Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 147: Class A Teacher: Unbelievable! You’re even finding bugs in my system! Go!

This cruise ship has a total of nine floors, with five above the deck and four below.

The five floors above the deck: The first floor is a lounge and banquet hall, which are public areas.

The second to fifth floors are guest rooms.
The boys are staying on the third floor, while the girls are on the fourth floor.

The teachers are on the second floor.

The fifth floor is for luxury rooms, the highest-class rooms.

Although this arrangement has been made, there is no rule preventing boys from entering the girls’ floors.

The three lower floors are entertainment facilities, such as a cinema, opera house, and so on.

The fourth basement floor is the power distribution room, typically only accessed by staff.

“Knock knock!”

At 5:58 PM, Hachiman arrived on the second floor and knocked on the door of Room 204.

“Come in.”

A response quickly came from inside.

When Hachiman opened the door, the first thing he saw was a young man in a suit, sitting in front of him.

This was the class teacher of Class A, Mashima Tomonari.

On the desk in front of him, there was a stack of papers, likely related to the exam materials.

Since Hachiman had arrived just on time, all the students in this group had already gathered.

There were two boys and one girl.

And they were all familiar faces.

The boys were Sotomura and Yukimura.

The girl was Karuizawa Kei.

According to the information gathered from the class chat and Kushida, the 40 students of their class had been divided into 12 time slots for Room 204.

Among them, only these four were scheduled for the 6 PM time slot.

“Ah, it’s Hikigaya-kun,”

Slightly chubby, bespectacled Sotomura Hideo, who was somewhat of a nerd, waved excitedly at Hachiman. He was the so-called “doctor” mentioned by Ike and Sudo, and the one who bought a high-priced computer when they first enrolled.

He also attended Ike’s “breakup party” when Ike confessed and got rejected.

“Hmm.”

Hachiman nodded lightly.

“Hikigaya-kun.”

Another boy turned to look at Hachiman.

This was Yukimura Teruhiko, another familiar face. He wore glasses and was one of the few academic elites in the class, ranking third in academic performance.

However, his physical fitness was terrible.

When the PE teacher asked him to run 400 meters, he would be gasping for air, looking like he was about to collapse.

Nevertheless, Yukimura had a strong sense of class honor. He was the type who would help out if asked directly.

As for Karuizawa, she seemed lost in thought. Her gaze was distant, staring blankly ahead. There was an empty chair next to her.

Karuizawa’s relationship with the boys in the class wasn’t good, and after her “rule violation for the class” in the last written exam, her popularity had risen quite a bit. However, she didn’t make an effort to interact with the boys.

So now, she was sitting alone.

Yukimura and the others had consciously kept their distance from her, considering how poorly Karuizawa interacted with the boys in the class.

Hachiman then sat down in the empty seat next to Karuizawa.

“You’re the last one to arrive.”

“The exam will begin shortly. If you have a phone with you, please turn it off.”

Mashima, the teacher, glanced at Hachiman and said flatly.

“Alright, no problem.”

Hachiman nodded lightly and then placed a pink camera on the table, doing so without hiding it.

But—

“…”

Mashima glanced at the camera, his eyebrows twitching.

However, he couldn’t react.

Because the rules only stated that phones should be turned off or not brought at all, but it didn’t explicitly forbid bringing a camera.

Mashima fell silent.

“Just as I thought.”

Hachiman had intentionally arrived last, in order to attract Mashima’s attention. This way, it would be easier to test the teacher’s reaction.

So, after entering the room, he was observing Mashima, and by placing the camera, he was monitoring the teacher’s response. In his mind, he understood: there were always loopholes in the school’s rules.

When a bug in the rules was discovered, the school wouldn’t stop it.

So, using the camera to take pictures later was likely going to be allowed.

Tick-tock! Tick-tock!

The sound of the room’s mechanical clock echoed softly, marking the passage of time.

Since the teacher was sitting in front of them, everyone remained quiet. No one spoke.

The atmosphere became somewhat tense.

Time passed slowly, ticking away until it finally reached 6 PM.

At that moment, Mashima finally spoke again.

“Class C, Sotomura Hideo, Yukimura Teruhiko, Hikigaya Hachiman, and Karuizawa Kei, right?”

Tomonari Mashima looked at their faces and then lowered his head, as though checking a list, before saying, “Now that everyone’s here, I’ll explain the details of the special exam.”

“Wait, hasn’t the exam already ended?”

The slightly chubby Sotomura Muramura, who seemed not to understand, raised his hand and asked in confusion.

Tomonari Mashima coldly replied,
“I do not accept any questions during the exam. Please listen carefully.”

“In this special exam, the school will divide all first-year students into twelve small groups based on the Chinese zodiac. We will conduct the exam within these groups, and the exam content will test your Thinking ability.”

“Thinking,” literally.

“Thought; thinking; ideas; opinions.”

“What exactly is Thinking?”

Sotomura, who had been refused earlier from asking, reflexively asked.

“I said, no questions will be accepted.”

Mashima maintained his cold tone.

“Thinking means thought, thinking. Please let the teacher continue explaining,” Yukimura, the academic genius, answered proactively at this point.

Sotomura quieted down.

Mashima continued,
“Society divides human abilities into three main categories based on its needs: Action, Thinking, and Teamwork. To be an excellent member of society, one must possess all three basic abilities.”

“The previous deserted island exam focused on teamwork. This time, the exam will focus on Thinking. It is an exam for testing your thinking abilities.”

Although he had been interrupted twice, Mashima Tomonari still took the responsibility to explain the exam thoroughly.

However, while he was explaining, Hachiman noticed that Karuizawa, who had not received any instructions, seemed to be daydreaming. Meanwhile, Yukimura and Sotomura were both looking at him.

Even though Mashima had changed his tone while saying the 3 words in his explanation, which Sotomura might not have caught, Yukimura, being the academic elite, certainly understood.

So, did they look at him because of that?

Or perhaps the teacher wanted him to lead the exam?

The problem was, the exam rules had not been fully explained yet.

So Hachiman continued listening.

“This exam will be divided into twelve groups,” Mashima said, scanning the faces of the four students. “You four are one group. In other rooms, there will be other class teachers explaining things to students who will join your group from other classes.”

Hachiman quickly understood the situation.

Mashima was explaining things to their group in this room, so in the other three rooms, three other class teachers were doing the same with their own classes.

Since Mashima mentioned twelve groups, and other classes were doing the same thing, it meant that each group was not isolated.

Rather, the groups would be merged with groups from other classes to form new groups.

Each new group would consist of students from four different classes.

A total of twelve groups.

“This is the list of members in your group,” Mashima said, taking out four cards and handing one to each student. He added, “Also, the list cannot be taken out of the room.”

The list couldn’t be taken out of the room, but they had been shown the list, meaning they could memorize it.

However, apart from a few social experts, some students might not even be able to remember the names of students from their own class, let alone those from other classes.

So, it would be quite difficult to remember all of them.

But—

“Okay.”

Hachiman stood up at this point, took the pink camera from the table, and snapped a photo of the card.

“I’ve memorized it, Mashima-sensei,” he said.

“…”

“…”

Mashima’s head tilted slightly, and he stared at Hachiman, but had no words to say.

Because the rules did not say cameras were prohibited.

…

After taking the photo, Hachiman looked at the information on the card.

Four classes, a total of 160 students.

The students were divided into twelve groups based on the Chinese zodiac, each named after one of the twelve animals: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.

Each of the twelve groups consisted of students from four different classes.

Hachiman and his group were in the Rabbit group.

The members of the Rabbit group were as follows:

Class A: Takemoto Shigeru, Machida Koji, Morishige Takuro
Class B: Ichinose Honami, Hamaguchi Tetsuya, Beppu Ryota
Class C: Hikigaya Hachiman, Karuizawa Kei, Sotomura Hideo, Yukimura Teruhiko
Class D: Ibuki Mio, Manabu Shiho, Yabu Nanami, Yamashita Saki

A total of fourteen students.

However, for Hachiman, aside from Ichinose, he didn’t recognize anyone from Class A or B.

And coincidentally, he knew every student from Classes C and D.

Class C, of course, was his own class.

As for Class D, they were all familiar faces.

There was Ibuki, who had framed him for stealing her underwear, and then there was the small group of gyaru, who had clashed with Karuizawa previously.

Hachiman’s keen observation skills suddenly noticed that, during the announcement of the exam rules by Mashima, Karuizawa, who had remained calm with no reaction, finally showed some change as she looked at the card.

She must have seen Manabu and the others.

However…

“Wait! What does this mean?!”

Someone had an even bigger reaction than her. It was Yukimura, who wore glasses. “Wasn’t this special exam supposed to be class-based? So now, pairing up with students from other classes is really dangerous, right? After all, we’re enemies!”

“Enemies?”

Mashima Tomonari, upon hearing this, seemed to finally find an opportunity to express his opinion. He coldly replied, “Your three years of school life have just begun, and you’ve already made so many enemies. That’s truly worrying for your future.”

Hmm.

Upon hearing Mashima’s words, Hachiman couldn’t help but agree.

Because…

The idea of “enemies” wasn’t entirely accurate.

In class rivalries like this, as long as there are benefits involved, there are no eternal friends or enemies.

At the same time, even if you’re in different classes, it doesn’t necessarily make you enemies.

Take Kushida, for example; she fully demonstrated what it means that friendship knows no boundaries.

Whether from different classes or even different years, as long as she could interact with someone, they would become her friend.

“Any other questions?”

Mashima said indifferently, “If there are none, I’ll continue.”

Hearing this, everyone fell silent.

“I’ll give you some advice,” Mashima suddenly said, “In this exam, it’s better to ignore any friction between classes. This is the shortcut to success in the exam.”

“Then, there’s also—”

While speaking, Mashima handed over some papers. A glance at the small text on the papers showed a lot of rules, which looked overwhelming. Sotomura’s forehead was already sweating.

He probably felt like he couldn’t understand anything.

“Wait.”

However, Hachiman took the papers, then spread them out on the table.

He then picked up his camera.

Click.

He took a photo.

“Alright,” Hachiman said.

“…” Mashima.

Mashima rubbed his forehead, then remained silent, simply watching them as they began to look over the rules.

“Special Exam Instructions”

This exam is based on the “privileged candidates” assigned to each group. By answering the questions in the prescribed manner, you will get one of the four possible results.

1. The school will send an email to all students at 8 AM on the day the exam begins, informing them of the exam. The selected “privileged candidates” will also be notified of their selection.
2.
3. The exam schedule will be from tomorrow until 9 PM four days later.
4.
5. Group members must gather twice a day, from 9 to 10 AM and from 8 to 9 PM, in the designated rooms for one-hour discussions.
6.
(Note: Students who do not cooperate will have their class’s evaluation score deducted accordingly.)

4. The discussion content is entirely up to the group to decide.
5.
6. Regarding answering questions, on the night of the exam, the school will accept answers regarding the “privileged candidates” identity between 9:30 and 10:00 PM.
7.
Free-for-all answering, with each person being allowed to answer once. After the answering is completed, the group’s exam will immediately end.

6. The school only accepts answers sent from students’ personal phones to the designated email address.
7.
8. “Privileged candidates” do not have the right to send their answers via email.
9.
10. Answers submitted for groups other than the group assigned by the Chinese zodiac will be considered invalid.
11.
12. The school will notify all students of the detailed results via email at 11 PM on the final day.
13.
The exam rules were written clearly and in great detail, covering almost every possible situation.

As long as you weren’t stupid or mentally challenged, anyone could understand it.

And the so-called results were also written below.

Result 1:

If all group members, except for the privileged candidates and students from the privileged candidate’s class, answer the questions correctly, the school will reward all group members with 500,000 private points. (Students from the privileged candidate’s class will each receive the same amount, and the privileged candidate will receive double the points.)

Result 2:

If any group member, other than the privileged candidates or students from the privileged candidate’s class, fails to answer or answers incorrectly, the school will only reward the privileged candidate with 500,000 private points.

“500,000!”

At this moment, Karuizawa covered her mouth but couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.

Hachiman had given her a share of 12,000 B-class welfare benefits every month, but over three years, the total amount was probably only around 400,000 or so. But now, in this exam, if she became the privileged candidate, she would receive 500,000 points just like that?