Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 160: Sakayanagi Arisu on the Ship

“[The Monkey Group exam has ended. Students in the Monkey Group no longer need to participate in the exam. Please wait for the results.]”

Mashima-sensei’s voice echoed through the ship—it was the broadcast announcing the end of the group exam.

“……” Ryuen.

His expression was grim.

Because the privileged student in the Monkey Group was from his class.

Although he had figured out the pattern of the privileged students earlier than Hikigaya,

And Hikigaya had only suddenly asked Koenji to guess the privileged student in the Monkey Group, meaning he could have guessed wrong,

However—

This kind of thing was unreliable.

Because Koenji was like an anomaly—his physical abilities were off the charts during the deserted island exam, making every class keep their distance from him.

So Ryuen felt that… his class had likely just lost one of its three privileged students.

If they had correctly identified three privileged students from Class A and one from Class B, earning 150+50=200 points, then losing 50 points now would bring them down to 150 points.

Damn Hikigaya.

Did he really just end an entire group’s exam just to distance himself from Ryuen?

A single group was worth 6.5 million private points!

Ryuen had already gathered the names of privileged students from 12 different groups—that wasn’t a lie.

But now, things were getting shaky. Because if Koenji’s answer was correct, then Class C had obtained information on a privileged student from another class.

Given enough time, Class C could deduce the pattern of the privileged students.

And that was bad news for Ryuen.

“At the very least, this proves our Class C’s innocence,” Hikigaya said. “But it’s also unfortunate.”

Hachiman continued, “Ryuen has probably already figured out the pattern of the privileged students.”

“That’s why he could so decisively end the exam for the group with his class’s privileged student.”

“And right now, three of my class’s privileged students remain undiscovered. Plus, through the spy from Class D, I also know the privileged students in Ryuen’s class. So at this point, our two classes can only remain in a stalemate—no more guessing each other’s privileged students.”

As he spoke, Hachiman stepped aside, as if handing the stage over to Ryuen.

But Ryuen remained expressionless.

What the hell was Hikigaya talking about?

After messaging Koenji, hadn’t he not even asked him which privileged student he had written down for the Monkey Group?

So how the hell would he know the pattern? And it was impossible for him to know the privileged students from Class D.

As for a spy?

Ryuen refused to believe that any student in his class would dare betray him.

However, Ryuen frowned. Because the moment Hikigaya finished speaking, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

That meant he had received a message.

It was probably from Hikigaya Hachiman.

If Ryuen wanted to carry out Outcome 1, he would inevitably need Class C’s cooperation.

What a tough opponent.

But there was no choice but to continue.

At the start, he had invited Class C’s representatives because they were the most difficult to handle, hoping to convince them first.

Unfortunately, the plan had failed.

But it didn’t matter—he still had ways to profit. So, without hesitation, he turned his attention to Katsuragi and Ichinose.

In Ryuen’s eyes, the representatives from Class A and Class B were much easier to manipulate.

So he clapped his hands lightly.

“Boss!”

A tall male student from Class D stepped forward, holding several A4 papers.

It was Albert—standing at 1.9 meters tall, with an imposing physique that exuded intimidation. However, he was nothing more than Ryuen’s lackey, albeit one who managed to carry himself with style.

“Ryuen, what are you trying to do?!”

Seeing Albert approach, Yahiko immediately bristled.

“Heh, are the students of Class A really this timid?” Ryuen sneered.

“This is an agreement, as well as the solution to clearing this exam. You all just need to sign and cooperate,” Ryuen said.

“Ryuen!” Katsuragi frowned slightly.

“Katsuragi, don’t even think about refusing. You want to know if the names of the privileged students in the Ox, Horse, and Snake Groups—submitted by my class—are correct, right?”

Ryuen continued, “Well, I can tell you now—they are.”

“As for the specific names…”

He took out his phone, and Katsuragi stepped aside.

A moment later, everyone saw beads of sweat forming on Katsuragi’s forehead.

It was clear that Ryuen’s answers were correct.

Class D had directly obtained information on three of Class A’s privileged students.

Which meant that the privileged student from Class B’s Tiger Group… had likely been leaked as well.

Ichinose and Kanzaki’s expressions tensed.

“Don’t you think this contract is a bit too much?”

From another direction, Horikita Suzune, who had just received a copy of the agreement from Albert, voiced her dissatisfaction.

Indeed—

Ryuen’s terms were excessive.

[Agreement: I, ____, guarantee my willingness to cooperate with Outcome 1. Once the exam ends for the groups that follow Outcome 1, after the school distributes the reward points, I will pay Ryuen Kakeru 400,000 points.

Any violation will result in a penalty of 10 million points.

Name: _______]

This was an individual student agreement.

It seemed Ryuen was demanding that all remaining groups follow Outcome 1.

And once Outcome 1 was achieved, each student would only receive 100,000 points—while Ryuen would pocket 400,000 points.

Since Ryuen had figured out the privileged student pattern, he could freely manipulate students from his class to forcefully end the exam.

This left everyone else with their hands tied.

And Hikigaya’s class had yet to deduce the pattern of the privileged students. The Monkey Group just now had only been guessed correctly because of Koenji, who was basically a cheat code.

So, in comparison, Class C was at a disadvantage.

But that didn’t mean they had to accept these conditions.

Moreover, it was clear that this agreement was meant to be sent individually to the remaining group members.

Hikigaya looked at Ryuen.

“Ryuen, your conditions in this agreement are excessive. Our class may not be able to cooperate,” Hikigaya said.

“We feel the same!” ×2

The representatives of Class A and Class B exchanged glances and agreed.

“Heh…”

In response, Ryuen merely chuckled.

“Think carefully about the essence of this exam.”

Ryuen said, “There are four possible outcomes—answering or not answering. Not answering means everyone gets the maximum number of reward points, which is the best outcome. On the other hand, answering results in mutual point deductions.”

“And what does answering correctly get you? Guessing one group’s privileged student earns 50 points. What does that amount to? Even with 40 students, it’s just 200,000 points a month, and only 2.5 million points a year. But if we follow Outcome 1, then for one group… let’s calculate with 13 people per group—that’s 12×50 + 100 = 7 million points. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for everyone to save up points! Are you guys stupid enough to focus on just scoring class points instead?”

“But didn’t you already forcefully end four groups?” Ichinose raised a fundamental question.

Looking at the current situation, she actually felt a bit less anxious after reading the agreement.

At first, she had been in a panic.

Right at the beginning of the exam, she had received a message from Hikigaya.

He had asked her to share her class’s privileged student information.

The assumption was that he was trying to deduce the pattern.

If Class C grasped the pattern, it wouldn’t be a direct threat to Class B.

But this was also a chance for Class B to get closer to Class A. Even Hoshinomiya-sensei had shown great interest in this, so it was hard for her to reject the idea.

Who could have expected that while they were still hesitating, Ryuen from Class D had already figured out the pattern?

And now, her class was in a passive position.

It was confirmed that Class B’s privileged student in the Tiger Group had been exposed, resulting in a 50-point deduction.

But this wasn’t the worst outcome.

Because—

Class A’s three privileged students had likely been guessed.

So now the point standings were:

• Class A: 1258 – (50 × 3) = 1108 points
•
• Class B: 1121 – 50 = 1071 points
•
• Class C: 1041 + 50 = 1091 points
•
• Class D: 150 + 50 – 50 = 150 points
•
And—

Since Ryuen’s proposal was all about collecting money instead of points, the actual deduction for Class B wasn’t too severe. Although their ranking had dropped, the gap between Classes A, B, and C remained very close.

There were still many more exams ahead, so this round hadn’t left Class B too far behind in the race against Class A.

So, as long as they could keep the remaining two privileged students in Class B from being exposed, Ichinose could accept this outcome.

After all, the pattern had already been cracked.

However—

Just like Horikita had pointed out, following Outcome 1 would result in the school rewarding each student with 500,000 points, yet Ryuen was taking away 4/5 of that. He was a complete beast. She couldn’t accept it, nor could she convince her classmates to accept it.

So Ichinose decided to argue back.

“……” Ryuen.

Ryuen glanced at Ichinose.

Honestly, he hadn’t expected these representatives to immediately agree to his conditions from the start.

And guessing four groups in one go had been because of Hikigaya Hachiman’s trickery.

Not to mention, Hikigaya had just made Koenji waste another group.

But now wasn’t the time to dwell on such setbacks.

“According to my plan, it might look like you’re losing a lot of points all at once, but there’s one thing you need to understand!”

Ryuen declared proudly, “Would you have been able to accumulate this many points through a normal exam? I’m even leaving each of you with at least 100,000 points. That’s already an act of great generosity.”

Saying this, Ryuen turned to Katsuragi first, seemingly preparing to break him down first.

“Right now, the three privileged students in Class A are already done for. And I won’t be answering any more privileged student questions.”

“So, Class A can still maintain its position. And that’s something you desperately need, right, Katsuragi?”

“You can keep your Class A ranking, and every student still gets at least 100,000 points. Isn’t this something you can justify to your classmates?”

“Katsuragi-kun!” Ryuen called out.

“A Class A that’s only a few dozen points ahead of the other classes… what kind of advantage is that?” Katsuragi’s follower, Totsuka Yahiko, felt that Ryuen was outright bullying them.

“In that case, I’ll sell the information on Class B’s two privileged students to Class C. That will give them an extra 100 points, meaning Class C will become Class A when we return to school.” Ryuen stated.

“No!” Yahiko immediately shouted!

Because—

In this exam, Sakayanagi wasn’t here, and Katsuragi was in full control.

Not only had they taken on the burden of paying Ryuen’s class 30,000 points per person each month due to the deserted island exam, but now, if Class C climbed ahead of them, Katsuragi’s leadership position would be immediately revoked.

And losing to Class C? Losing to Class C?! That would be utterly disgraceful!

“If you don’t want that, then shut up!”

“Or are you saying you want to strip Katsuragi of his last shred of dignity?” Ryuen ignored Yahiko and turned his gaze to Katsuragi.

Katsuragi closed his eyes in apparent distress.

But—

“I will discuss it with my class,” Katsuragi said cautiously.

“No need for discussions,” Ryuen said. “If you walk away from here, I’ll immediately sell Class B’s two privileged students to Class C and let them rank up.”

“……” Katsuragi.

He actually thought there were still ways out of this.

Even though Ryuen had figured out the privileged student pattern, there was still an opportunity to buy privileged student information from Class B, Class C, or even Class D at a high price.

So Class A wouldn’t necessarily lose too badly.

But Ryuen was being way too aggressive.

He was leaving no room for negotiation.

At the same time, unfortunately, Katsuragi didn’t have many choices right now.

If Ryuen forcefully ended the exam and Class A lost its ranking, it would be a massive morale crisis.

“And you can change your perspective on this—it’s not me exploiting you,” Ryuen continued, “but rather a compromise, a way to ensure that everyone gets points while maintaining Class A’s position. If you put it that way, your classmates wouldn’t refuse, right? Besides, because of the island agreement, you’ve been criticized. But now, if you bring them a one-time reward, wouldn’t that make up for it?”

It was like the devil whispering in his ear.

If they accepted Ryuen’s conditions and went with Outcome 1, every student would get 100,000 points.

That 100,000 points could offset three months of the agreement with Ryuen.

Katsuragi closed his eyes.

He seemed to be deep in thought.

Meanwhile, Ryuen looked toward Ichinose and Kanzaki.

“As for Ichinose and Kanzaki, you two always prefer peaceful solutions, so I don’t think you’ll refuse.”

“Or do you want me to sell your class’s privileged students to Class A?”

“And Totsuka. A price of 5 million. You’d agree to that, right?” Ryuen said.

“……” Totsuka.

Suddenly being called out, Totsuka Yahiko started seriously considering it.

Ichinose quickly spoke up, “But Ryuen, don’t you think you’re being too greedy? Taking away four-fifths of the points—” She tried to argue.

“This ensures you don’t lose any more points. You need to understand, when you return to school, your class will be demoted to Class C, but the gap with the top two classes won’t be huge, meaning you’ll still have a chance to compete for Class A.”

This made both Ichinose and Kanzaki fall silent.

Ichinose looked toward Kanzaki, who shook his head, signaling that he had no counterargument or better option.

Class B was already a fish on the chopping board.

There was some regret—if they had decided earlier to join forces with Class C’s Hikigaya, then even if they weren’t the hunters themselves, at least they wouldn’t be the prey.

Even though five groups had already finished their exams, seven more groups still had students who could continue.

If they went with Outcome 1, Class B would still have 24 students left.

But Ryuen was taking 400,000 points per person, meaning they would lose a total of 9.6 million points.

Deep regret.

“So now, Class A and Class B are settled…” Ryuen turned toward Hikigaya and Horikita Suzune.

Only the toughest opponent remained—Hikigaya.

What would Hikigaya do?

“I agree to your plan,” Hikigaya said.

“Hikigaya!” Horikita turned to him.

Hikigaya gave her a calm look before facing Ryuen and saying, “After all, my class still has three privileged students who haven’t been guessed, so your Outcome 1—where no one answers—is the most beneficial for my class.”

Oh?

The class that seemed the most difficult was actually the most cooperative?

Yeah, right. Like I’d believe that.

So, after sending Ichinose and Katsuragi away, Ryuen turned back to Hikigaya.

“What are your class’s conditions for cooperating?” Ryuen asked.

“10 million.” Hikigaya said. “Ryuen, after you’ve collected everything, you’ll personally pay me 10 million. Also, you’ll pay an additional 1.5 million to my class. My class is full of idiots—if some participate while others don’t, there’ll definitely be complaints. This extra payment will compensate for that.”

Oh.

So that’s how it is.

Ryuen’s eyes gleamed.

What a cute little bastard.