Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 144: Foolish Yamauchi!

Yamauchi approached Hikigaya in a familiar manner, trying to build rapport.

“If it’s about a celebration party, generally speaking, most classmates would attend,” Hikigaya replied emotionlessly.

“That’s not what I meant,” Yamauchi quickly corrected himself. “What I mean is… actually, I want to get closer to Sakura. You see, she only seems to talk to you among the boys, right?”

Is that so?

Indeed, it was rare to see Sakura interacting with other male classmates.

In fact, her presence was so low that hardly anyone talked to her at all.

But still…

Why would Yamauchi set his sights on Sakura?

“Do you want to date her? Or—” Hikigaya asked.

Yamauchi had ranked girls by bust size at the beginning of the school year, called Sakura old-fashioned, and even spread a false rumor that she confessed to him and he turned her down.

And now, he wanted to approach her?

Had he discovered the classic “glasses-off transformation” where Sakura was actually a stunning beauty?

Or was it because, after being isolated over Ibuki’s stolen underwear incident, and then being dragged back due to Kushida’s stolen underwear, something had happened over the past two days?

“I’m not a pervert,” Yamauchi declared. “I didn’t steal any girl’s underwear.”

Hmm.

Hikigaya was well aware of that.

“But I was falsely accused. I’ve been thinking for two whole days, and I finally figured it out—it must be because I don’t have a girlfriend!” Yamauchi continued.

“If I had a girlfriend, I definitely wouldn’t be falsely accused!”

“Because if I had a girlfriend, I wouldn’t be lacking underwear, right?”

Alright.

Hachiman confirmed it.

Even if you gave Yamauchi two more years, he still wouldn’t realize that his false accusation had everything to do with the terrible impression he gave people.

Instead, he chose to analyze it from an entirely different angle.

For reference, even Hikigaya himself had been falsely rumored to be dating Horikita, and the first person Ibuki framed for stealing underwear was him.

So having a girlfriend didn’t necessarily grant immunity.

Besides…

Yamauchi’s logic didn’t even hold up. How does having a girlfriend mean you wouldn’t lack underwear?

That kind of thinking only made him seem more like a pervert.

“So why did you choose Sakura?” Hikigaya asked.

“Well, I’m not just looking for anyone, but if I want quick results, I think she’s the fastest choice. She looks plain, so if I present myself as a righteous and dependable guy and help her out a little, wouldn’t she be easy to win over?” Yamauchi said bluntly.

Apparently, he didn’t even bother to hide his true intentions.

He outright explained his plan to deceive Sakura.

Hachiman pressed his left hand to his forehead, clearly troubled by Yamauchi’s stupidity.

However…

This just proved that Yamauchi barely understood Sakura at all.

Might as well put an end to this here.

“Then you probably have no chance,” Hikigaya said. “Sakura has a boyfriend from another school. Also—”

Normally, he’d say something vague like “she wants to focus on studying for these three years,” just like when he helped Ichika.

But someone like Yamauchi wouldn’t get the message unless he was completely crushed.

“She probably has no interest in inexperienced virgins,” Hikigaya added.

“Eh? Seriously…?” Yamauchi was visibly shaken.

Of course.

Hachiman didn’t even want to let Sakura know that she had become Yamauchi’s target.

So he decided to sink Yamauchi’s ship right here.

For boys at this age, virginity was like a giant mountain.

It could be a source of pressure.

And in Yamauchi’s case, he probably wouldn’t find a girl willing to date him anytime soon.

Which meant Sakura could spend the next three years without his harassment.

“W-Well, excuse me, then.” Yamauchi quickly made himself scarce.

Hachiman pulled out his phone and sent a message to Sakura:

[A boy was planning to confess to you, but I took the liberty of rejecting him on your behalf. There may be some rumors later.]

[For example, that you already have a boyfriend. I think this might help suppress some people’s ambitions—after all, trying to date a girl who already has a boyfriend isn’t exactly a smart move.]

Sakura didn’t check the message immediately, but about a minute later, Hachiman received a reply.

“I don’t really… I don’t really want to… huh!?”

“C-Can I?”

“T-Thank you so much, Hikigaya-kun!”

Judging from the wording, she seemed flustered. She must have been so anxious that she replied before even finishing reading Hachiman’s message. Then, after reading it fully, she immediately expressed her gratitude.

She was clearly distressed by the idea of being confessed to.

But at the same time, she felt relieved that Hachiman had acted first.

In other words, while Yamauchi was wrong about almost everything, he was right about one thing—Sakura’s personality made her easy to manipulate.

—

Yamauchi’s incident was just a minor interruption.

Before the exams, Ike had made his confession, and now that the exams were over, Yamauchi was making his move.

Hachiman thought his classmates were really something.

Ultimately, the celebration party was scheduled for tomorrow night.

Since the exams had just ended, most people wanted some rest—especially the girls, who weren’t keen on rushing out to join in right away.

So for now, only about a dozen boys went out to eat together.

Eating out, huh.

It was 11:30 AM.

It really was lunchtime.

Hachiman didn’t refuse the invitation.

So, he went out with Hirata, Sudo, and the others. Sudo led the way, with Yamauchi and Ike also guiding the group.

This time, they chose the restaurant that Class A had mocked them for visiting before.

Hachiman more or less understood what they were up to.

Sure enough.

As soon as they sat down, some students from Class A walked in as well—apparently, they had also come to eat.

But then—

“Yo, isn’t this Class A? Weren’t you trying to kick us out just a few days ago?”

Inside the restaurant, Sudo leaned back confidently in his chair, smirking.

“Why the long faces? Weren’t you all acting high and mighty before?”

“Sudo—” As the mild-mannered Hirata, he immediately noticed that Sudo seemed to be trying to provoke them.

“Hirata, just stay back and watch quietly,” Yamauchi stopped Hirata and then spoke.

“Sudo, how can you say something like that?”

Yamauchi seemed displeased as he gave Sudo a glance and seriously corrected him, “They’re feeling really down right now. How can you mock them at a time like this?”

“Sorry, sorry.”

But Sudo just burst into laughter. “I just really didn’t expect that the class that always acted so high and mighty would end up in second-to-last place. It’s hilarious—they only scored 70 points!”

After all, they were high school students, full of youthful energy.

When mocked by others, they naturally wanted to find a chance to mock them back.

The arrogant expressions of Class A’s students from seven days ago were still fresh in their memories. Now that they had the opportunity, of course, they were going to get some payback. In fact, they had deliberately come here just for this.

“You bastards…”

The students of Class A clenched their fists, their faces pale with anger. “You’re just a bunch of defective products…”

“What did you say?”

Sudo perked up his ears and sneered, “Some people can’t even beat us ‘defective products.’ I wonder what that makes them?”

“Probably… high-class defective products.”

Yamauchi maintained his serious expression, but that only made the students of Class A feel even more humiliated.

Because they had actually been humiliated by Yamauchi.

Their mentality was on the verge of collapse.

“You defective products from Class C, this place isn’t—”

“This place isn’t where we belong? Yeah, yeah, I know.”

Sudo waved his hand dismissively, completely indifferent. “You said that a week ago, no need to repeat yourself. But,”

In the next moment, Sudo’s expression turned sharp and sarcastic as he smirked, “This place isn’t your home. Whether we come here or not isn’t for you to decide.”

“And as for defective products, the point gap between our class and yours is only 127 points.”

“You guys aren’t that great either,” Sudo added.

In reality, Sudo’s calculation was wrong. Class C currently had 1,041 points, while Class A had 1,258 points, meaning the actual difference was 217 points.

However, the students of Class A now looked like defeated roosters.

Their advantage had almost completely vanished, and they had even ended up in debt because of it.

Still—

“Tch! If it weren’t for that damn Katsuragi…”

One of the Class A boys clenched his fists, filled with resentment and regret.

“And the deal with Class D—it was all Katsuragi’s fault!”

“If Sakayanagi were here…”

It seemed these students were from the Sakayanagi faction.

Sudo and the others had mocked the wrong people. The ones who had previously mocked Sudo’s group were students from Katsuragi’s faction, but these current ones were from Sakayanagi’s faction.

—

Meanwhile, in another dining hall—

The students from Katsuragi’s faction were already eating.

After being humiliated in the restaurant, a few of them had run over to Katsuragi.

“Katsuragi, this is all your fault!”

At the beginning, they had some complaints about the failure in this exam.

But it wasn’t until they were mocked by the very “defective products” they had always looked down on that their frustration truly exploded.

If it weren’t for Katsuragi’s mistakes, how could they have ended up being ridiculed by Class C—the very class they hadn’t even considered worthy of their attention before?

What had started as simple complaints had now escalated into a full-blown revolt.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

Katsuragi’s loyal underling, Yahiko, immediately stood up and stiffened his neck. “You guys didn’t oppose it at the time either! Now that something’s gone wrong, you’re just dumping all the blame on Katsuragi?”

“And besides, Sakayanagi’s side lost 30 points, while you guys lost 50 points!”

“So you were dragging us down too!” Yahiko quickly added.

“Some of the point deductions were unavoidable,” one of the students from Katsuragi’s faction retorted. “And what do you mean we ‘didn’t oppose it’? The ones making the decisions were you and Katsuragi. You two were the ones acting all high and mighty! We just didn’t openly oppose it, that’s all!”

“You bastard! Saito, do you even know what you’re saying?”

Yahiko’s forehead veins bulged, and he looked like he wanted to punch the guy in the face.

Because this guy, Saito, was supposed to be one of Katsuragi’s own supporters.

Being pressured by the Sakayanagi faction was one thing.

After all, they had never been on the same side to begin with.

But now, even their own faction members were starting to lose faith in Katsuragi.

How could that be allowed?

“You think we can’t even talk about what you did?”

Saito, the student in question, looked furious as well. “If Sakayanagi were here, this never would’ve happened!”

“That’s right, this is all Katsuragi’s fault!”

“If only Sakayanagi were here…”

Katsuragi stood in the center, surrounded by a group of angry students.

His face was grim, and he remained silent.

However, his expression did not look good.

Although he had indeed lost and suffered a failure, facing betrayal like this was still somewhat difficult for him to accept.

Moreover—

At the beginning, his plan was to pass the uninhabited island exam and then absorb the members of the Sakayanagi faction. However, the actual result turned out to be a complete disaster.

Not only was he unable to bring in Sakayanagi’s supporters, but even his own faction’s supporters began wavering.

And now, everyone was staring at him.

“According to what the senior students said, the two-week-long exam will be over, and we will return soon. When the next exam comes… Sakayanagi will take command,” Katsuragi said in a calm voice.

He was willing to take responsibility for his failure.

Right now, the class evaluation scores of Classes A, B, and C were very close together, meaning that Class A had lost its advantage and was even starting to feel pressured.

If Sakayanagi could lead the class forward and create a gap between them and Classes B and C, then he was willing… to step back into a secondary role.

So, letting Sakayanagi take command of the next two exams after returning wouldn’t be a problem.

“Hm?”

But suddenly, Katsuragi realized that he might still have a chance to turn things around.

Because—

This exam period was supposed to last for two weeks.

However, they had spent two days arriving at the island and then seven days taking the island exam.

That meant only nine days had passed.

So there were still five days remaining.

“……”

Could it be that there was another exam?

—

Meanwhile, on the other side.

After lunch, Hikigaya glanced at the message on his phone and then took action.

He had received a unique message.

“Come to the theater later. Alone.” — Chabashira.

Oh.

So, you want to talk to me privately?

With that thought, Hikigaya made his way to the theater.

The cruise ship provided various forms of entertainment and facilities, and an open-air theater performance was held every two hours.

However, in the afternoon, there was also supposed to be a sea lion show at another facility.

Since both events were held every two hours, their schedules overlapped.

As a result, when Hikigaya arrived at the theater, he didn’t see any other students.

That, however, made it easier for him to find Chabashira.

But—

Hikigaya noticed that she seemed to be on a phone call.

“Yes, that’s right…”

“No, I just want to focus on teaching. I’m not interested in arranged marriage…”

“Mm, that’s how it is, Mom.”

Chabashira was sitting in a seat, talking on the phone.

“……”

Hikigaya.

??

Hikigaya stood to the side and waited for about two minutes until Chabashira finished her call.

She then noticed Hikigaya’s arrival.

“You did very well in this exam,” Chabashira said, putting down her phone.

However, Hikigaya didn’t seem interested in the compliment and instead focused on her phone.

“Your phone can contact the outside world?” Hikigaya asked.

“You want to contact someone outside?” Chabashira-sensei quickly caught on.