Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 118: This Is Truly a Gentleman!

As a student of Class A, Katsuragi carried the pride of Class A.

Therefore—

Class A could not be surpassed by Class C.
And he, Katsuragi, would never allow such a thing to happen!

“Katsuragi, should we keep looking? Or are there even any strongholds left for us to claim?”

Yahiko, panting heavily and supporting himself on his knees, asked.

They had spent almost half a day searching for this stronghold before finally finding it. They were incredibly lucky.
But could there really still be any unclaimed strongholds left?

He wasn’t feeling very confident.

“……”

Katsuragi remained silent—because he didn’t know either.

As someone who was always confident and cautious, his pride had been ruthlessly shattered within just a few hours of arriving on the island.

Sakayanagi…

So this is why you took an interest in Hikigaya Hachiman?

But now wasn’t the time to stop here.

Back on the ship, Katsuragi had been a step ahead, drawing out and memorizing the entire terrain of the island.

And when the teacher announced the competition rules, he had been thrilled.

He had immediately begun mentally calculating where strongholds might be located.

And his judgment had been correct.

As they traveled, most of the places where he suspected there might be a stronghold did have card scanners.
However, the problem was—those scanners had already been activated.

And every single time, it had been Class C!

After struggling to escape Class C’s shadow, they had finally secured a stronghold of their own.

This reignited Class A’s confidence, and they started expanding outward, hoping to claim even more strongholds.

However, when they spread out to search—

They despairingly discovered that all the surrounding strongholds had already been taken by Class C.

Their stronghold was like a lonely island, completely surrounded by Class C’s strongholds.

“Keep searching.”

Katsuragi’s face darkened as he said in a low voice,

“We’re not looking for strongholds anymore. We’re looking for people!”

Katsuragi knew he couldn’t continue like this.
He couldn’t keep letting himself be led around by the nose.

Too many strongholds had already been taken.
His class had lost its advantage, and on top of that, they were at an even greater disadvantage because of the penalties from Sakayanagi and Yahiko.

If they didn’t make a move—then this exam would end with Class C rising, and Class A falling.

And that was the last thing he wanted!

So he knew—
he had to change his strategy.

“But… how do we find them?”

Yahiko looked frustrated, his face filled with disappointment.

“We don’t even know who we’re looking for.”

“We’ll still look for strongholds.”

Unlike Yahiko, who was losing hope, Katsuragi remained calm and analytical.

“But this time, we won’t claim them!”

“We won’t… claim them?”

Yahiko blinked in confusion.

“Follow me!”

Katsuragi took a deep breath, his gaze fixed on the dense jungle ahead.
Without another word, he rushed forward.

“W-Wait for me, Katsuragi!”

Yahiko hurriedly chased after him.

He had no idea what Katsuragi was planning,
but as a loyal follower, his job was to support him—no matter what.

As they pressed forward, they encountered two more strongholds, but both had already been occupied by Class C.

However, Katsuragi no longer cared.

He merely glanced at each stronghold,
and the moment he saw that it was occupied by Class C, he ignored it and moved on.

Then, he continued rushing forward.

-Rustle

Pushing aside a cluster of dense leaves, Yahiko’s face suddenly lit up with excitement.

“Katsuragi! Over here! I found one!”

Hearing this, Katsuragi immediately ran over.

And sure enough—

Right in front of Yahiko stood a scanner.

And on its screen, it displayed—

“Unclaimed!”

A brand-new stronghold that no one had occupied yet!

“There’s no time!”

But instead of rushing to claim it, Katsuragi suddenly grabbed Yahiko and dragged him into a bush nearby.

“Kats—?!”

Yahiko barely had time to react before Katsuragi clamped a hand over his mouth and held him close.

His eyes sharply warned Yahiko—

Don’t make a sound.

“Mmm! Mmm!”

Yahiko frantically nodded, signaling that he understood.

But…

He still didn’t get what Katsuragi was trying to do.

However, fortunately for them…

They didn’t have to wait long.

“Bang!”

In midair, a black shadow flashed past before landing steadily on the ground with a dull thud.

Behind the bushes, Katsuragi and Yahiko both stared in astonishment at the suddenly appearing muscular blond-haired man.

“H-He actually flew over! Is he Tarzan?!”

Yahiko was shocked, his eyes filled with disbelief.

He never imagined that a scene straight out of a movie could happen in real life.

The man had swung through the forest like a monkey, using the tall trees and thick branches as support.

No wonder—no wonder they could never catch up with him!

His speed was on a completely different level!

“Doesn’t he get tired?”

Yahiko muttered under his breath.

Even though they were just walking, they had already stopped two or three times to rest.
But this guy had been supporting his entire body weight using just his arms—which was way more exhausting than walking!

An average person wouldn’t even be able to hold their arms out straight for two minutes, let alone swing through the jungle like that.

“Hm?”

Suddenly, the blond man turned his head, scanning suspiciously in Katsuragi and Yahiko’s direction.

Katsuragi reacted instantly, pulling Yahiko down to hide.

However, the blond and agile young man didn’t give up.
Instead, he walked directly toward them.

-Rustle!

Without warning, the blond man forcefully pushed aside a section of the bushes.

But—

There was nothing behind them.

“Was I just being paranoid?”

The blond man muttered to himself, frowning before turning toward the scanner machine.

Meanwhile, hiding less than a meter away behind another bush, Katsuragi was holding his breath before carefully peeking out.

He saw the blond man take out a leader card and swipe it on the machine.

“Beep!”

A soft sound echoed as the display screen changed.

Satisfied, the blond man nodded before climbing up a tree like a nimble monkey and vanishing into the distant forest within seconds.

Once he was gone, Katsuragi and Yahiko finally emerged from the bushes, staring at the freshly activated scanner.

On the screen, the newly updated text read:

“C class 8:58:23.”

“Did you see that clearly?”

Katsuragi looked at the machine and asked in a low, serious voice.

“I saw it!”

Yahiko swallowed hard, feeling a surge of excitement.

“That was Class C’s Koenji! He just swiped his leader card! And since only a leader can use the leader card, that means—he’s definitely Class C’s leader!”

“This is amazing! This is incredible!”

Yahiko was so excited he nearly jumped up in joy.
The dark cloud over their heads had completely vanished.

In fact, he even felt a little smug.

So what if Class C was ahead of them?

No matter how many strongholds they occupied,
no matter how many bonus points they earned—

It would all be meaningless if their leader’s identity was exposed!

“Let’s head back.”

Even Katsuragi, usually so stern, allowed a slight smile to appear on his face.

None of it mattered anymore.

Even if Class C claimed more strongholds, he wouldn’t care.

Because he had just seized their greatest weakness.

“One more thing.”

After taking just two steps, Katsuragi suddenly stopped, turned around, and looked at Yahiko with serious, cautious eyes.

“Do not tell anyone about this.”

His voice was firm.

“It’s not that I don’t trust our classmates, but we’ve been at a disadvantage this entire time. If we suffer another huge loss, I’ll definitely be forced to step down as our representative. And if Sakayanagi takes over—our class is finished.”

In other words, Katsuragi didn’t trust Sakayanagi’s faction.

But—

Did that mean he trusted him?

“I understand!”

Yahiko nodded immediately, a mischievous grin forming on his face.

“Let those defective rejects from Class C enjoy their little victory for now. On the day the results are announced, they’ll realize—everything was just a wasted celebration!”

“Good. As long as you understand.”

Katsuragi let out a breath of relief.
His biggest worry was that Yahiko wouldn’t understand the gravity of the situation.

Keeping Class C’s leader identity a secret wasn’t just about avoiding unnecessary suspicion.

It was also because—he was pissed off.

Not only had Class C stolen all the strongholds he had mapped out on the ship,
making their journey a complete waste and humiliating them—

But they had also pushed him into such a desperate position, nearly stripping him of his own pride.

So—

Class C… enjoy your foolish little victory while it lasts.

After being crushed by Class C for so long—

It was finally Katsuragi’s turn to rise.

.

.

.

Meanwhile…

At the center of the island—

The White Tower loomed.

From the central tower, it was possible to observe information about the surrounding strongholds.
So Hachiman stayed behind at the tower, while Koenji began moving.

The estimated number of strongholds was around 25 to 26, and Koenji had occupied 20 of them.
Leaving the remaining five or six to other classes was no big deal.

He had considered occupying all of them as well.

Each stronghold could be scanned every eight hours.

If other classes couldn’t find a stronghold, they could wait at a nearby one when the eight-hour cooldown was up to scan it.

Frustrating? Yes.
But it was still a strategy.

Until the eight hours were up, there was nothing else to do except head back to the beach.

And if three classes all found themselves without strongholds,
they might request to end the exam early.

But if that happened—
the final “Guess the Leader” phase would end early too.

Hachiman didn’t want to lose that portion of the points.
So he wanted the exam to continue as planned.

Yes.

This deserted island exam had its score calculated in three parts:

1. 300 initial points per class.
2.
o These could be spent on supplies.
o
o If students broke rules, penalties were deducted from this pool.
o
3. Stronghold occupation points.
4.
5. Guessing the leader phase.
6.
o Guessing correctly would:
o
 Invalidate the other class’s stronghold points.

 Deduct 50 points from the other class.

 Earn 50 points for your own class.

This meant that one correct guess could swing the score by at least 100 points.

For Hachiman, who wanted to surpass Class A,
there was no way he’d let this opportunity slip away—

Especially with Sakayanagi missing from Class A.

Of course, he’d milk them dry!

With that thought, Hachiman returned to his class.

The students were still on the beach.

But—

There seemed to be conflict.

To be precise—
it looked like an argument had broken out.

Loud and chaotic.

For example—
On the ship, Hirata had offered to help Yukimura.

But now, the top student Yukimura was furiously blasting Hirata Yosuke.

“Hirata-kun! For girls who act on emotions, you’re just going to accept all their unreasonable demands, aren’t you?
Then what’s the point of this exam?!
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
If we save these 300 points, we can add them to next month’s score!
So—we must save points!
These ridiculous requests cannot be accepted!”

Then, he glared at the girls.

“What’s wrong with using the temporary toilet?!
It’s not like it’s unusable!
Even Sudo-kun is using it just fine!”

“That’s different! I refuse to use it!”
Led by Karuizawa, the girls strongly rejected the idea.

“Me too!”
A classmate, Shinohara Satsuki, also stepped forward.

“Absolutely not!”
Even girls who usually stayed quiet were voicing strong opposition.

“…”
Hachiman.

Temporary toilets, huh?

Looking around—
Chabashira-sensei was gone from her previous spot.

But behind Hirata, there were supplies—
a tent, sunscreen, matches, and more.

These were provided for free by the school.

However, the temporary toilet seemed to be provided by the school as well.

So—
what exactly was a temporary toilet?

Cardboard.

Plastic bags.

A cardboard box and plastic film for privacy.
Waste was collected in a bag, containing a chemical compound that would quickly solidify to reduce odor and disgust.

But—

This was basically a reusable diaper.

And there was only one for the entire class of 40 people to take turns using?

“…”

Torture.

Hachiman glanced over—

Sudo was clutching his stomach.

“N-No, I can’t hold it anymore—let me go again!”

Then, he hurried toward the temporary toilet.

Instantly—
his classmates’ gazes shifted.

Some looked disgusted.

Meanwhile, the girls’ side launched an even more intense verbal assault on Hirata the “mom” figure.

Hachiman now understood.

The class was arguing (read: screaming at each other) over whether to use their initial 300 points to buy a toilet.

And the reason?

They had just witnessed Sudo using the school-issued free temporary toilet.

So—
Hachiman walked over to Horikita.

“You’re back.”
Horikita noticed him immediately.

“Koenji occupied 20 strongholds.
That means we’ve secured 300 stronghold points.”
Hachiman gave a short report.

“And the current situation?”

“They want to use the initial points.”
Horikita explained.

Even though she wasn’t feeling well,
she had remained here the whole time.

After Hachiman and Koenji left,
Sudo had stomach trouble and used the temporary toilet.

Then—

After he was done, Hirata asked others to help clean up.

And as a result—

Some students mentally snapped.