Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 150: The Nervous A-Class, We’re All Going to Fall!

If the exam turns out to be as expected, with a pattern to it, then we can grasp the pattern of the privileged candidates. Even though our class can’t guess its own candidates, we can at most gather the information of 9 privileged candidates from other classes.

According to Kushida’s calculation, we can indeed score a high 450 points by identifying the 9 privileged candidates.

And with the B-C alliance, if the points between the two classes aren’t too different, then the agreement can be discarded.

Now, the class evaluation scores are as follows:

1st Year A-Class: 1258 points
1st Year B-Class: 1121 points
1st Year C-Class: 1041 points
1st Year D-Class: 0 points

The difference between Class C, where Hachiman is, and Class B is only 80 points. So, breaking the alliance between these two classes wouldn’t be a problem.

So, betraying Class B this time isn’t impossible.

However…

Is that really the best result?

For Class C, jumping straight to A-Class would only lead to a quick fall back down. No matter how many points they surpass the lower classes by, they would still drop again.

The drop means that their class evaluation score will be reduced in future exams.

So, Hachiman’s goal is just to reach A-Class once, and it’s unnecessary to push for the full 450 points in one go.

The class will definitely lose points.

The points gained won’t be retained for long, but if it were for other classes, it might be a different story.

Let’s consider this carefully.

“As long as the privileged candidates follow a pattern, we can find it,” Hachiman said. “Then, once we have control over the pattern, we can sell the privileged candidates’ spots to other classes.”

“Sell to other classes?”

“Yes.” Hachiman said. “Our class has 1041 points, just 217 points away from A-Class.”

“Even if we want to jump straight to A, we don’t need to waste all 9 privileged spots.”

“We can just guess the 3 privileged candidates from A-Class.”

According to the exam rules, if the privileged candidates are guessed correctly, the class being guessed will lose 50 points, while the class guessing correctly will gain 50 points.

So:

A-Class: 1258 – 50 x 3 = 1108 points
C-Class: 1041 + 50 x 3 = 1191 points

A-Class would already be surpassed.

The cost is minimal.

“Then the remaining 6 privileged spots can be sold,” Hachiman said. “In exchange for long-term private points, similar to the uninhabited island exam.”

“Sounds good,” Kushida said immediately.

Since she had no ambition for A-Class, she thought getting private points was very valuable.

Meanwhile, Horikita pulled out a notebook and began calculating Hachiman’s plan.

What he just proposed was the most cost-effective plan.

By having C-Class guess A-Class’s 3 privileged candidates, they could pull A-Class down.

Then there are still 3 privileged spots from B-Class and 3 from D-Class.

C-Class wouldn’t need to sell their own spots, but the other classes could be freely dealt with.

Moreover,

From the uninhabited island exam, it was already clear that Ryuen is extremely focused on winning and losing.

So,

For Ryuen’s class, which has 0 points, if they fail to gain any points this time, they might never be able to compete for class ranking again.

Thus, they could let Ryuen’s class buy the privileged spots from B-Class.

Similarly,

As allies,

They could also let B-Class take the spots from Ryuen’s class.

Of course, the two classes could choose not to buy them. If they don’t, they can sell them to A-Class at a higher price. As long as they surpass A-Class’s point threshold, they wouldn’t lose out.

Looking at it this way,

By grasping the pattern of the privileged candidates, they could directly divide the rewards of this exam.

However,

“I don’t think this is the best plan,” Hachiman said. “Although selling the privileged spots to other classes can give us long-term contracts…”

“But,” Hachiman continued, “Result 1 of the exam rules states that if no one rushes to answer, and everyone sends in the privileged candidates’ names from 8:00 to 9:00 PM on the third day, then the entire group will get a reward of 500,000 points.”

“With 12-14 people in a group, if one group does this, they can get over 6 million private points from the school.”

“This can be directly redeemed for points.”

“And as for agreements, if unexpected situations arise in future exams, and concessions have to be made, the agreement could become leverage. So having cash in hand is more reassuring.”

“Therefore,” Hachiman said, “I’m wondering if there’s an optimal solution. Getting points is part of it, but if we can form Result 1 and get money from the school, that’s also a valid solution.”

“Being too greedy isn’t good,” Horikita said. “And…”

“Each group consists of members from all four classes, and the students have been assigned to different groups. How can we ensure no one tries to rush and answer?”

“After all,” Horikita said, “the rules state that each student has the right to answer.”

And there’s a high chance of someone rushing to answer.

As long as they have a phone, they could send a message at any time, and that would end the game.

So, the difficulty is quite high.

But is there really no way to have both sides of the equation?

Hachiman pondered.

Because, as someone once said, it’s also an opportunity to take advantage of greed when you can.

…

However,

No matter what, it all hinges on knowing the pattern of the privileged candidates first.

And the easiest thing to acquire is the privileged candidate information from their own class.

For this,

“It’s very difficult,” Horikita directly said.

Surprisingly, neither Hachiman nor Kushida denied this.

After all, this was originally D-Class, so if they didn’t cooperate, it would be evident.

But,

“It’s not impossible to solve,” Hachiman said.

“This exam requires us to think outside the box. For example, why did the teachers specifically disperse each class and explain things separately? Did they really want to test each student personally?”

“No.”

“This is just an illusion. So looking for privileged candidates the school’s way is not a smart answer.”

“So,”

“We can have the students take the exam without following the usual logic,” Hachiman said.

“What do you mean?” Horikita began to think.

“Kushida, contact Hirata, and make sure every student gathers at the British-style café at 7:40 AM tomorrow.” Hachiman said. “The excuse is to explain the exam rules and the strategy to deal with it.”

“By 8:00 AM tomorrow, we need to confirm our class’s privileged candidates’ information and provide the selected privileged students with preparations like acting skills,” Horikita said.

Becoming a privileged candidate, aside from deriving patterns, could also be… exposed.

And if the acting skills of the class are poor, the privileged candidate’s identity could be leaked.

So, preparations are needed.

“Yes and no,” Hachiman shook his head. “Because I want to use this bait to lure them into the café.”

“Then, we’ll confiscate their phones.”

“Confiscate… all of them?” Kushida, who had just accepted the task of contacting Hirata, quickly turned back to focus on this.

Because this was really extreme.

It directly suppresses the students, making them not even know whether they’re the privileged candidates or not.

Originally, there were worries about poor acting or selfish motives, but… this guy has completely sealed off their right to know.

“After all, we’re that kind of class,” Hachiman said. “Before they can cause any trouble, we’ll eliminate the dangerous factors.”

Horikita felt convinced.

“But, can this really work?” Horikita said. “Because the exam lasts for 3 days, and if we take their phones, according to the rules, if they don’t agree, we can’t confiscate them.”

“So that’s what you need to do, Horikita,” Hachiman said. “When the time comes, appeal to their emotions and reason. Although most of them are idiots, they’ve just earned 491 points from the uninhabited island exam. They wouldn’t want to lose that all at once.”

“But, some students might not accept having their phones confiscated again for 3 days, especially since they couldn’t survive without their phones,” Kushida said. “After all, nowadays students can’t live without their phones.”

This is probably Kushida’s side of the concern.

Hachiman knew Kushida was very sociable and needed to contact many people, relying heavily on her phone.

On the other hand, Hachiman didn’t have many friends, so he wasn’t as reliant on his phone.

But the students in the class might resist.

After some thought.

“And about the phone confiscation, Horikita, you go look for Chabashira-sensei,” Hachiman said. “We each have a phone with a location-tracking function, and they look custom-made, but the school should have backup phones, so you should ask Chabashira-sensei for them.”

“Then, we’ll let the students use the backup phones.”

Hmm.

This plan is feasible.

Horikita nodded.

Then, Hachiman continued:

“Next, I will also send a message to Ichinose. If the information we have about the privileged students in our class is not enough to deduce the pattern, we will need to connect with Class B.”

In other words, if necessary, they still had to form an alliance with Class B.

This would mean losing the possibility of trading the information of the three privileged students from Class B.

However…

This is assuming that the privileged student information from their own class cannot deduce the pattern.

If they can deduce it, then there would be no need to form an alliance with Class B.

Horikita felt a weight on her shoulders but still went on to do the task honestly.

After finding Teacher Chabashira, she received confirmation.

Indeed, this school is all about strength. As long as points are provided, there’s nothing that can’t be bought.

For 300,000 points, you can obtain the usage rights for 40 backup phones for 3 days.

However, there were no backup phones on the ship, so the school would arrange for a helicopter to deliver them.

It would arrive around 6 a.m.

So, this school is truly luxurious.

They use a helicopter just to deliver a backup phone.

Meanwhile, Katsuragi also quickly received news. The students in his class agreed to go to the restaurant together tomorrow.

Everything was arranged. He could sleep well.

However, while Hachiman and the others were asleep, the other classes couldn’t rest.

In the lounge.

Class A students occupied the spa’s lounge.

There were many sofas for resting, and beds for guests to rest after massages or cupping therapy.

But this was not a time for enjoyment.

“Katsuragi, the rules for this exam have come out.”

“Right now, the gap between our class and Class B is only 137 points. If Class B surpasses us in this exam, you will be fully responsible!”

Katsuragi sat in a lounge chair surrounded by several classmates.

Hmm.

Rather than feeling nervous, it seemed the Class A students had begun to feel anxious and… considered passing the blame.

As Class A students, they had performed excellently since enrolling and had confidence in maintaining their position in Class A.

But now…

Their families wouldn’t believe it.

There were 12 privileged students in total.

And once their class’s privileged student count exceeded 2, and all of them were guessed, 100 points would be deducted, and Class B would catch up.

So…

Class A might drop in this exam, which was terrifying to think about.

Who goes into an exam worrying that they might lose their place in Class A?

“Calm down, everyone! The exam isn’t over yet. Talking about being surpassed, don’t you think you’re boosting their morale and demoralizing yourselves?”

“Class A students have no backbone!” Totsuka Yahiko said.

“Then, can you guarantee that we won’t lose in this exam?” a student from the Sakayanagi faction asked. “According to the exam rules, our class students are divided into 12 groups. Students are spread out, and if you can guarantee we won’t be surpassed, then this time, we, the Sakayanagi faction, will follow your orders.”

“We admitted the fact that we only got 70 points after signing the contract with Ryuen on the deserted island.”

“But this time, we absolutely cannot drop from Class A!” said the Sakayanagi faction student. “Especially, we cannot lose to Class C. If we lose to Class C, we’ll lose all face!”

This was the faction of Sakayanagi that was mocked by Sudo the other day.

Class A students were proud and couldn’t accept this.

“Katsuragi, we really can’t afford to drop this time. If you can’t do it… then maybe we’ll have to rely on Sakayanagi…”

And it wasn’t just Sakayanagi’s faction, even Katsuragi’s faction was feeling anxious.

“The current class representative is Katsuragi, and he hasn’t failed yet!”

“…” Katsuragi.

Katsuragi closed his eyes because, in this exam, he could not let the class lose points.

At the very least, they needed to maintain their position in Class A.

So, this time, the plan had to be stable.

No points should be lost, and neither Class B nor Class C should score.

Otherwise…

Morale would drop drastically, and once he gave up being the representative and let Sakayanagi take over, and Sakayanagi lost, the class would lose morale and it would be hard to recover.

…

On the other side.

Class D of the first year.

In Ryuen’s room, his faction had gathered.

The goal was to deal with this exam.

Previously, during the deserted island exam, Kaneda had mentioned that Shiina had made a guess about the leader of Class C. Though they ultimately chose Koenji and it failed… but it was a valid guess.

Shiina’s thinking ability was still trustworthy.

So this time, he specifically had Shiina Hiyori involved in formulating the tactics.