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

Although no one was specifically chosen, Ayanokouji and Hirata both went to find the shopkeeper. After the two left, Hikigaya led the other six people to a long table and they sat facing each other while he stood in the middle.

"The whole thing will be recorded. Be careful what you say and don't lie." Hikigaya turned on his phone to record and put it on the table for everyone to see. "You can only speak when I say it is okay. Three violations will be considered contempt for the student council."

The student union also has its rules. If the store has a video recording, he will take a copy with him later.

"Manabe, please explain the whole story first." Hachiman tapped the table.

"The three of us came to this shop today with Ayanokouji and wanted to each get a coffee to go to the deck to chat and enjoy the night view."

Manabe crossed his arms and sneered.

"But in the aisle where the packaged coffee was leaving the store, Shinohara and the others walked towards each other. Even though Nami gave way by half a step, Shinohara didn't give way at all and bumped straight into Nami, knocking her coffee over without apologizing."

"You're talking nonsense. I clearly turned to the side too, but somehow the coffee cup on her side suddenly reached out and touched my back." Shinohara suddenly became agitated, stood up, slammed her hand on the table, and glared angrily at Manabe.

Can't you use your brain for once, Shinohara?

You really didn't listen to a word I just said.

Under the watchful eyes of Manabe and the others, Hikigaya, with a stern face, gave Shinohara a warning. After the warning, he did not call on Karuizawa, the leader of the three, or Shinohara, the person in charge, to speak.

"Matsushita, please explain the cause and effect from your perspective."

Karuizawa is still barely maintaining her haughty demeanor, but the way she avoids meeting Manabe's gaze indicates that she can't be relied upon. Shinohara is similar; her anger has destroyed her reason.

After pondering for a moment, Matsushita looked at Yabu Nanami and said, "When we came in, we saw Manabe and the other two, and we gave up half of the aisle space. In my view, the space that Shinohara gave up was enough for Yabu Nanami to pass through."

"When the two brushed past each other, they both turned to the side towards their own classmate. If a normal person was holding a coffee, they would have protected it in front of them. Moreover, Shinohara and Yabu had a conflict before, so I think she was deliberately retaliating."

"What argument happened?" Hachiman looked at Yabuna, who had a rather honest-looking face. "Tell me this time."

"It was just a small misunderstanding. I accidentally mentioned Xiao Gong when I was chatting with my friend the other day. I said that a guy as bad as him can't get the girls in Class C, so he can only go after the ugly girls in Class D."

Seeing that the honest Yabu was coming up, he immediately simplified the argument into a misunderstanding and then launched into a barrage of veiled attacks.

"I never expected that the person next to me, Shinohara, was the real person. I didn't even know her back then. She came up to me and started arguing, and it looked like she wanted to hit me."

With Yabuna looking completely innocent, Shinohara was about to explode again, but fortunately Matsushita, having learned his lesson once, managed to stop her in time.

According to the others, Hikigaya roughly understood the cause and effect of the matter. The incident of spilling the coffee was almost certainly not accidental but an act of revenge against Shinohara. However, Shinohara unfortunately admitted to spilling the coffee.

However, Manabe's side shouldn't expect to escape unscathed.

"Those who disagree with my ruling may do so. Shinohara-san, go buy a cup of the same coffee for Yabu-san and apologize."

Just as Manabe and the others were about to make sarcastic remarks with glee, Hikigaya tapped the table and said, "Manabe spilled coffee on Karuizawa's shoes, so you need to clean up Karuizawa's shoes and apologize to her."

"I dropped it by accident." Manabe's face immediately turned aggrieved. "We can just cancel each other out."

One apologized by buying coffee, the other by washing someone's shoes; it's obvious which one felt wronged.

However, Manabe wanted to let it go, but Hikigaya disagreed. His position as student council secretary wasn't just for show.

"An accidental drop is not an excuse. The student council will uphold the original ruling. Neither side will be deducted thirty class points. That's all."

Chapter Ninety-Seven: You'll protect me, right?

Under the threat of losing 30 class points, Manabe could only suppress his anger, apologize to Karuizawa, and clean her little leather shoes. Similarly, Shinohara also obeyed Hikigaya's ruling.

"Why should I ask her to apologize? That woman is infuriating."

After Manabe and the others left, Shinohara looked at Hachiman with resentment. Hachiman could clearly read her dissatisfaction, or perhaps she was thinking that since they were all in his class, why couldn't the punishment be more favorable to them?

"Shinohara-san, let's just let this matter rest, okay? Everyone has already apologized."

"Yes, yes, since Hirata has said that, Shinohara, you should give him some face too."

After Hirata tried to persuade her, Matsushita immediately spoke up and gently patted Shinohara's back. Faced with Hirata's gentle tone and expression, Shinohara's attitude softened.

"I have no objection to your relationship with Xiao Gong, it's up to you."

After making a promise to Shinohara in front of everyone, Hikigaya looked at Karuizawa and said, "Come with me for a moment, I have something to tell you."

The matter seemed to have ended with both sides apologizing, but Hachiman didn't believe that Manabe and the others would let it go, especially Yabu.

She caused this mess, but the one who apologized was the one who stood up for her.

To make amends for her mistake, she must save face for Manabe, and her target is naturally Karuizawa, who has already received an apology.

"It looks a lot like the one in the Beech Tree Center."

Karuizawa, who came to the private room with Hikigaya, shared the same sentiment and leaned back on the sofa as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

“You were scared just now, which might have made people wonder if your assertiveness was just an act.” Hikigaya looked into Karuizawa’s eyes.

In front of Manabe and his gang of delinquents, Karuizawa tried his best to show that he was not afraid, but he paled in comparison to Manabe and his gang.

Especially when Manabe let the coffee fall freely in front of her, staining her shoes, Karuizawa only trembled slightly and then fell silent, compared to Shinohara who wanted to rush up and fight.

If it weren't for Hirata's immediate intervention, Karuizawa's inability to even utter harsh words would only arouse suspicion from Shinohara and the others. (VI) Yiqi 5 Ba Si Zi

"What can we do? My body is too scared to move at all."

As if recalling what had just happened, Karuizawa's body trembled again. She took off her shoes, put her feet on the sofa, hugged her knees, and curled up into a ball. No matter how much she told herself not to be timid, the experience of being bullied in the past caused her body to have a stress response.

Not showing any fear was her last act of defiance.

"Have a cup of coffee to calm down first, it's something I've never had before." Hikigaya pushed the coffee he ordered, which was extra sweet, in front of Karuizawa and rested his chin on his hand, quietly watching Karuizawa.

He hadn't expected that the outwardly strong Karuizawa could be so terrified, and he admired that she could maintain a certain composure in front of Manabe and the others despite being so afraid.

"Those three probably won't let this go. I'll talk to Long Yuan and ask him to warn them. That way, they won't do anything funny in public. Be careful not to go to secluded places alone."

"After you leave, tell Shinohara not to be so foolish in the future. Don't admit to things without evidence. Also, remind her not to hit people first. If Hirata hadn't stopped her from hitting people, she would at least have been suspended from school."

After saying what he had thought of before entering the private room, Hachiman thought for a moment and gave Karuizawa a suggestion, "Why don't you learn some self-defense techniques from Horikita Suzune? I'll talk to her for you. That way you can build up your courage."

Martial arts training emboldens people. If Karuizawa could easily defeat Manabe and the others in a few moves, he probably wouldn't be so scared today.

He is the best example; otherwise, he wouldn't have taken the initiative to accept the invitation to fight Longyuan today.

"But I feel like Horikita seems to dislike me quite a bit." Karuizawa's expression relaxed slightly after taking a sip of her extremely sweet coffee. She was somewhat tempted by Hoshiguma's suggestion, but not entirely.

"Could you teach me yourself? I'm afraid I'll show my embarrassing side in front of Horikita."

Personally teaching Karuizawa?

Hachiman felt that his intentions were fine, and he was happy to help Karuizawa alleviate her psychological problems, but he had a lot of things to do after his cruise vacation and didn't have time to teach her.

While he was enjoying a relaxing vacation on the cruise ship, Horikita, the student council president at school, helped him contact a group of third-year students in classes C and D who wanted to advance to higher education. The Hikigaya Higher Education Classroom would start after he returned to school.

These students are his supporters in his campaign for student council president, and he will be teaching them for a considerable period of time. It's impossible for him to close down the program as soon as the election is over.

“I can teach you, but I don’t have much time lately. You should do some physical training with Horikita first, and I’ll teach you when I have time.”

"Okay, then I'll wait for you."

He pouted and then suddenly grabbed his other hand, which was resting on the table, and looked at him intently.

"You'll protect me, right?"

Under the warm yellow spotlight, Karuizawa looked at him with the same eyes that Komachi had when they were children, a mixture of trust and dependence.

"Yes, I will protect you."

Without much thought, Hachiman immediately provided the answer.

He couldn't possibly remain unmoved after seeing that look in his eyes.

"If you encounter any problems you can't solve, you can come to me." Hikigaya pulled his hand away from his grasp, took out his phone, and fiddled with it for a bit. "I've given you permission to show your friends' locations."

“I already granted you that permission a long time ago.” Karuizawa grinned smugly. “When I run into trouble and need to contact you, don’t say you can’t find me.”

"Alright, alright, you go and meet up with Matsushita and the others first. They've been waiting for a long time."

"Oh, I see."

After finishing the rest of her coffee in one gulp, Karuizawa cutely stuck out her tongue. "So sweet. You really do like sweets."

After finishing her sentence, Karuizawa composed herself and left the private room with cheerful steps. Shortly after she left, Hirata returned to the private room.

Hirata smiled awkwardly after sitting down. "Shinohara said she doesn't want Komiya as her boyfriend anymore. Since none of the girls in Class C want him, she doesn't want him either."

...Shinohara is so willful, and Komiya is so pitiful, suddenly losing his girlfriend.

However, losing a girlfriend like Shinohara should be a good thing.

We should have a cup of coffee to celebrate for Xiao Gong.

Thinking of this, Hachiman wanted to pick up his coffee and take a sip, but when he found that there was nothing in front of him, he remembered that Karuizawa had already finished his coffee.

If you think it's too sweet, leave me a bite, Karuizawa.

“If she doesn’t want it, she doesn’t want it. It’s her own choice.” Hachiman leaned back on the sofa. “But Hirata, why don’t you find a girlfriend? You’re not bad yourself.”

At sixteen or seventeen, it's the perfect time for romantic feelings to begin to stir.

Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Strange Morishita Blue

On the second day after returning to the ship, at noon.

Hachiman had lunch alone at a light food shop, then planned to take a walk on the deck before returning to his room to continue reading.

Hirata, who is often visited by girls, is usually not there, and Koenji almost only goes back to his room when he is sleeping, so Hikigaya doesn't need to find a quiet place to read.

Hirata didn't answer his question last night, but he had only mentioned it casually and didn't seem to care much.

Hachiman, having left the interior and stepped onto the deck, glanced at the sky.

The weather is alright today, with overcast skies, which is good weather for summer.

On the deck, there were already quite a few students who might share the same goal as him, chatting and walking around in twos and threes.

If it weren't for Ichinose's situation, Shiina would probably be by his side right now.

As he strolled along the deck of Hachiman, he thought of that lovely literary girl. It had been almost two days since he last saw her, and he suddenly missed her. He had almost finished reading the books they had read together on the deserted island.

“Please wait, Hikigaya Junge (1) Sanwu Jiu Lu Er Hachiman.”

As he passed the benches on the deck, a girl lying on one of them called his name in an unquestionable tone.

Should I call someone by their full name? But adding "please" seems very polite.

After stopping, Hikigaya looked at the girl who had sat up. She had long purple hair tied into two low ponytails that hung down to her chest. Her purple eyes were the same as Shiina's, but they had a sharpness that was completely different from Shiina's.

Her appearance is more on the pretty side than cute.

It's Morishita Ai from Class A.

"No, I won't leave any." Hachiman paused for a moment, then continued on his way.

Aside from the mountain village, the people in Class A who were looking for him probably weren't up to anything good. Moreover, the fact that she addressed people by their full names before even greeting them suggests that her thinking is different from that of normal people.

If she were to hit on him, Hikigaya would feel very troubled.

But while he wanted to avoid Morishita Ran, he didn't intend to let him go. He slowly hung behind him a few steps away, so that to outsiders, the two of them were just passing by and had no interaction.

When Hachiman got to the elevator and saw Morishita follow him without any hesitation, Hachiman pressed the button for the eighth floor. This floor didn't have many entertainment facilities, so few students went there.

"May I ask what's the matter, Morishita-kun?"

After exiting the elevator, Hachiman leaned against the elevator door, watching the girl who followed him out.

"Please wait a moment, let me think about it."

"..." Hachiman was speechless. He really was a troublesome person.

"Excuse me, is this the Hachiman Hikigaya that Ichinose Honami threw?"

Even Ichinose calls himself Quan Zhiliu <Yiqi_Yierxiasibaming>. After realizing that he wasn't an exception, Hikigaya felt a little relieved. But why was Morishita able to ask him this sensitive question with such a calm expression and tone?

Does he seem that kind, like Hachiman?

Didn't your teacher teach you not to speak improperly?

"Next question."

After a series of three question marks, Hikigaya gave a heartfelt answer, and Morishita seemed to have no objection and remained calm.

"Does Hikigaya Hachiman collaborate with Katsuragi Kohei?"

"Is Katsuragi still the leader of Class A?"

Although it was somewhat expected, Hachiman did not expect that no one in Class A would actually step forward to carry the flag, even though Katsuragi's recent performance was not enough to prove that he was a capable person.