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

After seeing Hikigaya put the room key into his pocket, Ichinose showed a smile that seemed to indicate victory.

Back at the dormitory entrance, Ichinose swiped her newly acquired room card on the door lock before he could, and with a 'beep', the lock emitted a green light indicating it was unlocked.

"Welcome back, Hiki... Ichinose-san?!"

Shiina, who was holding a book at her desk, turned around with a surprised expression, especially when she saw Ichinose holding a room key.

"I'm back from grocery shopping with Hachiman, Shiina-kun."

With a bright smile, Ichinose took off her shoes and walked into the house with a light step. She put her schoolbag on the small dining table and then carried the ingredients into the kitchen.

As Hikigaya dawdled into the house, Ichinose, wearing Hikigaya's gray apron, appeared at the kitchen doorway. "Hachiman, can I borrow your apron? I forgot to buy one."

After saying that, Ichinose went back to the kitchen, leaving Hikigaya and Shiina staring at each other outside.

“Um… I can explain, Shiina.”

Although he didn't know what he was going to explain, Hikigaya had a feeling that he was going to say that.

Chapter Forty-Three Apology

"Explain what?" Shiina tilted her head cutely.

"It's nothing... I just forgot to tell you that Fanbo will probably be coming over for meals a lot these days."

Seeing Shiina's emotionless, girlish expression, Hikigaya scratched the back of his head and changed the subject, "The culprit who wrote on your desk this morning has been caught; it's Maya Sato."

"Maya Sato?"

"I'm sorry, Shiina, I made a promise to Karuizawa today that Sato wouldn't be expelled from school." While Shiina was wondering who this was, Hikigaya bowed his head.

People always make mistakes unintentionally. Based on Hikigaya's understanding of Shiina, he knew she wouldn't do something like asking her classmates to drop out of school, so he presumptuously agreed in the counseling room that Karuizawa wouldn't drop out of school.

It wasn't until Shiina mentioned Sato Hikigaya to her that she understood the fact that he had done something wrong.

Hikigaya glosses over Karuizawa's past as a dark chapter, tells Shiina everything that happened in the counseling room, and states that she will decide on Sato's punishment from now on.

"You sit down first."

She walked over to Hachiman and pressed him down onto the cushion. Shiina's fair right hand reached up and stroked Hachiman's face, the two of them very close together.

"Don't make that ugly face, Hachiman." Shiina's eyes softened. "The fact that you can make decisions for me so readily shows that you truly consider me a friend, and I'm very happy about that."

Hearing Shiina say that made Hikiya feel even more guilty. "Since we're friends, we shouldn't overstep our bounds."

Even if I were to say now that I would disregard Karuizawa and force Sato to drop out of school, it would only be self-deception.

"Since you feel so guilty," Shiina patted Hikigaya's head as if comforting a child, "how about you free up your time on Sunday? I'm planning to do some serious shopping at Keyaki Shopping Center and I need someone to help me carry my things."

"Whatever you say, Hiyori." Hachiman turned his head away. "May I call you that?"

“Of course.” Shiina sat down next to Hachiman. “As for Sato’s punishment, I’ll leave that to you. I’m not interested in her.”

Despite her soft and gentle appearance, Shiina possesses a resolute personality that belies her character. Sato's misdeeds did not evoke fear or anxiety in her, which is why Hikigaya subconsciously ignored Shiina. However, he has now realized his mistake.

"Okay, I'll handle it properly." Nodding, Hachiman seriously considered how to punish Sato.

..........

The atmosphere in Class D was even more somber than yesterday, as the members of Karuizawa's clique sat motionless in their seats, looking grim and not exchanging a single word.

When the bell rang for the morning self-study session, Hikigaya slowly walked onto the podium amidst Sato's fearful gaze.

"I don't need to ask Liu Siliuqi Erba, you two."

Amidst the puzzled gazes of the other students, Hikigaya looked at Maya Sato, who was sitting in the front row, and the others' eyes followed suit.

"No way, it's actually Sato."

"A bad student is a bad student."

"They were caught so quickly."

The students in Class D may have much lower academic ability, but almost none of them are so intellectually challenged that they can't figure out Hachiman's intentions.

Sato, her face ashen, had already been told by Karuizawa that Hikigaya had evidence confirming that she was responsible. Even though she was unwilling, she could only stand up, walk to the podium, and lower her head.

"Why did you do that?" Hachiman asked, using the classic question, as if it were a cliché.

He was curious about Sato's reasons for doing this, whether it was because he was still Shiina.

"It's...it's jealousy and wanting to cause you trouble..."

Sato chose to answer Hikigaya's question rather than drop out of school. Karuizawa had already reminded her of what she had done the day before class, enough to make her drop out.

From Sato's quiet reply, the students in the class learned that Sato had seen her best friend Karuizawa's grades improve dramatically after the midterm exams a while ago.

Feeling that she couldn't be left behind, she eagerly wanted to join Hikigaya's study group, but was rejected, even though he could teach a plain girl like Sakura who had a low status in the class.

From that moment on, she harbored resentment towards Hikigaya. When Shiina entered the class and loudly agreed to Hikigaya's rise to power, she impulsively made a mistake.

"Why don't you look for the reasons why you're doing poorly in your studies? Being a bad student is ridiculous."

Sato just revealed that her academic friend, Yukimura, was on bad terms with her, and immediately took advantage of her misfortune. In the past, when he and Sato argued, he was always outnumbered and out-argued by her best friend, leaving him feeling depressed. Now, the tables have turned.

Since Hachiman had not yet announced the punishment for Sato, Sato's girlfriends did not dare to argue with Shinmura at this time lest they anger Hachiman.

"Since you have already confessed, bow and apologize to Hiyori first. You can only come back after she says it's okay."

There are a few girls in Class D who don't get along with the Karuizawa group, including two talented ones. Hikigaya hopes that Shiina can unite these girls, and Sato is the one Shiina is trying to establish her authority over.

Under Hikigaya's indifferent gaze, Sato, who had no will to resist, dragged himself to Shiina and, in a fit of despair, bowed and shouted.

"I'm sorry, Shiina-kun."

Time passed second by second, and Shiina, who was bowing and apologizing to Sato, just looked at her with a calm expression and didn't say anything. The classroom was so quiet that it felt like the air had frozen.

The resentment in Sato's heart grew stronger as she endured the agonizing bowing position. Even though she couldn't see, she could feel everyone's eyes focused on her, as she was in such a humiliating state.

Just as Sato was about to get up regardless, she finally heard Shiina say that it was okay.

Relieved, she hurriedly stood up and looked up to escape the awkward situation, only to see Shiina's cold and emotionless eyes. Her anger vanished instantly, like ice meeting the blazing sun.

The thoughts of revenge that arose while bowing were instantly wiped away.

As Sato staggered back to the podium, Hikigaya announced her punishment.

“Starting today, all personal points that Sato receives from the school each month must be handed over to Hirata as class funds, and this will continue until the end of the second year.”

It's already the end of the first semester, and charging Sato only one semester's worth of personal points is too cheap for her, so Hachiman directly set the time until the end of the second year.

"At least leave me some, how am I supposed to live for over a year?" Even Sato, who had always been compliant, couldn't hold back anymore. Wasn't anyone going to tell her what to do?

“The school cafeteria offers free meals, and the convenience store also has a limited number of free daily necessities.” Hachiman didn’t tolerate her either. “I have no objection to your decision to drop out of school. Given what you’ve done, I can have the student council issue you a demerit for expulsion.”

If Sato chooses to drop out, then he doesn't need to worry about Karuizawa. If Sato dares to choose, he dares to make her drop out.

"Maya."

Below the podium, Karuizawa seemed to see through Hikigaya's thoughts and shook his head at Sato, which made Sato lose his courage to resist.

Chapter Forty-Four: An Unexpected Mini-Test

With two weeks left until the final exams, Chabashira Sae appeared during the morning self-study session in Class D. Chabashira, dressed in black stockings and a black business suit, still had that indifferent look, as if someone owed her tens of millions.

"The school notified us that there will be a diagnostic test the day after tomorrow. The test will have a total of 100 questions, 20 questions for each of the five subjects, and the level of the questions will be similar to that of junior high school. The results of the test will be the same as the midterm exam, and there will be no expulsion or changes in class points."

As soon as Chazhu finished speaking, the students who had been nervous and anxious about the exam the next day breathed a sigh of relief, and the classroom was filled with exclamations of "That's great!" and "I'm relieved!"

Hearing these words, Hachiman wanted to curse them for not learning their lesson. How could this school conduct such a useless exam? He was certain that there was more to the story behind Chabashira.

"But I must tell you in advance that the results of the quiz are not meaningless, because the school stipulates that you will be paired up with someone in the class based on the results of this quiz. The pairing criteria are that the first-place student in the quiz will be paired with the last-place student in the quiz, and so on."

Chazhu smiled as he watched the student's expression change once again. "This pairing will participate in the final exam as a community of life. There are still five subjects, with a total score of one hundred points and fifty questions for each subject."

"The minimum standard for all subjects is set at 60 points. For example, if Hirata and Yamauchi are paired up, as long as their scores in the same subject add up to 60 points, they pass and neither of them will be expelled. In other words, even if Yamauchi scores zero, if Hirata scores 60 points, they will both pass."

"If a student is unable to take the exam due to illness, the school will investigate the legitimacy of the absence. Only in cases of unavoidable circumstances will the school provide a rough estimate of the student's score based on past exams; otherwise, the score will be zero."

Chabashira's words are easy to understand. In other words, this final exam is even easier to pass than the midterm exam. Even if Yamauchi and Sato are at the bottom of the class, they can easily pass by pairing up with someone who has slightly better grades.

Hachiman had also taken a test with similar rules at this school, but the school didn't tell the students the matching criteria for the quiz results that time.

Knowing this rule, even Class D could easily pair up and pass the exam, so Hachiman guessed that the school must have some other tricks up its sleeve.

"Tea Pillar Teacher, please tell us what other rules you have quickly, don't dawdle."

Hikigaya dealt a heavy blow to Chabashira's perverse pleasure in seeing students with long faces, saying, "Can't you be a little more decisive and efficient instead of dragging your feet?"

"Don't worry, there's more good news, Hachiman." Chabashira laughed. "This time, the school has decided to reward the top five groups in the entire grade with one million personal points each. The bottom five groups will not be expelled, but they will be punished by having ten points deducted from all their exams in the next midterm exam."

Damn, what a terrible school.

Upon hearing this, Hachiman realized that the school was trying to disgust Classes C and D by sending ten million personal points to test their unity while simultaneously giving money to Classes A and B.

The students in classes A and B have enough academic ability to form several groups to strive for high scores, so there's no fear of any student falling behind. However, classes C and D would have to assign people to take care of the weaker students, making it impossible for them to compete.

If you pair high-achieving students with low-achieving students, the high-achieving students will be dissatisfied because they cannot participate in the competition for one million personal points. Conversely, one side of the school and the low-achieving students will always be dissatisfied.

Since one side will always be dissatisfied, let's make the underperforming student dissatisfied.

After Chabashira left the classroom, Hikigaya, who had come up with a general plan, took her place.

"I won't repeat the exam rules since they're so simple. The focus of this exam is on the competition among the top five groups and preventing students with poor grades from falling into the bottom five groups. Students who are willing to compete for the top five, please raise your hands. The individual points earned by the top five will also belong to you."

After speaking, Hikigaya raised his hand, and Shiina Horikita in the audience followed suit. Shinmura was even faster than them, because academic ability was the only thing Shinmura could be proud of.

To Hikigaya's surprise, Koenji also raised his hand.

"What about the other students who don't do well in their studies? Many students' grades are hovering around the passing mark, and if they fall to the bottom, they'll be finished in the next midterm exam."

Hirata, sitting in the audience, couldn't sit still any longer. Hachiman's way of asking the question clearly indicated that he didn't want to use the "one student supporting one student" method to get through this final exam. Although there were many good students in Class D, there were also many poor students.

If five or six students are split up to form teams, the remaining underachieving students can only be paired with those who have slightly better grades. Although they won't necessarily be expelled, they will definitely be at the bottom of the overall score.

“This is a school that prioritizes merit, Hirata.” Hikigaya didn’t want to play pretend with Hirata anymore. “I will prioritize students with strong abilities.”

After using his gaze to intimidate Hirata into silence, Hikigaya continued with the quiz.

"Since there's an extra person, Hiyori will submit a blank paper to my quiz tomorrow. Koenji and Horikita Shinmura, you can take the quiz based on your usual grades. The third-place person will have to accept whatever arrangements I make for them."

After openly and honestly using his position for personal gain to arrange the first tier, Hachiman looked at the students who would achieve an A grade in their second year and said, "Wang Meiyu, you don't want to compete for a million personal points, right?"

"Huh!? Yes, I'd like to help students who are struggling academically."

Wang Meiyu, who hadn't expected to be asked the question, trembled slightly. Her strong past with Hachiman made her a little scared.

"If you want to help your classmate, why don't you answer only one question on the quiz and get two points, then pair up with the third-place student, and on the final exam, keep your score slightly above the passing mark so that your total score falls into the bottom five? Is that okay?"

"I can do it, Hachiman."

After Wang Meiyu agreed, Hikigaya summarized, "Other students can take the exam normally, but remember not to disrupt the combinations I have arranged. I will not accept any excuses if problems arise."

Without doing something as foolish as asking for opinions, Hachiman walked off the stage after finishing his speech.

Now, a few underachieving students, led by Sato Yamauchi, must have a problem with him, but as long as they don't dare to stand up for him, that's fine.

After arranging for Wang Meiyu's group, which was not afraid of losing points, to be at the bottom, there were still four spots left in the last five groups. These spots were temporarily given to the B-class students whose academic performance was still C-.

From May to mid-July, Class D has raised over two million personal points for Hirata. He doesn't care about spending his father's money, and if needed, Hikigaya will also use it.

Based on the results of the secret meeting between the leaders of Classes B, C, and D that Hachiman would organize later, Wang Meiyu's group might not necessarily become a pawn. It is impossible for Class A to take the lion's share of the ten million personal points reward.

If he's lucky, he'll leave Class A with nothing.

Chapter 45 Three-Class Transaction

There weren't many students with an A grade in academic performance at the beginning of the first year. Class A included Sakayanagi Arisu, Katsuragi Kohei, and Sanada Yasuie; Class B included Ichinose Honami and Ninomiya Yui; Class C included Kaneda Satoru and Shiina Hiyori; and Class D included Yukimura Teruhiko and Horikita Suzune.

Koenji Rokusuke and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka went easy on the entrance exams, and both of them were capable of getting A+ grades, which was no less than that of Higashiya, who had cheated.

Once the shackles of being labeled as a "bad student" are removed, Class D is undoubtedly the strongest.

In Hikigaya's plan, if Classes B, C, and D reach a deal, the combination for Class B to compete for individual points will be Ichinose and Ninomiya Yui, both with A-level academic ability, while Class C will be Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Kaneda Satoru, both with A-level academic ability.

Class D consists of the third-place student in the quiz plus Wang Meiyu, while the other two groups are the remaining four students with A grades, grouped according to their scores.

If Class A uses a combination of students with academic ability A and students with academic ability B, then Class A can only compete with Wang Meiyu's group for the last spot at most.

..............

Hachiman Dormitory at night,