Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 192: Hachiman Hikigaya’s Iron Will

Hachiman simply glanced at the 10,000-point transfer notification before ignoring it.

This 10,000 points either indicated that the person sending it—whether they were from Ayanokouji’s father’s side or not—was having a rough time at the school, or it could be a down payment.

It might be an attempt to engage with him first, then send a larger sum later, asking him to help expel Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

But it was rather unfortunate.

Because Hachiman wasn’t accepting this request.

If Ayanokouji really was threatened with expulsion, then Hachiman probably wouldn’t go out of his way to help.

Since the class had already been promoted, his task was complete. Therefore, Ayanokouji no longer seemed important.

Though it might seem like “burning bridges,” Hachiman wasn’t a goody-goody. If Ayanokouji faced an expulsion crisis, Hachiman could offer a little help, but in the end, Ayanokouji would need to deal with it himself.

Around 9 PM that evening, Hachiman noticed that Hirata had sent out a list in the class group chat.

It was a list of study groups, organized based on everyone’s academic ability.

Each group consisted of about six people.

Hachiman found that he had been assigned to Group 7.

The members of his group were the academic achiever Yukimura, Miyake Akihito, Hasebe Haryu, as well as Sato Maya and Ike Kanji.

Hachiman also noticed that Karuizawa, Matsuhita Chiaki, Sakura, and the “best friend” of Kushida, Wang Mei-yu, were in a group together.

These groups were formed for the study sessions over the next month. The students could choose their preferred locations, like cafes or libraries, to meet and study. The goal was mutual supervision and help.

It seemed that he had overthought things before; the study sessions weren’t just for pairs but included other classmates too.

Well, this made sense. Even though they were now in Class A, the class’s academic abilities hadn’t improved much, so there were still many underperforming students. Without help from the top students, it would be nearly impossible for them to improve.

[.]

After the groups were announced, Hachiman saw that Sakura had posted a message, which seemed like an error. Perhaps she didn’t want to be in the current group?

Indeed.

In Sakura’s group, everyone was a stranger to her.

Sakura was a shy person, and being with these unfamiliar students for study sessions felt very stressful.

“If you find it too difficult, you can apply to Hirata for a change,” Hachiman said. “I don’t think Wang Mei-yu would mind if the order is changed.”

“And if she’s unhappy, I can ask Kushida to comfort her.”

“Is that okay?”

Sakura quickly nodded.

Though Sakura was quite introverted, she could still communicate with others normally via messages.

For example, she could contact Hirata.

[It’s not possible.]

However, only 30 seconds later, Sakura immediately called Hachiman for help.

The reason was that Hirata had rejected her and hoped she would understand the situation.

Since most of the groups were already set, it would be troublesome to change them now. Moreover, this was a rare occasion where no one had major objections, so if an exception was made, it could disrupt the calm atmosphere and lead to arguments.

Hirata had tried to reason with her, but Sakura was still very conflicted.

However…

“Is there anyone in your group you really don’t want to be with?” Hachiman asked, sensing Sakura’s overreaction.

“It’s Karuizawa,” Sakura honestly said.

Huh?

This response made Hachiman pause for a moment.

Was Karuizawa really that difficult to get along with?

Hachiman didn’t feel that way. In fact, sometimes he thought she was pretty considerate, even giving him glasses.

Wait.

Suddenly, Hachiman remembered that before Karuizawa became a student council member in charge of discipline, she had a bad reputation. In order to create a “gyaru” image, she came across as domineering and unreasonable, which led to poor relationships with the boys.

So, it was likely this strong, dominant persona that made Sakura feel uneasy.

Thinking about this, Hachiman realized that Karuizawa’s acting skills were exceptional.

Even Kushida hadn’t noticed that Karuizawa’s tough side was all an act.

The reason for this was that when Kushida vented her frustrations by kicking the railings or wooden posts, she only criticized Karuizawa for being tough and sometimes not giving her face.

So, in a way, Hachiman had also learned some of the class’s secrets through Kushida.

While reflecting on all this, Hachiman had already finished showering and was in bed.

As he reached for his phone to set an alarm, he noticed a message.

[Sato Maya has requested to add you as a friend. Do you accept?]

However, Sato didn’t speak out loud.

[Why hasn’t Hikigaya been wearing glasses these past few days?]

[You look better with glasses.]

At first, Hachiman was a bit worried that rejecting her as a partner in class and pairing up with Ayanokouji might make her feel awkward, but now it seemed like there was no need to worry.

[I’ve observed it. You wear non-prescription glasses, right? Sakura seems to wear them too. Does that mean Sakura also wears glasses…? Oh no, she already wears them, so is it that taking off glasses improves one’s looks? I’m kind of curious about what Sakura would look like without glasses.]

The other person was quite talkative.

Hachiman hadn’t noticed before that she could be so chatty around Karuizawa.

After school, the class was divided into several small groups because they were going to have a study session.

As the top students, Horikita, Kushida, Hirata, Wang Mei-yu, and Yukimura were all group leaders.

Horikita chose the library, but Yukimura’s group chose an outdoor café. This was Hasebe’s suggestion; she thought drinking something energizing while studying might improve focus.

No one objected to this, because students who weren’t as academically inclined shared a common trait—resistance to serious studying.

“Eh? Where’s Hasebe?”

It was the last period of the day when Hasebe suddenly disappeared from the classroom.

“Did she run off?” Yukimura, who was the group leader, sounded quite upset.

“Hasebe’s not the type to just run away. She probably left early,” said Miyake Akihito.

“Why would she leave early?”

“She probably has her reasons,” Miyake seemed to understand Hasebe quite well and wasn’t particularly concerned.

So, the group headed to the designated study location—the café.

They really did find Hasebe outside the café.

“Why did you leave early?” Yukimura immediately confronted her as soon as she saw Hasebe.

“Why? I didn’t want to draw attention, okay? It’s a bit inconvenient being in class…”

Hasebe replied vaguely.

“Does that mean you’re embarrassed to be seen talking to us?” Yukimura seemed to interpret that as Hasebe being ashamed, and her face turned red.

“It’s not like that. I have my reasons.”

Hmm, Hachiman had a preliminary understanding of what kind of person Hasebe was now.

The long-lost talent of being an observer of people was once again in action.

Then, everyone picked an empty table. When they were arranging the seats, Hachiman was surprised to find that after he sat down, Sato also sat next to him.

Since they were there for a legitimate study session, no one chatted much and just sat down immediately.

“Did you all bring the quiz papers I asked you to?” Yukimura asked, and as the only top student, he felt quite pressured. After quickly collecting the group members’ papers, he seemed to space out.

He was probably thinking about why such students, who are so bad at studying, even exist.

He first called out Hasebe and Miyake.

He had to tutor five students on his own, and one-on-one instruction was tough.

“I thought you two were really close, but it turns out you overlap a lot in what you’re good at and not so good at,” Yukimura said.

“Before, when I was reading at the library, Hasebe came over to talk to me. Just a casual chat,” Miyake explained his relationship with Hasebe.

So that meant Hasebe was an extrovert who could easily identify introverts.

“I’m the type who prefers being alone, like Miyake. I can’t really fit into the class,” Hasebe said. “Hikigaya, what do you think we should do to better fit into the class?”

“…” He asked me?

Listening to her talk, Hachiman felt a resistance and thought it would be best not to get involved with her. She had just referred to Miyake as “Mi- San”?

Xiao San.

“…”

So she probably liked giving people nicknames.

Hachiman didn’t appreciate her ability to come up with nicknames.

Because he had a bunch of his own.

Like “Hikigaya Fungus,” “Hikigaya Frog,” “Penguin,” and so on…

“Because it’s so overwhelming,” Yukimura said while looking at everyone’s grades with a headache. “I need to think about the way we study. I’m sorry, but I need some time.”

“Got it. So we can just have tea and wait for you, right?” No one objected.

Hasebe promptly pulled out her phone to relax. Indeed, in today’s world, you could easily kill time with a phone.

Most people in the boat exam did just that during the conversation session, and very few actually went to read.

But not all girls did this, because Hachiman noticed that Sato, who was sitting next to him, didn’t make any move to grab her phone. She just had both hands on the table and slightly tilted her body, looking at him.

Hey, hey.

For the first time, being gazed at by a girl with such intense eyes, even Hachiman felt the pressure.

“By the way.” Maybe realizing his discomfort, Hasebe suddenly pressed her phone down. “Speaking of which, Hikigaya…”

She directly mentioned his name. “What about this special exam? Aren’t you planning to do something?”

Eh?

“Like last time, when you invited students from Class B to come and tutor everyone,” Hasebe said.

“……” Hachiman.

In other words, the written exam is coming up again, so why not invite students from Class B to come over?

In other words.

Hasebe was probably worried about her own grades.

After all, she was one of the bottom 10 students in the sports festival, so she had a -10 points penalty for every subject.

Thus, to pass the joint exam with her partner, they would need a score of 70 points. The total score across all subjects is 780 points.

The pressure suddenly increased.

But her thinking was a bit idealistic.

Invite the top students from Class B.

“The students in Class B also have their own exams. They’ve probably formed study groups, so they are busy too,” Yukimura, who had been troubled earlier, said.

But Hachiman thought his explanation was wrong.

Because Class B and Class D were paired up for the exam.

And Class D was so broke they had no money for food.

Even Shiina had borrowed money from him.

In other words.

Class D probably wanted to sell anything they could this time, so the 200 points were directly handed over to Class B, and Class B would pay them in exchange.

So what Class B needed to do was memorize the exam papers provided by Class D, meaning most of the students had a lot of free time.

There was no need to hold a study session or even study at all.

So inviting them over was more than enough.

But.

Even if Class B was full of kind-hearted people, inviting them still required favors, and Hachiman wondered why he should continue spending his personal connections for the current class.

Therefore.

He certainly didn’t contact Ichinose.

At the same time.

He also didn’t contact Sakayanagi.

Since Kushida was misled by Sakayanagi and Sakayanagi had provoked him, Hachiman hadn’t contacted her again, and he didn’t even go to the private room on the third floor for lunch anymore.

But just as he was thinking this, his phone vibrated.

It was a message.

[Come over for dinner. I’m at the steakhouse in the shopping street.] by Sakayanagi Arisu.

Huh, Sakayanagi is there too?

Or maybe he just saw him in the shopping street earlier.

But.

Hey, hey, hey, Hachiman is a man of principle.

How could he just go because someone called him?

With that thought, Hachiman felt his phone vibrate again.

[Your account has received 100,000 yen. Current balance: 16,553,300 yen.]

Hmm.

Sakayanagi can you use other methods to invite him? It made it seem like he really liked money.

So.

After the study session, Hachiman went to the steakhouse.