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

"Well, sometimes I can't understand her thought process either."

On the bustling playground, Class 1B chose to practice and test the three-legged race in pairs first. The boys' group went relatively smoothly with Hirata leading the way.

The girls' situation was even more appalling.

One of the younger sisters' behavior left Kiryuin, who had been invited to visit and provide guidance, somewhat speechless, while Hikigaya, standing nearby, also wanted to cover his face.

Three-legged race, as the name suggests, is a race in which two people walk side by side with their legs tied together. It is clearly a sport that requires cooperation between two people.

However, Horikita Suzune had no idea about this. Now, the fifth girl has been tested on speed, and the first four girls complained about Horikita after returning to their friends.

The new partner is Yukino Yukinoshita, a transfer student.

"What an adorable girl, though she looks a bit frail, but I really like her eyes," Kiryuin commented.

"After all, she's a woman from the Yukinoshita family; she's very competitive."

Looking at Yukino's determined eyes, Hikigaya recalled the true leader of the Yukino family, a person who looked very similar to Yukino but had a personality like Haruno, and was extremely domineering.

He is a dangerous person that Hachiman doesn't want to meet.

"The Yukinoshita family."

Seemingly knowing or having heard of the Yukinoshita family, Kiryuin muttered to himself and then said nothing more. Together with Hikigaya, he watched the two who had already had their straps tied. As the starting whistle sounded, the two started moving at a not-too-slow speed.

The journey from the starting point to the finish line went smoothly and quickly. However, on the way back from the finish line, Hachiman noticed that Yukinoshita's face had turned somewhat pale, realizing that she was experiencing some oxygen deprivation.

What's there to be stubborn about? What if you fall down?

While thinking about how Hikigaya abandoned Kiryuin and intercepted the two halfway, he realized that Hikigaya had abandoned Kiryuin.

Although Horikita Suzune was a little out of breath after stopping, she was much better off than Yukinoshita, who was panting heavily with her hands on her knees next to her.

"You show absolutely no interest in cooperating with your teammates." Hikigaya looked at Horikita seriously.

From the beginning until they were stopped, Horikita paid no attention to her companions, only focusing on accelerating her own pace, which undoubtedly made it more difficult for Yukinoshita to coordinate.

After turning back, Yukinoshita, whose physical strength had been severely depleted, was barely managing to keep up with Horikita.

"That's not my fault. If we're going to cooperate, it should be the one who's faster. In fact, if you hadn't stopped me, Yukino might have been able to finish the race with me."

"My mistake, I overestimated my physical strength."

When Horikita looked unconvinced, Yukinoshita, panting heavily, interrupted, slowly straightening up her bent-over posture, her rather well-endowed chest rising and falling at a considerable pace.

She thought that Horikita's previous partners were slow because they didn't coordinate well with Horikita, but she didn't expect that Horikita didn't cooperate at all and just kept speeding up and speeding up.

Although she managed to keep up with her best efforts, Horikita's frequent speed increases disrupted her rhythm, causing her to run out of energy.

“You made a mistake, but the mistake wasn’t overestimating your physical strength, but rather not taking care of your body and pushing yourself too hard. What if you fall and get injured?”

Hikigaya does not agree with Yukino taking the blame upon herself, and saying so would undoubtedly condone Horikita's actions.

"I paired you with Horikita so that you could point out her shortcomings and find ways to help her correct them, not to play along with her nonsense."

"It's normal to match the rhythm of the team that runs faster, right?" Horikita stuck to his idea.

"See, isn't this right? Yukinoshita."

"Horikita-kun, I think you should think about what 'two people making three legs' really means." Yukinoshita was speechless. "It's like the barrel effect."

The capacity of a bucket depends on the height of the lowest plank, much like the three-legged stool of two people.

Even a national-level runner can't beat two junior high school students when his teammates are elementary school students.

"Kiryuin-senpai, could you please let Horikita experience her theory firsthand?"

Seeing that Horikita was still unconvinced, Hikigaya unleashed the killing move he had prepared for Horikita. This was the reason he invited Kiryuin, and Kiryuin naturally saw through his plan.

"I was wondering why Hachiman suddenly invited me; I thought it was something interesting." Kiryuin smiled as he tied his long, loose silver hair into a ponytail, revealing his exceptionally fair neck.

"As compensation, let Horikita take care of my senior's dinner this month. My senior also likes Horikita's cooking."

Since he was able to invite Kiryuin to help, Hikigaya naturally prepared a reward and also anticipated that she wouldn't be angry about being used by her junior.

After all, Horikita Suzune was considered an interesting character by Kiryuin, so he gave her a break for the sake of Horikita Gakuen.

"I've never heard of this."

"If you don't do it, I'll have your brother do it."

After moving out of Horikita Gakuen, Horikita Suzune angrily returned to the starting point and, together with Kiryuin who was waiting there, wrapped themselves in cloth strips to form a three-legged race.

Amid Kiryuin's mocking smile, Hikigaya blew his whistle.

Once Kiryuin got into a playful mood, he didn't cooperate with Horikita at all. In less than ten seconds, he made Horikita flustered and tense, and in fifteen seconds, he cut Horikita down.

"Want to try again?" Hikigaya walked up to Horikita, who was being supported by her shoulders to prevent her from falling, her expression extremely grim.

"No, it's my fault."

Because the gap in physical abilities between Horikita and Kiryuin was far too great, Horikita did not harbor even the slightest hope that he could succeed by trying again.

I can't keep up, I can't keep up at all.

If it were a boy who overpowered her, she could make excuses, but against Kiryuin, who was also a girl, she couldn't think of any excuses and couldn't be stubborn.

"Hikigaya, do you want to give it a try?" After standing in Horikita, Kiryuin untied the cloth strips binding their feet and swung them around casually.

"Me?! I'd better not. We're not in the same class, so we can't team up to compete."

Hikigaya quickly rejected Kiryuin's impromptu suggestion.

In the sport of three-legged race, the two partners need to put their arms around each other's shoulders or support each other's waists. If a man and a woman are together, they will inevitably have close contact.

With so many people on the playground now, rumors are bound to spread between Hikigaya and Kiryuin.

The dashing Kiryuin is second only to Ichinose in popularity at school, and is even more popular among girls.

“I never agreed to accept your first payment.”

Before Hikigaya could answer, Kiryuin squatted down and tied her and Hikigaya's feet together.

"........"

Between draping his hand over the shoulder and the waist, Hikigaya decisively chose the shoulder. Through the thin lining of his uniform, Hikigaya placed his palm on Kiryuin's shoulder, his arm clearly feeling the smoothness of that silver hair.

After walking slowly to the starting line with Kiryuin, Hachiman noticed that the number of students beside the track had more than doubled, including many of the first-year A-class students who had been practicing there.

Ichinose was also there.

Chapter 151 The Stick and the Carrot

"That's too fast! It feels faster than me running alone."

"Why do Hachiman and Kiryuin-senpai coordinate so well?"

"Smooth, so smooth."

When Hikigaya and Kiryuin completed the race in perfect unison, the students watching were amazed at how well and naturally they coordinated.

The most surprising ones were Horikita and Yukinoshita.

Having just run it once, they know best how difficult it is to run that fast, which shows that Hikigaya and Kiryuin are very familiar with each other's physical abilities and have a high level of teamwork.

Horikita walked up to Hikigaya, who was only slightly out of breath, and said, "It's my turn next."

One of the events in the selection competition was a mixed-gender three-legged race, and she wanted to test whether she could run with Hachiman Hikigaya with that smooth feeling.

"Then I'll line up after Horikita-kun." Yukinoshita was also thinking of giving it a try after seeing how they had worked together just now.

"I want one too, Hachiman."

"There's no need for that, Karuizawa. With your current physical abilities, you won't be assigned to participate in the selection exam," Horikita coldly rejected Karuizawa's advances.

She didn't react to Yukinoshita's words because she acknowledged her strength, but Karuizawa didn't.

Although I took Karuizawa to train during the summer vacation, a month was not enough time for her to make rapid progress.

"Hachiman—" Karuizawa, knowing that arguing with Horikita was pointless, looked at Hikigaya with pitiful eyes.

"........"

Stealing a glance at Ichinose, who still maintained a smiling expression, Hikigaya steeled his heart and agreed immediately.

In the mixed-gender three-legged race, he, as the strongest among the boys, will definitely participate, and practicing with the girls is essential.

Given the precedents of Kiryuin and Horikita Yukinoshita, adding another Karuizawa wouldn't be a big deal.

..........

..........

"What a disaster."

Hikigaya sat slumped in the stands of the playground like a salted fish, while Shiina sat next to him with a small round fan, chuckling as she fanned him.

After running the entire course with Karuizawa, Shiina made the same request, followed by Sakura, Hasebe, and even Matsushita Chiaki, who inexplicably joined in.

"I think you're enjoying it, being so popular with cute girls." Shiina slowly waved the fan in her hand.

"I'm innocent, Miss Hiyori."

If Ichinose hadn't been watching him the whole time, he might have actually enjoyed it, but Hachiman always caught a glimpse of her subtle expression before each substitution.

"Was Hachiman unhappy training with me?"

"Stop teasing me." Hikigaya sat up straight, took the fan from Shiina's hand, and fanned himself vigorously so that both of them could feel the cool breeze.

After Shiina showed a satisfied expression, Hikigaya looked at the students in his class training. Only the students with strong physical abilities, such as Sudo and Onodera, were full of energy.

Less than one-third of the students in the class are motivated.

This is not okay.

Given the precedent of the preferential treatment exam that led to Katsuragi's transformation, it's likely that this year's sports festival will follow the same secrecy strategy towards his students.

The same is probably true for Longyuan.

Playing the Tian Ji horse racing strategy has become virtually impossible.

To increase our chances of winning, we can't waste the month of training time the school has given us.

"Most people aren't very enthusiastic about training."

Shiina squinted comfortably in the cool breeze. "After all, the sports festival is a month away, and some classmates also feel that their chances of getting into the top three are very small."

Only the top three receive a score bonus. Hachiman declared in the class meeting that he would adopt a strong-to-weak pairing, which meant that students with average physical abilities could only compete for the remaining two spots.

Seeing Shiina's adorable expression, Hikigaya smiled and asked, "Does Ms. Hiyori have any ideas on how to motivate them?"

"The carrot and stick approach, with group competition."

"Miss Hiyori is so mean, treating her classmate like that, but it suits me just the way I want it."

"I learned it all from Hachiman."

In the sunlight, the two looked at each other with sly smiles like foxes.

As the dismissal time approached six o'clock, Hikigaya gathered all the students in Class B together and obtained the running test data of the entire class from Hirata and Yukinoshita.

"Divide into three groups of similar strength."

"it is good."

After Shiina took the paper with the test data, Hikigaya cleared his throat and addressed everyone, "Tonight, everyone will have dinner in the cafeteria. It's on me."

"........"

Even when he invited them to dinner, most people didn't show any joy; instead, their faces remained tense, making the atmosphere somewhat awkward.

This made Horikita Miyabi, who was in a bad mood, smile. "It seems everyone has a clear understanding of Hikigaya. You're like a fox offering New Year's greetings to a chicken—you're up to no good."

Her teamwork with Hachiman didn't achieve the same score as Yukino and Hachiman in the three-legged race, which annoyed her. However, seeing Hachiman's embarrassed expression cheered her up considerably.

"Those who don't come will bear the consequences."

With a dark expression, Hikigaya threw down a sentence and walked towards the cafeteria alone, while Shiina, chuckling, quickly followed beside him.

After passing through the familiar tree-lined path, Hikigaya entered the dining hall and went straight to the window for the free set meals, ordering thirty-four mountain vegetable set meals. Then he went to another window and ordered the most expensive tempura set meal for himself.

The school is no benevolent organization; the free mountain vegetable meal was so unhealthy that it was practically inedible, with not a trace of oil or fat.

This made the students who received their dinner for the night look embarrassed, and most of them just watched without taking a bite.

Hachiman stood up with a tempura between his fingers. "Eat, why aren't you eating? Why are you all staring at me? Eat, eat it while it's hot."