Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 166: One Person Didn’t Participate, Yet Their Presence Was Overwhelming!

The nature of Hachiman’s class hadn’t changed. But he never had high expectations for them anyway.

The issue of the foolish students wanting to sign up just to earn a top-three ranking and secure bonus points for written exams—avoiding failing grades and potential expulsion, or avoiding falling into the bottom ten and getting penalized—was actually easy to solve.

It could be handled within the class.

As long as the top-performing students deliberately avoided participating, causing their rankings to drop to the bottom, the problem would be resolved.

The bottom ten students would lose ten points each.

And B-Class had quite a few strong academic performers.

Not to mention Horikita, Yukimura Teruhiko, and Koenji, all with an average score above 90.

There were also several students with averages above 80.

For example, Kushida, her close friend Wang Mei-yu, and Hirata, among others.

For these students, losing ten points per subject wouldn’t be a big deal.

So, if the weaker students were worried about being in the bottom ten and losing points, they could just let those who weren’t afraid of the deduction take the fall instead.

Of course—

Sacrificing high-achievers wasn’t exactly an ideal solution.

Unless absolutely necessary, there was no point in enforcing it.

And because the class was in such a chaotic state, Hachiman deliberately brought up the “cheat characters” in his class when dining with Sakayanagi.

By showcasing the strength of B-Class, even A-Class would have to think twice, making Sakayanagi hesitate to participate.

Letting her continue being sidelined.

Normally, this wouldn’t be easy.

But Sakayanagi had just made a huge profit—20 million points from the uninhabited island exam.

So this time, if she chose to sit back and take it easy, she might just turn a blind eye.

Thus, A-Class’s strongest player was once again sealed away.

And that was precisely why, after Chabashira-sensei announced the sports festival rules in the morning, Hachiman immediately had lunch with Sakayanagi.

Because there were simply too many weak links in his class.

Even with top-tier powerhouses like Sudo and Koenji, B-Class’s overall strength was still uncertain.

At the same time—

Koenji’s overwhelming strength had already been exposed to the entire grade during the uninhabited island exam.

Any event he participated in would likely face targeted countermeasures—overwhelming numbers, obstruction tactics, and so on.

Therefore—

Given the current situation, B-Class wasn’t guaranteed victory.

Sealing off Sakayanagi, a high-risk, high-offense player, was the best course of action.

While the class continued their discussion, Horikita Suzune suddenly spoke from behind Hachiman.

“Hikigaya-kun.”

This was Horikita Suzune in her “groundhog mode” after learning that she had been placed on the opposing team and would have to compete against her brother.

So, had she finally recovered?

It was evident—she seemed to have snapped back to reality.

Her left hand clenched into a slight fist, signaling her determination, and her eyes had regained their sharpness.

“Well then,” Hachiman asked, “what do you think about this exam?”

“Eh?”

Horikita was momentarily taken aback. After some thought, she replied, “I think… I’ve grown a lot. And about this exam—yes, when I first heard I’d be facing my brother, I felt pressure. I never expected this situation… but…”

“So you want to take this on yourself?” Hachiman interrupted.

This was something Horikita Suzune had wanted to accomplish since entering the school.

As an annoying little sister, she had always wanted to prove to Horikita Manabu that she wasn’t worthless.

Three months had passed—surely, she had grown.

Especially since—

Before the uninhabited island exam, she had even sought out Horikita Manabu, saying she no longer wanted to chase after his footsteps.

If she performed poorly now, it would only confirm she was still just a useless little sister.

So, had she regained her composure and resolved to prove herself to her brother?

That might interfere with Hachiman’s plans.

During his lunch with Sakayanagi, she had asked about his objective for this exam—his target was Ryuen’s class.

Of course, his main goal was to keep Sakayanagi from getting involved.

But truthfully, Hachiman did want to go after Ryuen.

Because—

Ryuen had a deal with A-Class worth over 30 million points.

That was an incredibly tempting prize.

In this school, there weren’t many ways to obtain large sums of points.

Aside from someone like Hachiman, who could secure points through deals or bets with Chabashira-sensei, most students could only earn points through special exams each month or from their class’s performance.

Opportunities to acquire massive amounts of points were rare.

That was why, even after this school had existed for over a decade, no one had yet collected 20 million points.

Even a wealthy heiress like Sakayanagi immediately joined the VIP exam once she realized it was lucrative.

Ryuen was a walking gold mine.

And this all-grade sports festival was an opportunity for Hachiman.

If Horikita Suzune insisted on acting alone, it could interfere with his plan.

Would she stand in opposition to him?

“No.”

But Horikita shook her head and said seriously, “Even though I’ve grown, I know I still have many shortcomings. Besides, Hikigaya-kun, you mentioned that you still need Ryuen’s points, didn’t you?”

While Horikita wanted to prove herself to her brother, she was also self-aware.

Right now, her class was very close to A-Class—less than 20 points behind.

The difference between first and last place in this sports festival could be as much as 800 points.

So—

If she made the wrong move, she could completely destroy their chance to advance to A-Class.

Faced with such high stakes, she didn’t dare take that risk.

“It seems like you have a clear head.” Hachiman said. “The point gap between A, B, and C-Class is very small. Making a big move carries great risk.”

“I think A-Class and C-Class will likely choose a stable, defensive strategy.”

“But Ryuen’s class is behind us by 800–900 points, and he has allied with A-Class as part of the red team. In the red-white battle, they have a huge advantage. There’s a 99% chance they’ll get the 200-point bonus.

“For Ryuen’s class, this is a rare chance to climb up. If Ryuen still has ambitions of reaching A-Class, he won’t let it slip away.”

“Besides, most of the students in Ryuen’s class are delinquents—they’re skilled fighters. Among the boys, very few are bad at sports, and even among the girls, there aren’t many weak athletes.

“So, even if they don’t have individual stars like Koenji or Sudo, their overall strength gives them a real shot at first place.”

According to the rules—

The entire grade was divided into red and white teams.

All classes on the winning side would receive +200 points, while all classes on the losing side would receive -200 points.

Additionally, rankings would be determined within each grade.

The rewards and penalties were quite harsh.

First place: +200 points.

Second place: +0 points
Third place: -100 points
Fourth place: -200 points

In the ranking system of the grade, only the first-place ranking is beneficial. All other ranks either maintain the same score or result in point deductions.

How strict.

“This sports festival is basically forcing people to either become first or second place,” Hachiman said. “And Ryuen is a self-important person. Even if he has the ability, he doesn’t like to act openly and fairly—he prefers using underhanded methods.”

“In both the deserted island test and the VIP exam, we tricked Ryuen twice in a row. I’m sure he’s holding a grudge.”

“So the probability of him targeting our class is quite high,” Hachiman added.

That means all they needed to do was wait for Ryuen to use some dirty tricks and then collect the evidence.

Horikita started to grasp Hachiman’s plan.

It felt somewhat like luring the enemy into a trap—no, more like waiting for a rabbit by the stump.

“Besides, even if Ryuen is broad-minded and not the type to hold grudges, he would still choose to attack our class,” Hachiman continued.

However, this left Horikita confused.

Given Koenji’s strength and Sudo’s reputation as a sports prodigy, Ryuen should already be well aware of their abilities.

In a sports festival like this, they were the key seeded players.

Would Ryuen really choose to go up against such strong competitors?

Just then, Horikita suddenly heard a voice.

“First of all, let me make it clear—I won’t be participating in this sports festival.”

At that moment, a student in the discussion voiced a completely different opinion from the rest.

He was… forfeiting.

“Why, Koenji?”

“Are you running away at the last minute?!”

Sudo, who had been surrounded by a few weaker students, immediately turned to look at Koenji.

Because the one who had just declared his withdrawal was none other than Koenji himself!

The class had many weak students, and Sudo himself was barely better than them academically. Their plan was for as many students as possible to participate in events, earn rankings, and secure bonus points for written exams.

And in terms of athletic ability, the only person Sudo couldn’t beat was Koenji.

Yet now, Sudo was willing to compete, but Koenji was refusing to participate?!

“Why are you doing this, Koenji?”

Even Hirata, always the class mediator, quickly turned his attention toward him.

After all, Koenji had just made a shocking declaration.

Koenji was the strongest athlete in their class—yet he was… forfeiting?

Kushida, perhaps still holding a grudge from the incident on the bus ride to school when Koenji had humiliated her, remained silent. She didn’t try to ease the tension for him.

She came across as fake and scheming.

Of course, that was only how Hikigaya saw her. To everyone else, she was still the sweet, helpful angel.

“It’s simple,” Koenji replied. “This time, the exam is a team battle. Our class, B-Class, has been grouped into the White Team along with C-Class. But we’re up against a coalition led by the A-Classes from all three grades. The odds of us winning are very low.”

“In this case, even if I get a bunch of first places and bring points to the class, so that the class ends up with first place in the grade and +200 points,
it would still be -200 + 200 = 0 points.
So, I wouldn’t earn any rewards at all,” Koenji said.

Saying this, he took out a small mirror and started looking at his reflection.

The mirror in his hand had red-painted edges, which looked considerably more expensive than the previous one.

It seemed that after receiving the points, Koenji wasn’t saving but instead was increasing his spending level.

The “reward” he mentioned referred to the previous VIP exam, where Horikita proposed that if a student contributed more than 50 points to the class, they could receive half of the living expenses as a reward. Of course, penalties would apply the same way.

According to Koenji’s calculation, no matter how hard he tried, the best result the class could achieve in this sports festival would be no extra points or deductions.

Thus, his reward would essentially be nullified.

So if effort won’t bring a reward, why bother putting in the effort?

As for the written exam rewards for the top three in each event, Koenji was a top student and didn’t need them at all.

“Of course,” Koenji said, as if in a good mood, “The more important reason is that you guys are too weak. I have no interest in competing with mere mortals.”

“…”

This statement was utterly arrogant and self-centered.

To translate: I’m better than all of you here, and I don’t want to bully you.

Alright.

Suzune seemed to understand now.

Hikigaya confirmed that Ryuen would target their class.

Because among the four classes, their class… was the most likely to have problems.

Thus, the discussion for the first class ended.

The entry forms were due in two weeks, at the latest the day before the sports festival, so there was no rush to discuss it now.

There was no need to immediately decide which students would participate in which events or in what order.

So, when Hirata, after failing to persuade Koenji, looked helplessly at Hikigaya, Hikigaya suggested they temporarily suspend the discussion.

Although the students had been together for more than three months, they still couldn’t determine their physical fitness levels, so it was suggested they schedule a time for a fitness test.

No one objected to this.

So, during the second class, everyone began heading to the gym as per the schedule.

…

The school gym had been where Hikigaya and other first-year students had participated in the entrance ceremony when he first enrolled.

Last time, with only 160 students, it seemed quite spacious.

But this time, with over 400 students from the entire school present, the once spacious gym became crowded.

Although there were no signs, the classes had naturally split into two teams: the Red and White teams.

“I am Fujimaki from 3-A. I will be the general commander of this sports festival.”

A tall, thin boy walked to the front, instantly drawing everyone’s attention.

Hikigaya’s class was divided into a row of boys and a row of girls.

Horikita stood next to him.

Hikigaya noticed that Horikita’s expression was one of naked disappointment.

Perhaps she had expected her brother, Horikita Manabu, to preside over the event personally.

But her brother, Horikita Manabu, remained as stoic and expressionless as ever, standing off to the side and giving space to Fujimaki.

However, there was a small stir among the students.

It was more of surprise, really.

Because…

The first-year students were watching in disbelief.

Horikita Manabu, the student council president, was standing at the podium, while Fujimaki, the sports festival commander, stood there too.

But there was also a rather unique presence on the podium.

A petite girl with a sweet smile, silver smooth long hair, and a black beret.

Perhaps noticing the gazes upon her, she smiled slightly, showing two charming dimples on her fair, delicate face.

“President.”

Fujimaki seemed to notice the murmurs from the students below and became slightly flustered.

So, he looked toward Horikita Manabu, who merely nodded expressionlessly.

Fujimaki then continued with the microphone, “This is Sakayanagi Arisu from 1-A.”

“Taking this opportunity of the school-wide assembly, I’d like to mention that she has been recognized by President Horikita and is being considered as one of the candidates for the next student council president.”

Sakayanagi Arisu kept her cute smile.

Hikigaya, positioned in the middle of the B-Class student line, unexpectedly met Sakayanagi’s gaze as he looked up at the podium.

He knew.

Sakayanagi Arisu was indeed an assertive character.

Although she had been tricked into slacking off during this sports festival, she had made her move toward the student council.

So,

It should be said that she truly deserved the 20 million points she recently earned. A representative of 1-A, Sakayanagi Arisu had spent most of her time slacking off and maintaining a low profile, but now she had made a high-profile appearance.