Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 177: Harvest! Ryuen, Are You Ready?

Ryuen Kakeru was penalized for cheating, and as a result, the red team’s horseback battle was judged as a loss. Additionally, Ryuen’s personal score was reduced by 20 points as punishment.

With that, the boys’ horseback battle was immediately concluded.

The only remaining event was the girls’ horseback battle.

Class A’s Sakayanagi was absent, and Katsuragi couldn’t rush over immediately, so the girls from Class A seemed somewhat directionless, relying loosely on Sakayanagi’s “dog god” Kamuro as the de facto leader.

Class B was slightly better off, with Horikita, despite her cold demeanor and not-so-great popularity, being recognized for her abilities.

Thus, Class B’s students followed her leadership.

Class C, on the other hand, was led by Ichinose.

As for Class D, they were led by Ibuki Mio. However, Class D was missing Shiina Hiyori and another girl named Kinoshita, meaning Class D only had four groups in total.

It seemed like Class D was at a disadvantage.

But that wasn’t necessarily true.

Because Hachiman immediately noticed that, while Horikita was still in the white team’s lineup, her condition looked poor, with her left leg wrapped in a bandage, clearly indicating she had been injured.

It turned out that Horikita had faked an injury.

However, in a horseback battle like this, as long as someone becomes the “horse,” they can be carried by others, so she was still useful and could contribute in that role, which she indeed did.

Both red and white teams took their positions.

“Shh!”

The whistle blew, signaling the start of the match.

Unlike the boys’ group, in Class B and C, aside from Sudo, the others at least had some cooperation.

As for Class A and D, though Ryuen was disdainful of cooperating with Class A, A-class would still be flexible under Katsuragi’s leadership, working toward victory.

But in the girls’ group match, everyone was fighting for themselves.

No, saying “fighting for themselves” was even an exaggeration.

Because the girls from Class A were clearly just there to watch!

Despite having five groups of girls, not one of them took the initiative to step forward. Instead, they stayed where they were like spectators, watching as Class D’s girls were surrounded and attacked.

“Don’t they understand the saying, ‘If the lips are gone, the teeth are cold’?”

Karuizawa glanced at the girls from Class A from a distance and couldn’t help but sneer.

Because while Class A was just standing by, watching Class D being attacked, it was highly likely that when the time came, Class A would be left alone and vulnerable.

“Who knows? But this is a good thing,”

Sato, who was in the same group as Karuizawa, said with enthusiasm.

“Ichinose and the others are already charging in, so we should go too!” Sato urged. “Horikita’s group is also going, and even though she’s injured, she’s still being aggressive. If we’re seen slacking off, that’ll be bad.”

Horikita’s group had Kushida as the “horse,” and their relationship was still strong.

“Mm.” Karuizawa was just about to nod in agreement.

Although most of the girls in Class B wanted to slack off, it was clearly unreasonable to do nothing, especially now when they still had some advantage.

While saying this, Karuizawa’s eyes unintentionally fell on a figure off to the side.

“Eh, that’s…”

Karuizawa widened her eyes.

“What is it, Karuizawa?” asked Matsushita, who was in the same group with her and was playing the role of the “horse.”

“It looks like the boys have arrived,” Karuizawa said.

“We can’t slack off any longer!” Karuizawa hurriedly said.

Everyone turned their gaze toward the edge of the field, realizing that the boys’ mandatory event had already concluded.

A few boys had gathered around, one of whom was Hikigaya, the same guy who had made them girls fill out Excel spreadsheets after the physical test.

Although they had been forced to press the keyboard for so long, it was undeniable that Hikigaya’s reasoning was also reliable. If the sports event results didn’t go well and they were held accountable, then their help with the spreadsheetscounted as contributing.

Now, though, what was before them was a state of slacking off.

So, the group of “gyaru” immediately sprang into action, launching an attack.

“What’s going on with the girls from Class B?”

Watching from a distance, the girls from Class A furrowed their brows as they saw Class D’s four groups being surrounded and attacked by Ichinose from Class C.

“Forget it,” Kamuro Masumi, the leader, said. “Class D only has two groups left, so they won’t be able to make much of a comeback. Let’s start our attack!”

Yes.

The girls from Class A had been watching, and while they felt bad for Class D, they were more concerned about Class D doing something that might affect them.

Now, though.

It was time to act.

“Let’s charge!” The five groups from Class A immediately closed in.

“We won’t let you get through!”

Ichinose, leading the girls from Class C, intercepted them.

Though the girls from Class A had been watching, making it seem like they were ignoring the girls from Class D, this was a team event, and Ichinose wasn’t going to be a “saint” here.

In fact, once she realized that the girls from Class A were simply watching, she seized the opportunity to command her classmates to start attacking Class D.

And now, as Class A finally started to move, she naturally wanted to intercept them and prevent their rescue.

However.

“Charge through!”

Kamuro Masumi directly rushed forward and began fighting with Ichinose’s team.

They pushed against each other, allowing the “horses” to carry their “generals” as they tried to grab the headband tied to the opponent’s forehead.

“We’ve got it.”

Kamuro swayed on her teammates’ backs and reached out her left hand, attempting to grab Ichinose’s headband.

Her physical fitness was quite good, and although being the “horse” brought a lot of power to her group, Sakayanagi was not here, and she was Sakayanagi’s right-hand person. There was no way she would let anyone else take on the role of the “horse” besides Sakayanagi.

So, of course, she had to become the “general.” She believed she had the strength of a “general.”

Ichinose’s physical abilities were poor, so her offensive power was weak.

Therefore, Kamuro was confident that her side would win.

“Got it!” Kamuro thought to herself, suddenly hearing Ichinose’s voice and then realizing that a hand was on her forehead, grabbing the headband.

In an instant, she felt her bangs flutter.

Because the red headband had been snatched away.

Kamuro Masumi’s group had lost.

“Dammit.”

“Eh?”

Ichinose, who had grabbed Kamuro’s headband, blinked and looked at the headband in her hand, slightly confused.

So, despite her weak physical abilities, she was still able to be helpful?

“Let’s keep pushing!”

“The representative from Class A has been taken down!”

Suddenly, Horikita Suzune from Class B said, causing the momentum of Class A to drop significantly.

The defeat was like a mountain collapsing.

At first, Class A had been worried that Class D might cause problems, so they stood by and observed. But when they finally decided to intervene, their own leader had already been defeated.

Thus, the battle ended in under five minutes.

The first-year girls’ horseback battle ended with the white team’s victory.

…

“Hikigaya, aren’t you going to eat?”

As the horseback battle concluded, a student who had been watching approached Hikigaya.

He was a student with little presence.

“I’ll wait a bit,” Hikigaya replied. “It’s rare to see the girls fighting like this.”

“??”

The student looked at him, bewildered.

Hikigaya then walked toward the girls who had already finished the competition and were walking out of the arena in groups.

More precisely, he was heading toward Horikita Suzune.

“The plan with Sudo went smoothly,” Hachiman said. “Ryuen took advantage of the chaos to attack Sudo, and I tied a voice recorder to the flagpole in the pole vault competition to record the conversation at the time. We can use it to accuse Ryuen of cheating.”

“And how’s your side of things?”

Horikita’s situation?

Her left ankle was wrapped in a bandage.

“As you can see, I got injured while running the 200 meters,” Horikita explained. “I was being chased closely by the girls from Class D, and at the end, the feet of two of us got tangled up, causing an accident.”

“Mm.”

Hachiman nodded and then reviewed the events.

To put it simply, Horikita was sandwiched between two people during the 200-meter race.

The person running with her was not just Ibuki Mio but also a girl named Kinoshita!

And this girl, Kinoshita, was a sports powerhouse from Class D!

Her athletic abilities were on par with Horikita’s.

Just before reaching the finish line, both of them were tripped by each other’s feet.

Horikita ended up in her current condition, and it seemed Kinoshita wasn’t faring much better.

It looked like it had been painful when she fell.

“She kept calling my name during the race, so I turned to look at her, and then the two of us fell together,” Horikita Suzune said.

From this statement, it’s clear that Horikita Suzune was in the lead during the 200-meter race.

Only after that did she need to turn back and look at her opponent.

“Kinoshita’s abilities are even stronger than Onodera’s,” Hachiman said. “Ryuen really doesn’t hold back.”

Because Onodera was the fastest girl in Horikita’s group, and if Kinoshita was even stronger than Onodera, there was no way she could be behind Horikita. So everything pointed to Ryuen’s strategy.

According to Ryuen’s plan, Kinoshita was supposed to be seriously injured, and then she wouldn’t be able to participate in the following competitions.

“Ryuen hasn’t contacted me yet,” Horikita said.

“But…”

She looked at her left leg, seeming to frown.

“I wrapped it myself, and I didn’t have a doctor check it. So if my injury is really severe, then even if Kinoshita deliberately made her injury worse…” Horikita Suzune’s crimson eyes seemed to be filled with determination. “But if my injury is worse than hers…”

“…” Hikigaya.

Although she wanted to act bravely, Hachiman didn’t want to see Horikita Suzune completely injured.

After all.

If things went wrong, it could even result in a disability.

This was also the reason why, during the uninhabited island exam, the role of team leader was given to Koenji.

Someone like Koenji would definitely know how to get injured or sick without harming their body too much.

“I just counted your group’s numbers,” Hachiman said. “Kinoshita won’t be participating in the horseback battle anymore.”

“And you’re still participating, so deliberately making yourself more injured doesn’t benefit you much.”

“Also.”

“You recorded everything on the voice recorder and the phone, didn’t you?” Hachiman said.

“Yes,” Horikita nodded.

She then prepared to take out her phone and voice recorder.

“Then give the recorder to Kushida,” Hachiman said. “It’s lunchtime now, so Ryuen is probably coming to find you.”

Horikita Suzune was somewhat confused.

But she still followed through.

Kushida was then instructed to go find Ryuen in advance.

However…

“Why did you still let Kushida do this?” Horikita Suzune asked.

This was because Hachiman had directly instructed Kushida to take the voice recorder that was on Horikita and give it to Ryuen.

“Kushida’s role as Ryuen’s spy is something I intend to keep for now,” Hachiman explained. “So, we need to make sure Ryuen doesn’t realize that Kushida is on our side.”

Ah.

So, it was about continuing to deceive Ryuen.

“Horikita Suzune.”

At that moment, Chabashira Sae suddenly approached, saying faintly, “Kinoshita from Class D filed a complaint with the school, saying that you deliberately tripped her with your feet during the competition. She’s requested arbitration from the student council.”

“……”

Horikita was speechless.

Just as she was talking about it, it had already come up.

Horikita was actually very kind-hearted. She didn’t usually make assumptions about others with malice.

But Ryuen had been doing such things all along.

Sigh.

Chabashira Sae sighed, not saying much more.

As a student at this school, she understood that this was likely a tactic from Class D, and Horikita couldn’t have done something like that.

However, the other party had clearly been more underhanded, reporting it early.

And they had already gained the advantage.

Because people generally tend to think in preconceived ways—

If someone files a complaint, they’re the victim.

If someone stays silent, they must be the perpetrator.

But often, the truth is the complete opposite.

“So, how are you going to respond?” Chabashira asked.

“Of course, we’ll confront them head-on,” Hikigaya replied. “And Chabashira-sensei, I might be able to fulfill the agreement I made with you.”

I see.

So, that means after this sports festival ends, the class will be promoted.

However.

The current scores for the red and white teams displayed in the center of the field were as follows:

Red Team vs White Team.

4535 points vs 4000 points.

And the total scores for the first-year classes were:

Class A: 590 points
Class B: 530 points
Class C: 567 points
Class D: 589 points

In the red vs white contest, the white team had a very high chance of losing.

So, they would have to subtract 200 points.

And when comparing the total scores of the four classes, the gap between them wasn’t large. In fact, overall, they were a bit weak. Plus, Koenji had forfeited, Sudo had run off, and Horikita was injured.

So, how could they win? Unless there was someone of Sudo’s caliber to boost the points.

After all, only 4 recommended events remained.

“Could it be…” Chabashira suddenly had an idea.

“Let’s confront them,” Hikigaya said to Horikita. “Let’s start the important step of this sports festival.”

“Mm.” Suzune nodded.

And so…

Hikigaya helped Horikita, who had injured her leg, and they headed toward the infirmary.

While supporting Horikita, Hachiman suddenly remembered why Shiina had asked him to carry her to the infirmary in the morning.

It was probably because she was pretending to be injured, but since she wasn’t actually hurt, she had no experience showing the aftermath of an injury.

Like this.

Horikita was being supported, and a significant part of her body was leaning on him.

Speaking of which, was this the second girl he was carrying today?

Soon, the three of them arrived at the infirmary.

“Oh, you’re here, Horikita Suzune.”

An unexpected guest stood at the door of the infirmary, leaning casually against the doorframe, and said in a faint tone, “Isn’t that quite a serious injury? I really admire you, to go as far as injuring yourself just to take down one of our Class D elites. You really don’t want us to win, do you?”

Ryuen Kakeru.

The absolute leader of Class D.

Even after experiencing several failures, his leadership position remained unshaken—perhaps because people from Class D were easier to deceive.

But his leadership ability was unquestionable.

“……” Horikita.

“……” Hachiman.

The two exchanged a glance, both of them knowing that after enduring hardships, now was the time to reap the rewards.

However, Ryuen was currently in high spirits, while Hikigaya was thinking about how soon he would obtain the agreement from Ryuen for the 300-point exchange with Class A.

In this good mood, he decided to have some fun with Ryuen.

“Enough, Ryuen!”

Hikigaya said, his chest rising and falling, his voice low as if suppressing anger. “You’ve already won, so what’s the point of saying this now?”

“I finally understand why Shiina led me away back then.”

“What do you mean, led you away? I don’t know anything,” Ryuen said. “And Hikigaya Hachiman, don’t try to argue. You say ‘win’? This doesn’t count as winning.”

Ryuen sneered, “I didn’t expect Class B to use such a vile tactic. Are you so unwilling to let us in Class D rise that you’d rather destroy yourselves? Is it because you know you can’t beat us, so you have to resort to such underhanded methods?”

“You have no right to say that.”

Hikigaya retorted mercilessly.

“I’m here to find Kinoshita.”

Horikita took a deep breath and coldly said, “I want her to explain herself.”

“Explain?”

Ryuen frowned but didn’t block the door, casually saying, “You can go in, but only you, or else I can’t be sure what you might do to Kinoshita.”

Ryuen’s victim-like attitude disgusted Horikita, but she knew this wasn’t the time to argue.

She had Hachiman let go of her, then limped into the infirmary.

“Ryuen, you’re useless.”

Hachiman watched Horikita enter the infirmary and coldly said, “Sudo was one thing, but to use such a method on Horikita, a girl!”

“What? Trying to get me to talk?”

Ryuen raised his head and sneered twice, “How about you take the voice recorder out of your pocket before you speak?”

“……”

Hikigaya’s expression changed, and he fell silent for a moment before finally taking the voice recorder out of his pocket.

“Of course it’s a voice recorder. Hikigaya, you’re really only good at this. Give it to me,” Ryuen mocked.

Having seen that voice recorder in Sudo’s pocket earlier, Ryuen knew that Hikigaya would surely have one as well.

Hachiman said nothing, throwing the voice recorder to Ryuen.

“Tsk.”

Ryuen turned off the voice recorder, played with it in his hand, and clicked his tongue, “You really are dirty, Hikigaya.”

“Didn’t you give one of these voice recorders to Sudo already? Now you’re taking another one out. What are you trying to record?”

“……”

Hikigaya kept a stern face, then coldly said, “You can’t even admit to what you’ve done, and you’re calling me dirty?”

“No, no.”

Ryuen smiled, seemingly back to his usual strategic self, “How about you take out the other voice recorder you’ve hidden in your sleeve, and then we can talk properly?”

“……!”

Hachiman’s expression shifted slightly, but he quickly returned to normal and sighed, “Looks like you’ve learned your lesson.”

“Of course, after being tricked by you so many times,” Ryuen nodded, casually lamenting.

The voice recorder wasn’t easy to get, but Hikigaya was really something else.

Hachiman then took the voice recorder hidden in his sleeve and tossed it over, coldly saying, “Why are you still targeting Horikita?”

“Feeling sorry for her?”

Ryuen smiled and turned off the voice recorder again, “But don’t get it wrong. It’s your little girlfriend who, unable to outrun the students from our class, purposely injured herself. I admit the methods I used on Sudo weren’t honorable, but this time, it’s your fault.”

“Heh.”

As for the misunderstanding about Horikita being involved with him, Hachiman didn’t bother denying it anymore.

But.

Hikigaya chuckled twice, “You did it, so admit it. You’re too cowardly to even admit it, huh?”

“Saying such things, Hikigaya-kun, you’re even more shameless than I imagined.”

Ryuen shook his head and sighed, “Stop resisting. Kinoshita’s been seriously injured, and Class B is definitely going to be reported to the student council. The arbitration request is inevitable, so stop struggling.”

“Lastly.”

Ryuen said, raising an eyebrow, “You’ve got a voice recorder on you, and Sudo’s got one too. I’m sure Horikita’s prepared one as well.”

“……”

Hachiman remained expressionless, but his pupils slightly dilated.

“As expected.”

Ryuen’s lips curled up, showing a triumphant smile.

He was relieved.

Because just now, Kushida had come to report that Horikita had hidden a voice recorder on her. If that recorder were exposed, it would directly expose him as falsely accusing someone.

But unfortunately.

Horikita trusted Kushida, so Kushida was able to take the voice recorder from her, and that voice recorder had already been destroyed by Ryuen before Hikigaya and the others arrived.

Even so.

Ryuen still admitted.

Hikigaya Hachiman was truly exceptionally clever.

But in the end, Ryuen had won.

Hadn’t he?

“That’s enough of those words.”

Hachiman expressionlessly took a voice recorder from behind his back and said, “Although it’s not enough to serve as evidence, it’s enough to delay the arbitration process.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

Ryuen grinned, “I don’t remember saying anything about crucial evidence. Don’t treat me like those fools, Hikigaya. I understand these tactics much better than you do. Hand it over, the voice recorder.”

Although those words couldn’t be used as evidence, they certainly had the potential to create some trouble for him.

With Hachiman’s intellect, he might find a loophole to attack him.

He wasn’t about to let this voice recorder stay in Hachiman’s hands.

“Why should I give it to you?”

Hachiman said coldly, “Although it’s not enough to prove you’ve fabricated evidence, it’s still enough to delay the arbitration. During this time, I can look for opportunities to overturn…”

“Overturn what?”

Ryuen smiled, “Don’t be naive, Hikigaya. We haven’t fabricated evidence. It was Horikita who intentionally hurt Kinoshita. There’s surveillance footage, you know. Before the match started, Horikita kept looking at our class’s Kinoshita. From that moment, she was plotting to hurt Kinoshita. Tsk, she really is a woman who’ll stop at nothing.”

“Maybe,” Hikigaya replied, but at that moment, a girl with long black hair, limping, walked out of the infirmary.

It was Horikita.

“Yo, Horikita, how did it go?”

Horikita’s face turned pale, and her delicate little fists were clenched, clearly angered by what had transpired inside.

“Ryuen!”

Horikita coldly glared at Ryuen, her expression hostile.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’ll be scared,” Ryuen mockingly replied, clicking his tongue and raising his hands in a gesture of feigned innocence, though his eyes couldn’t hide the smugness and pride.

He had finally won a round in front of these two.

“What did she say?”

Hachiman asked.

“Mm.”

Horikita pursed her lips, “It’s all part of their plan, but I don’t have proof…”

“Ha.”

Ryuen silently grinned, he loved seeing this situation.

“Oh.”

Hachiman seemed to understand, then turned to Ryuen, “Ryuen, do you know?”

“What?”

Ryuen’s expression changed slightly, a sense of foreboding rising within him.

“I’m a thorough person,” Hikigaya said, extending his hand into the girl’s top. The cold touch against her skin made her cry out in surprise.

In the next moment, Hachiman had pulled another voice recorder out of her pocket.

The indicator light on the voice recorder was flashing, clearly indicating that it was on.

“You…”

Ryuen’s expression instantly changed. He pointed at Hachiman, his face showing extreme displeasure.

“Unfortunately, even though you’ve figured out that I placed a voice recorder on Horikita…”

Hikigaya grabbed both voice recorders, weighed them lightly, and then said, “The thing is, it’s always better to have more evidence-saving tools. So, I didn’t just place one on her, but two.”

“Crack!”

Ryuen tightly gripped the voice recorder in his hand, and it made a sharp cracking sound.

But.

“You think this trick will defeat me?”

Ryuen snapped angrily, “You can’t just grab a voice recorder and say you’ve got evidence, don’t make me laugh! If you have the guts, play it!”

“Oh, you want to listen to it?”

Hikigaya raised an eyebrow and pressed the play button on the voice recorder—

And the only sound that came out was static.

This was the unrecorded state.

“Hehehe, I was right!” Ryuen’s mood instantly improved. “This voice recorder was the one you just had in your hand, pretending to take it from Horikita.”

“Hikigaya…” At this moment, Horikita Suzune also showed an ugly expression. “The voice recorder you placed on me before the match is gone.”

“I already knew that,” Hachiman said. “It’s probably because…”

“A spy appeared in our class.” He looked toward Ryuen. “Horikita doesn’t have many friends, and the only one she has…”

“Ryuen, you’re impressive.” Hikigaya said, then read out the name of the traitor, “You even managed to steal Kushida away.”

“And Kushida, you’re actually in the infirmary right now, aren’t you?” Hikigaya said.

“How do you know?” Horikita’s expression showed shock.

“You just came out looking so angry, and if it were just Kinoshita, you clearly wouldn’t be like this. So Kushida must also be inside. Then you confirmed that Kushida betrayed you,” Hachiman said.

“Ah, I never even thought that something like this would happen in our class, especially with Kushida. I didn’t expect her to betray me. In fact, I had no idea why she would betray me at all,” Horikita said, feeling down. “The things she said in the infirmary were all to steer the narrative towards me hurting Kinoshita. I knew she might not like me, but I never imagined she’d betray me at such a crucial moment.”

“How…”

“Is there no backup move?” Ryuen interjected.

In truth, he felt a sense of relief after getting that out.

But Hikigaya was still pretty sharp—he immediately saw through Kushida being the spy.

Although it was unfortunate that Kushida’s identity as a spy had been exposed, and she might no longer be able to participate in their group during the special exam, the value of her being a spy had already met his expectations.

“During the preferential treatment exam, Hikigaya, you were very forceful in blackmailing me, right? And now, that 10 million should be coming back to me,” Ryuen said.

“If everything is returned intact, then I’ll have Kinoshita cancel the arbitration.”

“Because, you should know, Kinoshita’s leg was deliberately injured by Horikita, not only losing the chance to score, but also potentially losing the future opportunity to become an outstanding athlete! Can you afford that cost?”

“Once the judgment is made, Horikita Suzune, will anyone still believe you?”

“I’m innocent,” Horikita Suzune said.

“And I’ve been injured too.”

“Who’s going to believe that? Or do you have any evidence? But unfortunately, your voice recorder has already been destroyed,” Ryuen said.

This silenced Horikita Suzune.

Ryuen looked quite pleased.

“Ryuen,” Hikigaya said, fixing him with a serious look. “You must have arranged for Kushida to betray during the preferential treatment exam. The patterns you got were all because Kushida had access to the preferential treatment information in my class.”

“…” Ryuen.

In fact, during the preferential treatment exam, the patterns he obtained had come from Sakayanagi.

But back then, Kushida had indeed become a spy.

It seemed like Hikigaya didn’t know that the final winner of the preferential treatment exam was Sakayanagi Arisu.

However, that detail wasn’t important, so he casually responded.

“Are you still recording?” Ryuen asked.

“I don’t have that kind of voice recorder anymore,” Hikigaya replied. “A voice recorder costs 100,000 yen, and you’ve already destroyed two of mine. That’s a loss of 200,000 yen.”

“Oh.”

However, he then heard Hikigaya say.

“Although I don’t have the voice recorder anymore, I still have my phone.”

“What!”

Ryuen’s face darkened immediately.

Because with his intelligence, it seemed like he realized he’d been tricked.

“Looks like you’ve figured it out now,” Hikigaya said. “Voice recorders are hard to obtain, but every student has a recording tool—we have our phones.”

“Because phones are so convenient, voice recorders don’t spread so easily.”

“So.”

Hikigaya continued.

“Even though you arranged for Kushida to take the voice recorder from Horikita, have you considered that Horikita Suzune’s phone might have been recording the whole time?”

With that, Hikigaya looked at Horikita Suzune.

Horikita Suzune reached into her pocket with her left hand and pulled out her white phone.

She opened the phone’s interface.

It was a voice recorder.

And.

The recording time showed 2:23:24.

The recording lasted for over two hours.

The fact that the recording went on for so long meant… it had been recording since the opening of the sports festival.

Ryuen’s pupils shrank violently, and his face turned ashen.

…

“Looks like you understand now.”

Hikigaya said, taking Horikita’s phone and opening the voice recorder app, turning up the volume.

“Then, the 22nd Annual School Sports Festival officially begins,” came the voice of a male student, the third-year class A student, Fujimaki.

Hmm.

This is too early.

So he fast-forwarded a bit.

Very quickly.

“Hornikita, I’m going to surpass you.”

“Hornikita, I will surpass you.”

“Hornikita, just a little bit more.”

A somewhat unclear female voice came from the recorder, but it was still recognizable.

That was Kinoshita’s voice.

“If you want to use Horikita constantly looking back during the competition as evidence…”

Hikigaya said mercilessly, “Then I can overturn your evidence. At that point, we can reverse it and file a complaint with the student council, applying for arbitration. Because you’re framing her!”

“And this, Ryuen, you’re very familiar with, right?”

Familiar?

Of course, familiar.

Because this was just a repeat of the Sudo assault incident.

Damn.

Ryuen realized that he was the type to fall into the same pit twice.

And then Hikigaya continued,

“Let me think… after deliberate harm, if there’s malicious slander, can they be punished together? Although I can’t do anything to the mastermind, Ryuen, but making Kinoshita get expelled should be possible, right?”

Knowing the process behind the conspiracy was more direct and effective than proving it had been used.

“Ry—Ryuen, what do we do?”

Hachiman didn’t purposely lower his voice, and Ryuen had also forgotten to close the infirmary door.

So, his voice immediately carried into the infirmary.

And Kinoshita’s panicked voice came out.

Leaving other matters aside, just this was enough to prove Kinoshita lied.

“You’re really something, Hikigaya Hachiman.”

Ryuen Sho said darkly, his face cold, “This time, I lost. Let’s make a deal. I’ll personally pay you three million and withdraw the complaint against Class B. In exchange, you won’t use the evidence from earlier to file for arbitration against Kinoshita from our Class D.”

Class D had already lost.

Ryuen was clear and accepted the fact.

So now, he had to find a way to minimize the loss.

At the very least, he could not let Kinoshita be expelled!

Kinoshita was one of the only two athletic prodigies in Class D.

Even Ibuki Mio wasn’t quite at her level.

Although because of the mutual destruction strategy, Kinoshita couldn’t participate in the upcoming competitions.

But what about next semester, or the semester after that? Even next year or the year after?

There would certainly be more sports festivals.

This was also why Ryuen wasn’t in a rush about the class evaluation scores, because only graduating from Class A in the third year would make it meaningful.

So.

If Kinoshita were expelled, they would lack a means of handling future sports festivals.

And if Kinoshita were expelled now, who would listen to his commands later?

Whether in the long run or otherwise, he couldn’t let Kinoshita be expelled.

“So, you’re admitting this was all part of your plot against our Class B?”

Hikigaya finally smiled, but Ryuen, with a dark face, felt like Hachiman was mocking him.

“Yes, I admit it.”

Ryuen took a deep breath, trying to remain calm, “So, how about it? This deal is pretty good, right?”

Three million in exchange for Kinoshita.

He felt it was worth it.

Because Class A had to pay him 1.2 million every month, so he could earn back three million in just a little over two months.

But if Kinoshita were really expelled, and he wanted to save her, it would cost him 20 million points!

“That’s really unfortunate.”

Hachiman sighed, but Ryuen’s heart sank, feeling as if Hachiman had just breathed a sigh of relief.

“Alright, no more pretending.”

Hachiman spread his hands, “Actually, I only just obtained the evidence of your plot until just now.”

“…”

Ryuen was speechless, and then suddenly realized something.

“Are you still recording?”

Because, in Horikita’s recording, there was no information about him being the mastermind. But now, the conversation between him and Hikigaya could show that he was the mastermind.

“Three million for Kinoshita.”

“And five million for you, Ryuen,” Hikigaya said. “I think you’ll accept that.”

“After all, you previously wanted to directly take one million from me, so asking for 8 million from you is already quite cheap,” Hikigaya continued.

“…” Ryuen.

Ryuen had no words.

“Hikigaya Hachiman!”

Ryuen lowered his head with a dark expression, once again defeated.

Once again.

In this psychological confrontation, his defenses had been struck and pushed back over and over again.

In the end, he was completely thrown off balance and fell into Hachiman’s rhythm and trap.

And then he voluntarily confessed the truth.

“A total of eight million, make sure to transfer it.”

Hikigaya put away the recorder and calmly said, “Part of it will go as medical expenses for the injury you caused to Horikita, and another part…”

Hachiman paused before continuing, “Ryuen, don’t you feel guilty about this? Don’t you want to apologize?”

Ryuen’s sharp gaze turned towards him, biting his teeth.

“I can apologize.”

“Then go ahead and apologize,” Hikigaya said.

“…” Ryuen.

Ryuen was actually someone who could let things go easily.

But since birth, he had never apologized to anyone.

And now.

“…” Ryuen.

It was as if his lips were stuck.

In the end.

“Sorry,” Ryuen said.

“Looks like you can still bend when needed,” Hikigaya praised. “Now, can you answer me a question, Ryuen?”

“What?” Ryuen furrowed his brow.

He felt like he had lost big.

He had wanted to earn 10 million, but now he was losing 8 million.

And yet, he couldn’t find any way to turn things around.

“Ryuen, who do you think is more important, an ordinary student or someone talented like Kinoshita? To be precise, if you or 10 of the ordinary students in your class had to be expelled, how would you choose?”

“…”

Ryuen.

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t think I only placed a voice recorder on Sudo, do you?”

“I also placed a recorder on the flagpole during the pole vault competition,” Hikigaya said emotionlessly. “Getting my hands on a recorder isn’t easy, so I want to make good use of it.”

“And submitting the evidence of you guys beating up Sudo during the pole vault competition—while it might not get you expelled—it will result in your personal score being judged as zero.”

“And once your score is zero, the bottom 10 students will face a -10 point penalty in all subjects for the next written exam. Do you think your class can pass that?”

“After all, you’ve already used up your score manipulation,” Hikigaya said.

“…” Ryuen.

Ryuen was silent for a long time.

Because.

You little!