Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 154: Katsuragi: Ryuen, why are you here! You with zero points are useless!

The time arrived at 9 o’clock.

[Discussion time has arrived. Every morning from 9 AM to 10 AM, and from 9 PM to 10 PM, are your discussion times. Now, each group’s assigned room number is being announced.]

The voice of Mashima-sensei immediately came over the loudspeaker.

[Rabbit group, go to room 204. Dragon group, go to room 203. Snake group, go to room 205. Horse group, go to room 343. Sheep group, go to room 222…]

Holding black spare phones, the students of Class C followed the group assignments and walked to the designated rooms.

But everyone was quite relaxed.

Because it seemed like the exam was about identifying the privileged students, which required individual observation. However, they weren’t panicking at all, because at least they didn’t have any problems. They didn’t even know whether they themselves were privileged students, but if they discovered the privileged students from other classes, could they get extra points?

They could report it to Hikigaya and Horikita first.

Unconsciously, the students of Class C had started to rely on different people now. Their first instinct was no longer to find Hirata.

However, one student still held a white phone—this was Hikigaya Hachiman.

He was worried that the school might have other announcements, as everyone’s phones had been confiscated. If any messages were sent, no one would know, which could be troublesome. So, someone needed to keep a phone on hand.

The reason was straightforward.

[Sorry, you were not selected as a privileged student, but please continue to do your best in the exam.]

He had already learned this at 8 AM.

Then, this time, they had made the right bet. Among the confiscated phones, the list of privileged students was… 3 people.

In other words, privileged students did follow a certain pattern.

As for the phones of the whole class, Hikigaya had confirmed the identities of the privileged students, and then attached labels with students’ names to the back of each phone before placing them all in the ship’s safe. Only he held the key to the safe, and it was only in his hands.

…

And since Hikigaya was in the Rabbit group, his assigned room was 204 in Building 2. This was quite a coincidence because last night’s rule explanation had also been held here.

“Hikigaya-kun, you’ve really gone all out this time.”

Since they were in the same group, when they saw that Hikigaya was also heading to room 204, the academic ace Yukimura said.

He had a very high academic ability and ranked third in the class.

This was his advantage.

He was also one of the few in the class who hoped to bring the class up.

Originally, he had wanted to perform well on the island, even advocating for saving initial points, but in the end, the class scored higher than he had anticipated.

This showed that Hikigaya was better than him.

So now he had started to trust Hikigaya.

He also thought Hikigaya’s approach this time was good, as no one knew whether they were privileged students, which reduced the chance of “dead weight” teammates. Moreover, without phones, no one could rush to answer, which also avoided guessing the privileged students of other classes wrongly and getting penalized. It was a very safe solution.

Having gotten such high points in the deserted island exam, there was no need to lose points because of a teammate.

So, this exam strategy was indeed very good.

“My intelligence is limited,” Hikigaya humbly said, “so I could only come up with this basic approach.”

“But it’s good,” the slightly overweight Sotomura said, “This way we won’t lose points.”

He had bought a notebook in his first month at school, but as a “fat gamer,” there were certainly more things he wanted to buy. So, if he could get 100,000 yen in living expenses next month, it would be a huge win for him.

“Hasn’t Karuizawa come yet?”

Yukimura had already reached room 204, but he noticed that while the students from Class D and Class A in the Rabbit group had arrived, Karuizawa Kei hadn’t come yet.

Hmm.

Although Hikigaya usually had Karuizawa do the work, he wasn’t taking the blame this time.

She was just late.

“Ha—”

And Karuizawa really did arrive late.

Then, even though she was the only girl in Class C in the Rabbit group, when she saw Hikigaya and the others, she was the first to sit in an empty seat inside, keeping a bit of distance from everyone.

It seemed like she wasn’t talking to them much. Although she was in the same class, Karuizawa’s relationship with them was quite ordinary.

Actually, it could be said it wasn’t good.

Not long after enrolling, she had a falling-out with the boys in her class.

The cause was that Ike accidentally bumped into Karuizawa’s desk, knocking her pencil onto the floor, and she immediately yelled at him.

Quite fiercely.

This made her very unpopular among the boys in the class.

Even though… she was quite cute.

People like Yamauchi, who only cared about looks, would keep their distance from her.

But that was before.

During the old exam, she used her student council privileges to “secretly take a picture of the test paper,” helping everyone clear the exam and winning the favor of the class.

So now, the boys in the class didn’t resist her as much.

However, her cuteness was genuine, and most of the boys from other classes were paying attention to her, probably comparing her to the girls in their own classes.

And this somewhat awkward atmosphere was changed when the students from Class B arrived.

“Yaha—everyone.”

“And Hikigaya-kun. Yukimura-kun, you’re here too.”

This was the cheerful and energetic greeting of a girl with a smile that made people feel like they were falling in love with an angel. She was the most popular girl among the first-year students.

Ichinose Honami.

Not only because she was cute, or because she was older, but also because of her atmosphere and charm, which made people want to interact with her.

She was the only one who had good relations with students from all four classes.

“Ichinose, hello,” Hikigaya nodded.

He noticed that when Ichinose looked at him, she seemed a bit reluctant.

Sure enough, sending her that kind of message had made her feel awkward.

“Ichinose-san, you actually remember me?” This was Yukimura. He seemed quite happy and quickly explained why Ichinose greeted him.

“I just memorized the names of all my classmate.”

It seemed that Ichinose’s charm was strong, even an academic ace like Yukimura was attracted to her.

However, simply remembering each other because of such a small thing showed that Ichinose was indeed a kind person.

But.

For his own class.

“…”

Hikigaya had previously thought that Yukimura might be a cold academic ace, but now he saw that he wasn’t like that at all—he had the potential to become a simp.

[Now, let’s start the first group discussion!]

The loudspeaker on the ship sounded.

This meant that the meeting had begun.

“…” Hikigaya said nothing.

But someone pushed their chair and stood up, “Okay, everyone, pay attention.”

It was Ichinose Honami.

This girl, with excellent academic ability and leadership qualities, stood up. “According to the instructions from the school, the teacher said that for the first meeting, we should introduce ourselves. So, I think we should start with self-introductions. After all, there are still many people here who don’t know each other. Hmm… If anyone else wants to take the lead, please let me know.”

Ichinose was indeed very qualified.

If you threw her into a new environment, she would quickly integrate into it.

However, there were also people who weren’t very pleased with her.

“Now, only after everything is set, we’re introducing ourselves? Is this really necessary? Let the people who want to do it just do it.”

It was someone from Class A.

Currently, the list of the 14 people in the Rabbit group is 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

The one who spoke just now was Machida Koji, a student from Class A. The current class score for Class A was 1258 points, while Class B’s was 1121 points. For Class A, this was a dire situation, so naturally, they were unwilling to get along peacefully with Class B.

In other words, they wanted to stir things up.

But it was really just childish mockery.

Hikigaya thought to himself.

“Machida-kun, if you want to do that, feel free. But if what happens in this room gets back to the school, I wonder if it will lower your evaluation. I don’t know about that.”

Ichinose remained calm, “And in the end, it’ll hurt Machida-kun, and might drag the entire group down as well.”

So, aside from Sakayanagi, it seemed the only other person from Class A worth mentioning was Katsuragi. Not everyone was truly exceptional, as some people lacked the brains to make their own decisions and could only follow orders.

“I got it…” Machida immediately backed down.

With Machida from Class A backing down, the others began to introduce themselves.

“I’m Ibuki Mio from Class D.”

“I’m Manabu Shiho.”

“I’m Yabu Nanami, nice to meet you.”

“I’m Yamashita Saki.”

“I’m Sotomura Hideo from Class C, nice to meet you.”

“I’m Yukimura Teruhiko.”

“Karuizawa Kei.”

“…”

There are many ways to try to attract attention, and many people are using this opportunity to improve their evaluations. You can see this from their self-introductions.

Some are polite, others want to highlight their personalities.

And some… are indifferent.

Not good at interacting with others.

Hikigaya, for the time being, memorized everyone’s names and faces. As a human camera, he also casually analyzed their personalities.

Perhaps influenced by the students around him, his own introduction became elegant and refined.

“Hachiman Hikigaya, a first-year student from Class C. Although I focus on academics for now, if anyone finds me attractive, and if your family is extremely wealthy, reaching the ‘rich woman’ standard, please take care of me.

I aspire to be a househusband and refuse to work as a corporate slave.”

“…”

Ah, this…

“Well… that’s certainly a creative statement.” Even the usually optimistic Ichinose was momentarily stunned by Hikigaya’s words.

“Hehe—”

And there was also a girl laughing, one from Class D with short light green hair. She had just introduced herself as Manabu Shiho, but she was somewhat of an acquaintance.

Previously, during the incident with Rika at school, Hikigaya had interacted with her and Karuizawa.

But after that, it ended when Karuizawa obtained the student council’s disciplinary committee position, a position that gave her authority.

After all, Manabu wouldn’t want to provoke a student council member.

So, that was the reason why they noticed Karuizawa was in the Rabbit group, and Manabu and the others hadn’t come over yet.

But…

Hikigaya noticed that Ibuki Mio with the blue short hair kept staring at him.

Ibuki seemed to have a bad relationship with the other students from Class D, because although they were supposed to be four people, Ibuki’s seat was somewhat distant from Manabu and the others. And when Manabu and the others whispered to each other, Ibuki wasn’t included.

But why was Ibuki staring at him?

Ah.

Oh.

Maybe it was because Ryuen had informed her about the fact that she had been tricked during the deserted island exam.

Ryuen certainly couldn’t keep anything secret, or rather… wouldn’t hide things from his little team.

“Anyway.” Ichinose finally regained the floor, “Since everyone already knows the rules from last night, my personal view is that everyone should choose the first option. It seems like the best outcome.”

“That is to say, everyone will announce the identity of the preferential treatment recipients between 9 and 10 PM on the third night, and this way, each of us can earn 500,000 points. We won’t lose any class evaluation points. What do you think of this proposal?”

Because Machida Koji from Class A, who had just spoken out, was quickly silenced by Ichinose’s words, now Ichinose Honami had taken the dominant position.

And the choice she made was quite brilliant.

No one would suffer. Each person would receive 500,000 personal points, while the preferential treatment recipients would get 1 million. Everyone would have money to spend.

However.

There was something to be suspicious about.

Because the plan she chose could easily mean that the preferential treatment recipient was in her class, and by choosing this plan, she could avoid having her class’s preferential treatment recipient being exposed, which would result in points being deducted from Class B.

This made the students from Class A immediately wary of her.

But what Hikigaya needed to be wary of was the psychological manipulation of this seemingly gentle Ichinose.

If the preferential treatment recipient was indeed in her class, then it was understandable for her to choose a plan that protected her class and its recipient. But what if the preferential treatment recipient wasn’t in her class?

By proposing this highly favorable suggestion for the recipient, it would be a good plan for them, so perhaps they would show joy on their face.

And Ichinose’s serious expression now likely indicated that she was trying to observe this.

So, the seemingly kind proposal actually had a trap.

Perhaps she finally understood how unique her position in Class B was, right between Class A and Class C, where Hikigaya was. So, she probably wanted to do something for her class, like finding the preferential treatment recipient in the Rabbit group.

Now that this proposal was put forward, the first person to speak might be the preferential treatment recipient, or someone who knew their identity.

This turned into a test.

The atmosphere became somewhat awkward, and no one spoke.

“I agree. After all, opportunities to get 500,000 points don’t come by often,” Hikigaya immediately said. “Yukimura, what about you?”

“Me? I agree as well.”

This time, Hikigaya’s plan was to have them act freely without knowing if they were the preferential treatment recipient, but seeing that Yukimura nodded too, he did the same.

So.

Ichinose was observing closely. Since Hikigaya was the first to respond, was he the preferential treatment recipient or one of their allies?