Hachiman Hikigaya, who returned from his studies after completing his training.

Hachiman Hikigaya, who returned from his studies after completing his training.

Author: Mingming

Summary:

Hachiman Hikigaya, who was expelled from his second year of advanced training school due to a unanimous failure in the entrance exam, was taken in by a rich young lady after leaving school and received training. After passing the college entrance exam, he happily acquired a large truck...

Hachiman Hikigaya, who wasn't exactly a prodigy: "Ouch, it hurts so much, Ryuen!"

Ryuen: "Hachiman is my good brother, I have to pay more."

Ichinose: "No one can take what's mine away from me."

Ayanokouji: "How did I end up in Class C?"

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Currently secured: Hiyori Ichinose Shiina

The number of students temporarily expelled from Hikigaya is nine.

Volume One

Chapter 1 High School Reopens

"Can you still be called a human being, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji?" In the classroom of Class 2-C, Hachiman Hikigaya slowly stood up and stared directly at his deskmate.

This is a special exam called "Maintaining Unity Throughout the Exam".

The last question is whether everyone agrees to allow a student to drop out of school and receive a reward called "class points." Everyone must agree, regardless of their opinion; otherwise, there will be a penalty of deducting class points.

Because a classmate named Kikyo Kushida kept voting in favor of rebellion, a situation arose where a vote had to be held to expel a student, otherwise they would fail the exam. Hikigaya struggled for a long time before finally deciding who would be expelled.

Votes in favor: 37 Votes against: 1

Because there was no unanimous agreement, a new vote will be held in ten minutes.

The classroom atmosphere was oppressive and somewhat despairing. Sakura Airi, a student who had been expelled, stood with her body trembling from time to time. Her friend Hasebe Haruka, who had cast her vote of approval after being persuaded by Sakura's loud shout that she did not want to drop out but decided to sacrifice herself, was also present.

Everyone thought the exam would end there, but unexpectedly, Hachiman, who was usually like a ghost in class, suddenly changed his mind.

"I'm curious about your reasons for voting against it." Ayanokouji looked at Hikigaya, who was once again convinced from his unchanging, indifferent expression that he felt no remorse whatsoever.

Sakura is Ayanokouji's friend and also has feelings for him, but it is Ayanokouji who proposes to drop out of school.

Because Sakura's actions were so easy to understand, Hikigaya believed that Ayanokouji must have noticed something, and perhaps it was precisely because he discovered this that he chose to force Sakura to drop out of school.

"Horikita... never mind..." Hikigaya didn't answer Ayanokouji, because it was meaningless to him who was planning to drop out of school, and the same was true for Horikita, the leader of Class C who opposed the vote to drop out of school and was a rebel named Kushida.

"I'll vote against whatever you say, so be it." Hikigaya sat down listlessly, ignoring everyone, which naturally resulted in him being considered for expulsion.

Although he didn't think he was close to Sakura, who had chosen to sacrifice herself, he wouldn't allow himself to be part of the persecution that led to Sakura's expulsion, even if it meant dropping out of school.

He also has his own principles.

That day, three students dropped out of Class C.

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After the college entrance exam, Hachiman was riding his bike home when he was kissed by a truck. When he came to his senses, he found himself back at the opening ceremony of his first year of high school. He pretended to faint to sort out his memories and was then taken to the infirmary by his teacher to rest.

"Back to this lousy school again." After reminiscing about the past, Hachiman got up from his bed in the infirmary, walked to the bathroom, and stood in front of the mirror.

With lifeless, dull eyes, and hair that was not short but went past his eyebrows, he wore a red school uniform suit and looked exactly the same as when he first entered this school three years ago.

High School of Advanced Education, Admission Guide

The school boasts a 99.9% graduate rate of securing employment at their desired job or school, and offers an extremely free academic environment with monthly allowances, including freedom regarding hairstyles and personal belongings. The school guidebook presents a dreamlike picture of the institution.

With government support, it is located in the center of a 600,000-square-meter enclosed commercial district. It has complete entertainment and shopping facilities such as karaoke, cinema, coffee shop, and clothing store. Apart from the drawback that students cannot contact their family and friends outside the school for three years, this school is simply a paradise for students.

But Hachiman knew that this was just a nice way of putting it; the school was essentially a breeding ground for poison. Of the four classes of newly enrolled first-year students, only the strongest class could enjoy the promises of the school guidelines; the other students were merely sacrifices.

Just like in the outside world, the idea of ​​survival of the fittest is imposed on students in advance.

The day he dropped out of school was something he could never easily forget, and if he had to do it all over again, he wouldn't want to live a lazy, aimless life like before.

The outcome is uncertain, and he will not allow Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, that manipulative monster, to have the last laugh.

Having come out from behind the restroom, and having no intention of returning to the classroom, he stayed in the infirmary until school ended before saying goodbye to the school nurse and heading to the Beech Tree Shopping Center outside the school to begin his personal points collection plan.

The 160 newly enrolled students will be divided into four classes: A, B, C, and D. Outstanding students will be assigned to classes A and B, while students with various deficiencies will be assigned to classes C and D. Only students in class A will be eligible to 'graduate'.

If he, who was assigned to Class D in the first year, wants to graduate from Class A, there are two ways: one is to collect 20 million personal points to buy a transfer qualification from the school, and the other is for Class D in the first year to have more class points than the other three classes and become the new Class A with the highest number of class points in the grade.

Class points are the basis for school class rankings and will change depending on school exam results and student behavior. Initially, each class has the same 1,000 points.

Individual points are distributed to students each month based on the class points multiplied by 100. One point is equivalent to one garden and can be used to purchase tangible items such as all goods in this shopping area, as well as intangible items such as exam scores and transferring to Class A.

During the first month after the start of the semester, this information was kept secret by the school. The new students only received false information from their teachers, which misled them into believing that they would receive 100,000 points on the first of each month that they could spend as they pleased.

What he needs to do now is to provide a source for the information he needs to sell based on his memory, because the school not only installs a large number of surveillance cameras in classrooms and throughout the school, but also monitors the large flow of students' personal points.

After trading with other classes, the school tracked his behavior and found that he knew things he shouldn't know without doing anything. This would make the school suspect that he obtained the information from students who graduated from outside the school, which might cause problems, something he wanted to avoid.

The senior students at the coffee shop, the female employees at the clothing store, and the customers at the ramen shop chatted with all sorts of people at the Beechwood Shopping Center until it got dark long before Hikigaya returned to the dormitory building from the shopping mall and got the key to his single room 403 from the dormitory manager.

Hachiman has become quite eloquent, he thought to himself as he waited for the elevator with his keys in hand. This was something he could never have done before. He hadn't wasted his time during the year or so after dropping out of school, under the "love" of a certain young lady.

"You are... Hachiman-kun?"

While he was lost in thought, a beautiful girl tapped his back with her finger.

"I'm Kushida, from the same class. Do you remember me?"

Hikigaya turned his head to look to the left where the voice came from, and a beautiful girl with straight brown hair stood next to him, looking at him with a cute expression.

Kikyo Kushida, a rebel during the school dropout exam, attempted to force Suzune Horikita, who knew about her dark past, to drop out of school. However, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji turned the tables and exposed her dark past.

According to his plan, Kushida has essentially walked into a trap.

Looking around and finding no students nearby, Hikigaya said to himself, "Of course I remember, it's Kikyo Kushida who caused the class to collapse in middle school."

Chapter Two: The Plan to Escape Class D

How do you determine if a student is excellent?

The OAA system, introduced in the second year of Advanced Education, scores students' abilities in four areas: academic ability, physical ability, flexible thinking ability, and social contribution.

Kikyo Kushida, one of the top girls in Hikigaya's class in terms of OAA (Overall Ability), was assigned to the worst class, Class D, because she had caused a class collapse during her middle school years.

Because of her obsession with the pleasure of being respected and noticed by others, she concealed her dark emotions during junior high school when she was not capable enough to be number one. She relied on her ability to smile at everyone, lend a helping hand to anyone, and discuss troubles with anyone to become everyone's friend and gain the most dazzling status.

After accepting her friend's dark secret, she had to maintain her angelic image and had no one to confide in, which led to a lot of pressure. Unable to bear it any longer, she anonymously vented and insulted her friend online. However, her friend accidentally discovered this and she lost her good friend status and was attacked by her classmates.

After being besieged, Kushida did not sit idly by and chose to expose the true colors of the others, causing the students in the class to attack each other and eventually break down.

"What do you want?" After the elevator came down, Kushida grabbed his collar and pulled him into the elevator, pinning him against the wall in a corner.

As their bodies drew closer, Hikigaya caught a whiff of the girl's delicate fragrance. Being pinned against the wall by such an adorable girl as Kushida would normally make his heart flutter, but her fierce gaze only sent chills down his spine.

“There are cameras. If you have any questions, you can come to my room to talk.” He pointed to the camera above the elevator. Kushida looked up and saw it, and immediately withdrew his hand from his collar.

He pushed Kushida aside and pressed the button for the 4th floor. When the elevator arrived, Kushida obediently followed him into the room and closed the door.

Kushida is a very capable person. Her academic and athletic excellence is only one aspect; what's most impressive is that while others have friends in the hundreds, she has dozens or even hundreds. Such outstanding students are highly sought after at this school.

After placing the bag of personal items on the desk, Hikigaya sat down in the only chair in the room, maintaining a poker face as she scrutinized Kushida. Her fierce and stern gaze indicated that she was not in a good mood.

"Take your phone out, unlock it, and put it on the home screen first." To show his sincerity, he first took out his phone, unlocked it, and showed it to Kushida to prove that he hadn't put it on the home screen after recording.

"Tch." Kushida clicked his tongue, took out his phone, unlocked it, tapped a few times, and then showed him that he wasn't recording before putting it back on the table.

Kushida is not a simple girl, and it turns out that his caution was not without reason.

In his view, Kushida was a suitable person to be his assistant. Although Horikita Suzune was better in overall ability, Kushida was much easier to control than Horikita's arrogant personality, and there were reasons to persuade Kushida to transfer to his class.

Based on his estimation, it was impossible to expel someone as cunning as Kiyotaka Ayanokouji by placing him in the same class. The only way to do that was to transfer him to a lower-ranked class and defeat him. The best he could do was to recruit someone from Class D.

"Today, Horikita rejected your friend request without any mercy. Kushida-kun, I remember Horikita was in the same junior high school as you."

With her aloof and elegant demeanor, and incredibly cute face, she was arguably the most dazzling girl in Class D.

Seeing Kushida's increasingly serious face, Hikigaya continued with a nonchalant attitude.

"Her academic and athletic performance in junior high school was the best in the school. She must have been the top girl in her class."

“I don’t know where you got this information from.” Kushida took a step forward, closing the distance between them until their feet were almost touching. “But you must need my help for you to come to me like this.”

"It's not necessarily you I want, but you're a more suitable choice." Hikigaya has plenty of experience with this kind of trick of trying to regain the initiative through his aura and words, while Kushida is still too young compared to him.

"At least Horikita is stronger than you."

"Horikita Tsuyoshi, Horikita Tsuyoshi, why don't you go find her?"

“I have something on you. You said in your self-introduction that you wanted to be friends with everyone. You probably don’t want your dark history from junior high school to be exposed, right?”

Seeing that Kushida was speechless, Hikigaya felt that he had suppressed her spirit enough. Next, he told her information that the school had not released, such as the principle of student class division, the existence of class points and special exams, that only Class A could receive the 'blessing', and that 20 million personal points could be used to transfer classes.

"Twenty million points to transfer to another class, so you want to transfer to Class A?" Kushida, having learned this information, began to deduce on his own, "Even if the two of you work together for three years, you won't even be able to raise half of twenty million points."

Twenty million is almost impossible for an individual to collect, but it's different for a class. With a thousand class points, a class can get forty-eight million from the school in a year because of the existence of free relief meals. In extreme cases, it can even cover the transfer fees for two people.

Hikigaya is targeting Class B. The leaders of Class A, Arisu Sakayanagi and Sho Ryuen of Class C, are both self-centered. He wants to become a decision-maker, not a strategist.

In this respect, Ichinose Honami, the leader of Class B, is not so assertive, and most of the students in Class B are model students, so it is not difficult for them to raise individual points.

"Raising funds for the class will be simple, and it's not twenty million, it's forty million. I need you as my assistant to transfer classes with me." Hachiman tapped the table.

"Just as you hate Horikita, there's someone in Class D that I hate, so I not only have no intention of leading Class D to Class A, but I also intend to keep Class D stuck in the lower class."

"How long will it take to raise 40 million? And wouldn't people call me a traitor if I transferred from Class D?" Kushida also had her concerns; transferring classes didn't fit her public image.

"I'll give you 20 million points to transfer to another class after summer vacation. Before that, I'll transfer to another class first and get enough personal points in the special exam." Hachiman stretched, showing his confidence with a lazy attitude.

There are two special exams in the first semester where there is a chance to earn a lot of personal points. The second one, in particular, guarantees millions of personal points and hundreds of class points. If he knows the answers and still fails, he might as well find a block of tofu and kill himself.

"As for reasons for transferring classes, there are countless possibilities, such as liking someone in another class and wanting to stay by their side."

"Why should I believe you have the ability and that you will keep your promise to give us both tens of millions of points?"

"Failure won't hurt you, will it? Just secretly helping me out gets you a chance to leave Class D—isn't that a good thing?" A slight smile unconsciously crept onto Hachiman's face as he said this.

"Young man, don't you want to go back to middle school...?"

Chapter 3 Hikigaya Loyal Lord Ginseng

"The announcement just said there's a club recruitment event at the gym after school. Do you want to go with everyone, Hachiman?"

"Sorry, I don't really like traveling in large groups."

"Oh, I see. I'll be more careful next time."

Don't say things that make it sound like you've done something wrong. Hikigaya felt a little annoyed as he faced Hirata Yosuke's gentle smile, picked up his schoolbag, and walked out of the classroom.

Hirata Yosuke is a handsome and kind-hearted guy who guides his classmates to be united and friendly. He even organized the self-introduction of Class D. Even though it was only the second day of school and less than two days after school ended, he had already gathered a lot of girls around him.

"What? That arrogant look."

"Never mind him, Hirata-kun..."

"Hey, I heard you!" Hachiman continued walking towards the gymnasium without stopping as he left the classroom. Such childish mockery was like a gentle breeze to him.

Having secured Kushida ahead of time, he has more time to do things he originally planned to postpone, such as joining the student council, which he can do today.

The student council at Advanced Education Secondary School has more power than any other school, including the right to resolve disputes among students and to propose changes to the rules in special exams that determine class rankings.

The simplest example of the student council's power is that it can expel students who make mistakes without prior notice to the school.

Hikigaya found a secluded corner in the gymnasium and waited until the student council president, Horikita Manabu, finished explaining the student council recruitment process. Then, Hikigaya intercepted him and the student council secretary, Tachibana Akane, outside the gymnasium.

"I am Hachiman Hikigaya from Class 1-D, and I want to join the student council." Under Horikita Manabu's sharp gaze, Hachiman Hikigaya looked directly into his eyes without flinching.

"You can submit an application."

"I'm afraid my application from Class D won't even make it to the senior's desk."

"Don't worry, I treat all first-year students the same."

“That would be even worse. I hope I’m the special one. I would be very frustrated if I went through the trouble of submitting an application and then got a rejection with a ‘thank you for your patronage’ message.”

Based on past information, Horikita Manabu's student council rejected all applications from first-year students, even those he considered excellent. Considering that during a special school-wide exam, second-year vice president Nagumo Masaru planned to drop out, and Tachibana Akane, Horikita Manabu's classmate, may have already developed a rift between them.