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

After a meal of oily food that was as delicious as snow-covered beauty, the group went to a karaoke bar to bring their trip to the mountain village to a fairly satisfactory end.

After asking Asahina and her group of five to return to their dormitory first, Hikigaya, under the cover of night and with the cool sea breeze blowing, went to the beach where he had met with Kushida many times in secret.

After meeting Tsukishiro there, this is the first time Hikigaya has met Kushida again here.

Bathed in the light of the crescent moon, Kushida noticed that her light dress had been draped with a simple yet elegant shawl with exquisite patterns.

Her short hair, which had been covering her face, was combed behind her ears, revealing her delicate profile. Her figure was as graceful and beautiful as ever.

"Kushida is so cute today too."

"Aren't you tired of saying the same thing every time we meet? Can't you come up with something new?"

Extremely annoyed, before Hikigaya could even start letting people out, Kushida lightly kicked the railing, making a dull but not sharp sound.

"Because it comes from the heart, it won't change over time." After replying in a fairly serious tone, Hachiman pressed down on Kushida's shoulder to stop her from kicking the railing any further.

"We've installed surveillance cameras here. Let's go somewhere else."

When Tsukishiro tried to encourage him to spar and then take a picture of him in the monitoring room, Hikigaya naturally checked whether there were any hidden cameras installed in that area.

As expected, there were indeed such blind spots. After questioning the head of the monitoring room, I learned that it was installed on the advice of a member of the council. Not only by the sea, but also in the school, the number of blind spots in the surveillance has been greatly reduced.

Undoubtedly, the school's control over students has increased along with the increase in surveillance.

Chapter 193 The Reliable Miss Kushida

It was still a seaside enclosed by railings, but there were neither benches for resting nor streetlights for illumination.

The ground beneath our feet was not paved with stone bricks, but rather a neatly trimmed lawn.

After passing through a fairly lush grove of trees, Hachiman and his companion arrived here.

"Ugh, this is terrible."

With a cold snort, Kushida continued to curse and kick the railing. When Hachiman tried to go a little further away for some fresh air, Kushida stopped him, saying that it was too secluded and no one would come.

By the time Hikigaya finished listening to Kushida's insults, more than half an hour had passed, and there was only about half an hour left before curfew. Because he was with the Yamamura group, he postponed Kushida's invitation.

"There's still half an hour until curfew." Hachiman, who was sitting with his legs spread apart against a tree root, put away his phone.

If you are caught by the dormitory cameras walking in the dormitory corridor during curfew hours, you will have a few class points deducted.

"That's your problem."

With a fierce look in her eyes, Kushida walked step by step to Hikigaya's side, and to his astonishment, lifted the hem of her white dress and sat directly on his lap.

Her feet, clad in sandals and revealing her fair insteps, almost stepped on his right hand.

"Why does everyone prefer Ichinose?" Kushida pressed his left hand against Hikigaya's chest, who was about to move.

Despite betraying the expectations of the Class A students by giving up her leadership position to pursue a romantic relationship with the infamous Hikigaya, the Class A students clearly liked Ichinose more than they liked her.

You should know that she spared no effort in helping them solve their troubles in order to win their favor and trust.

This afternoon, she also listened attentively to the complaints of Bai Bo Qianxun, a girl with abnormal sexual orientation, and comforted her for nearly an hour before she could smile again.

Netkura and Kohashi Yume both came to her to complain about how Ichinose liked Hikigaya so much that she gave up her position as class leader.

Not just girls, but also boys like Kanzaki and Shibata...

There are far more students who like Ichinose than she does, even the famous first-year student council president sitting under her.

"How am I supposed to answer that question?"

Seeing that Kushida didn't make any further moves, Hikigaya let her sit on his lap, since there were no chairs to sit on. Judging from Kushida's appearance, she must have taken a shower.

He could clearly smell the distinctive fragrance of shampoo emanating from Kushida's short, ear-length hair; she probably just didn't want to get her dress dirty.

"Tch, he's just a scumbag who's got an ambiguous relationship with Hiyori." A hint of mockery flashed across Kushida's face as he withdrew his hand from Hikigaya's body.

She is very well-informed, being a close friend of both Ichinose and Shiina. Even now that Ichinose has officially become Hikigaya's girlfriend, Shiina has no intention of backing down.

At first, she was optimistic about Shiina, but Ichinose suddenly overtook her.

"It will end sooner or later."

Hachiman sighed. Even if he pretended not to see it, the time for a resolution would come sooner or later.

Does Class A have any plans for winter break?

He didn't want to ruin his good mood, so he changed the subject. Besides, he really wanted to know if Class A had any big plans. He never mentioned Class A when he was with Ichinose.

After becoming the leader, Shiina also formulated a study plan and physical training plan for Class B during the winter break. According to Hikigaya, he learned from Yamashita that Class C also had one, but not many people actively participated.

After all, students are more inclined to rest and indulge themselves during holidays, but Shiina has inherited his domineering nature very well.

I've already signed a huge personal points reward contract with the instructor; if I don't go, it will be deducted from the personal points issued by the school.

Due to the authority he left behind, the students in Class B could only bury themselves in the study sessions.

"Yes, there are, but unfortunately not many people want to participate." Kushida crossed his arms and placed them on his knees, resting his head on them and looking at Hachiman's face, which seemed to be lost in thought.

"Well, even I didn't want to participate, but that bastard Kanzaki asked me to, so I had to. I even had to persuade those who refused to change their minds, but the effect wasn't very good, since it's a rare winter break."

"Why do I have to listen to Kanzaki complain that students don't want to study even though they failed the final exam? It's precisely because the final exam is over and they lost that they don't want to study."

"Then thank you for your trouble, Kushida." Hikigaya placed his right hand on Kushida's head and gently stroked it, trying to ease her resentment. This trick was very effective on Sakura and Shiina.

From the moment they met until now, Kushida has maintained a cold and angry expression on her face, suggesting that becoming Kanzaki's deputy might not be a good thing for her.

Kanzaki speaks very directly, which is much better than Horikita Suzune's, but he's not exactly a man who knows how to be flexible.

"hehe."

Kushida's face stiffened for a moment, then she sneered and said nothing, letting Hikigaya gently stroke her hair.

If it were any other boy, she would have run away long ago. But if it were Hachiman, she could accept it. After all, Hachiman knew her true colors but never showed any disgust towards her.

Moreover, the feeling of being comforted is not bad, especially when you feel that the person genuinely wants to comfort you, rather than just superficially comforting others like you do.

"continue."

When Hikigaya realized that the person on his leg was neither Shiina nor Sakura, but Kushida, whom he only met when he was out for a stroll, he slowly stopped what he was doing and prepared to leave.

Unfortunately, Kushida explicitly told him to continue.

After hesitating for a moment, he decided to comply with Kushida's suggestion. After all, he had already touched her, so what difference would a little longer make?

"There will be a forest training camp exam when school starts after the winter break. Boys and girls will be in separate teams for the exam. You will basically be the girl in charge of Class A. Just go to whichever group the senior student Ju Qian from Class A is in."

The smooth texture of the brown short hair felt nice, but touching it dry felt a bit strange in the current situation, so Hikigaya decided to ask Kushida for help ahead of schedule.

Nagumo, who once served as the student council president, orchestrated Akane Tachibana's expulsion during the forest training camp, despite Akane's mediocre physical abilities. Although the situation is quite different now, it's always good to be cautious.

"If anything unusual happens, please remember to tell me."

"Yes, yes, you're Akane-senpai, right? I'll help you," Kushida said calmly.

"Then I'll leave it to you, reliable Ms. Kushida."

As he spoke, Hachiman looked up at the night sky dotted with a few stars. He wouldn't be idle during the forest training camp exam.

Because this is an exam that could even cause someone as strong as President Horikita to drop out.

Chapter 194 Hachiman's First Move Was a Killer Move

The ten-day winter break came and went quickly, and amidst the students' groans, the third semester of first grade began.

What made them even more distressed was that just a few days after the start of the semester, they were required to wear sportswear and board a bus to leave the school, and were strongly advised to prepare several spare sportswear or spare underwear before departure.

It's easy to imagine that what awaits them will be a special exam, similar to the one on the deserted island, that will last for several days.

"We still have two hours to go!"

"Keep your voice down." Hikigaya shouted at Sudo, who was kneeling on his seat and chatting with his friend in the main hall. Sudo immediately sat back down.

An hour had passed since they left school. The bumpy journey had made Shiina, who was prone to motion sickness even though she rarely went out, pale. She could only sit in her seat with her eyes closed and try to rest. Even Hikigaya, who was sitting next to her, looked uncomfortable.

"I should have prepared motion sickness medicine."

"I overestimated myself." Shiina opened her eyes and forced a smile. The silver hair at her temples was wet with sweat and clung to her fair skin, giving her a frail and tragic beauty.

"Do you want to lie down for a while? I found that this can be pressed down."

Hikigaya pressed his finger on the armrest lift switch separating the two seats and turned it back to the inactive state.

As a school with ample funding, the bus had spacious seats, and Shiina could easily curl up and lie on her side by pressing down the handrails.

However, this is a bit dangerous if you can't wear a seatbelt.

Hachiman simply believes that with the bus traveling at its current slow speed, there won't be any accidents.

"I'll just sit in the back."

"That won't do. You can't fasten your seatbelt like that. What if there's a sudden stop?"

Perhaps noticing Hikigaya's gaze on her temples, Shiina took out a tissue and gently wiped away the cold sweat that had appeared on her forehead and around her neck.

"The only solution is for Hachiman to be my seatbelt."

After saying that, Shiina took off his sneakers, unbuckled his seatbelt, and sat sideways on Hikigaya's lap, bending his legs and putting them on the back of the seat. He then rested his head on Hikigaya's shoulder and closed his eyes.

"Hold me tight, Hachiman." After whispering softly, Shiina pulled her hands to Hikigaya's chest and gently tugged at his clothes.

"Okay, you should get some rest. I'll wake you up when we get there."

He gently cradled the back of her head through her soft silver hair, and with his other hand, he wrapped his arms around Shiina's slender waist, his tone incredibly tender.

This was the first time he had ever seen Shiina so frail; her long eyelashes trembled slightly like fans from her discomfort.

I tried to relax my body so that Shiina could lean against me more comfortably.

Staring at Shiina's cute face for a long time until she started breathing evenly, Hikigaya closed his eyes and recalled the special exam rules that Chabashira had introduced shortly after getting on the bus.

The exam was held in a remote forest school, almost entirely in nature. It was an eight-day, seven-night joint exam for students from all three grades.

Students in each grade are divided into twelve groups, six for boys and six for girls. After being divided, they are combined with groups from other grades to form a large group of several dozen people. Each group must have students from two different classes to form a group.

The exams for boys and girls are separate. For the eight days and seven nights, boys and girls are separated into different dormitories and are only allowed to have contact with each other when eating together in the canteen.

The rewards for the exam are not important at the moment; the punishment is what matters.

After the final day of exams, each of the six groups will receive a certain number of points based on the performance of its members. The groups will then be ranked according to their total scores, and the group that comes in last will be subject to severe penalties.

That is, if the average score of the three groups in each grade that make up the large group is lower than the average score given by the school, the group leader will be expelled. The group leader who is about to be expelled can also designate a poorly performing student in the group to be expelled as well.

As for the selection of the person in charge, under his influence, the rules were changed to the ones he wanted.

The group leader can be nominated by themselves, and if no one is willing to take the position, the group members will vote to decide. The rule is that the minority should obey the majority and if no one is willing to take the position, a random selection will be made.

"Sakagami-sensei, I have a question about the rules for selecting group leaders."

At the same time, Ayanokouji, on the bus carrying the students of Class C, indifferently raised her hand.

"Oh, tell me about it." With a smile, Sakagami pushed up his glasses. His student, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji, was even more perceptive than he had imagined.

"Based on the principle of fairness in previous special examinations, the fact that no one wanted to be the group leader must have been due to a random selection process, right?"

"In the end, the rule of majority rule does not allow the class with more students in the group to easily elect students from other classes to be the thankless and risky person in charge."

"This completely undermines fairness."

After standing up and speaking expressionlessly, Ayanokouji sat back down. Ryuen, who was sitting next to him, seemed to have thought of something and showed a mocking expression.

"According to the student council's explanation, how to form groups is also a matter for each class to plan. Poor planning will lead to greater risks, which is a problem that each class needs to consider."

"Hahaha, who do you think Hachiman is targeting with this? Ayanokouji or Nagumo?"

After Sakagami made his implication so obvious, Ryuen laughed heartily and patted Ayanokouji on the shoulder.

No one was willing to take on the risk of expulsion for the group leader, especially after the warning from student council president Hachiman Hikigaya, who had already seen seven students drop out.

With a little manipulation, Hachiman could make any first-year student a group leader, unless the person he chose had a very close friend who would take the risk of dropping out of school on his behalf.

Another unfair battle, Hachiman.

If he had known that the student council president wielded so much power, he certainly wouldn't have let Hachiman rise to power so easily.

The fact that former student council president Horikita Manabu did not use this power to widen the gap with Class 3-B shows that he underestimated the power of the student council president.

Without shouting a complaint about the unreasonableness of the rules set by the school's student council, Ayanokouji slowly closed his eyes. He knew that once the rules were announced, they could not be changed.

All he could do was calmly think about how to break the trap that Hachiman had meticulously set up for him. Hachiman was far more difficult to deal with than he had imagined.