Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 196: Results Announced – First-Year Class D, 0 Points!

“Good morning, Kushida-chan!”

“Morning~”

“Kushida-chan—”

“Kushida-chan seems to be in a really good mood lately.”

It was now the 28th.

Regular classes had resumed.

In the morning, the classroom was buzzing with chatter. The paired exam had just ended, and it was clear from everyone’s mood that they were feeling pretty good. This was because Hirata had provided answer sheets for all subjects, which were then shared in the class group chat. The students were able to check their own answers and realized that they had all passed, bringing them a great sense of relief.

However, they also noticed that the ever-smiling “angelic” Kushida seemed to be in particularly high spirits these past two days.

Even her smile appeared sweeter than usual, as if something really good had happened to her.

In contrast to Kushida—

[What’s going on with Horikita Suzune?]

As soon as Hikigaya entered the classroom, he received a message from Hasebe.

Hmm.

Even though the exam was over, the study group led by Yukimura was still somewhat active.

And Hasebe, being someone who loved giving people nicknames and gossiping, naturally found Horikita’s current state odd.

Right now, Horikita Suzune was resting her chin on one hand. While she still responded to people, she seemed somewhat absent-minded—like she had something on her mind.

Yet, even in this melancholic state, she still looked stunning.

After all, she was the class’s beauty representative.

But the fact that everyone had noticed she had something on her mind only proved that she wasn’t very good at hiding her emotions.

“Horikita? She’s just going through a melancholic phase. It’s something every normal girl experiences,” Hikigaya replied. “Even you must have had times when you didn’t feel like dealing with people, right, Hasebe?”

“Is that so…?”

Hasebe felt like Hikigaya was trying to fool her.

However, she noticed that Horikita, who was sitting next to Hikigaya, had already started talking to him, so she didn’t press the issue any further.

And indeed, Horikita continued questioning him.

“You’ve actually understood Kushida all along, haven’t you?”

“This exam,” Hikigaya said, “was just Kushida’s lucky break.”

“Aside from working with Sakayanagi, she also bribed certain students in Class C to get her hands on the math test answers.”

“So basically, her connections were what made it possible?” Horikita said.

That was something she couldn’t do. But Kushida could.

“Moreover,” Hikigaya added, “your brother only has one semester left before he leaves the school. You wouldn’t want him to see that you still don’t have a single friend, would you?”

Hikigaya and Horikita were partners.

But Kushida was Horikita’s public friend.

If Kushida were to be expelled, Horikita would truly have no friends left.

Horikita had no response to that.

But—

“I think I finally understand why she kept approaching me when she first enrolled,” Horikita murmured as she recalled the past.

Back then, no matter how coldly she treated Kushida, Kushida never gave up on trying to get close to her.

She would even wait outside her dorm room every morning.

“She was probably really anxious back then—afraid that you’d expose her secret,” Hikigaya said.

“She’s been living with that fear this entire time,” Horikita sighed. “Fine. A bet’s a bet. I’ll help her deal with this problem.”

“Mm.” Hikigaya nodded.

“……” Horikita Suzune.

“What?” Hikigaya noticed that Horikita, sitting next to him, was still staring at the side of his face.

“Why Have You Been Wearing Glasses Lately?”

“Oh, this?” Hikigaya said. “Well, people said I look better with glasses, so I just kept wearing them.”

“Besides, I already bought these non-prescription glasses, so it would be a waste not to use them.”

In other words, it was out of frugality, not vanity.

However—

“Are you trying to get into a relationship?” Horikita asked bluntly.

“Not at all,” Hikigaya replied. “I just want someone to marry me and support me. I want to be a stay-at-home husband—I’m not interested in romance.”

So he wanted to skip the dating phase entirely?

Or rather, did he simply believe that love didn’t exist, and that only marriage, where someone took care of him, was real?

“……” Horikita Suzune.

Even now, she still couldn’t understand his views on relationships.

So when it came to the topic of romance, she had absolutely nothing to contribute.

Just as she was thinking this—

The sound of approaching footsteps filled the classroom. The distinct clacking of high heels.

And in this class, only one person dressed like that.

Homeroom teacher Chabashira Sae.

Sure enough—

Moments later, Hikigaya saw what looked like a taller version of Horikita Suzune passing by the back door—no, wait, it was just Chabashira-sensei.

She walked up to the podium and began announcing the exam results.

“First of all, congratulations. No one was expelled.”

“This is a first in my teaching history.”

“Additionally, since the final exams are over, any unfinished courses for this semester will no longer continue. This means that from today until October 31st, you all have a break.”

“Please report back here at 8 a.m. on November 1st to begin the second semester.”

After finishing her announcement, Chabashira waited for questions from the students. But instead, they were all left dumbfounded.

“So… the semester still had over fifty pages of material left, and we’re just not going to cover it?” Ike stood up in shock.

“That’s correct,” Chabashira nodded. “I told you from the very beginning—this school is quite unique.”

“Then what about the living expenses that are deposited into our accounts on the 1st of each month during breaks—?”

“That will continue,” Chabashira confirmed. “However, adjustments will be made based on this exam’s results—”

But before she could finish, the students erupted into cheers.

“……” Meanwhile, unlike her classmates who were excited about the break, Horikita Suzune simply continued reading her textbook.

To her, whether there was a break or not made no difference.

She was someone who spent at least ten hours a day studying. That wouldn’t change, holiday or not.

As for Hikigaya, though he remained outwardly calm, he had already calculated the rankings for each class after the exam.

Although Kushida was no longer in danger—

And he had won the bet, avoiding expulsion—

Still—

Just as he had told Ichinose, Class A’s position had dropped.

Even though Class C had a traitor, and the exam questions had been leaked to Hikigaya, he hadn’t distributed them fully to his classmates. Instead, he had Hirata modify 20 questions on the test to become “freebie” points.

As a result, his class essentially gained an extra 20 points.

This was the key reason no one got expelled in this exam.

If it weren’t for Sakayanagi provoking him, Hikigaya wouldn’t have even given them that 20 points.

Because—

If the school imposed harsher tests in the future—tests that demanded expulsions—then they would need to have “expendable” students.

For now, they had to keep them around.

And when the time came, they could be sacrificed.

This was one of the rare advantages of their class—

That is, when faced with a situation where expulsion was inevitable, they had plenty of “reserves” to take the fall.

However—

Since he hadn’t leaked the full set of answers, they had lost this exam.

1491 – 200 = 1291 points.

Meanwhile—

Sakayanagi’s Class C: 908 + 200 = 1108 points.

Ichinose’s Class B: 1171 + 200 = 1371 points.

And as for First-Year Class D—0 – 200 = 0 points.

Which meant—

Ichinose’s class had risen from B-Class to A-Class.

And Hikigaya’s class had dropped to B-Class.

However, none of his classmates seemed to care.

The only thing they did care about was how much their monthly allowance would be.

And with a one-month break coming up, there were unlikely to be any tests.

The only thing that mattered now was how much they could spend during the vacation.

As for Hikigaya’s own point balance—

15.46 million points.

Though—

He had lent 1 million to Hiyori and 8 million to Ryuen.

But he still had a steady income:

• 200,000 points monthly from Ichinose’s class.
•
• 1.2 million points monthly from Sakayanagi’s class.
•
• An additional hundreds of thousands from his own class.
•
Not bad at all.

Even after graduation, if he became a high-level corporate employee, he still probably wouldn’t make 1.5 million yen per month in salary.

So.

Thinking about it this way, he felt a slight reluctance to graduate.

Advanced Nurturing High School really was a great school.

Other classes were also holding similar homeroom meetings.

First-Year Class B

“Congratulations, everyone, on becoming Class A.”

Homeroom teacher Hoshinomiya Chie congratulated her students.

The students of Class B had worked extremely hard this time. The class’s average score across all subjects was 88 points, ensuring a definitive victory over Class D.

Of course—

Achieving such scores was something to be proud of, but it wasn’t entirely pure.

Even though Class B had strong academic abilities, Class D—despite being the “inferior” class—still had students with high academic potential. If the exam had been entirely fair, it wouldn’t have been so easy for Class B to average 88 points.

So perhaps there had been some irregularities—such as an exchange between the two classes.

From a certain perspective, as a homeroom teacher, she should be happy.

Because it meant these pure-hearted little angels of Class B had finally figured out how to survive in this school.

In other words, they had been slightly tainted.

And there was another reason to be excited—

Now that her class had moved up, Chabashira would be knocked down from Class A.

This was something Hoshinomiya Chie loved to see.

First-Year Class C (Formerly Class A)

“The results of the exam will now be announced.”

In the classroom that originally belonged to Class A—now labeled as Class C—homeroom teacher Mashima began revealing the results.

The school followed a ranking system for classes. However, if the rankings changed, students didn’t need to switch classrooms—only the class plaques would be replaced.

And so, the former Class A’s classroom now bore the label Class C.

“First of all, congratulations. No one was expelled in this exam—though for you all, that was an expected outcome. Additionally, congratulations on gaining 200 class points from Class A.”

With this, their class’s total evaluation points had been restored to 1,108.

This placed them about 300 points behind Ichinose’s class (now the new Class A) and around 100 points behind Hikigaya’s class.

However—

Compared to the previous 500-point gap, this was already a significant improvement.

.

.

.

After class, Kamuro approached Sakayanagi Arisu.

“Sakayanagi, we won this exam.”

“Yes, that was the expected outcome,” Sakayanagi replied. “There are inherent disparities between classes. Naturally, our academically superior students would outperform the underachievers in Hikigaya’s class. However—”

She paused for a moment.

“You mean, even after winning one exam, we still haven’t managed to return to Class A?” Kamuro asked.

“No,” Sakayanagi said. “I haven’t even thought about that.”

…Seriously.

So it was just as Kamuro had suspected.

She had always felt that Sakayanagi didn’t particularly care about their class ranking. Previously, due to her poor health, she had delegated control of the exam strategy to Katsuragi—not just to mock him, but also because she simply lacked interest in the class itself.

In this paired exam—

• Class C gained +200 points.
•
• Class B gained +200 points.
•
As a result, Ichinose’s class officially became Class A.

For Kamuro, dropping in rank didn’t matter—as long as they found an opportunity to climb back to Class A later.

After all, her personal goal was to graduate from Class A and gain direct admission to her desired university without taking entrance exams.

Yet, in the span of just two consecutive exams, two different classes had now occupied the former Class A position.

It almost felt like Class A was just rotating between different classes—as if next year, it might be someone else’s turn.

However, Kamuro didn’t believe Class D could ever take that spot.

After all, it seemed that Ryuen had abandoned leadership, and his class hadn’t even earned any points this time.

Still 0 points.

“So, what are you thinking about now?” Kamuro asked.

Her unusually talkative behavior today wasn’t normal.

In fact, she was feeling a bit guilty.

Because—

Even though their class had achieved good results, she had actually done something that betrayed the class.

She had leaked the test questions to Hikigaya Hachiman.

Sakayanagi probably didn’t know yet, which was why Kamuro had deliberately approached her, trying to cover it up with casual conversation.

“Eh,” Sakayanagi gently shook her head. “I’m just wondering if my choices were correct.”

She said, “About my deliberate attack on Kushida and having Kushida attack Horikita Suzune.”

Oh.

So it was about that.

During this exam, Sakayanagi had indeed been carrying out this plan.

After Hikigaya was promoted to Class A, Sakayanagi finally regained control over her own class. However, just as she was preparing to launch an attack, Hikigaya simply refused to engage.

This deeply frustrated Sakayanagi.

So, she decided to attack the people around him first—forcing him to take action.

If he chose to do nothing, then Kushida Kikyo would be expelled.

Throughout this process, Kushida had been completely manipulated.

And yet, she still followed Sakayanagi’s instructions.

However—

Now that the results were out—

Her attempt to cooperate with Kushida had failed. The exam papers she had given to Kushida weren’t even used. But in the end, her own class won, while Hikigaya’s class declined.

Yet, despite this outcome—Sakayanagi realized that she felt no joy at all.

How should she put it?

Attacking an enemy should have been a satisfying experience, but this time, it left her feeling nothing.

In fact, she felt irritated.

Her plan to spread rumors through Kushida and attack Horikita Suzune had been blocked.

Or rather, it had been swiftly suppressed before it could even begin.

So, her irritation wasn’t actually because of Hikigaya Hachiman—no, it was because Hikigaya had immediately stepped in the moment Horikita Suzune was attacked.

Which meant—

Just how much did he care about Horikita Suzune to react that fast?

She hated to admit it, but she knew this was exactly why she felt so irritated.

Even when she targeted Kushida, Hikigaya hadn’t immediately responded.

But the moment Horikita was attacked, he acted without hesitation.

“But it’s fine,” Sakayanagi said. “Kushida-san is going to be expelled.”

“She didn’t get the exam papers I provided. With her academic ability, there’s no way she could have beaten Horikita Suzune.”

“And with the student council president as a witness—”

“Kushida has no choice but to honor the bet and withdraw from school.”

“Uh…”

At this, Kamuro hesitated.

Then, she quickly tried to cover for herself.

“Well… not necessarily.”

Huh?

Sakayanagi’s brow furrowed. She immediately sensed that something was off and turned to look at Kamuro.

“I mean,” Kamuro said, “even though Kushida and Horikita made a bet, aside from receiving the exam answers, Kushida still had a way to win, right? For example… what if Horikita deliberately lost?”

“Since they were the ones answering the exam, Horikita could have just answered around 50 points’ worth of questions, while Kushida scored around 60 or 70. Wouldn’t that still allow Kushida to win?”

“So, in other words, we haven’t completely sealed off Kushida’s chances of winning.”

“I see,” Sakayanagi nodded.

Kamuro sighed in relief.

But then—she noticed Sakayanagi’s eyes gleaming as she stared at her.

“So, Kamuro-san…” Sakayanagi enunciated each word carefully.

“You’ve been helping increase Kushida-san’s chances of winning too, haven’t you?”

“It seems that Hikigaya-san isn’t only concerned about Horikita—he’s also quite interested in Kushida-san. And now, even someone by my side has been swayed by him.”

“What a sinful man he is.”

“—”

I’m screwed.

Kamuro knew she had just exposed herself.

Meanwhile, in First-Year Class D—Ryuen’s Class

The once-feared tyrant, Ryuen, now sat quietly in a corner.

A rare sight.

He usually sat at the center of the classroom, but now he was seated in the very back.

“First of all, congratulations—none of you were expelled in this exam.”

With a sigh, Sakagami Kazuma, the homeroom teacher, addressed the class.

His words brought a collective sigh of relief from the students.

“However, you lost to Class B.”

And just like that, their relief was immediately crushed.

“Here are the scores.”

Sakagami then wrote the evaluation points of all four classes on the blackboard:

Before the Exam:

• Class A: 1491 (Horikita’s Class)
•
• Class B: 1171 (Ichinose’s Class)
•
• Class C: 908 (Sakayanagi’s Class)
•
• Class D: 0 (Ryuen’s Class)
•
In this exam—

• Class A (Horikita’s Class) lost to Class C (Sakayanagi’s Class).
•
• Class B won against Class D.
•
After the exam, the points changed to:

• Class A: 1371 (Ichinose’s Class)
•
• Class B: 1291 (Horikita’s Class)
•
• Class C: 1108 (Sakayanagi’s Class)
•
• Class D: 0 (Ryuen’s Class)
•
Looking at the results—

Classes A, B, and C were dangerously close in points.

At any moment, one of them could drop down.

However, Class D…

“Our class is still at 0 points.”

“In my entire history of teaching,” Sakagami declared, “this is a first!”