Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 132: Kushida: I’m About to Explode!

In the leader-guessing segment, if another class correctly identifies a class’s leader, that class will lose 50 points, and any points earned from strongholds will be nullified.

Additionally, if the leader’s information is shared with another class, even more points will be deducted.

That meant all the effort Class B put into saving their initial points would be meaningless.

For a moment, the atmosphere around them seemed frozen.

However—

“First, let me clarify something,” Hachiman said. He knew his question had been a bit reckless, so he added, “Our two classes won’t guess each other’s leaders.”

“Oh.”

That statement made both Ichinose and Kanzaki sigh in relief.

Since Class C held a significant advantage in this exam, when Hachiman’s group arrived to gather information, they were worried that their leader’s identity might have already been exposed.

But now—

Since they were allies, they wouldn’t guess each other’s leaders.

That was reassuring.

“Oh, that?”

After thinking for a moment, Ichinose responded as if she were a pure and innocent girl, completely unguarded.

“It’s Shiranami Chihiro. You should know him, right, Hachiman?”

“Ichinose!”

Kanzaki Ryuji was momentarily speechless. He was so shocked that he lost his composure and didn’t know what to do.

Even if their two classes were allies and had agreed not to guess each other’s leaders, there was no reason to outright reveal their own leader’s identity.

So he quickly turned to look at Ichinose. But she was still smiling.

Then it hit him.

He knew that what Ichinose said was true—Shiranami Chihiro really was the leader.

However, by stating it so directly, she might have been playing a mind game.

After all, Hachiman had suddenly asked about their class leader.

So—

She gave a name.

And that name was indeed Shiranami’s. She wasn’t lying.

But—

What is true can be false, and what is false can be true. Ichinose had told Hachiman’s group, but could they really believe her?

Probably not.

Just look at Horikita’s expression.

“Shiranami Chihiro? Is that just bait?”

Horikita had clearly thought the same thing as Kanzaki and lowered her head, deep in thought.

She couldn’t believe Ichinose would just reveal their leader’s identity so easily.

Besides—

Although Ichinose seemed like a pure, saintly girl, almost like an angel—

This was crucial information for her class. There was no way she’d just blurt it out because of a casual question from Hachiman.

And on top of that—

Her impression of Class B had worsened after they took in Kaneda.

Her own class had taken in Ibuki, but that was just because some of her classmates were beyond saving—too many bleeding hearts.

But was Class B the same?

Horikita felt that being too soft-hearted wouldn’t lead to survival.

Still, since Ichinose was the face of Class B, she couldn’t completely dismiss her.

Hachiman had pointed out more than once that she underestimated people too much, so she had to be cautious.

So—

Looking carefully at Ichinose now—

Thinking things through logically, if Shiranami were truly the leader, then just moments ago, she had sent Kaneda to help him.

That didn’t make sense at all.

There was no way she believed Ichinose’s words.

So maybe the leader’s identity was fake.

However—

“Thank you for your honesty.” Hachiman said, “You should find an opportunity to switch your leader.”

“The rules state that you can’t change leaders without reason, but try to find a way around that.”

“I believe your class leader’s information will be leaked.”

“Huh?” ×2

Ichinose and Kanzaki were both stunned.

“What do you mean…?”

“I already told you before, right? My class took in a student who opposed Ryuen—Ibuki. And now, your class has also taken in a student who opposed Ryuen.”

“I believe they’re both spies,” Hachiman stated.

As he spoke, he glanced at Horikita.

Horikita still seemed lost in thought, so he turned to Kushida.

Sensing Hachiman’s gaze, Kushida spoke up.

“Before we came here, we went to a certain location and dug up a camera and a walkie-talkie.”

“When we found Ibuki yesterday, her hands were covered in dirt—not just from falling, but as if she had buried something.”

“So today, we dug around the place where we found her—and we found those items as evidence,” Kushida explained.

“I see…”

Hearing this, Kanzaki recalled the state Kaneda had been in when they took him in.

Kaneda’s hands were also covered in dirt.

If he had been beaten, he might have had a little dirt on him—but the dirt on Kaneda’s hands reached all the way to his wrists.

It really did look like he had buried something.

“This information is extremely important,” Kanzaki said urgently.

His expression darkened.

No one had expected that kind-hearted Class B, who had simply taken in a Class D student out of goodwill, had actually harbored a spy.

Kaneda had already spent an entire day in their camp.

Which meant their class leader’s identity might have already been leaked.

If that were the case, then all the suffering and sacrifices they endured to save their initial points would be for nothing.

“If you can change your leader, you can ensure you won’t lose points,” Hachiman said. “And now, let’s move on to the main issue.”

“Other than scouting and telling you that Ibuki and Kaneda are spies—”

Hachiman continued, “I also want to make a deal with you.”

“The night before the exam ends, I will provide you with the leader information for Class A and Class D.”

“With that, you can participate in the leader-guessing segment and earn a 100-point reward.”

“And—”

Hachiman added, “That 100 points—I want it.”

“What do you mean?”

Ichinose and Kanzaki were still reeling from the shock of realizing they had harbored a spy. Now, hearing Hachiman’s words, they were confused.

If their class guessed the leaders correctly and earned the points, shouldn’t those points belong to them?

“I have the leader information for Class A and Ryuen’s class,” Hachiman said. “If you get that information, you’ll be able to earn the leader-guessing points.”

“I’ll let you have those points—but in exchange, you need to give me private points equivalent to 100 class evaluation points, paid continuously until graduation.”

“Of course, you can refuse. You can try to get Class A and D’s leader information yourselves.”

“Or—” Hachiman said. “You can pass up this opportunity to gain 100 points for free.”

“By the way—”

Hachiman said, “The people from Ryuen’s class mentioned that they they sold their initial points to Class A before retiring, providing Class A with ample supplies.”

“How could this be…” Ichinose said in shock.

Because doesn’t this mean that Class A can preserve their initial points without spending them during the deserted island exam?

Although Sakayanagi didn’t come, Class A only has 300 – 30 = 270 points.

270 points is still a terrifying number.

As students from Class B, Ichinose and the others also had the ideal of striving together to challenge Class A.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have chosen to form an alliance with Hachiman’s class in the first place.

So now, what Hachiman is saying is that if they don’t accept this condition, the gap between them and Class A will only widen.

“Think carefully. There’s nothing to say about Class D, which has 0 points, but as long as you guess Class A’s leader correctly, you’ll narrow the gap by 100 points. Then I will also guess Class A’s leader. So Class A will lose 50 points twice.”

In other words, even though Class D provided supplies, Class A’s 270 points can be saved, but they will still lose 50 points twice.

Furthermore, if Class B gets the guess right, they can still earn 50 points.

Therefore, the gap between them could be greatly narrowed.

This is an opportunity laid out before Ichinose and Kanzaki.

Meanwhile, Kushida and Horikita followed Hachiman.

Horikita had already regained her composure and was no longer concerned about whether Ichinose’s revelation of Shiranami’s leader information was true.

Instead, she began focusing on whether Ichinose’s group would agree to the deal.

Earlier, Hachiman had said they could get 50 points from Class B, but now he’s offering 100 points.

It became more expensive.

But she remained quiet.

Because if she could get more rewards, she could get more for herself as well.

Previously, Hachiman had mentioned that if they aimed to challenge Class A together, they could give her the 1 million points they had obtained from Chabashira-sensei.

However, Horikita felt she hadn’t been of much use in that regard, so she declined.

She also saw being promoted to Class A as something to prove to her older brother.

So there was no reason to take Hachiman’s 1 million points.

But now it was different.

With normal transactional methods, she could receive a portion.

Horikita wasn’t highly driven by points or money, but having some was better than having none. And if she could accumulate 20 million, she could join the class she wanted.

She might even graduate from Class A.

At first, she thought accumulating 20 million would be hard, but now with Hachiman’s proposal that Koenji could get 300 points and give Koenji 100 points in exchange for personal points, it seemed that after three years, she could get 10 million points.

So she thought that perhaps the goal of gathering 20 million wasn’t so unreachable after all.

As for Kushida…

She was fine as long as her living expenses could be increased a bit.

After all, she had more expenses for socializing.

So she remained obedient.

Meanwhile, Kanzaki walked around for a bit and then looked at Ichinose.

“We accept the deal,” Ichinose said.

It seemed that by agreeing to this deal, they were essentially acting as Hachiman’s tool to acquire points.

But…

Class rankings were determined by class evaluation points.

Although the school’s living expenses would need to be partially allocated to Hachiman, if they obtained 100 points for class evaluation, those would be added to their class score.

That score was the most important thing.

However…

Ichinose added, “If we guess the leader wrong, we’ll incur losses. This part of the loss, Hachiman, will you…?”

“Fortune favors the bold,” Hachiman decisively said. “I cannot offer you any guarantees.”

What he was saying…

It was like a bet.

Ichinose and Kanzaki exchanged glances.

Then they nodded.

“We accept this deal,” they said in unison.

“Good,” Hachiman said. “As for the agreement, we’ll discuss it once everyone has received the points.”

“Okay,” Ichinose nodded.

Since Kaneda was still in their class, she couldn’t notify all the students yet.

So it was more appropriate to discuss it after the exam.

“But it’s better if Kaneda stays for a few more days,” Hachiman said. “Don’t alert anyone, and remember that according to the rules, leaders cannot be changed without a valid reason. You should think about how to handle it.”

“We understand,” Ichinose said.

Then Hachiman, along with Horikita and the others, left.

…

After Hachiman and the others left, Kanzaki finally found an opportunity to ask Ichinose.

“Was there any particular reason for exposing our class’s leader like that?” Kanzaki asked about the earlier situation when Hachiman asked, and Ichinose immediately revealed their leader’s information.

“Actually, we lost the initiative in this exam,” Ichinose said. “So when Hachiman asked like that, I thought he might want to make some deal with us.”

“And if we didn’t show sincerity, perhaps the deal wouldn’t have happened.”

So that’s what happened.

Kanzaki let out a sigh of relief.

Ichinose thought for a moment.

“However, will this exam really be this extreme?”

Class B took in Kaneda because they discovered she had injuries from Ryuen’s class.

In the end, this was just a cruel plan orchestrated by Ryuen.

To win the exam, they even went to such extremes.

This deepened everyone’s understanding of the special exams.

“This school’s special exams are much harsher than we thought,” Ichinose said. “I might not be suited for this place.”

“Me neither,” Kanzaki said.

Because both of them couldn’t easily harm the students in their own class.

And…

“What about Shiranami?” Kanzaki was concerned that Shiranami’s leader information might have been leaked to Kaneda.

“Hachiman mentioned that the rule about changing leaders without a valid reason could be used. As long as we can make a valid reason, we could change the leader’s information. If we can change leaders, even if Chihiro’s leader information is leaked, the class that guesses Chihiro as the leader will suffer.”

“But…”

Kanzaki said, “Does that mean we have to make Shiranami sick or hurt her?”

“…,” Ichinose.

Hmm.

This was a lot of pressure on them.

“Or maybe the leader’s information hasn’t been leaked?” Kanzaki suggested.

But even Kanzaki wasn’t sure of this.

Because as long as there’s a chance that Class B’s leader information has been leaked, then the 18 points for occupying this base will be deducted, and Ryuen’s class might guess their leader. Since Ryuen and Class A are allied, Class A might guess them too.

That would result in a total loss of 50X2 + 18 = 118 points.

Shiranami’s health and 118 points.

Which is more important?

This difficult balance lay before them.