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

Horikita wasn't surprised that he knew his method of getting students expelled was tomorrow's final exam. What surprised him was that Horikita would come to persuade him, especially since she had previously suggested forming an elite study group to abandon the underachieving students.

"Didn't you come to the conclusion that clearing out waste will make it easier to get into Class A shortly after the start of the semester?"

“That was just my past thinking. Now I think it’s wrong to use expulsion as a threat to make students obey. They won’t genuinely support you that way.” Horikita Suzune looked directly into Hikigaya’s eyes.

"you are wrong."

"Then why don't you try to defeat me?" Hachiman became interested. "As a sign of affection for the president's sister, I won't target all the students you recruit to help me."

"Thank you."

"You agreed without hesitation. Shouldn't you have said before that I didn't need you to be modest?"

Unbeknownst to Hikigaya, Horikita Suzune had also changed somewhere, but that wasn't enough; she needed a couple more pushes.

"Shall we go for a walk together later?" Hachiman extended an invitation.

"Where?"

"Let's go to the beach, where we can enjoy the sea breeze and admire the moon."

It's the end of July now, and the moon at this time of year really looks like a full disc; it's no exaggeration to say it's for moon viewing.

"it is good."

After Horikita Suzune agreed, Hikigaya also extended an invitation to her brother Horikita Manabu. After destroying all the exam papers, he took Horikita to the agreed location. After walking through a tree-lined avenue that was dozens of meters long and arriving at the seaside, Horikita Manabu was already standing by the railing, looking out at the sea.

"Brother?!" Horikita Suzune's poker face vanished instantly. Horikita Manabu truly lived up to his reputation as Horikita Suzune's special weapon.

“Rinne, Hachiman said you had something to say to me, so I came.” Horikita Manabu didn’t turn around.

"me..."

Even just looking at Horikita Manabu's back, Horikita Suzune had a panicked expression, completely lacking the aloof goddess demeanor she usually displayed in class. When Hachiman couldn't bear to watch any longer and tried to push her, Horikita Suzune overcame her inner fear.

"I think it's wrong for Hachiman to rule Class D with fear, and I want to defeat him."

Horikita Manabu turned his head, a fleeting look of disappointment on his face. "So, you're trying to seek me out—"

“No,” Horikita Suzune interrupted her brother. “I just need my brother to give me courage.”

So I'm going to go easy on you, huh? Can't you be a little more demanding of your brother? Looking at the two siblings 'gazing deeply into each other's eyes,' Hikigaya thought to himself. However, there were some things he still needed to pass on to Horikita Suzune through Horikita Manabu.

"President, I'd like to ask if there are any successful cases of students from Class D graduating from Class A?"

"No."

"Is the biggest reason the problem the lack of academic ability? Does the special exam in the third year favor academic ability, or is a certain level of academic ability required to pass?"

It's understandable that some graduates from Class A might be carried to victory, but Class D, with over twenty out of thirty students failing to get into ordinary universities, will never be known as a class of highly accomplished graduates.

“…That’s right.” Horikita Manabu did not deny it.

"So, if you want to defeat me and get promoted to an A, then I'll leave the rest of the students' studies to you, Hirata, Suzune."

Hikigaya's method of eliminating the bottom performers to force the students in Class D to study requires someone to teach them, and the students need to be willing to accept it for it to be effective. The task of teaching and persuading people to study can only be done by Horikita and Hirata.

"What is the minimum academic requirement?" Horikita Suzune asked hurriedly.

"At least I can get into a public university."

"Hmm!? At least get into a public university?"

Horikita Suzune thought of the geniuses in Class D who were barely passing, and wondered if she should tell her brother not to give her any more courage and to ruthlessly dispel her unrealistic fantasies.

--------

On the day of the final exam,

Five minutes before the official class bell rang, a female teacher, not wearing a teacher's suit, floated into Class D classroom carrying test papers. The strong smell of alcohol made the students in the front row cover their noses.

"I'm Hoshinomiya Chie, the class guide of Class B, and your monitoring teacher this time. You can call me Chie-chan affectionately."

After writing her name on the blackboard, the young Hoshinomiya-sensei, dressed as a teenage girl, said something that left the students of Class D speechless, inevitably leading to an awkward silence.

Chi, who speaks without thinking and is a lively, unruly character, has already dropped out of school. No one in Class D wants to respond to this pretentious female teacher.

Even Koenji, who always dates different upperclassmen, didn't think of helping her out. Hikigaya thought that perhaps Hoshinomiya-sensei's age was beyond his hunting range.

"Ahem, let me explain the exam rules..." Realizing no one was responding to her, Hoshinomiya began her work without changing her expression. She wasn't the type to pretend to be young; her skin was incredibly thick.

After the bell rang and the exam papers were handed out...

Hachiman is practically guaranteed a top-five finish with three D-class players.

Looking at the familiar exam paper, the questions inside were basically the same as those he had given to Shinmura Horikita last night. If he still couldn't get into the top five, Hikigaya would have nothing to say.

After writing his name, Hachiman began doing the questions.

One subject, two subjects... By the time the last subject was finished, it was already afternoon dismissal time. After collecting the test papers, Hoshinomiya immediately headed to the teachers' office to prepare to work overtime grading the papers.

Summer vacation starts tomorrow, so the grades must be released tomorrow.

"Please wait a moment, Hoshinomiya-sensei. I have something I want to buy, and I must buy it today."

As she approached the teachers' office, two students called out to her from behind.

Author's Note on Launching the Book—Please continue reading, friends!

There will be one more chapter free tomorrow morning, and it will be available for purchase after noon.

I'm a newbie author, and this is the first book I've signed a contract for and published. If you can, please give me your first subscription!

--------

Although the data for this book isn't great, I'll still finish writing at least a few hundred thousand words. Thank you to all the readers who have been following along, voting, and giving rewards. I also appreciate reading every single post in the book, and thank you to every reader who wrote a post for making me feel like I'm not playing a single-player game.

This is my first time writing a post-release message, so I'll leave it at that. Please feel free to point out any shortcomings. I'll be going to pay respects at the ancestral graves tomorrow for Qingming Festival, so the update will likely be in the evening. I hope you can understand that I don't have any drafts saved up.

Finally, thank you to all the friends who clicked in to read the book. Thank you.

Chapter Sixty: Another Student Drops Out of Class D

On the morning before summer vacation,

[What did Zhengyi eat for breakfast today? I had seaweed and sesame rice balls.]

[The final exam results came out today. Zhengyi's grades are so good, he'll definitely be in the top five.]

[Could Justice teach me how to study? My grades are terrible. Luckily, I was matched with Kokushida this time, so I don't have to worry about failing. I might not be so lucky next time.]

I remember what Zhengyi asked me to do last night. To prevent you from being bullied by that bitch Sakayanagi, I will definitely help you.

[Justice, are you busy? Don't ignore me, Justice.]

【justice??】

Looking at the text message he received on his phone, Hashimoto Masayoshi, who was waiting in the classroom for the homeroom teacher to announce the final exam results, showed a disgusted expression. She kept sending him useless text messages all day long. If that girl wasn't somewhat useful, he would have dumped her long ago.

I forgot my phone in the classroom when I went to the bathroom. How could I ignore you? You're my lovely girlfriend.

Without a flicker of emotion, Hashimoto typed out a sentimental text message, clicked send, then silenced his phone, put it in a drawer, and closed his eyes to ponder.

With Princess Sakayanagi's help, securing a top 50 spot was practically guaranteed, and his plan to collect 20 million personal points to ensure graduation from Class A had taken another step forward. He didn't care if he was mocked as Sakayanagi's lackey; he'd do anything to graduate from Class A.

Meanwhile, in Class D classroom,

The girl who received Hashimoto's text message immediately showed a happy expression; her secret boyfriend had simply forgotten his phone, which was why he hadn't replied to her right away.

He must love her, after all, he was the one who confessed to her first, and he once said that she was the most interesting girl he had ever met, so he would never ignore her.

"Everyone is here. We will now announce the final exam results."

Upon hearing Mr. Chabashira's cold voice, the girl immediately snapped out of her reverie, switched her phone to recording mode, and secretly pointed it at Mr. Chabashira, who was holding a blank sheet of paper with final grades.

I heard that the beautiful and graceful Ms. Chazhu has never had a boyfriend. It's hilarious! She's better than Ms. Chazhu.

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

Hikigaya, resting his chin on his hand, looked at Chabashira on the stage, who was even more serious than usual, and felt a little smug.

Let me show you what bloodletting therapy is all about, Mr. Chabashira.

"What does it mean that all the teachers are here? Kikyo-san hasn't arrived yet?" Wang Meiyu, looking uneasy, no longer raised her hand to speak like a good student, perhaps because her close friend Kushida had not yet appeared in the classroom.

"Where's Kushida-san?"

"What's going on, teacher?" [The rest of the text appears to be a string of characters and doesn't translate directly.]

"Is there another student from another class standing outside the classroom, teacher?"

"We absolutely disagree with the school's approach this time."

Wang Meiyu's words were like a bombshell dropped on the students of Class D. Where was their beloved Kushida Tenshi? Chabashira-sensei had said that everyone was there.

"Shut up, you bunch of idiots."

After using a magnet to paste the final exam results onto the blackboard, Chashu's tone was extremely cold.

【Hikigaya Hachiman】

【Kōenji Rokusuke】

Hiyori Shiina

【......】

【Kishida Kikyo】

From first to last place, everyone's grades were displayed to all the students. Hikigaya and Rokusuke Koenji, who got full marks in all subjects, only shocked the students for a moment, while Kushida, who got zero marks in all subjects, surprised all the students.

Kushida has always been among the top students in his class, though not quite in the top tier, but certainly among the top of the second tier. This time, his zero scores in all subjects must indicate a serious problem.

"Snapped"

"What a joke! That bitch Kushida!"

Just as everyone was about to question Teacher Chabashira, a girl dropped her phone, which was recording video. Her desperate screams attracted the attention of everyone in Class D, but no one looked at her with displeasure.

The girl was Maezono, Kushida's partner in the final exams. She was a student who usually only managed to pass and score around 40 points, but this time she even performed exceptionally well, scoring in the 50s in several subjects.

But for Maezono, there is no difference between fifty-something points and zero points. As long as her score and her partner Kushida's score don't add up to sixty points, she will not escape the fate of being expelled from school.

"Where is that bitch Kushida, Chabashira?" With a kick that knocked the table in front of her over, Maezono stood up angrily and glared at her homeroom teacher, Chabashira-sensei.

"It's no use telling you, no matter where Kushida is. The result of dropping out of school is already inevitable, Maezono."

As Chabashira answered Maezono, Hikigaya walked over to Maezono and picked up the phone that had fallen to the ground.

"You don't mind taking up some of my morning class time, do you?"

Perhaps because he had been tricked by Chabashira, Hachiman didn't want to give Chabashira a friendly look. Ignoring Maezono's roar to return his phone, Hachiman stood on the podium.

“The moment you were expelled, your phone was no longer yours, Maezono.” Hachiman tossed the phone high into the air and caught it again. “But there is still a way for you to be saved.”

Qian Yuan asked in disbelief, "Really?"

“It’s absolutely true. I still have ten million personal points available to lend to you. You’ve done so much for your boyfriend Hashimoto from Class A. If Hashimoto can borrow another ten million personal points from Sakayanagi, the leader, to make it twenty million, you can be saved.”

Hikigaya said something that Maezono would never believe if she were in a normal state, but the current Maezono has been blinded by the fear of being expelled from school. Like a drowning person, she would try to grab onto anything that is not life-saving, such as straw or leaves.

"Then give me your phone quickly, I need to call Justice."

"I already told you the phone isn't yours anymore. You can still go find Hashimoto in Class A." Hachiman tossed the phone up again. "If you're any later, Chabashira-sensei will drag you to sign the withdrawal agreement, and then—"

"I'm going right now, I'm going right now!"

As Hikigaya's drawn-out voice faded, Maezono, feeling the urgency of time, went blank and staggered out of the classroom.

"You're a terrifying man, Hikigaya." After running out of the classroom to find her boyfriend Hashimoto, Hirata slumped back into his seat.

After watching Maezono's clown performance, even without Hachiman saying it, the students in Class D all knew that Maezono had probably been lured into betraying the class by a boy from Class A named Hashimoto Masayoshi, and that Hachiman was punishing the two of them.

If nothing unexpected happens, the situation in Class A must be quite interesting right now.

"How is Kikyo doing now, Hikigaya?"

Mustering her courage, Wang Meiyu asked Hikigaya a question.

"Don't worry, Kushida didn't do anything wrong, so why would I expel her? I wanted to test the school's rules, so I gave them both millions of personal points so they could transfer to another class before getting a zero and being expelled. The school approved of this approach."

Looking calmly at the students who were once again shocked by the two million points, Hachiman then spoke.

“I originally offered her 20 million points as compensation to transfer her to Class A to avoid dropping out, but Kushida chose to go to Class B because Class A had such a dirty student as Hashimoto Masayoshi.”