Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 170: Talent Is Something That Cannot Be Changed Except by Starting Over

After lunch, once Hachiman left, Kamuro finally turned her displeased gaze toward Sakayanagi Arisu.

She glared at her.

“Why do you want me to help someone for free?”

Helping someone train may sound simple, but it’s far from it. It requires spending time with the person every day, and when would she even have time to train?

After school, she would have to attend to Sakayanagi Arisu.

So, the only time available would be early in the morning.

In other words…

It meant sacrificing her time to sleep in.

“Since it was Hachiman’s recommendation, agreeing isn’t a big deal. This person has his own bottom line, so if you agree to help him, I can gain a favor from him,” Sakayanagi said. “At the same time, this is an opportunity to infiltrate Class B. There’s nothing wrong with getting to know students from Class B.”

Oh.

So, why infiltrate Class B? Even though that class has climbed up, isn’t it still full of trash?

And why should she do all the work while Sakayanagi reaps the benefits?

“If it’s a student from Class B, a little money to buy them off would be fine,” Kamuro said.

She was aware that some students had already started trying to make contact with students from Class B.

It couldn’t be helped. After going through the island exam and the preferential treatment test, this class, once at the bottom, was now very close to Class A.

So, some effort was needed, maybe planting some spies or something like that.

“Eyewitnesses you can buy off with money are useless,” Sakayanagi Arisu said.

Then, she grasped her cane as if she was about to leave.

Kamuro’s gaze grew sharper.

Because…

Sakayanagi couldn’t stand the idea of spending a little money on someone, so she wanted to sacrifice Kamuro’s opportunity to sleep in to have her train someone?

Kamuro had initially felt uncomfortable when Sakayanagi wasn’t around during the island exam, but now that she was back, it seemed better when Sakayanagi wasn’t around her.

Meanwhile, Sakayanagi Arisu, while holding the cane, opened the student ID interface on her phone.

[Name: Sakayanagi Arisu
Class: Year 1, Class A
Gender: Female
Personal points account: 23,056,000]

In her email inbox, there was an email from the school she had received a while ago.

[Congratulations! You are the first student in the school’s history to accumulate 20 million personal points. The school looks forward to your future development.]

Today’s school life was quite dull, with no challenges at all.

…

Perhaps to provide students with more training time, the school’s schedule had been adjusted this month.

A large number of physical education classes had been added.

The latest one was the first class in the afternoon.

During the PE class, half the lesson had passed when Horikita was taken away by Hachiman.

The reason? To investigate the strength of the seed players from other classes.

“Wasn’t the plan to do this after school?” Horikita asked, a bit confused.

Her state was still a bit fuzzy.

Because yesterday, Hachiman had suddenly mentioned wanting to leave the class, which made it hard for her to process everything.

Of course, as a member of this class, she also knew how difficult it was to raise the class’s standing.

Take this sports festival, for example. If the preparation wasn’t done well, the class could easily fall behind.

So it was understandable that Hachiman wanted to leave.

But for Hachiman, he was excellent enough to leave.

She, however, could never do that.

“It was originally the plan, but I think other classes are probably thinking the same thing. Once they realize they might be investigated, each class will become more cautious and try to hide their seed players. So, we need to seize the opportunity and observe carefully,” Hachiman explained.

“Especially now, almost every student knows that the seed players in our class are Sudo and Koenji.”

“……” Horikita.

There was nothing to say to that.

It was widely known that Sudo was a sports enthusiast, thanks to his frequent boasting and the Sudo fight incident.

As for Koenji, he was known as a monster because of his overwhelming strength, having taken control of most of the outposts on the deserted island.

So, the seed players of their class, their trump cards, had been directly exposed.

It was indeed a disadvantage.

However.

“Even after scouting the strength of the seed players from other classes, what do you plan to do?” Horikita asked. “To be more precise, how do you plan to prepare a decent competition entry form to submit to Ryuen?”

“Do you know the story of Tian Ji’s horse racing?” (The story is about a horse riding game between Tian Ji and the king of the Qi Kingdom, and how Tian Ji won the horse racing game under the guidance of a military strategist, Sun Bin, with all his horses less competitive than the king. In the original story, Tian Ji was aware of the king’s strategy and changed the sequence of his horse to win the game.)

Hachiman walked ahead, not answering her question but instead asking a question in return.

“Yes.”

Horikita Suzune gently nodded. She was a bookworm and spent nearly 10 hours a day studying.

So her knowledge base wasn’t shallow.

At the same time, this story was a classic.

It was about how, when the strengths of two sides were unequal, one could arrange their own side’s resources in such a way as to avoid the opponent’s strong points and still manage to win with their own strength.

It was a kind of opportunistic plan.

And it was also the most suitable plan for this class.

Tian Ji’s horse racing.

They had the top-tier horses, like Sudo.

And a lot of low-tier ones.

Then there were also some mid-tier horses.

If they used this plan, at first glance, it indeed seemed like a good competition entry, enough to catch Ryuen’s attention.

As for this sports festival, Horikita had no objections to Hachiman setting his sights on Ryuen’s side.

Because Hachiman had already made up his mind earlier to take down Ryuen and Class A’s agreement.

And the 1.5 million point division had already been given to her.

She had no reason to refuse.

Moreover, the test data from yesterday had already come out.

The athletic strong students in Hachiman’s class were: for the boys, Koenji (recognized), Sudo, Hirata, and Ayanokouji.

For the girls, Horikita, Kushida, and a sports girl named Onodera.

Then, further down the list, there was Matsushita Chiaki.

Though Kei was very slender, her physical fitness was only considered average, placing her in a somewhat awkward position.

Thus.

They arrived at other classes that were also having physical education lessons, starting with Class 1-C.

The boys in Class 1-C were playing soccer.

Just by watching, it was clear that although they had fallen to Class C, they still had some seed players, given that they were once Class B, and even Class B could still have a few good players.

One of the boys, named Shibata, Hachiman had seen before.

He was a member of the soccer club.

Hirata from Hachiman’s class had been forced to join the soccer club by seniors when he wanted to inquire about the number of students and dropout situations in other grades after entering school.

One time, when Hachiman went to find Hirata, he saw Shibata’s soccer skills.

His reaction speed and explosive power were very strong. In fact, he was even stronger than Hirata.

Of course.

“Shibata!”

“You kicked in the wrong direction!”

“Sorry—I’ll go get the ball back right away—”

Shibata hurriedly apologized, then quickly ran to retrieve the ball.

Occasional mistakes do happen.

He seemed very cheerful but also prone to being a bit clumsy.

Hachiman’s camera was working normally.

“I should say, no wonder this was originally Class B.” Horikita Suzune also noticed this.

Although Shibata made a mistake, it was clear to see his strength and speed.

At the same time, there was also Kanzaki Ryuji, who was just as fast as Shibata, along with some other students.

None of them could be compared to the average boys in their own class.

However.

“Hey, Hachiman, Horikita, weren’t you over at the swimming pool?” Soon, as the two were observing, someone noticed them and came over to greet them.

It was Ichinose.

She was wearing sportswear and seemed a bit out of breath. She had just been running laps with the girls from her class on the track.

Her companions were still running on the track, and one of them was a pale green-haired girl who looked delicate and fragile.

That should be the class leader of Ichinose’s class from the previous deserted island exam, Shiranami Chihiro.

Indeed.

It was very hard to watch such a fragile girl get hurt or fall ill, which made it difficult not to feel sympathy.

“We’re here to observe the seed players from other classes,” Hachiman said. “This time, the score range for the exam is quite large, and our white group is at a disadvantage, so we need to try our best to get the first and second places in the grade to reduce penalties.”

“And the longer we observe, the more the other classes might conceal their seed players,” Hachiman added.

“I see.”

Ichinose nodded.

So they were here to scout the enemy first.

As expected.

It always feels bad when going up against Hachiman.

This time, it was great that he wasn’t an enemy.

Ichinose felt a little relieved at that moment.

After greeting Ichinose, Hachiman and Horikita continued on their way, heading toward Class A’s area.

The students of Class A were having physical education classes at the tennis court area.

Because it was class time, many students were involved in tennis activities on the courts.

However, unlike the Class 1-D students who didn’t seem too vigilant,

“What are you two doing here?”

Hachiman and Horikita’s actions were quickly noticed by Class A’s students.

Katsuragi immediately walked over to them.

But there were also students who didn’t act right away.

Sakayanagi Arisu didn’t move.

For physical education classes, she would only participate if she felt like it.

Of course, it wasn’t about running; she’d just sit on the sidelines.

“It seems like Hachiman really came to scout the other classes’ situation,” Kamuro Masumi immediately reported the news to Sakayanagi Arisu.

This was something Hachiman himself mentioned during lunch break.

He said he was going to scout out the seed players from other classes.

But.

“——” Sakayanagi.

“What’s wrong?” Kamuro noticed Sakayanagi’s state. “Do you need some water? I only brought iced tea.”

“…” Sakayanagi. “I’m just thinking, at this moment, Hachiman and I are in the same situation.”

“Because of my physical condition, I can only stay here.”

Sakayanagi said. “And Hachiman, too, doesn’t have the physical talent, so he can only act as a strategist, gathering information on his pieces, then using them to play the game.”

Oh.

So you feel like you two are resonating with each other now?

Kamuro thought this to herself, then heard Sakayanagi continue speaking.

“Humans are creatures that have to accept their fate, because talent is innate. There’s no way around it other than to restart.” Sakayanagi said.

Is that so.

Indeed.

There aren’t that many geniuses.

And talents, such as those based on innate ability, are predetermined at birth.

“Hachiman mentioned Ayanokouji-san comes from a special organization,” Sakayanagi Arisu said, “This organization collects children without talents and trains them into geniuses.”

Oh?

So, geniuses can be created?

“But that organization has gone through several batches and a large number of experimental subjects. In the end, only one success was achieved, and that success is Ayanokouji-san,” Sakayanagi continued. “But when I visited that organization as a child, I saw that their courses and learning methods stripped away people’s basic instincts. This method cannot produce true geniuses.”

“Even though Ayanokouji is the only successful product, I still believe he must have had innate talent from the start, he’s a genius.” Sakayanagi Arisu commented. “Perhaps his parents didn’t have great genes, but if you trace back far enough, there must be some traces.”

Kamuro nodded.

Is that so.

So, you’re a pure-blooded geneticist.

You believe that only the bloodline of geniuses can produce geniuses.

Then why are you saying these things to her?

Kamuro thought to herself. She just considered herself an ordinary person. However, Sakayanagi was indeed unusual.

Because she had been serving her, Kamuro knew that Sakayanagi was extremely intelligent, with a strong understanding of knowledge and a maxed-out ability for self-study.

It seemed that as long as it wasn’t related to sports, she could easily solve anything.

Even being ordered to pass the entrance exam for the University of Tokyo would be a breeze for her.

According to Sakayanagi’s theory, if you wanted to have talent, it was impossible in this lifetime, unless you found a genius partner. Only then could you create the next generation with talent.

How troublesome.

On the other side, Hachiman and the others were also organizing the information they had gathered.

Although they were spotted by Katsuragi and the others, Hachiman and the others observed for a while, so they gathered some data.

It could be said that Class A was indeed formidable.

For the girls, they used Horikita and Kushida as their reference points.

There were probably about five or six Horikita-level students and about seven or eight Kushida-level students.

As for the boys, while none of them were as impressive as Sudo, there were five or six who could match up to Kanzaki Ryuji.

So, Class A’s combat strength was indeed considerable.

And within that, Ryuen’s class was also quite formidable.

Ryuen himself was known as a skilled fighter, and there were also students like Ishizaki Daichi, Komiya, and others.

Along with various gyaru.

The gyaru in Ryuen’s class easily outclassed the gyaru from Hachiman’s class.

Among these girls, there were also three who were members of the track and field club—professional athletes.

As for the boys, Ryuen’s lackey Albert was still quite formidable.

In Horikita’s notebook, which ranked students by power level, Ryuen’s class had some seriously impressive members.

In terms of raw strength in one-on-one competition, Horikita didn’t think anyone in this school could compare to him.

“The strength of Ryuen’s class…”

After school, Horikita reviewed the information, her mood turning heavy.

If the competition was held fairly, the students in her class were far inferior in quality compared to those in other classes.

And the seed player Sudo would have to be sacrificed, while Takahashi would not participate.

It was really overwhelming.

“Then let’s start planning,” Hachiman said. “We can contact Kushida now.”

“Let’s arrange for Kushida to take the stage.”

“We already appeared in Class D’s area, so Ryuen should think that we’re serious about this exam now.”

In other words, the fact that you went to scout Ryuen’s class was actually to intentionally attract his attention and create an opportunity for Kushida to take the stage?