Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 133: Kushida: I’m about to suffocate! Let’s go!

The three of them walked out of Ichinose’s class’s base. The sunlight in the sky had unknowingly faded, and a few clouds had appeared.

It seemed that even if it didn’t rain today, it would probably rain tomorrow or the day after.

However, their mood didn’t darken because of the change in weather; instead, they felt pretty good.

Because the deal with Class B had been settled.

Now, they just had to wait for the right time, and then they could split the points.

So their steps back were much lighter.

Even Kushida felt quite cheerful.

Right now, she was thinking about the agreement between Hachiman and Class B, which was to secure 100 points worth of class evaluation scores in exchange for living expenses.

All of it would be paid by Class B, and this would continue until graduation.

That meant he could earn 400,000 yen every month.

She didn’t think she played a major role in this plan, but Hachiman would probably give her a share anyway.

So…

Her mood was decent.

But at this moment, Horikita Suzune spoke up.

“Speaking of the deal with Class B, do you already know the leader information for Class A and Class D?”

Hmm.

This was the basis for the deal with Class B. If they didn’t guess the leaders of the other classes correctly, they wouldn’t get the 100 points for class evaluation.

So Kushida was quickly jolted out of her earlier happiness and back to reality.

“I don’t know yet,” Hachiman said.

“Huh?” X2

This surprised both Horikita and Kushida.

How could they go ahead with the deal if they didn’t know the leaders?

“I don’t know, but Ibuki will,” Hachiman said. “So we’ll need to find a chance to trick her.”

“Oh.” X2

Although it was clearly going to be difficult to extract information from Ibuki, the anxious expressions on both Horikita and Kushida instantly relaxed.

This was because both Kushida and Horikita felt that Ibuki was easier to deceive.

After all…

Ibuki completely had no idea that she was being used as a guinea pig to test things out for everyone.

She had hidden the communication device used to contact Ryuen but failed to clean up after herself and erase the traces.

She left evidence for others to find.

The location where Hachiman found the buried communication device was newly disturbed soil, and there was a small twig stuck in the dirt, which seemed to be her way of marking the spot.

However, this kind of marking was easy to detect.

At the same time, the plan to steal Karuizawa’s underwear seemed like a good one. On one hand, it could break the unity of Hachiman’s class and create chaos. On the other hand, it could allow them to obtain the information about Class C’s leader.

But she was thinking too simplistically. If it weren’t for Hachiman and Horikita deliberately cooperating to suppress the risk of “an external class committing the crime, and Ibuki being the biggest suspect,” things wouldn’t have gone so smoothly.

Because the students in Hachiman’s class weren’t pushovers. Once they were falsely accused, they would quickly shift the blame, and as an outsider, anyone who proposed such an idea would quickly become the target of attack.

Once she was expelled, there was no chance of obtaining any information about Class C’s leader.

Additionally, Ibuki made a mistake in choosing her target for framing. Since everyone hated Yamauchi, she should have framed him instead of Hachiman.

Look, didn’t this backfire on Ibuki?

That’s to say, while Ibuki may be intelligent, she wasn’t very sharp.

“And although we need to use Ibuki,” Hachiman continued, “I think as long as Ryuen is still on the island, the leader of Class C should be Ryuen.”

“Ryuen rules with violence, and it’s a one-man show. I don’t think he would hand over the position of leader to anyone else,” Hachiman said.

“Also, since Ryuen was able to sell the initial points and form an alliance with Class A, while that may be a good strategy for handling this exam, it also shows that Ryuen is someone who will react if you give him enough leverage.”

“Therefore, it’s possible to make him betray Class A.”

“So, to obtain the leader information of Class A, I think the best approach is to start with Ryuen.”

“And right now,” Hachiman said, “I’m giving Ryuen the opportunity to obtain the leader information of Class A.”

“I hope he doesn’t disappoint me.”

…

“I hope you don’t disappoint me, Ibuki.” At this moment, Ryuen was thinking the same thing in his heart.

After the incident with the underwear in Class C, Ibuki had left the Class C camp.

Because the students were in a bad mood, no one was paying attention to her movements.

At this point, Ibuki had successfully met up with Ryuen.

According to Ryuen’s plan, they were supposed to meet in this area again the next morning.

The latest time was 12 PM.

And now it was 11 AM.

“So, what did you find out today?” Ryuen asked. “You know, Kaneda has already completed his task.”

“Kaneda finished his task that quickly?” Ibuki was surprised.

It was at this moment that she saw a figure walking out from behind Ryuen.

It was Kaneda, wearing glasses, with a bruise on his cheek from being hit.

Kaneda was a male student with yellow hair. He wasn’t particularly handsome, but he was quite smart.

He was one of the few students in Ryuen’s class who had a grade above B in academics.

He had also been assigned by Ryuen to gather leader information from Class B.

“It was just luck,” Kaneda said. “Ichinose and the others took over a base at a really bad time.”

“They occupied a garden base that had been previously taken by Class C. I timed it so that when they were about to swipe the leader card to take the base back in the morning, I hid nearby and watched.”

“I saw Ichinose and Chihiro Shiranami go to swipe the card.”

“Although they went together, it was ultimately Shiranami who swiped the card.”

“Then—”

“I took a photo.”

“Although I didn’t get a shot of the leader card, I managed to get a picture of Shiranami swiping the card.”

“Only the leader can swipe the card, and since Class B is really trying to conserve their initial points, they wouldn’t make such a mistake and deduct points themselves. So I deduce that the leader of Class B is Chihiro Shiranami,” Kaneda said.

“Then the task is pretty much done,” Ryuen said. “But don’t make any moves that might raise suspicion. Keep lurking.”

“Right, that’s what I’m doing,” Kaneda said. “After getting the leader’s information, I plan to stay in Class B for the rest of the day.”

“Then today, I saw Hachiman, Horikita Suzune, and Kushida Kikyo come to Class B.”

He had been assigned a task by Ryuen, but his mind wasn’t dull. He knew how to maximize his usefulness.

“Then it seemed like they discussed something for quite a while,” Kaneda said.

“Heh, those two classes have already formed an alliance,” Ryuen said. “But we can’t let our guard down. What were they discussing?”

“Sorry, I was worried they might suspect me, so I left at that point,” Kaneda shook his head.

“It’s fine,” Ryuen said. “In fact, it was a good decision to leave. That Horikita caused us a lot of trouble with the Sudo incident.”

“And Hachiman also seems to me like a sharp guy on the ship.”

“When I tried to take a photo of Horikita Suzune on the ship before, Hachiman took 18 photos of me instead.”

“That guy’s reactions are pretty strange,” Ryuen said. “And now that their class has taken so many strongholds points, they’ll definitely be on high alert.”

“So,” Ryuen looked at Ibuki.

This was the reason he had stayed so long today.

“Class C has taken so many bases. Normally, they wouldn’t just accept outsiders. After all, if other classes figure out who their leader is, all those base points would be wiped out,” Ryuen said. “So if they find you, I think Hachiman or Horikita might hand you over to Class B.”

“Can this really be done?” Ibuki was surprised.

She was astonished by Ryuen’s plan.

“Why not? Because we can’t afford to lose,” Ryuen said.

“Hikigaya and Horikita took the initiative and occupied most of the points on the island. I explored deeper into the island and only found one point, so the points they have must be the majority. They definitely don’t want to lose.”

“Actually, their strategy is quite similar to ours.”

“We convert our initial points into living expenses.”

“And they focus on holding onto points above 300.”

“We can both gain huge benefits from this exam.”

“Their approach and ours are both excellent solutions for this exam,” Ryuen continued. “But Hikigaya and Horikita have said they want to join Class A.”

“So they have to take risks to earn class evaluation points, unlike us, where it’s simply about getting money.”

“So if an outsider comes into their class, they won’t trust them.”

“Sending them to Class B is a good solution.”

“So they let you in? That seems a bit off,” Ryuen said.

“Is there a problem? Actually, they argued, and in the end, most of the students agreed to take me in,” Ibuki said. “Horikita and Hikigaya couldn’t do anything about it.”

“…”

“…” Ryuen.

“Is that so?”

“So Class C has quite a few incompetent teammates.”

“Then getting a spy or two wouldn’t be difficult.”

“But I still haven’t obtained the specific leader information,” Ibuki said. “When it was time to scan the leader cards, Class C’s group, including Sudo, Koenji, and Hikigaya, all acted together.”

“So they were still cautious about you?” Kaneda said.

He lightly pushed up his glasses.

“Probably.”

“But I also have my own observations,” Ibuki continued. “Last night during dinner in Class C, I noticed that Kushida’s attitude toward Koenji was a bit special. Everyone else only had a bowl of fish soup, but she gave Koenji a big chunk of fish. And no one in Class C seemed to have a problem with it.”

“Koenji?”

Ryuen was surprised. He knew a bit about Kushida Kikyo, and she was quite capable.

She was an outsider but had almost collected contact information from most of the students in his class. Even Ishizaki and Komiyama thought of her as an angel and were willing to talk to her.

But just like Ibuki, based on their understanding of Kushida, even though she was an angel, she was supposed to treat everyone equally.

In the entire first-year group, no one didn’t know Kushida.

But her behavior toward Koenji seemed clearly biased.

What was even more surprising was that no one else seemed to have an issue with it!

Why?

If Kushida was biased because Koenji was her boyfriend, it could explain her actions.

But if that were the case, the students in Class C would surely have a big problem with it.

After all, Kushida was like an idol now, and if her fans found out she had a boyfriend they would go crazy.

So, Ibuki’s observation was indeed interesting.

But…

“Is that it?”

Ryuen looked at Ibuki, his tone a bit dissatisfied.

Because this wasn’t solid evidence.

“Actually, this observation is quite useful,” Kaneda said. “First of all, since Class C was able to capture so many points so quickly, someone must have excellent athletic abilities.”

“And according to the information Ibuki gathered, the group that went to scan the cards included Sudo, Hikigaya, and Koenji.”

“While the area of a point isn’t very large, for an average person, it would still take at least ten minutes to walk around. So this is a big task.”

“As far as I know, Sudo is athletic, and Komiya and the others are very aware of this. Sudo has a lot of talent in basketball, and his physical abilities are strong, so he could be the leader,” Kaneda said. “But that’s a slim chance.”

“I don’t think it’s Sudo either,” Ryuen said.

“Why?” Ibuki asked.

“Because Sudo is an idiot,” Ryuen said. “Although we were slow when we first landed, we still didn’t waste time searching for strongholds”

“But the nearby strongholds were all taken by Class C.”

“Class C got a head start and gathered a lot of strongholds, but do you think Sudo, that idiot, could remember so many point locations?” Ryuen said. “So Sudo is out.”

“Then, Hikigaya…” Ibuki continued.

“It probably isn’t him either,” Kaneda said. “Because he’s already famous in other classes, and if their class occupies so many strongholds, it would be bad if someone figured it out because of his fame.”

“So the most likely person is Koenji” Ryuen said.

“That’s a high possibility,” Kaneda said. “Koenji seems to have gained the favor of the upperclassmen. Someone saw him having meals with third-year students. Also, his physique is really fit, so it looks like he’s good at sports. And we haven’t heard of him making any contributions to Class C, so he might be treated specially by Kushida.”

“He probably made a contribution in this exam,” Kaneda said.

“…” Ryuen. “Did you come up with this yourself?”

Kaneda was a classmate that Ryuen valued and thought was capable of handling special tasks.

Kaneda was smart, but Ryuen didn’t think he could analyze things this thoroughly.

“Actually, it’s Shiina’s guess,” Kaneda said. “She thinks that the leader of Class C can’t be Horikita Suzune, Hikigaya, or even Kushida Kikyo.”

“Actually, you can rule out all the girls, because to capture so many points, the girls’ physical abilities would be hard to match up.”

“And Hikigaya’s physical ability, Shiina thinks, probably wouldn’t be enough either,” Kaneda said.

“Shiina?” Ryuen had already noticed that Shiina Hiyori had good academic skills. Even though she often kept to herself, she wasn’t excluded or isolated, and was very tactful.

She was also very smart.

But initially, Ryuen didn’t think someone like Shiina, who lacked physical strength and was timid, would be useful in this exam.

So he had her and the other regular students return to the ship.

But now, looking at it, he felt he might have made a mistake.

She could have at least been useful as a strategist. However, since she could analyze Koenji, the next step was to keep Ibuki in position and see if she could take a clear photo of Koenji using the leader card or even take a photo of the leader card itself.

.

.

.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Hikigaya and the others had returned to their camp.

But.

After looking at the still-sick Horikita returning to the tent, Hikigaya looked at Kushida.

“Can you come with me to a place?” Hikigaya asked.

“Of course,” Kushida replied, maintaining her angelic demeanor.

She seemed to accept everyone.

But after walking a few dozen meters together, Hikigaya suddenly stopped.

“You lead the way from here,” Hikigaya said.

“Huh?” Kushida turned her head and blinked lightly.

Because what was Hikigaya talking about?

What did it mean that she should lead the way?

Suddenly, Kushida had an idea.