Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 179: Sakayanagi: “If I spend 20 million, would you be willing to come?”

Object Competition

The rules of the object competition are simple. Starting from the starting line, everyone runs toward the finish line.

The length of the course is only 200 meters.

However, the finish line is not the end. Instead, there is a box with slips of paper inside.

The person who reaches the finish line first must draw a slip from the box and then find the item or person listed on the paper as quickly as possible, bringing them back to the starting line.

The first person to find it and return is the winner.

So this competition has a lot of randomness and luck involved.

For example, if someone is lucky enough to draw “clothes” on the slip of paper, they can turn back to the starting point right away since they are already wearing clothes.

Of course, generally speaking, the items listed will not be that simple. So it’s possible to get lucky and find the needed item right away, or perhaps encounter a very difficult task.

For example, if the slip of paper says “ten friends,” then probably only Kushida or Ichinose could complete that task.

And if the slip says something like “girlfriend,” then Hikigaya would think that he might have to forfeit.

Each group consists of 8 students, and each class can send 2 students.

The boys go first.

At the starting line.

“Hehe, Hikigaya, you’re also participating. You’ve already received the most generous rewards from this exam, yet you’re still coming down here personally?” Someone spoke to him.

The tone was not friendly.

This was inevitable, as it was Ryuen.

“I’m just filling up the numbers,” Hikigaya replied. “But Ryuen, you seem to be working hard.”

“This time, I won’t lose again,” Ryuen said darkly, standing at the same starting line as Hikigaya.

He was currently helping his class rack up points.

Although many points had been lost, as long as they could rank first in the grade, their loss in this sports festival wouldn’t be too great.

They could still earn 400 class evaluation points.

And then they could use that to threaten Class A, gaining a few million more.

It wasn’t the end yet.

So even though Hikigaya could get the 300-point agreement with Class A, Ryuen hadn’t fully lost yet.

And now.

Naturally, this competition was something Ryuen would win!

“I’m a bit nervous,” said Ike, who had signed up with Hikigaya.

Ike was the one who had initially argued with Sudo, who wanted to sign up for everything, hoping to earn some points for himself.

He had once been friends with Yamauchi but was now an enemy.

However, although he was an enemy with Yamauchi, his relationship with Hikigaya was still that of ordinary classmates.

“I heard that this time, some non-student council members helped provide the slips for the object competition,” Ike said. “And there are slips that say things like ‘girlfriend’ and ‘boyfriend.’ If I get a ‘girlfriend’ slip, I might have to forfeit.”

Is that so?

Ike had tried to confess to Kushida on the ship, and to do so openly, he would obviously still need to be single.

However.

When Ike tried to confess to Kushida, Hikigaya used the excuse that Kushida already had a boyfriend.

This had an impact on Kushida’s popularity.

Although Hikigaya didn’t believe Ike’s words, which were disliked by most girls and were at the bottom among the boys, he still gave him a little reminder.

“Please keep Kushida’s emotional matters confidential.”

“I-I know, of course!” Ike said. “But, Hikigaya, you’re too cruel! I was about to forget about it!”

Yes.

Kushida was like an angel, and even if she knew about the boyfriend, she would subconsciously try to forget it.

However, if Hikigaya drew the “girlfriend” slip in the object competition, he could still participate in the exam.

Since both Hikigaya and Hori were completely innocent, and from the outside, their relationship looked good, using that excuse wouldn’t be out of the question.

“Shh!”

At that moment, the whistle blew, and the eight students at the starting line took off at the same time.

In this event, there weren’t many seeded players.

After all, there was the 1200-meter event later, which required stamina, so these unpredictable events rarely had seeded players involved.

This was to avoid wasting stamina and to prevent not earning points.

However, Ryuen was here.

It was obvious that Ryuen’s class was racking up points by any means necessary.

While thinking about all this, Hikigaya quickly moved forward.

Soon.

Ryuen grabbed a slip of paper and quickly headed in one direction off the field.

It seemed he had already identified the item or person he needed to borrow.

In the object race, sometimes the items that need to be borrowed were outside the field, but there was a time requirement. You had to return within 10 minutes, and if you were late, it was considered a forfeit.

Of course, if the top few people were already decided, it didn’t matter whether they came back or not, since they wouldn’t earn any points.

Ryuen moved quickly, and the slip he displayed said “mineral water,” so he directly walked off the field, found a classmate, and had them bring him the mineral water.

He didn’t wait long—just a few seconds—and Ryuen had the item he needed.

At that moment, he looked at the other competitors with a victorious air.

He was the first to reach the finish line and obtain the slip.

The second student who got their slip left the field immediately.

Hikigaya was the fourth to arrive.

However, this fourth person, after looking at his slip, immediately ran back toward the starting line.

“…”

Unable to understand.

Was this guy not going to borrow the item? Or was he forfeiting the competition?

While thinking this, Ryuen quickly started running back toward the starting line.

After all, he had already borrowed the item.

He could act now.

Hikigaya was already approaching the starting point.

Then, Ryuen heard Hikigaya’s voice.

“Kushida!”

Hikigaya shouted, and Kushida, who had been cheering near the starting line as a fellow classmate, tilted her head in confusion.

She wasn’t quite sure what was going on.

“Smack!”

Without explaining, Hikigaya grabbed Kushida’s soft little hand and, despite her startled cry, pulled her toward the starting point to report to the scorer.

The scorer nodded and then announced the result.

“First place, Class 1B, Hikigaya Hachiman.”

“What!?”

First place was decided just like that?

“He cheated!”

Ryuen, still some distance from the starting point, immediately shouted, “He absolutely cheated!”

“He didn’t borrow anything.”

Yes.

Everyone saw that Hikigaya never left the field and simply held Kushida’s hand, heading directly to the scorer to report.

“Oh? Ryuen, are you angry?” Hikigaya asked leisurely, looking at Ryuen. “I didn’t expect you’d be jealous over something like this.”

“I didn’t expect to get lucky like this,” Hikigaya added.

Saying this, he pulled out his slip of paper.

Printed on the paper was the word [Kikyo].

Kikyo could refer to the flower, or Kushida Kikyo.

Since this is an object competition, considering the complexity and difficulty of the items borrowed, if the item is recognized, it is generally considered a pass.

Kikyo, of course, could be understood as referring to Kushida.

“By the way, you’re not thinking that you couldn’t beat me even after cheating, so you think I cheated too, right?”

At this point, Hikigaya suddenly spoke. “After all, sometimes a very clean thing can only be seen as dirty by those with a guilty conscience.”

In other words, Hikigaya was implying that Ryuen was accusing others of cheating because he himself was guilty.

“Tch!”

Ryuen’s face darkened. The object competition could be cheated.

For example, since it was a drawing of slips, one could prepare the slip to be drawn in advance.

Then, at the moment of drawing, they could switch the slip they drew with the one they needed.

This way, they could quickly prepare the item they wanted to borrow.

Then, they could run back immediately.

A very dirty trick.

However, the box containing the slips was large and had only one box, which meant that the following events, even for the upper grades, would also take place here. Therefore, the slips inside wouldn’t be checked, and it would be easy to deceive others.

For someone like him, who was always thinking of cheating, he naturally wouldn’t miss such an opportunity.

And he had thought that, with his cheating, he would definitely win.

However, it didn’t happen.

Was it that even cheating couldn’t allow him to beat Hikigaya?

“How outrageous!”

Ryuen lowered his head with a grim expression, not wanting to speak anymore.

As for any potential reports, he didn’t care anymore. He had nothing left, and was no longer afraid of anything. If anything, he didn’t think Hikigaya would report him because he still owed Hikigaya 8 million. Unless Hikigaya no longer cared about money, he wouldn’t have him expelled.

Thus.

Soon, the next group arrived.

It was the group that had Horikita Suzune as a participant.

Unfortunately, she had injured her left leg, so…

Hikigaya had to arrange for someone else to substitute.

“Eh, should I do it…”

Since Horikita couldn’t participate in the 1200 relay, she should have arranged for Sato to take her place, but in the end, Hikigaya had entrusted Matsushita Chiaki.

This made Sato quite unhappy.

But now.

“Our class’s Sudo still hasn’t returned from the 1200 meters, so we don’t know what the result will be,” Hikigaya said. “So, Sato, I think you should perform your best here in the object competition.”

“Perhaps the points you earn here will play a crucial role for our class.”

I see.

He probably thought they might lose, so he didn’t let her participate in that but arranged for her to join here instead.

Sato nodded and immediately accepted the arrangement with a good attitude.

“Hikigaya, you really are a good person,” Sato said.

Then, when the judge called for the group to gather, she quickly went to the starting line.

Hikigaya watched her back for a while.

“What were you thinking just now?” Hikigaya asked while sitting down to rest at the base camp. A girl with golden hair and a single ponytail came over.

Since there weren’t many people at the base camp, Hikigaya was sitting on one side of a chair, so Karuizawa casually sat on his backrest.

It was like whispering.

“What was I thinking?”

“Yeah, you were staring at Maya’s back for quite a while, weren’t you?” Karuizawa said.

“…”

Hikigaya didn’t expect that.

“Just thought that girls of the ‘gyaru’ type tend to be easier to deceive,” Hikigaya replied.

“Oh?”

Karuizawa felt like he might be referring to her as well.

But then.

“So, you actually care about this sports festival?” Karuizawa said, placing her hands on her knees. “Now that Horikita’s strength has failed, and Sudo has run off, even Koenji has quit.”

“Do you think our class can still win?” Karuizawa asked.

“Of course we can win,” Hikigaya said confidently.

…

Soon after, the sports festival proceeded according to the schedule.

After the object competition, the next event was the four-way tug of war.

In this event, the entire class participated.

This was a test of pure strength.

In Class D, there was a heavyweight like Albert, along with a bunch of skilled fighters.

On the other hand, Class B had no Sudo, Koenji forfeited, and Hirata from Sudo’s group didn’t return.

So, as expected.

In this test of overall strength.

Class A won.

Although Class A was also missing people, the absence of the usually unplayable Sakayanagi Arisu wasn’t a big deal.

In the four-way tug of war, there could only be one winner.

That winner was Class A.

They earned an additional 50 points.

Next up was the mixed-gender two-person three-legged race.

This was the event where Class B had the best chance of winning.

This was the original plan: to have Sudo and Onodera train, using Sudo’s explosive power to dominate and rack up points in the mixed-gender two-person three-legged race.

However, the current outcome is… Sudo ran off in anger.

Hirata went to find Sudo, but he still hasn’t returned.

Yukimura seems to have gone to help, but unfortunately, he came back filled with frustration.

Clearly, there had been a quarrel.

There wasn’t much to say about it.

Hikigaya had already gotten used to it.

As for the mixed-gender two-person three-legged race, Onodera, who had been the key to racking up points, wasn’t injured, but with her key teammate absent, there was no way she could win first place.

“So, does this mean our class is going to come in last?”

“The White Team’s score is looking really bad right now!”

“Does this mean we’ll lose 200 points?”

At the center of the field, the score for the Red Team and White Team was as follows:

Red Team vs. White Team

6644 points vs. 6312 points.

The Red Team’s advantage had decreased, but they were still in the lead.

Naturally, the students of Class B, who were on the losing side, were worried about losing the Red-White competition and having 200 points deducted.

However.

Aside from the Red-White competition, there was also a total points competition between the grades, and the current scores of the four classes were also quite delicate.

Class A: 771 points
Class B: 688 points
Class C: 710 points
Class D: 746 points

Class B was ranked last.

If no miracle happened, they would be deducted 200 points for coming in last.

Not just Class B, but everyone would lose 40,000 yen in living expenses each month. It could be said that the advantage gained in the island survival test would be completely wiped out in this sports festival.

“So, Hikigaya, what should we do about this?”

Immediately, someone looked toward Hikigaya, who was at the base camp.

This was the usual state of the class—only when everyone’s interests were at stake would people start panicking.

Originally, someone wanted to go ask Koenji, but he had already gone to the spectator seats to watch the event and even demanded a 5 million yen appearance fee. No one was going to agree to that.

Was he from a different class?

Why was he charging money?

At this point, Teacher Chabashira had also arrived.

“Due to the unexpected situation, the school allows for a substitution.”

Chabashira Sae, wearing black stockings and high heels, walked over and said indifferently, “Of course, you can also choose to give up.”

“How can we give up?”

Karuizawa suddenly became excited, raising her pink fists in the air. “We’ve come this far, we can’t give up now!”

“So?” Chabashira Sae asked. “Are you going to find someone to substitute for Sudo, or do you have another plan?”

Another plan?

How would she know? She had just heard Hikigaya speak confidently earlier.

Karuizawa kept quiet.

“The mixed-gender three-legged race is our opportunity to rack up points,” Hikigaya said at this point. “To rack up points, at least the physical ability needs to be like Sudo’s, a top-tier athlete.”

“Only then can we steadily beat the other classes.”

“However, in the beginning, I didn’t plan for Sudo to focus his energy on this event,” Hikigaya continued. “Because a person’s stamina and energy are limited. Sudo’s stamina is extraordinary, but he’s already competed in so many events. It’s a battle of endurance, so having him race in the mixed-gender three-legged race five times consecutively and winning each time wouldn’t be an easy feat.”

“That’s why I prepared a secret weapon,” Hikigaya said. “This weapon was something I discovered after enrolling, but I’ve kept it protected until the class reached a critical, high-stakes moment. Only then did I plan to use it.”

“And now, I believe it’s time for it to be revealed,” Hikigaya said. “I’m confident that after we use it, we can rise to Class A.”

“You mean…?” Everyone turned to look.

And then they saw a boy, who had very little presence, standing up.

The mixed-gender two-person three-legged race.

There will be five rounds in total for each grade. As long as you have enough stamina, you can substitute in after paying the points, and keep participating as a substitute.

However.

Participating continuously also means the consumption of physical strength. So it’s hard to participate in multiple rounds in a row.

Unless someone can maintain their stamina.

“What a pity,” said Kanzaki from Class C, who was participating in this round of the mixed-gender two-person three-legged race.

In fact, his class had an even faster runner, Shibata.

But Shibata’s strength and explosiveness were reserved for the 1200-meter race.

So, Kanzaki was chosen to participate.

Of course.

At the beginning, when he heard that Hikigaya’s class was planning to have Sudo compete for five consecutive wins, he was ready to give up.

After all, his physical fitness was good, but it wasn’t as strong as that of a “cheat.”

Now, the news he received was that Sudo had run off.

So, Class B now had to substitute someone else.

Looking over, Class B had arranged for a student with low presence and an average appearance, Ayanokouji, to participate.

This student, during the previous written exam, was arranged by Kanzaki to tutor Hikigaya’s class. Although he was paired with Sudo, Ayanokouji had been in Sudo’s group.

He was a student with low presence, relatively ordinary.

It seemed like Hikigaya’s class had no one left.

As an ally, Kanzaki felt deeply regretful.

Because.

Their class had now dropped to Class C, so they had joined the White Group along with Hikigaya’s class.

And the total score of the White Group was weaker than that of the Red Group.

The possibility of losing was very high.

So, they would also have to bear the penalty of -200 points.

Class B and Class C were both in the same unfortunate situation, but Class B’s situation was even worse.

Perhaps they would end up at the bottom.

Since they were likely to lose the Red-White competition, Kanzaki could only try his best to earn points for his class. He couldn’t let his class fall into the bottom two, so today Kanzaki planned to take advantage of the absence of Sudo from his allied class to score points.

“Our Class A will not lose,” Katsuragi said, noticing Kanzaki. Before the start of the event, he challenged Kanzaki.

Actually, Katsuragi usually wouldn’t take such a reckless approach.

But Katsuragi appeared here because he hadn’t participated in the 1200-meter race.

At first, when Hikigaya was planning to arrange for Sudo to score five consecutive wins, although he was frustrated, Class A didn’t have such an absolute powerhouse.

So he could only watch.

But now that Sudo had run off, he naturally saw an opportunity to grab some points for himself.

Katsuragi was ready to sacrifice his chance to participate in the 1200 meters and instead focus on the two-person three-legged race to score points.

He admitted that since he had taken over managing the class, the class’s advantage had been weakening, even disappearing at times.

But the things he had lost, he felt he could get them back.

So, he was ready to take a risk and score some points here.

Thus.

He met Kanzaki, who was also there to score points and seize opportunities.

Both immediately regarded the other as a formidable rival.

Then.

“Ready!”

“Set!”

“Go!” The judge fired the starting gun.

Katsuragi and Kanzaki, along with their partners, immediately began moving quickly. Soon, both of them felt confident and noticed their advantage.

However.

Soon, they realized that someone was rapidly passing them.

Like a breeze passing over the railing, they swiftly zoomed by.

Yes.

The opponent’s speed was so fast that it almost seemed like they were dragging their partner along.

Their partner hadn’t even touched the ground before being pulled forward by the opponent.

“First place, Year 1, Class B,” the judge paused for a moment, then announced the result. “Year 1, Class B +50 points.”

“…” Kanzaki.

“…” Katsuragi.

What?

Both Kanzaki and Katsuragi looked stunned.

Because this student from Year 1, Class B, Ayanokouji, was even faster than Sudo!

Ayanokouji’s speed was extremely fast.

Even his partner, Onodera, was confused. She originally thought she would be participating in the two-person three-legged race for five consecutive rounds, so her physical stamina would definitely be drained.

This would have meant she couldn’t participate in the 1200-meter relay race.

But now, she was being dragged along so fast that she felt her stamina would easily allow her to handle the relay race as well.

“We scored 250 points for our class!”

The first place in recommended events was worth 50 points.

So winning five times in a row would mean 50 x 5 = 250 points.

In an instant.

The total scores for the four classes changed again.

Class A: 856 points

Class B: 938 points

Class C: 810 points

Class D: 846 points

“I can’t believe this!”

In the Year 1, Class D base camp.

Ryuen looked like he was about to vomit.

He had originally thought that with Sudo and Koenji missing from Class B, they were finished. But now, a new challenger had emerged—Ayanokouji, whose stamina was even greater than Sudo’s.

He had won the two-person three-legged race five times in a row with an absolute advantage.

And now.

Class D was ranked second to last in the total score.

“Well, it’s not like we completely lost,” said Kaneda. “At least in the Red-White competition, our Red Group is still stable.”

“So even in the worst-case scenario, it’ll be +200 or -200, so there won’t be any added or subtracted points,” he added while walking out of the base camp to look at the LCD screen in the middle of the playground.

The individual or class events for Year 1 had already finished, and now only the 1200-meter relay race for all grades, starting at 4 p.m., remained.

And the 1200-meter mixed relay race for all grades…

The first-place prize for this race was worth 150 points!

The total score for this event was a staggering 375 points!

Although the entire grade participated, this also meant that as long as any class took first place, they could make an incredible comeback!

After all, there was a maximum gap of 150 points to be made up.

For classes with close total scores, this was crucial.

But for the overall score, the impact wasn’t that significant.

That said, if the Red Group maintained an advantage, the results of the Red-White competition were almost impossible to reverse.

Since the 1200 meters would only yield a total of 375 points, even if all the points went to one large group, as long as the Red Group had an advantage of over 400 points, the result of the Red-White competition would already be decided.

“What the hell!”

Kaneda said, pushing his glasses, looking incredulously at the screen.

Everyone then noticed that the total scores for the Red-White competition groups had changed.

Red Group vs. White Group.

8345 vs. 9002

“…” ??

The Red-White groups had a gap of over 400 points.

But.

It was the White Group that had pulled ahead by over 600 points from the Red Group.

Meaning…

“Could it be that something went wrong with the senior grades?”

The same thought occurred to the students in Year 1, Class A.

The Red Group was made up of Year 1’s Classes A and D.

The White Group was made up of Year 1’s Classes B and C.

This meant that it wasn’t just Year 1; the total scores of the corresponding classes from the senior grades were also included.

So, the total scores of the four Year 1 classes were relatively close, looking normal, and it was impossible for there to be such a big gap.

Therefore, it had to be something wrong with the senior grades.

“It looks like Nagumo really chose to betray Horikita spectacularly,” Hikigaya muttered.

“Oh, the 1200 meters is about to start, and you’re still sitting here,” said a voice.

Hikigaya looked up and saw someone with a crutch approaching.

It was Sakayanagi Arisu, with beautiful silver-white straight hair.

She was the one who had conserved the most energy during the sports festival.

Her appearance was clean and neat, and she even had a hint of a pleasant fragrance.

It seemed like Sakayanagi was looking for him.

Or rather, Hikigaya had arrived at the spectator stands and noticed someone following him, and then Sakayanagi came over.

However.

“Because it’s already over,” Hachiman said. “So now I can just sit here.”

Sakayanagi glanced at Class B’s base camp.

She noticed that besides Ayanokouji, who had suddenly gained a strong presence, Sudo and Hirata had returned to Class B as well.

Now, the only remaining event for Year 1 was the 1200-meter relay.

This would be the only event where all grades would compete on the same track.

Each class would send 6 students, 3 boys and 3 girls.

Based on stamina and speed, Ayanokouji, Sudo, and Hirata were the fastest in their class, so they had already occupied 3 spots.

That meant Hachiman could only sit on the sidelines.

For him, it was indeed over.

“However,” Hachiman said, glancing at the 3 empty seats to his left, and noticing that Sakayanagi had chosen to sit in the one closest to him, “You participated in the drawing for the competition, right?”

“Why do you say I participated?” Sakayanagi asked.

“Because whoever writes such an unusual item on the drawing, it certainly doesn’t look like something the student council would write,” Hachiman replied.

He then took out the paper he had drawn, which had the word “Kikyo” written on it.

“I can’t deny that,” Sakayanagi said. “But I didn’t expect you to directly go looking for Kushida Kikyo when you saw ‘Kikyo’ written.”

Sakayanagi then looked at him with her clear, pale purple eyes.

“…” Hachiman.

Generally speaking, when people see the word “Kikyo,” they first think of the flower. So, for him to directly search for Kushida Kikyo, rather than calling her by her usual name, seemed a little absurd.

This exposed the fact that he had a close relationship with Kushida.

“But I also saw your competitive spirit,” Sakayanagi continued. “But unfortunately…”

Sakayanagi said, “You’ll always just be a spectator in this life.”

“After all, a person’s talent is determined from the start,” Hachiman said, showing little competitive spirit in return.

“Is that so?” Sakayanagi continued. “But I don’t believe that’s something that can’t be changed.”

“Oh?”

“Current talents can’t be changed, but we can think about how to change the next generation.”

“Even if one is an ordinary person, if they are with someone talented, it’s possible that the next generation could inherit that talent and escape the identity of being ordinary,” Sakayanagi explained.

“…” Hachiman.

“Such a thing is very difficult to accomplish, right? After all, how many geniuses can you meet, or even… combine with?”

“Is that so?” Sakayanagi continued. “But before the competition started, you asked me how to use the 20 million, didn’t you?”

“…Indeed, I did ask you that question. I’ve already got the agreement with Ryuen and your class for the 300 points,” Hachiman said. “So if you agree, we can make the trade immediately. You can buy out the agreement for 20 million, and I’ll give it to you.”

“This isn’t the best use of my 20 million,” Sakayanagi immediately rejected. “Hachiman, you calculating against me isn’t a good thing. Asking me to buy out your agreement for 20 million seems like I’m gaining something, but it involves exploiting the class every month. If it gets exposed, my reputation will be ruined. So I can only buy out for the class’s sake, but if I do, I’ll lose the 20 million in my hands. So, you’ve taken away A class’s massive advantage in points.”

So it turned out Sakayanagi Arisu was indeed tricky.

This was a pit Hachiman had intentionally set for Sakayanagi.

And she had very keenly seen through it.

Hachiman then looked at her.

“Then what do you think is the best way to spend these 20 million points?”

“The best solution? 20 million,” Sakayanagi said. “It can get me into the class I want, and also exempt me from one expulsion penalty. But what I care about is the ability to change classes.”

“So?”

Sakayanagi said, “If I pay the 20 million and bring you over, Hachiman, would you be willing?”

“…” Hachiman.

Oh.

So that’s how it is.

She didn’t want him to use these points as a lifeline or even for him to graduate from Class A in the end, but she wanted to recruit him right now.

Listening to Sakayanagi Arisu’s words, Hachiman touched his head.

This made him silent for a few seconds.

Then he took out the non-prescription glasses that Karuizawa had helped him buy. But after putting them on, he still saw reality as it was.

This wasn’t a dream.

And as he turned his head, he could see the faint smile, the incredibly cute silver-haired girl with suspenders and stockings.

“…”

Noticing her state, Hachiman put the glasses away.

He seemed to be in a daze.

Could it be that Sakayanagi Arisu was confessing to him?

As he thought this…

“Shh!”

The referee below blew the whistle.

Because the Year 1 1200-meter relay race had started.