Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 149: A-Class Teacher: Ridiculous! I can’t believe they found another bug in my rules! Let’s go!

While Hachiman was talking with Matsushita, a young man walked out of Room 204.

This was A-Class’s teacher, Mashima.

He put the documents he was carrying into a bag and then walked out.

His destination was the lower floor, where there was a bar provided for adults. The teachers would go there to drink.

The teachers had been there for the past few days.

“Finally finished my work,” Mashima said as he arrived. The homeroom teachers from the other three classes were already there.

The teachers were in charge of explaining the rules for the upcoming “privileged person” exam.

As per the rules, over the next three days, during the two discussion periods each day, the students would have complete autonomy, so the teachers had little responsibility at this point.

With their work finished, the three teachers were now drinking.

“Ah, this feels so good,” said Chie Hoshinomiya, the homeroom teacher of B-Class, as she ordered a large glass of beer and gulped it down in less than 10 seconds. She seemed to be in a good mood.

“Hoshinomiya, don’t you think this action is a bit unladylike?” said Sakagami, the homeroom teacher of D-Class, as he gently pushed his glasses up. His own beer sat in front of him, but his drinking manner was much more elegant.

“Well, since you’re the only guy around, I don’t need to worry,” Hoshinomiya said, setting her cup down and swaying slightly. “You’re not in my target audience, so I don’t need to impress you.”

“…” Sakagami.

At the island exam, he thought Chabashira was pretentious and didn’t want to talk to her. Now, Sakagami didn’t feel like talking to Hoshinomiya either.

Sakagami looked towards Mashima, who was approaching.

“Mashima, you’re really late today. Were you troubled by having to explain the rules to C-Class? They must be hard to handle, especially since they probably can’t even understand the rules,” Sakagami said.

“That’s a possibility,” Mashima replied. “But my work is done now.”

“You’re still so serious as always, but aren’t you worried?” Sakagami asked. “You know, this exam has 12 privileged people.”

“Your A-Class might get surpassed,” Sakagami added.

D-Class’s class evaluation score was 0 points.

To catch up with them, it would take several exams.

However, A-Class only had a 100-point lead over B-Class and around 200 points over C-Class. They were in a dangerous position.

“If C-Class surpasses you, then your class will probably become infamous,” Sakagami continued. “Worse than my class.”

This school was about class competition, so fluctuations between classes were expected.

But if A-Class dropped so quickly, it would be embarrassing.

After all, the best students were initially put into A-Class.

So, if A-Class were to drop, it would be a bit of comfort for Sakagami.

He had originally been in charge of C-Class, which not only dropped down but even ended up with 0 points.

According to the usual school progress, C and D classes might switch places, but reaching 0 points usually only happened in the second or third year. So, if C-Class hit 0 points now, it would be very humiliating.

Going to other grades would be difficult to face.

“As for that, if another class can surpass us, then let them. A-Class can lose with grace,” Mashima said. Even as he said that, he pressed his hand to his hair.

Today, he had been responsible for explaining the rules to C-Class students. C-Class ranked last in the judgment standards, which meant there were many fools, making the task quite difficult.

But after Hachiman from C-Class used the camera, that camera was passed down.

Every time a new group entered, they would take a photo of the group list.

So, looking at it this way, C-Class had once again gained the upper hand.

It was possible that the exam results would turn out absurdly.

So, Mashima’s position in A-Class was indeed unstable.

However.

Even with this, Mashima did not have any thoughts of personal gain or rule-breaking. Instead, he looked toward B-Class’s seemingly distracted Hoshinomiya Chie.

“Hoshinomiya, what are you trying to do this time?” Mashima asked. “You’ve adjusted your class’s student lineup, haven’t you?”

“Huh? What are you talking about, Mashima?”

“Don’t try to play dumb,” Mashima said. “You changed this group’s list. Normally, we’d put the representatives from each class into the Dragon Group, but you put Ichinose into the Rabbit Group, didn’t you?”

“Ah, well… I think Ichinose is really cute, like a little rabbit, so I placed her in the Rabbit Group,” Hoshinomiya said.

“Really?” Mashima looked at her with distrust.

“Ahaha, yes, really,” Hoshinomiya said, continuing to act carefree.

Meanwhile, Chabashira sat quietly, drinking, but her brow furrowed slightly.

Because.

When assigning students to groups, the norm was to place representatives from each class into the Dragon Group.

After all, competition made people grow.

So, strong students should be placed in the strong groups.

However.

When Chabashira made the selections, she didn’t put Hachiman into the Dragon Group, but into the Rabbit Group.

And then.

Hoshinomiya had placed Ichinose in the Rabbit Group as well.

Which meant Hoshinomiya was trying to guard against Hachiman. Was B-Class planning an attack?

…

Elsewhere.

Hachiman here.

“Hey.”

Hachiman dialed his phone, “Horikita, where are you? I’m coming to find you.”

The privileged person’s information would be sent to each student’s phone at 8 a.m. tomorrow, and judging by his class’s usual behavior, 99% of the students would act in their own self-interest.

Once they knew who their privileged person was, even if they tried to hide it, their foolishness would make them easy to spot.

So, there were some things that needed to be settled now.

It was already 10:30 p.m.

Since there were others in the dorm, Horikita was currently at a restaurant.

She was quite clever. When Hachiman arrived, she was in a small private room, and at the door of the room was a girl with pink hair wearing clear glasses.

This was Sakura Airi.

She was standing at the door, nervously glancing around, seemingly on guard.

“You’ve got Sakura-san acting as a lookout, you’re really something,” Hachiman said to Horikita. He handed the camera back to Sakura.

“Sakura, you’ve been a big help with this exam,” Hachiman said.

“W-what? If I’ve helped, that’s… that’s great,” Sakura stammered.

Sakura was aware of her low presence, poor academic performance, and lack of athletic ability.

So, she was quite happy to be of use.

“Do you want me to get you a chair?” Hachiman asked.

“No, no need, I’m fine standing,” Sakura quickly waved her hands.

But Hachiman went into the room and got her a chair, so Sakura reluctantly sat down.

“What’s going on?” Hachiman asked as he entered the room and saw the intense gazes of the people inside.

“Nothing, just thought you were quite considerate,” Horikita said.

Hmm.

Chabashira also agreed with this sentiment.

Hachiman, at times, is unbelievably meticulous and considerate.

As for asking Sakura to stand guard at the door, it was actually to keep watch. Earlier, during the deserted island event, Ryuen had sent Ibuki as a spy, so they were concerned that if their discussion was overheard by people from Ryuen’s class, it might be problematic.

It was a lesson learned from experience.

“So, have you figured it out?” Hachiman asked.

He had already transferred the photos from Sakura’s camera to his phone and sent them to Horikita.

The photos contained the lists of 12 groups and the rules for the exam.

The students were divided into 12 groups, but the rules for the exam that were explained today were the same; only the group lists were different.

“I understand the rules of the exam,” Horikita said.

“There are 12 groups, and within each group, there will be four outcomes.”

“Outcome 1: Everyone receives 500,000 yen, but the special students receive 1,000,000 yen.”

“Outcome 2: Only the special students receive 500,000 yen.”

“These are the results that you can obtain by following the rules and answering correctly within the given time frame.”

“And then there are the rush answer situations.”

“Outcome 3: If you guess the identity of the special student correctly, your class evaluation score increases by 50, and you personally receive an additional 500,000 yen. The class of the special student loses 50 class evaluation points.”

“Outcome 4: If you guess the identity of the special student incorrectly, your class evaluation score decreases by 50, the special student’s class evaluation score increases by 50, and the special student gets a 500,000 yen reward.”

“Answering truthfully results in only individual score fluctuations, but rushing to answer involves changes in class evaluation scores.”

Horikita had summarized the exam rules.

After finishing, she realized that Hachiman was still staring at her, as if he felt it wasn’t enough?

It wasn’t enough.

So, she frowned slightly and continued, “Although the rules explicitly require students to meet every morning and evening and use conversation to determine who the special student is, and conceal their identity as a special student, the key to this exam is really in the questions themselves.”

“The exam’s question is ‘Thinking’.”

Horikita said.

And after she said that, she realized Hachiman was still staring at her.

“…” Horikita.

In other words, he still wants to hear if there’s something she hasn’t said yet?

Horikita continued, “I think the key to this exam lies in identifying the special student.”

“Hmm,” Hachiman crossed his arms and decided to keep listening to her analysis to see if she could grasp the point.

Horikita slightly relaxed her frowning brow and said, “There are twelve groups, and twelve special students. Each group contains members from different classes. So, I’m thinking, is the distribution of special students even?”

“If the special students are evenly distributed, it means each class will have three special students. If that’s the case, is there any pattern in the selection of the special students? Or is it just random?”

Horikita pondered, feeling a headache coming on, and shook her head.

If there’s a pattern, that would be perfect.

Though finding such a pattern would be difficult, once found, they could use their own class’s special students to infer the special students from other classes.

“Anything else?” Hachiman asked.

“…” Horikita. “Probably that’s it.”

“Then, what about you, Kushida?” Hachiman asked. “What do you think?”

“…” Kushida.

Why should she bother thinking?

Maybe it’s because she’s sitting next to Horikita, and since Horikita wasn’t looking at her now, Kushida was probably showing the kind of expression Hachiman was seeing right now.

Oh.

Just like Karuizawa, Kushida was the same.

Hachiman had already seen two people who didn’t want to think and would only follow orders.

But now…

“First of all, Horikita, your line of thinking is not wrong,” Hachiman said, seeing that Kushida had completely given up. He turned toward Horikita and continued, “I agree with your idea.”

“Dividing into groups, and then formally meeting each day to observe, guess, and test each student—this is just the school’s requirement. But this is not the ‘thinking’ part. So, I speculate that the real test is for the students to think outside the box. If I were the person who set the question, I would definitely scatter the students, but I would also give an opportunity to those who can think. For example, the selection of the 12 special students must be traceable.”

“In other words, I believe there is a pattern in selecting the special students.”

“Moreover, each class must have three special students.”

“Therefore, getting the list of the 12 groups is crucial.”

“And that’s why I asked you to take photos.”

“…” Horikita.

As expected, this is typical of you. You just announced the exam rules, but you’ve already thought of a shortcut and are fully prepared.

…

The exam question was given, and it was speculated that the exam followed a pattern.

If there’s a pattern, and each class can have three special students, by obtaining the list of special students for their class, they could deduce the special students in other classes and infer the pattern.

Once the pattern is grasped and the identities of all 12 special students are known, it would give them a chance to control the other classes.

At that point, no matter if they aim for Outcome 1, Outcome 2, Outcome 3, or Outcome 4, all would become possible.

“We could even use this opportunity to get promoted to Class A,” Kushida said, finally starting to think. “If our class has three special students and the other classes have nine, and we guess them all, we’ll get 450 points, and the other classes will lose 50 points for each special student, so 50 times 3 equals 150 points.”

“So, does this mean that Class C could become Class A?”

“Will the promotion succeed?” Kushida asked.

But… can this really be done? Or is it really necessary to add 450 points to Class C?