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

Hachiman opened the door and gestured for him to enter.

Just as he no longer uses the word "teacher" as a suffix when referring to Hoshinomiya and Chabashira, Ichinose also changes his address for Hoshinomiya from Chie-sensei to Hoshinomiya-sensei.

This indicates that a conflict has arisen between the two, and he would like to try to resolve it if there is a way.

"Inviting a teacher into your room late at night is quite bold of you, Hikigaya, and you didn't even use a respectful term for the teacher."

"If you two were still worthy of the title of teacher, I wouldn't have come to you to ask about this."

"...That's true too."

With a frown, Cha Zhu took out a cigarette case from her suit skirt, paused for a moment, then put it back and stepped into the room.

Then her brows furrowed even deeper. "Am I some kind of flirting tool for you guys?"

In the bright room, Ichinose sat leaning against the headboard, looking at Chabashira with some embarrassment.

“I suggest you find a temple to cleanse yourself of these impure thoughts. Since it concerns the Star Palace, she has the right to know.” Hachiman sat down on the sofa next to the glass table. “Homami, you can just sit on the bed.”

"I see."

After taking her seat in the last remaining seat, Chabashira understood why Hachiman had asked her about Hoshinomiya. Based on her judgment of Hachiman, she knew he wouldn't knowingly get involved in something that would cause trouble.

Now it seems the purpose was for Ichinose.

"Let's talk about the conflict between Hoshinomiya and you at this high school. What caused this twisted relationship between you two?"

Hachiman only knows that Chabashira is determined to get promoted to A-rank, while Hoshinomiya cannot tolerate Chabashira's promotion. The two are like best friends but also like enemies.

Chazhu took a cigarette, held it under his nose, and took a deep drag. "You're just asking directly, not being polite at all."

Seeing that Hikigaya was just looking at her without saying anything, Chabashira sighed.

"Chie and I were both in Class D in first grade. Back then, the gap between students in each class wasn't as big as it is now. After more than two years of hard work, we moved up to Class B and were only a little bit behind Class A."

"At that time, a special exam called 'Unanimity' came along. In the final round, the classes disagreed. The rules were..."

For some reason, Chabashira explained the rules of that special exam in detail, perhaps so that he and Ichinose could take a look and tell him what they would have done back then.

The final question was: "Should we vote to elect a student who has dropped out?"

If all students choose yes, a second round of voting will begin. After a student is expelled, it will be considered as completing a special exam and earning fifty class points. An additional one hundred class points will be awarded as a bonus.

If all students choose "no," the exam will end, and they will be considered to have completed the special exam and will receive fifty class points.

If the questions are not completed within the time limit, 300 class points will be deducted.

"It seems we've entered the second round of exams." Ichinose's expression was somewhat sorrowful.

The two results differed by only one hundred class points, which is neither a lot nor a little, so the only place where the problem lies is the second round of exams.

In other words, Class B, where Chashu was located, was more inclined to sacrifice a student in order to obtain the 100 class points. They were willing to sacrifice even classmates who had spent more than two years of school life together on the road to Class A.

"Yes, the exam has a time limit. As time went by, someone induced the students to reach a result of one student being expelled, and then asked the other students to vote for him to be expelled."

"That person is your friend, right?" Hachiman's tone softened a little.

What happened next was not easy to guess. Class B decided to lose the possibility of being promoted to Class A in that exam, so the only result was that no one dropped out and 300 class points were deducted.

The reason why Hoshinomiya hates Chabashira is entirely because Chabashira kept voting against it until the very end.

"Not just friends, but she also became my lover the day before the exam." Chabashira's face was somewhat ashen.

You actually have a lover? Who on earth is this person who can win you over?

Although the atmosphere was somewhat heavy, Hachiman still thought it was a bit rude of him. Chabashira reminded him of a larger version of Horikita Suzune, and he hadn't expected someone like her to have a boyfriend.

"So, Hoshinomiya hates you because of this? What gives her the nerve?"

After Class B was forced to enter the second round, none of the students in Class B had any grounds to blame Cha Zhu at the time.

The only one who can blame her is Chabashira herself.

Since no one volunteered to withdraw from school beforehand, the entire class voted to proceed to the second round. All students in Class B were prepared that the students nominated for withdrawal would be protected.

You're not afraid of pain unless the knife cuts you, right?

"Your boyfriend is an idiot too. If he just drags it out until the last vote, no student who wants 100 class points will risk losing 300 class points and failing to achieve the negative result of expulsion."

"If you ask me, we should choose one of the students who support dropping out of school."

"That's a bit too much, Hachiman." Ichinose smiled wryly. "A student who has a choice but still abandons his classmates is not worthy of pity, but isn't Chabashira-sensei's boyfriend trying to sacrifice himself for the class?"

"I'm giving you a heads-up beforehand, Fanbo."

Hikigaya couldn't ignore what Ichinose had just said.

The core purpose of this advanced training program is to cultivate outstanding leaders, and the tests related to character and temperament increase as the program progresses.

If such an exam were to occur again, Ichinose would not agree to sacrifice himself for the sake of the students in Class B.

"If you're faced with an exam like this and you're willing to sacrifice yourself for the sake of the class, you'd better stay away from me now, because I'll see it as a betrayal."

Because Ichinose's personality does indeed make him capable of doing such a thing, he had no choice but to speak more strongly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you two to fight. As Hachiman thought, our mutual protection led to our failure in the exam and the loss of our chance to advance to Class A."

While Ichinose was stunned, Chabashira interrupted, trying to change the subject.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with your mutual guarantee. The only thing you should regret is insisting on voting against it and not proceeding to the second round of testing."

After answering Chabashira's question with a regretful expression, Hikigaya looked at Ichinose, perhaps not expecting his tone to be so harsh, and her expression was somewhat panicked.

Seeing this, Hikigaya sighed, "I don't want anyone to tell me you dropped out of school someday after the special exam, Honami."

Chapter Ninety-Two: Delinquent Girl Hime Yuki

If you were to use an animal to describe Ichinose, the first thing that comes to mind for Hikigaya is a Samoyed.

She has a cute appearance, a gentle personality, and is very clingy.

After seeing the tea pillar off last night, Ichinose practically stayed by his side all the time. Even when he was brushing his teeth, she would watch him, making him feel very uncomfortable. She even held his arm and slept on her side while sleeping.

Even though the room was pitch black with the lights off and the curtains drawn, Hikigaya felt that Ichinose's gaze was constantly fixed on him.

He closed his eyes and didn't know how long it took before he finally fell asleep.

Although he went to bed late, he still woke up under the influence of his biological clock when it was just getting light. He pulled his arm out of the sleeping Ichinose's arms, did some exercise for a while, and then went back from the restaurant to get two breakfasts.

After finishing his meal, Hikigaya realized that Ichinose was still asleep, so he left a message on his phone to go out and enjoy the morning sea breeze on the deck.

He figured there would be no one on the deck at this hour, but he was wrong.

A girl with long, gray-blue highlighted hair tied into two long pigtails and small earrings on her ears was standing on the deck at the bow of the ship.

It's Himeno Yuki from Class B. I was careless.

Thinking that he was already there, Hachiman didn't turn back to his room, but halfway there he recognized the striking hair color and regretted it.

Out of concern that it would be strange to turn back after already walking halfway across the deck, he made a 90-degree turn and went directly to the right railing to look at the sea.

Although the view wasn't as good as from the bow, he had to make do since there were students from Class B there. The morning sea rippled gently, with seagulls occasionally flying by.

"Hikigaya."

As the footsteps drew closer, Himeno Yuki's somewhat cold voice came from the left.

Without any politeness, it seems Ji Ye has come with ill intentions.

Hikigaya turned his head, and the girl in his line of sight had slightly upturned eyes that made her look a bit fierce. Her non-mainstream hair color and earrings made her look much more like a Karuizawa gyaru than a Karuizawa gyaru. Her figure was more like Horikita's, appearing thin and healthy.

Good morning, Hime-chan.

As he greeted her, Ji Ye's expression even turned somewhat angry, perhaps because he had just greeted her, making her seem even more rude.

"Do you know what Ichinose is like now...?"

Halfway through her sentence, Hime sniffed, as if she had caught something, and then her expression turned to one of shock.

"Why does your Ichinose perfume smell so strong? You two weren't together all night, were you?"

"..." Hachiman tried to keep a poker face. "This is a men's perfume that Ichinose gave me. It's from the same line as hers. Are you sure you didn't smell it wrong?"

No student should know that Ichinose slept in his room last night. If the two broke up the day after they slept together, there would be at least ten or eight rumors circulating.

"Really?"

"real."

Ji Ye grabbed the ponytail next to her and ruffled it in frustration. "Let's just leave it at that. Do you know how badly you've messed up Class B? Especially at last night's celebration party, everyone seemed so distracted."

"I'm sorry, but could you please handle this as soon as possible? The atmosphere in Class B is really strange right now."

Unlike the awkward atmosphere at Class D's victory celebration, the awkward atmosphere at Class B's victory celebration was due to the absence of Ichinose, their key figure.

Class B without Ichinose is like an ant colony without its queen.

"Furthermore, during the exam on the deserted island, I vaguely heard Ichinose and Chie-sensei arguing, and I heard your name mentioned in the argument. I haven't told the other students in Class B about this yet."

"already solved."

"Huh!?" Himeya was somewhat incredulous.

"It was resolved last night. Ichinose will inform you later. Except for Hoshinomiya, Class B will return to the atmosphere it had at the beginning of the school year."

According to Chaki's account last night, Hoshinomiya is simply taking her anger out on Chahashi, and Hachiman hasn't figured out how to resolve this yet.

Compared to Hoshinomiya, he felt that he could accept the tea pillar now.

"That would be best, but do you know what kind of conflict exists between Chie-sensei and Ichinose, Hikigaya? And it seems you also have a lot of issues with Chie-sensei, not even calling her 'sensei'."

“I also call our class advisor ‘Chabashira’ directly, so don’t mind it.” After saying that, Hikigaya paused. “As for the fault of the conflict between Hoshinomiya and Ichinose, it all lies with Hoshinomiya. This involves Hoshinomiya’s past, so it’s not convenient to tell you.”

"so troublesome."

"Yes, it's really troublesome."

Hikigaya repeated Himeno's words, genuinely finding it troublesome, which earned him a glare from Himeno.

Under Hime's glare, Hikigaya remembered something, "Speaking of which, didn't Ichinose forbid you B-class students from talking to me first? Aren't you afraid of being disliked by Ichinose?"

On the first day of the exam on the deserted island, Ichinose mentioned it to him once. In order not to cause him any trouble, she used a rather stern tone to dissuade the students in Class B from causing him trouble.

Hime seemed reluctant to answer the question, turning her head away from him and looking towards the sea.

After a while, I heard her hesitant voice, "Ichinose is my friend, that's true, but she has many friends and I don't think she's one of my important friends. Asako is my important friend, and she's very sad right now."

People have different abilities, and so do friends.

Himeko's thoughts are more understandable than Kikuya's, and she won't question her about how she could be like this, because he is the same, or rather, everyone is the same.

People are just good at hiding this and won't say it out loud.

Hime's ability to say it so openly has slightly changed my perception of her as a "gyaru" (a type of Japanese girl). Despite her dyed hair and earrings, Hime is still a good girl.

"By the way, if Netkura is your friend, could you please pass on a message to me saying that the meeting after the cruise has been canceled and the matter has been resolved? Also, please have her pass on a message to Kanzaki."

"It's too much trouble, I don't want to." Hime's voice revealed her disdain. "Why don't you just tell them on your phone?"

Himeno is right, but coincidentally, Hachiman doesn't have their contact information and doesn't really want to add them.

Especially Kanzaki's.

Netkura was alright, but Kanzaki made no attempt to hide his malice towards him.

"Then I'll have to meet with Netkura-kun alone," Hachiman said casually.

"You scumbag, I agree."

After glaring at him fiercely, Ji Ye quickly walked away from him, her slender calves in black stockings beneath her healthy, fair thighs.

With legs like that, you should be able to run quite fast.

Hachiman stroked his chin; the special exams for the sports festival wouldn't be long before the start of the next semester.

When he got back to his room, he recommended Himeno to Ichinose and asked her to take Himeno to the gym for a rigorous workout.

Let this delinquent girl who likes to call people scum be reborn in the gym.

The real scumbags should be Nagumo and Hashimoto, those two blond guys. Hachiman's hair color is the black that only good students have.

Chapter Ninety-Three: Post-Dinner Exercise at Dragon Garden

In the Western restaurant with a sea view, Hachiman could hear whispers with his name on them from time to time, while Ryuen sat opposite him, laughing gleefully.