "Beautiful!", his voice so loud that people outside the tent could hear it. Yes. 1666 points!
What an insanely absurd number. You had to know that the last time such a number was seen was with the Third-Year Class A, but after several exams, the Third-Year Class A no longer possessed that number.
Of course, with this sports festival ending, that opponent might return to a 1600+ score, but right now, it was the newly arriving First-Year Class A that had obtained such an honor.
This was not just a successful promotion to Class A; it had opened up a massive gap with the lower classes. A lead of almost 1000 class points. It truly was too crazy. So, Hachiman wasn't surprised that the students in the class reacted this way.
Standing next to Hachiman, Ichinose looked at those excited faces, the corners of her mouth curving up. She didn't speak, but just stood there quietly, looking at Hachiman.
Hachiman's expression didn't change much, but his brow finally unfurled.
"1666 points," Ichinose said softly, "higher than the original Class A."
Hachiman glanced at her. "The original Class A is now Class B." Ichinose blanked for a moment, and then couldn't help but let out a laugh. The laughter was very light, but her eyes curved into beautiful crescent shapes.
"True. Now it's the victory of the First-Year Class A."
.
.
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Meanwhile, inside the Class C tent, the atmosphere was much more complicated than in Class A. Hiyori Shiina sat on a folding chair, holding a notebook in her hands, which was densely packed with numbers. Actually, it was the school year rankings.
First-Year Class A (Hachiman Class): 844 points First-Year Class B (Katsuragi Class): 778 points First-Year Class C (Ryuuen Class): 701 points First-Year Class D (Horikita Class): 560 points This was the data before the 1200m relay race.
And the current data was that First-Year Class A took third place, First-Year Class B took fifth place, and First-Year Class D took fourth place. Therefore, the scores changed.
First-Year Class A (Hachiman Class): 844 points + 45 points = 849 points First-Year Class B (Katsuragi Class): 778 points + 24 points = 802 points First-Year Class C (Ryuuen Class): 701 points First-Year Class D (Horikita Class): 560 points + 30 points = 590 points The rankings did not change at all.
So the changes in class points suffered by the four classes should be as follows:
First-Year Class A (Hachiman Class): 1266 points + 200 (Red-White Victory) + 200 (First in Year) = 1666 points First-Year Class B (Katsuragi Class): 825 points - 200 (Red-White Loss) + 0 (Second in Year) = 625 points First-Year Class C (Ryuuen Class): 550 points + 200 (Red-White Victory) - 100 (Third in Year) = 650 points First-Year Class D (Horikita Class): 130 points - 200 (Red-White Loss) - 200 (Bottom in Year) = -270 points The class points had been determined.
Her silver-long hair draped over her shoulders, a few strands falling from her forehead, obscuring half her face.
Her fingers moved quickly across the pages, adding the 1200m relay points to the previous total score, and then applying the additions and subtractions from the Red vs. White conflict and school year rankings.
Ryuen Kakeru stood beside her with his arms crossed over his chest, his gaze falling onto the notebook in her hands. His expression was very calm, but Ibuki Mio noticed that his finger was lightly tapping against his arm.
Ishizaki Daichi and Albert stood at the edge of the tent. Since these two didn't have very sharp brains, they could only wait for the results. Meanwhile, Class C's other strategist, Satoru Kaneda, pushed up his glasses and was also writing something in his own notebook.
Hiyori wrote down the final digit and put down her pen. She stared at that page for several seconds, as if confirming something, and then raised her head.
"I've calculated it." Hiyori's voice was very soft, but everyone in the tent heard it clearly. "The final class points for the first years—Class A 1666 points, Class B 625 points, Class C 650 points, Class D negative 270 points."
The tent fell silent for a moment. Ishizaki Daichi's mouth opened, closed, and opened again. His brain was spinning rapidly—650 points? Class C has 650 points? Then how many points does Class B have? 625 points? Isn't that 25 points less than Class C? "Wait," Ishizaki's voice was a bit dry, "Shiina, are you saying—we've surpassed Class B?" Looking at him, Hiyori nodded. "Yes, surpassed by 25 points."
Ishizaki stood frozen in place, and then the corners of his mouth slowly curled up.
Curling from the corners of his mouth to his cheeks, and from his cheeks to the corners of his eyes, his entire being looked like a flower blooming under the sun. He suddenly turned around, grabbing the sleeve of Albert next to him.
"Albert! Did you hear that! We surpassed Class B! We are Class B now!" Albert nodded.
There was no expression on that fierce face, but his eyes brightened a bit.
Ibuki Mio leaned against the support pillar of the tent, her arms crossed over her chest. Her brow was furrowed deeply, yet it wasn't because she was unhappy, but simply because she found it hard to believe.
Class C, the Class C that had been looked down upon by everyone since the first day of enrollment, the Class C that started with 0 points in the first month, the Class C that had been suppressed by Hikigaya Hachiman for an entire semester, had actually surpassed the original Class A and current Class B after the sports festival ended. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found her words stuck in her throat.
"Ryuen," Ibuki finally spoke, her voice somewhat raspy, "is this real?" Ryuuen glanced at her. "Shiina calculated it, it won't be wrong."
Ibuki went silent for a few seconds, then let out a soft "Yeah".
She didn't smile, didn't jump, and didn't excitedly grab the person next to her like Ishizaki did.
She just stood there, her brow slowly relaxing.
Kaneda Satoru pushed up his glasses, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the numbers in his notebook. His expression was much calmer than Ishizaki's, but his fingers gripped the edges of the paper tightly.
After all, this was encouraging news, wasn't it?
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