Chapter 175: The Reason for No Retreat, the Enemy Nagumo
The final result was revealed, and everything was exactly as Nagumo had predicted. In the end, he forced Horikita Manabu into a difficult position with no retreat.
Ichinose: "Why did he do this... what about the expelled student? Did she just become an abandoned pawn?"
Hikigaya shook his head: "She won't. Given Nagumo's current influence, it would be more than enough for him to use 20 million private points to bring a student back. After all, he controls the points of the entire second year. But Tachibana-senpai is different."
Karuizawa: "In that case, this Nagumo is quite cautious. He's not at all like he appears on the surface."
Hikigaya: "To become such a presence in this school, both courage and caution are indispensable. Nagumo would absolutely not allow conflicts to arise in the second year. As an absolute monarch, he won't tolerate any possibility of a schism."
Sakura continued to look at Tachibana with worry. The distant girl was still bowing her head. Although the goddesses of Class A rushed over to comfort her, it clearly had no effect. To her, she was the one who had dragged down the entire class, and this fact could not be changed no matter what.
And the reason all this happened was simply due to her pride. If it weren't for her pride, Nagumo would never have had the chance to exploit her.
Sakura slowly turned around and looked at Hikigaya with determined eyes: "What do we need to do to defeat this person..."
Although Hikigaya sensed Sakura's determination, he was now more afraid that the girl in front of him would do something dangerous. After all, being in the Student Council already gave her too many opportunities to face Nagumo, far more than him. No matter what, Hikigaya didn't want her to take that risk.
So, Hikigaya simply shook his head gently.
It wasn't that he was afraid of Nagumo, but that he was afraid for her.
For Hikigaya, after experiencing Nagumo's sinister tactics, he was even more certain that he couldn't casually involve others.
Kamuro: "Third-year Class A is really in trouble..."
Horikita: "This bastard, daring to toy with my brother like this. I won't forgive him."
...
Returning to Horikita Manabu, having received the result, he did not blame Nagumo's methods but silently walked over to Tachibana.
Just like yesterday, Tachibana was bowing her head, still unable to look directly at Horikita Manabu.
If it weren't for their conversation yesterday, the girl would probably have been ready to be expelled by now. According to the rules, her expulsion would only deduct 100 class points, while the resurrected Class B would have 300 class points deducted. At least in a sense, her expulsion would actually widen the gap between Class A and Class B. But after Horikita Manabu's guidance yesterday, she had forced herself not to think that way.
Horikita Manabu gently stroked her head, then walked over to Nagumo. (In the distance, Horikita Suzune had clenched her fist...)
"Why didn't you come after me? Nagumo!"
"You know, there won't be a next time."
With the outburst of the former Student Council President's anger, the battle between the second and third years was finally completely ignited. Presumably, in the final semester, the fighting between the two grades will become more intense.
'Horikita Manabu will definitely use his private points to cancel Tachibana-senpai's expulsion. The one ultimately weakened by this exam will still be third-year Class A.'
'Nagumo's plan is seamless. While successfully constructing the encirclement, he has essentially left them with no countermeasures.'
'However... Perhaps Horikita Manabu had already foreseen this result, which is why he told me not to interfere. In Nagumo's mind, I am not yet an enemy to him. In this final semester, Horikita Manabu might want to use my hand to completely change the current second year, but...'
'I have no reason to join the game. The battle between the two of them is too high-dimensional. It's more suitable for someone like me to be a spectator.'
Although he tried hard to deceive himself, Hikigaya's gaze ultimately settled on the girls in front of him.
His fear stemmed from them.
If he didn't provoke Nagumo, he would just graduate quietly in the end, and everyone would smoothly finish. But if he got on Horikita Manabu's boat, even if he could protect himself, what about Airi? What about Kushida? And Kamuro, Ichinose, and the others?
Nagumo's plan was too brilliant. This strategy of avoiding weaknesses was too similar to Hikigaya's own past.
If, one day, they stood in Tachibana-senpai's position, and Hikigaya had neither Horikita Manabu's influence nor such a massive amount of points, what should he do?
Various thoughts rapidly jumped through Hikigaya's mind. Compared to his former self, he now had many more things to consider carefully, a thing called bondage.
Sakura gently held Hikigaya's hand. The warmth from her palm instantly brought Hikigaya back to his senses. Perhaps seeing Hikigaya's headache, she gently smiled:
"One day, you have to come and save me..."
Memories of the past and the present constantly overlapped. What remained the same was this warm love, which was still burning brightly.
Hikigaya's eyes became extremely determined: "I won't let any of you be expelled, no matter what method it takes."
[In the chatroom, Yukinoshita looked at the video with quite a surprised expression...]
[Hikigaya also reacted and said candidly: "She said the same thing as you."]
[Yukinoshita gave Hikigaya a side-eye: "I know that. How do you plan to argue this time?"]
[Hikigaya spread his hands: "Didn't you say you didn't want me to argue anymore?"]
[Yukinoshita was amused by his words, but quickly tugged at his ear: "Although I said that publicly, my mind has changed now. I am very unhappy watching you walk around with other girls."]
[Hikigaya let the girl tug at his ear. Although he wanted to explain something, well... how could he explain it? He couldn't just say the person in the video wasn't him.]
[Faced with Hikigaya's silence, Yukinoshita seemed to have anticipated it. She slowly extended two fingers and gradually slipped them under his clothing.]
[Hikigaya was clearly startled by this sudden action, and his entire body trembled: "Whoa, whoa, Yukinoshita, what are you trying to do..."]
[Yukinoshita laughed and said: "As punishment for you, I think mere pain is no longer effective, so..."]
[Saying this, Yukinoshita no longer hesitated and moved her entire body closer to Hikigaya. She then used her other hand to continuously attack his side and began tickling him vigorously with the hand she had slipped into Hikigaya's clothing. Because the distance between the two was extremely close, and because Hikigaya was constantly being stimulated, their proximity remained very intimate. Fortunately, there was no one in the Service Club right now, otherwise... people might have mistakenly thought something had happened.]
[Hikigaya laughed uncontrollably while trying to grab Yukinoshita's hand, hoping to make her stop. But Yukinoshita acted as if she had found something very interesting and completely refused to let go. The two wrestled back and forth like this, both working up a sweat.]
[After a long while...]
[Yukinoshita still had that gentle yet slightly sharp smile: "If you do something wrong, you must be punished."]
[Hikigaya was constantly gasping for breath, clearly not yet recovered from what just happened: "Isn't this punishment a bit too severe..."]
[Yukinoshita scoffed, then turned her head: "The next punishment will definitely not be lighter than this one. To make the current you understand the simple principle of monogamy, I'll reluctantly teach you."]
[Sakura: "I feel like this girl is planning something..."]
[Karuizawa: "Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no... I don't want to witness that kind of thing in person..."]
[Ichinose: "It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright..."]
[Horikita: "Speaking of which, are you really not worried about Nagumo? Why aren't any of you concerned..."]
[Upon hearing Horikita say this, everyone's thoughts reluctantly returned to Nagumo.]
[Ryūen: "There's no need to worry so much about that kind of thing. You'll know when the new semester starts."]
[Ichinose: "Even if you say that, Ryūen-kun... Weren't you also a tyrant once? Don't you have any methods that can be learned from? For example, how to destroy a rule."]
[Ryūen: "Before I met this guy, Hikigaya... I still thought my rule was quite normal and couldn't be destroyed."]
[Sakayanagi: "Dragon boy, you're still too confident..."]
[Ryūen was clearly annoyed by Sakayanagi calling him that: "I don't think I would lose if I met you."]
[Sakayanagi didn't bother to argue with him further and shifted her gaze back to the video.]
The new semester began, completely different from the previous two semesters. Perhaps due to the change in the Student Council President, or perhaps the school made certain adjustments, Hikigaya noticed as soon as he entered the classroom that the old blackboard had been entirely replaced with an electronic display screen. Previously, students used textbooks in class; now, they were basically all using tablet computers.
However, as a traditionalist, Hikigaya found it quite unsuitable. Although a tablet computer was useful, it lacked the feeling of reading a book. On the other hand, Sotomura was already so happy he wanted to jump up excitedly.
The new semester was as noisy as ever. It took only a moment after Hikigaya entered the classroom for many students to gather around him, some chatting with each other, and others asking Hikigaya questions.
'It seems I am a complete and utter normie now. No matter how much I deny it, that cannot be changed...'
"Silence..."
Chabashira, the homeroom sensei for first-year Class B, walked into the classroom. It wasn't that the classroom was under enormous pressure, but that the person's face itself gave off a very terrifying feeling.
The students quickly returned to their seats. Karuizawa was clearly a little reluctant.
Chabashira: "First, let's announce the latest class rankings."
Class Previous CP Current CP
A 860cp 900cp
B 710cp 740cp
C 600cp 780cp (Promoted to Class B)
D 550cp 680 cp
The good news immediately spread at the start of the new semester, making the class members even more excited. This huge increase in points was, of course, because Hikigaya's leader group achieved excellent rankings and results during the forest school, and the reasonable distribution in Class C ensured that virtually no student faced point deductions, allowing them to surpass Class B in one fell swoop.
However, based on the published results, this was only due to Class B's good luck, as the points for the entire grade were increasing, and Class B obviously benefited from Nagumo's group this time.
After the class cheering subsided, Chabashira did not dwell on the topic but asked all students to take out their phones and download a software called app-over all ability, or simply OAA. After a simple verification process, students' profile pictures and various data could be viewed directly on the phone.
Hikigaya opened his class information panel. Every student was sorted normally according to the Japanese Gojūon (alphabetical order). He curiously clicked on his own profile picture, and everything was displayed like a game panel. Then...
Second-year Class B.
Hikigaya Hachiman:
Category Grade Score
Academic Ability A- 88
Physical Ability B 72
Adaptability A+ 99
Social Contribution C- 44
Overall Ability B 70
'Well, I don't know what criteria this software uses, but isn't a social contribution score this low a bit ridiculous... Also, doesn't simply being alive count as contributing to society?'
Of course, after just a glance, Hikigaya lost interest in looking further. More than this, he wanted to see the first place in this class. And for this software, just by slightly changing the sorting order...
Hirata Yōsuke:
Category Grade Score
Academic Ability B 76
Physical Ability B+ 79
Adaptability B 75
Social Contribution A- 85
Overall Ability B+ 78
Sure enough, this result was not beyond Hikigaya's expectations. After all, Hirata's efforts over the past half year were visible to everyone, and his contribution to the class was absolutely irreplaceable.
'If it weren't for Hirata's passive behavior during the class vote, his score would surely be even higher.'
Just as the students were discussing the software, Hikigaya had already turned off his phone.
'This so-called OAA is designed to make it easier to check each student's data. Although some things are concealed, the basic data is accurate unless someone hasn't used their true abilities for the entire year.'
'For inter-grade confrontations, this software is completely meaningless. It only gives others a means to obtain more information. The development of this software is purely designed for cross-year confrontations. It must be Nagumo's plan. Then... the so-called cross-year battle shouldn't be far off.'
'If the last forest training camp was just a trial run, a small skirmish when Nagumo first took office, then having settled down over the spring break, he probably now possesses much greater authority.'
'Nagumo... this guy truly wants to build a real merit-based classroom.'
A strange thought instantly arose in Hikigaya's mind. He reopened his phone, and what was displayed... was Kōenji's data.
Kōenji Rokusuke:
Category Grade Score
Academic Ability A 90
Physical Ability A+ 95
Adaptability B+ 80
Social Contribution D- 30
Overall Ability B+ 75
'What terrifying data... He almost surpassed Hirata, and this might not even be his limit. But... since even Kōenji's basic strength data is mostly based on the truth...'
Horikita's overall ability was 72, Ichinose's was 69, Karuizawa was 45, Sakura was 52, and Kushida was 55. They were all at a very middle-to-high level. And the lowest, as expected, was Ike... with a pathetic 23...
If it weren't for the great help he provided to the class during the uninhabited island exam, his rating would probably be even lower.
After a simple introduction to the new software, Chabashira left the room, leaving the students to continue their discussion. At this moment, Karuizawa had already approached him.
"I'm not happy! Why is my overall ability so low..."
Kushida also walked over and said without mercy: "Look at your grades, and your physical ability isn't that great either. Giving you 45 is already generous."
Karuizawa was speechless for a moment, clearly angered by Kushida. Ichinose, however, walked behind her with a smile, gently massaging her shoulder, and finally said comfortingly:
"It will slowly improve in the future, right, Karuizawa-san."
Karuizawa clenched her fists: "Exactly! Unlike a certain cold-faced hag who has a cold face every day!"
Kushida: "Huh?"
Karuizawa: "Huh?"
Hikigaya: "Wait, you didn't come here just to fight, right..."
Horikita: "To be honest, Hikigaya, isn't your score a bit low? I feel like it doesn't match your information."
Hikigaya: "Is that so? I think it's quite normal."
Horikita: "Sakura, what do you think? You know him best."
Sakura nodded: "I also think it's low... Hachiman is not inferior to anyone."
Yukimura: "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Is this what a filter full of love looks like? Hey, hey, don't look at me, I also agree with you guys that his score is too low! Mm-hmm!"
Yukimura, who was passing by, made a statement with his life on the line.
Hikigaya didn't pay attention to any of that, instead focusing his gaze on Sakura.
"Airi, has Nagumo done anything recently? Any strange movements?"
Sakura shook her head, her eyes showing a lack of confidence and a hint of fear: "I'm not very clear. Although I'm now the secretary, the person I serve is not him, or rather..."
Hikigaya: "Airi, is there... something you can't say?"
Sakura took a deep breath, then gestured for the group to form a circle, and finally spoke in a very quiet tone: "It's not because I'm not his secretary. Generally speaking, it's because I strongly resisted becoming his secretary. But even so, as soon as his order comes down, I still don't have a choice..."
"Although it sounds a bit presumptuous, I always feel that the way Nagumo looks at me is a bit like looking at prey... I feel it."
Sakura's intuition was always very accurate, accurate enough to make Hikigaya, a materialist, sometimes doubt himself. And he knew very well that if even Airi herself said this, then such a situation definitely existed.
But... Nagumo, what exactly is he after?
The girls' eyes showed some disbelief, but they quickly calmed down under Hikigaya's influence.
Karuizawa: "Didn't Kamuro say before that Asahina-senpai is his childhood friend? But... if he does this, really..."
Horikita: "We can't let you continue to get close to him, Sakura. That guy might do something excessive. It's too dangerous."
Kushida also immediately nodded in agreement. If it were something Horikita agreed to before, she would definitely deny it, but now... not this matter.
Ichinose: "I've had this feeling before too, but maybe because I didn't join the Student Council, Nagumo eventually gave up. But... Sakura-san, you must be careful."
Hikigaya's expression also began to turn cold. The problem that had occurred to Tachibana was now finally falling upon him.
However... Nagumo really shouldn't have drawn the battlefield to Sakura. For a girl who had that kind of relationship with Hikigaya, Nagumo had crossed Hikigaya's bottom line.
A long silence ensued...
Sakura: "I'm sorry, Hachiman. Tachibana-senpai's incident made me realize that some things absolutely cannot be kept secret, so... that's why I told you. Have I caused you trouble?"
Even at a time like this, she was still thinking of Hikigaya.
Hikigaya shook his head: "It's not your fault. It seems I have to join this Student Council no matter what. Sure enough... it fulfills what Horikita Manabu said back then."
"I'm afraid he's been waiting for this day for a long time..."
It was back when school first started, during the Sudō incident. Because he used Horikita Manabu's help, Hikigaya at the time could only reluctantly agree to him, and at that time, he told him...
As soon as the time was right, he would definitely return there.
It seems Hikigaya must participate in this battle between the second and third years. If he didn't have a reason to confront Nagumo before, then now... he has no reason to retreat.
Whether it's the OAA system or other strange cross-year exams, the moment Nagumo chose to take this step, it was impossible for Hikigaya to leave as if it were none of his business. And Nagumo has probably already identified him as his enemy.
The three years are all waiting for an opportunity, waiting for a real exam.
At that time, that will probably be the real battlefield. But before that... Hikigaya still needs more manpower.
Even someone like Horikita Manabu couldn't use just one class to fight against seven classes, let alone Hikigaya? Precisely because he understood this, Hikigaya knew even more clearly the importance of resources.
Welcome to a school where meritocracy reigns supreme.
(End of this chapter)