There is something wrong with Hikigaya’s classroom of the Elite, as expected

Chapter 27: The Real Deal Came Knocking

After leaving the Shogi activity room, Hikigaya opened his phone to check, and sure enough, the 60,000 personal points had been credited. He couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

In total, Hikigaya had played three games of Shogi, each with a 20,000 personal point bet. This was the method he came up with to earn points after returning from club recruitment.

Although Hikigaya was familiar with games like Go and Shogi, he was far from being able to defeat someone like Shimada-senpai, a 1-dan player.

So… he cheated!

During the first week of school, Hikigaya had spent nearly every day in the library, preparing for today’s challenge.

Popular books and ancient texts about Shogi could be found in the school library, but they weren’t enough. Due to the unique nature of Shogi, memorizing a large number of game records was extremely important. Fortunately, his “compensation of fate” had granted him a memory ability that was even more incredible than quantum reading.

In any board game, memorizing the game records of top-level players was usually the fastest way to improve, especially for beginners like Hikigaya. The improvement at this stage was often the fastest and most effective!

So, Hikigaya found numerous Shogi books, formula books, and nearly ten years of game records about the Eternal Seven-time Champion Dragon King, one of the greatest Shogi players with seven eternal titles. Hikigaya managed to perfectly imprint hundreds of game records in his mind, which, combined with his natural calculation ability, made it almost inevitable for him to win against Shimada-senpai, who was ranked in the top 10 of high school Shogi players nationwide.

Of course, it wasn’t just Shogi; he had also been studying Go, chess, and other games that required strong memory. Through seven days of intense cramming, Hikigaya felt stronger and more powerful than ever!

Naturally, this type of cramming wouldn’t make him as strong as a Super Saiyan, but it was enough to become something like Yamcha or Tōbai.

In most high schools, athletic clubs like baseball, football, and basketball were the largest, while board game clubs were relatively small and obscure, hardly drawing attention. Even in a highly selective school, where the number of students was far fewer than in a regular school, these niche clubs had only a few members.

For example, the Shogi club had only 15 members, which was considered a relatively large number for a board game club. Other clubs, like the Flower Card club or Rubik’s Cube club, might not even have 10 members combined. Hikigaya’s presence in the Shogi club stood out and earned him quite a few points, as it was rare to find someone with the same interests in this school.

Of course, having fewer members and being a niche club didn’t mean the quality was poor. In fact, the quality of clubs at a highly selective school was extremely high, and Shogi and Go were among the top-tier clubs.

In just a week, thanks to his photographic memory, Hikigaya had amassed nearly 500,000 personal points. When he saw the number, even he was surprised!

Originally, this number should have been even higher, but because of his big defeat in the Mahjong club, where the Mahjong club president, Atago-senpai, defeated him with a space-time kill move and an outrageous reversal hand, he had lost quite a few points there.

Even so, Hikigaya was very satisfied with this result.

After all… having money in his pocket made him feel much more at ease.

After this “wool-pulling,” he believed the other clubs must have started to realize what was going on. Initially, Hikigaya had planned to make a quick profit and leave, but he had no regrets.

On Friday afternoon, after school, Hikigaya returned to the club activity building and, according to his agreement, went to the Chess club. The Chess club president, who was dissatisfied, had once again invited Hikigaya to a final showdown.

Hikigaya naturally accepted, and the reason was simple: the president wasn’t particularly skilled but had a strong obsession with the game. Hikigaya’s main takeaway from all the board game clubs was that the Shogi, Go, and Mahjong clubs had the most skilled members, both among the presidents and the club members.

Without comparison, there was no harm in it, and the Chess club seemed somewhat lacking. It was a true hobby club, but since money was being offered, Hikigaya didn’t see a reason to refuse.

Upon entering the activity room, Hikigaya immediately noticed something was off. The small Chess club president wasn’t there. Instead, a petite white-haired girl, who was about the same height, wore a beret and carried a cane, appearing somewhat physically challenged.

In addition, there were two other students: a blonde boy with a ponytail who gave off a cool, bad-boy vibe, though Hikigaya couldn’t help but feel that he had a very superficial air about him.

Not far from them, there was a purple-haired girl, looking bored as she scrolled through her phone. Hikigaya couldn’t help but glance at her a few more times. When he finally looked away, the purple-haired girl slowly raised her head, furrowing her brows as if deep in thought.

“Who are you all…?”

Hikigaya asked, puzzled, as these faces were unfamiliar to him. He had no recollection of seeing them in the Chess club.

“Greetings, I am Sakayanagi Arisu from Class A. Pleased to meet you,” the petite white-haired girl said slowly, standing up and greeting him with a very formal, aristocratic manner.

“You’re… Sakayanagi Arisu?”

Hikigaya was stunned and, without thinking, immediately turned to leave!

Bang!

The door to the activity room suddenly slammed shut, and a tall male student, wearing gloves, appeared in the doorway. He glared at Hikigaya with a fierce, menacing look, as if he was ready to pounce on him at any moment.

“You know me, right?”

The voice of the white-haired girl, Sakayanagi, rang out, and for some reason, Hikigaya felt a chill run down his spine.

“No,” Hikigaya turned around and flashed a hearty smile. “I just found you all a little suspicious, and I’m a bit of a coward. Suddenly surrounded by a group of strangers in a closed space, I thought… well…”

In fact, he didn’t recognize this white-haired girl at all. Of course, he had heard the name “Sakayanagi Arisu ” from someone else, but now the “real deal” was standing in front of him. She had deliberately lured him here and blocked the door with people, which couldn’t be anything good!

“Oh?”

The white-haired girl smiled as she observed the “dead fish-eyed” boy in front of her. “I see… seems I’ve been a bit rude.”

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“First-year class A, Hashimoto Masayoshi. I’m our princess’s guardian knight. This is the first time I’ve seen the princess interested in a student from another class. Also, what’s up with your eyes? I heard there are cosmetic surgeries that can—”

Before Hashimoto, the overly flirtatious blonde boy, could finish his words, he eagerly stepped forward to introduce himself, speaking in a way that seemed to have no restraint.

“Hashimoto.”

Suddenly, the white-haired girl’s voice drifted over lightly. Upon hearing this, Hashimoto shrugged his shoulders in a helpless manner, his expression full of exaggerated emotion. “Anyway, nice to meet you.”

A guardian knight and a princess?

Hikigaya’s gaze instinctively drifted toward the petite white-haired girl.

Is this some kind of special kink?

But the girl’s mannerisms and her small stature did give off the vibe of a young noble princess. Could she be another pampered rich girl spoiled by her family?

How can she accept this so openly? Wouldn’t she feel embarrassed?

If someone called him “Your Highness” in public, Hikigaya would definitely be too embarrassed to even look them in the eye.

“You’re so chatty. Wasting time.”

The purple-haired girl gave a look of disdain at Hashimoto’s casual demeanor and then crossed her arms, turning to look at the dead-fish-eyed boy. For some reason, Hikigaya felt like there was something oddly familiar about her gaze.

Did she seem like she was assessing trash?

It reminded him of a certain demonic superhero from back in the day!

“Kamuro Masumi, that’s it.”

After leaving that line, the purple-haired girl turned and continued playing with her phone, as if she were saying, “Hurry up and leave, garbage.”

Had he offended her in some way without realizing it? Hikigaya felt confused.

“Kito Hayato!”

A deep voice, full of menace, suddenly rang out from behind him, and Hikigaya almost jumped in fright, feeling goosebumps all over his body. Fortunately, with his excellent mental fortitude and his dead-fish eyes, it was difficult for anyone to detect his emotional shifts.

Kito Hayato had a face that looked much older than his high school age, and he gave off a very “fierce” vibe. While Hashimoto might have seemed like a delinquent or troublemaker, Kito Hayato seemed like a real member of the underworld. Even just standing there, he emitted a powerful sense of intimidation.

“Your… eyes are quite special.”

Kito Hayato stared at Hikigaya with an intense gaze.

“…”

An awkward silence followed, and then they heard Kamuro chuckle, while Hashimoto could not help but cover his mouth and laugh. Meanwhile, Sakanagi continued to smile without any change in her expression.

“They’re just a little more DHA-rich.”

Hikigaya replied flatly.

Would he get angry?

He might, or maybe he’s already used to the teasing about his eyes. Hikigaya had heard it all his life—first confusion, then rebuttal, followed by anger, and now he had simply gotten used to it. He had come to realize one thing: he didn’t need to expect validation from others because the world was his own, and it had nothing to do with anyone else.

Of course, more importantly…

“Big brother’s eyes are sometimes disgusting, but… it’s because of these special eyes that Komachi loves big brother the most!”

Hikigaya could face the world’s praises and criticisms, endure silent bullying and cold violence, yet still not fall into despair or go down a path of crime.

Hikigaya had managed to grow up “healthily” because of a single sentence from his younger sister, Komachi.

Maybe it was just something she said casually, something she might not even remember herself.

But that was enough!

As long as he had his sister, that was enough.

For some reason, when Hikigaya said this in such a “cold” tone, the laughter in the room suddenly stopped.

His gaze landed on the white-haired girl in front of him. From the introductions and eye movements earlier, it was clear that this white-haired girl, Sakanagi Arisu, was the true “leader.”

But… they’re all from Class A. Does this have something to do with Haruno?

Sakanagi smiled gently at Hikigaya, as if saying, “Now it’s your turn.”

“Class D, Hachiman Hikigaya!”

Hikigaya originally intended to use a fake name but quickly changed his mind, realizing that they had set up a trap and it was unlikely they didn’t know his real name. It was better to be cautious and avoid giving them a chance to catch him off guard.

For a brief moment, Sakanagi’s gaze became sharp but then quickly returned to normal.

“So…”

Sakanagi’s voice was calm and deliberate as she said, “Do you need something, Sakanagi? I have other things to attend to, so…”

“I recently heard a rumor about a first-year student collecting personal points, so I was just curious,” Sakanagi said in a tone that was neither too slow nor too fast. “That person is you, isn’t it, Hikigaya-kun?”

“Oh, that’s definitely a rumor!” Hikigaya said firmly, his expression serious. “It’s just a normal thing to engage in cultural exchange with the seniors due to my admiration for the high school clubs.”

“Hehe.”

Sakanagi leaned on her cane and slowly walked in front of Hikigaya. Despite being shorter than him, there was a surprising sense of superiority in her posture.

“No need to test it.”

Sakanagi gestured to the chessboard beside her. “How about a friendly cultural exchange?”

Her tone was inquisitive but carried an undeniable sense of certainty.

Hikigaya instinctively glanced at Kito, who was standing by the door. He could only force a smile and say, “Alright then.”

Chess isn’t a particularly popular sport in the Asian cultural sphere, but globally, it’s considered an excellent cultural exchange activity, much like learning English.

Hikigaya’s skill level was that of a quick learner, like a 21-day fast-tracked chicken. There was no way he could compete with someone who had been immersed in the game for decades.

From the opening moves, Hikigaya could clearly sense the high skill level of the white-haired girl opposite him. As expected… he lost. Aside from some exploratory moves in the opening, the entire game was under her control.

“I lost.”

Hikigaya said calmly. He wasn’t surprised by the result. His victories against the Shogi and Go club seniors had relied not only on memorizing famous players’ games but also on information gathering, which had given him an element of surprise.

When Kamuro, Hashimoto, and the others saw Hikigaya lose so quickly, they looked surprised but soon wore expressions as if to say, “I knew it.” They then downgraded their evaluation of the dead-fish-eyed boy to “just an ordinary person.”